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NCAA Basketball

Kansas Wins, but That's Not the Story

Posted Feb 23, 2009 11:40PM By Will Brinson (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Kansas, Oklahoma, Big 12, Injuries

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The story wasn't going to be about Kansas winning. Seriously. The Jayhawks never had a chance of grabbing the headlines. Even with Bill Self's crew closing out an impressive Big 12 road win, ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla was still discussing the lack of impact this game would have on Oklahoma's NCAA tournament resume.

That's because Blake Griffin didn't play. And that's not to take away from Kansas' impressive 87- 78 win over the Sooners in Norman, Okla., but it would be completely unrealistic to think this is the same Oklahoma team with Griffin on the bench.
Kansas 87-Oklahoma 78: Box Score | Full AP Recap | Standings
Still, Kansas looked good. Sherron Collins and Tyshawn Taylor blew up for 26 points each, and Cole Aldrich posted a monster 15-point, 20-rebound line. The Jayhawks, who led by seven at the half, managed to fight off a furious Oklahoma rally late in the second half and take first place in the Big 12.

But the bigger point is that regular season standings only matter through the Big 12 season. If Griffin isn't healthy by Selection Sunday, then it won't matter what kind of Big 12 banner the Sooners stick in their rafters, because his absence would turn a really good team into just a good team. As talented as Oklahoma's Willie Warren and Taylor Griffin are, they're not helping coach Jeff Capel cut down the nets in Detroit if the younger Griffin isn't back to help them.

On the other hand though, there's definitely something to be said about the effort that the Griffin-less Sooners put out tonight -- they stormed out to an early lead in front of a white-out crowd, watched that hot start turn into a sizable deficit and still stormed back against a good Kansas team.

While that kind of effort alone isn't enough to give them a No. 1 seed in either the NCAA or Big 12 tournament, it is the kind of game that screams "good loss" and might somehow propel the Sooners to greater heights.

Of course, those things depend on Blake Griffin coming back healthy. That was that the story all along.

Tags: bill+self, BillSelf, blake+griffin, BlakeGriffin, chris+webber, ChrisWebber, fran+fraschilla, FranFraschilla, jeff+capel, JeffCapel, sherrod+collins, sherrod+taylor, SherrodCollins, SherrodTaylor, taylor+griffin, TaylorGriffin, tyshawn+taylor, TyshawnTaylor, willie+warren, WillieWarren

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