Kansas Overcomes Tough Obstacles, Shows Resilience

It ended with Kansas coach Bill Self meeting North Carolina’s Roy Williams to give him a friendly handshake, and then he chortled and smiled with his players near mid-court. It ended with Williams walking out of the tunnel, long after his players and assistants, long after a Kansas party erupted in the Sprint Center. It wasn’t bad, couldn’t have been to hear from a fan base that still appreciates Williams, who can tell us plenty of stories about his Kansas days.

Much to Williams’ chagrin, who is 0-3 lifetime against Self and Kansas since taking the UNC coaching job in 2003, the Tar Heels lost a comfortable lead by the second half. All around him, fans kindly stood and praised the former Jayhawks coach. But an emotional Williams, as usual whenever UNC can’t beat the Jayhawks in the NCAA tournament, sits at the podium during news conferences and congratulates Kansas, while he talks about a disappointing end of another season.

It started with sloppy plays for the top-seeded Kansas Jayhawks on both ends of the floor. Early on, things were bad enough and couldn’t get any worse for Kansas, a team many national experts picked to make the Final Four. The game was boring and slow, uneventful and uninteresting in the first half. The coach’s stare was edgy. Self was hysterical and uneasy, and he nervously walked back and forth on the sidelines, without even sitting and having a drink to settle down.

With Kansas struggling early, Self was gesturing to his players and encouraged them to loosen up and find a rhythm. The gutsy 70-58 win late Sunday afternoon against eighth-seeded North Carolina was followed by the ballsy victory over No. 16 Western Kentucky in the first round. And like most successful teams, resilience just makes the Jayhawks stronger as a team. The depth and talent has been working to Kansas’ advantage, a senior-laden team pursuing the ultimate goal, which is to win a national title. If they win a trophy and cut down the nets, it would be Self’s second national title.

Kansas, however, might be the most dangerous team in this tournament and certainly is up for the task, realizing that another trip to the Final Four is at stake, along with potentially another back-to-back national title appearance. The rulers of basketball are the Jayhawks — a perennial national power of college basketball, winning five of the last seven Big 12 tournaments, despite falling victim to the biggest upsets in tournament history to both Northern Iowa and VCU.

Great teams overcome adversity. Great teams grind out victories and endure to the end. Great teams find ways to rally and show that resilience is the result of success and building late momentum. That’s exactly what Kansas was able to do against the Tar Heels. With each victory, the Jayhawks have become stronger and more efficient. It was not Kansas’ best game, I assure you, but it was enough to survive and beat North Carolina for the second straight year, and the Jayhawks will advance to the Sweet 16 and will face No. 4 Michigan in Arlington, Texas, on Friday.

It wasn’t pretty that seven-foot center Jeff Withey, the nation’s best shot-blocker, was not intimidating and a factor inside the paint to start. There were simply too many turnovers and missed shots. They were lucky to be within striking distance and not trailing by many by the end of the first half. They couldn’t make a jump shot in the opening 20 minutes against North Carolina. It took them about 22 minutes to snap out of a shooting drought, and Kansas had the worst shooting percentage in a half, only shooting a staggering 25 percent.

By assuming that the slow start scared thousands of panic-stricken fans, though fans were confident and hopeful the Jayhawks would turn it around in the second half, one could only wonder whether or not Kansas was on the verge of a disappointing ending. The Jayhawks were sluggish, torpid and clumsy, turning over the ball 17 times, barely settling for put backs and a couple of dunks. Surely, you saw the Jayhawks’ best player Ben McLemore finish 2 for 14 from the field in two tournament games. He’s one of Kansas’ top scorers, but he wasn’t playing like it, scoring like it, and mostly, he was missing shots by taking ill-advised ones. And surely, you saw Kansas guard Elijah Johnson shoot 2 for 12. There was a universal sense, both for national experts and Kansas’ fans — that Johnson was not a five-star player — that he’d oftentimes struggle and receive unwarranted criticism from thousands of critics.

Self wasn’t too happy and pleased with what he saw in the first half. So then he followed his team into the locker room and, without a doubt, delivered a message to his players. His team’s lack of effort and poor ball execution had been formidable, but whatever he said to his players during the half, it was enough to wake up everyone. By that, he gave them one of his halftime speeches, a coaching strategy Self exercised, especially when Kansas failed to play effectively in the first half of a contest. At halftime, Kansas trailed by nine points and the night was so nerve-racking, so excruciating and then it was so tantalizing.

And perhaps most incredibly, Kansas finally drilled jump shots. The first three-pointer of the tournament, after 13 consecutive misses over two games, was buried by Travis Releford and it was a game-changing shot and might have given the Jayhawks momentum in what turned out to be dramatic. Had it not been for Releford the Jayhawks could have been eliminated in the Round of 32, but he made the team’s first three-pointer after Kansas had gone without a three for the first time in 201 games against Western Kentucky. As it happened Withey, whose toughness and confidence soon became contagious, grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds.

This kind of thing happens in March and that’s excitement and thrills, such was Kansas running the Tar Heels out of the building by scoring 31 points in nine and half minutes. It came down to who had the most energy and who was the strongest and hungriest. Turns out it was Kansas. With a Sweet 16 berth at stake, Kansas shot the ball efficiently, limited turnovers and played smart, perpetuating a 35-12 run and turned the game into a pep rally for the crowd.

The Kansas seniors, including the rest of the team, are well coached, to be sure, and don’t want to go home empty-handed. At the right time, Releford, who is a defensive specialist, was on fire, scorching the nets and finishing with 22 points. It’s time for all of us to realize that Kansas is a tough out. Before we discount KU, realize they have size with Withey, who blocked five shots and had a double-double, giving him a total of 43 swatted shots in his NCAA career, second all-time behind Tim Duncan in the postseason.

Holy smokes.

Now that the top-seeded Kansas has shown it can overcome obstacles, Self’s team is definitely a dangerous out.

Dallas Cowboys: Mired in Dysfunction, Rename to Girly Cowgirls

It hasn’t been a spectacular season for America’s team, the team suddenly known as America’s Disgrace. If you actually like the Dallas Cowboys when the franchise is declared as a laughingstock, bigger than its massive palace that seems like an atmosphere of ignominy and mortification, nowadays you are rallying behind a dysfunctional franchise.

The face of the Cowboys is stuck in a hideous storm, a state of mortality when it was once renowned religiously for excelling in triumph and experiencing joy and exhilaration. There are plenty of reasons to dislike the renamed Cowgirls at a moment when the team is almost as scary to watch as the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and now it seems any team is competent and savvy in embarrassing the girly franchise residing in the heart of Texas.

For years, this national precept that we’re supposed to verify a disoriented team as America’s team is overblown, particularly when the Cowboys are mediocre and soft. As long as stubborn owner Jerry Jones keeps a soft, nitwitted Wade Phillips as head coach, the Cowboys will perpetually be maligned and ridiculed. Years ago, the Cowboys were nearly unbeatable and were allowed to be worshipped as the winningest franchise in sports, worthy of dignified prestige in the gratifying days.

But as the years progressed, the Cowboys are now football’s ugliest joke as Jones squandered millions of his player’s payroll to pamper his star players and has wastefully spent on megastars in his current roster. Whatever he does, it backfires in his face and pathetically casts gloom on a franchise forecasted to win the Super Bowl this season, long overdue in capturing a championship and uplifting a football-oriented town with happiness.

This was supposed to be the year the Cowboys ended a dreaded streak of anguish, but it won’t happen unless Jones, who is the primary diplomat in football, stops demanding control of a franchise that needs discipline and guidance from a stringent and intellectual voice to mend the lacking chemistry. Doomed by all the melodrama involving a head coach with a low-keyed demeanor, the Cowboys have yet to address the weaknesses and still bypass the pursuit of a Super Bowl title.

Assuming that Jones likes controlling his coaches, he has no intentions on firing Phillips. He notoriously made a mistake when he extended his contract, perhaps the most foolish move by a classy owner who desires winning. Until he cans Phillips, he’ll have a formidable team and won’t ever win a title. If he’s thinking wisely, he’d dismiss a cowardice Phillips and interview Bill Cowher for the coaching job and hire the future Hall of Famer to rebuild an inferior team.

The biggest leader in the room, however, is a useless and injured Tony Romo. But in the meantime, his inspirational voice isn’t enough to enkindle or encourage a demoralized team that cannot desert long-lasting fiascoes. It must have been painful on the first play of the second quarter drive for a colossal stadium packed with 91,000 fans. A night nearly fell silent and collectively people cried when Giants linebacker Michael Boley charged towards Romo at full speed and drove the starting quarterback into the ground.

He clearly delivered a vicious hit that left a fracture. As fans collectively worried with solicitous facial expressions, he sustained a heartbreaking injury, adding to the affliction for a franchise badly attempting to put aside the disillusionment. It was a play that shifted the complexion in a hurry, and everyone from the cheerleaders, to the coaching staff, to the fans looked onto the field and witnessed Romo grimacing on the turf in pain.

For several minutes, he laid on the field in distress and slowly rose onto his feet gingerly. Over on the sideline, he was swarmed by medical personnel, and he was removed from the game. As much as he tried to stay in the game, he was replaced eventually by backup Jon Kitna. But this being a horrid season, the year was practically over for the Cowboys and without their franchise quarterback, this basically ended the miserable year for good.

It’s a devastating blow, and Romo knew it as well, leaving the field in despair. On the sideline, he tried to return to the game, but a trainer escorted the ailing quarterback back to the bench. This would provoke frustration in which he tossed his helmet and departed to the locker room to be examined, having been diagnosed with a fractured left clavicle in his left throwing shoulder.

“It was part of our blitz package,” Boley said. “The guard stayed in his three-technique on the tackle and they just didn’t see me coming. I showed coverage and then came. I guess it was a big play.”

It was a big play all right. In fact it was the biggest play of the game.

“When he hit the ground,” Boley said, “I heard he let out a little scream. So I knew something was up.”

According to Jones the doctors informed him that Romo may not opt to undergo surgery but would likely miss six to eight weeks. That is practically the rest of the season. And already, the Cowboys are a staggering 1-5 in the season, following a mind-blowing 41-35 loss to New York in a contest Dallas struggled to adjust to the Giants vehement pass rush. If this game dictated the Cowboys fate, it certainly wasn’t a pleasing ending, but a porous letdown that defined the hapless franchise.

And as the most hyped team in the league, the Cowboys were credited as the most talented team in the league but hasn’t proved worthy amid a struggling offense and mismanaged coaching. There’s no denying that defense is the critical element and the Cowboys forced three turnovers early but had difficulty compiling points. As the Giants assembled a comeback in the second quarter, Miles Austin played as if he was an unfocused T.O. and dropped a pair of critical passes early on.

All season, he has been a primary target in inadequate and bizarre offensive tactics, an indication that offensive coordinator Jason Garrett needs to be dismissed to renounce blunders. If the Cowboys wish to return to championship-caliber, Jones must part ways with the worse play-caller in the game—Garrett.

Most significantly, he has diagramed and called schemes poorly, and no player is functioning well in his discombobulated schemes. As a result, Jason Witten botched a play on a mental lapse that benefited New York. In a bewildered game, he had a fumble that led to a Giants touchdown. And Cowboys’ overrated wide receiver Roy Williams was held without a catch. Suffice it to say that the rookie Dez Bryant outplayed his teammates in a signature game and provided much energy with the remarkable kick return.

The boorish crowd serenaded boos in the third quarter and suddenly a crowd turned angst and irate with the Cowboys performance. Just describe it as a Cow Girlish shocker. Pretty soon, the Cowboys will be run out of town by the Rangers. Pretty soon, the fans will be asking for Cliff Lee to take over at quarterback, or else, fans could clearly arrive next time wearing paper bags over their heads and protesting in the demise of Dallas.

Dallas Cowboys' Melodrama Is Needless: They Are America's Most Overrated Team

In the midst of all the overhyped rubbish and melodrama heard this season, the Dallas Cowboys are still faced with absolute anxiety. The celebration of their 50th-anniversary is beginning with a disappointing loss, a contest in which the storied franchise was ineffective against its archrivals the Washington Redskins, committing careless miscues that defines the Cowboys as America’s Most Overrated Team. At the beginning of a spirited quest, the ultimate intent was escaping the suburbs near the nation’s capital with a win and mustering assurance in a bitter territory.

If there is any optimism long-awaited fans rely on this particular season, it’s clearly because the Cowboys are playing with much at stake, and realizes Super Bowl XLV is played in their domain. This year, already, America’s team is greatly anointed as a superior franchise, widely projected as one of the premier teams to win the NFC Championship and advance to the biggest stage at home. But, of course, it’s too premature to judge whether or not the Cowboys are making such a transition and reforming into elite contention.

With the notion that this team isn’t mentally or physically built to scare or even petrify opponents, it’s simply the most overrated franchise in America, an overhyped organization worshippers praise for its mystique, legends, and elegancy, and well, riches. It’s almost mutual we live in a country that disdains the heart and pride of traditionally the star logo, especially when it has merely signified failure over the last few years as the subpar Cowboys either suffered a regular-season heartbreaker or a postseason letdown.


It doesn’t take a genius to fathom that Dallas, the much-scrutinized pro franchise in the country, is disrupted by dismay and lingering soap operas without even measuring up to standards. Although it’s only one week, the Cowboys aren’t America’s team, but a sense of belief is still in existence. He wore a Dallas cap backwards on the sideline and stood nervously waiting to return on offense and change the complexion of a dramatic game between a pair of hostile rivals.

Surely, Tony Romo is used to hearing all the criticism after a devastating performance, unworthy of the hype for excelling only once in the postseason, which came last season when he finally won his first playoff game as the starting quarterback. It wasn’t beautiful, a 13-7 primetime loss Sunday to rival Redskins, but they almost pulled off a miraculous defeat in a jaw-dropping bout. If there was one noticeable flaw, the Cowboys weren’t cohesive on offense and unwisely committed penalties in the game.

In my mind, Jerry Jones knows his team is a working progress and also knows they aren’t ready to likely contend for a title, unless they make vital improvements in the upcoming weeks and strengthen the vitality to be a potent team with a strong mindset. You can see why the Cowboys have only had very little glory in the last few seasons, known for collapsing in the month of December and dropping a bundle of games on the schedule to miss the playoffs. You can see why Romo takes the blame on the team with strong expectations and demands.

If something frails, then Romo is responsible greatly for any miserable meltdowns, and plays with tremendous work ethic and a desirable outlook on the game to tensely lead an equivocal offense that normally stumbles late in the season. Much has been made over a probable revival, but as much as you’d love to see the Boys return to charming fashion at home, it seems Dallas won’t ignite a party in their backyard after all.

Thus, the languished era doomed the Cowboys they are aiming to overwhelm the population at Cowboys Stadium. But it’s common to think that they are faced with adversity when owner Jerry Jones invested $1.3 billion in stadium creations, a well-designed and colossal palace built as the world’s largest venue with limestone rocks and fritted glass. And these days, with modern technology, the building has a humongous high-def screen. It’s fittingly a nice site for the sporting festivities, and better yet, it would be perfect for the Cowboys to host the Super Bowl at home come Feb. 6.

But as we revered the beloved team, perhaps we badly overstate Jones’ business and overlook a longtime nemesis, including the state of a well-balanced NFC East division. The problem is that Jones stuck with head coach Wade Phillips, whose soft, low-key demeanor dismantles chemistry. There’s not enough inspirational leadership or unity, when a weak-minded coach has much authority and doesn’t inspire mental toughness. As the Cowboys lacks toughness and empathy, Wade is derelict and his personality isn’t fittingly perfect for a franchise in need of compatibility and motivation. So there were the Cowboys trailing by six on the final play of the game when Romo orchestrated a drive at FedEx Field.

It was certainly an awful penalty down the stretch when a yellow flag decided the outcome of a heartbreaking defeat on a play Romo stepped forward to avoid the sack and connected with a wide open Roy Williams. Few believe the Cowboys are the most talented team in the NFL, but in perspective that’s an unknown assessment.

The assumption is that Miles Austin, who caught an electrifying pass in midfield for a 30-yard gain with 12 seconds remaining, is evidently Romo’s primary target. Not to argue that he has other offensive weapons in a loaded receiving core with Williams and Dez Bryant, a rookie who potentially is an impact player and has the stamina and quickness as a top receiver. However, the Cowboys are a different team without Patrick Crayton, traded to the San Diego Chargers for financial deputes and without Flozell Adams.

There were feelings that they were destined to win, but uneducated offensive coordinator Garrett unfortunately blew it for the Cowboys. There are times we can actually fault the quarterback, especially if he makes a costly throw that is easily picked off or botches one on a fumble.

But this time, Garrett is at fault in a predicament where he unreasonably called and designed a passing play to cost the Cowboys. With four seconds left in the first-half, Romo fired a short pass to Tashard Choice and it allowed Redskins versatile cornerback DeAngelo Hall to strip the ball, recover the fumble and return it for a 37-yard touchdown.

Neither team played well.

This game specifically was about momentum and turnovers. The clumsy mistakes demoralized the Boys. The awful play calling doomed the Boys. And the final minutes killed the Boys.

North Carolina No Longer Loom a Threat in College Hoops

If there are outrageous vibes wondering inside the minds of committed basketball lords on Tobacco Road and near Chapel Hill, it’s for all the unforeseen transitions ensuing among an elite program.


The North Carolina Tar Heels reached a point of frailty, in what has finally turned into reality, any time a talented class with competitive depth and zest departs to the NBA.

During a year of plights, what we’re watching is an underachieving program, but looking on the bright side a program with potential. In the meantime, North Carolina isn’t excelling as a team of defending champs, suffering rare defeats and being humiliated on their home floor in front of a zealous crowd.

These days, supportive residence and students are curious, even worried about the sudden relapses and flaws that don’t epitomize the history of Tar Heels basketball.

It’s a majestic program that has produced NBA stars, cultivated high school prospects, won five national titles, preserved 18 Final Four appearances, and amassed 43 ACC Championships.

But this is no longer the invincible or elite academic and athletic college we once knew, lacking much growth and experience to be equivalent to the powerhouse class of college hoops a year ago.

As the Tar Heels are facing a bizarre and abnormal stage, it’s good realizing no program is ensured of persistent legitimacy, though nostalgia marks solidity and grandeur forever. Because of blemishes and the derailing of a famous school that qualifies and dances in March Madness, gathering a clear perception that the (12-7, 1-3) Tar Heels are no longer villains or looms as a threat amid the NCAA tourney is thinking logical.


It’s a rarity when Carolina misses out on the Madness, and instead qualifies for the NIT—the National Inferior Tournament, I might add. That’s a path the Tar Heels are on, if they continue to shoot the ball poorly, miss ill-advised three-pointers and fail to protect the perimeter. As a result, Carolina has lost miserably in four of their last five games and plunged to No. 24, the lowest ranking in the Associated Press Top 25 since 2006.

Not much has changed on the coaching roster, the folksy head coach Roy Williams is there, and still coaches by his standard. His customary standards are, thoroughly, teaching the rhythmic of the game.

But of late he hasn’t been the popular coach in college hoops, as most of the attention has turned to schools like Clemson or Kentucky, programs that have climbed to the top of the basketball polls. Before we had tremendous respect for Carolina, a team that never backed down, a team opponents were afraid of because of their dominance.

But now no team is intimidated of overpowering a young and inexperienced program, of course guided by Williams, whose resume consists of a 2003 national title loss at Kansas. Not long following his departure, he was scolded for wearing a Jayhawks button after they had smothered the Tar Heels.

In 2009, his national title win defied excellence among one of the greatest classes in Carolina history. Minus the savvy ingredients, the Tar Heels are depleted and futile.

The loss of Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington, and Danny Green is unfortunate and omitted the brand name as vulnerability has enlarged unbelievably.

It’s portrayed as a helpless school and hopes to rise back to the top, even though Ellington was a jump shooting machine and Lawson was a floor general and directed traffic with his incredible play-making and smarts to maneuver an up-tempo style as his speed created advantages.

But more intimidating was the interior game of Hansbrough, whose upper body strength couldn’t be stopped. So for a program that relied much on his inside presence, Hansbrough is missed greatly for the post presence, ability to rebound and startle all opponents in the middle.

Most were unsuccessful defending the dominant force inside, leading all of college basketball a year ago, which makes lots of sense on why he was given the name Psycho-T. If generous enough to acknowledge his achievements, he broke the all-time ACC scoring record. And his ability to produce points was an integral feature.

Nonetheless, every team must experience up and down transitions to rebuild into the legitimate contender. That’s exactly what the Tar Heels are dealing with.

And wouldn’t it happen to be the longest losing streak since dropping five straight under Matt Doherty in 2002-03. The latest loss came against Wake Forest at home, where the Tar Heels were embarrassed but braced by the crowd, dressed in Carolina Blue.

Many still believe, but time is running short. Time is continuously ticking, as the madness looms ever so closer. If there is hope left, they have to move forward and forget about a demoralizing 82-69 loss to the Demon Deacons on Wednesday night, a pounding that will either make or break down the Tar Heels.

In retrospect, Carolina is sluggish at the guard position and struggles greatly, ever since Lawson and Ellington left early for an upstart.


During their regimen, no weaknesses were signs of innovations, but seeing all the flaws at a significance position is a problem in their back court and needs to be upgraded. Will Graves is flexible and finesse, but not quick enough. Larry Drew is good, but not great. Tyler Zeller is banged up. And, well, Ed Davis isn’t at full strength.

This season the Tar Heels are being outraced, a weakness Wake Forest exploited constantly and outplayed them in the transition game. Each moment reveals a scare in a program that has suddenly dwindled.

And with the exception of arising ACC schools, Carolina isn’t even a favorite to clinch the ACC title. Not when there’s Clemson and Georgia Tech, two power conference teams that have already caused trouble for a languishing program we once knew as defending champs.

Nobody fears the title of defending champs. Nobody sees the Tar Heels as a threat.