Ken Davis

Danny Manning has no trouble admitting there’s more talent on this year’s Kansas basketball team, much more than the one that produced the school’s last national championship. But the same basic formula used by “Danny and The Miracles” in 1988 seems to be working for the Jayhawks again this year.

Exactly 20 years later, the final result might end up being the same.

“Everyone’s role was the same,” Manning, now an assistant coach at Kansas, said of the team that defeated Oklahoma to win the NCAA crown. “We always talked about playing hard, playing together and playing unselfish. If we did those things we had a chance to be successful. We believed in that and it was a matter of figuring out the best way to get the job done on each particular night.”

The 2008 Jayhawks played hard, played together and played unselfish Sunday afternoon in the Big 12 tournament championship game. If you want proof, it’s there in the box score from KU’s 84-74 victory over an impressive Texas team. Mario Chalmers scored a career-high 30 points and Brandon Rush added 19 more, but the Jayhawks (31-3) made 26 field goals and had 25 assists.

That is team basketball. That is unselfish basketball. Six more games like that and there should be no more doubt regarding the best team in college basketball. At various points in the season, they’ve been called the deepest, the most talented, the most balanced, the most experienced and the most unselfish team in college basketball this season.

It now appears they are intent on proving all of that.

These Jayhawks realized they had to check their egos at the door Sunday as they entered the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo. The game didn’t just determine the tournament championship in the Big 12. It also decided the final No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, a position left open by Tennessee’s loss in the Southeastern Conference tournament Saturday.

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A little more than an hour after dispatching the Longhorns, Kansas was rewarded with the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Regional and suddenly the Jayhawks were swimming in instant karma.

Kansas will begin play against Portland State Thursday in Omaha. The 1988 Jayhawks were sent to Nebraska for the opening rounds as well, only in Lincoln. If Kansas wins two games this weekend, the Jayhawks will move on to the regional semifinals in Detroit. In 1988, the location that propelled Kansas into the Final Four was Pontiac, Mich., just outside Detroit.

Feeling the good vibes yet?

In 1988, Kansas defeated Xavier, Murray State, Vanderbilt and Kansas State to get to the Final Four in Kansas City, Mo. Vandy and K-State are in the Midwest Region again this year.

Of course, the 1988 Jayhawks were a No. 6 seed and had already overcome a season of disappointment, injuries, defections, and a stretch of regular season losses that threatened to send Kansas to the NIT.

Twenty years later, it seems the only thing the Jayhawks really have to overcome this time around are their own bad habits. When Darrell Arthur is in early foul trouble or when Brandon Rush isn’t attacking the rim, Kansas isn’t as good. When Chalmers decides to take a play off on defense, or Sherron Collins isn’t pushing the ball, the Jayhawks are vulnerable and beatable.

But since a 61-60 loss Feb. 23 at Oklahoma State — a loss that seemed to take the Jayhawks out of the mix for a No. 1 seed — those things haven’t happened as much. Kansas has reeled off seven straight wins.

“I think Bill has done a great job with this team,” Texas coach Rick Barnes said. “They are very unselfish. They are willing to make the extra pass. They’ve got an inside presence. They’re an excellent defensive team. They’ve got different parts. I mean, I can sit here and talk about them all day long. I like their team a lot because they’re a team.”

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