Omaha, Neb. -- The odds are as long as a stretch of Nebraska prairie highway.
The Horizon League champion Detroit Titans come to the CenturyLink Center Omaha as a 15 seed in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
They face No. 2 Kansas, a historic program wrapped in glamour and glory.
The Titans haven’t been dancing since 1999. For the 6th-ranked Jayhawks, this is their 23rd consecutive trip to the tournament, the longest current streak in the country, including the 2008 national championship under head coach Bill Self.
Since the tournament expanded in 1985, a 15 seed has upset a 2 seed only four times, the last 11 years ago (Hampton over Iowa State).
And, of course, the Kansas fan base is just a short drive from Omaha, meaning the crowd will be overwhelmingly, Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk crazy for Friday night’s estimated 9:57 p.m. (EST) tip.
But then …
But then Coach Ray McCallum’s Titans have been hot, hot, hot, winning nine of their last 10 and four straight to capture the Horizon League tournament.
But then, Detroit has size, talent and, perhaps most important of all, grit.
But then, the Titans do come from a league that has won at least one tournament game seven straight years and sent Butler to back-to-back NCAA championship games.
But then … this is why you play the game. Even long odds can be written on thin paper.
“We’re coming in with confidence,” said McCallum. “We’ve been building for this. I told the guys we’ve been on the court with other high major teams -- though no one as good as Kansas -- but we’ve been tested.”
Senior Chase Simon put it another way.
“They (The Jawhawks) are going to try to show that we shouldn’t be on the floor with them,” he aid. “And we want to show we belong.”
It will take, without question, the Titans best game of the year at both ends of the floor.
“We’ll need to play together as a team,” said sophomore point guard Ray McCallum. “But our chemistry has been good on and off the floor. We’re coming into the tournament with a lot of confidence and confidence in each other.”
Indeed, first they have to believe before they can will it to happen. The Jayhawks, befitting a 27-6 team that went 16-2 to win the Big 12 regular-season title, are loaded.
Detroit will try to contain the Jayhawks’ 6-10, 237-pound Thomas Robinson, who earned some national player of the year recognition. Robinson averaged a double-double (17.9 ppg, 11.8 rpg) for the season and posted nine double-doubles in his last 12 games. Tyshawn Taylor averages 17.3 points, nearly five assists per game and has made 43 percent of his three-pointers.
Kansas does have a recent history of losses to non-power six conference foes: Virginia Commonwealth (Colonial) last year and Northern Iowa (Missouri Valley) two years ago.
“I guess we have a record of losing to mid-majors,” said Taylor. “Those past years prepared us for this year. We just can’t show up. We can’t sleep on anybody.”
Interestingly, the Kansas players said they hadn’t watched a lot of film of the Detroit. The Titans, however, said they were well familiar with the Jayhawks.
“We see them on TV playing all those ESPN games,” said Simon. “So we know them pretty well.”
Friday night, they will get to know them up close and very personally.
“We’ve asked (the Titans) to embrace (the moment),” said Coach McCallum. “We can’t be in awe of Kansas.”
Odds and ends: Kansas is 3-0 all-time against the Titans. They last met in 2006 with the Jayhawks winning 63-43 … Detroit will be looking for its first victory over a ranked opponent since a 63-54 win over No. 23 Butler back in 2002 … Detroit is 3-1 this year on neutral courts … Nebraska has been good to Kansas: the Jayhawks started their 2008 championship run in Omaha and their 1988 title march in Lincoln ... Kansas’s Taylor on the dunking ability of Detroit’s Doug Anderson: “Yeah, we’ve seen some of his dunks. He’s a freak.”
Tags: Detroit Mercy - Men's Basketball · Horizon League - Men's Basketball
