Character flaws finally catch up with Kansas

Thousands of miles away from one of the biggest NCAA upsets in years, Lorenzo Romar cut to the middle of why it happened.

"This team has pretty good character," Washington's coach said after his Huskies had just beaten New Mexico on Saturday in San Jose, Calif. "When you have proof of good character ... when you get in a valley, low, you can get out of it. When you have poor character, everyone goes their own direction and it's everyone's fault but theirs."

Thousands of miles away from Romar, Kansas wasn't listening. In fact, the Jayhawks wore earplugs most of the season. Character, or the lack of it, had a lot to do with it in the case of Saturday's mind-scrambling loss to Northern Iowa.

These Jayhawks had everything -- speed, muscle, NBA talent, super-sized McDonald's All-Americans. These Jayhawks were also flawed. It's just that most of you forgot or didn't know.

SI pointed out last week that Kansas' "unique talent is its constant ability to baffle [coach] Bill Self."

It was only a few short months ago that there was an ugly and embarrassing dust-up with the football team. In public, on campus. The student newspaper captured some of it on video. A turf war, basically, over who ruled the campus -- the overshadowed football team or the entitled basketballers.

That's not the sign of a national champion. That's a seventh-grade fight on the playground. There was more: Guard Tyshawn Taylor complained mysteriously about playing time and posted racial slurs on his Facebook page. Good idea. Get your true feelings out on the Internet where everybody can see.

Gregg Doyel The clock hit zero, and right then and there, it occurred to the Jayhawks that they really wanted to win. Read more

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Guard Brady Morningstar got a DUI. It all suggested a sense of entitlement.

We're Kansas and you're not.

While KU wouldn't be the first team to lead with its ego, the warts tended to be hidden. At times this was a team that did just enough to win. In the end, that was its character.

Guard Sherron Collins was its spiritual and emotional leader. But he gained a reported 30 pounds in the offseason. His shooting percentage as a senior, 42.6 percent, was the worst of his career. A player like Collins should peak as a senior. In some ways, he regressed.

That brings to mind an I-told-you-so moment last Sunday. In the Kansas No. 1 seed story, I said that if Collins "coughs up a 3-for-11 shooting night with a bunch of turnovers, that could be it for Kansas."

Collins' line against Northern Iowa? Four of 15, five turnovers.

You're welcome for the warning.

If I could see it, why couldn't the world? This was a team that had all the parts but didn't use them all the time. They struggled to win at Colorado in overtime. They seemed uninterested against Kansas State on March 3, allowing the Wildcats to tie the game on senior night with 17 minutes left.

While Kansas went on that night to blow out the Wildcats, there were holes. Center Cole Aldrich regressed offensively. So did Morningstar.

When confronted with the obvious Saturday night, that Northern Iowa had just whipped his team's butt, Collins said, "No, we are the better team. We are the best team in the country. We showed it all year. It just happens sometimes."

The best team in the country? No, not anymore. That No. 1 ranking and No. 1 seed and all those victories are now committed to paper. As far as the memory of this Kansas team?

Romar can tell you, from thousands of miles away.