2002 KANSAS
JAYHAWKS BASKETBALL
Greatest College Basketball Teams: Spotlight 2002 Kansas Jayhawks
The 2002 Kansas Jayhawks went 33-4 before losing to eventual National Champion Maryland in the Final Four. Kansas was a dominating team in 2002, averaging a nation leading 90.9 points per game and a nation leading 50.6% from the floor. This was the third time the Jayhawks coach, Roy Williams, went to the Final Four and came up empty. He never won a National Championship at Kansas.
The 2002 Jayhawks were led by a spectacular junior class, including forwards Drew Gooden and Nick Collison and guard Kirk Hinrich. ''Our junior class has been sensational since Day 1,'' coach Williams said. ''Drew and Kirk and Nick revived my faith in college basketball recruiting. I'd gotten discouraged with what was going on. I'll appreciate them more than they'll ever know.''
Junior 6’10” forward Drew Gooden averaged 19.8 points and 11.4 rebounds per game in 2002. He was named National Player of the Year. “Drew has a tremendous variety of moves,” coach Roy Williams said. “Very unusual for a big guy. Hooks, drop-steps, face-ups, everything is equally smooth with both hands. But what really makes him stand out is his passing ability. . . . He’s got eyes in the back of his head.”
“What impresses me most [about Gooden],” Oregon coach Ernie Kent said before Gooden scored 18 points and pulled down 20 rebounds against Oregon in the Regional Finals of the NCAA Tournament, “is his inside-outside game. He can take a guy out to the perimeter or post up inside. He creates matchup problems.” Coach Williams agreed. He’s “the most versatile big man I’ve ever been associated with,” Williams said.
“I love the fact that the kid is completely hungry,” Williams said of Gooden. “Drew’s only concerned about helping his team win, and that’s extremely important.” “He’s a pro,” Oregon coach Ernie Kent said. “Has been all year.”
After the 2002 season, Gooden went pro. He was the 4th overall pick in the NBA draft. Halfway through the 2011 season, Gooden is averaging 11.9 points and 7.8 rebounds in his 9-year long NBA career.
Junior 6’9” forward Nick Collison was a highly recruited 1999 McDonald’s High School All American. In 2002, Collison averaged 15.6 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. In 2003, Collison led the Jayhawks to the NCAA Finals and was named an All-American and National Player of the Year. “Nick’s as complete a post player as I’ve ever had,” coach Williams said.
Collison was the 12th pick in the 2003 NBA Draft. Through 2010, he was averaging 7.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per game in the NBA.
Skinny, dark-haired 6’3” junior swingman Kirk Hinrich, nicknamed Harry Potter, averaged 14.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 5.0 assists in 2002. He shot a team-leading 47.8 percent from three-point range. Hinrich was also a great defensive player. “He’s our best defender,” teammate Nick Collison said. “He’s our best ball-handler. He’s the toughest guy to replace on our team. If that makes him our MVP, I guess he is.” “If you’re trying to find faults with Kirk,” coach Williams said, “you’ve got to search really hard. He’s one tough sucker.”
After Hinrich scored 23 points and had six assists against Missouri, Missouri coach Quin Snyder said “Kirk is unbelievable. He is the best player in the [Big 12] conference.” Illinois coach Bill Self said “I just haven’t seen guys move the ball up and down the floor like he did. I haven’t seen anybody Hinrich-fast.”
Hinrich’s offensive and defensive skills and his lightening speed weren’t what Kansas coach Roy Williams valued most. “I was an assistant coach at North Carolina when [Michael] Jordan played there. I think Kirk is in the same ballpark with Michael as far as competitiveness is concerned,” Williams said. “He is one tough, competitive kid.” Teammate Nick Collison agreed. “There’s no joking about basketball with him,” Collison said of Hinrich. “He’s very, very competitive.”
In 2003 Hinrich was named an All-American. Hinrich was the 7th pick in the 2003 NBA Draft. Through the 2010 season, Hinrich is averaging 13.4 points, 3.4 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game in the NBA.
Senior guard Jeff Boschee was another terrific outside shooter. Boschee averaged 13.4 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 2002. Boschee also shot 46.4% from three-point range. Boschee was a McDonald’s All American in high school. When he graduated high school, he was the all-time leading scorer in North Dakota high school history, with 1,994 points. Coach Roy Williams said that Boschee was “the best 3-point shooter in Big 12 history. The little rascal was willing to take—and made—a bunch of big shots. He was fearless—he was truly fearless—with the basketball. Every time he cocked it and got ready to shoot, I always thought it was going in.”
The 2001-2002 basketball season did not start out well for Kansas. The Jayhawks lost to Ball State 93-91 in the Maui Invitational despite Drew Gooden putting up 31 points and bringing down 10 rebounds. Kansas recovered and won their next 13 in a row, including an 105-97 victory over #3 Arizona in which Gooden scored 23 points and pulled down 15 rebounds, and an 83-76 win over #23 Wake Forest in which six Kansas players scored in double digits.
On January 12, 2002, the Jayhawks had moved to the top of the national rankings and traveled to Los Angeles to play #11 UCLA. Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich both fouled out and Drew Gooden was 7 of 17 from the field. Kansas lost 87-77.
The Jayhawks won their next 16 in a row. They didn’t lose again until the finals of the Big 12 Tournament. Kansas lost to #4 Oklahoma 64-55 in a defensive struggle. At halftime, the Jayhawks trailed 29-19. Gooden ended up 7 of 17 from the field, Collison was 7 of 15 from the field, Kirk Hinrich was a dismal 0 for 10 from the field and Jeff Boschee was 1 for 5 from the field.
After the loss to Oklahoma, Kansas entered the NCAA Tournament with a 29-3 record, ranked number two in the nation. In the first round, upstart Holy Cross gave Kansas a scare. At halftime, Holy Cross led the Jayhawks 37-35. Kansas turned up the defensive heat in the second half and sailed to a 70-59 victory. Kansas outrebounded Holy Cross 42-31 and outshot them 46 percent to 33 percent. Drew Gooden led the Jayhawks with 19 points and 13 rebounds.
In the second round, Kansas blew out #23 Stanford 86-63. In the first four minutes, Kansas had a 15-0 run. By halftime, Kansas led 48-26. When it was over, Gooden, Collison, Hinrich and Boschee had all scored 15 points or more. “Defensively they were all over us,” Stanford player Curtis Borchardt said. “We weren’t getting into our offensive sets. We couldn’t get open. We couldn’t get the ball entered. On the offensive end, they just attacked us.” Stanford coach Mike Montgomery agreed. “They really work hard defensively and everybody shot the ball very well,” Montgomery said after the game. “That’s the best team we’ve played all year.”
In the third round, Kansas beat #13 Illinois 73-69. Illinois stayed in the game by hitting 10 of 26 three-pointers. Gooden led the Jayhawks with 15 points and 13 rebounds. The Jayhawks also got a lot of help from freshman reserve Keith Langford, who scored 15 points on 5 of 7 shooting from the field and 5 of 6 shooting from the free throw stripe after Hinrich and Collison got in foul trouble.
In the regional finals, Kansas defeated #11 Oregon 104-86 in a fast-paced game. "That was a track meet," Kansas forward Drew Gooden said. Kansas crushed Oregon on the boards, outrebounding the Ducks 63 to 34. The Jayhawks were able to convert 26 offensive rebounds into 31 second chance points. “We knew the way to beat them was to beat them on the boards and get extra shots,” Kansas forward Drew Gooden said. Oregon guard Frederick Jones agreed. “They crash the boards all the time, every single play.” Drew Gooden scored 18 points and had 20 rebounds. Nick Collison scored 25 points and had 15 rebounds. Kirk Hinrich scored 14 points and had 9 rebounds. Freshman reserve Keith Langford scored 20 points and had 8 rebounds. Kansas never trailed, but Oregon stayed close for most of the game. “I thought we were going to blow it out several times,” Kansas guard Aaron Miles said, “but [Oregon is] a hard fighting team, a great team, and they didn’t give in.” Kansas jumped out to a 40-28 lead, but Oregon went on a 12-0 run and tied the game at 40. At halftime Kansas led 48-42. Oregon got as close as 77-72 in the second half, but then Kansas went on a 10-0 run to put the Ducks away.
In the Final Four, Kansas was matched up against #4 Maryland. Before the game, Kansas’ coach Roy Williams and Maryland’s coach Gary Williams were asked how bad they wanted to win the NCAA Championship. “How much do I want to win it?” Roy Williams answered. “As much as I want to breathe.” Gary Williams replied, “Personally, I’d rather keep breathing.”
Kansas lost to eventual champion Maryland 97-88. Kansas jumped out to an early 13-2 lead by making three shots from behind the arc. Maryland called a timeout and, after that, took over the game. Maryland’s Chris Wilcox dominated inside, swatting away two of Drew Gooden’s shots and holding Gooden to 1 for 5 shooting in the first half. "I didn't play good at all. I didn't get my shot off," Gooden said. "I got in foul trouble and struggled from there. Things didn't go my way tonight." "They really set the tone early with those blocks," said forward Nick Collison. “People talked about it being a matchup of our inside games and they really outplayed us."
Late in the first half, Kansas was forced to play a zone to keep Gooden and Collison out of foul trouble. Maryland guard Juan Dixon and center Chris Wilcox took advantage of the zone with a deadly inside-outside game. Dixon ended with 33 points, including 5 of 11 three-pointers. Wilcox ended with 18 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocks.
Maryland led 44-37 at halftime and extended that lead up to 20 points. Late in the second half, Kansas mounted a comeback. "It was a valiant effort on our part," said Kansas guard Jeff Boschee. "We didn't give up." Kansas cut the lead to 4 points (92-88) on a three-pointer by Drew Gooden with 20 seconds left. Boschee called for a timeout, but Kansas didn’t have any remaining. Maryland guard Juan Dixon made one of two free-throws on the technical foul to stretch the lead to 93-88. Maryland inbounded the ball and Boschee fouled Maryland forward Byron Mouton. Mouton hit both free-throws to stretch the lead to 95-88. Boschee missed a three-pointer and Maryland held on to win 97-88.
After the game, Roy Williams said “You know, it always hurts [to lose in the NCAA Tournament]. It makes no difference, Final Four, second round, whatever. I think it was a case of they basically played better than we did. We made some mistakes. We missed some shots. Then all of a sudden it's an 18-point game. Then I was about as proud of my team as I've ever been in my entire life. They kept believing that they could get it done, made a fantastic comeback, but we couldn’t quite get it over the hump." Nick Collison scored 21 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for Kansas. Guard Jeff Boschee had 17 points. Drew Gooden scored 15 points and had 9 rebounds. Guard Aaron Miles had 12 points (10 from the free-throw line) and 10 assists.
“I feel like if the ball would have bounced a different way a couple times, we would have had a championship,” swingman Kirk Hinrich said after the game.
Name Pos Class Pts Reb Ast
Drew Gooden F/C JR 19.8 11.4 2.0
Nick Collison F/C JR 15.6 8.3 1.7
Kirk Hinrich G/F JR 14.8 4.8 5.0
Jeff Boschee G SR 13.4 2.6 2.4
Wayne Simen F/C FR 8.1 5.3 0.3
Keith Langford G/F FR 7.9 3.3 1.5
Aaron Miles G FR 7.1 2.7 6.8
Jeff Carey F/C SR 1.9 1.6 0.1
Bryant Nash F SO 1.0 0.7 0.1
Brett Ballard G SR 0.8 0.5 0.5
How would 2002 Kansas do against the best teams of all time? Gooden and Collison have the size and strength inside to compete with anyone. Hinrich was the perfect college swingman. He played great defense and could score inside and outside. Jeff Boschee was one of the best three-point shooters ever. The 2002 Kansas Jayhawks would do very well against the best teams of all time.
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