Upset Special?

(St. Louis, MO) – Can the Colonels shock the college basketball world?  How many times does a 15 Seed knock off a Second Seeded team?  Not very often. Only seven 15th seeded teams have ever defeated a number two. Eastern Kentucky rolls into St. Louis as a heavy underdog to the mighty Kansas Jayhawks.

The Ohio Valley Conference Tournament champions are a hot basketball team. The Colonels (24-9) have won seven straight games and take on a Big Twelve Champion Jayhawks (24-9) that are scuffling a bit. They’ve lost two of their last three games and three of their last five. One of those two wins was in overtime against Oklahoma State.

Kansas Coach Bill Self is worried about the good ball movement and excellent outside shooting that Eastern Kentucky brings to the game.

Obviously the Colonels have a tall task before them at Scottrade Center today. Kansas is number ten in both national polls, they’ve won ten straight Big Twelve championships and they are loaded with talent.

But it is March and that’s when magical things happen for lower seeded teams. Two Missouri Valley Conference teams have knocked off the unbeatable Jayhawks in NCAA play in this century, and Head Coach Jeff Neubauer was part of a Richmond University staff that upset the SEC champion South Carolina in a previous tournament.

Coach Neubauer was asked about making comparisons between that match up and the one before him today, and he said there really isn’t any comparison.

 

Kansas has freshman super star Andrew Wiggins, but is missing their other first year star in Joel Embiid and Eastern Kentucky counters with guards Glenn Cosey (18.8) and Corey Walden (14.1) who combine to score over 30 points and seven assists per game. Between the two they collect 5 of the more than three point baskets the Colonels collect most games.

This game is closer than many people think.

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