The story line entering Sunday's game between the Kansas Jayhawks and Illinois in the second round of the 2011 NCAA tournament bracket was KU basketball head coach Bill Self facing his former team. Self has been gone from Illinois for over eight years but that was still the dominating story line.
Kansas walked away with a victory over Illinois, advancing to the Sweet 16, and the Morris brothers -- Marcus and Markieff -- say that win was for Self.
Marcus said:
Yeah, when we first came out to break the huddle I told the guys that we needed to do it for coach. That was his old school. When we went to Philly, he told the guys that they needed to do it for us when we played against Temple. So I just felt like we needed to return the favor. Just to get our emotions going that coach would beat his old school.
And Markieff:
I think, yeah, like Marcus said, we definitely did that for coach. We just wanted to play hard and try to win the game, what we did, and just get that win for coach.
The Jayhawks now go onto play Richmond in the Sweet 16 and they should have some motivation for that game as well. It was only seven years ago that Richmond walked into Allen Fieldhouse and beat Self's Jayhawks.
(H/T Transcript)