The matchup has been set for several days now and while many feel the Jayhawks have a cakewalk to the Final Four, Bill Self has attempted to keep his players grounded. All the talk has been about matchups on the Kansas side of things and the Richmond Spiders do present some interesting ones.
For one Richmond runs an interesting matchup zone/switching man style defense that hides the help well. At times this year Kansas has struggled with such a defense and at other times the Jayhawks have moved the ball around as well as anyone in the country.
Offensively the Spiders shoot over 40% from beyond the arc with every starter shooting above the 40% mark on the season. That certainly would be one ingredient for a potential upset and the Jayhawks perimeter defense was viewed as suspect early in the season.
The key for Kansas will most likely again rest with the Morris twins. The Spiders primary weakness is in rebounding and keeping opponents off the offensive glass. If Kansas can exploit that throughout the game they should be able to manage more easy buckets and ultimately pull away.
Anytime a no. 1 plays a no. 12 the odds aren’t on the side of the 12, but with recent history and the topsy turvy nature of the tournament as the backdrop, it’s certainly no walk in the park for Bill Self and the Jayhawks.