STILLWATER, OKLA.- When Tyshawn Taylor and Thomas Robinson walked into the post game press conference, their smiles could not escape their faces. The reason both players’ smiles shined a bit brighter than normal sat just below the grins themselves.
Boasting shirts that read, “Big 12 conference 8STR8 Champs,” Taylor, Robinson and the entire Kansas team finally got to celebrate cementing their place in Kansas history.
“We were too tired to do anything on Saturday,” Bill Self said. “We didn’t celebrate much, but we celebrated some in the locker room just now.”
Just 48 hours after that emotional overtime victory over Missouri, Kansas beat Oklahoma State 70-58, and clinched an outright 2012 Big 12 championship.
The students weren’t the only ones whose voices were still hoarse Monday. Tyshawn Taylor’s scratchy voice could not be ignored after the game, and the reason he gave for his vocal chords’ struggles was a just one.
“Celebration, baby,” Taylor said. “Celebration, that’s it.”
This team deserved to rejoice in its victory. Many doubted them from the start, and until these past two games, that doubt hung over Allen Fieldhouse.
But now that’s all erased, and this unlikely team of Big 12 champions will be one that people should and will remember.
They’ll remember the three freshmen that never played. They’ll remember the showdown with Duke and turnover Taylor. They’ll remember Taylor’s incredible run in Big 12 play. They’ll remember the Missouri game – for a long, long time. And most of all, they’ll remember Thomas Robinson.
But what needs to be remembered as much as the players and the games, is what Bill Self magically pulled off once again.
Through the bruises and bumps of this season, he took an inconsistent Tyshawn Taylor and made him the leader of a team that is 25-5 this season. He took Thomas Robinson from an averaged 7.6 points points per game in 2011, to the possible Player of the Year Award winner.
And he somehow won with a team whose bench consisted of one former walk-on and one current walk-on — Conner Teahan and Justin Wesley — and a transfer, Kevin Young.
And when Taylor sat down after the Jayhawks had just made sure that they wouldn’t be sharing their Big 12 trophy with anyone else, it’s clear he felt a load lift off his shoulders.
“It feels amazing, because a lot of people didn’t think we’d be this good this year,” Taylor said. “Our goal was always to win the Big 12 championship.”
While Kansas was picked to win the conference before the season started, the players still felt and heard the doubting hush around Lawrence, and rightfully so.
When Robinson and Taylor both sat down, they deserved to finally smile. Through the criticisms and shaky start, this group of inexperienced players came together and became a team — the best team in the Big 12 conference.
And their smiles showed it.