Far and away: Wayne Selden Jr. leads Jayhawks to Maui title

Selden then revealed the plan. “If we play poorly in a 20-minute stretch against that, it’s going to be hard on us, and that’s what happened tonight”. “It will be in my room for a month, and go across the hall to his room for another month”.

Jayhawks coach Bill Self wants to make an adjustment to their sharing schedule.

“With Devonté and Frank”, Self said, “the best offense is to beat your man and certainly they do a great job of forcing help”. “From that point on, we played catch-up….” Until we get more bodies, we’ve got to be somewhat diligent on how we do things. “And I think we were taken back a little bit by their length and size”. And Wayne’s fine with it.

“That’s about as well as we can play offensively”, Self said.

Selden, who averaged 19.3 points in Kan-sas’ three Maui games, and Mason, who averaged 13.3 points and 5.7 assists, were named the tournament’s co-MVPs. The junior had six points, five rebounds, and two blocks in front of a crowd filled with National Basketball Association scouts who were eager to judge the talent between these two top 25 programs.

But they put on an offensive clinic in the opening half against a Chaminade defense that came into the afternoon giving up 101 points per game.

In many ways it was a game for St. John’s where they looked comfortable on and off the ball and also had a bit of confidence. “We went to a game plan that really was where we needed to end the game (Monday), and we didn’t end it that way, but we came at it and established it right away”. Through 15 minutes of the second half, KU had shredded the VU defense to make 70 percent of their baskets after halftime.

“We’re disappointed in how we played the second half, particularly defensively”, Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said. “But, you know, shots that we are pretty accustomed to making, we didn’t make today”.

Chaminade had one final rally in them as 3-pointers from Shastri and Hu trimmed the lead to five, but just 12 seconds remained and Johnson made two free throws for the final margin.

With the combination of 7-foot-1 forward Luke Kornet and 7-footer Damian Jones leading charge, Vanderbilt was able to use its size to take control early and hold on for a 30-26 lead at the half.

Graham finished with 12 points and Mason added 10.

-Perry Ellis leads Kansas with 18 points per game and a 60% field-goal percentage.

Vanderbilt: The Commodores won this tournament in 1986, led by center Will Perdue….

Mason dished seven assists against two turnovers against Chaminade, seven assists to no turnovers against UCLA and three assists to one turnover vs. Vanderbilt. They had 11 of each against Kansas.

Kansas: That 1996 title team was led by forward Raef LaFrentz….

Kansas is 5-2 against the spread in their last seven non-conference games, 1-5 against the spread following a game that they covered the point spread, and 1-6 against the spread against the SEC.

This is by far Kansas’ most impressive win of the season, as it lost its only other game against a ranked opponent in Michigan State.

The Commodores have a week to recover and will have the Detroit Titans waiting for them.