Super Sunday

It was a Super Sunday.

Because of the big NFL championship?

No.

Because of the much-anticipated commercials shown throughout the game?

Uh-uh.

Because the young Jayhawks pulled victory from the jaws of defeat?

Right on, sister.

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While the Super Bowl ended up being classified as one level above "Dud" and the commercials were, for the most part, unspectacular, KU pulled out their most important victory of the season.

Going into the game, I figured the Hawks had a far more than reasonable chance of winning. Oklahoma didn't appear to be as good as they had been the last few years, even after defeating Texas. KU had been running on all cylinders with their offense finally catching up to their nationally-best defense.

But six days off left KU a little out of sorts. Thankfully, Oklahoma's offense is putrid and the Hawks were able to keep them in check (other than the uncharacteristic marksmanship from 3-point range).

So with a 3-point deficit at halftime, the Jayhawks didn't seem to be in any real danger of losing the game. That is, until Mario Chalmers started throwing the ball away as if it were infected with the bird flu. Add in the fact that Kansas' vaunted defense fell asleep momentarily and you got the feeling that the team had given up after Oklahoma had extended its lead to 16 points.

But then the defense started causing turnovers. And that kick-started the offense with some fast-break, easy buckets. And Brandon Rush's sight was restored after being inadvertently poked in the eye earlier in the game and he started knocking down shots. And all of a sudden, in a flurry of near-perfect basketball, KU had tied the game.

One of the key decisions down the stretch was to allow Rush to guard OU's point guard, Terrell Everett. Rush's height advantage paid off when he blocked Everett's shot late in the game and then managed to grab the rebound from his second attempt.

There were two other notable decisions that could have backfired on Coach Self: A) keeping Chalmers in the game regardless of his propensity to give the ball to the other team, and, B) playing C.J. Giles in crunch time. Giles, who had recently seemed to be as lost as the survivors of the popular ABC primetime drama, was able to pick himself up and change the outcome of the game with his shot-blocking ability. He blocked 3 shots and altered several more in the span of 12 minutes. Meanwhile, Chalmers kept up his defensive intensity and hit what turned out to be the game-winning basket.

All of this is not to overshadow the stellar play of Julian Wright. Self decided to stick with Wright, even after benching Julian against the physical Aggies of Texas A&M. Oklahoma was just as physical and Wright held his own throughout the entire contest. He was the top rebounder on the team and continued to show flashes of brilliance passing the basketball.

This was a game KU needed to win, not so much for the mark in the 'W' column, but more for the confidence of a young team. To be able to beat a ranked, physical, conference opponent after coming back from a double-digit deficit, the Jayhawks answered many questions regarding their toughness and ability to close out tight games. And Bill Self has started to answer the numerous critics of his coaching ability. With eight games left, the Jayhawks have put themselves in an excellent position with tournament time just around the corner.

So, a Super Sunday it was, indeed. The football season finally came to an end and the Jayhawks propelled themselves further in the race for Big Dance.