FRIDAY, APRIL 1 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ SU D5
BY EMILY GIAMBALVOThe college basketball season
hadn’t officially begun, and the
outcome of this exhibition game
held no meaning within the
scope of another year full of title
aspirations. But Kansas fans in
Allen Fieldhouse already were
chanting Remy Martin’s name.
The new point guard flashed
his skill, and as one of the best
transfer prospects last offseason,
he brought a jolt of optimism to
the storied program. Martin ar-
rived with an extensive collection
of accolades from his four sea-
sons at Arizona State — and more
seemed to be on the horizon,
starting with Big 12 preseason
player of the year honors. He has
made it to the peak he imagined
— he’s at the Final Four as a No. 1
seed chasing a championship —
but his path to New Orleans
veered far off course before he
finally returned to form at the
ideal time.
A few months after that exhibi-
tion game, as Martin began set-
tling into a groove at his new
school, he bumped a knee into an
opposing player. He fell to the
court and grimaced as he re-
turned to his feet. He later
subbed back into the game, a
lopsided win over Nevada in late
December, but that injury, a deep
bone bruise, spiraled into a
months-long period of uncertain-
ty, with Martin spending extend-
ed stretches on the bench.
Without Martin, the Jayhawks
mostly cruised. They lost just six
games and won a share of the
Big 12 regular season title. Martin
says now that he never worried
about whether he would return
to full health, but as the calendar
turned to March, he still had
made only limited appearances.
On senior day, he logged just six
minutes and two points. He
hadn’t scored in double figures
since the injury.
This veteran-laden Jayhawks
team has Ochai Agbaji, a national
season allowed in the wake of the
coronavirus pandemic, and he
started each game before his
injury, averaging 10.9 points. Af-
ter the Nevada game, he missed
the next matchup, then made two
appearances before sitting out
two more. He returned to the
court in a reserve role for a few
weeks and then missed nearly a
month.
The injury was difficult to
manage, Self said, because noth-
ing structural was wrong with
Martin’s knee. At Arizona State,
Martin played 118 games, miss-
ing just four. He said he had
never really dealt with an injury.
In the final four games of the
regular season, Martin logged a
total of 32 minutes and nine
points. The Remy Martin who
arrived with lofty expectations
and then began to flash his po-
tential had slipped away, with no
clear return date.
Now he’s back — still in a
sixth-man role, which he admits
is “something that obviously
wasn’t my goal coming here, but
things change” — and he’s thriv-
ing. He has averaged 13.3 points
in seven postseason matchups,
helping the Jayhawks to the
Big 12 tournament title. He led
the team in scoring in its first
three NCAA tournament games,
including a season-best outburst
of 23 points against No. 4 seed
Providence.
“He changes our team com-
pletely when he comes in the
game,” the Jayhawks’ Jalen Wil-
son said. “We’re able to be so
much faster. The energy he
brings with the excitement, get-
ting the crowd involved — those
little things that we were missing
take our team to another level.”
Martin can make careless mis-
takes, but he also generates of-
fensive sparks and creates his
own shots. His defense has im-
proved, especially lately. No
coach wants a standout player to
miss large chunks of the season,
but Martin’s reemergence makesthis Kansas team difficult to
scout.
The California native infuses
his personality into the game —
perhaps, Martin said, a product
of watching Kobe Bryant, Russell
Westbrook and a few people
around his neighborhood who
were “fancy” in the way they
played.
Martin has a laid-back de-
meanor off the floor, but during
games, he turns into a fiery
showman. When he lifts his arms
to fire up the crowd, the arena
erupts with a roar. When asked
about those moments, Martin
said with a smile, “I mean, it
would be awkward if they didn’t.”
It’s all part of his feel for the
game, and those emotional
bursts feel natural. Self saw Mar-
tin turn into an energizer at the
Big 12 tournament but didn’t
know whether that spark would
fade. The NCAA tournament has
proved this version of Remy Mar-
tin is here to stay.
“I think Remy, in his core,
always knew what he was capa-
ble to do to help us,” Self said,
“but we hadn’t really seen it yet
because his health hadn’t al-
lowed it. I think our guys have
more of a swagger now knowing
what Remy can do to make us
better.”
Here he is bound for the Final
Four, wearing a celebratory
T -shirt and hat while smiling as
he cuts off a piece of the net to
keep forever. The injury concerns
and uncertainty keep slipping
further into the past. After the
Elite Eight win over Miami, the
Jayhawks gathered on a stage at
midcourt. The crowd started
chanting: “Remy! Remy! Remy!”
Martin didn’t know why. He
hadn’t realized he had been
named the region’s most out-
standing player. But the fans
knew, and so did everyone watch-
ing: Martin has returned to his
best, just in time for the Jay-
hawks’ run toward the national
title.With Martin back in action, the Jayhawks are thinking bigThe Arizona State transfer struggled with a bone bruise, but his postseason resurgence has Kansas energized — and two wins from the national titlethe push for more is a tradition.
It is sad it must be that way, but
it inspires a sense of mission
that makes the game something
greater than mere competition.
One year after the debacle in
the NCAA women’s tournament
bubble provided clear and
infuriating examples of March
Madness gender bias, the
conversation isn’t about weight
rooms and perks. It now centers
on systems, on financial models
and ideas to alter the revenue
structure, on ways to customize
how the women’s field of 68 is
packaged so that it maximizes
its potential to attract the largest
audience.
Simple ignorance reignited
the discussion. Sophisticated
BREWER FROM D1 thinking will sustain it. For
VanDerveer and every other
leader in women’s sports, they’re
not asking to get something.
They’re asking for the resources
to build something. Over the
past half century, there are so
many stories that show what’s
possible when schools are
willing to invest.
In 1974, Tennessee paid Pat
Summitt $250 a month when
she began her magnificent,
game-changing career.
VanDerveer barely had money to
eat when she started as a
volunteer. Now, 1,157 victories
and three national titles later,
she has made her mark at
Stanford and on the entire sport.
“I just want our team to
remember two little words
sometimes: Thank you,”
VanDerveer said. “People have
fought so hard for the
opportunity to be up here.”
In talking about growing the
game, it’s possible to say both
“thank you” and “shame on you.”
The revolutionaries who helped
elevate the sport — South
Carolina Coach Dawn Staley
calls them “foremothers” —
deserve the recognition, as do
the advocates who supported
them. But gratitude doesn’t have
to lead to complacency. Even as
things improve, it still takes a
brawler to make administrators
create an optimal atmosphere
for success.
Among coaches, you can see
the tradition in action at this
Final Four. For the second
straight year, VanDerveer here is
along with Staley, who played forthe Stanford coach on the iconic
1996 U.S. Olympic team.
VanDerveer is 17 years older and
from a much different
generation. She often sounds
like a professor of basketball. On
the other hand, Staley is from
north Philadelphia and oozes
that toughness in almost
everything she does and says.
Yet somehow they’re also the
same. You don’t want to be in a
battle with either.
It’s hard to name any women’s
basketball standout, player or
coach, who doesn’t possess that
kind of tenacity. It’s a mandatory
trait to push the game forward.
“For me, I want to be known
as or remembered as an odds
beater,” Staley said. “And as you
walk this path of whatever
you’re supposed to be, whoeveryou’re supposed to be and
wherever you’re supposed to go
and whoever you’re supposed to
touch, I don’t really stop to think
about it. I’m just acting. I’m just
doing what I’m supposed to do.
I’m comfortable in my skin, and
I’m comfortable being
uncomfortable and making
other people uncomfortable
when it’s for the right thing.”
In October, Staley signed a
new contract after an offseason
in which her suitors included an
NBA interview with the Portland
Trail Blazers. Her request was to
be paid like a men’s coach. When
the negotiations concluded,
South Carolina gave her a seven-
year, $22.4 million deal, the
richest in NCAA history for a
Black women’s coach.
Greed wasn’t Staley’smotivation for seeking a
landmark deal. She wanted to do
her part to set a new standard
for what it takes to keep a
championship coach.
“I think what I want is to have
generational impact,” Staley
said. “That’s what I would like to
have, generational impact. Not
to just impact my current
players but to have impact on
people who will have impact on
people who will have impact on
other people.”
Staley never had to coach for
free, and her first job paid much
more than $13,000. Atop the
shoulders of the foremothers,
she sends an updated message:
Better isn’t good enough. Heck,
good enough isn’t good enough.
Thank you, but fairness
demands more.JERRY BREWER
As the women’s game approaches a milestone event, better still isn’t good enough
player of the year finalist, and
another NBA prospect in Chris-
tian Braun. They kept winning,
but because of Martin’s absence,
they hardly had the opportunity
to see what they could truly
become.
“We’ve said all along that we
had a chance to be a much better
team than what we displayed,
even though we had a really good
year, just because of him,” Coach
Bill Self said of Martin. “But not
knowing what him really was.”
Now Kansas is finding out.
Entering this season, Self ex-
pected the 6-foot guard would
add speed, personality and explo-
siveness. In the NCAA tourna-
ment, Martin has done just that,soaring throughout Kansas’s run
to the Final Four. The Jayhawks
need to defeat No. 2 seed Villano-
va, a team depleted by Justin
Moore’s injury, in the semifinals
to reach the title game against
Duke or North Carolina. Finally
for Martin, it’s all going as
planned.
“He’s one of the few guys out
there that can have a miserable
or a very poor year by his own
expectations due to things out-
side of his control, and he would
tell you right now he’s having the
time of his life,” Self said. “It’s
been the best year ever, in large
part just because it’s gone well
the last couple of weeks.”
Over four seasons at ArizonaState, Martin became a star, gar-
nering first-team all-conference
honors twice. He averaged nearly
20 points during his final two
seasons, but he never made it far
in the NCAA tournament, losing
in the First Four as a freshman
and in the first round as a
sophomore.
“I think that’s part of my story
— being able to fail so many times
and keep getting back up and
continue to try to reach your
goal,” Martin said. “I’m living in
that story right now.”
His move to Kansas was meant
to help him improve as a player
and have a better shot at winning
the ultimate prize. Martin ar-
rived with fanfare for a fifthCHARLES REX ARBOGAST/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Remy Martin has averaged 13.3 points in the postseason, including 16.8 during the NCAA tournament.BY GENE WANGminneapolis — Just when it
appeared Connecticut was finally
fully healthy entering the Final
Four following an injury-plagued
regular season, the Huskies find
themselves shorthanded again,
this time without a top post
player who transferred in with
hopes of winning a national
championship.
Dorka Juhász underwent sur-
gery Wednesday for a fracture
and dislocation in her left wrist,
according to Coach Geno Auriem-
ma, after suffering the gruesome
injury during the first half in
Monday night’s 91-87 double-
overtime win against top-seeded
North Carolina State in the
Bridgeport Region final.
Auriemma indicated he had
spoken with the 6-foot-5 graduate
forward Wednesday night and
early Thursday morning, reveal-
ing the two-time all-Big Ten selec-
tion at Ohio State was in excellent
spirits after announcing she
would be coming back next sea-
son with one year of eligibility
remaining.
The injury to Connecticut’s top
frontcourt reserve leaves the sec-
ond-seeded Huskies (29-5) with a
short rotation along the interior
for Friday night’s showdown with
reigning national champion
Stanford (32-3), the No. 1 seed out
of the Spokane Region. The Car-
dinal may have the most length
and quality depth in the post of
any of the teams at Target Center.
“It’s par for the course, right?”
said Auriemma, who has directed
Connecticut to 14 straight Final
Fours. “It’s okay. We only play the
longest team in the country, so it’s
just the way the season’s gone. I
was fortunate I didn’t see it. By
the time I got over there, our
athletic trainer already had cov-
ered it up, so I didn’t see what
[the players] saw.”
The injury occurred with 6:19
left in the second quarter after
Juhász used her arm to brace
herself while colliding violently
with the padded base of the goal
diving for a loose ball. She im-
mediately clutched her arm and
choked back tears while team-
mates covered their mouths and
sought medical personnel.
Fans at packed Total Mortgage
Arena in Bridgeport, Conn., fell
silent as Juhász remained on her
back for an extended period be-
fore rising to her feet and walking
through the tunnel to the locker
room, where she remained for the
rest of the game.
Juhász was on the court at the
time because starter Olivia Nel-
son-Ododa had picked up her
second personal foul less than a
minute into the second quarter.
Starting forward Aaliyah Ed-
wards also was in foul trouble
throughout the game, forcing Au-
riemma at times to go with a
smaller lineup.
“That moment with Dorka was
super emotional because it waslike, ‘Dang, another injury,’ espe-
cially at that time,” said Nelson-
Ododa, a senior. “It was kind of
something we’ve been dealing
with all year, but I think it not
only motivated me but my entireteam just kind of gathered our-
selves, grouped ourselves togeth-
er, just like we have to fight this
one out for her.”
Auriemma has deployed
11 starting lineups this seasonbecause of injuries, particularly
those of sophomore Paige Bueck-
ers and freshman Azzi Fudd.
Bueckers missed 19 games on
the heels of surgery to repair a
tibial plateau fracture and menis-cus tear in her left knee suffered
Dec. 5 in a 73-54 victory over
Notre Dame. She had not scored
more than 15 since she came back
Feb. 25 before she unleashed
27 against the Wolfpack, includ-
ing 15 in the two overtimes.
The 5-11 guard, a native of
Hopkins, Minn., roughly 10 miles
from downtown Minneapolis,
last season became the first fresh-
man in NCAA history to sweep all
the major national player of the
year awards.
Fudd, meanwhile, missed
11 games with injuries to her foot
that have lingered since the end
of her senior season at St. John’s
College High in the District. It’s
unclear when Fudd initially hurt
her foot, but the 5-11 guard subse-
quently had a weight drop on the
same foot, and the healing proc-
ess was rocky.
But the two-time Washington
Post All-Met Player of the Year
and 2019 national high school
player of the year has started 18 of
19 games since she rejoined the
lineup Jan 26. She scored
19 points in 49 grueling minutes
in the region final against the
Wolfpack.
“We’ve got to play with what we
have,” Auriemma said. “We can
obviously tinker with some line-
up situations as the game goes on,
but we have what we have, and
that’s not changing. We’re going
to have to figure out a way to win
with it. It’s unfortunate, but that’s
kind of been our season this year.”Connecticut looked healthy for the F inal Four, but it is s horthanded again
ELSA/GETTY IMAGES
Connecticut’s Dorka Juhász underwent surgery for a fracture and dislocation in her left wrist.NCAA tournament