NEW ORLEANS — At halftime of Monday’s national title game, with his team’s hopes of ending a 14-year championship drought starting to flicker, Kansas forward David McCormack couldn’t stop smiling.
He was practically giggling at the thought of the second-half comeback that he envisioned the Jayhawks staging.
“Why are you smiling dude?” teammate Christian Braun asked. “We’re down 15!”
“Keep your head up, we’ll be alright,” Braun said McCormack told him.
The biggest comeback in national title game history started with the irrational confidence of the team who completed it. Kansas erased North Carolina’s 15-point halftime lead and rallied for a 72-69 victory mostly because head coach Bill Self was able to instill in the Jayhawks a belief that they could do the improbable.