Bill Self outcoached Mike Krzyzewski in top-seeded Kansas’ 85-81 overtime win over No. 2 seeded Duke in the Elite Eight on Sunday. But it turns out the Jayhawks head coach had a little help from nine-year-old Jay Jay Howard.
Howard is the son of Kansas assistant coach Jerrance Howard, and he wrote a detailed scouting report on the Blue Devils a few months ago that his father posted to Instagram on Monday.
Wow.
First of all, Jay Jay hit the nail on the head with Marvin Bagley III’s porous pick-and-roll defense. The 6-foot-11 Bagley struggled early in the season with defending ball screens, causing Krzyzewski to implement a zone defense. The nine-year-old also was spot on with defending Trevon Duval, as one of the changes Krzyzewski made late in the season was to put his freshman point guard on the wing and let him attack defenses from the side in order to open up looks for Grayson Allen and Gary Trent Jr.
The Jayhawks also clearly took Jay Jay’s fourth point to heart, as they owned the glass against the bigger Blue Devils which was a key to their epic victory.
Well done, Jay Jay.
Kansas will play Villanova in the Final Four on Saturday.
