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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Get all of Luke Winn\u2019s columns as soon as they\u2019re published. Download the new Sports Illustrated app (iOS&amp;nbsp;or Android) and personalize your experience by following your favorite teams and SI writers.&lt;/em&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;LOUISVILLE \u2014 Kansas had been a part of this situation before, more times than it wished to remember: a team with NBA-level talent, which began the season ranked in the top 10, falls flat in the NCAA tournament against an opponent with no sure-fire first-round picks in its starting lineup. It happened to the Jayhawks in 2010, when their six future NBA players were upset in the second round by Northern Iowa. It happened to KU in 2011, when its six future NBA players were upset in the Elite Eight by VCU. Happened again in 2014, when Andrew Wiggins was knocked out in the second round by Stanford. Happened again in 2015, when the Kelly Oubre Jr. team was sent home by Wichita State in the Round of 32.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And it happened again on Thursday in the Sweet 16\u2014except Kansas, despite being a No. 1 seed, was on the other side of the situation. It was Maryland, the preseason No. 3 team in the AP poll, with projected first-rounder Diamond Stone at center, and projected (for the early part of this season, at least) first-rounder Melo Trimble at point guard, falling flat against a team without a starter that NBA scouts covet. Kansas, which won 79\u201363 and moved on to face Villanova in the Elite Eight, remains the tournament favorite because it\u2019s greater than the sum of its parts\u2014and also, because one of its parts, while he\u2019s not even guaranteed to be a second-round pick in June\u2019s draft, could go down as one of the most valuable power forwards in the history of a storied program.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;That part is understated and undersized (at least by pro standards, at 6'8\") senior Perry Ellis, who scored season-high 27 points on 10-of-17 shooting, flummoxing four different members of Maryland\u2019s frontcourt\u2014Stone, juniors Robert Carter and Damonte Dodd, and sophmore&amp;nbsp;Michal&amp;nbsp;Cekovsky\u200B\u2014with post moves, dribble drives and face-up jumpers. Ellis is the rare five-star recruit who stays four years in college\u2014and all four years at the &lt;em&gt;same&lt;/em&gt; college\u2014but by doing so, Self says, \u201CHe has a chance to leave Kansas with a legacy that will allow him to be a hero there for a lifetime.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ellis won\u2019t say these things himself, though. Faced with a question, in the post-Maryland press conference, about the meaning of his final NCAA tournament hurrah, all he said was: \u201CJust happy with the team. Just going to try to keep competing and having fun with it.\u201D And when he scored his final bucket&amp;nbsp;on Thursday, on a pretty, face-up jumper over Dodd with&amp;nbsp;6:03&amp;nbsp;left that put Kansas up 66\u201353, and forced the Terrapins to call a damage-control timeout, Ellis did not yell or chest-bump or gesticulate on his way back to the Jayhawks\u2019 huddle. All he did to celebrate the 26th and 27th points in the best NCAA tournament performance of his career, on a day where he also passed Paul Pierce on KU\u2019s all-time scoring list, was clap\u2014twice.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some of Ellis\u2019s teammates, however, could not resist staying quiet. Junior guard Wayne Selden had somehow internalized pregame talk about the talent gap between the Terrapins and Jayhawks in a way that made him convinced KU was an underdog, despite his team being favored by six points. \u201CThey said they had the NBA players over there, we just had the average Joes, and we took that personally,\u201D Selden said. So with&amp;nbsp;16:43&amp;nbsp;left in the second half, when he hit a three over Layman\u2014a fellow projected second-rounder\u2014to put Kansas up 48\u201343, Selden told anyone within earshot, \u201CHe can\u2019t guard me!\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;After the game, Selden was also comfortable speaking on Ellis\u2019s behalf, proclaiming, \u201CI can say it for [Perry]: They can\u2019t guard him.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Terrapins began to realize this in the second half, as Kansas\u2019s two-point halftime lead began expanding, Ellis\u2019s point total kept rising, and he proved nearly impossible to defend without fouling. After Ellis caught the ball in the mid-post, drove left on Dodd and was fouled under the rim with&amp;nbsp;12:31&amp;nbsp;left, Maryland senior guard Rasheed Sulaimon pleaded with referee Ron Groover for guidance. \u201CI\u2019m asking, \u2018What can he do?\u2019\u201D Sulaimon said of Dodd, while trying to mimic a straight-up stance. Groover appeared to tell Sulaimon that Dodd could try to take a charge, to which a more agitated Sulaimon replied, \u201CAside from taking a charge, &lt;em&gt;what can he do&lt;/em&gt;?\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Terrapins never found a good answer. Cekovsky\u200B&amp;nbsp;fouled Ellis again less than a minute later on an and-one, and those points plus an Ellis jumper on the ensuing possession gave Kansas an 11-point lead at 59\u201348 with&amp;nbsp;11:13&amp;nbsp;left.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Junior center&amp;nbsp;Landen Lucas said Ellis\u2019s monster game was no fluke, because Kansas coaches recognized how much trouble Maryland\u2019s bigs were having with that defensive assignment and kept calling plays to get Ellis the ball. Lucas watched with amusement\u2014and recognition, but not sympathy, as the frustration mounted. He has tried, mostly in vain, to guard Ells in practice for years. \u201CWhen [Maryland\u2019s big men] were jawing at each other to guard [Ellis], I knew how it feels,\u201D Lucas said. \u201CAnd it sucks.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lucas tends to have the best perspective on Ellis\u2019s dominance, because the 6\u201910\u201D junior, ever since joining Kansas\u2019s starting lineup on Jan. 23, has been playing ever-increasing minutes alongside Ellis. Early on in Thursday\u2019s game, Self subbed that 4-5 duo in and out of the game like a hockey line, and they delivered: Kansas was plus-11 with Ellis on the floor in the first half and plus-nine with Lucas, while it was minus-seven with freshman backup Carlton Bragg and minus-nine with senior Jamari Traylor on the floor. Lucas complemented Ellis as an offensive rebounder (Lucas grabbed four, and had 11 total boards) and garbage-collector (scoring 14 points, mostly at close range). The realization that Lucas and Ellis work so well together has led to a shrinking of Kansas\u2019s frontcourt rotation, but Self says it\u2019s necessary to maximize Ellis\u2019 abilities. \u201CWe need[ed] to play somebody,\u201D Self said, \u201Cthat gives Perry a chance to be as good as he can be.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;With the end of his college career on the line at every step of this NCAA tournament, Ellis has reached that peak level. He may not yet be a lock to get drafted, but he\u2019s now one win away from the Final Four that eluded him in his first three years in Lawrence, and three wins away from being a Kansas hero. Can Villanova\u2014or anyone\u2014find a way to stop him?\r\n&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.si.com/college-basketball/2016/03/25/kansas-jayhawks-ncaa-tournament-perry-ellis>