Real Bracket Busters

The Buck didn’t stop here.

Only Kansas did.

The third-seeded Jayhawks became the highest-seeded team to fall so far in the NCAA tournament when No. 14 Bucknell pulled a 64-63 upset Friday in the Syracuse Regional after Wayne Simien’s 15-foot jumper clanged off the front of the rim at the buzzer.

Simien clutched both hands to his head as the Bucknell celebration began after the Bison, a team from tiny Lewisburg, Pa., knocked off a Kansas team that began the season ranked No. 1 but lost six of its final nine games.

Bucknell (23-9) led much of the game, but the Jayhawks said they never thought they were about to lose.

“Not until the buzzer sounded,” Simien said. “Deep down inside, we felt we had a chance to win no matter what.”

The Jayhawks (23-7) could hardly have asked for a better chance to win at the end, especially considering they had trailed by five with 1:22 left.

Down by only one after Bucknell’s John Griffin missed the front end of a one-and-one with 3.5 seconds left, Kansas called timeout and set up a final, length-of-the-court play with 2.4 seconds left.

Michael Lee took the ball out of bounds, and eluded the long arms of 6-foot-8 Chris Niesz to make a long pass to Simien, who caught the ball and turned to shoot from around the free-throw line.

“The pass was perfect, right on target. It couldn’t have been better,” Simien said. “The shot felt good, it just wasn’t a good result. Catching the ball at the free-throw line is one of my go-to moves. No telling how many times I’ve made that shot in my career.

“I don’t know how many game-winning shots I made in my backyard growing up dreaming of being a Jayhawk, and it just didn’t work out this time.”

The first-round loss was the first for the Jayhawks since 1978, when UCLA defeated Kansas.

It couldn’t have worked out better for Bucknell, which won its first NCAA tournament game after two previous first-round routs.

“Once it bounced off the rim, it was just so exciting,” said guard Kevin Bettencourt, who made five of 15 three-pointers and led Bucknell with 19 points. “To see how hard we had to work just to get to this point ... we would not have been satisfied just to be here. We wanted to win. It was unbelievable.”

Disbelief seemed to describe the Kansas players. Those of them facing reporters in the locker room immediately after the game seemed more shell-shocked than teary.

Keith Langford, who played 26 minutes but didn’t start because of a recent flu-like illness and ankle injury, scored six points and made only one of six shots.

“I could say I was this or I was that, but the bottom line is I played and that’s all that matters,” Langford said. “There won’t be any asterisk next to this saying the status of Keith Langford. I have no regrets. People take shots, people make shots. We just missed too many big shots.”

Kansas missed its last 10 field-goal attempts and shot only 33% in the second half but stayed close by making free throws.

The Jayhawks’ last best chance came after a steal by Michael Lee turned into a four-point possession after Charles Lee was called for an intentional foul on the breakaway. Lee made two free throws and Langford gave Kansas a one-point lead when he added two more when he was fouled on the possession awarded because of the intentional foul.

But Bucknell’s Chris McNaughton scored on the other end, working inside for a shot and a 64-63 lead with eight seconds left.

Langford missed on the other end, and then Griffin’s missed free throw set up Simien’s final shot.

“He knows we all want him to take the last shot,” forward Christian Moody said. “He’s had an incredible career. He’s our go-to guy.”

Make that was.