Joel Embiid has been among the finest basketball gamers on the planet for fairly a while now. Just lately, the LegionHoops account on Twitter, and different social media accounts, pulled a quote from Embiid’s 2018 entry from the Gamers’ Tribune about his journey, wherein he advised a hilarious story about how a teammate at Kansas dunked on him. A fast Google search will remind you that the 2013-2014 Jayhawks additionally featured Andrew Wiggins, as the 2 freshmen would go on to be the No. 1 and No. 3 general picks within the 2014 NBA Draft. Nonetheless, researching that workforce will even remind you of how a lot expertise was wasted that season.

Information and stats are nostalgia’s best enemy.

“My very first scrimmage at Kansas, I bought dunked on so laborious by Tarik Black that I virtually give up,” Embiid wrote. “Tarik dunked on me so laborious that I used to be taking a look at aircraft tickets house. This man was a senior. He was a grown man. I didn’t know what was happening. He bought his personal rebound and dunked over me so laborious that all the things went in sluggish movement.

“He dunked the ball off my head, for actual. However I didn’t even inform you the worst half. The worst half was that all the Kansas ladies’s hoops workforce was sitting within the bleachers watching the scrimmage. The entire gymnasium was laughing at me. It was loopy. Significantly, it was like a WORLDSTAR scenario.

“So I went straight to Invoice Self’s workplace afterward and I mentioned, “I can’t do that. You need to redshirt me. I can’t play with these guys.”

That Kansas workforce was loaded, as six gamers would go on to make the NBA. Outdoors of Embiid — who stays in MVP competition — and Wiggins — who was a starter within the NBA All-Star Recreation final season — the roster additionally included a seldom-used freshman named Frank Mason III. He’d go on to be the nationwide participant of the yr by his senior season. The Jayhawks began 5-0 that season and even knocked off Duke and Jabari Parker early on in a sport that featured the three freshmen who would compose the primary three picks within the upcoming draft.

However then, issues bought bizarre.

Kansas misplaced three (Villanova, Colorado, and Florida) of their subsequent 4 video games. And the workforce that regarded like a squad destined for a Remaining 4 towards Duke within the Champions Basic on the United Heart was by no means in a position to reside as much as the expectations.

Invoice Self’s workforce would go on to win the Huge 12 common season title — which it looks as if they do yearly — however misplaced within the semifinals of their convention match and had been upset within the Second Spherical of the NCAA Match by Stanford. The second-seeded Jayhawks misplaced to the tenth-seeded Cardinal who entered that sport with 12 losses. Kansas completed the yr with a 25-10 document, which was the primary time Self had misplaced double-digit video games in a season throughout his tenure in Lawrence — till it occurred once more in 2018-2019.

On account of damage, Embiid solely performed in 28 video games that season — which suggests he didn’t swimsuit up towards Stanford within the season finale. Black — the teammate who dunked on Embiid — led the Jayhawks in scoring that sport with 18 factors. Wiggins, the eventual No. 1 decide, led the Jayhawks in minutes performed (34) however solely scored 4 factors, as he solely took six photographs in his final collegiate sport.

THE NUMBER ONE PICK IN THE UPCOMING NBA DRAFT THAT SEASON ONLY TOOK SIX MEASLY SHOTS IN THE BIGGEST GAME OF THE YEAR!

It’s a stat that each true basketball fan ought to have tattooed into their brains.

As we enter the month the place faculty basketball reigns supreme and the NCAA Match will rule the sports activities world, let the 2013-2014 Kansas Jayhawks be a warning to you as you fill out your brackets.

March is a wild place the place unthinkable issues occur, and faculty basketball is all the time drunk. Future NBA All-Execs can get dunked on in follow by gamers you’ve in all probability by no means heard of earlier than, and No. 1 picks can play unenthused basketball video games wherein they solely shoot six instances when 36 discipline purpose makes an attempt would have been deemed acceptable.

Buckle up, insanity is on the brink of ensue. And, mockingly sufficient, the Jayhawks are ranked third within the nation, have been one of the best of the blue bloods all season, and are defending nationwide champions trying to repeat.