Oklahoma basketball: Kansas will face familiar foe in NCAA championship game

Apr 2, 2022; New Orleans, LA, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels forward Brady Manek (45) shoots the ball against Duke Blue Devils guard Jeremy Roach (3) in the 2022 NCAA men's basketball tournament Final Four semifinals at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 2, 2022; New Orleans, LA, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels forward Brady Manek (45) shoots the ball against Duke Blue Devils guard Jeremy Roach (3) in the 2022 NCAA men's basketball tournament Final Four semifinals at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports /
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All the focus on tonight’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship game naturally is on Kansas and North Carolina, but there is an Oklahoma basketball connection that could have major impact on the outcome.

Former Sooner Brady Manek is a starting forward on the North Carolina team and is a big reason the Tar Heels have made it to the Final Four matchup with Kansas as a No. 8 seed.

A year ago, Manek was playing basketball on an Oklahoma team that was making its third straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament, all while Manek had been at OU. A native of Harrah, Oklahoma, only 45 miles away from the Sooner campus, Manek became a starter his freshman season at Oklahoma and averaged 10.2 points a game that year for the Sooners.

He scored 22 points in OU’s 2020-21 NCAA Tournament run a year ago, a win over Missouri in the opening game followed by a loss to No. 1 overall seed Gonzaga. No one knew it at the time, but that would be his final two games in a Sooner uniform.

After the season ended for the Sooners, Manek began to ponder whether he would return for a fifth season at Oklahoma (made possible by the NCAA waiver granting student-athletes an extra year of eligibility because of the 2020 COVID pandemic, during which all spring sports were cancelled). A few days later, OU head coach Lon Kruger announced his retirement, and that’s when Manek’s decision on his future became clear.

The 6-foot, 9-inch forward announced his was entering the transfer portal. And the announcement drew quite a bit of interest. He had offers from a number of major programs, including, Duke, Virginia, Illinois, Xavier and, of course, North Carolina, among others.

It turned out that Manek, a byproduct of four solid seasons at Oklahoma, was a top priority of North Carolina first-year head coach Hubert Davis when the former Sooner entered the transfer portal.

Manek is considered a matchup nightmare for opposing defenses: A 6-foot-9 stretch forward who can space the floor and make shots from three-point range.

“Brady is good because he’s able to step out and go inside,” Kansas guard Jalen Wilson said to reporters covering the Final Four on Sunday. “We’re going to try to put a body on him and make him shoot contested twos,” Wilson said.

In 38 games for the Tar Heels this season, 26 as a starter, Manek has averaged 15.2 points a game — averaged 12.0 in four seasons for the Sooners — but in North Carolina’s five NCAA Tournament games, he has averaged just shy of 20 points a game, including 13 of 19 from behind the three-point line. In the Heel’s tournament win over No. 1 seed Baylor, Manek made six of eight three-balls and scored 26 points.

“I think Brady has obviously been unbelievable,” KU head coach Bill Self said meeting with reporters on Sunday. Self knows a thing or two about playing against the former Sooner, having done so a number of times since Manek arrived at OU. But the same could be said for Manek’s familiarity with the Jayhawks.

"“He’s got such a quick release,” Self said. “It’s a high release. And playing his at OU, you had to defend him probably a little more at the post. Now, with Armando (Bacot of UNC) in the game, he’s (Manek) playing primarily on the perimeter.”"

Kansas was 5-3 against Oklahoma teams while Manek was at OU. Manek scored 14 points in an 85-80 win over the Jayhawks in his freshman season (Trey Young was also on that Sooner team) and followed that with a 21-point performance his sophomore season as OU defeated KU 81-68 in Norman. In what would be his final game as a Sooner against the Jayhawks, in 2021 in the Big 12 Tournament, Manek hit three of six from three-point range, scoring 16 points along with 11 rebounds. OU lost that game, however, 70-63.

"“He’s always open,” Kansas’ junior forward Christian Braun said of Manek. “He just shoots it from right up top. He does not need any time to get his shots off.”"

Manek is a huge threat from the outside, but he can also beat you down low with put backs on missed shots. Kansas’ concern, though, is the damage the former Sooner can do if left alone on the perimeter, and with good reason. He’s made 95 of 237 three-point attempts this season. That’s 40.1 percent from behind the arc. He shot 37 percent on three-balls in four seasons for Oklahoma.

It’s hard to say what will happen when Kansas and North Carolina, two of college basketball’s biggest blue-blood programs, take the court tonight in the final game of the 2021-22 season. One thing we do know, however, is that Brady Manek will have something to say about.