NEW ORLEANS — Kansas senior guard Ochai Agbaji has achieved Jayhawks basketball immortality.
The 6-foot-5, 215-pound consensus first-team All-American out of Kansas City's Oak Park High School and reigning Big 12 player of the year, scored 12 points Monday in the Jayhawks' 72-69 victory over North Carolina in the NCAA men's basketball championship game at Caesars Superdome.
By winning the title, and the Most Outstanding Player award of the tournament, Agbaji, according to KU coach Bill Self, has had "the best year that anybody's had at Kansas since Danny Manning."
Manning, the first pick in the 1988 NBA draft, led KU to the national title in 1988. He was the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament and won the Wooden, Naismith and NABC national player of the year awards as well as consensus first-team All-American honors.
Agbaji was the AP and coaches' Big 12 player of the year, the Big 12 Tournament MVP and a consensus first-team All-American.
"I mean you stop and think about it: player of the year in the league, win the league, win the (Big 12 postseason) tournament, first team All-American, get to the Final Four," Self said recently, listing accomplishments of Agbaji. "I mean Devonté (Graham) did those same things, but he didn't win it (national title). Danny did those exact same things except they didn't win the league and they didn't win the conference tournament, but they still won it (all)."
Self noted that Agbaji by winning the national title would have the best year that any KU player has with the exception of Manning "because Danny was player of the year."
Agbaji is a finalist for the Wooden Award and Naismith Trophy. He's averaged 18.9 points and 5.2 rebounds a game for 34-6 KU.
