The View from Kansas: Toughness and Energy The Quad asked writers at newspapers on the campuses of teams that made the Final Four for reports on what to expect on Saturday. NEW ORLEANS - Recent history often hints toward the future better than anything else in college basketball. It reveals player trends. It exposes matchup disparities. It gives us a final score. Not long ago, on Dec. 10, to be exact, the Ohio State Buckeyes visited Phog Allen Fieldhouse and stuck with the Kansas Jayhawks, but lost 78-67. It was a back-and-forth affair that gave the unproven Jayhawks just what they needed. "We had to have a feather in our cap," Kansas Coach Bill Self said. Does this recent history help us assess a rematch between Kansas and Ohio State in Saturday night's national semifinal? The Jayhawks and the Buckeyes would argue that it doesn't. Not in the slightest. "This might as well be a whole new year," said the Kansas senior guard Tyshawn Taylor. "Roles have increased since the beginning of the N.C.A.A. tournament," said the Ohio State sophomore forward Jared Sullinger. And we're a different team dynamically. Before that game, Ohio State coach Thad Matta shook hands with Self and told him: "Merry Christmas." Matta had an early gift. At the time, the Buckeyes were undefeated and ranked No. 2 in the nation. But in this matchup, they would play without Sullinger, the All-American, who suffered from back spasms. "There were a lot of things that we didn't do in that game that was true to our system," Matta said. The Buckeyes shot 38.7 percent from the field, their second lowest total of the season. Without Sullinger in the game, they were relegated to a perimeter-based offense. Senior guard William Buford scored 21 points, but it took him 23 shots to get there. Also in that game, Taylor guided his team with 13 assists, but surrendered seven turnovers. Taylor, a point guard of agility and deception, was hobbling on a torn meniscus in his right knee. He would have surgery the day after the game. Then there was the Davidson mess on Dec. 19: an 80-74 loss that sent Kansas to its lowest point of the season. After the game, Self said he thought his team just stunk. He said they weren't tough or energized when they had to be. Taylor went through his bumps - incessant turnovers and an often careless tempo - and inspired a now-infamous analysis from Self. "He makes plays you can't coach," Self said, "and then he makes plays that look like he's never been coached." The Buckeyes had their conflicts, too. They lost three in a five-game stretch in February. Some observers tagged Sullinger as an overrated name, and many no longer considered the Buckeyes to be elite. Kansas has endured a similar perception. Yet both teams braved their struggles and reached New Orleans for the Final Four. Most folks don't question Sullinger any longer. They say he uses all his might to beat a defense. They say he rarely makes a poor decision with the ball in his hands and the weight of responsibility on his mind. Taylor has redefined the idea that he can't play judiciously. Instead, they say, he just wins. In the meantime, the Kansas fan base that once rebuked Taylor's every move, has adopted him as its favorite son. He was once known for busting his pinky in a fight with the football team and posting childish hoopla on Twitter. Now he's known as a basketball player. One who can lead his team to the Final Four. "If you can look at the body of work that I've put in my four years," Taylor said, "I don't understand how you can't love me." And so, when you watch Saturday's game, know that the product on the floor is of two teams that have progressed over a season. All are healthy and ready to shine. Toughness and energy will flow. It won't be a mirror image of the Happy Holidays meeting in the Fieldhouse. "Anybody you play in November or early December is like two seasons ago," Self said. Max Rothman, a senior journalism major, is the sports editor and men's basketball reporter for The Kansan, the student newspaper at the University of Kansas.