When I was a little kid, I was rummaging through my parents' video collection one day (all VHS tapes back in those days), and I came across a blank tape with a white label entitled, "1988 NCAA Championship: Kansas v. Oklahoma." It was my dad's personal copy of the battle between the Danny Manning-led Jayhawks and the #1-ranked Sooners, a matchup that would go down in history as one of the best title game performances in history.
"Danny and the Miracles," as the team came to be known, were the last Kansas team to cut down the nets at the Final Four as National Champs.
My dad always talked about that game as the best game of his life, and he went to KU with Wilt Chamberlain, who put on more than his fair share of shows on the court.
As many times as I watched that tape, I knew I could never feel the way my dad did about it. That game happened when I was 3 years old, long before I became the hardcore Jayhawks fan I am today. I knew that I needed my own game, my own Championship team to claim as my own.
Thank You, Mario Chalmers.
As my Kansas obsession grew through the mid-90's, I had some great teams to root for. Paul Pierce, Jacque Vaughn, and Raef Lafrentz in 1997. Nick Collison, Kirk Hinrich, and Drew Gooden in 2002. Collison, Hinrich, Keith Langford, and Aaron Miles in 2003.
And yet, with as much talent as Kansas had during the 15 year stretch after the '88 Title, there was nothing but dissapointment on the other end.
1997 - 34-2, #1 overall seed, Lost to Arizona in Sweet Sixteen
2002 - 33-4, #1 seed, Lost to Maryland in Final Four
2003 - 30-8, #2 seed, Lost to Syracuse in National Title Game
That last one really hurt. Kansas had absolutely throttled Dwayne Wade-led Marquette in the Final Four, and were playing as well as they had all year. But after six 1st half Gerry McNamara 3-pointers, a 20-10-7 game from Carmelo Anthony, and one big block from Hakim Warrick, KU left the court once again as losers of their final game.
Thanks You, Mario Chalmers.
After the 2003 Championship Game loss, the Jayhawks looked defeated. They should have won. They were supposed to win. But once again, in true Kansas post-1988 fashion, they choked and lost the big one once more.
After that, Collison and Hinrich left for the NBA, and Kansas wasn't the same. They fought admirably to the Elite Eight the next season, but suffered consecutive 1st round exits in 2005 and 2006 to Bucknell and Bradley, respectively. Jayhawk Nation hadn't seemed to recover from that Syracuse loss quite yet.
In 2007, the team regained that KU mystique it had so desperately needed, and once again reached the Elite Eight as a #1 seed, only to lose to #2 seed UCLA (who would lose to eventual National Champion Florida in the Final Four). But with a team consisting of 6 McDonald's All-Americans, including new Freshmen Darrell Arthur and Sherron Collins, the Jayhawks looked poised to make another run.
Thank you, Mario Chalmers.
KU started the season as the #2 team in the country, and promptly won their first 20 games of the year. And after hitting a bumpy stretch, in which Kansas lost 3 of their next 7 contests, the Jayhawks once again rolled into the NCAA's, winning their last 7 games including the Big 12 Tourney. There was hope once again.
KU drew the last #1 seed in the field, in the Midwest Region. They sailed through their first three games, winning each by at least 15 points. But then came Cinderella Davidson, with the baby-faced killer, Stephen Curry. And after a hard fought, defensive battle, the Jayhawks escaped.
Their reward: a date with #1 overall seed North Carolina in the Final Four, and former head coach Roy Williams, the same Williams who was on the wrong end of all those dissapointments of my lifetime so far. But no, KU would not let it happen it again.
Kansas played the best basketball I have ever seen in the first 12 minutes against Carolina. Offenseively, they could not miss. Defensively, they were too quick for Carolina to recognize what was going on. When all was said and done, KU was up 40-12. That is not a misprint. The Jayhawks were headed back to the title game.
Until they forgot how to play the game, let Carolina back in. Oh no, not again. This is too hard to watch. How can you blow a 28 point lead?!? Carolina cuts it to 4 with 10:00 to play. You have got to be kidding me?!? But then, something happened. Kansas played like...Kansas, circa 1988. And before you knew it, we were back.
Thank You, Mario Chalmers.
We were back. Against a team that had just set the all-time single season NCAA wins record. #1 seed Memphis, who came in at 38-1. This was no Orange Cinderella. This team, led by the most potent backcourt tandem in years (Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts), was not just beating people. They were destroying them...on a mission to prove every doubter wrong.
Had we wasted all our energy holding off UNC? Could anyone stop Rose, the Fab Freshman who played his way into consideration as the #1 Draft Pick in June's NBA Draft? Could Kansas finally walk off the court at the end of the season...as winners?
Thank You, Mario Chalmers. I finally have my own title.
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