Twenty years of heartbreak

Friday, April 4, 2008

The 20-year anniversary has been brought up plenty of times this month as Kansas has embarked on its NCAA Tournament journey.

We’ve heard a thousand times how Kansas last won the title in 1988 and how it could be destiny that the Jayhawks win it again this season. But we’re all forgetting something. Why the heck has it been so long since a national title?

Since 1988, Duke has won three national championships. North Carolina, Florida and Kentucky have won two.

While those powers have all taken titles home, Kansas has blown it for the most part. The Jayhawks have reached four Final Fours but never taken home the trophy. They’ve also lost in the first or second round seven times. Ow.

KANSAN

Kansan file photo

Here’s a quick recap on how Kansas missed out on each season since 1988.

1989 - The season that never really mattered. Roy Williams led Kansas to 19 victories in his first year, but the Jayhawks were on probation and couldn’t compete in postseason tournaments.

1990 - A long era of heartbreak begins. Kansas loses in the second round to UCLA, the first of many too-early exits.

1991 - Grant Hill leapt for alley oops higher than KU fans would’ve thought possible and dashed the Jayhawks’ hopes in the national title game. Hey, at least Roy defeated North Carolina in the semifinals of the Final Four.

1992 - Really Jayhawks, UTEP? The Miners were good in 1966, back when they were still Texas Western. Kansas lost this one in the second round.

1993 - Dean Smith and his Tar Heels defeated the Jayhawks in the Final Four, avenging their loss from two years earlier.

1994 - Kansas lost to favored Purdue in the Sweet 16. Purdue had one of the biggest NBA busts of all time on their roster, Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson.

1995 - Too easy. The Jayhawks played at Kemper Arena in the Sweet 16 and still lost to an average Virginia team.

1996 - Jerod Haase missed all nine of his three-pointers against Syracuse’s zone, and the Orangemen won in the Elite Eight.

1997 - Arguably the best team in Kansas history lost in the Sweet 16 to Arizona.

1998 - Let’s remember this, Rhode Island didn’t even have Lamar Odom yet. He started playing the next year. Still, the Rams got enough production from Tyson Wheeler and Cuttino Mobley to upset the Paul Pierce, Raef LaFrentz-led Jayhawks in the second round.

1999 - Kentucky survives a second round scare and knocks off the Jayhawks in overtime. Ryan Robertson scored 31 points in what was his final KU game.

2000 - All the negative karma that had been flowing against Kansas in the second round almost turned around. Almost. The Jayhawks led No. 1 Duke at halftime but couldn’t hold on.

2001 - Roy finally made it to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1997. The Athletics Department actually printed and sold T-shirts for this minor occasion. The Jayhawks lost to Bill Self’s Illinois team in the Sweet 16.

2002 - Finally another Final Four. It had been nine years. Kansas fell behind early to an experienced Maryland in the semifinal and couldn’t recover. The Terps went on to win the title.

2003 - Gerry McNamara making 167 three-pointers, Roy Williams saying he didn’t much care about North Carolina and Kansas bricking 4,000 free throws. Long story short, the Jayhawks lost to Syracuse in the national title game.

2004 - A solid first run for Bill Self, albeit an easy one. After blowing out Illinois-Chicago, Pacific and Alabama-Birmingham, the Jayhawks lost in the Elite Eight to Georgia Tech.

2005 - Aaron Miles, Keith Langord, Michael Lee and Wayne Simien finished their career with a shocking loss to Bucknell in the first round. This could never happen again, right?

2006 - Actually, it could. Kansas loses in the first round to Bradley.

2007 - Playing against the best No. 2 seed in the field is never easy. Playing against the best No. 2 seed in its home state? That’s just a tad harder as Kansas found out. UCLA beat the Hawks in the Elite Eight.

— Edited by Samuel Lamb

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