It’s April 4, 1988. An unranked Kansas team is playing against ranked Oklahoma. With a powerful team, the Sooners had an easy victory against the Jayhawks.

But the one thing the Sooners didn’t have was Danny Manning. Manning scored thirty-one points against the Sooners and single-handedly took a team that was considered the underdog and made them the 1988 NCAA national champions.

“Before the game, we are going down the steps with our team before going out on the court,” Manning said. “I remember being in our last huddle and Coach telling us to go out, play hard and have fun. I remember after the game, sitting with the guys in the locker room and talking. Those are the two fondest memories I have about the championship game.”

That season the Jayhawks were nicknamed “Danny and the Miracles.” The nickname was for good reason, too. Not only did Manning score the most points during the Oklahoma game, he also had eighteen rebounds. But Manning insists the Hawks always played as a team.

“Everyone’s role was the same. We always talked about playing hard, playing together and playing unselfish. If we did those things we had a chance to be successful,” Manning said. “We believed in that, and it was a matter of figuring out the best way to get the job done on each particular night. Throughout the course of the season, throughout the course of the NCAA tournament, every player on that team played a role in each victory we had.”

Manning, a 6-foot-11 forward, received the Most Outstanding Player award for the championship game.

He accomplished a lot in his years at Kansas. If the victories weren’t enough to remind him how amazing the Jayhawks had become, the awards he racked up surely would.

He became a two-time All-American during his time at Kansas and was the consensus College Player of the Year in 1988. He also became a three-time Big Eight Conference player of the year for the 1986-1988 seasons.

Manning is still the eighth leading scorer in NCAA history and Kansas’ all-time leading scorer to date, making him a basketball hero in Allen Fieldhouse.

Before leaving Kansas, Manning was selected to be on the U.S. national team in 1988 for the Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. The team took home the bronze medal.

Manning ended his career at Kansas as the all-time leader in points and rebounds and achieved 2,951 points in his career, setting a Big Eight Conference record.

After his four years at Kansas and a nice ending to a perfect season, Manning decided to go into the NBA Draft. As the son of former NBA player and KU coach Ed Manning, he wanted his own taste of professional basketball.

He became the No. 1 overall pick in the draft and was signed to the Los Angeles Clippers.

He spent six years playing for the Clippers but moved on to play on seven different NBA teams. After the Clippers, Manning played for the Atlanta Hawks, Phoenix Suns, Milwaukee Bucks, Utah Jazz and Detroit Pistons.

Playing only 26 games as a rookie, Manning continued to work hard and make friends, family and Jayhawk nation proud. His short playing time as a rookie was due to a torn ACL, but he came back to play for the 1989-1990 season.

As he strengthened his ACL and got more comfortable playing with professionals, he had his best season in the NBA.

During the 1992-1993 season, Manning was making baskets just like in his Jayhawk days. He scored an average of 22.8 points a game and became eligible for the All-Star game the next season.

Although Manning played for a different team in his final four seasons in the NBA, he averaged fourteen points per game and made 12, 367 career points.

Knee problems made it hard for Manning to continue basketball, so he had to become a part-time player in 1996.

That didn’t stop Manning from receiving the Sixth Man award in 1997-1998. That year, he was the best reserve player and scored an average of 13.5 points. He was also getting an average playing time of 26 minutes despite having two more knee surgeries. The following season, he was in the All-Star game again.

Manning did not want his basketball dream to be over just yet. Most athletes who have reconstructive surgery on both knees are reluctant to return to the sport. Manning was the first player to come back after such a surgery before Amare Stoudemire.

Finally, Manning decided his fifteen years in the NBA were over. After years of problems with his knees, he announced his retirement in 2003. Although he was done with playing basketball, Manning still wanted to be involved in basketball.

Returning to his old stomping grounds after more than a decade, Manning became team manager and the director of student/athlete development. Manning had many jobs in his position, such as ordering new equipment, assisting the youth clinic in December and helping organize the summer camps alongside Bill Self.

At the end of the 2006-2007 season, Self was looking for a new assistant coach because Tim Jankovich was moving to a head coaching position at Illinois State University.

Manning was glad to take over the position. Although the Jayhawks had not won a national title since Manning played for the them, the team had hard-working players willing to do whatever it took.

In a year, Manning has been the driving force to helping the big men improvement for Sasha Kaun, Brandon Rush and Darnell Jackson.

“It’s Coach Self’s system. I am just an extension of what he wants,” Manning said. “I get to spend a little more time with the bigs, and Coach Self’s philosophy is to play hard, to play within our same concepts and to do what is asked of you. These guys, in particular Darnell (Jackson) and Sasha (Kaun), have been in the system for quite a while.”

With a successful season and players improving every game, it’s hard not to think that “Danny and the Miracles” might be guiding the Jayhawks to their fifth NCAA championship.