Friday, February 15, 2008
Scott Yingling’s camping group arrived at Allen Fieldhouse almost 12 hours before the start of “Late Night in the Phog” so they could earn the second place in line.
The long wait didn’t bother Yingling, a 2007 graduate from Atlanta. He’s been to every Late Night since 1999, but he had to see this one.
“You have to be able to say you’re here for Late Night the year we win it all,” Yingling said. “We will win it all this year.”
Four months after Late Night marked the beginning of the season, Yingling’s prediction remains a possibility. Kansas’ season has been full of highlights, and the best may still be yet to come.
The season started off as planned. Kansas blew out several weak opponents and just kept getting better as Brandon Rush recovered from his ACL injury and began playing in November.
The only surprise may have been Darnell Jackson. Jackson is one of the biggest reasons Kansas is having success. Jackson was the second-leading scorer and top rebounder on the team through January.
After moving on from personal issues of the past, Jackson has also become the team’s leader.
““It’s a win-win,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “Darnell can bring up the mood in any room.”
With Jackson leading the way, the Jayhawks won their first 20 games. Undefeated talk swirled around the program and Kansas rose to No. 2 in the rankings. Many believed a perfect regular season was possible if the Jayhawks defeated Kansas State at Bramlage Coliseum.
It wasn’t meant to be. K-State defeated Kansas for the first time in 25 years in Manhattan. Although the loss was crushing, the Jayhawks can still reach plenty of their goals such as a Big 12 championship and top seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Jackson and four other seniors, Sasha Kaun, Russell Robinson, Rodrick Stewart and Jeremy Case, are determined to make it happen. They’ve won three straight Big 12 titles and want to make it a fourth.
“Sasha, he’ll say something,” Jackson said. “Jeremy, he’ll say something. I’ll say something. We all talk to each other. Everybody steps up to the stage and speaks. Nobody holds their tongue for anything. If somebody is slacking, Russ will get on them. If I did something wrong, Sasha will tell me I did something wrong. We all help each other out.”
But the Big 12 title isn’t all they are hoping for. They want something bigger. They want to give Kansas its first national championship since 1988.
“They know at Kansas, we’re measured at a high level, and they want to go out as being recognized as one of the winningest classes,” Self said. “It’s hard to do that if you win Big 12 titles and don’t go to a Final Four. I’m not saying that it’s Final Four or bust, but in their minds, that’s what we’re striving for.”
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