I don’t feel like a senior. It’s hard for me to believe four years as a student at the University of Kansas are slowly coming to a close.

In 18 days, thousands of us — surrounded by our friends and loved ones — will swarm out of the Campanile and down the hill, the rest of our lives lying in wait. Some will swim against the current of a struggling economy. Others will transfer their academic pursuits to graduate school classrooms.

But we will all be Jayhawks. We will all remember the feeling of unbridled joy that followed Mario’s Miracle. We will all remember the Fighting Manginos’ improbable run to an Orange Bowl victory and unprecedented national exposure.

Most of us will move on, but the memories won’t. These are the three things I’ll remember most.

3) Pulled pork sandwiches before football games

Kansas football games are as much a block party as they are a sporting event. After all — as a popular T-shirt proclaims — win or lose, we’ll still booze.

But we also eat an unhealthy amount of food, and nothing is a better precursor to a KU football game than a succulent pulled pork sandwich from the family selling barbecue on Alabama Street.

What began as an innocent freshman discovery, turned into an integral part of the game day experience.

2) Allen Fieldhouse pregame

There’s nothing quite like watching 16,300 people staring intently at the same enormous video screen, seconds away from being whipped into an absolute frenzy.

When that music explodes from the speakers and images of James Naismith, Danny Manning, Wilt Chamberlain, Phog Allen and Mario Chalmers flash on screen, it’s difficult not to get goose bumps.

By the time the whole spectacle ends, most spectators are straddling the line between primal and civilized. You can’t convince me anyone is better at the art of hype than Rock Chalk Video. Adding the decibel meter was a touch of genius, too.

Being a part of that madness is indescribable, a subtle combination of mob dynamics and the best building in college basketball.

1) From New York, New York...

I can’t fully explain it, but Russell Robinson is far and away my favorite KU basketball player from my time here. Darnell Jackson finishes a distant second.

Maybe it’s the idea of a gritty point guard from New York City bringing his hardnosed game to Kansas of all places.

Maybe it’s the way he bounced back from a freshman year during which he struggled so much that he was close to heading back East. Or maybe it’s just the way the public address announcer beckoned him off the bench before every game.

Robinson was always the last to be introduced. Everyone in Allen Fieldhouse knew what was coming.

The announcer would pause, waiting for the crowd to join in, and then everyone would bellow in unison.

“And ... From New York, New York ... Russssssellllllll Robinson.”

— — Edited by Brandy Entsminger