So many great stories came out of Kansas’ run to the NCAA title last March. There were so many little tales about old men weeping in joy and students swarming Massachusetts Street.

And then, of course, there was the team.

There was Sasha Kaun coming to the rescue during the Davidson game.

There was Russell Robinson, who was so amped up the day before the championship game that he just kept repeating the words, “This is what you live for, this is what you live for.”

There was Roderick Stewart, who dislocated his kneecap during a Final Four practice session and was robbed of his dream of playing on college basketball’s biggest stage. And then there were the tears that rolled down his cheeks as the fans chanted his name during the final minutes of the North Carolina game.

There were so many great stories, but this one is my favorite.

It was the Sunday before the national championship game, and both Kansas and Memphis were addressing the media at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

All of Kansas’ starters were placed in small rooms located along a hallway in the bowels of the Alamodome. Reporters could roam from room to room and ask questions.

Of course, you have to remember that the players had been under intense media scrutiny for three weeks. And Final Four media free-for-alls are beyond chaotic — hundreds of reporters running around, all with a deadline, all wanting to get the perfect quote. And Kansas’ players were 24 hours from the biggest game of there lives, so you can imagine they were a little tired of hearing the same questions over and over.

But that was the beauty of this day. Maybe Darnell Jackson was tired of the questions, maybe he was just goofing around, maybe he was serious. Who knows?

Whatever it was, Darnell Jackson offered up the greatest quote I have ever heard.

There were just a few minutes left in the session, and I was busy listening to Memphis’ Chris Douglas-Roberts tell a funny story about his hyphenated name.

Across the hall, Darnell Jackson sat behind a microphone.

As I recall, Kansan sportswriter Mark Dent and a local Kansas City television reporter were the only reporters left in Jackson’s room.

Jackson was asked a question about the Jayhawks’ mind-set going into the championship game.

(Wait for it…)

“We just say ‘let your nuts hang,” Jackson said. “Just let them hang. Just have fun because this is it for most of the guys, and we’re just having fun with it.”

Of course, we know what happened the next night against Memphis.

Eleven months later, we’re two weeks away from the start of the NCAA tournament — actually, we’re 12 days away if you count the awful “play-in” game.

We’re two weeks from the tears and the joy and the Cinderellas and Greg Gumbel.

We’re two weeks away from the greatest sports tournament in the world.

And as Darnell Jackson said, it’s March and it’s time to let your nuts hang.

Where’s RussRob?

Russell Robinson has been on quite the basketball odyssey the last few months. He played with Houston Rockets last summer before being released. And after a brief stint in Turkey, Robinson has settled in with the Reno Bighorns of the NBDL.

And he had his best game of the season on Sunday against the Los Angeles D-Fenders.

Robinson finished with a season-high 25 points — on 9-of-16 shooting — and four assists.

Robinson has played in 33 games for the Bighorns and is averaging 10.5 points per game while playing more than 27 minutes a contest.

— — Edited by Realle Roth