Jorgensen: Ups and downs of tourney play
Post-season play can bring March Sadness or March Gladness
The seven most memorable March moments in Jayhawk basketball history are a mix of unforgettable misses and incredible last-minute shots.
Wednesday, March 14th, 2007
Let’s get warmed up for the greatest sports spectacle in America by reminiscing about some of the University of Kansas’ most memorable NCAA tournament moments. However, it would be ignorant of me to try to rank all the moments in Jayhawk history.
Below is a top-seven countdown of Kansas’ NCAA tournament moments — both good and bad — since the day of my birth (Oct. 18, 1984).
7) J.R. Giddens’ three-pointer: J.R. Giddens was playing better than anyone on the team. It was Bill Self’s first season as Kansas’ coach, and the expectations weren’t too high.
Just before time ran out on the season, J.R. Giddens hit a long-distanced three-pointer at the top of the key to send the game to overtime against Georgia Tech in the Elite Eight.
The Yellow Jackets were favored to win, which they did in overtime, but it didn’t matter. No one had expected Kansas to make it so far with this young roster and a new coach. It was probably the only loss that was viewed as a moral victory in recent Kansas history.
No Jayhawk fan imagined Kansas could lose to Bucknell, especially not in the first round.
6) Losing to Duke in the 1991 championship: In the semifinal game, Roy Williams and Kansas defeated Williams’ mentor Dean Smith and North Carolina. On the other side of the bracket, Duke defeated the heavily favored and undefeated, UNLV Running Rebels. It seemed like destiny for Kansas to go forward and beat Williams’ old rival, Duke, in the championship. It would have been the same way the Jayhawks did it in the 1988 championship run.
Kansas couldn’t catch Duke in the final game, and the Jayhawk nation felt its first championship disappointment in decades, losing 72-65.
5) Wayne Simien misses the turnaround shot against Bucknell: It was a shot the All-American Simien had made countless times during his career at Kansas. After struggling the whole game, Kansas had an opportunity to even the game against Bucknell in the first-round match-up.
No Jayhawk fan imagined Kansas could lose to Bucknell, especially not in the first round. So when Simien missed his turnaround jumper at the free-throw line in the final seconds, the shock left thousands speechless.
Simien made hundreds of simple shots in his career, but it was the one he missed fans will remember forever.
4) The 1996-97 team loses to Arizona: That team is considered by many to be the best in Kansas history. Three players on that team now have their names in the rafters of Allen Fieldhouse — Jacque Vaughn, Raef Lafrentz and Paul Pierce. The team was the heavy favorite to take the National Championship. Led by Miles Simon and Mike Bibby, the No. 4-seeded Arizona Wildcats met up with No. 1-seeded Kansas Jayhawks in the Sweet Sixteen, and defeated Kansas, 85-82, in one of the most surprising and heartbreaking losses in Kansas history.
3) Defeating No. 1 Arizona in the Elite Eight: Years after defeating Kansas in the 1997 tournament, Arizona came to Allen Fieldhouse during the 2002-03 season and defeated Kansas again.
So, the anticipation for the rematch in the Elite Eight was huge. Two days before they were to play Arizona, Kansas defeated Duke and sent the fan base into a frenzy. Thus, when the Jayhawks defeated the Wildcats 78-75 and advanced to its second Final Four in a row, fans took to the streets to celebrate like never before.
2) The Block: The most famous play in Kansas basketball history is not one Kansas fans are fond of. Syracuse’s Hakim Warrick’s block of Kansas’ Michael Lee is possibly the most famous, and most replayed, block in basketball history.
Kansas had battled back in the championship game to cut the lead to three. Kansas had the momentum and likely would have won the game had it gone to overtime. Michael Lee had been on fire all tournament by knocking down almost every three-pointer he shot. So when he fired up a last-second three-pointer, the chances he would have made it and sent the game into a Jayhawk favored overtime was likely.
Of course, as everyone knows, Warrick didn’t allow for that.
1) Danny and the Miracles: Through all the good and the bad moments, none is as sweet, memorable or replayed as Danny Manning giving a fist pump after defeating Oklahoma 83-79. Manning’s fist pump, head coach Larry Brown’s sideline celebration and then the team and coaching staff storming the floor is a moment Kansas fans will love to watch for the rest of their lives.
The Jayhawks weren’t the favorites, but they fought hard and followed the player-of-the-year to a National Championship. All this made the celebration that much more exciting and memorable.
Jorgensen is a Baldwin City senior in journalism.
— Edited by James Pinick
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