110 YEARS OF KANSAS BASKETBALL
KANSAN FILE PHOTOS
Brown and Manning turned the program around immediately, leading the team to three straight NCAA tournament berths and a Final Four in 1986. The team appeared to take a step back in the 1987-1988 season before Manning began to carry the Jayhawks. They beat Xavier, Murray State, Vanderbilt, Kansas State and Duke to reach the championship game against Oklahoma.
Above: Kansas fans celebrate at Kemper Arena after the 1988 championship game.
But to beat the Sooners, a team that had defeated them twice already, Kansas would need a major lift not just from Manning but from Brown, too.
Mark Turgeon shuffled into the Kansas locker room at Kemper Arena behind Manning and the rest of the players at halftime of the national championship game. Like all the coaches, players and fans, Turgeon, a graduate assistant, was pleased with KU's first-half effort. The score was tied at 50.
Turgeon really thought the Jayhawks had a good opportunity to win. His confidence went up even further as soon as Brown started addressing his team.
Brown told his players about the time he coached in the 1980 national championship when he was with UCLA. The Bruins lost to Louisville 59-54, and the Cardinals' Darrell Griffith scored 23 points.
Right: Danny Manning led the Hawks to victory over the Oklahoma Sooners.
Brown looked at Manning.
"Darrell Griffith was the best player on the court, and he was not going to let Louisville lose that game," he told him. "You have to do the same."
Then Brown turned to the rest of the team. He started talking about the drive home from the same game.
"There was a long line of joyous cars driving from Indianapolis back to Louisville that night," Brown told them. "Our fans can have the same, driving from Kansas City back to Lawrence."
Manning did just what Brown wanted. He wouldn't let Kansas lose. He scored 31 points and grabbed 18 rebounds. Perhaps most importantly, he took the ball up the court for the Jayhawks most of the game, negating the quick hands of Sooners guard Mookie Blaylock, who was as good as anyone at stealing the ball.
All the players got the message.
"It was just a perfect speech at a perfect time," Turgeon said.
That was obvious from Kansas' performance in the second half. The Jayhawks weren't as hot as they were in the first 20 minutes, but they played well enough to hold off the Sooners and win 83-79.
Johnson watched the net-cutting ceremony from the Kemper Arena stands. He was no longer the athletics director on that April night. He had retired about a year before. In fact, Johnson was helping out Oklahoma by playing host to the team for the Big 8. It didn't matter. The victory still tasted sweet for Johnson.
The game was a lot better than the one he remembered watching with just 3,000 other fans in the early 1980s.
That era was ancient history now. Tradition was restored.
The championship was the work of many players, coaches and other members of the Athletics Department, but three men stuck out Johnson, Brown and Manning. Without Johnson's decision to hire Brown, Brown's recruitment of Manning and motivational tactics, and Manning's ability to lead a team, the quick turnaround wouldn't have been possible.
"I felt like we laid the groundwork for something unexpected," Johnson said.
1986-1987: The Jayhawks took a small step back after losing Ron kellogg, Calvin Thompson and Greg Dreiling from the Final Four team of a season before. Kansas lost 11 total games but still made the Sweet 16 and tied for second in the Big 8.
1987-1988: A miracle happened. Danny Manning led the No. 6-seeded Jayhawks to the national championship, the fourth in school history. No one gave Kansas a shot at greatness after it struggled throughout the regular season. The Jayhawks pulled together behind Manning and defeated Oklahoma for the national title. Manning led the team in scoring in 35 of 38 games.
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN