THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 2012
Assistant coach and big man specialist Danny Manning officially announced he was leaving Lawrence to fill the head coaching vacancy at Tulsa on March 29. "It shows that if we keep on winning it opens a lot of opportunities for everybody," Withey said. "It's awesome for both of them. It's not a distraction by any means."
TICKET PANIC IN NEW ORLEANS
The chaos began early in the morning on March 30 when students from all four universities lined up, hoping to get a floor seat to the two Final Four games. A metal barrier separated each school, and everything was calm, until security guards told the students they weren't supposed to be in the garage at all. That's when panic broke out. Students said they stamped outside of the garage, hoping to keep their spot at the front of the line. Before things could settle down, the students were instructed to return to their original place inside the parking garage, creating the morning's second mob. "It was like running of the bulls with drunk college students," one Louisville student said.
Kansas fans flooded the streets after the win against North Carolina. It was the first huge congregation at Mass St., but it would not be the last.
→ SELF NAMED NAISMITH COACH OF THE YEAR
Kansas men's basketball coach Bill Self was named the Naismith Men's College Basketball Coach of the Year on the eve of his second NCAA championship game in four years, Self, already the Sporting News' Coach of the Year, joined Larry Brown (1988) and Roy Williams (1997) among Kansas coaches to receive the honor, which was voted on by a nationwide panel of journalists, coaches and administrators across the country.
NO.2 KANSAS 64, NO.2 OHIO STATE 62
Same old story for the Jayhawks on March 31 against the Buckeyes: a halftime deficit, big performances from Johnson and Withey and a last-second win. Johnson was 6-for-9, Withey had seven blocks and suffocated Ohio State sophomore Jared Sullinger's offense, and the Jayhawks advanced to the national championship game in another thriller. "My teammates definitely look at me and see me as a protector. They know if they get beat, I'm there," Withey said.
MASS ST. MADNESS, PT. 2
Fans once again stormed Mass. St. to celebrate the team advancing to the NCAA Championship and the victory over Ohio State.
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