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SPORTS
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
1B
TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 2003
SO CLOSE Jayhawks fall short
Kansas was 12 for 30 from the free-throw line,the lowest ever in a championship game for a team with at least 20 attempts. The 18 missed free-throws matched the most ever in a title game.
Nick Collison's 21 rebounds are the second-most in a championship game, and the most in 47 years. It is also the most in an NCAA tournament game this year.
Syracuse's 53 points are the most ever in a first half of a championship game, third-most in any half. The teams's combined 95 points are the most in a first half of a championship game, third-most in any half.
Keith Langford went 18 of 23 (78.3 percent) from the field in Kansas's two Final Four games making him fourth-best in Final Four history.
Kansas' Jeff Graves and Nick Collison battle for the ball against a Syracuse player. Despite their efforts, the Jayhawks still lost by 3 points.
Aaron Showalter/Kansan
Boisterous or silent, fans reveal emotions
By Henry C. Jackson and Erin Ohm
cijackson@kansan.com and
eohm@kansan.com
Kansan staff writers
The fans on Massachusetts Street said the Jayhawks were supposed to win.
Yet, in the depair of last night's defeat celebration prevailed. Students set off firecrackers and rode through the streets.
It almost looked as if the Jayhawks had won.
"I can only make animal noises at this point; it's just pain," said Seth Ribane, Minneapolis, Minn., sophomore, said
But, instead of resounding support for the Jayhawks, the most popular cheer ended with "you Syracuse."
Mass St. sad, rowdy
Brandon Baker/Kansan
Matt Gonzales, Overland Park resident, rides in the back of a friend's pickup truck down Massachusetts Street after the Jayhawks lost to Syracuse.
SEE MASS ON PAGE 8B
Kansan staff reports
Campus was eerily quiet after the University of Kansas men's basketball team lost to Syracuse 81-78 in the NCAA championship game.
Just three days ago, Jayhawk Boulevard was filled with about 5,000 screaming Jayhawk fans. Not last night.
Only a few dejected fans walked down campus' main drag muttering softly to themselves or crying.
"No one cares about second place," lae Smith, Emporia senior, said.
But for the most part, the students filed down the boulevard silently.
Campus subdued
The Campanile still played the fight song even after the loss and a few sad firecrackers sounded in the distance.
SEE CAMPUS ON PAGE 9B
Eric Braem/Kansan
Police officers on Wescoe Beach talk amongst one another. Rowdy fans they expected did not show up.
Midnight reflections on wrenching, emotional ride
I've sat down at the computer and it's 11:20 p.m.
I think about what I've seen tonight and the range of emotions that have gone through my body.
I stayed up 'Sunday night writing two columns — one for if we lost and one for if we won. I had left my car at home, anticipating a long night of partying ahead. I had my buddy Derek Bernay's number on speed dial (he goes to Syracuse).
I had taken every precaution to make sure this night was one to remember.
Freshman point guard Gerry McNamara had hit six three-pointers in the first half — it's going to be OK. Nick Collison will find a way to win in his last game in a Jayhawk uniform — it's going to be OK. We have a few seconds left, and Kirk Hinrich will get an open look, I know it — it's going to be OK. It has to be.
I kept telling myself, as the Orangemen built a monumental lead in the first half that it would be OK.
Once again, as it happened with Michigan in 1993, I was let down on a
— it's going to be OK. It has to be.
SPORTS COMMENTARY
Ryan Greene rgreeen@kansan.com
lonely Monday night in early April.
I sat in room 105 in Stauffer-Flint Hall, and as I saw Kirk Hinrich's final prayer
sail past the basket on the enormous screen, I cupped my face with my hands, almost in tears.
I looked up and could see the small television in my basement as I did 10 years ago, wiping my eyes with my oversized Michigan forward Chris Webber jersey.
Of course, in the heartbreaking minutes following the Syracuse triumph, the expected happened.
Derek called me, allowing me to hear the riots going on around him. Everyone
in the Kansan newsroom, sports fan or not, was silent. Those in the newsroom who were diehard Jayhawk faithful talked with their fathers on the phone, trying to figure out what they had just witnessed.
If you've made it this far into my weekly column, you can see that it's pretty unorganized. It's basically me putting down what I'm feeling on a computer screen.
SEE GREENE ON PAGE 4B