FRIDAY,APRIL4,2003
FINALFOUR
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 9B
Heard on the Court
Jayhawks sound off about going to the Final Four
"I think I see how important it is right now." Jeff Graves Junior forward
"I think we realize the opportunity we have. We are just really excited about what we have accomplished so far, but realize there is more to be done."
Kirk Hinrich Senior guard
"We'll just party when we win."
Jeff Hawkins Freshman guard
"Whether I will feel fulfilled as a coach or not has nothing to do with winning a National Championship. It's one of my dreams, there's
no question about that, but I don't let that drive me."
"Last year, I think going to the Final Four I was nervous, but it wasn't on me. At the games I got to sit back and relax and hope
that Drew or Kirk or Nick or Keith would step up and make the big plays. Now that I'm in the games I'd rather be the person stepping up and making the plays."
Michael Lee Sophomore guard
"I know people didn't expect us to get this far. So that's a whole lot different (than last year)." Bryant Nash Junior forward
Roy Williams Men's basketball coach
"You imagine this, but you never think it's true, until it actually happens."
Stephen Vinson Freshman guard
No matter the outcome, Williams likely to tear up
Dadgummit, those famous tears are going to fall this weekend in New Orleans.
No ifs, ands or buts — Roy
Williams will weep. Again.
But this time — unlike the previous 14 season-ending losses — Williams might cry out of joy.
this weekend will be Williams' best opportunity for the title, which has eluded him for 15 years and through three previous trips to the game's grandest stage, the Final Four.
After a 3-3 start this season, Kansas fans definitely weren't making plans to the Big Easy.
This season's squad doesn't drip dominance like 1997's Jayhawks did. And there might not be quite the quantity of quality players as last year's team.
Rock Chalk citizens were holding their breath even more when Wayne Simien wrecked his wing in January, meaning an already bad-mouthed bench was going to play an even bigger role.
But this team is talented, and more importantly, experienced, with seniors Kirk Hinrich and Nick Collison leading the way.
There was the shocking defeat in Boulder, Colo., followed by the bizarre blow-out against Arizona in Allen Fieldhouse.
The stinging setbacks to Oklahoma and Missouri in the Big 12 Tournament have settled in the back of people's minds because of the way the Jayhawks have played in the NCAA tourney.
Kansas has not only survived in the tournament when critics thought the Jayhawks wouldn't, but advanced with another chance to win it all.
Andy Samuelson asamuelson@kansan.com
And in March, that's what the
madness is all about.
Now it's April, and the only thing that matters is a victory Monday.
That's the one thing William hasn't done.
"It's one of my dreams, there's no question about that, but I don't let that drive me," said Williams, who has only coached in one championship, losing to Duke in 1991.
Yet it does.
His 417 victories, which account for the highest winning percentage at.806 among active coaches with at least six years experience, are nice.
Williams' three-time national coach of the year awards are the highest form of recognition a coach can receive.
But they're not national titles.
And until that title returns to Lawrence — however unfair a judgment it may be — Williams will be known as the best coach to have never have won the BIG ONE.
"Coach obviously has taken a lot of criticism for not winning a national championship," Collison said. "But it's hard to do."
Williams' mentor Dean Smith tried and tried to get one at North Carolina. But it took him 20 years and the help of a freshman named Michael Jordan before he finally broke through with a title in 1982.
It took Duke eight trips to the Final Four before it hung a national championship banner in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
"I don't think he's been given the credit he deserves," said Arizona coach Lute Olson of Williams after Kansas knocked out Arizona 78-75 in Anaheim, Calif., a week ago in the West Regional finals.
Oison would know how hard it is to have your eyes on the prize but never win it.
He needed 13 years and three Final Fours before his championship team's upset against Kansas made Williams weep.
Some of the game's top coaches, such as Purdue's Gene Keady, Temple's John Chaney and fellow Final Four coach Jim Boeheim of Syracuse, are in the same position of Williams.
Williams tries to remind fans, critics, his own players and maybe even more so himself, that the game is about relationships, not championships.
"It's not something that I stay awake at night and think about," Williams said. "There's something on my desk that I talked about one time — 'Statistics are important but relationships last forever.' I decided many years ago that I wanted to be a college coach because I could have some influence on young people's lives just like my coaches did on me."
But if the ring didn't matter, then tears wouldn't be shed, and success wouldn't be measured.
Samuelson is a Wichita senior in journalism.