59
2008 KANSAS BASKETBALL
BY MARK DENT
mdent@kansan.com
Laughter could wait. Jeremy Case had to keep playing his role.
He sat in the corner of the locker room at Ford Field, surrounded by Matt Kleinmann, Chase Buford, Brad Witherspoon, Brennan Bechard, Conner Teahan and Tyrel Reed. They staged a fake interview, and Case was the subject.
"Mr. Case," Buford asked, "in your own personal opinion, how old is Stephen Curry?"
"That's a good question," Case replied, holding back while his teammates cracked up. "Now this is off the record, but I'd say 14."
He finally gave in and started laughing.
These are happy times for Case and his other four senior teammates, guard
Russell Robinson, forward Darnell Jackson, center Sasha Kaun and guard Rodrick Stewart. After going through four years of gut-wrenching tournament losses, they were at the Final Four in San Antonio. By April 8, their Kansas careers would come to an end. They were savoring their last days and counting on their senior experience to help Kansas reach the ultimate goal of winning a national title.
"Not too many people get to experience this, even going to the Final Four," Stewart said. "I'm still in awe of that. But to win the whole thing? Pssh. You're talking about making history, man. That's big right there."
Jackson never paid close attention to the Final Four until his sophomore year of high school. That year, 2002, he watched Drew Gooden and the Jayhawks play against Maryland from his home in
Oklahoma City. After watching Gooden, he asked his mom, Shawn, if she ever thought he could make it that far.
She just laughed.
During the past three years, Shawn's reaction seemed justified. Jackson and his senior teammates seemed destined to never make it to the final weekend. As freshmen, they sat on the bench together and watched a vaunted Kansas senior class get shocked by Bucknell in the first round. They didn't learn and fell to Bradley the next season.
"Losing in the first round hurts," Jackson said. "It hurts a lot."
Last season, Jackson sensed that this time it would be different. He told Case before they left for the second weekend of the tournament in San Jose that they were going to make the Final Four. Instead, Kansas lost another heartbreaker, this time to UCLA in the Elite Eight.
The losses weren't the worst part either. Jackson went through several welldocumented tragedies and a suspension for receiving improper benefits. Stewart struggled to adjust after transferring from Southern California and lost his brother to murder two months ago. Robinson had a bad case of homesickness his freshman year. Case dealt with a redshirt season and playing for a coach that didn't recruit him, and Kaun battled inconsistency problems.
"Just going through stuff like that makes you tougher and brings you closer," Stewart said.
After all the turmoil, the seniors had one final March run to put it all together. They'd already won four Big 12 titles and three conference tournament championships, but they needed something more to
SEE SENIORS ON PAGE 60
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KARSAN