10
Tuesday, April 5, 1988 / University Daily Kansar
The National Championship
'Incredible! Magic! Thousands swarm Jayhawk Boulevard
Banners outside Kemper Arena promote the Final Four.
1. Andrew Morrison/Special to the Kansas
  Four
Danny Manning passes over Harvey Grant after rebounding the ball during the second half of the Jayhawks win over Oklahoma.
Joe Wilkins III/KANSAN
By Elaine Woodford
Kansan staff writer
Thousands of screaming students jammed their way onto Jayhawk Boulevard last night, others swinging from the trees, others dancing on the rooftops and even more chanting. "We're No. 11."
Fireworks exploded, horns blew all over Lawrence and the Memorial Campanile glowed Kansas blue, as the crowd waved banners. basketball championship since 1952.
"Iincredible! Magic! Once in a lifetime!" said Ray Davis, associate professor of public administration.
Ralph Oliver, assistant director of KU police, estimated the mass of students at 12,000 to 17,000 on Jayhawk Boulevard and 5,000 at the Burge Union celebration, sponsored by Student Union Activities.
The section in front of Wescoe Hall was the central rallying point for students, with thousands of swaying bodies singing "The Crimson and the Blue" and yelling the Rock Chalk chant.
Students have another reason to celebrate. Classes at the Lawrence campus were canceled today in March and Jayhawks' NCAA basketball title.
Judith A. Ramaley, executive vice chancellor, announced the class cancellation last night after the Jaya Foundation enrollment will continue as scheduled.
Kelly Nelson, a Burdett sophomore celebrating on Jayhawk Boulevard, said, "I can't even describe this feeling. The best thing that could happen is for this to go on all night long."
Jayhawk fans had waited impatiently all day for the game, and they were rewarded with a contest that equaled Christmas Day, the Fourth of July and a 21st birthday, all rolled into one.
Fred Ochsenhirt, Topea sophomore said, "The game is all everyone is talking about.
Todd Holloway, Lawrence sophmore who vividly remembers watching Danny Manning play high school basketball, said yesterday afternoon, "This whole day just seems to be stalled until the game starts."
"The most annoying thing about Oklahoma is that they are so obnoxious."
As game time drew closer, students flocked to their favorite sport spots, everywhere between Lawrence and the Kansas City area.
In apartments, residence halls, fraternities, sororities and scholarship halls, students anxiously wait for television and waited for the tin off.
Don Wilson, Topeka senior and member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity, 1111 W. 11th St., watched the game with his roommate, as other members gathered in the recreation room of the fraternity.
playing in the championship game in our own backyard."
"The game is so much better than the game in 1986 because they predicted in November that we'd be in the final," he said. "By 'by mid-February this year, everyone had counted us out, and here we are"
On Hashing Hall's fifth floor, 19
stations gathered around floor's
telephone.
Hyeong Lee, Seoul, Korea graduate student, sat on the floor working on a structural analysis homework assignment between plays. He stoned after a few minutes.
"Of course we are going to win." Lee said. "We are going to go wild after the game."
The Westport area in Kansas City, Mo., proved to be a popular place for students. But as game time neared, the streets were deserted as people vied for a good view of the game on one of the many big screen televisions in Westport bars.
Dan Greig, a 1985 KU graduate, was watching the game from Kelly's Westport Inn.
"It's not going to be rowdy," Greig predicted. "It'll just be one big KU celebration."
As the final buzzer sounded, hundreds of people spilled out of the Reunion Bar in the Marriott Plaza Hotel and into the lobby to celebrate. The Alumni Association had planned the event for KU alumni and students
One student in the Reunion Bar, Todd Porch, Dallas sophomore, had stayed in the Kansas City area for three days to follow the team's progress.
Alumni also were perched on the hillside to eat, some reliving past NCAA games.
"I've been here for three days to support Larry Brown and the Kansas Jayhawks. No one thought it would happen," he said. "We're Cinderella, and we're wearing the glass slipper."
Bill Woo, editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, was a junior at the University of Kansas in 1957 when Wilt Chamberlain led the Jayhawks into the NCAA final against North Carolina.
Woo watched last night's game from the Crystal Room of the Eldridge Hotel, 701 Massachusetts St. At halftime, with the game tied at 50, he said, "The older you get, the more you appreciate it. This is the greatest game I've ever seen."
Nancy Pierce, Mobile, Ala., resident and 1972 KU graduate, came to Kansas City, Mo., for the game but was unable to get tickets. Pierce watched the game from the bar in the Marriott Plaza Hotel.
"I'm a wreck," she said. "I have this feeling that I had three years ago when the Royals beat the Cardinals."
Pierce works for a television station in Mobile and has a bet with a soorts anchor at the station.
"The sports anchor promised me a week ago that if KU won, he'd sing the KU fight song on TV," she said.
After the game, Pierce danced on a bar stool for 20 minutes.
But not all KU students were as excited about the game.
language lab.
Cindy Cain, a Topeka graduate student, was alone in the typing room of Watson Library.
She said she wasn't a Jayhawk fan.
"I have purple blood," she said.
Wescoe Hall was desolate during the game except for one janitor and one student listening to tapes in the
At local movie theaters, showgoers opted to stay home and watch the game.
"It's dead," said Doug Easton, assistant manager of the Hillcrest Trust.
"There were 10 people for the 7 p.m. show and no one for the 9 p.m. show." he said.
At 2 a.m., the revelry on Jayhawk Boulevard was still standing strong. KU students had a reason to celebrate in the glow of the blue Camamile.
KU is No. 1, and the Oklahoma Sooners are No. 2.
Kansan reporters James Buckman, Rebecca C. Jischek, Kim Lightle and Jeff Suggs contributed information to this story.
Champs
Continued from p. 1
sas guard Clint Normore, and Normore missed the front end of his one and one.
Kansas coach Larry Brown sent in guard Scooter Barry, one of the team's top free throw shooters. Sieger fouled Newton, who made the front end of his one and one. He missed the second shot.
With less than a minute in the game, Grace hit a jump shot for a 78-75 score, and Oklahoma called a time-out. With :41 left, guard Mookie Blaylock hit a jump shot and made the score 78-77. Tubbs called for another time-out.
With 5 seconds left, Grant fouled Manning. And Manning sealed the victory by once more completing
Oklahoma applied pressure as the Jayhawks passed the ball around the perimeter. Blaylock fouled Barry, but Barry completed only the first of his free throws with 16 seconds left in the game.
"that was about as nervous as I was in the game," Piper said. "They switched a couple of guys on us. I didn't have a clear pass, and I wasn't going to take a chance. I told Danny out of the huddle when we came to him. The other guys were so quick, the needed to use Danny's
Oklahoma called its last time-out.
On the in-bounds pass, Piper was stuck and could not find any open.
He called a time-out, and on the second try he passed it in to Manning.
both his free throws to make the final score 83-79.
Somewhere in the middle of the mess was Brown, who has taken two
"This feeling is great to be able to close out my career like this in Kansas City, in front of people that have supported me for four years," Manning said. "It's something well deserved for the them, but it wasn't a gift. Some people said we got lucky, but what's luck? Luck presents opportunity, and we took that opportunity.
The crowd was screaming in the stands, and Kansas students who were lucky enough to get tickets for the game were dancing on the press tables that lined the court. The Kansas basketball band played "Goin' to Kansas City". The CB cameras to the CB camera finished with 31 points and 18 rebounds and was voted the tournament's most outstanding player.
The players donned national championship T-shirts. Guard Kevin Pritchard searched for his parents and saw that they were still in the stands waving. He demanded that the security officers let his parents on the floor, and together they celebrated the victory.
"This is for all the people who said
it couldn't be done, that we wouldn't
make it. This is from the national
center." "We don't like to go to
country. How do you like us now?"
When the final buzzer sounded, the players rushed onto the center of the court and became one tangled mass, surrounded by cheerleaders, security officers and cameramen desperately trying to capture the moment.
different schools to three different Final Four appearances in the last seven years. Brown, at age 47, had succeeded in leading the Jayhawks to his first national championship.
Last night they shook off the skeptics, played the game of their lives and sent Manning and fellow senior forwards Piper and Archie Marshall off with the greatest farewell present possible.
The stepladders were set up under the baskets at each end, and Marshall, as he did in Pontiac, Mich., was the first to mount the ladder and cut the net.
Just two months ago Kansas was 12-8, and people wondered whether the Jayhawks would receive a berth in the NCAA tournament.
The Sooners, playing the part of the bad guys, with their red-on-white home uniforms, already had done their dancing during the pregame warmups. They exuded the same cockiness that had been their trademark all season, with their index fingers pointed in the air.
The crowd had its eyes fastened on the Kansas team as each player received his chance to cut the net. The Sooners slinked off to their dressing room, heads down. There would be no victorious dancing on the basketball rims this night.
The Jayhawks came out solemn and underrated but determined. They had the same spark of revenge in their eyes as they did against Kansas State in the Midwest
"It's a bitter defeat, because we felt we could win it all, but we didn't and we have to accept that," said Tubbs.
For his final collegiate appearance, Marshall came out with the team. He injured his knee in December playing against St. John's and came out for the second time after his injury dressed in warmup suit and uniform.
Fans in the second level hung a banner that read, "This one is for 23." Marshall glanced around the arena briefly before the game started and saw the sign. He smiled and waved. For the rest of the night, when Kansas was down on the scoreboard, the crowd would break into the chant, "Archie . . . Archie." It was a reminder that the Jayhawks weren't playing just for a national championship.
Regional at Pontiac and against Duke in the National Semifinal two nights ago in Kemper.
Manning hit his jump shot at the other end of the court. King was called for traveling as he headed the other way, and when he faced Piper this time for the inbounds pass, the confident grin was replaced by a look of frustration.
The Sooners had come out smiling, too. The tip-off went to Oklahoma, and Blaylock hit a jump shot for the first basket of the game. As Piper stood on the baseline to inbound the ball, King looked around and grinned wickedly.
The teams played close, exchanging baskets and three-point shots all evening.
Kansas forward Milt Newton did much of the rescue work, making diving saves several times to keep the ball in bounds for Kansas. More important, when Sieger threatened
at three-point range, Newton helped the Jayhawks recover at key times with three-point shots of his own.
"They had a great first half. You couldn't shoot any better." Tubbs said. "They not only got inside but also got the three-pointers. We never really had firm control of the game, but neither team could really tuck it away."
The pace was still too fast for Kansas. With 8:52 left in the first half, Newton hit a 16-foot jump shot, making the score 33-30, but Brown started screaming on the sidelines for the team to slow down.
The game stood at 50-50 at halftime. By that time the crowd had realized the caliber of game it was seeing, something Brown already had recognized.
"I looked at the refs a couple of times, and they were shaking their heads and grinning." Brown said. "It was a great game. Obviously it had all the drama, it was a close ballgame, and we had some phenomenal individual performances."
"In the first half, we ran pretty well, but we knew we needed to go to our own game plan," Newton said. "Coach said if we ran with Oklahoma, we should try to make them pay for it."
Oklahoma had gone in and out of its press after realizing that it had had no effect on Kansas. The Jayhakws shot an incredible 71 percent from the field in the first half and 63.6 percent overall while holding the Sooners to 48.7 percent in the first half and an even more dismal 35.5 percent in the second half.
Kansas 83
Oklahoma 79
Kansas
| | M | FG | FT | R | A | F | TP |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Newton | 32 | 6-6 | 1-2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 15 |
| Piper | 37 | 4-6 | 0-7 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| Manning | 36 | 13-24 | 0-7 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 31 |
| Murray | 31 | 1-7 | 0-8 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 13 |
| Guelden | 15 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Barry | 9 | 1-2 | 0-2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Normore | 16 | 3-3 | 0-1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| Harris | 13 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| Meredith | 11 | 0-0 | 1-0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Minor | 11 | 1-4 | 2-2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Totals | 200 | 35-55 | 9-14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 83 |
Percentages: FG: 636, FT 643 Team rebounds: 1. Three-point goals: 4-6 (Newton 2-, Pritchard 1-, Normore 1-, Guelder 0-1, Manning 0-1) Blucked Shots: 4 (Manning 2, Newton 2) Turnovers: 23 (Piper 5, Pritchard 8), Manning 2 (Piper 5, Manning 2) Steals: 11 (Manning 5, Piper 3, Guelder, Minor, Pritchard) Technicals: None,
Oklahoma
| | M | FG | FT | R | A | F | T |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Grant | 40 | 6-14 | 2-3 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 14 |
| Slager | 40 | 7-14 | 3-1 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 14 |
| Slager | 40 | 7-14 | 3-3 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 17 |
| Blayck | 40 | 6-13 | 1-3 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 14 |
| Grace | 34 | 7-14 | 0-1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 19 |
| Grace | 7 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 19 |
| Total | 200 | 30-70 | 9-13 | 10 | 19 | 18 | 75 |
Percentages: FG, 429, FT. 714, Team rebounds: 1, Three-point goals: 10-24 (Singer 7-18, Blaylock 2-4, Grace 1-7), Blocked Shots: 3 (King 2, Grant). Turnovers: 15 (King 2, Grant). Runs: 22 (Mulina). Steals: 13 (Blaylock 7; Singer 3, Graff, Grant, Kinol). Technicals: None.
Half: Kansas 50-50. Officials: Plougherty
Higgens, Hightower.
A1: 16, 293