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NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY MARCH 26 2007
FAN CLUB
Marla Keown/KANSAN
Fans cheer for Russell Robinson as he returns home from San Jose, Calif., to Lawrence. A crowd of about 75 gathered Sunday morning at 4 a.m. in front of Allen Hallfisher to meet the team and show their support.
Roller coaster of emotions Viewers crowd bars Saturday night to cheer on Kansas
BY ASHER FUSCO
The Kansas Jawhaws may have been playing nearly 2,000 miles away, but on Saturday evening, bars and restaurants in Lawrence held the same intensity as Allen Fieldhouse radiates during a home game.
Though the throngs of fans that packed sports bars and restaurants headed home
headed home disappointed,
for almost two hours the town
stood at attention and watched
Kansas take on UCLA.
Finding an empty seat from which to view Saturday night's regional championship game
proved nearly as difficult as squeezing into the student section at the fieldhouse.
As early as 4:30 p.m., many sports bars, including Zig and Mac's Sports Bar and Grill, 1540 Wakarusa Drive Suite L, JB Stout's Bar and Grill, 721 Wakarusa Drive Suite 100, and 23rd Street Brewery, 3512 Clinton Parkway, were filled to capacity. The scene at Bigg's Barbeque, 2429 S. Iowa, was no different.
"This is the most people I've seen here for any game," said Joe Preiner, Bigg's waiter and Apple Valley, Minn., sophomore. "We had people show up two hours ahead of time. It's even more crowded than during Thursday's game."
"This is the most people I've seen here for any game. We had people show up two hours ahead of time."
The fans at Biggs's rode a roller coaster of emotions throughout the game as the Jayhawks fell behind the Bruins. During the first half, fans stood and loudly cheered after each
JOE PREINER Bigg's waite
Kansas steal.
However, when
UCLA started to
pull away late in
the first half,
the Kansas supporters became less vocal.
As the final minutes ticked off the clock and Kansas tried to crawl back into
the game, most fans already felt the Jayhawks' tournament run had come to an end.
A few patrons headed for the exits early, but most sat in a state of mournful silence. One fan cheered the team's effort with applaure and the statement, "There's nothing wrong with a trip to the Elite Fight."
Massachusetts Street was similarly reserved after the game. People
milled around outside bars and waited in line at ice cream parlors, but there was no revelry to be found.
Although people around town felt more than a little deflated on Saturday night, early Sunday morning was a different story. About 75 die hard fans awaited the team's 4 am. return to Allen Fieldhouse. When the team arrived and stepped off the bus, the crowd cheered and held up signs that read "Thank you Jayhawks."
Shari Stimetz, a 1971 Kansas graduate who has greeted the team every year for the past 25 years, said she felt her unconditional loyalty was the least she could give the players in what she described as an "incredible year."
After all, it's not the end of the world for the Jayhawk faithful; the 2008 NCAA Tournament is only about 350 days away.
If the solidarity shown by Stimetz and the other early-birds present at the fieldhouse on Sunday is any indication, the team's failure to reach the Final Four will have little effect on the psyche of Kansas fans.
Kansan sportswriter Asher Fusco can be contacted at afusco@kansan.com
Edited by Katie Sullivan
TOURNAMENT (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
ries in either city.
It was the ultimate no-call.
To prepare the team for a physical weekend in San Jose, the Kansas backups were allowed to do whatever they wanted during practice. No whistles were blown; no fouls were called.
"Basically, they just get a free pass to whack at you all day," freshman guard Sherron Collins said. "You get hit in the face or scratched in the arms."
The red team, as the backup players are called, was allowed to do that to simulate Southern Illinois' punishing defense. Self wanted to make sure his players were ready for
a physical game and wouldn't complain to the officials if they get bumped on a play.
The starters were unanimous in their assessment of who the best fouler was: sophomore guard Brennan Bechard.
to escape with a victory in the Sweet Sixteen game. And nobody complained about it being too violent. After all, the Jayhawks had it much worse during practice. Take freshman guard Brady Morningstar, for instance. When asked what his fouling strategy was, he laughed.
"They get us frustrated, but that's a good thing, because it means we're going to be prepared," sophomore forward Julian Wright said. "You can't really be mad, because they're trying to help."
Bechard attributes his success to his ability to get under the players and swat at them from a position low to the ground. He's not shy about enjoying it, either.
"He just grabs you," sophomore guard Mario Chalmers said. "That's all he does is grab, grab, grab. He does it almost every play."
The layhawks used the strategy during practices at Bellarmine College Preparatory School in San Jose. They didn't have much time to prepare, because most of Tuesday was taken up by the flight out. On Wednesday, Self let the backups swing away one last time before the games.
"Basically, they just get a free pass to whack at you all day. You get hit in the face or scratched in the arms."
SHERRON COLLINS Freshman guard
"Oh, it's definitely fun when the coaches say to foul them," he said.
"I just slap at them a little bit, try to not let them go where they want to go."
On the other side of the ball is the blue team, the top players, who don't necessarily enjoy being poked at for an hour.
Not all the backups had fun foulung, though. Junior guard Jeremy Case followed directions, but reluctantly.
"I really don't like playing like that," he said. "I'll foul them a little bit, I guess."
He said that the players take it well, for the most part. Collins used to get feisty when the players would grab him, but he's become used to it during the season and said that doesn't happen anymore.
Saturday was the final game as a Jayhawk for assistant coach Tim Jankovich. He will be leaving to take the head coaching position at
While the Southern Illinois defense did cause Kansas some problems, the Jayhawks were able
"I'm just trying to break as many bones as I can," he joked. "They get tougher that way."
Illinois State.
"I absolutely love this team," he said. "I'm leaving here, on one hand, with a great deal of excitement, but also so much sadness because I love coach Self, and I love this
team."
Jankovich was originally an assistant with Self at Illinois. His job will be filled by former Jayhawk great Danny Manning, who has been a part of the staff for the past four seasons. Manning's job will not be filled.
Self said that Manning had been anticipating this for some time, but didn't want to take the job four years ago because he wanted to spend some time at home after a long NBA career. His duties will now take him on the road as one of the lajhwacks' recruiters.
--his tickets, turned off his phone and tried not to look into the stands at any point during warm-ups.
While in Chicago, Collins was not an easy man to track down.
Playing less than a mile from where he grew up, the freshman guard made an extra effort to unapproachable so he could keep his focus on the game.
He put his uncle in charge of distributing
Rover,' and it had some rims in it," Collins said. "But then we saw in the rims it said M.J., so everybody started taking pictures of it."
"It was crazy, because at first we were just like, 'Look at the Range'
The ride belonged to Michael Jordan, the NBA legend, who had his initials spelled out in diamonds on all four of the rims.
The Kentucky victory came on his birthday, but after the game he had something on his mind other than basketball. In the parking lot, the team bus parked next to a Range Rover.
"I'm not going to lie. I was definitely nervous," he said.
He was on hand as a scout, and saw each of the hometown players light up the scoreboard. Wright had his strong game on Sunday, shaking off some jitters he felt on Friday.
He may not have seen the people he knows, but they all saw him. Collins had a strong weekend as Kansas defeated Niagara 107-67 and Kentucky 88-76.
Those early miscues didn't mean much, though, in an uneventful first-round blow out.
"He wins most of the games," Collins said. "But I did beat him once."
"The thing I'll take away from it is that we had a bunch of talented kids that sacrificed for the good of the program."
When the Jayhawks returned from Chicago victorious on Sunday night, Collins said he would celebrate his birthday at the bowling alley with Wright. On the court, the two fight for scoring supremacy, but at the Jaybowl it's a little more lopsided.
--they were still playing.
"The thing I'll take away from it is that we had a bunch of talented kids that sacrificed for the good of the program," he said. "We liked sharing the ball."
In a hallway underneath HP Pavilion, Self looked back at the season that had just ended.
But it didn't happen against UCLA. After the game, the Kansas players knew they were just as good of a team, but in the cruelness of March Madness that doesn't matter. For two hours on one day, the Bruns were the better team, and that's why
Somebody always stepped up in the clutch for the lawhays, leading them to big victories against Florida, Southern Illinois and twice against Texas.
BILL SELF Coach
Chalmers said that this loss hurt more than exiting in the first round because the title was within sight.
For the 2006-07 Jayhawks, the shots fell most of the time, resulting in 33 victories, two short of the school record. Those two were ones that the players badly wanted.
"It was just one of those days where things weren't going right." Rush said. "One day the shots are all falling, and the next day they're not."
Kansan senior sportswriter Michael Phillips can be contacted at mphillips@kansan.com.
Edited by Darla Slipke
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