St. Louis ? A dome packed with Jayhawk fans, a century of basketball tradition and a can’t-stop-me guard was quite enough.

When the clock registered 0:00.0 Saturday at Edward Jones Dome, that solid Phog Allen vibe and the heart-thumping tenacity of hobbled Kirk Hinrich and Co. had extinguished Stanford 86-63 to grab a berth in the Sweet 16 at Madison, Wis.

“I won’t dream about my girlfriend tonight. I’ll dream about this awesome, awesome win,” said Rusty Long, a teen-ager from Kansas City, Mo., who traveled across the state for the second-round game.

Stanford fans who watched sand run out of their team’s hourglass looked as shell-shocked as troops returning from the frontlines.

Even KU junior Amanda Leland had the wind taken out of her. She’s on the Jayhawks’ rowing team, but sat in a section full of Cardinal loyalists. Her dad is Ted Leland, director of athletics at Stanford.

“I would have liked a more competitive game,” Amanda said.

Forget that, screeched Jayhawk-cloaked Mike Alzamora, a KU senior from Lawrence.

“It’s proof to the rest of the country how powerful and talented this team is,” said Alzamora, decked out in beaked hat and other accessories. “This team is savvy and wants it more. As a fan, we’re extremely hungry. Our hunger has certainly grown over the years.”

And folks can forget that stuff about the No. 1 seed being a curse for KU. The Jayhawks  backed by Coach Roy Williams’ spit into the Mississippi River and three little lucky charms from Lawrence  helped end that kind of talk.

The Sharp kids  Kameron, 8, Karson, 5, and Kole, 20 months  convinced their parents, Greg and Kristy, of Lawrence, to shell out $250 for scalped tickets to get into the game.

“After watching Thursday night’s game, we just had to come,” said Greg Sharp, leaning forward to see Drew Gooden race down court for a dunk. “They needed our support.”

Jesse Nicholson, 11, came to St. Louis all the way from Madisonville, Ky., for the tournament. He wasn’t there to enjoy the Kentucky Wildcats’ victory. His team is the Jayhawks, and always has been since his birth in Topeka.

“You can take the boy out of Kansas, but you can’t take Kansas out of the boy,” said his father, Steve Nicholson.

A father-son duo at the game  Craig Heil and his dad, John, of St. Peters, Mo.  said a stellar game from the Jayhawks lifted their spirits. John Heil, a 1966 KU graduate, recently became a victim of the nation’s mediocre economy and was laid off from his job at McDonnell Douglas.

He pronounced the Jayhawks ready to roll on their next stop in Madison.

“This is great,” said Craig Heil. “They’re back to the KU of old.”