A Kansas University trip to the NCAA Final Four always gives Lawrence a lift.

There are few events that create as much good feeling among the residents of Lawrence as a trip by the Jayhawk men’s basketball team to the NCAA Final Four.

We’d almost forgotten what a good feeling it is, but the Kansas University team brought it all back to us with a win Sunday that will send the squad to the four-team final for the first time since 1993. As soon as the game was over, the city was hopping. Crowds gathered along Jayhawk Boulevard on campus and again at Allen Fieldhouse to welcome the team home. Many of the celebrants were students just back from spring break, but many others were local residents young and old who love Jayhawk basketball.

They like to have a winning team, but those who have watched basketball for many years, also admire the kind of teams Coach Roy Williams produces. He recruits “good kids” and makes them better, both as players and as people. He coaches great players, but no stars. He instills the principle that top players don’t succeed if the team doesn’t succeed.

There have been talented Jayhawk teams in recent years, but no trips to the Final Four. This team seems to have a winning mix of talent and mental toughness “want-to,” some call it.

Like many Jayhawk fans, we’re hesitant to risk jinxing the final days of this team’s season by saying this is the group that can win it all. We’re proud of what it has achieved whether or not it comes home with the national trophy.