Lawrence was abuzz with electricity Saturday afternoon as Kansas Jayhawk fans anticipated an evening of Final Four basketball.

Two Lawrence sixth graders jump-started fans into action Saturday morning by displaying a “Honk if you love KU” sign on 15th Street.

Madison Halverstadt, 12, and Sarah Robinson, 11, adorned themselves in face paint and old prom dresses, made a sign on a piece of cardboard and stood about 11 a.m. at 15th Street and Wagon Wheel Road. By noon, they estimated about 500 hundred cars had honked for the Jayhawks.

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Lawrence resident Rob Pazell absorbed the seemingly ubiquitous excitement by strolling down Massachusetts Street, where the sports bars had been packed since they opened  with long lines of fans still waiting outside.

Pazell wore the same KU basketball jersey he’d been wearing since the beginning of last week, when he took a road trip to Colorado to visit friends and follow the band “The String Cheese Incident.”

“I wore my jersey to every show,” Pazell said. “People came up to me and talked to me and gave me props.”

He said seeing KU in the Final Four made him think the jersey, which is emblazoned with Kirk Hinrich’s No. 10, must be bringing the team luck in the NCAA Tournament. So he hoped the shirt, though it was starting to develop an interesting odor, wouldn’t see the inside of a washing machine until late Monday night.

“I will not wash this jersey until we win the national championship,” he said.

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Pazell wasn’t the only superstitious fan sticking by his ritual. By noon Saturday, eager fanatics had claimed all the tables at Buffalo Wild Wings, 1012 Mass. Â all except one.

But no one complained that the table remained vacant. They knew management had reserved the four-top for the Jayhawks’ good-luck charm: Lawrence resident Janet Scott.

Ever since KU nearly faltered to Holy Cross in the first round of the tournament  Scott and her three friends sat at a booth during that game  she had watched the Jayhawks charge through the bracket on the bar’s big-screen projection television from the same table.

It was marked by a sign that said “Reserved  Scott Party.”

 This story includes information from staff writers Matt Merkel-Hess, Mindie Paget and Joel Mathis.