New Orleans ? It had to seem oddly familiar to Ted Owens: Kansas. Marquette. Final Four.

Owens had seen this before.

When the Jayhawks and Golden Eagles played in Saturday’s national semifinal at the Superdome, it wasn’t the first time the teams had met in a Final Four. Owens, who coached Kansas University from 1964 to 1983, guided KU to the 1974 Final Four at Greensboro, N.C.

Things were different in that matchup. Marquette’s nickname was the Warriors, and coach Al McGuire’s team was favored.

“There were some great teams in that Final Four,” said Owens, who attended Saturday’s game with three of his four children. “We were sort of the team that nobody expected to get there.”

After Owens’ 1971 Final Four squad finished 27-3, the Jayhawks slumped to 11-15 in 1972 and 8-18 in 1973. The ’73 squad lost 11 games by 10 points or fewer with a starting lineup that included four sophomores.

Things didn’t look much better in 1973-74, when the Jayhawks lost three of their first eight games, but KU won 16 of its final 18 regular-season games, then slipped past Creighton, 55-54, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Tulsa, Okla. The Midwest Regional final was even closer, with KU edging Oral Roberts, 93-90 in overtime, to advance to the Final Four.

Junior center Danny Knight led KU with an average of 12.4 points a game, followed closely by junior forward Roger Morningstar (12.3), junior guard Dale Greenlee (11.8), freshman forward Norm Cook (11.4) and junior center Rick Suttle (11.3).

“It was a team,” said Owens, whose Big Eight champion squad finished 23-7. “We had seven guys who played about the same amount of minutes. That was one of my most rewarding experiences.”

Marquette, led by Maurice Lucas and Bo Ellis, finished 26-5, but Owens said it was difficult to get his team fired up to face the Warriors. Marquette coach Al McGuire made sure of that. He visited KU’s locker room before the game and shook hands with all the Jayhawks.

“He was a charmer,” Owens said with a laugh. “We just melted. We couldn’t hate Marquette or Al McGuire. He was a great psychologist. I told somebody it was the dirtiest trick anybody ever played on me.”

Marquette defeated KU, 64-51, and advanced to face North Carolina State in the finals.

N.C. State, led by David Thompson, topped UCLA and Bill Walton in the other semifinal and knocked off Marquette, 76-64, to claim the NCAA title.

The Bruins defeated KU, 78-61, in the third-place game.

Owens finished 348-182 in 19 seasons at KU. His teams won two more league titles, but 1974 was his last Final Four.

After posting a 13-16 record in 1982-83 with a team dominated by underclassmen, Owens was fired.

“It was very, very hard, but I never lost my love for the University of Kansas,” Owens said of his dismissal. “I felt privileged to coach at a great school like that. It’s a great school. I have great friendships. I wouldn’t take anything for those seasons and those friendships.”

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Special K: Former Jayhawk Ron Kellogg said it was unfortunate media and fan speculation about whether KU coach Roy Williams would take the job at North Carolina had taken some of the spotlight away from Kansas players.

“We all would like him to stay, but we all know there’s better opportunities out there for everybody,” said Kellogg, a two-time All-Big Eight selection who played at Kansas from 1983-86. “It shouldn’t be about that or about him. It should be about the team. The focus should be on the players. This is an special team and a special group of kids.”

Kellogg played professionally in the CBA and overseas. He now works two full-time jobs — as district supervisor for the Omaha World-Herald and computer operator for American National Bank.

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Day off: Former Jayhawk Greg Dreiling, who played with the Indiana Pacers, Dallas Mavericks and Cleveland Cavaliers between 1986-87 and 1996-97, is a player development coach and scout for the Mavericks.

He wasn’t here to evaluate talent, though. Dreiling was attending his first Final Four since 1991, when KU reached the title game in Indianapolis.

“I was with the Pacers, and we had a night off,” said Dreiling, who sat behind KU’s bench with 14-year-old son Scott. “I’m going to watch all the games, but I’m here with my son to enjoy the games. When you’re in the business, you can’t escape during the season most times, but this is going on close to Dallas and my son is at an age where he needs to see Kansas in the Final Four. As much as we’d like to say this happens every year, we know it doesn’t.”

Other former Jayhawks in attendance included Chris Piper (1984-88), Kevin Pritchard (1986-90), Mike Maddox (1987-91), Rex Walters (1991-93) and Jeff Boschee (1998-02).