Kansas not guaranteed win in K.C.
Jayhawks 11-5 in tournament games in K.C.
Wayne Simien doesn’t remember Kansas University’s loss to Virginia in the 1995 NCAA Tournament, and it’s not necessarily because the KU junior from Leavenworth was only 12 when the Cavaliers ousted the top-seeded Jayhawks, 67-58, in the Sweet 16 at Kansas City, Mo.
“The only thing I remember is 1988 in Kansas City,” said Simien, who was 5 when the Jayhawks defeated Oklahoma, 83-79, in the 1988 national-title game at Kemper Arena. “I’m keeping it positive. That’s the memory that comes to mind. Hopefully it will be that type of scenario again.”
KU returns to Kemper for an NCAA Tournament game for the first time in nine years at 8:55 p.m. Friday when the fourth-seeded Jayhawks face Illinois-Chicago in the first round of the St. Louis Regional.
Kemper long has been considered the Jayhawks’ home away from home, and KU is 74-23 in the gym. But playing in Kansas City doesn’t guarantee postseason success. Kansas is 11-5 in NCAA games in Kansas City, including 4-1 in Kemper.
While KU won the 1988 national title at Kemper Arena, the Jayhawks have lost three other championship games in the city. Indiana defeated KU in the 1940 and 1953 finals at Municipal Auditorium, and North Carolina topped Wilt Chamberlain and the Jayhawks there in a three-overtime thriller in 1957.
The Jayhawks’ lone NCAA Tournament loss in Kemper was suffered by the 1995 squad, which was the No. 1 seed in its region, the second-ranked team in the nation and the Big Eight Conference champion. Coach Roy Williams’ roster included four future NBA players — senior Greg Ostertag, sophomores Jacque Vaughn and Scot Pollard and freshman Raef LaFrentz. Virginia held KU to 2-of-21 three-point shooting and a season-low point total.
The Jayhawks, who had won 18 straight games at Kemper against nonconference opponents, were stunned.
“I think we were,” said Greg Gurley, who was a senior guard that season. “I know I was. I don’t want to even talk about it, to remember it.”
That young KU squad was led by sophomores Pollard, Vaughn and Jerod Haase, but this year’s team is different. Simien and fellow juniors Aaron Miles, Keith Langford and Michael Lee will be aiming for their third Final Four berth in three seasons.
Kansas not guaranteed win in K.C.
6Sports video: Simien ready for March play“With four juniors who have been to two Final Fours, I would have confidence they will not be distracted,” said Gurley, a national sales manager for Collegiate Marketing Services who also works as a color analyst for Sunflower Broadband. “They know what it takes.”
Simien is one of three scholarship players from the area. Senior forward Jeff Graves grew up in Lee’s Summit, Mo., and sophomore guard Jeff Hawkins hails from Kansas City, Kan.
“There might be a little more pressure there just because it’s almost considered a homecourt for us,” said Simien, whose parents live 30 minutes from Kemper, “but I think we’ll take care of it.”
The Jayhawks haven’t lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament since 1978, but KU’s first-round games haven’t been cakewalks in recent seasons. Heavily-favored KU teams survived scares against Holy Cross and Utah State in 2002 and 2003, respectively. Fourth-seeded Kansas, which was a No. 1 seed in 2002 and a No. 2 last season, won’t take 13th-seeded Illinois-Chicago lightly.
“We don’t know too much about them,” Simien said, “but the coaches do a good job of getting us prepared. In previous years, Utah State, Holy Cross and Cal State Northridge all gave us a run for the money, so we’ll have to be ready and not look past UIC.”