Fanfare heralds team’s return

Ah, Sweet 16. Now it’s on to St. Louis.

Kansas University basketball fans Sunday expected their men’s team to put away the University of the Pacific, but some said they bit off a few fingernails watching it happen.

“They had some scary moments, but I thought they played really well,” said Daryl Compton, of Topeka, as he and his 13-year-old daughter, Hannah, waited to welcome the Jayhawks home Sunday night outside Allen Fieldhouse.

They were among about 40 fans who cheered and clapped when the team bus rolled up to the south entrance of the fieldhouse shortly before 8 p.m. after a short trip back from Kansas City, Mo. That afternoon at Kemper Arena, they beat the University of the Pacific, 78-63, to gain entry into the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament.

Hannah Compton clutched several pieces of paper with handwritten notes she planned to give to the players as they got off the bus.

“I’m letting them know they did a good job,” Hannah said before the bus arrived.

She had a longer note for Self, which she gave him, along with a couple of hugs.

“I asked him if he was going to read it to the team, and he said he would,” Hannah said.

Other notes and hugs were handed out to players Wayne Simien and Jeff Graves.

Wayne Simien high-fives 2-year-old Hannah Stewart, Lawrence, as the Jayhawks return home to Allen Fieldhouse. Hannah was with her parents, Tom and Carolyn Stewart, Sunday night.

Gary Kuntz, a retired Ottawa High School mathematics teacher, drove to Lawrence after watching the game on television to show his support for the Jayhawks.

“I just think they are starting to jell at the right time,” Kuntz said. “I like their chances of going on and continuing to win.”

Jesse Vega, 16, of Ottawa, agreed. He hopes Simien’s groin injury doesn’t become a problem.

“I just saw the video of that today, and it looked painful,” Vega said, recalling Simien falling and doing the splits during Friday’s game against Illinois-Chicago. “He doesn’t have quite the explosiveness he had before but I think he’ll be all right.”

A few fans were at the fieldhouse checking on tickets for the next round of tournament games in St. Louis. KU plays the University of Alabama-Birmingham on Friday.

Don Hough, of Lawrence, put his name on a waiting list for tickets. He’s not sure what his chances are of getting tickets, but he likes the Jayhawks’ chances, especially against UAB.

“Everybody is playing very well right now,” he said. “They’re showing an excellent distribution of play.”

Friends Sharon Keegan, of Topeka, and Jan Howard, of Lecompton, who watched the games at Kemper, are going to St. Louis, and, they hope, to the Final Four in San Antonio. They have been following the Jayhawks for the past several years on their tournament road trips.

“I was a bit nervous, but I think things are finally going their way” Keegan said, assessing Sunday’s game and the season.

“They had to win one more than North Carolina,” Howard said with a chuckle, referring to former KU coach Roy Williams, whose Tar Heels were eliminated from the tournament Saturday when they lost to Texas.

But Jennifer Kessinger, 18, of Lawrence, was disappointed Williams and North Carolina were eliminated from the tournament so soon.

“I wanted us to play them and win,” she said.