Tuxedo-clad Kansas University seniors Keith Langford, Michael Lee, Aaron Miles and Wayne Simien bowed their heads reverently while grasping KU’s 1988 national-championship trophy at the conclusion of a dramatic skit at Late Night in the Phog on Friday at Allen Fieldhouse.

“It wasn’t like it was a fun thing. It (skit) was a serious matter,” KU senior guard Miles said of the Fab Foursome answering a series of questions from 1988 title winners Danny Manning and Mike Maddox before being allowed to touch the trophy.

“The way they asked us the questions … it meant something to us as far as our goals,” added Miles, who along with the rest of the seniors answered, “We do,” to these questions:

• “Do you promise to honor your commitment to this season, your teammates, to each other and Kansas basketball?”
• “Do you promise to lead your team through blood and sweat, wins and losses, through practices and the tournament?”
• “Do you promise to do all that is within your power to continue the tradition of Kansas basketball and win a championship?”

They grinned widely, then huddled and bonded for a few moments after Manning told the group: “You four seniors came for the tradition. You’ll leave as a part of it. You may touch the trophy.”

Poignant stuff indeed.

“When Danny finally said, ‘Touch the trophy,’ we all kind of looked at each other and were like, ‘Man, this is it,'” senior shooting guard Lee said. “That’s exactly what we said. It’s funny how we were all kind of thinking the same thing: ‘This is really it. We don’t have another year.’

“In the past, we said we’d come back next year, this that or the other. Now if we don’t do it now, we don’t get another chance.”

The four seniors went out in grand fashion at their final Late Night in the Phog.

“My favorite moment from Late Night was the sophomore skit,” Lee said of sophomores J.R. Giddens, Nick Bahe and Jeremy Case performing the song, “My Girl” as the group The Temptations.

“I thought they had their stuff together. They had some nice steps led by J.R. and Jeremy. They put some work into that. It was nice.”

“It was all Nick Bahe. ‘Mini-Bahe’ stole the show with his moves,” KU junior Christian Moody quipped.

The veterans enjoyed watching the freshmen take part in a “dance off.”

“I thought Darnell (Jackson) stole the show, but Matt Kleinmann was a close second with the dance moves,” Moody said.

The Jayhawks were amazed 16,000 fans showed despite the fact the students are away on fall break.

“I need to quit underestimating our crowd. I thought maybe it wouldn’t be packed, but they always come through for us,” Lee said.

“I enjoyed everything. I enjoy being around our fans, having a chance to come out and be greeted by our fans,” Miles said.

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Practice really begins: KU coach Bill Self ran his team through a 2-hour, 15-minute practice Saturday afternoon, the first official practice of the season.

“The adrenaline wasn’t quite flowing as much today. I don’t know if the excitement has worn off, but the adrenaline rush has worn off,” Self said. “We had tired guys, but the practice was OK. I’d say in my opinion Nick Bahe and Sasha Kaun may have been as good as anybody in the gym today.”

Freshman Alex Galindo, who hit a pair of threes and scored 10 points in the Late Night scrimmage, dressed but didn’t practice because of a sore groin that likely will sideline him two or three practices.

Jeremy Case and Stephen Vinson are out indefinitely with their own groin injuries.

“Jeremy’s is kind of a unique deal. He bruised his pelvic bone (stretching before a pick-up game). Stephen slipped on a towel. I actually saw that happen in Boot Camp. Alex … I don’t know how he did his. We’ve certainly had more than our fair share of groin injuries.”