Kansas City, Mo. ? Oliver Minnis felt a little sentimental Saturday.

As Kansas University lost 78-75 to Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Tournament, the Jayhawks’ days of playing tournament basketball at Kemper Arena have likely come to a close.

If and when the conference tournament returns to Kansas City — the earliest it could be is 2008 — games would almost certainly take place in Sprint Arena, which is slated for opening in 2007.

“It’d be nice to have a new arena, but we’ve had a lot of good moments in here,” said Minnis, a KU alumnus from Westin, Mo., who attended the game. “The ’86 regional final, the ’88 national championship, all the Big Eight tournaments. There are a lot of good memories.”

Kemper Arena played host to Big Eight Tournaments from 1979-1996 and hosted the Big 12 Tournament from 1997 to 2002, before it spent two years in Dallas. The tournament will be in Dallas next year and Oklahoma City in 2007.

It’s still possible KU may schedule home basketball games at Kemper Arena in the future, as it did with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in December.

Kansas City leaders say the 31-year-old arena, which seats 18,646 for basketball, is past its prime and spearheaded a tax package to help fund a $250 million arena to seat 18,000 to 20,000 people. The new arena will be placed downtown near a seven-block retail and entertainment development.

But for some KU fans, the new amenities will be bittersweet as the Jayhawks move away from Kemper Arena for conference tourney play.

“It’s been a home away from home,” said Michael McQueeney of Lawrence.

Kansas University fans show a range of emotion as the Jayhawks lose to Oklahoma State Saturday in the semifinal of the Big 12 Tournament at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Mo.

Pete Black, a KU fan from Lenexa, said he wasn’t sure why everybody thought Kemper was obsolete.

“As much as people complain about it, it’s a pretty good place to watch basketball,” Black said. “About the only downside to it is the corridors are packed.”

Curtis Wolf, of Hays, agreed.

“There doesn’t seem to be a bad seat in the house,” he said. “But it’d be good to have an updated version.”

His No. 1 priority on the Sprint Center wish list? Padded seats.

“These aren’t very comfortable,” Wolf said, pointing to his traditional plastic chair.

Larry Hovick, the arena’s general manager, said he realized Kemper was no longer up to the standards expected by some fans, especially as venues such as the $230 million American Airlines Center have come online.

“We work hard on the facility; we make it look as beautiful as we can,” Hovick said. “(The Sprint Center) will be a better place for people to attend events. I don’t have a concourse stretcher in my back pocket. It’ll be a brand new facility within a two- or three-block range of the convention center. In the big picture, that’ll be great.”

Even if the Sprint Center is state of the art, it may not live up to the standards set by some KU fans.

“I enjoy (Kemper), but it’s no Allen Fieldhouse atmosphere,” said Jack Dillon of Lawrence. “There’s no energy.”

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