Buffaloed!

Jayhawks' first-round loss is first since 1978

OKLAHOMA CITY ? For many at the Ford Center, it was almost unimaginable.

Kansas University on Friday lost a first-round game in the NCAA Tournament — something the Jayhawks hadn’t done since 1978, ending the Final Four dreams of a men’s basketball team that started the season ranked No. 1 in the polls.

Third-seeded KU lost 64-63 to the Bucknell Bison, a 14th seed, after a last-second, 15-foot jump shot by Wayne Simien missed the mark.

“I don’t know how many game-winning shots I made in my back yard growing up dreaming of being a Jayhawk,” Simien said afterward, “and it just didn’t work out this time.”

A stunned pack of Jayhawk fans stood silently at the Ford Center after the game, then slowly filed out of the arena. Tears streamed down cheerleaders’ faces.

“This is embarrassing,” said Steve Flatt, a KU graduate from Devil Oak, Texas. “This is the biggest disappointment I’ve seen from KU since I started following the team in 1964.”

Many of the fans leaving the game refused to discuss the loss.

“It’s just disgraceful,” said one who declined to give her name. “What more can you say?”

‘Shock and disbelief’

Kansas University's Keith Langford holds his head in the locker room after the Jayhawks fell to Bucknell on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Oklahoma City. KU hasn't been eliminated in the first round since 1978, when it lost to UCLA in Eugene, Ore.

Back in Lawrence late Friday night, KU fans soaked in the Jayhawks’ early tournament exit with a mixture of anger, incredulity and sadness.

“Shock and disbelief,” said Todd Rogers, a KU employee, as he took in the loss at Jefferson’s, 743 Mass. “I’ve got nothing. I’m just stunned. I had no doubt going down to the wire that they were going to pull it out. I wasn’t even thinking about them not advancing out of this weekend.”

Some of that shock was certainly a consequence of Bucknell’s status as David to KU’s Goliath.

“I read something about them in the paper and I was like, ‘Who is this team?'” said Kaitlin Harrell, KU senior.

But KU fans won’t soon forget the Bison, the Patriot League champions from Lewisburg, Pa. Bucknell challenged the Jayhawks up and down the court, and never allowed the KU offense to settle in.

“We didn’t really have an outside game tonight,” said Megan Urquhart, a former KU softball player. “We tried to go inside all night long and get it to Wayne Simien. But you can’t depend on just one guy.”

Still, Urquhart thought the Jayhawks had a chance to win up until the clock expired.

“This whole season has been down to the wire. Almost every game has been won at the end,” she said.

Second-guessing

Now, though, the season is over, leaving fans second-guessing what could have been.

“When they threw it down (to Simien), I thought he was going to hit it,” said Casey Green, a KU senior. “I think he could have taken a dribble. I think he rushed it a little bit …”

If fans were disappointed and angry, coach Bill Self seemed stunned.

“I don’t know how I really feel,” he said at a news conference after the game. “A little disappointed because we didn’t have our best performance when it counted. I feel for the players because it has been such a taxing year, but give Bucknell credit. They played terrific.”

The Bison advance to play Wisconsin at 3:50 p.m. Sunday in Oklahoma City. The Badgers advanced to the Round of 32 by defeating Northern Iowa 57-52 Friday evening.

The winner of Sunday’s game will advance to the Sweet Sixteen in Syracuse, N.Y.