A discussion in the office led me to this week’s Jayhawk Flashback, an 83-82 Kansas victory over Missouri on March 5, 2000.

The original curiosity came from trying to remember which game included that crazy dunk where the Mizzou guy flew over the KU guy but still was called for a charge.

This was the game (the Mizzou guy was Keyon Dooling, the KU guy Ashante Johnson). It’s still one of the nastiest dunks I’ve ever seen.

Oh, and the game was pretty exciting as well.

Below are the highlights from senior day in 2000, the last home game for Johnson, Nick Bradford, Lester Earl and Terry Nooner.

Some notes:

• Wow, is this a Drew Gooden highlight reel or what? I remember him being good, but this had to be one of his best games as a Jayhawk. With 20 points (tied then-career high), 13 rebounds (then-career high) and four assists, he showed NBA scouts the entire repertoire that day, including that quick jumper from the baseline.

Perhaps most impressive is his pass to Kenny Gregory on the fast break. Pretty good for a 6-foot-10 forward.

His no-look dish to Gregory underneath also reminded me of some of Julian Wright’s better assists.

It’s also interesting to see Gooden minus the crazy hair and numerous tattoos as well. For those who haven’t followed him lately, his look has changed a few times over the years.

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• Great reaction by Dooling after his dunk. I would have been shocked, too. At worst, it’s a no-call. In all honesty, Johnson probably should have been called for a blocking foul after undercutting Dooling. Don’t know where the charge call came from.

Kansas fans won’t complain, though. A potential MU three-point play could have probably made quite a difference in a one-point game.

• Speaking of the dunk, here’s Ashante Johnson’s quote after the game: “It was incredible what he did. He basically jumped over me. I was not expecting him to jump when he did. It didn’t count, but it’ll still probably be on SportsCenter.”

• I remember watching the Rush brothers back then and thinking KU was going to miss out on all of them.

Luckily for the Jayhawks, they got the youngest brother when they needed him most.

• Interesting to see that, in the final seconds of a close game, three freshmen were on the floor: Gooden, Kirk Hinrich and Nick Collison.

After looking at the stats, it’s easy to see why. The three freshmen combined for 45 of KU’s 83 points, 35 of KU’s 64 shots, 22 of KU’s 47 rebounds and 10 of KU’s 18 assists.

• By the way, superstitious coach Roy Williams said afterwards that he didn’t watch Gooden’s free throws with 12.9 seconds left. He simply waited for the crowd response to let him know if they went in or not.

• According to our notebook from the game, a television cameraman caught one of the Missouri assistant coaches making a choke signal after a KU turnover in the final minutes. I don’t remember much about this. Anyone remember if this was something that people saw on TV?

• Let’s not overlook Nick Bradford’s contribution in this victory.

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Bradford had 15 points on 6-for-8 shooting to go with three steals. He also had a personal 7-2 run in the second half that helped KU extend its lead.

Bradford later reflected on the contest in a KU-themed book, calling it the best game of his Jayhawk career.