Prologue

As a lifelong Jayhawk basketball fan, college hoops is in my blood. I've watched games with my dad from early childhood to present day. The game has changed so much just in my 25 years of phoggin' around. The first season I remember was Roy Williams' improbable run to the 1991 championship against Duke. That loss forced me to "replay" that game over and over in the driveway countless times. Somehow, KU always came out on top in my version. The next memory I have was a gutwrenching loss to UTEP ('92). I couldn't understand how the Miners ran one play over and over... and never needed to change it up, because KU couldn't stop it.

It was so frustrating to end the season with a loss, but I always fell back on the "there's always next year" cliché. That's when I found out about players only getting four years of eligibility. This was quite a pill to swallow at a young age. I was so accustomed to "Downtown" Terry Brown, Adonis Jordan and Rex Walters. I didn't understand why they couldn't keep on playing... it didn't seem fair.

I remember tearing up when guys like Jacque Vaughn and Raef LaFrentz both got upset in their senior campaigns. Would I ever see KU get back to the championship? I learned to enjoy the regular season, but I knew that March Madness always brought an ugly ending to each year.

Season after season, it seemed like KU always had a great chance to cut down the nets, only to fall short of their ultimate goal. The year always ended on a down note, usually with one player on the opposing team having the game of their life. Guys like Glenn Robinson, John Wallace, Miles Simon, Tyson Wheeler, Scott Padgett, Shane Battier, Frank Williams, Juan Dixon, Gerry McNamara, Jarrett Jack... I saw them in my dreams for months - and they were still hitting shots!

But after Bill Self started bringing in his own players - Russell Robinson, Darnell Jackson, Sasha Kaun... I realized we wouldn't miss a beat. Then he followed it up with a monster class: Julian Wright, Mario Chalmers and Brandon Rush - adding Sherron Collins and Darrell Arthur one year later. We're Kansas: We don't rebuild, we reload.

As the face of "my team" for most of my life, I had nearly forgotten who Roy Williams was. Certainly he was a great coach, but I didn't harbor any bad feelings towards him after he left. I was simply worried that Kansas wouldn't be the elite team I had been accustomed to all my life. The two first-round losses certainly didn't ease my nerves. I was worried that KU had lost the magic. But an Elite 8 appearance against UCLA restored my confidence. We even beat the eventual champs (Florida) that year, and returned nearly everyone. I knew Self had what it took to win it all, and he proved me right the following year.

After winning the national championship against Memphis, I realized something: Kansas fans are spoiled, I'm spoiled. At Kansas you call a "disappointing" year a 4-seed in the tourney and a Sweet 16 appearance. The bar of success is set so high! Even legendary programs such as Kentucky, North Carolina and Indiana have had their fair share of dismal seasons sprinkled in. But Kansas truly hasn't in my lifetime. When we literally lost our entire team, I was prepared for the worst. But after seeing our new recruits, I knew we would be okay. And never count out Bill Self... dude can flat-out coach. You couldn't pick a better guy to lead such a prestigious program with as much class as Self does. He makes me proud to be a Jayhawk.

So there's a little peek into my passion for college hoops. And soon you will see what has become of it...

Rock Chalk!