Final Four Stories

In my life I have seen KU play in five Final Four games.  Each game has had it's own flavor and story.  This week is Final Four week in the Young household so by the end of the week hopefully you will be prepared for what is going to happen on Saturday night.

The first Final Four game that I ever witnessed KU play in was my Senior Year of high school.  This team had it all.  The year previous KU had lost to a tough Bill Self Illinois squad.  Kirk Hinrich was a sophomore that year and I remember thinking that he was being pushed around.  I was tired of Roy's teams always getting beaten up. They played fast but I didn't think that they played very tough.  That next season I thought we had too much talent to be pushed around.  This KU team had six players that would end up playing in the NBA.  Trouble is we ran into a team in Maryland that had four players that would go on and play in the NBA.  The only good part of the game was the beginning.  After that Maryland moved the lead up to 20.  KU cut it to four but it was too little too late.  This was Drew Gooden and Jeff Boschee's final game as Jayhawks.  People forget that we had Wayne Simien on that squad.  He was injured and could not play.  What if?

None of this is important.  What is important is where I watched these games right!?  The first weekend of the tournament was watched in New York City.  I was on a mission trip with Mikeydise.  This is the week I found out that I was Lactose Intolerant.  We had alot of pizza that week in New York.  I want to apologize to Bo, Alyssa, and Teresa Seltman, Miriam, Samantha, and Jo Paradise.  We rode in a van for a long time on that trip.  And I now have to fess up that it was me in the van.  I'm sorry...pizza.  KU beat Holy Cross and Stanford.  Kirk Hinrich hurt his ankle against Holy Cross and then came back and played well against Stanford like it was nuthin.
The second weekend was watched at my home in Kansas City.  I remember beating Oregon on Sunday and feeling awesome.  That Oregon team had Luke Ridnour on it.  At this time I would like to put a clip up of Luke to show you how nasty he was.  But they don't have one on Youtube so instead here is a clip of my favorite basketball player of all time Kirk Hinrich bawlin out in high school.


The Final Four was watched at my girlfriend's house with her family and my sister.  Before the game my girlfriend's mom made egg rolls and we ate them and watched the game.  I remember being sad when the game was over.  But there wasn't devastation.  It was a good time that evening.  Juan Dixon could not be stopped and we lost.  Here is the only good part of that game.



Also here is this just cause.