By Chuck Woodling     Feb 13, 2001

Waco, Texas ? Once upon a time Waco went by the nickname “Six-Shooter Junction.” This central Texas city has also been called the “Athens of the South.”

Now they can call it “Armageddon on the Brazos River” as well.

At least Baylor University players, fans, etc. treated Monday night’s basketball game with Kansas University like it was either win or prepare to meet thy maker.

For starters, BU handed out thousands of free yellow T-shirts and “Growl Towels” signifying Baylor’s first appearance on a Big Monday game or more precisely Semi-Big Monday, since this one was on ESPN2 in deference to the ESPY Awards on ESPN.

“They put us on 2 because they thought the game was going to be a blowout,” Baylor senior DeMarcus Minor said, “and they almost got a blowout the other way.”

Boy, didn’t they?

That first half whew. Baylor 47, Kansas 22. Absolutely unbelievable. It reminded me of that Kansas football game a couple of years ago against San Diego State. At halftime of that shocker in Memorial Stadium, San Diego State led, 31-0, and you felt like you were in another world or in a parallel universe where everything was the same as it was in this universe except the score was backwards.

Baylor, yes, Baylor. The school that had never defeated Kansas in basketball. The team that had lost six of its last nine games after opening with 12 straight victories against schools like Hardin-Simmons, St. Edwards and Liberty. (Is Liberty’s nickname the Bells?)

Forty-seven to twenty-two. Even when the Jayhawks were flogged at Wake Forest last December they weren’t down by 25 at halftime.

Those Kansas fans who didn’t turn to the ESPY Awards Show or C-Span or the Food Network at halftime were rewarded with one of the most spirited comebacks ever by a Kansas basketball team. Shoot, I thought that once the Jayhawks had shaved 20 points off the Bears’ lead with six minutes to play that Baylor was about to become the victim of the worst meltdown since Chernoble.

Somehow the Bears stopped the bleeding, though. Mainly they did it by making 11 of 16 free throws down the stretch.

Still, we’ll always be left to wonder if Kansas might have staged a comeback worthy of national headlines if Drew Gooden, his ailing wrist still in a cast, hadn’t been sitting on the bench in street clothes and if Jeff Boschee hadn’t missed his last 10 three-point field goal attempts.

Then again, you know the Jayhawks are in trouble if they have to shoot three-point goals. Curiously, their 9-for-31 three-point shooting was dreadful, but it was better than what Baylor had been shooting from beyond the arc in Big 12 Conference games. Nine of 31 is 29 percent. Baylor had been shooting a dreadful 24.6 percent, but of course they shot better than that (7 of 17 for 41.2 percent) on Monday night.

This was also another night on the road when Eric Chenowith virtually disappeared. Chenowith had four points, four rebounds and four turnovers in 26 minutes after his big 17-point, 12-rebound game against Oklahoma State on Saturday in Allen Fieldhouse.

Well, the good news is the Jayhawks have no more Monday night games scheduled none in the regular season, none in the Big 12 Tournament and none in the NCAA Tournament.

This was the fourth straight week the Jayhawks played the Saturday-Monday schedule. They won all four of the Saturday games, but they lost the last three Monday night outings, defeating only Colorado on the first Monday.

This is just a hunch, but I’ll bet Roy Williams will balk at playing four consecutive Saturday-Monday dates next season. If he doesn’t, he should. It’s a mental grind.

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