New Orleans ? Brian Cook jumped, screamed, stomped and chanted and did just about everything else he could do behind the basket at the Superdome.
But no matter what the Kansas University senior said or did Monday night, he couldn’t get his beloved Jayhawks to make more than 12 of their 30 free-throw attempts.
“It’s hard,” Cook said after the buzzer sounded, his school losing 81-78 in the NCAA championship game. “It’s such a drop. It’s like somebody just took the stands out from underneath us, and we dropped 30 feet to the ground. All of a sudden, it’s over. It ends real quick.”
The loss left thousands of KU fans wondering what might have been in coach Roy Williams’ fourth trip to the Final Four as Kansas head coach.
And it left a big question unanswered: Will it be his last?
“I still think he has some business to take care of here,” said an optimistic Brian Hoover, a KU senior who spent much of the day worrying about the possibility of Williams bolting for the vacant head coaching job at North Carolina.
“I know it’s his dream job, but he has a lot more to lose there.,” he said.
Hoover said he actually would have been more concerned had KU won the title.
“I still think he wants to win it all,” he said. “He’s got a better chance here than he does in Carolina.”
Stephen Vinson, a KU walk-on, wasn’t ready to think about next year. A year after starting for Lawrence High School, the guard slumped at his locker in disbelief, unable to understand how the season would end with a loss.
“It doesn’t feel right,” he said as Syracuse celebrated on the floor while “One Shining Moment” reverberated through the Superdome. “The whole tournament, it felt like we deserved to win. Coach deserved it. Nick and Kirk deserved it. We all deserved it. It’s going to happen. It just didn’t happen tonight.”
 See photo galleries from Lawrence and New Orleans, video highlights and full stats, post-game audio, animated plays at KUsports.com |
KU student Marynell Jones also thought the title would come, no matter how large the Syracuse lead.
For the game’s final three minutes — as KU crept back into contention — she spent much of the time stretching her vertical leap in celebratory support, her size-6 running shoes bouncing off the aluminum stands.
But her hands told the story: On both sides of her face. Atop her head. Wringing the bottom of her T-shirt.
“I can’t even breathe,” she said before Nick Collison fouled out with 24.1 seconds left, and KU down 80-78.
With 1.5 seconds left, and down 81-78, she held her breath after Michael Lee’s blocked three-point attempt, only to exhale after Kirk Hinrich’s desperation three-point attempt missed the rim.
Season over.
“They had a great season,” she said. “They played well. I’m sorry they didn’t win it. But we’ve got a lot of great sophomores, and if they all stay, we’ll be right back. We’ll miss Nick and Kirk, but we’ve got some great recruits coming in.”
She stared at the celebration on the Superdome court: People dressed in orange, not crimson and blue.
“I hope Roy stays,” she said.
