Manhattan ? Kansas State University’s Bramlage Coliseum might be the only college basketball arena in America named after one man, but with a statue of another standing outside.
Fred Bramlage coughed up most of the dough to build K-State’s arena. However, the statue honors Ernie Barrett, a former KSU basketball player, athletic director and now fund-raiser who is famed for his bone-crushing handshake.
Not surprisingly, the statue of Barrett has him proffering his right mitt, so every time I go to Bramlage I stop and place my paw in his because it is safer for my fingers if Barrett doesn’t do it in person.
At the same time, I always look up to see if there might be a teardrop on Barrett’s cheek that would signify the Wildcats’ failure to defeat archrival Kansas University in the 15 years the building has been open. Now, after KU’s stirring second-half surge Saturday that produced an 82-64 victory, I’ll be checking Barrett’s visage again next season.
The Jayhawks’ amazing streak also includes the last five meetings in ancient Ahearn Fieldhouse, a claustrophobic closet of a basketball barn that really did intimidate visiting teams. What can you say? Twenty straight Kansas wins in Manhattan.
“Mind-boggling” is what KU coach Roy Williams called it.
Maddening might be what Wanda Williams would call it, however, because Williams’ wife hasn’t seen a single one of them in person, thanks to her husband’s inherent superstitious nature.
Wanda Williams never traveled with the Jayhawks while children Scott and Kimberly were growing up, but when both kids had left the nest about six years ago she began making road trips. Except to Kansas State. Never to Kansas State.
“We had that streak going, and I told her that if I let her come and we lost,” Williams said after Saturday’s triumph, “I’ll have to blame it on (her).”
Thus, Roy leaves Wanda behind once he has confirmed the household television set is working.
Williams’ wife, who is uncomfortable doing interviews because of a hearing problem and does not talk to the media, lets her husband relate how she feels about her enforced absence from Manhattan.
“She does give me some grief about it,” the KU coach said.
Good for you, Wanda, although I’m sure you know no coach in the world believes luck is the residue of design.
Kansas certainly didn’t need any luck Saturday. All the Jayhawks had to do was keep up the defensive pressure, and the Wildcats would fade like the shade of light purple or lavender or violet or whatever the color of those old Jack Hartman-era jerseys the ‘Cats donned to heighten awareness of their formidable and ultimately fruitless task.
Speaking of fruitless tasks, how about the officiating? The crew of Ron Zetcher, Bob Sitov and Mark Reischling huddled more than three zebras shivering on the savannah. If they had worn caps, I would have thought they were NFL officials.
The game was even halted in the second half to check a replay, even though neither Williams nor KSU coach Jim Wooldridge threw a red flag on the floor. Moments earlier, Sitov and Reischling had signaled that KU’s Kirk Hinrich had drilled a three-point goal, but Zetcher wasn’t sure. He stopped the game, donned a headset and watched Hinrich’s shot again on a TV monitor at the scorers table.
Momentarily, Zetcher removed the headset and held up two fingers. Williams was stunned. So were a lot of people watching on press row. Not the K-State faithful, though.
“Don’t you know what two fingers means, Roy?” one of them hollered.
Fortunately, the lost point on the phantom three-pointer wasn’t decisive, although it did prevent Hinrich from tying his career scoring high of 29 points.
In another instance, the officials seemed to be running around like the Keystone Kops after K-State called a time out when the ‘Cats didn’t have any remaining. What part of “no timeouts remaining” didn’t they understand?
In another yipes-stripes moment, Sitov called an intentional foul on Gilson DeJesus after he nearly cold-cocked Hinrich on a breakaway, while Zetcher, who was trailing the play, whistled a common foul. Sitov’s call prevailed.
Well, I guess anybody can have a bad day. But the Jayhawks sure didn’t. For two decades, every day in Manhattan has been a good day for them.
