Pacific senior ex-KU fan

By Ryan Wood     Mar 21, 2004

Thad Allender/Journal-World Photo
Pacific senior Tom Cockle, right, answers questions from the media as Miah Davis looks on. A longtime Kansas University fan, Cockle will try to send the Jayhawks bouncing out of the NCAA Tournament today.

? Next time a bedtime story is necessary, try this one.

Once upon a time, there was a Nebraska boy with a great shooting touch and a dream of playing basketball for Kansas University. Like many who dreamed the dream, things in the end didn’t work out for this boy.

Five years later, he’s still playing basketball. He’s not ready to call it a career, so now he has to come out on top in a win-or-go-home game his senior year of college. The opponent? Kansas.

The story could end today at Kemper Arena, but not if Tom Cockle can help it.

“I used to like Kansas a lot,” said Cockle, a senior guard for Pacific. “But I can’t say that right now.”

No, he really can’t. Not when his college career could end should fourth-seeded Kansas beat 12th-seeded Pacific at 3:50 p.m. today at Kemper Arena.

But his affection toward Kansas and Pacific makes today’s second-round NCAA Tournament game a gift that Cockle will cherish for life.

Cockle grew up in Raymond, Neb., and played high school ball at tiny Lincoln Christian, where enrollment hovers around 350 students. There, Cockle displayed serious game, averaging 20.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.5 steals per contest his senior year, leading his team to the state title.

“I remember watching him in the state tournament when he was at Lincoln Christian,” said KU freshman Nick Bahe, a Lincoln native. “He was a really good player. He could do it all in high school. He could shoot, he could drive — he did everything. Watching film on him, he seems more like a spot-up shooter now.”

During his high school days, Cockle loved the Jayhawks, particularly Ryan Robertson and Jerod Haase, his two favorite players. He went to Roy Williams’ KU basketball camps through high school and even picked up a copy of “Floor Burns,” Haase’s book on his senior season with KU.

“It’s got a lot of great comments,” Cockle said of Haase’s book. “He’s an unbelievable player, and he works so hard.”

Cockle received plenty of college interest, but none from KU. He spurned scholarship offers from Gonzaga, San Diego and Northern Arizona to play for Bob Thomason at Pacific.

Cockle played two seasons at Pacific immediately after high school, as a role player his freshman year and a starter his sophomore season. He then took a year off from school and went home to be closer to his girlfriend, Sarah, to whom he now is married.

During that year off — the 2001-2002 season — Cockle worked as a manager at his aunt’s grocery store. But the itch to play ball was still there.

“Coach Thomason said, ‘If you want to take a year off, it’ll be considered your red-shirt year, and you can come back for two more years,'” Cockle said. “That was definitely generous of him.”

After marrying, Cockle headed back to Stockton, Calif. He now averages 6.5 points per game for the Tigers, including an 11-point effort in Pacific’s 66-58 victory over fifth-seeded Providence in the first round Friday.

With help from Cockle’s outside shot, Pacific takes on one of college basketball’s titans in Kansas. As is often the case in NCAA Tournament play, none of the players know much about the opponents.

But Cockle is the exception.

Today could be the first time he ever has wanted his Jayhawks to lose. His basketball career hangs in the balance.

“It’ll be really exciting for me,” Cockle said. “They’re a great program and a classy program. They’ve always been one of my favorites.”

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