Kansas City, Mo ? Greg Simpson couldn’t lose.
Sunday’s NCAA Tournament game pitting Kansas University against the University of the Pacific guaranteed a smile for Simpson, now chairman of KU’s psychology department.
“My team’s going to the Sweet 16,” he said.
And that was at halftime.
Simpson holds psychology degrees from both schools: a doctorate from KU in 1979, and a bachelor’s from Pacific in 1972.
He spent a couple of years earning a master’s degree at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, but don’t bother asking him why.
“I hardly even count it,” he said, laughing. “They’re not in the tournament.”
Simpson’s Pacific roots paid off this weekend. His wife, Mary Margaret Simpson, is a board member of Pacific’s alumni association, and they managed to secure three tickets in the Pacific section.
| Kansas University is on spring break. If you couldn’t be playing in the NCAA Tournament, where would you want to go for spring break?— Asked of KU guard Michael Lee, who loves the Portland Trail Blazers and seemingly everything else about his hometown.“I’d want to go back to Portland — P-town, man. We call it the town. That’s where I’d want to be, because I feel like I haven’t been home in so long. Three months. Get with a couple of my friends from high school and my nieces and nephews, and that’s enough for me.” |
Good thing, too: Their daughter, May, is a KU fan.
“I should be sitting between them,” he said.
Greg Simpson did his part to play both ends. He bounded into Kemper Arena sporting a red Jayhawks hat and faded orange polo shirt, outwardly indicating his split allegiances, what’s known as an “approach-approach conflict” in psycho parlance.
But deep down, the owner of KU season tickets admitted embracing the Jayhawks’ success a bit more.
“I am really torn,” he said, “but KU has a better chance to go deep into the tournament.”
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Need tickets?
Heading into Sunday’s tournament games, organizers had more than 14,000 seats available for this weekend’s regional games at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis.
All lower-level seats are sold out. Those that remain are in the club (read: middle) level, for $110, and the terrace (upper) level, for $100.
Now that KU and the University of Alabama-Birmingham have secured spots, alongside Nevada and Georgia Tech, tournament officials are ready to embrace the legions of KU fans making travel plans.
“It’ll be an arms race to see who gets them,” said Jack R. Watkins, an associate commissioner for the Missouri Valley Conference, which is running the St. Louis Regional.
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The Jayhawks will be staying at the Marriott Pavilion in downtown St. Louis. The hotel is adjacent to Busch Stadium, and nearby National Bowling Hall of Fame, and about three blocks from the Gateway Arch.
The Marriott also is the closest team hotel to Laclede’s Landing, a riverfront entertainment area that includes the popular President Casino, not that tournament organizers will talk about it.
“I’m not going to endorse that,” Watkins said.
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Fans who score tickets allocated to KU for the regional will be huddling along the 50-yard line.
The school’s 1,250 seats are in sections 152 and 153, with each section split by a walkway that generally follows the 50-yard line used by the St. Louis Rams, the Edward Jones Dome’s primary tenant.
Regional officials handed off a 30-pound football, a Rawlings briefcase filled with KU’s 1,250-ticket allotment, to KU officials soon after Sunday’s game. The tickets had been kept in Kemper’s safe until the game ended.
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Matt Keenan spent $110 for a new 3.5-inch portable TV before Sunday’s KU-Pacific game at Kemper Arena.
Apparently he couldn’t stand missing out on crucial pieces of evidence.
“They don’t show replays on the scoreboard,” said Keenan, an attorney with Shook, Hardy & Bacon in Kansas City, Mo. “I have $900 invested for this weekend, plus easily $200 for concessions.”
Keenan bought six tickets for the weekend games, enough for his wife, Lori, and their children — Connor, 14; Tommy, 13; Robert, 11; and Maggie, 8 — suitably decked out in various forms of KU regalia.
Apparently a guy at work had bought the Kemper tickets on spec some time ago, then bailed out after his team, Missouri, failed to make the tournament field.
Keenan is counting on his latest investment paying off.
“My hope is I will save on in-state tuition in about 10 years,” he said.
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The KU team will travel by bus Wednesday to St. Louis, and fans who follow will find that they have the shortest trip among remaining teams in the NCAA regional.
The rundown:
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Joe Morris can’t quite put his finger on it, but he knows KU is on a roll.
“We can play with anybody,” said Morris, a board member of the KU Endowment Association and KU Alumni Association. “Three weeks ago I couldn’t have said that, but right now we’re developing that tournament ‘stuff’ we always seem to come up with.”
Whatever that stuff is, Morris is counting on it sticking around. He won’t be able to make the regional in St. Louis because of family commitments, but he fully intends to secure a return trip to the Final Four.
“Last year we expected them to be there,” said Morris, attending Sunday’s game with his wife, Susan Morris, and a son, Joseph Morris. “This year it was a hope just to make the Sweet 16. This is great.”
KU stems Pacific tide
6Sports video: Kansas storms into Sweet 16
Hear Bill: KU-Pacific postgame comments
See the photos: KU-Pacific photo gallery