Kansas City, Mo. ? Most of the time dejvu is a will o’ the wisp that flutters into your brain, then passes into a locked compartment in the back of your mind.
Sometimes, though, the feeling you are experiencing something that has happened before hits you like a sponge splatting into a wall.
So it was late Sunday afternoon after Alabama-Birmingham had stunned Kentucky only minutes after Kansas University had throttled Pacific in the NCAA Tournament. Suddenly, Kansas would not have to face the No. 1 seed on Friday night in the St. Louis Regional.
All at once the dominoes were falling almost exactly like they did 16 years ago when unheralded Kansas, a No. 6 seed, stunningly ran the table and won the NCAA championship by edging Oklahoma, 83-79, in Kemper Arena.
Kansas cannot win the 2004 championship in Kemper, but who knows? The road could have started in Kansas City’s arena. And if you’re looking for another coincidence, how about Danny Manning being back on the KU bench for the first time since he was the ringleader of that fortunate ’88 club?
Still, the primary reason for comparing this year’s team to the 1988 team is the way the NCAA Tournament bracket is playing out this March.
Back in ’88, Kansas knocked off Xavier, a No. 11 seed, in the first round. This year it was Illinois-Chicago, a No. 13 seed.
In the second round 16 years ago, Kansas again met a double-digit seed in No. 14 Murray State, which had staggered No. 3 seed North Carolina State. This time is was Pacific, a No. 12 seed, that had disposed of Providence, a No. 5.
Then in the Sweet 16, Kansas met Vanderbilt, a No. 7 seed, because the Commodores had sent Pittsburgh, a No. 2, packing with an overtime victory.
Now in the Sweet 16, the Jayhawks will meet a No. 9 seed following UAB’s unexpected one-point victory over Kentucky, the top seed in the St. Louis Regional.
If Kansas should continue this so-familiar journey through Bracketville, the Jayhawks would meet no higher than a third seed in the Elite Eight. Georgia Tech, the No. 3, and No. 10 seed Nevada will clash in Friday’s other game in St. Louis.
There’s another side to all this speculation, of course. It’s called counting your chickens, and the man most adamant about carrying a calculator into the hen house is KU coach Bill Self.
“From a seed standpoint, fans probably think Kansas caught a break,” Self mentioned just moments after the UAB-Kentucky shocker. “I’m not sure that’s a huge upset based on what the so-called experts say.”
When it comes to Alabama-Birmingham, most KU fans think first of football. Kansas played three games against the Blazers in the ’90s, including the longest in school history — a four-overtime nail-biter that was one of the Jayhawks’ few road victories during the Terry Allen era.
Surely that OT football game won’t be a harbinger for Friday night. Overtime football games are one thing. A four-overtime basketball game would be CPR City.
What I know about UAB basketball could be etched on the head of a pin with a jackhammer. Self doesn’t know much about the Blazers, either.
“I watched UAB play only a couple of halves, and they’re unconventional in how they get after you,” the first-year KU coach said. “We haven’t seen that style all year.”
Self didn’t elaborate, but it’s safe to assume the Blazers don’t use a box-and-two, a diamond-and-three or a stratified-transitional zone stressing man-to-man principles.
Perhaps overlooked in the excitement of advancing and drawing a No. 9 seed in St. Louis was the fact the Jayhawks proved Sunday they can indeed perform at a high level on short rest.
Until this weekend, Kansas had not been able to win back-to-back games on successive days or with just one day of rest. They blew that track record to smithereens Sunday by performing at perhaps as high a level as they have all season during the last 10 minutes.
If the Jayhawks’ were going to falter from fatigue, it most likely would be in the game’s last quadrant. Some fade. KU outscored the Tigers, 23-10, down the stretch.
Now the only unanswered question about the Jayhawks is whether they are — like those men now in the upper 30s who wore a KU uniform in March of 1988 — a team of destiny.