It’s that time of year when Alonzo Jamison dusts off the old videotape and watches the best game of his college basketball career.
“I watch it once a year during March Madness,” Jamison, a former Kansas University forward, said of his 26-point, nine-rebound performance against Arkansas in the 1991 NCAA Southeast Regional final. “You have to get that feeling back somehow.”
Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson had said his top-seeded Razorbacks would give the third-seeded Jayhawks “40 minutes of hell” in the showdown at Charlotte, N.C.
He was half right.
“I think we used it as bulletin-board material,” said Jamison, who led a furious second-half rally that propelled KU to a 93-81 victory and a Final Four berth. “It was a slap in the face that they thought they could do anything they wanted defensively and you wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. It sort of tested your manhood.”
The Hogs, in fact, led 47-35 at halftime after 20 hellish minutes, in which the Jayhawks committed 10 turnovers.
Kansas will face another full-court trapping defense Friday in St. Louis when the Jayhawks take on Alabama-Birmingham and coach Mike Anderson — a Richardson disciple — who calls his version of his former boss’ system “the fastest 40 minutes of basketball.”
The match between No. 4 seed Kansas and No. 9 seed UAB brings back memories of the Jayhawks’ run to the 1991 NCAA championship game and the regional final against Arkansas.
“They tried to beat us up with the press,” said Mark Randall, a community ambassador for the Denver Nuggets, who was a senior forward in 1991. “The key to breaking the press was making the right passes, making good decisions and not being bothered by the pressure. You have to be unselfish and get the ball out of your hands to the people who are open. The longer you hang onto the ball, the more you play into their hands.”
Kansas made just four turnovers in the second half and turned things around quickly with an early 8-0 run. Arkansas players showed their frustration, arguing about defensive assignments and shot selection.
“Once momentum shifted, they got on each other,” said Mike Maddox, president of Intrust Bank and a Kansas University Athletic Corp. board member, who was a senior forward in ’91. “They were arguing amongst themselves and lost focus. … At that point, we knew we had them.”
The 8-0 run included a three-pointer by Jamison, his second of the season.
“The basket looked 20-feet wide, like anything you put up would go in,” said Jamison, a sales representative for Jerry’s Sports Shop in Grandview, Mo., who was a junior forward in 1991.
With long arms and quick feet, the 6-foot-6 Jamison owns the fourth- and fifth-best marks for single-season steals in KU history, and he ranks seventh on the Jayhawks’ all-time career list with 175, though the junior-college transfer played only 2 1/2 seasons.
The defensive specialist averaged 10.4 points per game that season and 9.1 in his career, but he played a vital scoring role in the Jayhawks charge to the Final Four. Jamison had 14 points and 10 rebounds in an 83-65 victory over second-seeded Indiana in the regional semifinal before his career game against Arkansas.
Coach Roy Williams put Jamison in the area between the free-throw line and the top of the key to help guards Adonis Jordan and Terry Brown break the press.
“We put Alonzo in the middle and tried to attack all the time,” Maddox said. “He was very good in the free-throw line area and put a lot of pressure on their defense.”
Jamison made 11 of 14 shots, helping KU stop an Arkansas squad that featured standouts Oliver Miller and Todd Day.
“I don’t know if we played them five times if we would have beat them twice, but that’s what makes March Madness appealing,” Jamison said. “You can look good on paper, but you still have to play. You’ve seen that in this year’s bracket.”
While Kansas knocked off Indiana, Arkansas and North Carolina to reach the 1991 final — which it lost to Duke — UAB has been handing out the upsets in this year’s tournament with first- and second-round victories against Washington and Kentucky.
The former Jayhawks’ feel good about their alma mater being the favorite this time around.
“They’re playing real well right now,” Maddox said. “They’re playing as a team. They’re more comfortable with the new system. They’re playing hard on defense. If they continue to do that and rebound, I like their chances.”
Friday’s game, Randall said, doesn’t have to be 40 minutes of hell.
“It was fun,” he said. “I hope these Jayhawks have as much fun as we did.”
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