Special night in Kansas
Jayhawks in Phog with packed house
LAWRENCE, Kan. – The lights dimmed inside 55-year-old Allen Fieldhouse and the big crowd fell silent. With rapt attention, about 16,000 people watched the giant video board replay the pep talk coach Bill Self gave Kansas before it played Memphis in the 2008 NCAA men’s basketball championship game.
The crowd then watched the brief, emotional speech he delivered to the players after they had come from behind and beaten Memphis in overtime for the national championship.
“We are the best team in the richest-tradition school of all time,” he said.
Then, to tumultuous applause, Self walked slowly onto the court, encircled by a spotlight and holding a microphone.
Basketball season had officially begun for Kansas, with another sellout crowd for Midnight Madness.
Self had to wait a moment to begin speaking because the crowd came to its feet and gave him a standing ovation.
“Tonight, for 26 years in a row, we’ve packed the fieldhouse for Late Night,” he said. “It shows why this is the best place to play and the best place to coach in America, right here. I’m excited for the women’s team. They’re athletic and they’re going to be very, very good. And to be quite honest with you, so will we. Winning a national championship changed all our lives. We need to cut down nets again in 2011.”
The venerable fieldhouse was packed to the rafters, as usual, for the annual rite that marks the beginning of the sport that has long defined this institution. The Jayhawks even have their own name for the event, harkening back to Forrest “Phog” Allen, their legendary coach – “Late Night in the Phog.”
In 26 years, the Jayhawks have turned this night into something akin to a Las Vegas light show, with lasers, smoke, pulsating music and reminders everywhere of the history and tradition of a school that was once coached by James Naismith, the inventor of the game.
On hand were about 16 recruits, including three high school seniors, that Self wanted to immerse in the tradition and passion of Kansas hoops. Josh Selby, last year’s No. 1 recruit in the nation and now a Kansas freshman, said Late Night in the Phog was what hooked him.