The Time Has Come To Dance…..
Yes, my dear readers, it is March Madness and my Kansas Jayhawks are a number 1 seed, ….yet another year!
Allow me please a few bragging rights because it has been 9 years since Kansas won the whole Enchilada, in spite of being ranked Number 1! It is definitely time to do it again.
Just in case you are curious, let me give you a bit information regarding this great college basketball phenomenon known as “March Madness”.
The Kansas Jayhawks have been invited to the NCAA Tournament for the last 28 consecutive years….and for the 13th time, the Kansas Jayhawks are a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament….this out of a field of 351 college basketball teams.
Those 351 teams are narrowed down to 68 teams by special invitation to the NCAA tournament. These 68 teams are narrowed down further into four regions. The South, The East, The West and The Midwest.
Those four regions have 4 number 1 teams, or seeds as they are called. Each region has 16 teams.
At this point you may say, that is only 64 teams, how do you come up with 68 teams? The other 4 teams are teams that played well all season but didn’t quite have the “resume” to be invited to the tournament (Big Dance), but get an honorable mention by playing an extra game to see if they can acquire a pass to get into the tournament.
The game below was a home conference game against Oklahoma.
One of the reasons the Jayhawks are invited to the Tournament is because the Kansas Jayhawks have won their “Big 12 Conference” for 13 years in a row.
How amazing is that?
The game below was a home conference game against Baylor.
Which leads the sports analysts, each year to say that the way to the “Big 12 Championship” is always through Lawrence, Kansas…home of the Jayhawks.
Being a number one seed does not guarantee a Final Four victory in the NCAA tournament.
Last year, Kansas was also a No. 1 seed, and made it all the way to the Elite Eight teams before losing to eventual national champion, Villanova.
It is a tough tournament….and there are a lot of really good teams…and there are a lot of teams who are in the right place at the right time and they manage a win on the big stage when they might not be that good. But for one shining moment, they are.
But that is sports, isn’t it?
Below are the banners of 5 National Championships won by the Jayhawks. These banners hang in Phog Allen Fieldhouse where the Jayhawks play home games.
And believe me when I tell you that chills literally run up and down your spine when you are in this arena and the Kansas Jayhawks win a game. It starts with a low chant by the fans during the last few minutes of the game and it never stops….“Rock Chalk Jayhawk…K U!”
And for the record….KU has lost only four home games since Feb. 4, 2007. No major American sports team can come close to matching that win percentage.
The game below was against Kentucky, at Kentucky in January of 2017.
One more interesting bit of trivia.
The state of Kansas has 3 teams invited to the NCAA Tournament. KU, K-State and WSU.
Or formally known as:
The Kansas Jayhawks , Kansas State Wildcats and Wichita State Shockers.
Yes, Virginia…there are Two Kansas teams….Kansas (blue and white & red uniforms) and Kansas State (purple uniforms)…one not to be confused with the other.
Let me show you….
Lawrence, Kansas: The Blue and white and red Kansas Jayhawks…and NO there is no actual bird called a Jayhawk, it is an imaginary bird….but there are plenty of Jayhawk fans.
Manhattan, Kansas (also known as the Little Apple): The Purple Kansas State (K-State) Wildcat is definitely an animal and a mascot of several College Teams…but a purple Wildcat?…uh, not so much.
Wichita, Kansas: The yellow and black mascot of Wichita State Shockers represents a shock of wheat. Get it? Kansas wheat fields and shocks of wheat? Yeah, I know…go figure.
These three teams nestled in the Midwest are often overshadowed by the boisterous teams of the East.
“We” don’t generate the “Big Headlines” because (in my opinion)…. most sports analysts live and breathe in the East where such teams as North Carolina, Duke, Syracuse and Kentucky dominate the stories. But we do love basketball none-the-less!
And I am sure you can see just how proud I am of the Kansas Jayhawks team and their coach Bill Self.
So win or lose, I will be cheering on my Jayhawks for another year, just as a lot of my friends are cheering on their favorite teams.
In tournaments such as this….It is not necessarily “let the best team win”.…as much as it is “let the team playing their best on a given day” who will walk away with the coveted trophy.
Good luck to all the teams!
Let’s Dance!
Rock Chalk Jayhawk….KU!
Please comment, I'd love to hear from you.