A most anticipated evening arrived last Wednesday: The KU Jayhawks came to Coors Events Center to play the CU Buffs. This was something I've been looking forward to since last spring. I had only seen the Hawks live once before in my life. Tickets are ridiculously expensive to go to a game in Lawrence. So prior to the game, I was pretty pumped. I wore my KU hoodie to classes on Wednesday, but I did add a Buffs t-shirt to my wardrobe before leaving for the game. Before the game Brian asked me who I hoped would win. I said KU because at this point in this season, a KU win would mean more than a CU win (CU's record is so terrible that one more win isn't going to make any difference for the conference championship or getting to the NCAA tournament, you know, but KU has a shot at doing well in the tournament, so I'd like them to keep as good of a record as possible). Plus, I've just always loved KU. We got lucky that they entered the #1 spot in the polls just a few days before coming to Boulder, so we got to see the #1 team in the country play.
Sherron Collins warming up before the game.
I was cheering for both teams. CU looked ok at the beginning with a few 3s to kick things off. But then it got bad. Quite bad. KU's big guy had a number of humiliating blocks against us. CU's defense was failing big time. KU was up 24-8. I had been afraid this game was just going to be a blowout. I mean, the #1 team in the country against the team that is 2nd to last in the conference? I hoped it wouldn't be a blowout, but it was sure looking like it would be. At this point, I figured KU didn't need my help anymore to win. I stripped off the hoodie and started cheering exclusively for the Buffs. School spirit kicked in. Higgins, Tomlinson, Relphorde, Thorne, etc. (unfortunately, Burks, one of our best guys, was out due to a knee injury) -- these were the guys I had been cheering on all season. These were the guys I have been hoping would get some much-deserved wins because they've worked hard at some tough, barely lost games. It was kind of crazy, but this Jayhawk went all out for Colorado partway through the first half.
Somehow, somehow, the Buffs turned things around. It was unbelievable. They started coming back and had closed much of the gap by halftime. They stayed with KU on offense and somehow switched up their defense to be more effective against them. CU was hitting 3s and free throws like crazy. KU and free throws were not friends that night. I think they ended up like 48% or something. Terrible. The last minutes of the game were so exciting. At like 10 seconds to go, the score was tied and we had the ball. I was just hoping they weren't going to try to fire off a misguided 3. The clock ran down too far, and we had to send the ball to the hoop. Unfortunately it didn't fall, but fortunately, there was less than one second on the game clock. We went into OT. Overtime didn't go as well for the Buffs, and KU looked more like a #1 team. KU won, but I was so, so proud of Colorado. It -- how well CU did against KU and my shift in who I wanted to win -- was so unexpected. What a fun night. And regardless of who I cheered for, it was so, so fun to see KU basketball live again. I hope to get the chance again at least the next two years.
Later I was thinking about my decision to wear KU to class that day and thinking about how, if I were a player on CU's team and saw a student at my own school wearing the opponent of the night's shirt, it would make me sad. I figured at the very least I probably never cross paths with any of these guys. But then Friday I totally ran into one of them. Funny.
One other highlight of the night:
Here's when Danny Manning was smiling at the camera for me. Because he knew I was his number one fan in the late 80s. :)
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