When I was a young player growing up, my teammates called me “Mookie.”
Partly because my favorite baseball player was Mookie Wilson, but also because my point guard skills at the CYO level apparently reminded my coach of the University of Oklahoma’s Mookie Blaylock.
Irony would have it my favorite band, Pearl Jam, once called themselves the same name and even called their first album Ten, which was Blaylock’s number. It just so happened to me mine, too.
When I think of the Kansas Jayhawks playing for a NCAA Championship, my mind takes me back to 1988, when Danny Manning carried his teammates on his back and Larry Brown paced the sidelines. I remember shooting baskets at the park thinking to myself, “I don’t care what anyone says, Danny Manning can win this game by himself.”
Before Christian Laettner hit the shot heard around the world thanks to Grant Hill, before Larry Johnson, Greg Anthony and Jerry Tarkanian dominated the college game with incredible defense and athleticism at UNLV, before the man-child that was Corliss Williamson teamed with Scotty Thurman to win big for Razorback nation, before UCLA reminded people of the Wooden era, there was the talent-filled, can’t miss Oklahoma Sooners.
Billy Tubbs brought a style of basketball that was fun to watch and easy to hate.
Stacey King, who would end up on the center committee on Michael Jordan’s Bulls, was the nation’s most dominant big man in 1988. He had the post moves and toughness that would make him national player of the year in 1989. The Sooners also had a floor general who could run an offense with precision in Blaylock.
Blaylock would go on to have a fine NBA career himself, but his impact in college on the defensive end made the Sooners such a fantastic defensive team in the same fashion that Anthony did for the Running Rebels a few years later. In addition to Blaylock and King, the team’s seniors also had NBA talent. Harvey Grant and Ricky Grace would also play in the league for several years, with Grant having the longer and more productive career.
Four NBA players took the floor against Kansas’ venerable one man show in Manning, who, at 6’10”, had all the skills you could ask for. He just didn’t have all the support all the time. Of all the games and all the moments that I can remember in the NCAA Tournament, to this day I can’t remember a better run than Manning’s March Madman effort taking the Jayhawks to the promise land. He left that night inside the Kemper Arena a champion and forever an NCAA legend.
Curry Kirkpatrick said it best at the time in his recap for Sports Illustrated:
Still, Manning suddenly threw up some horridly forced, glass-crashing stuff. “T was so excited,” he said. “I looked over at the bench and coach was jumping up and down.” Blaylock’s turnaround cut the margin to 78-77 with 41 seconds left: Jayhawk Scooter Barry made the first free throw of a one-and-one, and when he missed the second, Manning rebounded, was fouled and made both his foul shots: 81-77 with 14 seconds left. Grace drove for a layin, but two more Manning free throws with five seconds iced the game.
What were you thinking on those last free throws, Danny Manning? “I was thinking, It’s over,” he said. “Before I shot them.” With his 31 points for the night, Manning had merely passed Bill Bradley, Lew Alcindor and Oscar Robertson on the NCAA tournament career scoring charts; his 328 points are second only to Elvin Hayes’s 358.
Fast forward 24 years later, and Manning is a Jayhawk again. He’s on the sideline for his last game on Bill Self’s staff, having just accepted the head coaching position at Tulsa.
Chris Sheridan asked me if I thought Kansas has a chance against Kentucky, which has the same about of pros on their roster as the Sooners had in 1988, if not more.
There are a ton of parallels here as it relates to that 1988 matchup in my view.
Yes, the Jayhawks can win, and here’s how.
They need an extraordinary performance from Thomas Robinson, whose had quite a run on his own over the past few games. Robinson handled Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger’s size inside with his quickness and that was a huge storyline on Saturday.
But by far the biggest matchup tonight is the Anthony Davis/Jeff Withey battle underneath. Withey is a grinding, physical counterpart to Davis’ athleticism and star power. If he can get Davis to play away from the basket and keep him off the offensive glass for the majority of the game, it forces Kentucky’s guards Darius Miller and Doron Lamb to have to make perimeter baskets.
Both players are more than capable, having combined 128 3-pointers this year, but in a one-game battle, the basket can shrink, especially if Kansas can consistently close out possessions off jumpers.
Offensively, Robinson aside, the Jayhawks need Tyshawn Taylor to be the Tyshawn Taylor we saw against North Carolina when he made 10 field goals, not the Taylor who struggled to make shots against Ohio State. If Kansas has any hopes of winning, they need to keep Kentucky out of transition by making contested jumpers, then closing out possessions on the other end. Keeping Kentucky from playing fast and getting baskets in transition is critical for staying in the game.
Jayhawk nation hopes that history can repeat itself, and for those of you who remember the 1988 run, you’d know that anything’s possible.
Especially with Danny Manning in the building.