Kansas vs. North Texas

On Friday night I went to my first Jayhawks basketball game...well, calling it a "game" really isn't fair. A "massacre" might be more accurate word. Or possibly a "religious experience." You know how they used to feed people to lions for entertainment? North Texas was fed to KU on Friday and the crowd loved it.

As you enter the Allen Fieldhouse you get an eye full of KU history from Wilt Chamberlain to Danny Manning [more on Danny later]. The university recently expanded the museum part of the stadium and they have some great pieces like the original flooring from the court.


As you move past the food vendors and t-shirt displays you are met with the bellowing clamor that is coming from the court. It reminded me of attending games at the Metrodome when they would crank the overhead music.


Instead you realize that all the sound is coming from what seems to me to be a pretty small school band.


I took the above photo from across the stadium. To give you a better idea of the Field House here is a panoramic shot I took:


There are a ton of traditions that the Jayhawk fans follow during the game...the best being the pulling out and reading of a newspaper while the North Texas team is being announced...

And then the shredding of said newspaper and tossing it up in the air like you are Rip Taylor each time a player from the Jayhawks starting line up is announced.

All this finally brings us to the game...which had the Jayhawks dominating throughout. North Texas brought it to within seven points late in the first half but they ended up winning 93-60. The leading scorers were of course the Morris brothers, Marcus and Markief.

Here is Marcus just about to add to his game-high 20 points.


And here is Markief hitting a jumper.


The crowd went nuts when the team took the court before the game but the biggest ovation was when Kansas legend Danny Manning, who is an assistant coach to Bill Self, took the court.


Overall, it was a great experience but it would have been so much more fun had it been against a Big 12 team or a team that had a chance.