The Shawnee Dispatch / KU fans prepare for Sweet 16

Archive for Tuesday, March 25, 2008

March 25, 2008

Brian Long, of Shawnee, has filled out an NCAA bracket since 1988 when he was 12 years old.

In that first year, he picked Kansas University to win the championship.

“I remember my dad telling me that that probably wasn’t going to happen,” Long said. “Three weeks later he is pounding on the floor in the middle of our living room because he is so excited because we won. I’ve been chasing championships ever since then.”

So every year when Long fills out his bracket, he picks KU to win the championship and then picks the rest from there.

“I even picked KU to win in ’89 even though they weren’t even in the tournament,” he said.

This year, Long said his biggest tournament surprise was Davidson, a 10-seed that beat out Gonzaga and Georgetown to get in the Sweet 16. Davidson will meet up with Wisconsin for the battle to make the Elite Eight.

“I didn’t think they would get out of the first round,” Long said of Davidson. “You always have those little Cinderella teams that screw up everybody’s bracket.”

Long said he thinks KU can beat Villanova, but he said Wisconsin would be a tough game. He had hoped to play Kansas State University in the Elite Eight, who was stomped by Wisconsin.

He said K-State didn’t get the seed it deserved.

“I thought K-state honestly got screwed; I thought they should have been higher up than that,” he said.

The NCAA tournament hasn’t turned out how Rick Hogue, of Basehor, had hoped.

“I’m a little upset that Kansas and Texas are the only Big 12 teams left,” Hogue said after finishing his lunch at Johnny’s Tavern, a Shawnee bar that openly supports Kansas Univeristy.

However, he still is hopeful for the team he’s been rooting for since he could remember — the Kansas Jayhawks.

“I think Kansas will beat Villanova this week,” he said.

But he thinks a possible Final Four matchup against North Carolina and former KU coach Roy Williams would be a challenge.

“I think KU has one of the best shots of beating North Carolina because we’ve got one of the best defenses of teams that would be playing them.”

In fact, he believes Kansas could go all the way.

“If KU gets by North Carolina, I think it’s going to be all KU,” he said.

Too bad he didn’t fill out a tournament bracket.

“I’ve been a KU basketball fan ever since I started watching basketball 50 years ago,” he said as he took a long swig from his iced tea. “It’s probably because basketball pretty much started at KU and they’ve had a longer dynasty.”