Battles between titans are always filled with their share of anticipation, but rarely do the opponents bring in so much shared history as in the Final Four slugfest-to-be that is Kansas vs. North Carolina. Besides giving college sports fans one of the greatest championship games in history in 1957 when the Tarheels defteated Wilt Chamberlin and the Jayhawks 54-53 in triple overtime, the entwined history of these two powerhouses that follows should lead to one of the most anticipated Final Four matchups in history.
December 1891......In the beginning there was James Naismith and he was good, for he invented the game which has such a devoted following. James Naismith -Kansas' first coach- begat Forrest "PHOG" Allen, the legendary coach who ended his career with a 771-223 record, which was a record for coaching victories when he retired. Allen begat coaching greats Adolph Rupp (who coached future Hall of Fame coach Pat Riley at Kentucky) and Dean Smith. Dean Smith not only set the record for coaching victories at 879 (since surpassed by Bobby Knight), but he helped in the cyclical relationship between UNC and KU by coaching two more elite coaches: Larry Brown and Roy Williams.
Before proving himself the great NBA coach that he is, Larry Brown won a NCAA championship in 1988 with who? You all know the answer: Kansas. As he jumped to the NBA, this made room for little known UNC assistant Roy Williams to take over the storied program. His Jayhawks and Smith's Tarheels would meet twice in the Final Four in the 90's, each winning once. In 2000, Williams was forced to make a choice bewteen KU and his alma mater: North Carolina. After a media whirlwind that kept Lawrence and Chapel Hill residents on the edges of their seats, Williams made the annoucement that he would stay at KU, with his assistant Matt Doherty -a member of the 1982 NCAA champion Tarheels- taking the reins at UNC.
Doherty's coaching flame at UNC burned out after a tumultuous three season ride, and when the opportunity arose again in 2003 -much to the chagrin of Kansas fans everywhere- Williams left for the job in Chapel Hill. While the love for Williams is still alive in Lawrence, there is an air of betrayal for back-stabbing those who cherished him for 15 years, faithfully standing by his side when he got close, but never reached the pinnacle.
The culmination of this anticipation and intense fervor comes Saturday night, where Jayhawk fans will either be dancing in the streets or eating their words, sulking and waiting until the next time that they were almost 'this close' to the championship.
Keywords: ACC, Adolph Rupp, Big 12, Bill Self, Dean Smith, Final Four, James Naismith, Kansas, KU, Larry Brown, NBA, NCAA, North Carolina, Phog Allen, Roy Williams, UNC, Wilt Chamberlin
