Hours before tip-off, KU fans are ready to cheer their Jayhawks

Superstition for the Jayhawks meant Kathy Bruner had to find somewhere else to go.

The 70-year-old KU fan was sitting Saturday afternoon near a line snaking around the block at Jefferson’s Restaurant on Massachusetts Street hours before KU’s Final Four 7:49 p.m. tip-off.

In 2016, she watched the Elite Eight game against today's foe, Villanova, at Liberty Hall. KU lost.

She wouldn’t be making that mistake again.

“This is a sweet bunch of kids,” Bruner said. "We had so many ups and downs, so many unanticipated turns that nobody dreamed we be here."

On Mass Street and around Lawrence, old fans, young fans, students and alums were readying themselves for KU’s Final Four game hours before tipoff Saturday. Chalk art dominated parts of Mass Street, blocked off to vehicle traffic for the day, as buskers played on the corners and KU fans shopped the sidewalk sales on a sunny festival-like Saturday afternoon.

Casey Otten, a KU graduate from Omaha who now lives in Silicon Valley, Calif., could barely contain herself in anticipation for the game.

“I’m literally so excited,” she said. “It’s our first time back since we graduated in 2014. We were here when we won the Final Four game to go to the national championship, where we lost against Kentucky.”

Someone in the crowd gathered in the front lawn reprimanded Casey for that memory, saying, “Why you gotta bring that up?” adding, “KU is gonna (expletive) this (expletive) up.”

By 6 p.m., a crowd of at least 500 had gathered around the Phog Allen statue on the east entrance of Allen Fieldhouse. Fans were allowed in to watch the game for free on Saturday.

McKenzie Stevens and a group of Lawrence High School seniors lined up outside the fieldhouse for a chance to soak up the atmosphere — even though Stevens plans to attend Kansas State next year. (A chorus of “ohhs” and “boos” rang out around her after she admitted this).

“I’m going there for academics!” she pleaded with the crowd. “I just wanted to be here for the atmosphere. Just to be with the crowd and hype each other up. I’m a big Jayhawks fan.”

Puteri Ahmad, a 2017 psychology grad who now works as a therapist in Indiana, said she flew in just for the game to watch it at the Phog with friends. She and Nazirah Mohd, a KU student in petroleum engineering, are both natives of Mayalsia and wore blue hijabs to match their KU gear.

“I cried when we made it to the Final Four,” Ahmad said. “I didn’t expect that. If we made it this far, I think we’re going to win.”

By the time the doors opened to the Phog at 6:30 p.m.— two hours before tipoff— the line to get in had wound all the way down to Naismith Drive. When fans were released into the building, some sprinted to their seats.

Once seated, the crowd seemed to be rooting for Loyola on the screen above center court. By the time Michigan had chased the Ramblers and mascot Sister Jean from the arena in San Antonio, the Jayhawk faithful had filled the Phog to between half and two-thirds full. The crowd certainly sounded bigger, though, once the broadcast introduced the Kansas starting lineup.

Susan McNeill of DeSoto and Linda Fyler of Lawrence came to Allen Fieldhouse because they’d been here for previous Final Fours and they like the atmosphere.

Well, that, and one other reason.

“I really don’t like watching the games at home with my husband,” Fyler said. “He gets really annoying — yelling ‘That’s a foul!’ and you know....”

McNeill brought along her daughter and son-in-law, though with a caveat.

“We told my son-in-law if he came with us he had to behave himself,” McNeill said. “He becomes a different person watching the games. Otherwise we like him.”

If there’s a party downtown after the game — and Jayhawk fans in Lawrence sure hope for one — Lawrence's main drag is clear for fans to revel in making it to the NCAA championship.

No such precautions were taken last Sunday, when hundreds of rowdy fans flooded the street and mixed in with idle passing traffic after KU won an overtime stunner against Duke to ensure a trip to San Antonio to play on March Madness’ biggest stage.

Lawrence police officers seemed to be taking Saturday's revelers in stride but were poised for action if needed. The department had more than 200 officers, including some from Shawnee, ready to "give high fives," the department tweeted.

Alum Kevin Thomas was on Mass Street to relive his experience of being in Lawrence his freshman year in 2012 when KU beat Ohio State to go to the championship game against Kentucky.

"It was just one of the most amazing nights of my college career," he said. "Even the inkling of an idea that we could do that again would be amazing."

Bruner, who made sure not to watch the game at Liberty Hall, wasn't the only one hoping her superstitions would guarantee the 'Hawks a win tonight.

Brandon Apperson, Piper, Kan., native and pre-law major, went to extreme measures.

“I have not changed underwear since we started March Madness,” he said. “Against Pennsylvania, I was wearing some nice clean underwear. From then on, I haven’t changed. It’s kind of gross, but it’s working.”

KU student Seamus Koch ate the same meal for lunch as he has before every NCAA tournament win.

“I get a burrito and chips and queso from Chipotle,” the Overland Park native said. “Then you eat the chips and queso before you eat the burrito and you don’t finish the burrito.Then I’m going to watch the game at the ‘Bull.”

("The 'Bull," if you're not familiar with Lawrence, is Bullwinkle's Bar on Tennessee Street.)

Koch, like many of his student neighbors along Kentucky and Tennessee streets in Lawrence, hosted a few friends for Final Four parties. Mimosas and beers started flowing around noon in his backyard.

Friend Austin Garcia, a Denver native and Jayhawk fan since he was 6, admitted to being a little anxious for the game.

“Yeah, I’m pretty nervous,” he said. “Hopefully we can stop (Villanova's) Jalen Brunson They’re going to spread us out. Doke’s gotta stay out of foul trouble.”

This story was originally published March 31, 2018 at 5:28 PM with the headline "Hours before tip-off, KU fans are ready to cheer their Jayhawks."