With veteran players John Douglas ("The Franchise"), Clint Johnson, Ken Koenigs, Paul Mokeski and Donnie Von Moore returning from an 18-10 team the previous year, I knew KU could be pretty good. But with the addition of freshman phenoms Darnell Valentine and Wilmore Fowler, I thought the Jayhawks could actually be great.
Valentine was KU’s first McDonald's All-American from Wichita, a 6-2 do-everything point guard who led his Heights team to an undefeated season his senior year (the 1977 Wichita Heights team is arguably the best prep squad in Kansas history), while Fowler from Palmetto, Florida, was one of the top three high school guards in the country behind Magic Johnson and Valentine, a deadly outside shooter and phenomenal leaper.
Fowler was so talented that fans would line up three hours before his prep games seeking autographs, and the Detroit Pistons considered drafting him out of high school, something relatively unheard of in that era. Wilt Chamberlain even called his house trying to recruit him to KU.
I remember taking the short walk up my street on 27th Terrace to the first day of school that year at Broken Arrow as a sixth grader and talking to my friends like Clark about the excitement of Kansas basketball with the heralded additions of Valentine and Fowler, and how much of an impact they could make on Jayhawk hoops in 1977-78 as one of the best backcourts in the land.
I surely thought this could be a magical year.
Despite those two fab newcomers, KU wasn't perceived as a national contender, or even a Big Eight leader for that matter.
"We were not even picked in the top three or four in the league that year," then-KU coach Ted Owens said in John Hendel's 1991 book, "Kansas Jayhawks: History-Making Basketball."
"Kansas State was heavily favored to win the league. They had a great team. They had Rolando Blackman and Curtis Redding, out of New York who was an excellent player, and a backcourt player, Mike Evans. They had a terrific basketball team and they were heavily favored.”
KU needed to make a strong run at the league title to help Owens' job security. He was on the hot seat after the 1977 season.
“He’s the best coach in the Big Eight,” Douglas said in a wire story. “He shouldn’t be fired.”
Owens and KU made a statement with a 121-65 season-opening victory over Central Missouri State. Kansas won its first five games, eclipsing 100 points three times and scoring 99 points against Fordham in the second game.
But KU fell at home to No. 1 and eventual NCAA champion Kentucky, 73-66, in a hard-fought game on Dec. 10. The Jayhawks rebounded and easily beat Saint Louis at home and then ORU in Tulsa before losing another contest at powerhouse Arkansas, 78-72, a team which would earn a Final Four berth and featured the famed “Triplets” in Sidney Moncrief, Marvin Delph and Ron Brewer.
The Jayhawks then entered the Big Eight Holiday Tournament in Kansas City, crushing Missouri and edging Oklahoma for a battle against KSU in the title game. KU trailed by 12 points at halftime before surging in the second half for a big 67-62 victory. Senior Von Moore, one of my favorite players (I once named my city-league softball team after him) who overcame a life threatening illness earlier in his career, came up big with 20 points and was named the tourney's MVP.
Kansas built its winning streak to eight with five more victories, capped off with another big win over the previously Big Eight unbeaten Wildcats at home, 56-52, on Jan. 21. The crimson and blue fans showered the showboat Redding with hot dogs when he was introduced, a foreshadowing about how Von Moore and the Jayhawks would be treated in Manhattan in the rematch.
Finally, KU lost to Nebraska, 62-58, in Lincoln four days later, but still stood at 15-3 overall and 5-1 in league play. However, Owens knew he needed to make some changes.
“Defeat is often difficult to swallow, but out of trials, a coach makes adjustments that, many times, led to future success,” Owens wrote in his 2013 book, “At the Hang Up.”
“We decided to quit juggling our lineups and committed to a set starting team and a rotation off the bench. Ken and Paul started inside, backed by Donnie Von Moore, while John Douglas, Clint Johnson and Darnell Valentine started on the perimeter, backed up by Wilmore Fowler. Others also filled the bench, including Milt Gibson, Brad Sanders, Booty Neal, Mac Stalcup and Scott Anderson.”
The Jayhawks responded with the new lineup by winning their next eight games to close out the regular season. I can remember how excited I was sitting with my dad at Allen Fieldhouse in Section 2, Row 4, Seat 3 just watching the squad warm up before the game and knowing I was witnessing the No. 5 ranked team in the country. I got chills thinking about that and seeing my heroes like Douglas, Koenigs and Von Moore lead the 'Hawks to such a memorable season.
I put them on a pedestal; to me, they could do no wrong.
Except one player. While Valentine was doing an outstanding job as floor leader, I always got mad at him for not passing enough to Douglas on the fast break. Douglas became my hero and captured my imagination the previous year, especially when he exploded for 46 points at Iowa State (that still stands as the most points scored by a Jayhawk on the road) and finished as KU's leading scorer at 19.2 points per game. He was my favorite player on the 1978 team and I wanted him to score most of the points. But I still liked Darnell, and he would eventually become my all-time favorite Jayhawk after Douglas left Kansas.
This was basically an eight-man team with seven players averaging from Valentine's high of 26.2 minutes per game to Fowler's 22.1 minutes per contest. Owens kept people happy by dividing the minutes so equally, and even Sanders contributed as eighth man averaging 3.0 points in 10.0 minutes per game.
The parts meshed well; this was a balanced and close-knit team with four players averaging in double figures. Valentine was the star who paced the team at 13.5 points and set a freshman record with 130 assists and 80 steals. The 6-2 Douglas, who was adept at guarding bigger players, ranked second in scoring at 12.7 points per game, while Koenigs averaged 11.1 points and led the team with a 60.3 field goal percentage. Von Moore, who was a great sixth man, averaged 10.7 points and 6.5 rebounds per game, while Mokeski (9.3 ppg, team-high 8.5 rpg) could be a force as well.
Johnson, a fearless hustler who never saw a loose ball he didn't like, chipped in 8.2 points while gunner Fowler averaged 7.0 points per contest.
As good as KU was, opponents tried to shut the Jayhawks down. KU was a victim of abuse when it visited Manhattan on Feb. 11 for a nationally televised contest against KSU. Hendel wrote:
"As an answer to the hot-dog bombardment in Lawrence, Kansas State students came up with a dig of their own. Several students showed up in monkey suits and, during the Kansas introductions, pelted the court with bananas and chickens, which had been painted blue. The game was delayed more than 20 minutes while the fruit and fowl was cleaned off the floor."
A classy Von Moore was the students' prime target. Donnie told me in an interview in 2000 that the K-State students even called him "ape man," and he was so distraught he doesn't recall scoring a point that game.
“It was like total shock,” Von Moore said. “To me, it was racist. It was cruel and mean spirited. You wouldn’t think educated, college people would stoop to a level like that in response to people throwing a couple of hot dogs, saying a player is a hot dog, then turning it around and saying you got a gorilla or ape playing on your team and throwing bananas.”
The move by K-State didn't help its cause; KU beat the Wildcats for the third-straight time that season, 75-63, with Douglas and Fowler scoring 18 points each. Kansas then beat Iowa State and Nebraska at home before clinching the Big Eight title (13-1) with a win at Colorado. This marked Owens' sixth Big Eight crown and the 35th conference championship since Kansas started league play in 1908.
“What a season it had been,” Owens wrote in his book. “A team picked to finish fourth in the league won the league instead and only lost a total of three games to date. Two of those losses came against Kentucky and Arkansas, teams ranked in the top five that would advance to the Final Four.
“Looking ahead, realizing the dream of winning a national championship was a real possibility with first and second round games in Wichita, the regional games in Allen Fieldhouse and the Final Four in St. Louis.”
However, at 23-3, KU still had some unfinished business looming with the Big Eight Tournament. After beating Colorado, 82-66, on Feb. 28, Kansas lost its first game to KSU that season in the semifinals, 87-76, as the Wildcats outscored KU by 15 points from the free throw line.
It was a heartbreaking loss for me, Owens, the Jayhawks and all KU fans. I remember listening to that game on the radio in our living room with Tom Hedrick calling the contest, and hearing Douglas miss a crucial 10-footer in the final minutes or so before we fell to the Wildcats, just realizing what a great opportunity we had slip away.
"We beat Kansas State three times," Owens told Hendel. "Beat them in the (holiday) tournament and beat them two other times. Kansas State finished fourth, they had a very disappointing year for them (18-11). It's just tough to beat a good team four times in a year.
"Everything was laid out perfectly for us,” Owens added. “All we had to do was win the Big Eight Tournament (and advance to Wichita and Allen Fieldhouse)... If there was ever a situation laid out perfectly from a geographic standpoint, from the standpoint of having great fan support, it was that year."
Unfortunately, the pesky Wildcats stole the party.
"They just put a wonderful game together, which they were capable of doing," Owens said. "And we just did not have a great game.”
The NCAA didn’t seed teams then, so sent the Jayhawks out to Eugene, Oregon, to begin tourney play against Pac-10 champion UCLA, while MU, which won the Big Eight Tournament, got placed in Wichita with just a 14-15 record.
"We walked through the Big Eight. We lost that one league game and we lost in the Big Eight Tournament," Koenigs told Hendel. "Had it been set up the way things are now (with seeding), we probably would have gotten a Midwest (regional), which was actually in Lawrence, but because then we got knocked out by K-State, we ended up going out west."
Owens added:
"Five of the top 10 teams in the country were in the Western Regional--UCLA, Arkansas, North Carolina, New Mexico, and us. It was loaded with great teams.”
Still, the Jayhawks headed into the Big Dance with confidence knowing they were playing well and had the stellar Valentine at point guard.
"I honestly don't think that we had a cohesiveness as a group as maybe when Darnell came," Koenigs told Hendel. "That was probably the most cohesive year. We all got along very well together.”
Koenigs talked more about Valentine and the team chemistry to me in a 2001 interview.
“It was a great team,” Koenigs said. “Things kind of clicked. There were some good guys on that team. Obviously, Darnell brought a lot to the table and helped finish off the picture and made a great contribution.”
While I wished KU opened the tournament in Wichita, I was still hyped about playing the tradition-rich Bruins in the first round. Although UCLA was a strong team which featured future NBA star forward Kiki Vandeweghe and boasted a strong backcourt with Roy Hamilton and Ray Townsend (the brother of longtime KU assistant Kurtis), I thought we could beat John Wooden’s squad and make a run to the national championship.
My dad and I had lunch before the game at a Chinese restaurant in Lawrence, bonding together while discussing topics like whether Von Moore could play in the NBA. We frequently talked about the chances of KU players making the NBA, and I know we were both rooting for Donnie.
"We'll know more after the UCLA game," my dad said in reference to how Donnie would play against the Bruins.
“Yes,” I said in agreement.
Owens prepared for the big game by calling some coaching friends and getting a scouting report on UCLA.
“Of all things, my friends said, don’t let UCLA get its running game going,” Owens wrote in his book. “To be certain that we stopped their transition game, I decided to send only our two big guys in for offensive rebounds and keep the three perimeter players back to try and disrupt the break. I made sure our big guys, Ken, Mo and Donnie, understood that the responsibility for offensive rebounds fell entirely on them. Our preparation went well and our practices were uplifting. The team had not lost their hopes of a national championship, even if the road was much rockier after the loss of a home-state, home-court advantage.”
Owens called the first half a “classic” as KU worked its own transition game and led 45-42 at halftime. But the Jayhawks got a rough break when Valentine was whistled with his fourth foul with nine minutes left as KU led by 10.
“Ordinarily, I would have substituted for him, but the momentum was ours and I couldn’t allow the UCLA guards to take over the game,” Owens wrote. “I decided to leave him in the game ... and on the very next possession of the ball, he was called for a charge. I must have looked like the dumbest coach in America— and I might have been. But if I had to do it over, I would do the same.”
With Valentine out of the game, the Bruins rallied and won, 83-76.
“We played well, for the most part, and scored 12 more points from the field than they did, but the Bruins had a 27-8 advantage at the line,” Owens wrote.
Not only did KU lose with the great foul disparity, but the game was also marred with legendary TV announcer Curt Gowdy mispronouncing many of the Jayhawks’ names.
I was choked with emotion afterwards. My dad tried to talk to me about the game at dinner, but I was in tears and speechless. I always felt pain when a season came to an end, but this was different. We were such a powerful and dominant team, and to see it end like this in the first round was just hard to grasp. It was — and remains — one of the saddest days of my life.
I thought we had the special players to win a national title.
For seniors like Koenigs and Von Moore, they took it especially hard.
“You’d like to have made it all the way, or at least made it a little farther,” Koenigs told me. “This was a team that could have gone far."
Von Moore found the bitter defeat even more heartbreaking.
“Especially after we were killing them, it was disaster,” he said. “We could have went somewhere with all the players we had,” added Von Moore, who felt bad for the fans and seniors.
Angered and upset, Von Moore didn't return to Lawrence with the team after the UCLA loss, but went with Johnson to stay with Clint's brother for two weeks in California before heading back to KU.
I didn't get over the loss for weeks. But after a while, I could look back on the wonderful season and take comfort in the many great memories I felt that year watching my beloved Jayhawks. And I wondered if I would ever see a KU team like it again.
This was indeed a very special squad. Valentine and Koenigs were named All-Big Eight, while Valentine was also the league's newcomer of the year (he later played nine seasons in the NBA). A dedicated student, Koenigs was a celebrated two-time Academic All-American who was the second Jayhawk ever to receive the NCAA Post-Graduate Award (he’s been a longtime doctor in Massachusetts).
Douglas, meanwhile, played part of two seasons in the NBA and enjoyed a long career overseas, while Mokeski had a 12-year NBA career.
Talent. Chemistry. Rebounding (KU outrebounded foes 41.2 to 32.9). Balance. The Jayhawks truly had it all.
"It was a great year," said Owens, who was named National Coach of the Year by Basketball Weekly.
"I think the '78 team and probably the '66 team, even though they didn't make the finals, they were every bit as good as the Final Four teams those years. They were teams, in my opinion, that had a legitimate chance of winning the national championship because they were good, and the other thing is because nobody had a (Kareem Abdul) Jabbar or (Bill) Walton at that time."
Owens added in his book: “The memories of the 1977-78 team have remained a source of joy for me, even if the thoughts of what might have been remain.”
I, too, am full of joy when thinking about this team, which I firmly believe is one of the best and most underrated Jayhawk squads of all time; it just happened to get an unlucky draw in the NCAA first round.
To Ted Owens, Darnell Valentine, Clint Johnson, John Douglas, Ken Koenigs, Donnie Von Moore, Wilmore Fowler, Paul Mokeski, Brad Sanders, and all the other players and assistant coaches — thanks for the magical, beloved and enduring memories.
I will never forget you.
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