Kirk Hinrich is one of Chicago Bulls' all-time greats

After profiling Drew Gooden (No. 9 ex-Jayhawk who’s had the best pro career) and Nick Collison (No. 8) in my last two installments in this series, I now look at their former gutty KU teammate and the third outstanding member of Roy Williams’ 1999 recruiting class, one of the best groups in school history that left an indelible mark in Kansas basketball annals.

No. 7 Kirk Hinrich

Kirk Hinrich’s childhood hoop dreams officially came true at 7:10 p.m. (CT) on June 26, 2003, when NBA commissioner David Stern announced during the league draft that the Chicago Bulls had selected the former Kansas standout guard with the seventh pick in the first round.

Hinrich smiled broadly, pumped his fists, embraced his family members, and put on a Bulls hat. He was simply overwhelmed at the moment.

“I’m just real excited,” Hinrich said. “I can’t be more happier. It’s a dream I’ve had all my life. I think I’m going to go in there with the right attitude and make it work out.”

Chicago was looking for a point guard after starter Jay Williams suffered a broken leg in a motorcycle crash a week earlier; his NBA career would be over after just one season.

Hinrich, who admitted he “had to overcome the stereotype of being a white point guard,” greatly impressed scouts during workouts with his athletic ability. 

“I think I showed them,” said Hinrich, a Sioux City, Iowa, native. “I went in there trying to impress people. I’m just thrilled to death going to Chicago.”

Now, as Hinrich’s NBA career appears to be over after 13 years (he hasn’t officially announced his retirement, but was not picked up last season), he’s become one of Chicago’s all-time greats, spending all but two and a half seasons with the franchise that drafted him. The 6-4 Hinrich ranks No. 1 in Bulls history in three-point field goals and three-point field goals attempted, No. 3 in career games and seasons played (both behind Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen), No. 3 in assists and steals (both again behind Jordan and Pippen), No. 4 in minutes, No. 8 in field goals, No. 6 in field goals attempted,  No. 8 in points, No. 7 in assists per game, No. 6 in assists percentage, No. 7 in defensive win shares, No. 10 in win shares and No. 8 in value over replacement player.

Hinrich and Chicago have simply been a great basketball marriage, beginning with his first year in the city when he made the NBA All-Rookie First Team and averaged 12.0 points while ranking eighth in the league with 6.8 assists per game.

"I feel I'm kind of meant to play in Chicago," Hinrich told the Chicago Tribune on Feb. 14, 2004 during that rookie season. "The city is blue-collar. It's how I play. I'm a guy willing to do the little things. I've had to work for everything I've ever gotten. And to play in front of fans like we have who come every night even though we haven't been winning, it motivates you."

Hinrich was a pivotal part of Chicago’s run to the playoffs his second year in the league and the team has been in the playoffs 11 of the last 13 seasons.

“He helped birth a new, competitive basketball era for the franchise after the depths of 1999 through 2003,” longtime Bulls’ writer Sam Smith wrote at NBA.com on Nov. 24, 2015.

Hinrich averaged in double-figure scoring in seven of his first eight seasons in the league, and the only year that didn’t happen was 2008-09, when he just missed with 9.9 points per game as Derrick Rose joined the Bulls and became the starting point guard. Hinrich has also averaged in double figures in eight of 11 playoffs.

Hinrich’s second-to-fourth years were statistically his best, when he averaged 15.7 points and 6.4 assists in 2004-05 (21.2 ppg in playoffs), 15.9 points and 6.3 assists in 2005-06 (20.5 ppg in playoffs) and a career-high 16.6 points and 6.3 assists in 2006-07. Hinrich was called the face of the franchise and even compared to Steve Nash while on the cusp of NBA stardom. While it never happened as Rose arrived as the new man in town and Hinrich’s offensive production and minutes slipped, he still carved out a very distinguished and impressive NBA career.

After stints with the Washington Wizards (2010-11) and Atlanta Hawks (2011-12), Hinrich rejoined the Bulls in 2012-13 (he started all 60 games with Rose injured) and played there until he was traded to Atlanta on Feb. 18, 2016, a move which reportedly upset several Bulls’ players.

During his last NBA season with both Chicago and Atlanta, Hinrich played in a career-low 46 games and averaged just 3.0 points and 1.6 minutes in 13.7 minutes per game.

Known in Chi-Town as Captain Kirk with his relentless passion, gritty play, strong leadership and tenacious defense, Hinrich persevered through injuries during the latter years of his career while still making winning plays when in action. Like his former KU teammate Nick Collison, Hinrich’s game has transcended pure numbers in many ways. The ball always moved better when Hinrich was in the game and he’s one of the greatest warriors and battlers in Bulls history, reminding Chicago fans of former great Jerry Sloan.

Hinrich’s coaches have all loved him.

"You go by what he does for the team and how he helps you win," then-Bulls’ coach Tom Thibodeau told the Chicago Tribune during the 2014-15 season. "That's where he is invaluable. I just love his competitive spirit. To me, he's going to fight for everything. He's going to run your team. He's a great leader. Here, you can see how vocal he is. He knows what everyone is supposed to do. He's getting guys to the right spots."

Current Bulls’ coach Fred Hoiberg is another admirer.

"Kirk is just so rock-solid," Hoiberg told the Chicago Tribune on Oct. 10, 2015. "He's always in the right spot. Defensively, he's very smart (and) he can get us into an offense. He does a lot of things that don't show up in a box score. That's a tough role to have, but Kirk has played it well his entire career."

Hoiberg talked more about Hinrich at NBA.com on Nov. 24, 2015.

“Fans should appreciate everything he does because he is all about winning,” Hoiberg said. “You can’t have enough of those guys on your team. He has the ultimate respect of his teammates because of how hard he plays and how he does those little things.”

Hoiberg, a fellow Iowa native, has been a long fan of Hinrich’s.

“He’s had an unbelievable career. Besides him decommitting from Iowa State (Hinrich did so after ISU coach Tim Floyd left to accept the Bulls’ head coaching job), I’m a big admirer of everything he has accomplished,” Hoiberg said with a laugh. “Even back in the days when he was playing at Kansas following a fellow Iowan was fun. I think he came (to the Bulls) the year I left. I would have loved to have played with Kirk. He’s the ultimate team guy. ... He’s just a flat out winner.

“The biggest thing is the way he organizes you, gets you into an offense. We scored 31 in the first quarter against Phoenix. A lot of that was because of Kirk’s pace. He’s going to get your defense organized as well because he talks and communicates out there on the floor. He’s a great example for the young guys because of how he works, how he approaches it; he’s a true professional. Played a lot of minutes in this league, 13 years and still going out and producing like he has.”

Hinrich’s former and current teammates rave about him as well.

“The thing about him is he's not scared of anybody,” Collison told the Chicago Tribune during Hinrich’s rookie season. “People look at him and think he's from Iowa, he's not big and doesn't look athletic, and they expect to intimidate him. But he defends as well as anyone I've ever seen or played with. Kirk gets the stereotype of the white guard ... But guys try to rush him and he goes right by them. He loves it when guys pressure him and play him physical."

Collison and Hinrich were former AAU teammates before their paths crossed again at Kansas.

"The first time I knew about him," Collison said, "was in an AAU tournament (for kids)19 and under and we're 16. There are all these McDonald's All-Americans with their uniforms and matching shoes, and we're these kids from Iowa with the ratty uniforms and Kirk takes on the best guy and we win by 20.

"He was so fearless. I remember one time in college he gets hit in the eye. There's blood in there and we find out the next day he has a concussion. So he's holding his left eye after he got hit and with one hand still is dribbling and making the passes. He never came out of the game."

With his career ticking down and Hinrich on the last year of his contract in 2015, he was still playing with that same fiery passion and trying to improve.

"Oh, geez, I don't know, I don't know," Hinrich told the Tribune then about how many jumpers he’s shot in his lifetime.

"That's the great thing about this game, you can always get better. Growing up, it's what I wanted to do and I feel blessed to be able to do it."

The former KU star said that October day that he wasn’t thinking about retirement just yet.

"It seems like yesterday I was a young player and now all these players call me, 'The Old Guy,' " Hinrich said. "I'm going to cherish it and not take anything for granted. I realize I'm at the tail end of my career (but) I feel like I can play longer.

"I hope that I will know when it's time to go," he added. "Mentally and physically it can be challenging at times but I'm up for it (this season). ... When you get back to it (basketball after the offseason) you realize how much you really love it and want to do it as long as you can. I love the competition of it. I love the camaraderie with my teammates, the sense of coming together as a team and trying to accomplish something."

With hoops has come a marriage and family. Hinrich has a wife, Jill, and four young children.

"When I was young it was easy to get caught up in the lifestyle — it's a great life," he said. "You get so many privileges but you have to be a pro and do your job. When I got married and had kids, it put everything in perspective for me. It was the first time I ever really had to balance basketball and anything else. To balance it was one of the more challenging things I've ever had to do."

Now, after all of his accomplishments playing in the Windy City for 10 and a half seasons, Hinrich couldn’t ask for anything more.

“I grew up a big Bulls fan,” Hinrich told Smith. “To be drafted here and play most of my career here is such a blessing.”

Omar Sanchez of Bullsnation.net called him a “legendary Bull” on Aug. 25, 2015.

“Chicago’s Discobolus has always been with us. A physical specimen and war-tested master of the game. A constant balanced attack without having the flashiest game to play with. Captain Kirk isn’t ‘Augustus of Prima Porta’ or Michaelangelo’s ‘David’, but he is the ultimate litmus test for what it means to be a Bull.”

And then read what Smith penned on NBA.com in November 2015:

“Hinrich isn’t being enshrined in Springfield, but his Bulls career will rank among the best ever in franchise history. It should merit consideration to eventually have his jersey number retired if not only for his statistical accomplishments, but for the blue collar, working class way he’s gone about his job that is both a tribute and a testament to his city and team. Hinrich doesn’t excite the crowd or the highlight room denizens. But he gets the attention of the stars of the game with his relentless, physical, combative style that often frustrated the likes of Miami star Dwyane Wade into some of the toughest games of his career. Wade once even needed the defense of Pat Riley about Hinrich’s tenacious style of play. It was no surprise, even approaching 35 in January, that Hinrich ran Stephen Curry into one of the least productive games of the season in the Warriors’ tense victory over the Bulls.”

Hinrich, a 2007 All-Defensive Second-Team selection who started 665 of 879 NBA games, boasts career averages of 10.9 points (9,594), 4.8 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 30.7 minutes per game, while shooting 41.1 percent from the field, 37.5 percent from beyond the arc, and 80.0 percent at the charity stripe.

Hinrich, 36, ranks No. 58 all time in three-point field goals (1,172) and No. 91 in assists (4,245).

According to basketballreference.com, he's earned $71,692,268.

An All-Big 12 First-Team selection his junior and senior seasons at Kansas, Hinrich was also a third-team Associated Press All-American as a senior in 2003 while named to the Wooden All-American team. Hinrich, who helped spark KU to two Final Fours in 2002 and 2003, had his jersey retired in Allen Fieldhouse on March 1, 2009.

He ranks 12th all time at Kansas in scoring (1,753 points), fifth in assists, sixth in steals, third in three-point field goals, and eighth in minutes.

Hinrich loved his KU career and playing for Roy Williams in storied Allen Fieldhouse.

“I think (it’s) the all-time best basketball arena,” Hinrich said. “It has so much history.”

History will prove that Hinrich was one of KU’s all-time greats. However, his road to stardom got off to a rocky start his freshman season. As Hinrich struggled adjusting to college basketball and school, he reached arguably the lowest point in his life at Kemper Arena in Kansas City against Saint Louis on Dec. 30, 1999. That’s when he went scoreless and had five turnovers in 13 minutes.

Williams, one of Hinrich’s biggest supporters, was waiting for him after the game. As the two walked back to the bus for the 45-minute drive to Lawrence, the head coach put his arm around his despondent player.

“You’re the guard I wanted,” Williams told Hinrich softly.

Hinrich told me before Chicago’s exhibition game against Seattle in Allen Fieldhouse in October 2006 that it was the turning point of his career.

“To have a coach behind you 100 percent like that and show that much confidence in you, it meant a lot,” he said.

Hinrich eventually became KU’s starting point guard and blossomed into an All-American. Williams will always have a true affinity for what he meant to him and Kansas basketball. The current North Carolina head coach has said the recruiting class of Hinrich, Collison and Gooden restored his faith in the game and reignited his passion for coaching.

Williams calls Hinrich’s competitive fire almost peerless.

“He’s one of the most self-disciplined players I’ve ever coached,” Williams once told the New York Times. “I was an assistant coach at North Carolina when Jordan played there. I think Kirk is in the same ballpark with Michael as far as competitiveness is concerned. ” 

Once a Jayhawk, Kirk Hinrich now a Bull...Again

Kirk Hinrich was one of the top players in KU history. And as so with the great ones, he was always surrounded by media during his four years at Kansas. I interviewed him countless times, asking him questions usually in-between other reporters’ queries after games or in breakout sessions before games. He wasn’t known as the best interview, but he was always direct and candid, and I appreciated that. A relentless player who knew the game as a coach’s son, I couldn’t help admire how hard he played.

I finally got the chance to do an extended one-on-one interview with Kirk when he came back to Allen Fieldhouse in October 2006 as a member of the Chicago Bulls. His Bulls were playing an exhibition game with the Seattle SuperSonics, who featured Kirk’s good buddy and former Jayhawk Nick Collison.

About 90 minutes before tipoff, when the players were first made available to the media, I hurried into the Bulls’ locker room where I saw Kirk sitting alone. Seizing my opportunity, I asked him several questions, including how he felt about returning to Allen Fieldhouse, his thoughts on the current KU basketball team, realizing his dream of playing in the NBA, and others.

Soon, I got to ask him the question I truly wanted. I remembered Kirk’s and Nick’s final home game against Oklahoma State in 2003, and how coach Roy Williams offered his memories of his two favorite players in the postgame press conference. He recalled a story about Kirk’s freshman year after a game against Saint Louis in Kemper Arena. Kirk struggled that night, going scoreless with five turnovers in 13 minutes. He was feeling extremely down, so as he and Williams walked back to the bus after the game, Roy put his arm around Kirk and said, ”You’re the guard I wanted."

I had always wanted to ask Kirk about that moment, and now I did. The Bulls’ point guard said he was really struggling in school and on the court early in his freshman season while trying to adjust to major college basketball, and feeling at his lowest point after the Saint Louis game, the 12th contest of the year.

So when Williams put his arm around him like a father and told Kirk he was “the guard I wanted,” it was like a huge burden had been lifted from his shoulders. Kirk called it a defining moment and turning point in his career.

“To have a coach behind you 100 percent like that and show that much confidence in you, it meant a lot,” Kirk told me.

Kirk rebounded from adversity, earned a starting spot later that freshman year and blossomed into one of the best guards in school history. He left his career ranked No. 8 all time at KU in scoring, No. 5 in free throw percentage, No. 3 in three-point field goals made and three-point field goal percentage, No. 3 in assists and steals, and No. 2 in minutes played behind Jayhawk legend Danny Manning.

He was drafted with the seventh overall pick by the Bulls in 2003, and quickly made his name in Chicago. After three seasons, Captain Kirk was seen as the face of the franchise, something I mentioned to him in Allen Fieldhouse during our interview in 2006.

“I’m not the face of the franchise,” Kirk responded.

K.C. Johnson, the Bulls’ beat writer who had joined me by that that time in the locker room, just laughed.

The humble Hinrich had some very good years in Chicago, and was an extremely popular player among fans with his gritty work ethic and desire. While he was the subject of trade talk during his latter years in Chicago, it never seemed to affect his play too much. Kirk was all business, and this showed with the media and on the hardwood.

Finally, in the summer of 2010, Chicago traded Kirk to the woeful Washington Wizards to free up salary cap space in their pursuit of free agents Dwayne Wade and LeBron James. Well, the Bulls got neither of them. As for Kirk, he played in obscurity in Washington while grooming rookie John Wall as the Wizards’ point guard of the future.

The Wizards traded Kirk to the Atlanta Hawks for the stretch run in 2011. While Kirk showcased his defensive prowess, he wasn’t counted on too much offensively. I thought his talents weren’t used properly with all the Hawks’ isolation plays and teaming with ball stoppers like Joe Johnson. Kirk ended up getting injured in the first round of the playoffs, and never got the chance to play in the following series against the Bulls.

Kirk underwent shoulder surgery in the offseason and missed the beginning of last season with the Hawks. He never seemed to find his groove, averaging a career-low 6.6 points per game. Now a free agent, Hinrich looked for a new start with a new team this past summer.

He found it in his old home of Chicago, signing a deal worth about $8 million for two years. With All-Star and former MVP Derrick Rose sidelined for most of next season recovering from a torn ACL, Hinrich will likely step right in and start at point guard just like old times in the Windy City. When Rose returns, Kirk should still see plenty of minutes as backup point guard and at shooting guard.

Kirk told the Chicago Tribune that he knew in his heart and gut that Chicago was the best place for him. He actually chose the Bulls after reportedly turning down more money from the Milwaukee Bucks, where he would have been reunited with former Bulls’ coach Scott Skiles.

"The stars kind of had to be aligned," Hinrich said of returning to the Bulls. "I didn't have any preconceived notions coming into free agency that this would be my decision. It just worked out that way, and I'm happy it did."

I’m happy it did, too, for this former Jayhawk standout. While there’s been plenty of speculation that his skills have declined and he’s not the same player, I still believe the 31-year-old Hinrich (NBA broadcaster Steve Kerr once said he had a chance to become the “next Steve Nash”) has plenty of game and that a return to the Windy City could indeed revitalize his career and bring crowds to their feet at the United Center once more.

2002 KU team returned to the Final Four 10 years ago for first time since 1993

By David Garfield

After Roy Williams and his Jayhawks came so close to winning the national championship in 1991 and 1993, his hunger burned even stronger to be the last team standing at the end of the season.

Coach Williams’ ‘91 team lost to Duke in the national title game, while his ‘93 squad fell to North Carolina in the national semifinals. After that painful loss to UNC, Williams was already looking for redemption.

“We’ve been knocking on the door and we’re going to keep knocking until we knock it down,” Williams said at the time.

Entering the 2001-02 season, it had been just over eight long years since Williams and KU had reached the Final Four. Williams kept winning games, fans and conference titles, but the coach had come under fire by some critics for failing to make the Final Four and win it all with such great players like Paul Pierce, Jacque Vaughn, Raef LaFrentz and Scot Pollard from the 1997 team, the best squad in college hoops that season which was stunned in the Sweet 16 by Arizona.

Williams had other powerful teams, but for whatever reason (tightness, etc.) they always came up short in March. However, Williams now believed he had his best chance since 1998 to make a run for the national championship. 

After all, he had four returning starters in Nick Collison, Drew Gooden, Kirk Hinrich and Jeff Boschee, mixed with one of the best recruiting classes in the nation featuring Keith Langford and McDonald’s All-Americans Wayne Simien and Aaron Miles.

On page 10 of the 2001-02 KU Media Guide featured this headline:

“Impressive Mix Of Youth And Experience Has Jayhawks Poised For 2002 National Title Chase.”

Still, Williams knew there were question marks for a squad which hadn’t won the Big 12 title since 1998 and lost Eric Chenowith (team’s second-leading rebounder), Kenny Gregory (No. 2 leading scorer) and Luke Axtell from last season’s 26-7 team, which advanced to the Sweet 16 for just the first time since 1997.

How would KU fare with a smaller, three-guard lineup of Boschee, Hinrich and Miles? How would the four freshmen (Michael Lee was also beginning his KU career) adjust to major college basketball? And how would KU’s thin frontline depth fare if KU’s starters faced foul trouble?

While most prognosticators still viewed KU as one of the nation’s top 10 teams, one preseason magazine picked the Jayhawks to finish just third in the Big 12.

“The pressure to win, here in America’s Heartland, has subsided,” ESPN.com’s Andy Katz wrote on Oct. 16, 2001. “If that’s possible when it comes to Kansas basketball. But these Jayhawks seem looser, at least more relaxed, which means a Final Four run is a lot more realistic this season.”

One fact seemed certain: KU was going to enjoy the journey.

“This team will have a feeling of let’s have some fun while we play our tails off,” Williams told Katz that October day. “(Last season’s seniors) Eric and Kenny did what they were supposed to do for us, but in the back of their minds they were thinking about the NBA last season. Luke was so unsettled (because of injuries). All three did a great job for us, but I think we’ll have a more normal situation.”

KU’s road to a possible Final Four and national championship a decade ago had a bumpy start with a season-opening loss (93-91) to Ball State in the EA Sports Maui Invitational. That was KU’s first season-opening defeat since 1990 and snapped its 36-game win streak in the month of November.

But Kansas would rebound and win its next 13 games while eclipsing 100 points four times, including a 105-97 victory at No. 4 Arizona to open December, KU’s first win over a top five team since 1997.

After suffering an 87-77 loss at No. 11 UCLA, Kansas dominated the rest of the regular season, winning 14 straight games en route to a 16-0 record in Big 12 play. The Jayhawks made history by becoming the first Big 12 team to go undefeated in conference play.

KU was winning games with an exciting, uptempo attack featuring that splendid three-guard lineup who pushed the ball after every opponent’s missed or made shot. Miles had stepped into his starting role at point guard and ran the offense with aplomb; Boschee was one of the nation’s most feared three-point shooters; and Hinrich was a complete guard who could shoot, pass, and defend the other team’s best wing player.

Up front, Gooden had come into his own as one of America’s best and become a double-double machine. Collison was a powerful force inside as well (“That was an unbelievable frontcourt,” Pollard said) and Simien was a rising star off the bench. And then there was another key reserve in Langford, who could provide instant offense.

The high-octane and high-flying Jayhawks were winning fans, former players, and opposing coaches over with their play.

After KU whipped Bob Knight’s Texas Tech team, 108-81, in February in Allen Fieldhouse, the normally reserved Knight gushed over the Jayhawks.

“I think we just got beat by a much better team,” Knight said. “We knew coming in how good they were. What they have in this team is that they are relentless. They just keep playing, and playing, and playing. I don’t think that other teams understand this. They are really fun to watch. They come at you full throttle. There is just a relentless quality to this team.”

The “R” word was used often describing this impressive 2001-02 Final Four team, which was honored this season with its 10-year anniversary during the Iowa State game at Allen Fieldhouse on Jan. 14.

“I can finally say now that we are relentless. We’re not going to give up. We’re not going to give in,” Gooden said in February 2002. “We have something this year, it’s heart. In past years, we never had heart and we gave in. ... We’re sticking together. I think we’re a championship team.”

KU’s march to the national championship began in postseason play at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Mo., for the Big 12 Tournament. The No. 1 Jayhawks were riding high after sweeping the Big 12 and beating Missouri in Columbia, 95-92, in the regular-season finale.

And they drove their motor into a higher gear in their first two games in Kansas City.

Kansas first blitzed Colorado, 102-73 (KU’s 102 points set a Big 12 Tournament record), and then Texas Tech, 90-50.

However, KU’s 16-game winning streak ended in the tournament championship against Oklahoma, 64-55. Kansas shot just 33.3 percent from the field and 16.7 percent from three-point range as Hinrich missed all 10 shots, including six three-pointers.

For KU and its star Gooden, it was time to refocus heading into the Big Dance.

“I got my eyes on the prize,” Gooden said with his trademark smile.

At 29-3, KU was awarded a prized No. 1 seed in the Midwest Regional and opened the first two rounds in nearby St. Louis.

First up was Holy Cross.

While a No. 16 seed had never beaten a No. 1 seed, Holy Cross was actually ahead of KU at halftime, 37-35, before KU rebounded and grinded out a 70-59 victory.

KU’s win set up a second-round matchup with No. 24 Stanford. The big question surrounding the game was the availability of Hinrich, who sprained his ankle late in the first half against Holy Cross.

The Sioux City, Iowa, native answered the call and turned in a gutty and memorable performance. After KU stormed out to a 15-0 lead, Hinrich came off the bench and sparked KU with 15 points, eight assists and five rebounds in 21 minutes as Kansas coasted to an 86-63 victory over the Cardinal. KU shot 52.2 percent from the field and 47.4 percent from downtown, while holding Stanford to a season opponent low 13.6 percent (3 of 22) from three-point range.

But the story of the game was the fearless Hinrich, who never stopped diving for loose balls despite his injury.

“He is as tough a youngster as I’ve ever coached,” Williams said afterwards. “He is one player I have never questioned his ‘want-to.’ With some kids sometimes you do, with Kirk never, and that says a lot.”

So now the Jayhawks were back in the Sweet 16 against Bill Self’s Illinois team, which had eliminated them from the NCAA tournament last year in the same round.

But KU, which was overmatched by Illinois’s toughness a year ago and whipped, 80-64, featured a different team this time. They were more mature, tougher, better, and more hungry to reach the Final Four and win a national championship.

KU eventually prevailed in a tight battle, 73-69, at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisc., with defense and rebounding. KU held Illinois to just 38.1 percent shooting while outrebounding the Fighting Illini, 41-34. With Hinrich (three points in 17 minutes) and Collison (11 points and nine rebounds in 20 minutes) forced to the bench with foul  trouble, the fab three freshmen of Simien, Miles and Langford picked up the slack with 35 combined points.

Self, now the KU head coach, remembers that contest quite well.

“We had a shot, wide open 16-footer to put it into overtime,” Self said. “Kansas really got a bad draw that year being a one seed because they got a four seed (Illinois) in their bracket that was playing as well as a one seed at that time. We were playing so good. We won like 11 in a row. That was a great game.”

The Jayhawks hoped to keep the magic going against the strong No. 11 and two-seeded Oregon Ducks  in the Elite Eight.

And they did.

Kansas broke open a 48-42 game at halftime by winning 104-86, the second-most points scored in an NCAA tournament game by the Jayhawks. Gooden (18 points and 20 rebounds) and Collison (25 points and 15 rebounds) were unstoppable inside as KU dominated the glass, 63-34. Langford was also brilliant off the bench with 20 points in just 22 minutes.

As the KU players and coaches, one by one, cut down the nets in front of their rabid supporters at Kohl Center and the Jayhawk Nation watching on national television, Williams smiled with great pride and soaked in the moment.

“It’s a great feeling,” Williams said then. “To watch these kids celebrate and cut down the net, it’s the greatest moment you can have as a coach.”

But make no mistake, Williams and KU didn’t come this far to cut down just one net in the Big Dance. They wanted to cut down another one on April 1 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta after winning the national championship, the prized net which had eluded this program since Danny and the Miracles won it all in 1988.

But that task wouldn’t be easy facing No. 4 Maryland, a hot and confident team like Kansas which was 30-4 and won 17 of its last 19 games. The Terrapins boasted great talent in forwards Chris Wilcox, Lonny Baxter and Byron Mouton, plus dynamite guards Juan Dixon and Steve Blake.

With a crowd of 53,378 on hand and hyped Jayhawk fans also gathered in Memorial Stadium watching the game on the football video board, KU jumped out to a 13-2 lead. However, Williams wasn’t too happy with KU’s shot selection during that run.

“We started the game by taking several bad shots that all went in,” Williams wrote in his 2009 autobiography, “Hard Work: A Life on and off the Court.” 

“During a timeout, I told my team, ‘Guys, let’s not live by that because we could die by that.’ That’s fool’s gold. Let’s get the shots we want.”

But the Jayhawks continued taking “a few more bad shots” that didn’t hit nylon.

Williams wrote then “we started panicking and never really recovered. Looking back on it, I didn’t know if I did the right thing by questioning those shots, but I thought taking bad shots would eventually cost us the game, and it did.”

Maryland stormed back after its early deficit and went into halftime with a 44-37 lead. The Terrapins, behind Dixon’s game-high 33 points, extended their lead to 20 with 6:10 remaining before the Jayhawks came charging back and cut the lead to just five with 2:10 to play.

However, KU would could come no closer as Maryland won, 97-88. Collison led KU with 21 points and 10 rebounds while Miles also posted a double-double with 12 points and 10 assists.

“I was about as proud as my team as I’ve ever been in my entire life,” Williams said in the postgame press conference about KU’s valiant rally. “They kept believing that they could still get it done, made a fantastic comeback, got it to five. We had the ball with a minute and 23 to play, I think it was. But we couldn’t quite get over the hump.”

Despite the loss and not playing its best (KU shot just 43.3 percent and committed a season-high 27 fouls), it was a magical season for Williams’ Jayhawks. They left an indelible mark in school history with setting single-season records in points scored (3,365) and steals (357), while ranking second in Jayhawk annals in points per game (90.9), rebounds (1,638), field goals (1,259), free throws (623), three-point field goal percentage (.418), assists (767) and steals per game (9.65).
 
KU (33-4) also led the nation in four categories — points per game (90.9), assists per game (20.7), field goal percentage (50.6) and winning percentage (.892).

Gooden, who left college after that junior season to enter the NBA draft, collected a Big 12 and school-record 25 double-doubles and 423 rebounds (second most at the time behind Wilt Chamberlain in a single season in KU history) while becoming a consensus first-team All-American and just the second player in Jayhawk history to amass at least 1,500 career points, 900 rebounds, 100 block shots and 100 steals. 

Boschee, meanwhile, concluded his career as the all-time three-point field goal shooter in Kansas and Big 12 history.

That team boasted arguably as much talent as any squad in KU history with four players (Hinrich, Collison, Simien and Gooden) ultimately having their jerseys retired and hanging in the Allen Fieldhouse rafters. Then there’s Miles, who currently ranks No. 8 in NCAA history in career assists, while Langford is KU’s seventh all-time leading scorer.

Indeed, it was a team for the ages.

“That was a fabulous basketball team, a great team,” Self said. “I would say that would rival Roy’s teams with Paul and Raef and Jacque and Scot, that group. I think they were right there, real close to those guys.”

Self definitely believes the 2001-02 team was “the best team in the country that year.”

“Whenever you can bring Keith and Wayne off the bench, even though they’re young, that’s pretty good. They had all the pieces,” Self said. “They had a designated shooter (Boschee), they had a designated point (Miles), they had guys on the wing that could make plays and throw it inside to two lottery picks (Collison and Gooden). The two guard (Hinrich) was arguably the best guard in the country.”

These were great players who truly became a TEAM and sacrificed each practice and game while enjoying the road to the Final Four.

“We've had some teams where it's been a battle every day just to get them to practice,” Williams said following the season. “Some teams you have to push a lot harder and pull, this team I didn't. It was fun to be at practice with these kids and they worked pretty doggone hard. When push came to shove during the big moments, they played their tails off. This team is not afraid to step up and make big plays, they didn't shy back, they didn't retreat, they didn't get too cautious. They weren't afraid of what's going to happen, they just went after it.”

While KU didn’t knock down the door and win the national championship, the emotional and tearful Williams was quite proud of how far they came. As far as he was concerned, all his players in the locker room that evening after the Maryland loss were winners.

 “I thought we were going to be pretty good this year. But I didn't think we were going to be as good as we were,” Williams said. “This bunch is a heck of a basketball team, and they took old Roy for a really good ride. I would have liked to have gone a couple more days, but they took me for a great ride.”