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But never had they stung this badly.
Because it seemed excessively cruel, this newest and latest way that Kansas
was denied its first NCAA championship appearance since 1991. This time, the
Jayhawks made a lionhearted comeback -- from 20 points down with 6:09 left to
just four with 19 seconds on the clock -- only to fall short, 97-88, to Maryland
on Saturday in the national semifinals.
"It was a valiant effort on our part," Boschee said, his eyes
rimmed with redness. "We didn't give in. We really kept fighting. And
that's been the character of this team all year: Never give up. That's why it's
so hard to take."
Down 83-63, KU was in danger of not only failing to bring coach Roy Williams
to his second title game, but being humiliated in the process.
"I kept begging, pleading with our guys that this thing is not over with, we've got a chance, we've just got to play the way we're capable of playing," Williams said. "We started making a little bit of a run. I think they started believing."
Something certainly happened because the Jayhawks would hold UM without a field goal for 4:55 while cutting the lead to five, 87-82, on a 3-pointer by Boschee with 2:04 remaining.
Boschee followed with a big play on the other end, rebounding an errant 3-pointer by Terps senior Juan Dixon. But despite a large crowd of KU fans roaring at the Georgia Dome, the Jayhawks failed to capitalize.
Freshman point guard Aaron Miles lost his grip on the ball, and Dixon scored the last of his 10 field goals with 1:14 remaining to make it 89-82. Boschee fumbled the ball on KU's next possession, and junior point guard Steve Blake hit a free throw to stretch the UM lead to eight with 39 seconds left.
Boschee responded, however, with what would turn out to be the last 3-pointer of his career to make it 90-85. After a timeout, Dixon struck again with a pair of free throws, but KU All-American Drew Gooden drilled a 3-pointer with 19 ticks left and the Jayhawks were down four.
But then came a mental error, one that made Boschee's tears feel even more bitter. Although their coaches had told them they were out of timeouts, Boschee and several teammates motioned for one.
"It's my fault for not knowing," Boschee said. "I'm a senior. I'm a former point guard, and I should know things like that. I just got caught up in the emotion of the game."
The call resulted in a technical foul, allowing Dixon to return to the free throw line and tack another point onto the lead. Senior Byron Mouton added two more on the Terps' subsequent possession, with 13.3 ticks left, and KU was done. The season ended with a missed 3-pointer by Boschee, a foul by Miles and two free throws by UM junior Drew Nicholas.
"You know, a lot of times guys make fun of me at this time of year because they say I'm crying," Williams said. "Doggone right, because these kids mean something to me. God, I enjoyed this year."
While the game wasn't decided until in the final seconds, Maryland had out-Jayhawked Williams' team in nearly every manner.
Dixon scored 33 points, and KU's All-American, Gooden, spent much of the game in foul trouble and finished with 15 points. The Terps' inside guys were bigger, and there were more of them.
All those runs that KU had been dropping on teams all year? Maryland not only absorbed them, they came back with bigger ones. When KU opened with a 13-2 lead, for instance, Dixon scored 10 straight points for his team to cut the lead to three.
Maryland took the lead 7:22 before halftime, and it would never trail again.
"We were in sync early on," Collison said. "After that, it seemed like we just weren't moving the ball well enough. I think they picked it up defensively."
And yet the Jayhawks found a way to come back, which is something Williams will remember after his tears -- and Boschee's -- have dried.
"I thought we were going to be pretty good this year," he said. "But I didn't think we were going to be as good as we were. This was a basketball team that, boy, gave me a lot of fun.
"And even losing, feeling like this right now, some people may not understand that. That's their problem."
Maryland 97, Kansas 88
KANSAS MIN FG FT R A T F TP
Collison 33 9-14 3-4 10 1 3 3 21
Gooden 28 5-12 3-5 9 3 0 4 15
Hinrich 29 4-8 1-2 4 4 5 5 11
Miles 28 1-7 10-12 3 10 3 4 12
Boschee 38 6-16 0-0 3 2 4 3 17
Ballard 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0
Langford 24 2-6 4-8 5 2 0 4 8
Carey 4 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 0
Simien 14 2-3 0-0 5 0 1 2 4
Team 5
Totals 200 29-67 21-31 44 22 16 27 88
MARYLAND MIN FG FT R A T F TP
Mouton 29 4-9 4-4 6 2 1 2 12
Wilcox 26 8-15 2-3 9 1 2 4 18
Baxter 14 2-4 0-0 7 0 2 5 4
Dixon 37 10-18 8-11 3 2 1 2 33
Blake 32 1-7 5-9 3 11 5 4 8
Nicholas 23 2-9 2-2 2 2 2 2 7
Randle 15 1-3 0-1 2 0 0 1 2
Holden 24 4-5 5-5 5 0 0 4 13
Team 3
Totals 200 32-70 26-35 40 18 13 24 97
Kansas (33-4) 37 51 -- 88
Maryland (31-4) 44 53 -- 97
3-point goals -- Kansas 9-23 (Boschee 5-13, Hinrich 2-3, Gooden 2-2, Miles 0-4, Langford 0-1); Maryland 7-21 (Dixon 5-11, Nicholas 1-5, Blake 1-4, Holden 0-1).
Blocked shots -- Kansas 3 (Collison, Gooden, Simien); Maryland 9 (Wilcox 4, Baxter 2, Randle 2, Holden).
Technical fouls -- Kansas team.
Officials -- Higgins, Hightower, Corbett.
Attendance -- 53,378.