"Each year it becomes a little more special to me," Manning said of his senior season in which he averaged 24.8 points and nine rebounds. "I think it's really hard to win a national championship. I look at our team. We started playing well at the right time. We had higher seeds lose in front of us. It all fell right for us in the tournament."

At one point during the 1987-88 season, Kansas owned a mediocre 12-8 record. However, KU closed 9-3 and earned a No. 6 seed in the NCAA's Midwest Regional.

As Manning suggested, the road to the Final Four was not smooth.

Manning scored 24 points and grabbed 12 boards, Milt Newton added 21 points and Chris Piper nine boards, as the Jayhawks opened the tourney with an unimpressive 85-72 victory over Xavier in Lincoln, Neb.

KU then caught a break when No. 14 seed Murray State shocked No. 3 seeded North Carolina State.

The unheralded Racers succumbed to KU, barely. Manning scored 25 points as the Jayhawks claimed a narrow, 61-58, second-round win.

Down 59-58, Murray State probably would have won the game had a four-foot shot by Don Mann dropped with :02 left. Instead, the last-ditch attempt bounced off to Manning, who was fouled and hit two free throws at :01, icing the victory.

"I never thought we'd lose it, but it was close," said Brown, now coach of the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Jayhawks moved on to the Pontiac (Mich.) Silverdome for the regional semifinal meeting with Vanderbilt, a team that shocked No. 2 seeded Pitt in Lincoln, Neb. Manning was sensational with 38 points, while Kevin Pritchard had 11, as the Jayhawks toppled Vandy, 77-64, and advanced to the regional final against Kansas State.

The Wildcats, who surprised Purdue in the semis, had defeated KU in two of three meetings entering the biggie in Michigan.

The Jayhawks had some big-time incentive, since the Wildcats ended their 55-game homecourt win streak earlier that season and also thumped the Jayhawks, 69-54, in the Big Eight Tournament. However, standout KU guard Kevin Pritchard didn't play in that Big Eight tourney game. Manning scored 20 points, Newton 18 and Scooter Barry 15 as the Jayhawks stopped KSU, 71-58, to reach the Final Four in Kemper Arena.

In the semifinals, KU faced Duke, a team that had defeated KU during the regular season in Allen Fieldhouse. Manning scored 25 points, Newton 20 and Piper 10 as the Jayhawks enacted revenge on the Blue Devils, 66-59.

That set up an NCAA title meeting with Big Eight partner Oklahoma, a team that had beaten KU twice during the regular season.

Nobody could remember details of those first two games after the final: An 83-79 KU victory.

Manning scored 31 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, while Newton had 15 points and Pritchard 13 as the Jayhawks busted a 50-50 halftime tie.

Manning will never forget the moment the final horn sounded.

"I just remember looking at the bench, seeing everybody pulling together for one another and having fun," Manning said. "It was the fun part. We ran into a few problems during the year, but we hung together through it all."

That was the season two KU signees ‹ Antoine Lewis and Ricky Butler ‹ failed to qualify academically and headed to jucos.

Also, Mark Pellock left the team during the preseason, while juco transfer Joe Young learned just before the season started he didn't have enough junior college credits to qualify and headed to Washburn.

What's more, Marvin Branch failed to make grades first semester and was dropped from the team. Otis Livingston and Mike Masucci were other casualties, getting the boot by Brown. And Archie Marshall went down after 12 games with a knee injury.

Anyhow, it was Manning's team, but he couldn't win it all by himself. Newton and Pritchard averaged double-digit scoring at 11.6 and 10.6 ppg respectively.

Piper averaged almost eight rebounds a game and hit many key shots from the baseline; Jeff Gueldner, Scooter Barry, Clint Normore, Mike Maddox, Lincoln Minor, Keith Harris and Marvin Mattox all contributed.

"Obviously, it's been a highlight of my career, a championship," Manning said. "It's what I'm always striving for (in NBA). To win a championship."

It all happened 10 years ago. A long time. Yet one constant in the Big Eight (now the Big 12) has remained. Danny Nee, who remains Nebraska's coach, worked at NU that season.

"Larry had the kids believing in themselves and Danny had the attitude, 'I'm not going to let us lose,'''Nee said. "They were really fundamentally sound. Larry's whole game plan was not giving up easy shots. The key word is determination."