NCAA MEN’S FINAL FOUR : It Won’t Be Too Crowded for Kansas

The local fire marshal closed the doors to Kemper Arena after almost 18,000 basketball fans packed the place to the danger point Friday afternoon to watch the Final Four teams practice.

And these practices aren’t even sweat and yell and plan strategy sessions. More like shoot-arounds. Not much to watch.

The standing-room only crowd that flocked to Kemper Arena on the day before the start of Final Four play was made up of local fans, there in a frenzy of pride over the presense of the University of Kansas.

No doubt about it. They came to cheer the Jayhawks.

And to boo Duke.

When Kansas and Duke meet this afternoon in a nationally televised National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament semifinal game, the crowd won’t be so one-sided. Kansas was allotted no more tickets than Duke or Arizona or Oklahoma.

So the die-hard fans, who by the thousands will watch the game on TV today, showed up for practice.

Kansas Coach Larry Brown does not figure his nearness to home to be any kind of advantage. But, he added, “It’s a wonderful feeling.” Brown, who had put his team through its real paces at Rockhurst High School Friday morning, had expected the turnout.

“This was basically just to loosen up and let the fans see us and show our appreciation. We wanted the kids to experience that atmosphere.

“It was phenomenal. I had a feeling it would be special.”

The University of Kansas is in Lawrence, just 38 miles from Kansas City. But it might as well have been a million miles away the way things were looking for the Jayhawks earlier this season after they lost a couple of players to academic problems, a couple more to disciplinary problems, a couple more redshirting and, most devastating, Archie Marshall to a knee injury.

Even with spectacular Danny Manning, the Jayhawks’ 6-foot 11-inch star, Kansas (25-11) struggled through its Big Eight schedule and was the surprise winner of the Midwest Regional. It would be a surprise, too, if Kansas could advance to the final with a victory over Duke (28-6) of the Atlantic Coast Conference, winner of the East Regional by virtue of a victory over top-ranked Temple.

Of primary interest in the matchup between Kansas and Duke is the matchup between Manning and 6-10 Danny Ferry, both All-Americans. Ferry, who plays more like a guard than a forward, leads Duke in scoring (19.1 points a game) and rebounds (7.5). Manning leads his team in scoring (24.6), rebounding (8.7) and blocks (a total of 65).

And there are other similarities. Their fathers, for example. Manning’s father, Ed, now an assistant coach at Kansas, played in the National Basketball Assn. Ferry’s father, Bob, also played in the NBA and is now general manager of the Washington Bullets. Their fathers are friends.

Manning was a sophomore and Ferry a freshman when Duke beat Kansas in this round of the NCAA tournament in 1986. Asked what he remembered about that game, Ferry said, “I remember being so nervous that when I went to the foul line my knees were knocking. I think I got bruises on the insides of my knees.”

Both are known as unselfish, hard-working players.

As Manning explained his approach: “Most kids watch a favorite player like Michael Jordan or Dr. J, and they try to be like that. Most kids don’t appreciate what a role player does. My father was a role player, working for rebounds and trying to get cheap baskets. I try to do all the little things.”

Brown thinks both players picked up a lot of good habits early. By being around an unselfish player like his dad, Manning learned all the important skills before he attained the size that some players rely on to the exclusion of developing an all-around game.

Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski said, “I don’t think Danny Ferry is as good as Danny Manning. Manning is a very special player. I think Danny Ferry will be a special player in his own right. Manning is unique. He’s terrific. The thing about him that impresses me more than anything is his demeanor on the court--nothing seems to bother him.”

Brown says that Manning is very sensitive and does get upset if Brown yells at his teammates. But that just shows that he is as caring and unselfish as his teammates say he is.

Manning’s mother, Darnelle, has something to do with his approach, too. She said last week, “One thing we always did in our home was play everything down. If Danny had a great game in high school, we didn’t let it become too big of a deal. We always wanted to teach Danny that the world does not revolve around him. We never wanted him to feel like he was bigger than life.”

He just seems to be sometimes, to others.

Manning said: “Duke has more talent than us, but we didn’t get here on our talent, we got here on intensity.”

Ferry remembers being impressed with how hard Manning worked in Duke’s overtime victory over Kansas earlier this season. “I knew he had great skills, but I think I underestimated him a bit. After that game, he had my vote for player of the year in the country.”

Krzyzewski said: “You’re not going to stop (Manning) completely. If you try to do that with some system you haven’t used before, you will be successful for a while. But I think what happens is you neutralize your own team because they are doing something they haven’t done before. And how do they react then if it doesn’t work?”

Duke’s strength is its tough man-to-man defense. Brown said that his team came to appreciate the Blue Devils’ defensive skills in the game the Jayhawks lost to the Blue Devils earlier his year. “We came to realize that they are a good defensive team, that they are well coached and they have great depth,” Brown said. “They are not just a team made up of Danny Ferry and bunch of other guys.”

Tournament Notes

On Feb. 20, Duke beat Kansas, 74-70, in an overtime game played in Lawrence. . . . Duke’s 6-foot 7-inch John Smith, who broke two bones in his right hand in the NCAA East Regional semifinal game, had the injury stabilized with a screw placed during arthroscopic surgery. His hand is not in a cast and Coach Mike Krzyzewski said that he expected to use Smith. . . . Duke forward Robert Brickey missed practice Friday because of an allergic reaction to penicillin that he took for an infection. He was expected to be able to play today. . . . Duke is making its sixth appearance in the Final Four, but the Blue Devils have never won the title.

KANSAS SEASON STATISTICS

Avg. G-S Min. FGM-FGA Pct. FTM-FTA Pct. Manning 36-36 35.0 356-608 58.6 165-224 73.7 Newton 33-25 22.5 152-279 54.5 41-73 56.2 Pritchard 35-34 29.5 136-283 48.1 86-117 73.5 Marshall 12-11 20.6 45-90 50.0 9-16 56.3 Branch 14-14 21.8 38-78 48.7 41-59 69.5 Minor 32-12 15.6 71-168 42.3 16-25 64.0 Piper 32-21 25.3 59-113 52.2 39-57 68.4 Gueldner 32-14 16.8 45-106 42.5 32-47 68.1 Barry 33- 3 13.5 30-61 49.2 49-59 83.1 Harris 25- 0 13.7 31-66 47.0 19-30 63.3 Maddox 23- 0 7.9 27-51 52.9 8-17 47.1 Livingston 27- 8 14.4 26-40 65.0 19-31 61.3 Masucci 24- 1 9.4 22-51 43.1 7-15 46.7 Normore 23- 1 8.5 13-33 39.4 10-14 71.4 Mattox 8- 0 1.1 1 -4 25.0 0-1 0.0 Kansas 36-36 -- 1050-2027 51.8 541-784 69.0 Opponents 36-36 -- 859-2078 41.3 576-813 70.8

KANSAS SEASON STATISTICS

Avg Avg Avg 3-Pnt. Reb PF-D Ast Pts FG-FGA PCT STL TO BLK Manning 8.7 108-5 2.0 24.6 9-25 .360 61 104 65 Newton 5.0 76-2 1.7 11.2 25-59 .424 19 65 10 Pritchard 2.5 97-5 3.0 10.7 16-52 .308 49 77 6 Marshall 4.0 24-0 1.4 8.8 6-11 .545 5 8 2 Branch 6.1 34-2 0.9 8.4 0-0 -- 7 32 11 Minor 1.5 46-1 2.0 4.9 0-17 .000 37 64 6 Piper 3.7 74-3 1.6 4.9 0-1 .000 23 49 8 Gueldner 2.0 53-1 1.8 4.0 7-26 .269 16 35 1 Barry 1.4 45-0 2.0 3.4 2-8 .250 21 35 0 Harris 2.6 30-0 0.9 3.2 0-1 .000 17 26 3 Maddox 1.6 27-0 0.3 2.7 3-6 .500 5 10 3 Livingston 1.4 51-1 2.7 2.6 0-2 .000 31 58 2 Masucci 1.5 40-0 0.4 2.1 0-0 -- 7 12 3 Normore 0.9 26-0 0.9 1.7 4-15 .267 7 22 4 Mattox 0.8 0-0 0.0 0.3 0-0 -- 1 0 0 Kansas 35.5 731-20 17.7 75.4 71-224 .317 306 599 124 Opponents 33.5 745-28 12.8 67.8 148-420 .352 272 606 62

DUKE SEASON STATISTICS

Avg. G-S Min. FGM-FGA Pct. FTM-FTA Pct. Ferry 34-34 32.4 240-497 48.3 131-159 82.4 Strickland 34-33 29.4 208-391 53.2 84-103 81.6 Brickey 34-25 23.0 124-225 55.1 112-162 69.1 Smith 33- 9 16.0 102-195 52.3 73-102 71.6 Snyder 34-33 28.7 91-188 48.4 60-76 78.9 Henderson 33- 1 16.5 72-166 43.4 44-60 73.3 King 34-34 28.1 72-144 50.0 33-68 48.5 Abdelnaby 33- 1 9.3 60-121 49.6 42-59 71.2 Koubek 34- 0 10.0 45-116 38.8 19-30 63.3 Cook 24- 0 6.8 16-43 37.2 5-9 55.6 Buckley 20- 0 4.6 9-15 60.0 14-22 63.6 Burgin 11- 0 3.0 6-11 54.5 1-6 16.7 Duke 34-34 -- 1047-2112 49.6 618-857 72.1 Opponents 34-34 -- 873-1936 45.1 485-724 67.0

DUKE SEASON STATISTICS

Avg Avg Avg 3-Pnt. Reb PF-D Ast Pts FG-FGA PCT STL TO BLK Ferry 7.5 90-2 3.9 19.1 37-104 .356 41 98 24 Strickland 4.5 74-2 1.3 16.3 55-146 .377 34 46 18 Brickey 5.1 102-3 0.7 10.6 0-1 .000 23 66 22 Smith 3.2 68-1 0.2 8.4 0-0 .000 14 38 4 Snyder 2.4 94-3 5.7 8.3 41-89 .461 54 95 19 Henderson 1.7 44-1 0.9 6.0 11-41 .268 33 45 2 King 3.4 90-2 3.5 5.2 0-0 .000 53 47 13 Abdelnaby 2.0 63-0 0.1 4.9 0-0 .000 9 33 2 Koubek 2.2 38-0 0.6 3.7 18-51 .353 13 24 5 Cook 1.0 15-0 0.8 1.7 3-5 .600 13 17 0 Buckley 0.8 4-0 0.4 1.6 0-0 .000 1 3 1 Burgin 0.7 5-0 0.1 1.2 0-0 .000 1 3 2 Duke 36.9 687-14 17.6 84.5 165-437 .378 283 515 112 Opponents 32.7 700-17 14.0 68.9 112-321 .349 208 656 86