COLLEGE BASKETBALL / FINAL FOUR NOTES : KANSAS : Walters Enjoying This a Lot Better

Kansas’ last trip to the Final Four depressed Rex Walters to the point of questioning when, if not why, he was born.

“It was like I had the worst timing in the world,” the Jayhawk guard said. “If I had been born a year earlier, I would have been playing.”

Walters spent that 1990-91 season sitting out the year after transferring from Northwestern. Watching from the stands while capacity crowds cheered on his teammates was hard to take.

It got worse when the Jayhawks reached the NCAA semifinals against North Carolina in Indianapolis.

Kansas couldn’t even pay Walters’ way to Indiana. He covered all his own expenses. Then after working out with the team the day before the North Carolina game, he had to take a seat in the stands.

“I was really happy for all the guys, but I wanted to be out there playing,” he said. “That’s the one game everybody wants to play in, and it was like it came at the wrong time for me.”