Hope Wilson as told to Alexandria Brown
Hope Wilson, a senior from Overland Park, was in attendance at the 2022 championship game in New Orleans when the KU basketball team won. This is what it felt like.
I never thought we would actually do it. One minute we were joking and the next thing I knew I was in the car driving to New Orleans to watch KU play in the national championship.
The game itself was long. KU started off strong in the first half but, come halftime, we were losing. It was visible how defeated the KU student section was whenever it was shown on screen. North Carolina was taunting us and yelling stuff from across the court. I began questioning why I made the drive down if we were just going to lose.
At this point, each play seemed to take forever and nobody expected we would win by the end of regulation time. Maybe we would be lucky enough to put it into overtime but weren’t likely to pull ahead.
Remy Martin began scoring which marked the start of our comeback. Everyone was just happy the loss would be less embarrassing. And then it kept going. The North Carolina student section stopped taunting us and yelling. You could feel the energy shift in the air.
Ochai Agbaji was fouled giving us a one-and-one. If he made the free throw, he’d get to shoot a second time. Ochai made his one-and-one allowing us to tie at 50.
54 seconds left on the clock.
North Carolina had the ball and the score was 69-70 in KU’s favor. There were six seconds left on their shot clock and the game was thrown into an injury timeout giving us the ball.
30 seconds left on the clock.
We made our shot and North Carolina needed to make a three pointer to tie again. It felt like a slow-motion shot in a cheesy movie.
20 seconds left on the clock.
North Carolina had the ball at the logo and took the shot. They missed. North Carolina shot again. We blocked it. They tried for a third time and threw it out of bounds. We got the ball.
At this moment we realized we won the game. The student section was screaming so loud I couldn’t hear anything else.
The play continued and they fouled us, or so we thought. Dajuan Harris stepped out of bounds. Fouls don’t count if they’re out of bounds. The energy shifted from excited to angry. It was obvious Harris was devastated.
4.3 seconds on the clock.
North Carolina had the ball, both teams were in bonus meaning if either team fouled they would be shooting one-and-one. North Carolina made it to the basket and took the shot.
They airball.
We won.
I was in shock. We just pulled the biggest comeback in March Madness history. The biggest comeback in a championship game. Ever.
As confetti rained everyone was screaming and hugging people they didn’t know. If you were in red and blue that was enough. People flooded Bourbon Street, players included, and partied until 6 a.m.
I was so thankful to be in New Orleans for the game but there was a piece of me that wished I was back in Lawrence. We got to see clips of Allen Fieldhouse watching the game and all my friends were back home watching together. It seemed like so much fun. It was a weird feeling. You’re at the highest of highs, you just won the national championship in your favorite sport at your favorite school. But you find yourself thinking “Huh, I kinda wish I was at home,” missing the community you have grown to love.