She's hooked on Jayhawks

The pregame prep talks that Bill Self gave his Kansas Jayhawks before the national semifinals and championship game last week wasn't just good PR for the KU basketball program.

Mary Easton-White got confirmation.

Her 20- by 30-inch rug featuring a Jayhawk was prominently featured in the middle of the KU locker-room floor. Until the national semifinal game against North Carolina, she had no actual proof that the Jayhawks used it to huddle around for road games, much like the large, permanent Jayhawk in KU's locker room inside Allen Fieldhouse.

"It looked good on TV, didn't it?" said Easton-White, a Wichitan.

In 2002, Easton-White read a magazine article about how the players and coaches didn't have anything to huddle around prior to road games like they did at the fieldhouse. The players settled for a simple white towel.

That wasn't good enough for Easton-White, so she called the KU basketball office and asked if they'd like a Jayhawk rug to tote to road games.

"They said they would, as long as it wasn't too big," Easton-White said.

So she began rug-hooking and presented the Jayhawk to then-coach Roy Williams. When Williams left for North Carolina and Bill Self took over, she made sure that Self knew about the rug's availability.

"I was assured that they would still like to use it and were happy to have it," Easton-White said. "That was a relief."

Saturday, she saw it for herself.

"I've been following them since about '86," said Easton-White, a KU graduate. "I just find a lot of enjoyment out of it. It's usually always a good group of guys, they're talented and the win a lot."