KANSAS CITY, Mo -- So this is how one of the finest rivalries in the history of college sports ends: Not with a bang, not with the white-hot rubber match we all wanted, but instead with a sad, slow fizzle.
As the dejected Kansas Jayhawks walked off the court and into the tunnel Friday night after an 81-72 upset loss to Baylor in the semifinals of the Big 12 tournament, they passed an amped-up, fifth-ranked Missouri squad, which was huddled together, ready for its own semifinal game at the Sprint Center in Kansas City. And in a very literal sense, these two teams passing in the night looked to be meeting no longer, after more than 100 years and 267 games.
It would be hard to understate the level of anticlimax Friday in a college basketball world pining for just one more matchup in a rivalry with roots that date to before the Civil War. This game was not just the third-ranked Jayhawks jeopardizing their shot at a number one seed in the NCAA tournament, perhaps even ceding it to the hated Missouri Tigers. This game was the epitaph for a shared sports hatred that's written in blood and passed through generations.
For those of you not from these parts, allow me to explain: Imagine if Duke and North Carolina were never going to play again. Pretend this were Ohio State and Michigan calling it quits without one final shot at each other. The death of KU-Mizzou? It's like the death of Auburn-Alabama.
That it's ending at all is a tragedy, no matter if the blame falls to Missouri for bolting for the SEC or to Kansas for denying Missouri's overtures to continue the rivalry with non-conference games. But for a sports rivalry with such a rich tradition to end at the hands of Baylor, a school devoid of any sort of basketball tradition, made it just a little bit worse.
This is not to take anything away from Baylor's impressive display Friday. A hugely talented team that's never fully been in synch finally put it all together, spreading out the points among six players who reached double digits. Its first win this year against a top-tier squad proves Baylor is exactly what Kansas State coach Frank Martin called them: A Final Four-caliber team that ought to be on everyone's radar come March. This new-kid-on-the-block team has two NBA lottery-pick talents in Perry Jones III and Quincy Miller. And when the Bears put together a game like Friday, with 16 assists against only nine turnovers, they can beat anyone in the country.
But Friday night was more about what didn't happen than what did.
And what didn't happen was a Big 12 title game that would have lifted the roof off the Sprint Center and turned Kansas City into a war zone where a rivalry's epic final showdown would play out.
"I've never said I was all right with the rivalry ending," Kansas coach Bill Self said afterward. "I'd like for it to go on. It's just not going to… I didn't come over here thinking about the rivalry or anything like that. What we were trying to do was just win the day and focus on whatever would be the case tomorrow."
If that was Self's mentality, it was no one else's. A Kansas-Missouri rubber match was the talk of the city. A popular parlor game the past few days has been speculating what a Missouri-Kansas Big 12 title game ticket would go for on the secondary market. $500 seemed a popular guess.
And it would have been a poetic ending, almost too perfect, especially after two games this year where the home teams won after frenetic second-half comebacks.
"So we had two epic games with them this year," Self said, his usually unflappable demeanor a bit changed, his tie loosened, a downcast look on his face. "Two epic games. And it's unfortunate it's going to end."
No, it's not simply unfortunate. It's a damn shame.
Instead, we'll see a hot Baylor team taking on an equally hot Missouri team, who disposed of Texas 81-67 later in the evening, thanks to 23-point performances by both Phil Pressey and Kim English and a 14-rebound, 18-point night by Ricardo Ratliffe.
English said he only watched five minutes of the Kansas game: "Didn't care who won, didn't care who lost, we were just watching to see who we were going to play tomorrow," English told FOXSports.com. "We're planning to win a Big 12 championship, and we knew there were 10 teams here who could possibly get to the final game."
Saturday's Baylor-Missouri title game ought to be a good game, a great one even. But for what this title game is taking away from us, it might have been the game we were rooting for.
Instead, we feel cheated.
"I think it's unfortunate that a lot of rivalries have disappeared because of realignment, and I think every fan should be saddened," Baylor head coach Scott Drew said. "I think people make decisions thinking they're going to keep rivalries and get to do other things, and sometimes that doesn't work out. So I feel bad for the fans."
And it was the fans, of course, who were the biggest losers on Friday. With all due respect to Drew's Baylor team — and much respect is due — Saturday's title game is the game nobody outside of Waco wanted. Seats could go empty. Tickets prices will plummet. Fans will be excited, sure, but they won't be electric. Instead, we'll all just be left wondering about what could have been.
You can follow Reid Forgrave on Twitter @reidforgrave, become a fan on Facebook or email him at reidforgrave@gmail.com.
