Kansas’ season-opening “Late Night” basketball extravaganza has had four different names since its inception 34 years ago.
“Late Night With Larry Brown” morphed into “Later With Roy Williams,” “Late Night With Roy Williams” and eventually, “Late Night in the Phog,” which has stood the test of time the entire 16-year Bill Self era.
No matter the title, all but one of the Late Nights (the first one in 1985 was all basketball) have opened with singing, acting and dancing, and closed with a short scrimmage. The fast-paced show has been designed to not only entertain the Jayhawks players, family members and fans, but perhaps most importantly, the high school recruits who have traveled from all over the country to watch the proceedings.