Kansas University will conduct a ceremonial groundbreaking for the new 32,000-square-foot DeBruce Center at 11:30 a.m. May 2, at the northeast corner of Allen Fieldhouse. The event is open to the public.
The DeBruce Center will become the permanent home of James Naismith’s original “Rules of Basket Ball,” which will be flanked by exhibits on Naismith and KU coaching legend Forrest “Phog” Allen.
The building will also consist of a 320-seat student activity center, which will include retail dining, cafe seating, a new training table setting for both the KU men’s and women’s basketball teams and a catered event space.
The center, a result of a gift from KU alumni Paul and Katherine DeBruce, of Mission Hills, is connected to Allen Fieldhouse through the second-floor concourse.
LJW
I remember the time my teacher said I wouldn't make it! I'm hungry I kno that the m&m's comin I taste it!
@J_mari31
Former Kansas University basketball center Matt Kleinmann used to stay awake for as many as 72 hours at a time preparing class projects in his chosen field of architecture.
Just a few years removed from his own 2009 graduation day, the 6-foot-10 Kleinmann now watches in amazement as his own students at KU show the same determination in the classroom.
Yes, Kleinmann, who traveled the world while attending graduate school at Washington University in St. Louis — he stood on the Great Wall of China as the Jayhawks tipped it up in the 2010 NCAA Tournament — then worked three years as an architect for Helix Architecture and Design in Kansas City, is completing his first year as an adjunct professor of architecture at KU.
“When I was in school, it was hard to manage basketball and architecture at the same time. For me, I’m impressed by my students. They are managing their academics and have jobs, sometimes they have children,” Kleinmann said. “I had it easy. I had a real good advocate with coach (Bill) Self stressing academics first. Now on the other end of it, it’s learning about how to be flexible and keep guys motivated and keep working hard.”
LJW
@tyshawntaylor just shut it down in Mayaguez with 22 pts 7 assts 4 rebs and 2stls and the game winner for Atleticos de Sangerman
@csantaellaSSA
“Pay Heed. The game you love began here. Respect those who came before you. Make their legacy your own. Because destiny favors the dedicated. And rings don’t replace work. In this game you don’t get what you want. You get what you earn. We are Kansas. Together we rise. Rock Chalk Jayhawk!
Big 12 / College News
@GoodmanESPN
Frank Haith's baggage arrived in Tulsa way before his airplane did on Thursday.
An NCAA cloud hangs over a coach forever.
University of Tulsa fans and supporters have every right to ask why their school just hired a basketball coach who only last season served an NCAA-mandated suspension for his involvement with $10,000 in hush money paid to a convicted felon.
But whatever outrage or faux outrage exists in Tulsa today should be tempered with this incontrovertible fact:
TU president Dr. Steadman Upham and athletic director Dr. Derrick Gragg know a whole lot more about Haith's association with Nevin Shapiro and their interactions at the University of Miami than probably anyone who's ever sat courtside at a Golden Hurricane game or worn a TU sweater or waved a Tulsa pennant.
Upham was on the NCAA Board of Directors when the Miami scandal broke and had unrestricted access to everything the investigation unearthed.
"I know a lot about that case," Upham said. "I know more than I wish I did."
And Gragg combed over the NCAA Committee on Infractions' report with his compliance lenses.
"I read the infractions report," Gragg said, "and with my background in compliance, I think I can read it and interpret it the way it's supposed to be interpreted."
And there you have it. Upham and Gragg hired Haith because they are convinced his involvement in the whole sordid affair was not entirely Haith's doing. Not really.
"Now, what I do like about the situation," Gragg said, "he took ownership of it. He took ownership of something that a staff member of his did. I can understand that as the leader of a department, because I'm responsible for everything that goes on here.
"So I like the fact that he stepped up, took ownership and fell on the sword. There's honor in falling on the sword."
Tulsa World
If Leticia Romero chooses to transfer from Kansas State, she will have to without the university’s blessing.
Romero, a star guard on the Wildcats’ women’s basketball team, said Friday that an appeals committee led by K-State vice president of student life Pat Bosco denied her request for a transfer.
She can still enroll at another school, but she won’t be eligible for an athletic scholarship for a year.
NCAA rules dictate that transfers must sit out a year before they can play at a new school, but they are only allowed to immediately receive financial aid if their previous school approves of the transfer by granting a scholarship release.
K-State’s athletic department denied Romero’s initial request to transfer, which she made after athletic director John Currie fired the coach she signed with, Deb Patterson, and hired Jeff Mittie as her replacement. Romero, of Las Palmas, Spain, decided her playing style wasn’t a good fit with her new coach.
Romero appealed that ruling before a committee Wednesday. She said the committee informed her that her transfer request had been denied Thursday morning. Upset by the news, she waited until Friday to share the verdict.
“My release has been denied,” Romero said. “My parents and I are still requesting some information from the university about my appeal hearing.”
KC Star
The amendment to current transfer rules has to do with hardship waivers and an ensuing sixth year of eligibility. The NCAA announced on Friday that hardship waivers -- something players now apply for with regularity upon transferring from one place to another; it's cynically considered more and more of a loophole -- should instead be swapped for one more year of eligibility.
For example, this would mean that a player leaving one school for another in the name of being closer to home for family/health reasons would simply have an extra year to play college basketball. But the player would sit a redshirt year first. This proposal would be for all sports where applicable at the D-I level.
“We hope this change will encourage student-athletes who must transfer based on hardships to focus on the circumstances prompting the transfer during their first year and adjust to their new school, while giving them a season back to complete their eligibility,” Council chairperson Amy Huchthausen said in the NCAA's statement.
It goes back to the integrity of the transfer. In college basketball plenty of coaches (and plenty have told me this off the record) have bent the spirit of the hardship waiver to its limits, often earning immediate eligibility from a player under embellished personal circumstances. Now the NCAA is saying that all players seeking transfer under these circumstances should focus on school and the personal matter in their first year before getting back on the court.
This would also inherently eliminate the number of waivers. That process in general takes up a lot of the NCAA's time and, with regularity, leads to controversy because waiver clearances/denials can be so inconsistent with which players get which verdicts.
This proposal from the Council will go to vote next Thursday at the Board of Directors meeting, just as the unlimited-food item will. Per the NCAA, if it passes there then it goes into place at the start of the 2015-16 academic year.
CBS
April 9: NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee Application Deadline
April 14: NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee Response Deadline
April 15: NCAA Early Entry “Withdrawal” Deadline
April 27: NBA Draft Early Entry Eligibility Deadline (11:59 pm ET)
May 2: NBA Draft Early Entry Candidates Released – Underclassmen Contact Permitted
May 14-18: NBA Draft Combine (Chicago)
May 20: NBA Draft Lottery
June 16: NBA Draft Early Entry Withdrawal Deadline (5:00 pm ET)
June 26: 2014 NBA Draft
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