8/30/12 1:29 PM
I see my guy @T_2releFOUR picture on the si.com college basketball section.
https://twitter.com/brettballard3


As this point, the Jayhawks have earned the right to be considered the favorite in the Big 12 year in and year out. Bill Self has strung together eight straight seasons with a finish no worse than tied for first in the regular season standings. Think about that. The last time that Kansas didn't win at least a share of the Big 12 regular season title was 2004. They finished tied for second that season, two games behind an Oklahoma State team that featured Tony Allen, John Lucas and the Graham twins and made it all the way to the Final Four. Should I mention that Kansas also won the outright regular season titles in 2002 and 2003 under Roy Williams and that the 2003-2004 season was Bill Self's first in Lawrence?

Put that all together, and, since 2002, Kansas has won seven outright Big 12 titles, won a share of three Big 12 titles and had its worst season when it finished second to a Final Four team with four NBA players playing for a new head coach. That's the kind of domination you expect out of a school in the Big South, not the Big 12. Making that run all the more impressive is that Kansas has done it while having 17 players taken in the last 11 NBA draft, 11 of whom left school with eligibility remaining.

There is no dominant team in the Big 12 this season just like there was no dominant team in the Big 12 heading into last season. But there is a dominant program in the conference, and until proven otherwise, the Jayhawks will be perennially the favorite to win the league.
SI: Big 12 summer roundup


8/30/12 6:21 PM
All in all I love Kansas... #KUCMB
https://twitter.com/AnrioAdamsKU2


8/30/12 6:54 PM
#tbt Not in Kansas anymore... instagr.am/p/O-Kx5VPljR/
https://twitter.com/Next718star


Teammates Thabo Sefolosha, Serge Ibaka, Nick Collison and Cole Aldrich frequently exchanged laughter Thursday as they shared viewpoints about their latest community project.

Their voices could be heard through the static of teleconference call from Johannesburg, South Africa, seven hours and nearly 9,200 miles away from where they routinely make appearances in the greater Oklahoma City area.

From Thursday through Sunday, NBA Cares will hold the 10th edition of Basketball Without Border in Africa, an outreach program with a contingent of current NBA and WNBA players, coaches and past players focused on grassroots basketball development, education, health and wellness. One highlight will be the Saturday dedication of the NBA Cares Legacy Project, a refurbished sports complex in Alex Township, one of the largest urban neighborhoods in South Africa.

Seven active NBA players are participating in this year's BWB, and four are with the Thunder.
The Oklahoman


Kansas 2012-13 Schedule

Oklahoma is a major sleeper in the Big 12 thanks to Wyoming transfer Amath M’Baye. “He’s been great,” Sooners coach Lon Kruger said of the 6-9 M’Baye who averaged 12 points and 5.7 rebounds per game two seasons ago with the Cowboys. “Amath got as much out of the transfer year as anyone. He’s got versatility. He’s the type of guy that’s most comfortable in the mid range area.” With M’Baye and underrated freshman guard Buddy Hield, Oklahoma may have gotten leading scorer Steven Pledger the supporting cast he needs so that the Sooners can compete for an NCAA bid.
Link


Kansas State has a chance to be very good this season. Rodney McGruder, a 6-foot-4 wing that averaged 15.8 points as a junior, is a guy that should end up being a first-team all-Big 12 performer this season. Fellow senior Jordan Henriquez, who had a very strong finish to his junior season, and sophomore Thomas Gibson, who had a tremendous start to his freshman campaign before tailing off once conference play started, anchor a solid front line. With plenty of depth on the perimeter -- Will Spradling, Martavious Irving, Omari Lawrence, Shane Southwell, Nino Williams -- Bruce Weber will have no shortage of quality options at his disposal.

But it's Rodriguez that has the potential to be the difference maker for this team. He's the guy that took over the role of starting point guard by the end of the season, despite, at times, looking like a freshman overwhelmed with the pressure put upon him by Martin's renowned intensity. He's the guy that averaged 8.3 points and team-highs in assists (3.2) and steals (1.3) in just over 21 minutes per game.

There's clearly talent there, but there's also clearly room to grow. Rodriguez led the team with an average of 2.7 turnovers and shot just 36.0 percent from the field and 31.7 percent from three.
"My assist-to-turnover ratio," Rodriguez said in regards to what he wants to improve on the most this season. "I'll be playing more calm and more under control. My shot has also been more consistent, I've been working on that."

"My goal is to compete with any other guard in the Big 12, we've got great guards. I'm just willing to compete against anybody and if I play under control, I think it should be fine."
SI


ESPN Tip-Off Marathon schedule


2012-13 Early Season Events List

Five-star power forward Julius Randle, the nation’s No. 1 senior basketball player according to some recruiting networks and a top target of the University of Kentucky and nine other programs, has scheduled in-home visits with college recruiters and is in the process of arranging official visits, his mother said.

Randle will host coaches from nine of the schools on his recently narrowed list over a two-week period beginning Sept. 9, his mother, Carolyn Kyles said on Thursday morning, and North Carolina State and UK will visit on the first day.

A visit from Baylor, also one of his final 10, is yet to be scheduled but will, Kyles said.

Kyles also said that an Oct. 5 trip to Florida remains Randle’s only finalized date for an official campus visit, but that an official visit to Kentucky on Sept. 14 is in the works. Three others are to be determined.

Kyles said her son will almost certainly not make a college commitment until the spring.

Kyles gave this complete schedule of in-home visits, with a Baylor visit still to be determined. (All will be in the evening except for an initial Sunday morning visit from N.C. State):

Sept. 9: N.C. State, Kentucky

Sept. 10: North Carolina

Sept. 11: Duke

Sept. 12: Kansas

Sept. 17: Oklahoma

Sept. 18: Oklahoma State

Sept. 19: Texas

Sept. 20: Florida

What is the family’s thinking as it enters the home-visit phase of Randle’s recruitment?

“We want to give everyone a fair chance because these are the final schools that made his top 10,” Kyles said. “We want to give all of them a fair chance to present their school, what they have to offer, what they have to offer Julius as far as helping him improve his skills and get him to the next level on the court and off the court, who is the best coach for him to get him there and continue to instill the values that I have all these years off the court.

“… From there, we will be watching a lot of basketball. … A lot of the coaches are saying how they are going to change things and let him do, and that’s not what we want to hear. We want to hear, ‘What (are) my flaws? How are you going to improve me?’ And then, ‘OK, let me watch you play. Can I fit into that program? Is it my style of play? Can I adjust to that style of play?’”
Louisville CJ


BYU is still a serious contender for the No. 1 player in the country in Jabari Parker. How so? Parker made an unofficial visit to Provo on Thursday and met with coach Dave Rose, according to multiple sources. Parker, who is Mormon, has made multiple unofficial visits to various schools. The 6-foot-8 forward out of Simeon High in Chicago has a laundry list of program that would take him in a second: BYU, DePaul, Duke, Florida, Georgetown, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan State, North Carolina and Stanford.
ESPN


Given the current environment of the NCAA clearinghouse and eligibility concerns, it seems counterintuitive that any elite prospects would transfer to a new high school on the eve of their senior seasons of high school and risk adding any question marks to their academic profiles. Two of the top prospects in Dallas, Texas, have done just that, though, as well as a top-5 prospect from the 2014 class.

The newly minted Prime Prep Academy, founded by NFL Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders, has reportedly received transfers from Grace Prep according to a press release from the City of Palms Classic as well as other reports. Grace Prep, another Dallas high school, reportedly lost top-50 big men Karviar Shepherd and Jordan Mickey in the 2013 class, as well as elite point guard Emmanuel Mudiay, and incoming junior to Sanders’ start-up outfit.
NBC


Former Xavier basketball player Dezmine Wells was on the University of Kentucky's campus again Thursday, but he probably won't be playing for the Wildcats anytime soon.

Even if Wells commits to UK he would be an unlikely candidate for immediate eligibility, according to a former compliance officer who has written extensively about NCAA eligibility issues.

John Infante, who runs the NCAA's Bylaw Blog, told the Herald-Leader on Thursday that Wells' case did not meet the typical parameters the NCAA uses to grant immediate eligibility.

"Those waivers need to be a hardship outside of the athlete's control. And that's going to be a tough sell since he was expelled from school," Infante said. "That's probably not going to be successful. I don't think that's in the cards."
Lex HL


My 2012 KU Alumni games, 2011-12 Border War, Legends of the Phog, KC Prep Invitational, & Jayhawk Invitational Videos and more now on Youtube

The Big 12 leader in softball batting average, the NCAA Indoor Triple Jump National Champion, the national leader in assists per game in women’s college basketball and a starter on KU’s Final Four team are among the nominees for four awards to be presented at the Rock Chalk Choice Awards on Sept. 9 at the Lied Center of Kansas.

Maggie Hull, Andrea Geubelle, Angel Goodrich and Travis Releford are among 20 nominees for the Jayhawker, Best Jayhawk in a Supporting Role, The Crimson Climb Award and the True Blue Award as announced by the Kansas Athletics Student-Athlete Development Office Wednesday. The winners will be announced, along with a male and female athlete of the year and a Rock Chalk Moment of the Year, at the Academy Awards-like celebration next month. Due to space limitations at the Lied Center the event is by invitation only and limited to athletic department staff, student-athletes, KU faculty and selected dignitaries.

Hull, Geubelle, Goodrich, Releford and men’s track and field hurdler Michael Stigler have been nominated by coaches and their peers for the Jayhawker Award, presented in honor of the pioneers who held true to their values through devastation and hardship while founding the state of Kansas. The nominees of this award have exhibited a commitment to Kansas principles and demonstrate mental toughness in the face of adversity and competition while making a positive contribution to Kansas Athletics.

…The Crimson Climb Award is presented to a student-athlete who has overcome academic challenges and has made consistent academic progress. This year’s nominees include football’s Anthony Davis, softball’s Alex Jones, Liebetrau, men’s basketball’s Ben McLemore and football’s Corrigan Powell.
KU AD


For the last two weeks, the 6-foot-9 Wesley has been playing the role of Wilt Chamberlain, the greatest player ever to wear a Jayhawk uniform and arguably the most dominant force in college basketball history. Shooting began in Lawrence on Aug. 15 for the independent film "Jayhawkers," which chronicles Chamberlain's recruitment to the University of Kansas from Philadelphia in 1955 by then-KU coach Phog Allen and how Wilt The Stilt changed the campus and the town -- both on and off the court.
 
But especially off.
 
"I'm mainly doing it for the history of it," explains Wesley, who appeared in 38 contests and averaged 10 minutes per game off the bench last season for the NCAA runners-up. "The movie has a lot of controversy and that's the main reason why I'm doing it. It's kind of fun, like, learning the backstory -- to be a part of that is so exciting.
 
"The backstory of the movie is the different reasons that Phog wanted Wilt here, (while) the chancellor (Franklin Murphy) wanted Wilt here to change segregation in Lawrence. He felt like Wilt would change the whole outlook (of the city), and Phog wanted him to change basketball."

…To give it an authentic, early '50s, docu-drama feel, they're shooting the picture in black and white, largely around Lawrence and Topeka. Former Jayhawk big man Scot Pollard is an associate producer and is slated to play the role of another ex-Kansas great, B.H. Born, who'd helped recruit Chamberlain to Lawrence. Back in the spring, it was Jayhawks coach Bill Self who'd actually helped recruit Wesley for the role of Wilt.
 
"I looked at interviews with him and I could tell with his interviews that (Wesley) was very articulate, very confident and carries himself very well." Willmott says. "He's very relaxed in front of the cameras. And that goes a long way. And he can do his own stunts. That's a big deal, too."

…Meanwhile, Wesley -- who really does look the part -- has been taking more than his fair share of good-natured ribbing from his Kansas teammates.
 
"All the time," Wesley chuckles. "I mean, every day. Whenever I do something in practice … score, or block a shot, or get a rebound, the players are saying, 'Wilt!' Or the coaches are saying, 'Wilt!' They can't get enough of it."
Fox Sports Midwest


Former University of Kansas basketball player Scot Pollard sat quietly in an old telephone booth Wednesday morning at the Jayhawk Tower in downtown Topeka.

“Action,” someone said loudly.

Dressed in a 1950s hat cocked to the side, Pollard recited his lines for “Jayhawkers,” a movie being filmed in Lawrence and Topeka that tells the story of legendary KU coach Forrest “Phog” Allen.
TCJ

Milton Doyle, an All-State guard from Marshall who left Kansas before the start of his freshman year earlier this month, has landed at Loyola.

Doyle committed to Loyola coach Porter Moser on Wednesday night, choosing the Ramblers over Wisconsin-Green Bay and several other Division I and junior college offers.

"We are relieved it's over," Doyle's mother, Lisa Green, said. "He wanted to stay close to home and Loyola is a good school. It's great that I'll be able to go to his games. He'll have a whole lot of support."

…He will enroll immediately at Loyola but may not be eligible to play this year because he took two sessions of summer school at Kansas.

"They're not sure," Green said. "They are going to check and see what the NCAA says."
Chicago Tribune


Earlier this summer, an NBA transaction occurred that most people hardly noticed. But to a group in Clearwater, this was both groundbreaking and amazing.

The group is the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization and the transaction involved one of their own.

At 6’ 3” Tyshawn Taylor was drafted by the Portland Trailblazers and traded to the Brooklyn Nets. Tyshawn was a “little brother” in Clearwater, and he is the first one to thank Big Brothers Big Sisters for making it possible to fulfill his dream.

In 1999, when Taylor, then 9 years old, became a little brother. He was soon linked up with 49-year-old Tom Spencer, who had retired after selling his computer company.

“Suddenly I realized I could do what I wanted,” Spencer said. “It provided me with a spiritual awakening, and I realized I had to do something to give back.”

Spencer, then of Safety Harbor, sought out the Big Brothers Big Sisters, became a “Big,” and soon met Taylor.

“I discovered he really needed a role model,” Spencer said. “He was being raised by a single mother with his two sisters. They lived in the projects and there were some rough kids around. He had told me he liked basketball and in fact told me, when he was 9 years old, that he wanted to play in the NBA. I told him to hold onto the dream, but I knew he faced long odds.”

For Taylor, contacted at the Nets’ training facility in Brooklyn, the experience of meeting Spencer was memorable.

“I think we had a connection right from the very beginning,” Taylor said. “But it was different, me a little African-American kid with this older white man. Yet it seemed natural, I was comfortable with him. We went out to eat a couple of times. My mom connected with him because he was so open, so she gave me the OK and after that we hit it out of the park.”

Knowing that Taylor was struggling with his studies and how much he loved basketball allowed Spencer to form a plan.

“We were able to use basketball as a motivation for him to get good grades,” Spencer said. “He went from barely passing to the honor role.”

…“My proudest day was May 13 of this year when Tyshawn graduated from the University of Kansas,” Spencer said.

…“I’m happy with the satisfaction of seeing him grow and ending up with control over his life rather than follow the path of his parents and cousins,” Spencer said.

Taylor returned the love.

“It was life changing,” Taylor said. “My Big Brother was the first one to see my passion. I’ll always be grateful to him for taking time out of his life and care for me. He didn’t have to do it.”
TBN Weekly


There is no place in sports quite like the intersection of ego and Chalmers. It is what makes the Heat point guard deliciously refreshing.

Then again, it takes quite the gumption to go back at LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in the face of criticism, moments that Mario Chalmers hardly has shied from amid the Heat's Big Three era.

So it hardly comes as a surprise, in the wake of the recent debate over Rajon Rondo putting himself at the head of the class of NBA point guards, that Chalmers stuck his nose into the conversation.

As in putting himself among, well, the top five.

It came out in a Bleacher Report interview at a recent Chalmers promotional event in Brooklyn.

Q: Rajon Rondo recently said that he's the NBA’s top point guard. What are your thoughts on that, and where do you think you rank among all the point guards in the NBA?

Chalmers: "He's not the best, but he's in the top five. There are a lot of great point guards in the league, Deron Williams, Chris Paul and Steve Nash. There are a lot of great guards in the NBA so for him to say he's the best is a pretty bold statement. I'd say that I am in the front end of the top 10."

It is pure Mario, from the heart, from that special place that allows him to step up to the moment.
Sun Sentinel


Printable KU schedule


Kansas 2012-13 Schedule

Former OK State PG Cezar Guerrero Transfers to Fresno State
https://twitter.com/trigonis30/status/240915757842722817


Florida State’s Michael Snaer, the Most Valuable Player of the 2012 ACC Tournament, has been named a pre-season First Team All-American by the editors of the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook. Snaer averaged a career-high 14.0 points and made a career-high 67 3-point field goals in leading the Seminoles to their first ACC Championship, their school-record fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and to a 25-10 record during the 2011-12 season.

Snaer is the first Seminole in school history to earn pre-season First Team All-American honors.

Snaer was named to Blue Ribbon’s First Team All-America team along with center Cody Zeller of Indiana, forward Deshaun Thomas of Ohio State, forward Doug McDermott of Creighton and guard Peyton Siva of Louisville.
Link


Here is some RPI data about Mizzou's schedule this year. I used last year's RPI from just before the NCAA tournament. Obviously, teams will have different RPIs than last year, but using last year's RPI is a reasonable guess. I've assumed that Mizzou will play the teams with the best RPIs (Louisville and Duke) in the Atlantis tournament.

2012-2013:
Average RPI: 126
Games vs. teams ranked
1-25: 4
26-50: 3
51-100: 9
100-200: 9
200+: 6

Here is the data:

300 SIUE
335 Alcorn State
298 Nicholls State
97 Stanford
14 Louisville (best case)
5 Duke (best case)
258 Appalachian State
248 SEMO
107 Tennessee State
343 South Carolina State
94 Illinois
127 UCLA
89 Bucknell
36 Alabama
61 Ole Miss
101 Georgia
30 Florida
194 South Carolina
19 Vanderbilt
84 LSU
145 Auburn
165 Texas A&M
61 Ole Miss
75 Mississippi State
114 Arkansas
30 Florida
2 Kentucky
194 South Carolina
84 LSU
114 Arkansas
87 Tennessee
Link


ESPN Tip-Off Marathon schedule


2012-13 Early Season Events List

KU coach Bill Self will hold an in-home recruiting visit with Damien Jones, a 6-9, 210-pound senior center from Scotlandville High in Baton Rouge, La., on Sept. 19, Rivals.com reports. Jones is ranked No. 73 nationally. He is considering KU, Duke, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Vanderbilt, LSU and others.
LJW


Former Olympic (Charlotte, N.C.) guard Allerik Freeman will join holdover Nigel Williams-Goss and Paul VI (Fairfax, Va.) transfer Stanford Robinson to give Findlay Prep one of the nation's top backcourts.

With record numbers of college basketball players switching schools this offseason, perhaps it's no surprise that high school prospects are following suit in waves.

The most highly-touted star on the move this fall is 6-foot-6 Michigan wing James Young, a five-star talent ranked No. 6 in the MaxPreps Class of 2013 Top 100. The news broke Tuesday that the uncommitted senior will be leaving Troy for nearby Rochester (Rochester Hills).

Young is one of 20 Class of 2013 Top 100 prospects who will be at new schools this fall – and the trend isn't limited to the rising senior class. Over a dozen elite 2014 players are on the move, as well.
Max Preps


Phil Pressey still has two more years at Missouri, but head coach Frank Haith ensured the Tigers won't miss a beat when Pressey leaves.

Wesley Clark – who may have boosted his stock more than any other point guard during the summer – popped for Missouri on Wednesday.

“It was because of the coaching staff,” Clark told Scout.com. “I had a real good connection with them and I feel like it is a good spot for me.”

Clark's list was filled with regional schools like Cleveland State, Akron, Dayton, Bowling Green and others heading into the AAU season. Bigger schools were sniffing around, but most were not willing to extend scholarship offers.

That all changed during the summer, when Clark blew up at the LeBron James Skills Academy and then continued his stellar play throughout the month. Suddenly, there was plenty of high-majors pursuing Clark: Connecticut, Pittsburgh, San Diego State, Michigan State, Syracuse, Illinois.
CBS


My 2012 KU Alumni games, 2011-12 Border War, Legends of the Phog, KC Prep Invitational, & Jayhawk Invitational Videos and more now on Youtube

Self’s 10th Kansas team features a deep frontcourt stocked with skilled big men, athletic bodies, shot-blockers, bangers and shooters.

It’s in the backcourt where this edition will have a different look than his last seven teams.

“We’ve got some talented kids back there, but getting the pieces to fit, it’s a lot easier making the pieces fit if you’re playing with two point guards than it is when you’re playing maybe with half a point guard,” Self said. “To put our best team out there right now, you’re looking at a team that’s not a great ballhandling and passing team. There’s going to be some pressure on Elijah to play well this year.”

It’s not too difficult to find reasons to believe Johnson will be up to the task. He’s a blur leading the break, has a good feel for where the ball should go, has a nice passing touch and limits careless turnovers.

After that, when looking at the likely starting five of Johnson, Ben McLemore, Travis Releford, Perry Ellis and Jeff Withey, it’s a little unsettling to try to identify the second-best ballhandler.

“It’s probably Travis,” Self said. “But Ben’s getting better. But that’s the whole thing, we’ve always had guys who can make plays out there. Even on our championship team, we had three point guards out of our four perimeter players.”

… Naturally, Self’s ever-intense mind is pondering ways to maximize the efficiency of a backcourt that, at least compared to most of his, has an unconventional makeup.

“We don’t really change much how we play, but we tweak a lot more than what people think,” he said. “In the past, I didn’t care who fed the post. Now we might have to set it up where Elijah’s the one feeding the post, much like we did with Aaron Miles because we had a similar type situation with Aaron, Keith (Langford) and J.R. (Giddens). You know, it’s kind of similar.”
LJW


Kansas' men's basketball team will participate in the pregame football activities by making an appearance at the Hy-Vee Hawk Zone Saturday, Sept. 1.

KU players will be available for autographs at the Hy-Vee Hawk Zone from 4:30-5:30 p.m. prior to the 6 p.m. KU football kickoff against South Dakota State. The Zone is located on the football practice fields - south of Memorial Stadium, east side. Fans are asked one item per person to be autographed.
KU AD


Champions Classic ticket presale for Alumni Association members:

The KU men's basketball team is headed to Atlanta this November, and Jayhawks from across the country will converge on the Georgia Dome to support their team. KU will play Michigan State (game time is tentatively scheduled for 7 p.m. EST) on Tuesday, Nov. 13, with a Duke-Kentucky matchup immediately following.

Kansas Athletics and the KU Alumni Association are offering a special ticket presale for Association members. Reserved tickets are $125 each in Tier 1, $90 in Tier 2 and $75 in Tier 3. There also is a $25 handling fee on all orders. To order tickets, please call Kansas Athletics at 785.864.3141 . Be sure to have your Alumni Association member ID number ready to give the ticket representative. A maximum of 12 tickets can be ordered at once, with the possibility of large orders to be split. The deadline for priority seating is Sept. 11.
http://kualumni.org/


Every August for the past four years, former Kansas guard Tyshawn Taylor was in Lawrence, starting a new school year and preparing for a run at the Big 12 title in the upcoming basketball season.

Now a guard for the Brooklyn Nets, Taylor found himself back in town, except this time he was at the new Dillons on Massachusetts Street, chatting, smiling and posing for pictures with his fans before his return to New Jersey, where he will prepare for his first season in the NBA.

…In Brooklyn, Taylor shares a bond with the player Deron Williams, whom he will back-up this season, as both guards played their college career under coach Bill Self, Williams at Illinois and Taylor at Kansas.

When the two first met, Williams asked Taylor how he liked playing for Self. Taylor responded: “I love coach Self, man. He’s crazy, but I love him.”

Taylor said Williams understood what Taylor was talking about, and the players had a long conversation about Self and the respect the two men share for the coach.

…While Taylor is excited for the chance to play in the new Barclays Center this season, he knows where his true home court will always be.

“There’s just no comparing anything to the Fieldhouse,” Taylor said. “There’s never going to be anything like that.”
UDK


He made a couple of trips to Brooklyn to see the brand-new Barclays Center at the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush avenues. (“Literally in the heart of Brooklyn,” Taylor says.) And he also spent a few minutes getting acquainted with Nets guard Deron Williams, an Olympic gold medalist. Breaking the ice was easy, Taylor says, and that was mostly because Williams spent his first college season playing for Bill Self at Illinois.

“That was the first conversation we had,” said Taylor, a former Kansas point guard. “He loves coach Self to death and has the utmost respect for him; he feels like coach Self got him to the person that he is, and I feel the same way.”

On Monday, Taylor was back in Lawrence, starting a week of appearances at a few businesses throughout the state. And for a player who had no guarantees of an NBA future when he graduated from KU in May, Taylor thinks he’s in a good spot. He averaged 15.5 points in four summer-league games and signed a guaranteed two-year contract for the league minimum in July. And he’ll have the opportunity to learn under Williams and Nets coach Avery Johnson, a former undrafted player who carved out a lengthy NBA career.
KC Star


Former Kansas University recruit Milton Doyle visited UWGB on Tuesday and has the Phoenix on a short list of schools after he decided to leave the Jayhawks last week.

The Phoenix has a connection to the 6-foot-4 freshman guard. He went to the same high school, Chicago Marshall, as UWGB players Keifer Sykes and Alfonzo McKinnie (who transferred from Eastern Illinois).
Green Bay Express


VOTE for KU


Kansas 2012-13 Schedule

There are a few strange things about amateur basketball in this country, but one of the strangest is the lack of rule uniformity between various levels of the game. High school, college and NBA rules differ in game duration, the length of the 3-point shot, the number of fouls an individual player can commit, team penalties -- you name it.

But probably the biggest discrepancy -- and the one that would be easiest to erase -- is the varying length between NBA and college possessions.

It's time for college hoops to finally, mercifully adopt the 24-second shot clock.

Why? Two reasons:

1. College basketball would become a faster and therefore more entertaining game, and would do so overnight.
2. College basketball coaches could better prepare NBA hopefuls for at least one of the adjustments of the professional game.
ESPN


1. Pitt plans on making a statement in its final season in the Big East by resuming its traditional role under Jamie Dixon as a title contender after last season’s NCAA miss. To tipoff the campaign, the Panthers are doing something out of the box for the more maligned Panthers by hosting a Midnight Madness event --- outside. The unique event will be a part of the school’s 225-year anniversary celebration. The men’s and women’s teams will play on a wooden outdoor floor, near the Pitt Union. Lights, bleachers and a video board will be brought in for the free event that should begin after a fireworks display at 9:15 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 12. If the weather doesn’t cooperate then the teams will go inside at the Petersen Events Center. The Panthers return guard Tray Woodall and add two big-time newcomers in James Robinson and Central Michigan transfer Trey Zeigler.

2. The NIT Season Tip-Off is still looking for a team to fill its field, affecting the final schedules of hosts Kansas State, Virginia, Michigan and Pitt. The 2K Sports Classic benefiting the Wounded Warrior Project and the Gotham Classic have their teams, but don't have signed contracts and that’s why teams haven't been assigned on schedules released for the host schools. The 2K Sports Classic's four hosts that will meet at Madison Square Garden Nov. 15-16 are Oregon State, Alabama, Purdue and Villanova, with the first two and latter two playing against each other in the semifinals. But the first two games of the event on the respective campus sites are still listed as TBD. The Gotham Classic is a five-team tournament with a set final of Syracuse-Temple on Dec. 22 at MSG. The three other teams haven’t been announced yet, either. Each of the five teams gets four games out of the event.
ESPN


Requests for proposals for future Southeastern Conference basketball tournaments have been sent to Kansas City and St. Louis among other cities. It’s up to the cities to put in bids.

The first years available are 2017 and 2018. The Big 12 is set in Kansas City through 2016, and the league has a deal with Sprint Center for the right of first refusal in future years.

Essentially, the Big 12 has first dibs on Sprint Center for the traditional tournament dates beyond 2016, and that makes it unlikely that Kansas City will submit a bid for the SEC event, said Kansas City Sports Commission president Kathy Nelson.

"The Big 12 has until March, 2015 to decide it if wants to extend, and that would make it difficult," to put in an SEC bid, Nelson said.

Alden said Missouri continues to look into bringing a football game to Arrowhead, but probably not until at least 2014. The Tigers want to maintain an annual men's basketball presence at Sprint Center.

*As for the football championship game, don’t expect Missouri to suggest a destination other than Atlanta. “You don’t want to mess with that model,” Alden said.

*Missouri’s men’s basketball schedule is expected to be released on Wednesday.

…Alden’s stance on Border War games with Kansas, suspended by the Jayhawks when the Tigers joined the SEC, hasn’t changed. “I’ll say the same thing I’ve said since Nov. 6,” Alden said. “Our hope is that it will take place. Those are generational decisions. I think when we start making decisions based on this moment in time that we’ve ignored a century of history. Our hope is that we have the opportunity to renew one of the oldest rivalries west of the Mississippi.”
KC Star


SEC Press Pass host (see video below) puts "We are Mizzou" crew in their place. I can save you the click, here are the highlights lol. 

SEC She: I notice you are all wearing basketball clothes and making bball references, you do realize the SEC is a football conference, right?
Them: Uh...
SEC She: In the new video you're calling out Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Arkansas. When I say 130 do you know what 130 is?
Them: Uh…
SEC She: That's the number of consensus All-Americans those schools have had combined. Missouri has had 11.
Them: Uh…
SEC She: What about 20? That's the number of national titles that those four teams have had. I looked for Missouri and I still can't find one.
Them: Uh…

Rivals updates R150


Future Kansas University small forward Brannen Greene’s national recruiting ranking improved nine slots — from No. 31 to 22 overall — Rivals.com announced on Tuesday.

The rise of Greene, a 6-foot-7, 200-pound senior from Tift County High in Forsyth, Ga., means KU and Florida currently are the only two schools in the country with at least two verbal commitments in the top 30 in the Class of 2013.

Conner Frankamp, a 6-0 senior guard from Wichita North, remains at No. 28 overall entering his senior season.

…Forwards Julius Randle and Jabari Parker flip-flopped their Nos. 1 and 2 national rankings. Randle, 6-9 from Prestonwood Christian Academy in Plano, Texas, who is now ranked No. 1, lists KU, Baylor, Duke, Florida, Kentucky, North Carolina, N.C. State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas.

Parker, 6-8 from Chicago Simeon, who is No. 2, lists KU, BYU, DePaul, Duke, Florida, Georgetown, Kentucky, Michigan State, North Carolina, Stanford and Illinois.

…Aaron Gordon, a 6-8 forward from Archbishop Mitty High in San Jose, Calif., who is considering KU, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, Kentucky and Cal, remained at No. 5.

Anthony “Cat” Barber, a 6-2 point guard from Hampton (Va) High, remained No. 9. He will visit KU this weekend. He also lists N.C. State, Alabama and Louisville.

Marcus Lee, a 6-9 power forward from Deer Valley High in Antioch, Calif., improved from No. 33 to No. 15. He lists KU, Cal, Duke, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisville and UCLA.

Jermaine Lawrence, a 6-9 power forward from Pope John XXIII in Sparta, N.J. improved from 19 to 18. He lists KU, Kentucky, UCLA, St. Johns, Cincinnati, Syracuse and UNLV.

Wayne Selden, a 6-5 shooting guard from Tilton (N.H.) School, saw his ranking fall to 23 from No. 21. He lists KU, Florida, Missouri, UCLA, Syracuse and Ohio State.

Demetrius Jackson, a 6-1 point guard from Marian High in Mishawaka, Ind., jumped from No. 70 to No. 27. Emerging as one of the best players in the entire class, Jackson now lists KU, Butler, Florida State, Illinois, Louisville, Memphis, Michigan State, Notre Dame and Xavier.

Tyler Roberson, a 6-8 forward from Roselle (N.J.) Catholic, improved from No. 53 to No. 29. He lists KU, Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Rutgers, Seton Hall, South Carolina, SMU, Syracuse and Villanova. He has said he will visit KU the weekend of Sept. 7, but told Rivals.com on Tuesday he may yet change the date.

Troy Williams, a 6-6 forward from Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., and good buddy of point guard Barber, improved from No. 41 to No. 35. He lists KU, Kentucky, North Carolina, Alabama, Louisville, Georgetown, South Carolina, Ohio State, Arkansas and Memphis.

Karviar Shepherd, a 6-10 center from Prime Prep Academy in Dallas fell from No. 34 to No. 43. He lists KU, SMU, Texas, Texas A&M, LSU, Oklahoma, TCU and Marquette. His prep teammate, Jordan Mickey, a 6-7 forward who also lists KU, improved from No. 51 to No. 38.

Allerik Freeman, a 6-4 guard from Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nev., fell from No. 39 to No. 52. He lists KU, Duke, Ohio State, UCLA and Villanova.
LJW


James Young, the leading candidate for the 2013 Mr. Basketball Award, transferred from Troy High to Rochester on Tuesday.

Young, a 6-foot-6 guard/forward entering his senior year, was named to The Detroit News Dream Team last season after averaging 25.1 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists.

Young is rated a five-star prospect and the No. 2 small forward in the nation by Scout.com. He has scholarship offers from Michigan State, Kentucky, Kansas, Arizona, Louisville and Syracuse, among others.

"I got a text this morning from my athletic director (Vic Fournier) saying (Young) enrolled in school," Rochester coach John Pleasant said. "I've never had any conversations with James about coming to Rochester.

"I heard rumblings during the summer about him transferring. I understand his family has moved into the Rochester school system and he would be (immediately) eligible."

Said Troy coach Gary Fralick: "If it is true, I would be disappointed."
Detroit News



“It was a tough decision,” said Eric Bossi, Rivals.com’s national recruiting analyst. “Everyone knows Jabari had some injury issues so we didn’t see him in July as much as the other guys.

“I try not to drop a guy because he was injured, but looking at the level Julius Randle was playing at versus a healthy Jabari, I thought for right now I liked Julius a little bit better.”

Jabari’s father, Sonny Parker, wasn’t too pleased about the news.

“My son fell because he was injured,” Parker said. “He’s still ranked number one everywhere else. He’s national player of the year with two gold medals, three state championships. What more could he do? The rankings are overrated anyway. In that trophy cabinet at Simeon there are trophies that have nothing to do with rankings.”

Parker said that his son is friends with Randle and acknowledged that Randle “played really well this summer.”

“This stuff doesn’t mean anything to Jabari,” Parker said. “He doesn’t get caught up in rankings and all that stuff. His goal this year is to win a state championship.”
Chicago Sun Times


Randle will play host to five schools for in-home visits beginning on Sep. 9. As of right now, these are the only in-home visits that have been planned.

Kentucky and North Carolina State will visit Randle on Sunday, Sep. 9, while North Carolina will take its turn on Monday, Sep. 10. The schedule continues on Tuesday, Sep. 11 with Duke and ends with Kansas on Wednesday, Sep. 12. Jerry Meyer of 247Sports was the first to tweet the news on Tuesday.

Five visitors in four days will certainly be enough to keep Randle busy, and that’s only half of the schools that remain on his radar.
RantSports


Bob Gibbons is arguably the most respected and most knowledgeable basketball  recruiting analyst from sea to shining sea. Based in Lenoir, N.C., he has been evaluating high school players since the late 1970s, before the Internet and ESPN and blogs and Dick Vitale.

You might not agree with everything he says, but you have to admit that he has acquired the expertise to say it. Some of the most renowned college coaches in the country swear by -- and sometimes swear at -- his evaluations.

…The best player he saw was 6-foot-8 Andrew Wiggins, a Canadian-born player who attends Huntington Prep in Huntington, West Virginia. Wiggins universally is regarded as the No. 1 player in the class of 2014. Gibbons argues that Wiggins is the best player in the nation regardless of class, even better than Simeon's Jabari Parker.

In the Nike Peach Jam in North Augusta, Georgia, Wiggins outplayed 6-foot-9, 250-pound Julius Randle, whom Gibbons rates as the top player in the class of 2013. He claims Randle is physically more talented and more dominant than Parker. But Randle was no match for Wiggins.

…A player to watch is 6-foot-7, 210-pound wing forward James Young of Troy, Michigan, whom Gibbons describes as the "biggest rapid-riser among the seniors." All of the big-time schools, including Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, Michigan State and Syracuse, are pursuing him. But Gibbons said no one knew he would emerge as one of the top five prospects in the nation in his class.

The reports aren't so good for Parker and Whitney Young's Jahlil Okafor. Gibbons rates Parker behind Randle in the class of 2013 and rates Okafor behind Wiggins in the class of 2014. After observing both, however, he has misgivings about Parker's consistency and physicality and Okafor's work ethic and aggressiveness.
CSNChicago


My 2012 KU Alumni games, 2011-12 Border War, Legends of the Phog, KC Prep Invitational, & Jayhawk Invitational Videos and more now on Youtube

Bill Self had modest expectations as he teed it up in the 15th-annual Boy Scout Classic on Monday afternoon at Lawrence Country Club.

“I’ve gotten to the point where I hate golf,” Self, Kansas University’s 10th-year basketball coach, said with a smile. “It’s not because I haven’t played a lot. It’s because when I do, I’ve been awful. I’m going to spend about six months regrouping, then get ready for a stellar 2013.”

Self said he was pleased to lend his support to a tournament that was run by former KU football great John Hadl before Self’s arrival in Lawrence.

“This is a great event that goes to a good cause,” Self said. “Any time you can benefit youth in our community, it’s always a positive.”

…Self said red-shirt freshman Ben McLemore (hip flexor) is back on the court practicing. “He should be full speed by next week,” Self said.

…“We’ll be practicing our two hours a week (in accordance with NCAA rules) and doing individuals (workouts),” Self said. “Beginning Sept. 15, we can do that with our entire team. Boot Camp starts the fourth week in September.

“The bottom line is this: They are going to spend more time than ever in the weight room,” he added. “I felt we probably didn’t spend as much time in the weight room this summer as what I would have liked because we were practicing those days (for European trip). You are limited on hours. We are going to really get after the guys physically here the next six to eight weeks.”
LJW


So many coaches return from foreign trips of exhibitions bragging about 4-0 records even though the wins usually mean nothing because the competition is normally terrible. But Kansas' trip to Switzerland and France was different.

"The last two teams we played were good," said KU coach Bill Self. Consequently, his new-look and short-handed Jayhawks (more on this later) lost their final two games in Europe, snapped their 41-game winning streak in exhibitions and finished just 2-2 on the trip.

But what does it really mean?

Probably nothing.

The Jayhawks are still the pick to win the Big 12 and will almost certainly win at least a share of it considering they've won at least a share of the league title in nine consecutive seasons. Either way, Self returned with his team from Europe earlier this month. I talked to him about the experience this week. Here's what he said ...

…"What we need is for Withey and Releford and Johnson to play like [Thomas] Robinson and [Tyshawn] Taylor did last year. Those guys had never done it, and then they stepped up and did it. And I just hope these guys can step up and do the same thing even though they've never been asked to do it. But they're all good players -- just look at the NCAA tournament. Releford was our best player against Ohio State, Elijah was our best player in another game and Withey was our best player in the national championship game. So they've all shown they can do it. Now they just have to show they can do it for this team."
CBS


Tyshawn Taylor took to Twitter on Saturday night in his new, Hoboken, N.J., two-bedroom, two-bath condo to express his emotions regarding this week’s trip to Kansas.

“Kansas tomorrow !!!! Never been this hype to be in Kansas,” Taylor wrote on his favorite social media website.

The former KU point guard, who recently signed a two-year guaranteed contract with the Brooklyn Nets to pay him $473,604 this season and $788,872 in 2013-14, explained Monday why his first trip to Lawrence since graduation in May had him so excited.

“I just miss it, man. I just miss it so much. I miss it a lot, man,” said Taylor, who signed autographs for fans for two hours at the Massachusetts Street Dillons. “It’s weird because I’ve been living a structured life for four years. To not have it any more is a weird feeling.”

Taylor, who said he’d love to make it back for the Oct. 12 Late Night in the Phog if the Nets aren’t playing an exhibition game that day, is as comfortable in Lawrence as in his hometown of Hoboken.

“I hope to make it back as much as possible. Guys were always coming back for Late Night when I played here. I hope to come back a lot as well,” noted the 6-foot-3 guard, whose four-year career as a KU starter was capped with a trip to the 2012 national title game.

…He believes the Jayhawks will do just fine without him.

“Elijah has been here four years. He’s learned from some guys. He’s been in big games. He knows what to do,” Taylor said of senior point guard Elijah Johnson. “Naadir (Tharpe, sophomore) has been watching for a year. I love Naadir’s game. I don’t know who else is there they brought in, but with those two, I think the ball is in good hands for sure.

“I think they’ll go through some stuff. They are a young team. Coach (Bill) Self has proven he can make any team good. We’ve got guys who’ve been on really good teams and know how to win. They’ll pull it together eventually. It’s a process, though.”
LJW


The imprisoned former head of Kansas University’s Williams Fund alleges that he’s entitled to a shorter prison sentence because he claims federal prosecutors did not honor terms of his plea agreement in the case.

Rodney Dale Jones, 43, filed a motion on Aug. 23 from prison in El Reno, Okla., asking a judge to vacate, set aside or correct his sentence. U.S. District Judge Wesley Brown in March 2011 sentenced Jones to serve 46 months for his guilty plea to conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his role in a scheme to steal more than $2 million worth of KU football and basketball tickets and distribute them to brokers and others. Four former athletics employees and one consultant were sentenced to prison.

“The government failed to adhere to their commitment to file a (request for lesser sentence) in exchange for the defendant’s guilty plea and for providing substantial assistance in investigating his co-conspirators,” Jones wrote in the motion.

Jones, who was the former leader of fundraising at Kansas Athletics Inc., alleges in the motion that his cooperation with federal authorities led directly to co-defendant Ben Kirtland, who served as associate athletic director for development from 2004 to April 2010, pleading guilty instead of going to trial. Kirtland is serving a 57-month prison sentence.

Jones also claims his assistance led to the indictment of co-defendant Kassie Liebsch, a former systems analyst who took over ticket operations at KU, in the case after she was initially exonerated in KU’s internal investigation. Prior to federal indictments in the case, KU officials in 2010 had the Wichita-based law firm Foulston Siefkin conduct the investigation without subpoena power.
LJW


VOTE for KU


Kansas 2012-13 Schedule

JoePo's new sportswriters site, similar to Grantland
Sports on Earth


A study by BYU and University of Chicago economists looked at where students send their SAT scores, and what effects athletic success had on those decisions. They discovered that universities received up to 10 percent more scores from potential students when a school "has a stellar year in basketball or football."
ESPN


ESPN Tip-Off Marathon schedule


2012-13 Early Season Events List

8/27/12 12:02 PM
“@J30_RANDLE: Texas Kansas Baylor UNC Duke Kentucky Florida NC St Oklahoma and Ok st .. No specific order” KANSAS !!!!!
https://twitter.com/tyshawntaylor


Chris Jones, a 5-foot-10, 195-pound sophomore point guard from Northwest Florida State college in Niceville, Fla., tells Rivals.com he has a list of KU, Baylor, Florida State, Louisville and Oklahoma State. The Memphis native said he will visit KU for Late Night. He said he has been offered a scholarship by the KU staff.

“They’re ready to put the ball in my hands and let me rock. The coaching staff at Kansas wants me and they want me to help win another national championship,” Jones told JayhawkSlant.com. “I really like the style of play at Kansas and I like coach Bill Self as a person.”
LJW


Expressions program director Todd Quarles said Abu and Terrell, a 6-4 shooting guard who will play at Brewster (N.H.) Academy, will also visit Kansas, UConn, Iowa State and Cincinnati.

No dates are set.
Zags Blog


Deion Sanders' new charter school, Prime Prep (Tex.), should be a factor in basketball right off the bat. Emmanuel Mudiay, Jordan Mickey, Karviar Shepherd and others are all reportedly heading there
CBS


"I think they're doing what's right," Simeon coach Robert Smith told ESPNChicago.com. "He hasn't made his decision to a school yet. They were kind of behind the eight ball because Groce came in so late. ...I think they're doing a good job of staying in with him and seeing what's going to happen.

"I think they need an opportunity to present themselves to the family, Jabari and myself and what their plans are and what they're looking for. I think that will happen. By them still recruiting him, I think that says a lot about the coaching staff."

As Parker, the reigning Gatorade Player of the Year, recovers from a foot injury and prepares for his senior season in which he will try to lead Chicago Simeon to a third consecutive state title, his father said he expects his son to take official college visits soon and cut his list in half to five schools he's considering.

Illinois missed the last cut, but will Groce give Illinois a chance to make the next cut in the Jabari sweepstakes?
USA Today


My 2012 KU Alumni games, 2011-12 Border War, Legends of the Phog, KC Prep Invitational, & Jayhawk Invitational Videos and more now on Youtube

Former KU guard Tyshawn Taylor of the Brooklyn Nets will sign autographs from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. today at Dillons, 1740 Massachusetts.
LJW


Kansas University senior basketball forward Carolyn Davis has entered the final stages of rehab from ACL surgery on her left knee.

“It’s great. I’m about a month away from being fully released,” the 6-foot-3 Houston native reported Saturday from the eighth-annual Bonnie Henrickson Golf Tournament at Alvamar.

“I hope I can get in the gym soon and get some individuals (workouts) in, get in the flow of things and be ready for the season.”

Davis had surgery in February after suffering a dislocated left knee and torn ACL during the opening minutes of a loss at Kansas State. A first-team All-Big 12 performer both her sophomore season and again last season, Davis had averaged 17.5 points a game at the time of the injury.

“We have weights with the team. I lift and do all that and some conditioning. I get in the gym with our trainer, and I do sprints and work on that, work on basic basketball things I haven’t done in a while,” Davis said.

“I’ve followed my rehab procedures perfectly. I’ve done everything I can to get back to where I’m supposed to be,” added Davis, who hopes to be cleared to compete in her final Late Night in the Phog, set for Oct. 12 in Allen Fieldhouse.

“It’ll be a process. I won’t be 100 percent at the beginning of the season. Hopefully at the end I’ll be there.”
LJW


In the wake of a rain-free Bonnie Henrickson golf tournament Saturday at Alvamar, each member of the women’s basketball team took a turn at the microphone and shared her favorite thing about the NCAA Tournament in which the Jayhawks advanced to the Sweet 16.

“Trending on Twitter,” senior Angel Goodrich said.

Last March 20, for much of the second half of Kansas University’s upset victory against Delaware, #Angel Goodrich was one of the top 10 topics in the world being discussed on Twitter.

The pregame TV hype centered on the nation’s leading scorer, Delaware’s Elena Delle Donne. Say that 10 times and your tongue will become as tripped up as the feet of the Blue Hens’ defenders who tried to keep up with Goodrich. On that night, the nation’s leader in assists (7.4 per game) stole the show from the leading scorer, despite at 5-foot-4 standing 13 inches shorter. Goodrich had 27 points and six assists.

Without leading scorer Carolyn Davis (ACL surgery), Goodrich led the Jayhawks, a bubble team on Selection Monday, into the Sweet 16. Not bad for a guard who has played most of her home games in front of small crowds.

Maybe the global fame the magician of a point guard received will make people realize the live entertainment she provides in Allen Fieldhouse beats anything anybody could see on television.
LJW Keegan


VOTE for KU


Kansas 2012-13 Schedule

I went out Friday to the OU basketball reunion and chatted with Mookie Blaylock, Ricky Grace and Billy Tubbs about the golden days of 1988, when the Sooners had the nation’s best team. You can read my column for the Saturday Oklahoman here.

But I had plenty left over and thought I would share with you some of the other nuggets from those chats.

…Tubbs signed Blaylock out of Midland Junior College. Blaylock signed at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.

“Which was legal at the time,” Tubbs said. “In fact, he was coming back from his Kansas trip. We waylaid him at the airport. We just recruited him hard. He told us before he went to Kansas that he was going to visit Kansas but he was coming to Oklahoma. He just went to Kansas to get all that stuff they give away, which was illegal. He needed some extra tennis shoes, so we let him go up there.

“But where Kansas made the mistake, they could have flown back with him to Midland, but they didn’t. We intercepted him in Dallas, because he had to change planes. We intercepted him in Dallas and got the whole thing done. But then you could go sign the player in person. You could go sign the mother in person. You didn’t have to email stuff and all that. Now, you can’t do that. Anyway, we got him signed.”
The Oklahoman


The 1988 Sooners did not win the NCAA championship; they were an upset victim in the title game, like Houston in 1984 and Georgetown in 1985, in that decade when college hoops were at their best.

But that disheartening loss to Kansas has not dimmed the status of those Sooners.

Longtime CBS analyst Billy Packer, in his book, placed the Sooners among the top 15 college teams of all time.

They pressed full court, created turnovers galore, shot quickly and played ferociously. The starting unit of Grace and Blaylock and Harvey Grant and Stacey King and Dave Sieger became so well-conditioned that by season's end Tubbs rarely had to substitute, and the assault was never-ending.

There is nothing like it in college basketball anymore. The days of Nolan Richardson's 40 minutes of Arkansas hell and Jerry Tarkanian's Runnin' Rebels and OU's BillyBall are over. The game is pedestrian, played not by refined stars but by young prospects headed for the NBA after a college drive-thru.

I told Tubbs on Friday his '88 Sooners would beat Kentucky's most recent national champ by 40 points.

“Fifty,” Tubbs said with that wry smile. “The game has turned into push and shove. It would be really hard to play like we did. We dictated the tempo of the game with our defense. Nobody really wants to get out and defend 100 percent of the floor anymore.

“The whole face of the game has changed. From a team standpoint, it would take a couple of years to learn to do what we did defensively.”
The Oklahoman


Sports are a real beach -- at least for the athletes at Long Beach State.

The Big West Conference school recently unveiled a new look at the Walter Pyramid arena, a face-lift to the home of the school’s men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball programs that includes palm trees painted onto the court’s surface.

The court, outlined in black, features the school’s nickname “The Beach” at center court — the school’s official nickname is the 49ers, but there’s no mention of that moniker on the court — and four golden palm trees with leaves that reach inside the three-point arc on each end of the court.
NY Daily News

PHOTOS Elite 24

Future Kansas University basketball players Brannen Greene and Conner Frankamp scored 13 and five points respectively in helping the Raymond Lewis squad defeat the Marques Johnson squad, 164-138, in Saturday’s Under Armour Elite 24 all-star game in Venice Beach, Calif.

Greene, a 6-foot-7 senior small forward from Tift County High in Forsyth, Ga., hit six of 10 shots and one of two free throws. He added four rebounds, two assists and a turnover in 13 minutes. He is ranked No. 31 in the recruiting Class of 2013 by Rivals.com.

Frankamp, a 6-foot senior guard from Wichita North, hit one of seven shots and three of three free throws. Rivals.com’s No. 28-ranked player missed three three-pointers and had two assists, no turnovers and one rebound in 15 minutes.

Julius Randle and Aaron Gordon, who have KU on their list of schools, had 27 and 25 points respectively for the winners. Randle, a 6-9 senior from Prestonwood Christian Academy in Plano, Texas, who is ranked No. 2 overall, hit 13 of 14 shots. He had three rebounds. Gordon, a 6-8 senior from Archbishop Mitty in San Jose, Calif., who is ranked No. 5 nationally, hit 12 of 18 shots. He had seven rebounds. Gordon told ESPN.com that he will visit KU, Arizona, Washington, Oregon and Kentucky and make an unofficial visit to Cal.

Randle won the slam-dunk competition and Frankamp the three-point shooting contest Friday.

“It was fun out here and with this great setting it was a good time,” Frankamp told SLAM Magazine, referring to winning the three-point contest on an outdoor court. He credited his daily shooting routine that consists of 300-400 makes.

“It’s all different types of shots, not just threes,” he told SLAM. “I can usually get done pretty quick, about 30 minutes.”

Of choosing KU, Frankamp said: “It was always my dream to go to Kansas, I guess you can say. I can’t wait to get there. Kirk Hinrich is probably my favorite player to come through KU; he was sweet.”

No. 21-ranked Wayne Selden, a 6-5 senior shooting guard from Tilton (N.H.) School who is considering KU and others, scored 14 points off 6-of-10 shooting for the losing team.
LJW


As part of an effort to pare down a Division I rule manual that spans more than 400 pages, the NCAA is considering legislation that could significantly alter the way programs recruit, possibly leading some teams — especially in football and basketball — to begin utilizing the collegiate equivalent of a general manager.

Currently, only head coaches or assistant coaches can participate in the selection and evaluation of recruits. The NCAA Rules Working Group has proposed that this rule be eliminated, allowing staff members now known as directors of operations or directors of player personnel to watch film of a prospect or to contact a prospect’s coach or guardian.

Off-campus recruiting — such as in-person evaluations and visits to a prospect’s home — would still be limited to head coaches and assistants. The amendment, if passed, would go into effect Aug. 1, 2013.

Some coaches interviewed for this story said that, should the current rule be eliminated, teams could form a staff position designed solely for the purpose of overseeing day-to-day recruiting operations, just as general managers in professional sports handle the evaluation and acquisition of talent.
Washington Post


A move that has been rumored to be happening over the last few months is now official: 2014 forward Chris McCullough will transfer to Brewster Academy (N.H.), he told NBCSports.com Thursday.

McCullough, a 6-10, 220-pound forward from the Bronx, N.Y., is a top-15 player in the Class of 2014. He will be leaving Salisbury School (Conn.) to transfer to Brewster.
NBC


On Tuesday, the Rivals150 for the class of 2013 will receive a post-summer updating. As we get closer to releasing the new list, we preview the five toughest calls that had to be made when putting together the new list.
Rivals


Official visits are a pretty good indicator of which teams are in solid position for a prospect, and two of the more sought-after players have set their trips.

Chris Jones is ranked as the best junior college point guard in the country, and was once signed to Tennessee. He said on Friday he would be taking official visits to Baylor, Oklahoma State, Louisville, Florida and Kansas – in that order.

It begins for Jones next weekend with Baylor, and will end on Midnight Madness at Kansas.

Aaron Gordon, a top-five prospect in the class of 2013, told ESPN he was heading to Arizona, Washington, Oregon, Kansas and Kentucky on official visits. Moreover, he would take an unofficial visit to California.

Washington and Arizona have been the leaders in his recruitment, but Kentucky made a very strong push in July and is now squarely in the mix.

Lawrence, Rathan-Mayes trim down lists

Jermaine Lawrence, a New York native who now plays at Pope John XXIII, boosted his stock in a major way during the spring and summer. Lawrence moved into five-star status at CBSSports.com and his recruitment reflected the rise.

On Saturday, Lawrence tweeted that his final seven were Cincinnati, Kansas, Kentucky, St. John's, Syracuse, UCLA and UNLV. Florida and Rutgers were strong contenders, but neither made the cut.
CBS


8/25/12 8:09 PM
My Final Top 7 in no specific order
Cincinnati, Kansas, Kentucky,
StJohns, Syracuse, UCLA, UNLV
https://twitter.com/mainestory44


My 2012 KU Alumni games, 2011-12 Border War, Legends of the Phog, KC Prep Invitational, & Jayhawk Invitational Videos and more now on Youtube

Q Was losing the championship game hard, since no one expected KU to be there?

A No. Kentucky was loaded. But the way the game went, it was set up for us to have a shot. We fell behind early, which was probably good, because they played not to lose late.

We’re down 7 with 3 1/2 minutes left. We were down more with less time left against Memphis (in 2008).

But I was so proud because the most shocked people in the world that we lost that night were our players. They were crushed. They thought they were better than Kentucky. And if they had not had that attitude we would never have been playing in that game.
Star Magazine Q & A with Coach Self


The question is: If you could pick any active coach to lead your program, who would it be?

Tom Izzo (Michigan State): 27 percent
Bill Self (Kansas): 23 percent
Mike Krzyzewski (Duke): 10 percent
Rick Pitino (Louisville): 8 percent
Billy Donovan (Florida): 8 percent
John Calipari (Kentucky): 6 percent
Sean Miller (Arizona): 6 percent
Brad Stevens (Butler): 4 percent
Roy Williams (North Carolina): 4 percent
CBS series Critical Coaches


ESPN 50 in 50 rankings: No. 5 Kansas

Using a point system devised by the ESPN Stats & Information department, ESPN.com is counting down the 50 most successful programs of the past 50 years. A running list of the top 50 can be found here. For an explanation of the scoring system, read our intro. If you disagree with the order -- and we're sure you do -- re-arrange our Top 25 here.
ESPN


Sasha Kaun and 11 of his closest friends piled on top of each other at the top of the key in Olympic Park Basketball Arena after the final horn sounded in Russia’s 81-77 bronze medal victory over Argentina on Aug. 12 in London.

The Russian National Team members celebrated wildly after assuring their country’s first top-three finish in an Olympic Games since the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991.

“I was so happy. It means everything,” said Kaun, a member of Kansas University’s 2008 national championship team. “To be the first team in Russia history to go and win a medal is unbelievable. The way basketball has grown in Russia is fantastic,” added the 6-foot-11, 255-pound center from Tomsk.

The 27-year-old Kaun, who has three years remaining on a contract with CSKA Moscow that pays him over $1 million a year, averaged 7.8 points and 3.6 rebounds for Russia, which amassed a record of 6-2 and became one of the surprise success stories of the entire Games.

…Kaun became the 10th KU men’s basketball player of all time to earn a medal and first since Danny Manning (also a bronze) in 1988.

“I am so fortunate to be considered with Danny. To be the first since Danny is phenomenal,” said Kaun, whose inside presence was vital in the victory over Argentina and its power forward deluxe Luis Scola.

“As soon as we won, I got texts. I heard from all the guys (on KU’s 2008 title team). The coaches all texted me. They were in Europe (Paris playing exhibition games).”

Kaun also was supported by a handful of KU fans who made their way into the London arena.

“There was a guy there who had a sign,” Kaun said. “After we got our medal, I posed for a picture (with KU fans) with him and his son. I think once you become a Jayhawk you are always a Jayhawk. I’m very proud to be part of the organization. It’s big.”

Kaun has not been able to squeeze in a trip to Lawrence this summer. He and wife Taylor (former KU soccer player Taylor Blue) recently moved into a house in Evergreen, Colo., which will be their new offseason home.
LJW


“Going through Allen Fieldhouse ... it is a classic venue, and the things that have been done around it are really spectacular,” Bowlsby said. “The support facilities, administrative facilities, the new football complex ... all of that is as good as there is anyplace in college athletics.

“I think men’s and women’s basketball and football are in great shape. The baseball diamond is terrific. Developmental facilities are great. I think KU probably has as good of weight-room facilities in terms of both quality and volume as I’ve ever seen. There are an awful lot of pieces of the puzzle in place. It sounds like plans are in place for improvements in a lot of other areas that will support the Olympic sports,” he added.
LJW


Former University of Kansas point guard Sherron Collins will be in Hutchinson on Saturday for a book signing at the Sports Shack, 119 N. Main Street.
Hutch News


VOTE for KU


Kansas 2012-13 Schedule

After a long period of uncertainty, the Big 12 is poised to announce several deals in the coming weeks that should underscore its newfound solidarity.

Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said during a stop at Kansas on Wednesday that a multiyear television deal that could be worth as much as $2.6 billion should be finalized soon, and that progress on a TV deal and location for the newly created Champions Bowl are coming along quickly.

The recently hired commissioner is touring member schools this week, hitting nine of 10 in the coming days. Bowlsby plans to visit West Virginia in late September.

The new TV deal is expected to cover 13 years with an arrangement for FOX and ABC/ESPN to share over-the-air and cable rights. Bowlsby said the league was working within the framework of the contract when it released a schedule for the first three weeks of the season.

"The exposure for our football programs, for men's and women's basketball and our Olympic sports, will be unprecedented," Bowlsby said. "We'll be much more widely distributed."

Bowlsby said he'd prefer the contract to be done by the start of the football season next Saturday, but pointed out that when he was athletic director at Iowa, the Big Ten and ABC operated without a signed deal for the better part of three years.

"There are some elements that need to be worked out, some of it by the end of today, but we're not working under any sort of deadline," he said. "We're moving forward as if we have an agreement, and we do have an agreement on almost all elements of it."
AP


If you have followed college basketball for any stretch of time, you have or know of a Rick Majerus story. There was the time he smacked one of his Utah players in the groin while imploring him to have some balls. Or when he'd invite his players up to his hotel room and show up in a towel, which sometimes fell to the floor. Or the one where a Salt Lake City woman dropped a baby off at his hotel residence, figuring Majerus would be better positioned to find someone who could properly care for the child. Or how he compared Ashley Judd favorably to watching porn during a segment as a studio analyst.

But when news broke Friday afternoon that a heart condition was going to force Majerus yet again from the sideline, this time for the duration of the 2012-13 season, my first thought was to a colleague's random brush with Majerus in 2005 at Wake Forest's Lawrence Joel Coliseum. Majerus, a larger-than-life presence in every figurative and literal term, was already relieving himself in the men's room after calling the game for ESPN when my friend entered. Majerus looked at him and immediately blurted, "My fly is stuck, I'm not trying to flash you." After assuring Majerus that he hadn't assumed he was, my friend mentioned that he was there covering the visiting Princeton Tigers. Majerus instantly give an unsolicited projection of Princeton's multi-year program rebuild, then blurted "Gotta go!" and rushed out, leaving my friend in mid-response (and mid-relief).

That story, to me, sums up Rick Majerus. Odd, unique, unmistakable, irreverent ... and always thinking about basketball. For this season, at least, the college game has lost a tremendous character, but it also will be missing one of its best coaching minds. You don't win more than 70 percent of your games over more than two decades by accident, especially when you've never been at a glamour program.
SI


8/24/12 9:06 PM
Marquette announced earlier tonight that assistant Scott Monarch has been dimisssed and HC Buzz Williams will sit out first BE game.
https://twitter.com/ESPNAndyKatz


Another coach has lost his job for providing misleading information.

This time it's Marquette assistant Scott Monarch.

He provided misleading information when asked about the fact that he gave a recruit apparel and a ride somewhere in violation of NCAA rules. And, yes, those are violations of NCAA rules. But they are relatively small violations. And they would've almost certainly been survivable violations if not for Monarch providing misleading information about them.

But, inexplicably, he lied.

And now he's fired on a Friday night in August.
CBS


Washington coach Lorenzo Romar has added a second new assistant coach in a week after announcing the hiring of Lamont Smith.

The school made the announcement Thursday, saying the hiring was still pending a background check. Romar also hired former Western Washington head coach Brad Jackson last week to replace Raphael Chillious, who left for Villanova.

Smith has been on the staff at Arizona State for the last four years, but his connection with Romar goes much deeper. Romar gave Smith his first job as a graduate assistant at Saint Louis in 1999.

The ability to add Smith to the staff came when assistant Paul Fortier moved to director of player personnel and player development. Fortier has been an assistant under Romar for the last seven seasons.
SI


ESPN Tip-Off Marathon schedule


2012-13 Early Season Events List

8/24/12 6:23 PM
S/o @CFrankcamp_23 aka #bottomofthenet winner of the @UAbasketball 3-Point Contest #Kansas #Jayhawks instagr.am/p/OuqkYpghMU/
https://twitter.com/UAElite24


8/24/12 6:17 PM
Aw, yeah. Conner Frankamp with 19 three pointers to win the Under Armour contest. Awesome.
https://twitter.com/joannachadwick


8/24/12 6:23 PM
Nice to see no matter indoor or outdoor it doesn't alter Conner's stroke. Nice to see him take home the crown.
https://twitter.com/KCRunGMC


8/24/12 7:30 PM
S/o to @CFrankamp_23 for winning the 3-point contest EASILY!!! Y'all don't understand how windy it was and he still made shots...
https://twitter.com/b_greene14


Brannen Greene with some impressive dunks as well. The future looks bright for Kansas. Video to come #jayhawks
https://twitter.com/PrepForce1/status/238766490147504128


Conner frankamp making shots from everywhere at elite 24 practice run. Definitely the best shooter in 2013
https://twitter.com/PrepForce1/status/238765236285476864


Best nickname of #elite24 is the one @Keith_Frazier gave Connor Frankcamp. "He Don't Miss Bruh".
https://twitter.com/MGRADS/status/238793175173582849


Fit right in! “@CFrankamp_23: Just got done playing pick up with James Harden,Brandon Jennings,and Demar Derozen #Elite24”
https://twitter.com/PaulBiancardi/status/238657940352016384


8/24/12 8:11 PM
@CFrankamp_23 was so clutch. Won the 3PT contest from the favorite position. Skilled craftsman.
https://twitter.com/DaveTelep


8/24/12 7:56 PM
Living the dream right now
https://twitter.com/CFrankamp_23

8/24/12 6:53 PM
Julius Randle wins the Under Armor Elite 24 dunk contest w a perfect score of 50. Tells ESPN will cut list to 9 or 10 schools soon
https://twitter.com/AdamZagoria


8/24/12 7:00 PM
S/o to Julius Randle (@J30_RANDLE) aka #manchild 2012 @UAbasketball #Elite24 Slam Dunk Champion instagr.am/p/Ouub6TghPe/
https://twitter.com/UAElite24


Randle has not set any official visits, but a childhood friend, Matt Jones, is a Duke commit. He says he’ll likely schedule his visits after the Elite 24 is done. However, his plan remains to make his decision in the spring, not during the early signing period in November.

…Randle says he wants to “study systems” of the schools he is considering in the months ahead.
“I want to see what systems I like and see if I can relate to the coaches,” Randle said. “Then I will get all my family together and talk to them and it will be a joint decision then.”
Link


UA Elite 24 Photos from Midnight Run


SLAM photos Elite 24 day one

The newly re-branded Elite 24 all-star game tips at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday (ESPNU) and is sponsored by Under Armour, having taken the game’s reins from Boost Mobile. The contest is unique in that August is usually a quiet month for high school stars, having been put through a grueling July evaluation period. The first year of Under Armour at the helm of the game is notable for a great crop of incoming senior and underclass stars, as well as NBA player coaching staffs.

The game has been a high-flying, dunk-filled affair in the past, and this year’s edition is expected to be no different

…Fans of Kansas (Conner Frankamp and Brannen Greene), Syracuse (Tyler Ennis), Washington (Nigel Williams-Goss) and North Carolina (Nate Britt) can get a glimpse into their futures, as they have players that have made non-binding verbal commitments participating in the game. Also, expect UCLA and possibly other programs to benefit from the game’s location with unofficial visits by some of the game’s participants.
NBC


8/24/12 7:02 PM
JC AA PG Chris Jones down to Baylor, Okla. St, Louisville, FLA St, & Kansas. Will visit in that order per Coach Steve Forbes.
https://twitter.com/ebosshoops


Findlay Prep guard Allerik Freeman texted SNY.tv that he has set several official visits.

The 6-foot-4 shooting guard will visit UCLA (Sept. 8), Ohio State (Sept. 15), Villanova (Sept. 28) and Duke (Oct. 19). He will also visit Kansas sometime in November.

Freeman previously told SNY.tv it is possible he and Boo Williams teammate Cat Barber, who visits Kansas Aug. 31, could end up playing together.

“Oh man, I would love to play with Cat,” Freeman said at the Peach Jam. “Me and Cat play well together when we’re both getting in the lane and we’re both driving and dishing and we play well.

“If me and Cat wanted to go to Kansas together, then that would be great but I’m just trying to make  decisions for myself.”
Zags Blog


Mishawaka Marian senior guard Demetrius Jackson said tonight that will take an official visit to Illinois the weekend of Sept. 1 and has another official visit planned to Kansas for the weekend of Oct. 27, when the Jayhawks host Texas in football for homecoming.

The 6-1 Jackson, who figures to be one of the front-runners for Indiana Mr. Basketball going into his senior season, said he also plans to take an official visit to Kentucky, but hasn’t yet set a date.

“We’re still looking at which schools want me to come for an official,” said Jackson, who is ranked as the No. 18 prospect in the country in 2013 by ESPN.com. “I definitely want to get to Kentucky and Notre Dame. Notre Dame is right around the corner so I may not use an official there.”

Jackson said he doesn’t have an “set” list of schools he’s considering, but said Notre Dame, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky and Louisville are solidly in the mix at this point. He said Butler is no longer under consideration.

Though he plans to make a decision before his high school season and sign in the fall, Jackson didn’t completely close the door on a spring signing. He said he wants to have all of the information possible before making a decision.

“I definitely want to get it out of the way and be set for the season,” he said. “But a lot of things can happen. Look at the Penn State (football) situation and the kids that are there now. I really feel for them because it’s nothing they’ve done to be in that position. A big reason why I’ve waited this long is because I felt like I wasn’t educated enough. Through this process I’ve learned a lot.”

Jackson put himself in this position with a strong junior season and carried it over to a big showing this spring and summer. Kansas, Kentucky and Louisville each ramped up its recruitment of Jackson in July.
Indy Star


From the time college basketball adopted the early letter-of-intent period, which occurred more than a quarter-century ago, the rules restricting official visits to athletes in their senior years of high school began to decay toward obsolescence. It was virtually impossible for a high school senior to squeeze in five officials before the November signing date. A large percentage of recruits made their college choices long before they were allowed to make an official.

However, the rule change that will allow basketball players to make official visits after Jan. 1 of their junior years only went into effect just three weeks ago.

It is a significant step in cleaning up another part of the business that had been corrupted.

It’s not enough, though.

The next advance in this department: “Get rid of all unofficial visits,” Kentucky coach John Calipari told Sporting News on Thursday. “It’s not fair to the kid who doesn’t have the means to make all these trips.”

Obviously, it would be impossible and undesirable to declare that athletes are not allowed to visit campuses that are open to the general public. An athlete shouldn’t lose a bit of his freedom merely because he’s a targeted recruit.

It would not be at all complicated, however, to declare that coaches no longer could arrange to have a recruit visit campus unofficially and could not have contact with him during a campus tour. The recruit would not be allowed to see the areas that typically are reserved for varsity athletes: Locker rooms, training areas, video suites.

If an athlete wanted to visit a campus in the same manner as a prospective journalism major or pre-med student, he could contact the admissions office and arrange the same tour as everyone else.
TSN DeCourcy


My top 5 are Baylor, FSU, Uconn, Illinois and Texas no specific order
https://twitter.com/YungBoiMayes Xavier Rathan Mayes


My 2012 KU Alumni games, 2011-12 Border War, Legends of the Phog, KC Prep Invitational, & Jayhawk Invitational Videos and more now on Youtube

Kansas University has plans to build a two-story student center next to the northeast corner of Allen Fieldhouse that will serve as the new home for James Naismith’s original rules of basketball, KU officials confirmed on Wednesday.

Plans are still in the preliminary stages, and many details still have to be worked out, said Dale Seuferling, president of the KU Endowment Association. An architect for the new building could be selected as soon as next month.

“It’ll be kind of the place to be on the southern edge of campus for students between classes to drop in, or for faculty to meet for lunch,” Seuferling said.

And the focal point, he said, will be a new exhibit for the rules. The building will be connected to the other historical exhibits in the Booth Family Hall of Athletics.

“I think it’s spectacular, actually,” said David Booth, an Austin, Texas-based investor who purchased Naismith’s original rules for $4.3 million at auction in December 2010 before donating them to KU. “The way things have worked out, I’m glad I was able to buy the rules.”

…The building will be funded entirely by private donors, Seuferling said. Several donations have been secured, but he declined to say how much money has been raised or to provide the names of people who have contributed so far.
LJW


For now, KU officials would prefer not to speculate on a final cost for the project. But a similar project — the construction of the Booth Family Hall of Athletics in front of Allen Fieldhouse, a 26,000-square foot museum of KU sports history — was completed in 2006 at a cost of $8 million. David Booth and his wife, Suzanne, were also part of a group that donated $5 million to that project.

For now, there’s no consensus on when construction may begin. But there does seem to be a general consensus among KU officials: This is where the rules should be.
KC Star


Spirit Day 2012 will be held Saturday, Sept. 8, it was announced by Catherine "Cat" Jarzemkoski, University of Kansas Spirit Squad Coordinator.

Participants will cheer on the Jayhawks with KU’s Cheerleaders and Rock Chalk Dancers inside Memorial Stadium for the first half of the football game versus Rice. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. that day.
KU AD


Your first week of syllabi and lectures are almost over, freshmen, but there’s still more to learn. The University of Kansas has some of the best traditions in the country, but there’s always room for improvement. Reaching the upperclassmen is useless at this point, so it’s up to you, class of 2016. Here are a few tips to make your first year on campus better for everyone:

It’s not “Home of the Chiefs.” Many of you will hear this for the first time in a few weeks in Memorial Stadium, a version of The Star-Spangled Banner praising a pro football team in a different state. Like the wave at a baseball game, the “Home of the Chiefs” chant is passed down annually without question, purpose or intelligence. Before joining your drunken cohorts before football and basketball games this year, ask yourself a simple question: Why are they cheering a pro football team in Missouri while at a college game in Kansas? If you come up with something other than “everyone else is doing it,” then by all means, continue. But when you don’t, and the urge is still strong to belt out the other version, just remember: You never had to watch a down of Turner Gill football. The least you can do in return is to slowly phase out this chant.

There is no “Woooo” in the Rock Chalk Chant. Teddy Roosevelt once called it the greatest college chant he had ever heard. When done right, it’s nothing short of haunting. Then, sometime in the past, fans started wooing between verses of the song like a bunch of 12-year-old girls at a Justin Bieber concert. Don’t act like a bunch of 12-year-old girls at a Justin Bieber concert.

Don’t leave at halftime of football games. They have these things now called refrigerators that keep beverages cold, so you can actually attend an entire football game and come back to a cold drink. There’s no excuse for following the herd of students out of the stands and back to the tailgate at halftime. Unless the team is down 24 points or something; then all bets are off.

Wear blue shirts to basketball games, not red. Everyone owns one or twelve blue Kansas shirts, but there’s always a handful of people who can’t conform and throw on something blue. Conformity can be fun.

Don’t be afraid to call it red and not crimson. Oklahoma is crimson. Kansas is red. You might get dirty looks from University employees or rabid fans, but show them a color wheel and you’ll win every time.

Kansas State is not suddenly your biggest rival. Kansas never fought Kansas State in a war. Until then, your biggest rival is still Missouri. A fierce rivalry is tough to maintain without playing one another, but the United States and the Soviet Union did it for decades. How hard can it be?
UDK


VOTE for KU


Kansas 2012-13 Schedule

Two of the nation's elite programs rely on big men with weight problems.

That's the truth.

And though UCLA's Josh Smith has given no indication that he's seriously trying to get his issue under control -- coach Ben Howland publicly expressed disappointment with Smith's conditioning earlier this week -- there seems to be hope at Michigan State, where big-bodied center Derrick Nix has announced he's becoming a vegetarian.

"I've decided to change my life in a different way," Nix tweeted this week, according to MLive.com's Diamond Leung."As of 9/20/12, I am a vegetarian and will remain this way until 9/20/13. ... I just want to stay in shape."
CBS


Eduardo Najera, the first Mexican-born player drafted in the NBA, retired Wednesday to become the coach of the NBA Development League's Texas Legends.
AP


ESPN Tip-Off Marathon schedule


2012-13 Early Season Events List

Hampton (Va.) High School senior basketball point guard Anthony “Cat” Barber will make an official recruiting visit to Kansas University Aug. 31-Sept. 2, his mother reported Wednesday.

Pam Barber told SNY.tv that the 6-foot-2 Barber would also visit Louisville (Sept. 7-9), North Carolina State (Sept. 14-16) and Alabama (Sept. 21-23).

… KU will hold an in-home visit on Sept. 10 with No. 70-rated Demetrius Jackson, a 6-1 senior point guard from Mishawaka, Ind. He has an in-home with Illinois on Sept. 9

…No. 33-rated Marcus Lee, a 6-9 senior forward from Deer Valley High in Antioch, Calif., will visit Duke on Oct. 27-28, Zagsblog.com reports. He will also visit Louisville (Sept. 7), Kentucky (Oct. 12) and Indiana (Oct. 20). He has set in-home visits with KU (Oct. 6) and Kentucky (Oct. 16) and has already visited UCLA and California unofficially.
LJW


Julius Randle says he has no problem with the Harrison Twins and would consider joining them and Andrew Wiggins in a potential blockbuster recruiting class at Kentucky in the fall of 2013.

“I think I’ve said it before, we would have the best class, if not the best class they’ve had before,” the 6-foot-9 Randle out of Plano (Texas) Prestonwood Christian told SNY.tv Wednesday by phone from the Under Armor Elite 24 game in Venice Beach, Calif.

Randle, the Harrison Twins and Wiggins are all slated to compete in the game Saturday night on ESPNU.

The 6-7 Wiggins is mulling reclassifying to 2013 from 2014 and his brother, Wichita State wing Nick Wiggins, recently said he’d like to see Andrew move to 2013 and go to Kentucky.

Wiggins out-dueled Randle at the Peach Jam in July in a highly publicized game that we covered here, but Randle said if Wiggins pulled the trigger for Kentucky, he would consider joining him there.

“Yeah, I’ve talked to Andrew a little bit,” Randle said. “If he went to Kentucky I wouldn’t consider not going there. I like Andrew and I like his game a lot. Like I’ve said before, playing with other great players makes the game easier.”

Speaking of great players, Randle said he has no problem with Aaron and Andrew Harrison and isn’t sure where the Internet rumors to the contrary came from.

“Yeah, I don’t know where that came from, but that’s not true at all,” Randle said.

“I mean, people try to start rumors all the time. I don’t know if it’s for Websites or anything, but I have no problem playing with them.”
Zags Blog



Jabari Parker, considered the consensus top basketball recruit in the 2013 class, took an unofficial visit to Stanford on Monday, his father, former NBA player Sonny Parker said.

Parker was out in California with his mother Lola and his brother Christian, who is a student at the University of Washington.

"Jabari is out in California visiting his cousin," Sonny Parker said. "He did an unofficial visit to Stanford, visiting with coach Johnny Dawkins. He visited last year as well. He said he enjoyed the visit. He'll be home from California next week. Hopefully, we can narrow down which schools he'll visit this fall at that time."
USA Today


Just got done playing pick up with James Harden,Brandon Jennings,and Demar Derozen #Elite24
https://twitter.com/CFrankamp_23/status/238508086543908864

Can't wait to see what @JoshSwade has created! A powerful story no doubt!
https://twitter.com/RobRiggle/status/238123969415376896


Kansas University video coordinator Jeff Forbes has released the first episode of "Pay Heed," a documentary following the KU men's basketball team.

From talking to Forbes in Europe, the hope is for the videos to become a bit like the KU football 'Gridiron' videos from years past.

The first 'Pay Heed' video from the KU athletic department is below, which includes some interesting comments from senior Elijah Johnson talking about how he deals with nerves early in games.

Also included are some highlights from the first game (and the baseline, Perry Ellis move I've been trying to describe in the live-game blog) and some of the sights from Mount Pilatus in Switzerland.
LJW


Kansas women's basketball senior Angel Goodrich collected some new hardware Tuesday morning, as the Jayhawk point guard received an award from the NCAA for leading the country in assists per game during the 2011-12 season.

The Tahlequah, Okla., native dished 7.4 assists per game last year and paced KU with 14.0 points per game as she guided the Jayhawks to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16, their best postseason run since 1998. Goodrich was named All-America Honorable Mention by both the Women's Basketball Coaches Association and Associated Press.

Goodrich also broke a Kansas and Big 12 Conference record tallying 250 assists on the season. She added 476 points making her directly responsible for 976 of KU's 2,334 points on the year, which comes out to 41.8 percent of the Jayhawks' scoring.
KU AD

thomas robinson (@Trobinson0)
8/21/12 12:19 PM
Kinda wish I was on campus today miss y'all Ku


Nick Collison (@nickcollison4)
8/21/12 12:21 PM
Thanks @SportingKC for letting me run on your perfect grass this morning instagr.am/p/OmSqbSmRAU/


When the Chicago Bulls traded Kirk Hinrich to the Washington Wizards back in 2010, it was an unexpected move. It was not smething that management wanted to do, but in order to attract LeBron James and other free agents, “Captain Kirk” had to leave.

Hinrich spent about half a season with the Wizards before being traded to the Atlanta Hawks. As a Hawk, he earned appreciation from some fans early on because of his defense and ability to run the offense.

Dane McGlone, from Atlanta, Georgia, has been a Hinrich fan since he was traded to the Hawks. Although he would have preferred Hinrich to stay in Atlanta, McGlone is happy for him.

“I wish Kirk could’ve stayed in Atlanta and played for the Hawks, but I’m glad to see him go somewhere that he is going to enjoy playing,” McGlone said.

Many fans of Hinrich share the feeling of joy because of Hinrich’s return to Chicago.

Desire’e Sharp is a resident of Salina, Kansas; she has been a Hinrich fan since 2001, during his college days at the University of Kansas. She has many feelings on his return, all of them good.
“Kirk returning to the Bulls is comforting and exciting,” Sharp said. “The comfort level of knowing we have a solid defensive force back in the lineup, the excitement of him back with his old teammates, the anitcipation of him and Thibs working together and just seeing him back in a Bulls jersey.”

Kiyana S. is a Hinrich fan from Chicago. She is very excited for Hinrich’s return, but the excitement has not been limited to just Illinois fans. Aleksander, a fan from Serbia, has supported Hinrich since his days at Kansas.

“I am very excited and happy for his return to the Bulls,” Aleksander said. “I believe he belongs there.”

All these positive feelings are felt for good reason. Many fans feel Hinrich will be of much help and bring good qualities to the Bulls.

“Kirk will bring his veteran knowledge of the game and also, his ability to be able to play with a championship contending team,” Ally B., a fan since 2005 from Hammond, Indiana said.

Isaiah, from Saginaw, Michigan, has been a fan of Hinrich since he was a Kansas Jayhawk; he feels Hinrich will provide what Chicago did not have last season.

“Kirk should bring a mental toughness from our bench that we didn’t have last season and [be] a leader that will show younger guys like Jimmy Butler and Marquis Teague the way to succeed in this league,” Isaiah said.
Link




Tuesday marks a big day in the history of Lawrence, Kansas. City officials want to make sure the history isn’t lost.

On August 21, 1863, William Quantrill and his band of 400 outlaws and guerrillas attacked the town of Lawrence which was the headquarters for the state’s abolitionist Jayhawks.

“It’s one of these elements in history that we kind of always remember. It’s probably because the scale of the attack,” said Steve Nowak.

More than 200 men and boys were killed that day and an untold number were hurt. Quantrill’s raid was front page news.

“I think there was a sense that what was happening here was going to shape the future of the country,” Nowak. said

Quantrill’s raid left the city of Lawrence a heap of smoking ruins.  But local historians say the raid also shaped the character of this community, even today.

Historians say within a year, Massachusetts Street was almost entirely rebuilt.

“I think it really did sort of determine what the community became,” Nowak said.

That’s why city commissioners passed a resolution Tuesday night to establish a committee to come up with a way to commemorate in 2013. That will be the 150th Year Anniversary of Quantrill’s Raid.

They want the community that was established in its aftermath.

“The events that will take place here a year from today will educate so many here that at times that kind of history can get lost and we feel a real responsibility to not just keep that alive but to preserve our heritage in that way,” said  Hugh Carter, Lawrence City Commissioner.

Lawrence is looking for nine community members interested in planning and coordinating the events for 2013.
Fox4KC

How does one even begin to objectively rank the most successful college basketball programs of the past half-century?

That's the question some members of ESPN's Stats & Information Group huddled on this summer in an attempt to expand upon the work done four years ago in the first Prestige Rankings.

First, the basics: Awarding "prestige points" is highly skewed toward NCAA tournament success. That's the barometer fans hold their players and coaches to, and we did the same. Advance further in the Big Dance and your point total rises exponentially, with an NCAA crown bringing in 25 points.

Don't fret: Regular seasons count, too. Win at least a share of your conference's title and you got five points. (Don't worry, independents; if you finished the final AP poll ahead of two major-conference champions, you got credit.) Conference tourney titles (read: automatic bids) are worth three points. Same rules apply to independents for those, too.

To account for the shorter seasons in the 1960s and '70s, a major improvement over the previous ranking is that we now look at a team's season win percentage to award points, and not 20- and 30-win thresholds. Finishing with a win percentage greater than .800 earned that season's squad four points. Those finishing between .600 and .799 got two. And as we all know, a 6-23 season stings a lot worse than a 14-15 one, so we scaled the negative points there, too (under .350 equals a minus-4 while a percentage between .351 and .499 meant minus-2.)

There are other little perks in there that are pride points for programs. No. 1 seeds. First- or second-team consensus All-Americans. Top-10 NBA draft picks. First-round upsets over top-four seeds in the NCAA tournament. Postseason NIT titles. All are worth something.

And what about those moments schools would love to forget? NCAA sanctions or a season decimated by vacated wins? Like our college football Prestige Rankings from 2009, we used a sliding scale for the relative harshness of the different penalties. Any season with a vacated win was a minus-2. Same for a postseason ban and the dreaded "show cause" penalty. Varying penalties like TV bans, loss of financial aid, recruiting scholarships lost and other probations were minus-1 each.

Because of changing times since the early 1960s, our historical formula has some natural flaws. With the expanding nature of NCAA tournament fields and the fact that seeding didn't begin until 1979, there's slightly more weight on more recent history.

But the bottom line is this: Success -- success no matter which conference you're in -- is rewarded in the 50 in 50 series. You will see a number of mid-major programs on here and that may surprise you. But they are programs that have racked up an enormous amount of wins and conference titles over the years. Maybe they haven't appeared on television as much as a decent program from a big conference that didn't make the cut, but they have been wildly successful at their level -- and we've noticed.
ESPN Top 50 Programs: #38 Kansas State
Scoring system


Former Kansas State basketball player Denis Clemente was in a car that was struck by gunfire Tuesday in Puerto Rico, injuring three of his friends.

Police in Puerto Rico were investigating the shooting and reportedly found a gun in Clemente’s car. He was not injured, but his friends were taken to a local hospital where they were reported in stable condition. The shots reportedly came from another car when Clemente was at a gas station.

“I came out unscathed but the companions who were with me are in the hospital now,” Clemente was quoted in news reports in Puerto Rico. “People have to be careful ... because everything can change in a moment and I was a victim of a crime when I least expected it.”

Clemente was interviewed by authorities, his attorney said in media reports, and was awaiting clearance to travel to Italy for a basketball tryout.
TCJ


Aside from inevitable, unavoidable instances where they find themselves hanging with hip-hop stars, college basketball coaches don't really offer up much reason to pay attention to their Twitter accounts.

Former UNC and SMU coach Matt Doherty bucked that trend Tuesday morning, though. Doherty felt a gush of inspiration to defend his alma mater, his tenure as UNC coach, his former player, Julius Peppers ... and oh yeah, crack at N.C. State fans while he's at it.B

Before we get to the rant, in case you've missed this, again, let's review. UNC's living under cloudy skies these days. There remains too many questions to count over the school's academics and ethics regarding football and basketball players signed up for specific classes and majors. Peppers' damning transcript recently made its way online.

Roy Williams has steadfastly denied any wrongdoing. On the outside, it shows a lot of college football players and a few college basketball players wound up taking courses -- that non-athletes took as well -- affiliated and/or taught by a department chair who is now long gone and done serious damage to the University of North Carolina's reputation as an elite academic institution.

K. We're set with that? Onto Doherty's diatribe. These tweets came all came Tuesday morning.
CBS


Xavier has only missed the NCAA tournament once since 2000, but the Musketeers could struggle to get back to the Big Dance this season.

They suffered a major loss on Tuesday, when the school announced that Dezmine Wells was expelled from the university for violating the Code of Student Conduct.

Sources told CBSSports.com's Jeff Goodman that his violation was related to a sexual incident. Wells was not charged with a crime, but the school made the decision to expel him.
CBS


Joshua Smith’s weight issues. Smith’s struggle to properly condition himself to play persistently has undermined his progress as a player. Howland said Smith is “the same.”

Smith had told reporters in July he lost 15 pounds since the close of last season, which was intended as an illustration of the progress he’d made and widely was presented as such. Given the amount of weight he needed to drop and that he’d been shedding fewer than 3 pounds per month, it was apparent he was not heading in the proper direction.

“I’m disappointed where he’s at, that he’s not further along with his conditioning,” Howland said. “That’s just being honest, being truthful.”
TSN


The question is: Should college basketball players be paid, and if so, how would you compensate them?

YES - 58 percent
NO - 42 percent
Some of the suggested methods:

-- Build compensation right into the scholarship package with a stipend at the end of each semester: 28 percent
-- Players should be allowed to receive endorsement money (Olympic model): 20 percent
-- Cost-of-living grants is the way to go: 12 percent
-- Make leagues responsible for paying via their own profits: 8 percent
-- Want change but don't have a solution: 8 percent

Quotes that stuck:

"Absolutely not. They get free college, crazy amounts of free gear and glorified enough as it is. This isn't pro sports, but if they get paid -- even a small amount -- it gives the players even more power than they already have. We would start to see more Dwight Howard situations at colleges."

"Stipends are good. I think it would tough to start talking about someone's market value."

"No one is forcing these kids to play. College educations are already so expensive. In a lot of ways, they're getting paid. I don't think most schools can afford to pay basketball players, because then don't you have to pay everyone else playing D-I? That's not possible."
CBS Series Critical Coaches


The question is: What would you do to change the transfer culture?

Eliminate all waivers: 42 percent
No need to change anything; leave it the way it is: 10 percent
Kids need to sit out a year unless the coach leaves or is fired: 10 percent
More transparent recruiting rules: 8 percent
Make national letters of intent multi-year so kids won't be run off by coaches: 6 percent
Reduce number of scholarships from 13 to 11: 6 percent
Increase number of evaluation days: 4 percent
No restrictions at all for kids transferring: 4 percent
No mid-year transfers: 4 percent
Quotes that stuck:

"Add 200 minutes to every game, implement a rule where every kid has to take 10 shots, allows every AAU coach or mentor to draw up eight plays for their kid -- and kids can't text or receive texts from their advisors/AAU coaches/mentors for up to 12 hours after every game."

"You can't change it. Who cares if a kid leaves. All the parameters are in place to prevent mass exoduses. Treat kids right and recruit who you want. Kids that can't play will figure out what's best."

"All kids sit one year no matter what. Unless they graduate, keep that. Other than that, treat kids better, don't lie to them and accept the fact that kids transfer these days."

"It's so out of control the only way to slow or change it is that every transfer MUST sit one year. No exceptions. They have created way too much precedent on every transfer scenario. Way too much gray area has been exposed and taken advantage of recently."

"The graduation transfer rule needs to change. Schools can get hurt by redshirting a kid, developing him and then a higher-level school grabs him for his final season. Some schools are literally scanning for mid-major players who have graduated and have a year left. It's just not right."

"Reduce the number of scholarships down from 13 and there will be less kids leaving. Too much instant gratification these days to keep 13 kids happy when you can only play five at a time."
CBS


A 5-year-old boy learned the hard way that Columbus, Ohio, isn't the only place that hates Michigan -- apparently Oklahoma does too.

Young Cooper Barton wore his favorite Michigan shirt to Wilson Elementary in Oklahoma City and was told it violated the Oklahoma City Public Schools dress code and was asked to turn the shirt inside out. According to the dress code, students are only allowed to wear Oklahoma, Oklahoma State or apparel from another Oklahoma state school. Everything else is a violation (especially Texas).
Yahoo


“Expansion, or conference alignment overall, will always be on our radar,” Bowlsby conceded. “It will be on every agenda that we have going forward just because you can’t afford to not think about those kinds of things and consider the options.

“But if I had to characterize the position of the presidents right now, I would say the majority are very comfortable with 10. It would take a very special institution proposed for membership to have the interest level change very much.

“When we consider somebody, either by us reaching out or them contacting us, it needs to be a high bar.”

Some have suggested the list of schools the league would consider consists of Notre Dame, and no one else. Bowlsby was asked directly about Notre Dame, replying “And you do you expect me to answer that?”

If you’re leading a 12-school league, you’ll say 12 is a wonderful number. If your league has 10 schools, you’ll say 10 is terrific. But Bowlsby makes a pretty good argument for the merits of 10.

“I think some of the league organizations that are larger than 10 or 12 have now gotten to the point where they’ve encountered some difficulties that you get as a result of it. Sometimes traditional rivalries have gone away as a result of a non-round-robin schedule.

“For the most part, the only reason anybody expanded was to be able to get the pro rata or better television money, and more teams in bowl games. That’s essentially why organizations expanded. I think what some are finding out is there is a downside to that.”
KCRG


ESPN Tip-Off Marathon schedule


2012-13 Early Season Events List

Karviar Shepherd, a 6-foot-10, 225-pound senior basketball center from Grace Prep High in Arlington, Texas, has narrowed his list of prospective colleges to eight — including Kansas University — Rivals.com reports.

Shepherd, who is ranked No. 34 nationally in the recruiting Class of 2013, lists KU, Texas, TCU, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, SMU, Marquette and LSU.

“Kansas is a great school,” Shepherd told JayhawkSlant.com. “I took a visit to Kansas last summer and it’s a great campus ... my relationship with the coaching staff is good. I know that I’ll get back to Kansas for a visit. I do plan to take some visits and I’ll know more about those visits next week.”

Shepherd plays for coach Jazzy Hartwell’s Urban DFW team — traveling team of former KU forward Darrell Arthur.

“I’m probably going to try and sign in the fall. For right now that’s the plan; it could change,” Shepherd told Rivals.com.

…Anthony “Cat” Barber, a 6-2 point guard from Hampton (Va.) High, who is Rivals.com’s No. 9-rated player, lists KU, Alabama, N.C. State and Louisville.

“The Alabama visit was good,” Williams’ uncle, Boo Williams, told SNY.tv. “They did a good job showing him the campus and showing him all the things he needed to see.”

Barber told JayhawkSlant.com on Tuesday night that he plans to visit KU the weekend of Sept. 1-3.
LJW

Players getting cars and bags of money, parents getting jobs, family members getting new houses – dirty recruitments are legendary in college basketball. The movie “Blue Chips” glorified that aspect of the sport, although it's unclear how many (or even if) tractors have actually been involved in a five-star player's recruitment. There are numerous rumors and stories about various “shady” recruitments, but that doesn't mean everything is true. And this exercise in no way makes accusations, but presents an avenue for views of people directly involved. So we go to one of the best sources possible: coaches who have been around these types of recruitments for a decade.

The question is: Which player is perceived to have the dirtiest recruitment in the last 10 years?

Shabazz Muhammad: 15 percent
Anthony Davis: 13 percent
John Wall: 7 percent
Kyle Anderson: 7 percent
O.J. Mayo: 7 percent
Derrick Rose: 6 percent
Renardo Sidney: 6 percent
Terrence Jones: 3 percent
Tobias Harris: 3 percent
Chris Obekpa: 3 percent
Also received votes: DeMarcus Cousins, DeAndre Jordan, Anthony Randolph, Enes Kanter, Josh Selby, Lance Stephenson, Khem Birch, Rodney Hood, Norvel Pelle, Terrence Jennings, J'Mison Morgan, Jordan Goodman, JaKarr Sampson, Jevon Thomas

Quotes that stuck:

On Shabazz Muhammad: “This deal was done for a long time. The other rumors and stuff were just smoke and mirrors. People on the inside knew this deal was done. I mean, he turned Kentucky down.”

On Anthony Davis: "I've never seen a recruitment get shut down as quickly as that one got shut down. I don't know how they did it. But it was a strong play."

On John Wall: "Baylor hired John Wall's AAU coach and that still wasn't enough to get that deal done. That recruitment was on another level. And remember, Roy Williams basically stopped recruiting him. Best player in the country is from North Carolina, and North Carolina didn't really want anything to do with it. What does that tell you?"

Kyle Anderson: “A kid doesn't go across the country to a school that doesn't fit his style of play – and turn down some of the top East coast schools – without it being it unfair. It doesn't make sense from a basketball standpoint.”
CBS series Critical Coaches


Big-time summer basketball is coming to Kentucky.

The Nike-sponsored Tennessee Travelers will relocate to Kentucky next spring, providing the state a higher profile on the summer circuit and giving the commonwealth’s best high school players an opportunity to compete for the EYBL title.

Andy Rines, director of the Travelers program, told the Herald-Leader on Tuesday that the move coincides with an influx of talent in Kentucky.

“It’s a state where there was not a Nike team,” Rines said. “We began talking about it in the spring and as we began researching Kentucky high school basketball more and more we felt like it was just a good situation for us all around.

“Talent goes through cycles and we feel like there’s a really good cycle of talent coming through Kentucky right now.”

The Travelers are one of only 40 teams sanctioned to participate in the EYBL, a Nike-sponsored league that has become the premier summer tournament and culminates with the Peach Jam in North Augusta, S.C. This year’s EYBL had stops in Minnesota, California, Texas and Virginia, and included Andrew Wiggins, Julius Randle, James Young, Aaron Gordon and several other University of Kentucky recruiting targets.
Lex HL


The 40th Annual City of Palms Classic finalized its elite 16-team high school basketball tournament field Monday, and it has a prime time feel to it.

Deion Sanders, a Fort Myers native and NFL Hall of Fame cornerback, will bring Prime Prep Academy, the charter school he founded this year in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, tournament vice president Donnie Wilkie said.

Prime Prep, which begins its inaugural classes Monday, will be coached by Ray Forsett, a Florida native who guided Arlington (Tex.) Grace Prep to the Classic’s championship game last year, a loss to Plano (Tex.) Prestonwood Academy.

...Plano Prestonwood Christian (Texas) ... 27-4 ... 6-9 senior Julius Randle's City of Palms champs, No. 10 nationally (ESPN.com), won TAPPS Class 5A title

...Tifton Tift County (Ga.) ... 20-8 ... Blue Devils add 6-6 Kansas commit Brannen Greene to four juniors, including highly touted guard Tadric Jackson
Link


Tony Farmer's highly anticipated college basketball career came to a screeching halt Tuesday.

Farmer, a heavily recruited high school basketball player from Garfield Heights, Ohio, was sentenced to three years in prison for kidnapping and assault of his ex-girlfriend, Andrea Lane.

Farmer, 18, turned to his attorney after the sentence was announced and collapsed to the floor.

The sentence is set to be reviewed after 180 days.

The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reports that the incident, which took place last April in the lobby and parking lot of Lane's apartment complex, was caught on the apartment complex's videotape. Farmer also reportedly sent threatening text messages to Lane.

Farmer, a 6-foot-6 forward, was one of the top 100 prospects in the class of 2013. Xavier, Dayton, Ohio State, Michigan State, Iowa, West Virginia and Illinois were all courting him.

Most schools recruiting Farmer will be waiting to see how the case plays out, Garfield Heights High School basketball coach Sonny Johnson told The Plain Dealer.
USA Today


Semi Ojeleye has racked up 10 offers from Division I schools from all over the country.

According to Eric Bossi of Rivals, the small forward from Kansas cut his list down to four on Tuesday. His list now is Duke, Indiana, Oregon and Stanford.
https://twitter.com/ebosshoops


My 2012 KU Alumni games, 2011-12 Border War, Legends of the Phog, KC Prep Invitational, & Jayhawk Invitational Videos and more now on Youtube

Milt Doyle, who returned to his hometown of Chicago on Aug. 13 for a weeklong visit with his family following Kansas University’s basketball excursion to Switzerland and Paris, planned to catch a flight to Kansas City International on Sunday for the start of first semester classes Monday at KU.

He had a change of heart after a serious phone conversation with Jayhawk coach Bill Self.

“We spoke to Milt at length Sunday on what we thought his role would be within our program,” 10th-year KU coach Self said Monday in officially announcing the 6-foot-4 freshman guard’s decision to transfer to a yet-to-be-determined school.

“We discussed his options, and the first option was welcoming him back for the fall. His leaving is entirely his own choice, one that he felt was best for his future. We expected him to be here, but he thought it was better for him to go to a place where he had a better opportunity to impact a program early in his career,” Self added. “We wish nothing but the best for him. He is a great kid.”

…Doyle’s departure leaves KU with 12 scholarship players, one under the limit.

“I haven’t made a decision on anything yet,” Self said, asked if the scholarship would be awarded to Justin Wesley, who was on scholarship last year.

KU currently has five available scholarships to award to players in the high school recruiting Class of 2013. So far, the Jayhawks have landed commitments from Conner Frankamp, a 6-1 senior from Wichita North, and Brannen Greene, 6-4, senior Tift County High, Forsyth, Ga.

McLemore update: Self said KU freshman Ben McLemore (hip flexor) would return to action soon. “Hopefully he’ll start working out by the first of next week,” Self said.
LJW


Kansas University coach Bill Self attended his first Charlie Weis football practice Friday.

“He said, ‘Get on the line,’ and I ran over there,” Self said with a laugh at the seventh annual KU KickOff at Corinth Square. “I was nervous he was talking to me.”

In all seriousness, Self left impressed by what he saw from KU’s first-year football coach.

“This thing is different. And I’m not blasting before. It’s different,” Self said. “ ... Charlie’s style is very direct, very disciplined, very enthusiastic and won’t put up with any crap at all.”

Weis just smiled when told by a reporter that it was the first time at the alumni event that more folks had shown up to see the football coach than the basketball coach.

“We all know who’s boss in this town,” Weis said, referring to Self.

When asked what KU fans needed to hear from their football coach at a time like this, Weis cracked another joke.

“They probably want me to introduce Self. That’s probably what they want me to do,” Weis said. “Really, I’m not going to go up to the fans and make all sorts of promises. I’m just going to say that we’re in this together.”
LJW


KU AD Video: Corinth Square Kickoff



KU Alumni Photos: KU kickoff at Corinth Square


Boomer & Craig were happy to welcome Mario Chalmers into the Allstate Studio, despite the fact that he is a member of the World Champions Miami Heat.

Before joining the NBA, Chalmers won a National Championship at the University of Kansas, so winning is old hat by now.

Chalmers knew they were both Knicks fans and Craig asked about Chalmers’ beat-down effort against Jeremy Lin back in February, when the Knicks point guard shot just 1-11 and turned the ball over 8 times in the 102-88 loss – the first game during the ‘Linsanity’ run that he was held in-check.  Chalmers downplayed the effort, saying it wasn’t personal and that he just did what he was supposed to do.

Chalmers fondly recalled beating John Calipari and Memphis back in 2008 and warned Knicks fans to watch out for the Brooklyn Nets this season. He also discussed his admiration for Trajan Langdon, Deron Williams & Chris Paul, rocking his Championship Ring at the club and of course – what he is benchin’…
Audio: Mario Chalmers on Boomer & Carton


Fordham has narrowed its search for a new athletic director to a field of Elite Eight candidates. One problem: On first glance, it’s not very elite.

The Post has learned that six candidates will be interviewed in the coming days. Charlie Elwood, who has been running the department since Frank McLaughlin was promoted to a fundraising position in late May, is on campus. And Kansas special assistant to the athletics director Larry Keating has already had conversations with Jeff Gray, the senior vice president in charge of student affairs.
NY Post


@darthur00 says he's 75% at the moment but will be ready for the season. #GoGrizz
https://twitter.com/PetePranica/statuses/237593678447783936

Barbara O. Chamberlain-Lewis has written letters that essentially scream “cut!” on local filmmaker Kevin Willmott’s “Jayhawkers,” but the command has fallen on deaf ears.

Acting on behalf of the Chamberlain family, Chamberlain-Lewis has told Willmott that he does not have the rights to the film, but Willmott said his entertainment lawyers have told him otherwise.
LJW


Video: Calipari coaching Kansas JV team (circa 82-85?)


bringtheruleshome.com "There's no place like home"

Former North Carolina football star Julius Peppers confirmed it was his academic transcript that was posted on the university's website and insists there was ''no academic fraud'' with it.

The Chicago Bears' defensive end released a statement through his agent Saturday, nearly a week after a link to the transcript surfaced.
AP


With the talent Oklahoma State has on its roster, coach Travis Ford and the Cowboys have the potential for an NCAA tournament appearance.

They suffered a hit on Monday, though, when sources informed CBSSports.com that Cezar Guerrero decided to leave the school.

Guerrero wanted to move closer to home in Los Angeles, according to a source, but has not yet decided on his next destination. He played well on the Cowboys' recent overseas trip to Spain, and was a consistent member of the rotation.

"He left the team in good standing and his academics are fine," a source said.

Oklahoma State's fall semester began Monday, and Guerrero didn't want to wait until the semester break to leave -- in order to preserve his entire season of eligibility. A source said he is considering several schools within three or four hours of Los Angeles.

Guerrero, a 6-foot point guard, averaged 5.6 points and 1.6 assists last season.
CBS


From the playgrounds of Richmond, Va., to the highest levels of international basketball, the exploits of Jonathan Hargett still resonate.

Amar’e Stoudemire, a high school teammate, has called Hargett the best player he has played with at any level. Carmelo Anthony, a summer league teammate when both were in high school, vividly recalls Hargett, a frenetic 5-foot-11 guard with a 44-inch vertical leap and skills that evoked comparisons to Allen Iverson.

At the London Olympics, Kevin Durant overheard a reporter talking to Anthony about Hargett and asked wide-eyed about his whereabouts. Durant attended one of the four high schools Hargett attended, but he knows him only by his reputation.

His signature move was his ability to freeze an opponent with a crossover dribble, then blow past him toward the basket, lobbing the ball off the backboard and catching it and dunking it with one hand. It became known simply as a Hargett.

“Especially when you’re talking about memories and things like that from high school basketball and A.A.U. basketball, he’s definitely one of the names that comes up,” Anthony said. “What happened to him?”

The answer is jarring and sadly predictable. Hargett, who turns 30 this weekend, is an inmate at the medium-security Indian Creek Correctional Center here, serving the final months of a nearly five-year sentence for drug possession with intent to sell.

How he ended up here, a decade removed from his one season of major-college basketball and far short of the N.B.A. career that many thought was his destiny, is a story that Hargett told recently in two jailhouse interviews totaling nearly seven hours. Wearing the standard-issue prison uniform of jeans and a blue button-down shirt that resembled a pajama top, Hargett spoke of dealing with an agent at 15 and of eventually choosing to attend West Virginia because he was offered $20,000. He also recounted his years of abusing marijuana and making nearly $1,000 a day selling cocaine, a way of life that resulted in his being shot with a bullet that remains lodged in his hip.
NY Times


The National Association of Basketball Coaches has told the U.S. Supreme Court it believes university officials should be able to continue taking race into consideration when deciding who gets to enroll in their schools.

The NABC and 43 current and former basketball coaches filed an amicus brief in the case of Abigail Fisher, who sued the University of Texas in 2008 after she was denied admission to the university. Fisher, who is white, claimed her civil and constitutional rights were violated when the university admitted less-qualified minority students because of their race. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on Oct. 10.

Jim Haney, executive director of the NABC, said his organization has spent the last six years lobbying in several states against referendums to repeal affirmative action, so chiming in on the Supreme Court case was a natural.

"I think for a number of us who were on college campuses back in the '60s and '70s, were there African-American basketball players and football players on those campuses? Sure. But that certainly wouldn't suggest there was diversity throughout the universities," he said. "Minority representation in some cases was almost exclusively student-athletes."

Haney said many minority students come from high schools that don't "give them the best opportunity to capitalize on their desires and interests."

"It would be nice if everyone was on the same playing field and it was level," he said. "But it's not that way. Some people who are disadvantaged just need the opportunity."
AP


John Calipari has cooked up another off-season treat for Kentucky basketball fans.

The UK coach announced Friday that the Wildcats will host an alumni game Sept. 15 in Rupp Arena.

Calipari plans to bring back most of the Wildcats currently in the NBA for the game.

The proceeds will go to charity, some of which will benefit West Liberty, the Kentucky town devastated by a tornado last March. Calipari was in West Liberty on Friday for an appearance on Kentucky Sports Radio, which was leading a relief effort of its own.
Lex HL


ESPN Tip-Off Marathon schedule


2012-13 Early Season Events List

8/20/12 11:32 PM
This convo with @J30_RANDLE >>>> got me hype!
Brannen Greene (@b_greene14)


Tift County Blue Devil basketball player Brannen Greene has been selected to participate in the seventh annual Under Armour Elite 24 all-star event to be held this weekend in Venice Beach, Calif.

The event features what is considered the best 24 high school basketball players in the country, who are selected on their performance during AAU tournaments and national summer camps by ESPN high school basketball experts.

Greene’s father, Jeffery, said, “It is a huge accomplishment for Brannen. We are really happy he will be able to represent Tift County at this event.”

Blue Devil Head Coach Eric Holland said, “I am very excited for Brannen. Being picked as one of the top 24 players in the country is big for him, our team and for Tift County.

“I am looking forward to see him represent us in a very positive way. We are hoping this will lead to him becoming a McDonald’s All American after his senior season.”

The actual game will be played live on ESPNU at 7 p.m., Saturday, while there will be a skills competition and slam dunk contest at 7 p.m. Friday, which will also be broadcast live on ESPNU.

“Brannen will also be taking part in the skills competition,” his father said.

Greene has already verbally committed to Kansas. He will be one of five participants that have already done so, the others are Nate Britt II to North Carolina, Aquille Carr to Seton Hall, Nigel Williams-Goss to Washington and Conner Frankamp, who like Greene has committed to Kansas.
Tifton Gazette


Follow @UAElite24


Anthony “Cat” Barber, a 6-2 senior point guard from Hampton (Va.) High, likely will visit KU the weekend of Sept. 14-16, according to Rivals.com. Barber, the country’s No. 9-rated player, is also considering Alabama, Louisville and North Carolina State. Rivals.com reports that two other players — Troy Williams and Tyler Roberson — also may visit that weekend. Williams, ranked 41st, is a 6-6 small forward from Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va. Roberson, who is ranked No. 53, is a 6-8 small forward from Roselle (N.J.) Catholic High.
LJW


Marcus Lee, one of the most sought-after forwards in the Class of 2013, took an unofficial visit to UCLA Saturday and has also set up an in-home visit with Kentucky.

The 6-foot-9 Lee out of Antioch (Calif.) Deer Valley  visited UCLA along with 2014 guards Jordan McLaughlin and Parker Jackson-Cartright.

“Pauley Pavilion is going to be amazing,” Brian Lee, Marcus’s brother, told SNY.tv. “The team looks like they are ready to do some damage this year. Everyone in the program was great to us, from the coaches to the players to the team managers. The academic counselor was really helpful. There’s nothing bad you can say about it.”

In addition to the official visits reported here for Louisville (Sept. 7), Kentucky (Oct. 12) and Indiana (Oct. 20), Lee will have an in-home visit Oct. 6 with Kansas and Oct. 16 with Kentucky. Brian is also setting up an in-home with Duke.
Zags Blog


Troy Williams enjoyed his recent visit to Alabama and his future plans remain in flux until he settles in at Oak Hill Academy beginning this weekend.

“The Alabama visit was good,” his uncle, Boo Williams, told SNY.tv Monday.

“They did a good job showing him the campus and showing him all the things he needed to see.”

The 6-foot-6 Williams is also considering Louisville, Kansas, Indiana, Ohio State, Memphis, Arkansas and South Carolina, but Boo said no visits will be set until he settles in at Oak Hill and learns his schedule.

“We’re going to Oak Hill Saturday,’ Boo said. “Our problem is before we make another visit, we’re going to have to see what the schedule is.”
Zags Blog


Since April, Troy Williams has been crisscrossing the country like he's running for office. Oakland, Dallas, Minneapolis, Vegas, Houston, Chicago, New York … all told, he's added more than 10,000 miles to his frequent flier card.

"It's tiring sometimes," Williams said at his kitchen table during some down time. "As soon as you get off the plane you're practicing or working out, getting ready for the next tournament. One time I came home for like a day and then I had to leave for Houston. It's tiring, but it all pays off in the end."

The end, of course, will come when he signs on the dotted line with the college of his choice. He expects that to be on or shortly after Nov. 14, when the early signing period begins. As for what school he chooses, well, stay tuned on that one.

The list that was once trimmed to two finalists — North Carolina and Kentucky — has added Louisville, Alabama, Memphis, Indiana, Ohio State, Arkansas, South Carolina and Georgetown. And maybe Kansas, though the Jayhawks had not officially offered as of Friday.

Williams, who will play his senior season at Oak Hill Academy, claims there is no current favorite — "everybody's neutral," he said. But he acknowledges the possibilities when it comes to close friend and former Peninsula District rival Anthony Barber of Hampton.

Three schools on Williams' list (Alabama, Louisville and Kansas) also are on Barber's much shorter list. Williams says there's a "50-50" chance they'll end up signing with the same school, though he adds it's not something they spend a lot of time talking about.
Daily Press


8/18/12 4:22 PM
This just in @WayneSelden23 final 6 schools: UCLA, Florida, Ohio State, Syracuse, Kansas and Missouri ...in no specific order. Stay tuned
https://twitter.com/PaulBiancardi


Parker says he hopes to whittle down his 10 finalists -- Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, North Carolina, Michigan State, Stanford, Florida, Georgetown, BYU and DePaul -- in the coming weeks and then begin to take recruiting visits.

“Hopefully in September, that’s the target date,” Sonny told SportsNet on Saturday. “Then, he’s going to take his visits and his trips and hopefully make his decision in the fall. If he’s not really feeling it feeling it, then wait until the spring.

“He has no No. 1 or No. 2, he doesn’t really have a favorite. I told him, ‘You have to make a decision.’ He likes pretty much all those programs. I don’t know if anyone has an advantage or disadvantage. It’s just going to come down to him being comfortable in their system where he can grow and develop and get better. He likes all the programs in his top-10 choices.”
TSN


Adria Gasol, younger brother of NBA All-Stars Pau Gasol and Marc Gasol, has enrolled in college at UCLA and plans to walk-on with the Bruins basketball team this season.
CBS


Beginning June15, a new NCAA rule took effect that allows unlimited phone calls and text messages between Division I men's basketball coaches and players entering their junior year. That rule extends to messages on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

In addition to keeping up with the technology of the time and the manner in which people interact, the change also allows coaches and players to get to know each other better at a time the transfer rate in Division I men's basketball has risen to 40 percent, according to NCAA President Mark Emmert.

The first week of the new rule, Bluiett estimates he received between 20 and 30 text messages per day, as well as several phone calls and Facebook messages. The tone of the messages varied from coach to coach.

"Some just were telling me, 'You're having a good summer, keep it up,' or 'Seen a lot of improvement,'" said Bluiett, who has more than a dozen offers, including Butler, Indiana and Purdue. "Others were just telling me that they were going to keep recruiting me or were going to start recruiting me.

"A few coaches will (text), 'Thinking about you in this jersey,' or just let me know they are thinking about me."

Though such comments may seem more appropriate to a new girlfriend than a teenage boy to an outsider, families immersed in this process understand the context of the messages. Coaches are attempting to build relationships with players and sell their program.

"You almost have to approach the recruiting process like you're getting married," said Scott McIntosh, the father of Bryant McIntosh, a Division I recruit from Greensburg. "You are learning as much as you can about that person and developing that relationship as much as you can to make an educated decision when that time comes."
Indy Star


My 2012 KU Alumni games, 2011-12 Border War, Legends of the Phog, KC Prep Invitational, & Jayhawk Invitational Videos and more now on Youtube

Charlie Weis, Bonnie Henrickson and Bill Self will have some notable crimson and blue company at tonight’s seventh annual KU Kickoff, which starts at 6 p.m. at Corinth Square.

Jayhawks basketball broadcasting legend Max Falkenstein and fan favorite Tyrel Reed will be on hand promoting a pair of biographies: Falkenstein’s “A Good Place to Stop: 60 Seasons with Max and the Jayhawks,” and Reed’s “Reed All About It: Driven to be a Jayhawk.”

…The location of this year’s rally has moved to the south side of the shopping center, just west of Commerce Bank.
Link


In honor of the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2012, which includes Leavenworth’s own Wayne Simien, a Hall of Fame Benefit Golf Tournament will be held on Sept. 10.

Starting at 11 a.m. at Colbert Hills Golf Course in Manhattan, the event will feature a four-person scramble format and will be followed by a social, raffle and dinner. Many Hall of Fame inductees will participate and be on hand after the tournament.

The public is invited to participate, and registrations for individual golfers and teams are now being accepted. 

All proceeds go to benefit the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame and a portion of each entry fee is tax deductible. For more information or to register, please contact Laura Hartley at the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame at 316-262-2038 or lhartley@kshof.org.

The KSHOF Class of 2012 will be inducted on Oct. 7 at the Wichita Boathouse in Wichita. The group includes K-State All-American quarterback Michael Bishop, two-time national women’s junior college basketball coach of the year, Salina’s Kurt Budke and All-American quarterback David Jaynes from KU.

Other members include Sedgwick and WSU Olympian and national champion Harold Manning, K-State basketball All-American Willie Murrell, University of Kansas basketball’s Bud Stallworth, legendary tennis coach David Snyder from Winfield and softball All-American Brenda Stolle from Emporia State University. Budke and Manning will be honored posthumously.

For more information on this year’s class of inductees or to purchase tickets to the induction ceremony please go to kshof.org or call 316-262-2038.
Link


After not answering Champville management and Lebanese NT coach Ghassan Sarkis in the last week, both Champville and the NT drop interest in Chester Giles after it was shown that he have a contract in Bahrain for the next season. Jarrid Famous (210-C/F-88, college: S.Florida) will arrive tomorrow to Lebanon to join the NT for Jones Cup and Stankovich, while Champville remain with 1 foreigner until now which is Reyshawn Terry waiting to sign a new player or keep Garnett Thompson.  
Eurobasket
CJ Giles


VOTE for KU


Kansas 2012-13 Schedule

The presence of numerous athletes in the AFAM classes is not sufficient evidence, nor any kind of evidence, that the academic advisors working with UNC athletes were complicit in the acknowledged fraud. There are other plausible explanations for the athletes’ concentration in those courses, starting with the possibility the advisors merely noted the success of particular athletes in those courses and concluded others would do well in them.

These might not be the likely explanations for what transpired. The likely explanations might seem closer to what is being suspected. But that is why it is essential North Carolina commence the sort of comprehensive self-examination Penn State undertook in regards to the Jerry Sandusky scandal. For all the pain and embarrassment that resulted from the Freeh report, Penn State is much closer to recapturing its soul today than Carolina, which has seen the details of this academic fraud bleed into the media for roughly a year without taking a single bold action in response.

There have been only minor steps, such as accepting Nyang’oro’s resignation as department chairman. He was permitted, however, to continue teaching at the university and to draw a six-figure salary.

What is beyond dispute in all of this is that there was a degree of callousness at work in the UNC athletic department at least a dozen years ago that heretofore would not have been imagined. It is obvious not in Peppers’ presence on the Tar Heels football team, but in his two seasons with the basketball squad.

Whatever the academic fundamentalists might declare about the presence of marginal students on college athletic teams, there is no great harm in the notion of potential pros “majoring in eligibility”—so long as the classes they take are legitimate and available to the general student body. In Peppers’ case, the three seasons he played for the UNC football team have led to an NFL career that is into its second decade and has yielded career earnings in the neighborhood of $70 million.

Whatever the veracity of the AFAM courses that helped retain his eligibility, however, it is painfully obvious he was in no position to be competing in two sports at once while at UNC. According to the uncovered transcript with Peppers’ name on it, he received Ds or Fs in 11 of the 27 courses for which he earned a letter grade.

It is difficult enough to justify that person playing one sport at the collegiate level, but adding a second to his load was egregious. What was coach Bill Guthridge’s justification for accepting Peppers onto the basketball squad in 1999-2000—and Matt Doherty's decision to do the same the following season—other than the toughness and rebounding he added to the Heels?

That is the core of the scandal revealed by the transcript release: That Guthridge would accept Peppers onto the basketball team under these circumstances and that his superiors would approve it. Where it all goes from there is a matter that demands an extensive investigation, not a quick one.
TSN DeCourcy


UNC statement from the Chancellor


Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis may have pulled off his greatest scheduling coup.

Hollis told ESPN.com on Thursday that he has secured commitments from 16 schools to participate in a two-tournament event in honor of Nike co-founder Phil Knight's 80th birthday.

The two tournaments, each consisting of eight teams, would take place in Portland, Ore. during a four-day period in November, 2017. Knight's 80th birthday is Feb. 24, 2018.

This event would have more collective star power than any of the previous tournaments played at Maui, New York, Orlando or the Bahamas. The 16 Nike-sponsored schools -- mostly elite programs -- include Michigan State, Kentucky, Duke and North Carolina.

Hollis said he has commitments from schools representing all of college basketball's power conferences. NCAA rules prohibit schools from the same conference playing in the same event, hence the two eight-team tournaments.

The other schools are Florida, Ohio State, Connecticut, Georgetown, Texas, Oklahoma, Stanford, Oregon, Xavier, Butler, Gonzaga and Portland.

"All of these great basketball programs have been supported by Phil Knight and Nike," Hollis said. "His support of the programs have created scholarships and resources for these departments to excel."
ESPN


The question is: Which coach is best at bending the rules but not breaking them?

John Calipari: 13 percent
Billy Donovan: 11 percent
Sean Miller: 8 percent
Tom Crean: 8 percent
Mike Krzyzewski: 6 percent
Roy Williams: 6 percent
Tom Izzo: 5 percent
Josh Pastner: 5 percent

Others: too many to list
CBS series Critical Coaches(aka as CBS desperate for Kentucky fans' clicks lol)


“Overall, I think it was a good trip,” Weber said. “First, we had 10 days of practice before the trip that allowed us the opportunity to start implementing our system. This trip has been a great chance to get to know our players better on the basketball court, but personally as well.

“We had some difficult circumstances. I wish we wouldn’t have had such a tough competitor in game one. I would rather slowly build up the competition as the trip goes on. However, it was good for our guys and now we know what we need to focus on when we get back.”
KC Star

Xavier Rathan-Mayes’ stepfather, Tharon Mayes, called me Thursday morning to clarify comments he made to the New Haven Register regarding his son’s college list.

Tharon said he didn’t mean to indicate his son had trimmed his list of 10 to five or six because he hasn’t yet done so.

“There was never a quotation of me saying he was down to five or six schools,” Tharon told SNY.tv. “Those are a few schools that are interested in him.”

Rathan-Mayes initially cut his list to Baylor, UConn, Alabama, Florida State, Kansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Memphis, Texas and UCLA.

“He doesn’t have any visits,” Tharon said. “I think he wants to go on an unofficial to Florida State soon. And I think that’s basically it. He’s focusing on the SAT and then he’s going to focus more on unofficial visits to schools.”

As far as a timetable, Tharon said: “I think he’ll make a decision in November. I think he wants to take his time, to get the SAT score, take his vists and then make a decision.”
Zags Blog


The 6-foot-3, 185-pound Ennis hopes to make history at Syracuse after announcing his commitment Thursday night.

The Toronto native officially chose his dream school, choosing the Orange over Illinois, Louisville, Memphis and UCLA, among others.

“I say the main [reason] is the role that I’m going to be playing coming in as a freshman,” Ennis said in a video on the CIA Bounce Website.

“A lot of playing time is up for grabs so hopefully I will be able come in and play a lot more than I would at another school. But also the talent that they have right now is going to help me look better and help me get to where I want to be and that’s the pro level.”
Zags Blog


My 2012 KU Alumni games, 2011-12 Border War, Legends of the Phog, KC Prep Invitational, & Jayhawk Invitational Videos and more now on Youtube