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Before he was the preordained player of the year in the Big 12, Thomas Robinson was a guy who averaged 7.6 points in 15 minutes off the bench for Kansas.
It wasn’t that long ago, actually. And while there was a sense Robinson could break out as a junior — he was a first-team all-league selection in the preseason — no one knew exactly what to expect from the 6-foot-10 forward.
“He’s had three lottery picks play in front of him during his career, so he only averaged eight and 15 minutes a game the last two years,” coach Bill Self said. “But when his number was called and opportunity knocked, he certainly made the most of it.”
As a reward, Robinson was named Big 12 player of the year Monday by The Associated Press. He received all 18 votes from the AP panel after earning player of the year honors from the league’s coaches a day earlier.
…Robinson was joined on the AP’s All-Big 12 first team by Taylor, Missouri’s Marcus Denmon, Iowa State’s Royce White and J’Covan Brown, of Texas.
Haith was the AP's coach of the year after Self and Iowa State’s Fred Hoiberg shared the award in voting by their peers. Self found the split fitting.
“Perfect,” he said, informed Haith had won the AP honor. “In all honesty, I voted for him to be coach of the year. I thought he deserved it, although Fred has done a remarkable job.
“Fred definitely deserves it, so that’s great. Everybody got a piece of that. That doesn’t bother me at all.”
TCJ
To the regular-season champion went the Big 12 spoils.
The conference coaches handed out top honors Sunday, and they voted junior forward Thomas Robinson the league’s top player.
Bill Self was the co-coach of the year along with Iowa State’s Fred Hoiberg, and center Jeff Withey was chosen defensive player of the year.
It was the fourth time in nine years Self has won the coaching honor.
Withey has 100 blocked shots, and his 65 in league play established a Big 12 record.
Joining Robinson on the All-Big 12 team were teammate Tyshawn Taylor, Missouri’s Marcus Denmon, Texas’ J’Covan Brown and Iowa State’s Royce White, who also was voted newcomer of the year.
KC Star
PHILLIPS 66 BIG 12 PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Tyshawn Taylor, Kansas, Sr., G, 6-3, 185, Hoboken, N.J./St. Anthony Taylor recorded 24.5 points per game as Kansas won at Oklahoma State (70-58) and defeated Texas (73-63). The senior guard started with 27 points at OSU, one short of his career high, in the win that clinched the Big 12 regular-season title outright for KU. He followed that with 22 points on senior night versus the Longhorns, his third consecutive 20-point outing. Taylor shot 65.4 percent from the field in the two games, while making 11-of-11 shots from the free-throw line. Taylor finished Big 12 play leading the team in scoring in conference games with 18.6 points per contest.
Big 12 Sports
In the end, my choice is Bill Self of Kansas. Leading the Jayhawks to an eighth consecutive Big 12 title is an amazing feat. He did it after losing the Morris Twins, Brady Morningstar, Tyrel Reed and Josh Selby. Robinson averaged only 14 minutes a game last season. Rock, chalk, Jayhawk celebrated and the fans in Lawrence could be proud.
Here are my national awards, All-American teams and best of the best in the big-time conferences. It has been a super season, but the best has yeat to come with March Madness, baby!
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Anthony Davis, Kentucky
COACH OF THE YEAR: Bill Self, Kansas
ROOKIE COACH OF THE YEAR: Steve Prohm, Murray State
DIAPER DANDY OF THE YEAR: Davis
FIRST TEAM ALL-SOLID GOLD SUPER SEVEN
Anthony Davis, Kentucky Thomas Robinson, Kansas Draymond Green, Michigan State Jared Sullinger, Ohio State Doug McDermott, Creighton Damian Lillard, Weber State Isaiah Canaan, Murray State
SECOND TEAM ALL-SOLID GOLD
Tyler Zeller, North Carolina Kevin Jones, West Virginia Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Kentucky John Jenkins, Vanderbilt Will Barton, Memphis
THIRD TEAM ALL-SOLID GOLD
Harrison Barnes, North Carolina Jae Crowder, Marquette Cody Zeller, Indiana Kendall Marshall, North Carolina Tyshawn Taylor, Kansas
Dick Vitale
And the coach of the year in college basketball is … This is where it gets a little tricky. The legitimate candidates have grown like wheat in Kansas. Speaking of Kansas, Bill Self is one of them.
...In the end, you want the man who should be coach of the year? Kansas' Self.
The Jayhawks lost four starters and six of their top eight scorers from last season. His top three subs have been a walk-on, a former walk-on and a transfer.
Kansas is 26-5 record and probable No. 1 seed. Self did a masterful job.
USA Today
Bill Self remembers having arguments with his own kids over who was better, Magic Johnson or Larry Bird, and the Kansas coach always went with the pride of French Lick.
The reason was simple: The Lakers simply oozed talent, so Johnson didn't receive the sole attention of opposing defenses. Bird was the key to the Celtics winning or losing.
That's why Self also goes with Thomas Robinson, the third-ranked Jayhawks' star forward, when the debate turns to national player of the year. Anthony Davis has had a sublime season for top-ranked Kentucky, but he's surrounded by a cast of characters capable of 20 points a night.
Without Robinson, the Jayhawks could be sitting on the NCAA tournament bubble.
"Anthony impacts the game in a variety of ways, in some ways more than Thomas does, but his supporting cast is so strong," Self said. "I really believe Thomas has had the best year."
Naturally, the Wildcats' supporting cast is a big reason John Calipari would vote for Davis.
…In the Wildcats' storied history, no player has landed one of the three major individual honors: the Wooden Award, Naismith Award or AP Player of the Year. Dan Issel didn't do it. Neither did Tony Delk, Jamal Mashburn, John Wall or Tayshaun Prince.
Kevin Durant is the only freshman to win all three trophies in the same season.
The Jayhawks have had their share of stars in recent years: Paul Pierce, Nick Collison, Mario Chalmers and Sherron Collins, to name a few. But they haven't had anybody win national player of the year since Danny Manning won the Naismith and Wooden awards in 1988.
No player from Kansas has won the AP award, which was first handed out in 1961.
"It's a two-horse race, without question," Self said, "and they're both thoroughbreds."
So how best to handicap it?
Start with the stats:
David is averaging 14.1 points and 9.8 rebounds, and his 66.1 field goal percentage is among the 10 best in the country. The 6-foot-10 forward also has swatted 140 shots, and needs just 31 more blocks to break the SEC record set by Mississippi State's Jarvis Varnado in 2009.
Robinson, meanwhile, is the only player in the Big 12 to average a double-double at 18 points and 11.9 rebounds. He's been even better against ranked teams, averaging 19.8 points and shooting nearly 56 percent against a group of opponents that includes Duke, Baylor and Missouri.
Kentucky, too.
Many forget that Davis and Robinson faced each other at Madison Square Garden early in the season. Davis finished with 14 points, six rebounds and seven blocks in his second college game, while Robinson turned in an 11-point, 12-rebound performance for Kansas.
"If I had a vote, he'd be my vote for player of the year," Texas coach Rick Barnes said Saturday night, after watching Robinson pile up 25 points and 14 rebounds in the Jayhawks' 77-58 victory. "Just the way he's carried himself, playing against him — he's terrific."
Kansas guard Tyshawn Taylor considers he an astute observer of the game, and he's more than willing to share his opinion on just about anything.
"Anthony Davis is a beast, man, he definitely is," Taylor said, "but I just don't see too many better than T-Rob. Especially when he's on top of his game."
…"He's created a lot of attention for himself," Taylor said Robinson, one of his best friends on the Jayhawks. "He's the main focus of the scouting report, for sure, and I'm sure teams talking about us say, 'If we stop Thomas, we have a chance to win the game.'"
Sounds as if the Kansas guard would vote for Bird, too.
AP Robinson, Davis emerge as top POY candidates
Kansas looks like a No. 1 seed, and today's guesswork has the Jayhawks joining two dominant teams - Kentucky and Syracuse - and North Carolina as top-seeded teams.
Missouri is part of a second group of projected No. 2 seeds with Duke, Michigan State and Ohio State. Becoming a top seed isn't out of the question for any of the No. 2s.
Assuming KU is a No. 1 seed, the destination for the Sweet 16 remains a mystery. It could be St. Louis, which would accommodate the legion of fans. Or it could be Phoenix, which would allow fans to get in a little Royals spring training.
It seems likely that if Kansas isn't in St. Louis, Missouri will be. But predicting the selection committee here is a hazardous exercise. I've maintained for about two weeks that the best finishing teams among Kansas, Missouri, North Carolina, Duke, Michigan State and Ohio State will be rewarded by seed.
The Jayhawks and Tar Heels are off to the fastest starts with outright conference championships.
The safer bet is this: Kansas and Missouri starting their tournament quest in Omaha, Neb., in separate pods because they'll be in different regionals. But fans should share the Old Market and pull for each other during the games, right?
Kansas, Missouri and Baylor are safely in. Iowa State and Kansas State played their way off the bubble in the last couple of weeks. The pressure is on the Longhorns to perform. They've never been lower than a No. 8 seed in the NCAA under Barnes, but if Texas hears its name called for an opening-round game at Dayton, Ohio, the program would be thrilled.
KC Star Kerkhoff
KU sophomore forward Justin Wesley lost his wallet on Saturday night. In the wallet was a much-cherished picture of his dad, Isiah, who died when Wesley was 4-years-old.
Wesley’s mom, Charlene Taylor-Mask, says she and her son would like for the person who found the wallet to at least return the picture. Wesley has a mailbox in the KU men’s basketball office.
“It was an old picture, black and white of his dad in a basketball uniform when he played in high school,” Taylor-Mask said. “Justin’s dad’s brother came to the Texas game in Austin and gave Justin the picture. We can buy another wallet. We can cancel the credit cards, but the picture ... it would mean a lot to get that back,” she added.
LJW
YES video: Larry Brown.
7'2" Former NBA and University of Kansas center Greg Ostertag may be retired from basketball but he is dominating the competition when it comes to his business skills. Ostertag has been named Director of Sales for Smokehouse Salt Co (SHS).
Smokehouse Salt Co. is an industry leading pioneer in the natural smoked spice category and manufactures the wildly popular #1 line of smoked spices. SHS manufactures a complete line of naturally smoked spices and smoked salt blends for wholesale, bulk and retail sale. SHS product lines include Pecan Smoked Sugar (Yes! smoked sugar), Hickory smoked jalapeno, garlic, onion. mushroom, sea salt, pepper, paprika, grillin' rub, and a complete line of smoked salt blends.
Press release
Coaches vs Cancer: Help Coach Self raise $ for ACA with his 3-point Attack
Still riding high from Sunday’s surprise victory in Norman, Okla., the Kansas University women’s basketball team received a double dose of good news on Monday.
Three Jayhawks were named to the All-Big 12 postseason teams, voted on by the coaches and released via Twitter on Monday afternoon, and freshman guard Natalie Knight was named the Big 12 freshman of the week for her role in the Jayhawks’ 83-77 upset of the Sooners.
Junior forward Carolyn Davis was one of 10 players named to the All-Big 12 first team. Davis, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in mid-February, earned the spot because of her strong performance during the first 11 games of conference play. At the time of her injury, Davis was second in scoring in the Big 12, at 17.5 points per game, and ranked in the top five nationally in shooting percentage at 60.2 percent.
Junior point guard Angel Goodrich was named to the All-Big 12 second team. Goodrich is the conference leader in assists, with 7.5 per outing, and her 2.2 assist-to-turnover ratio is second in the Big 12. She also ranks in the top 15 in points (12.8), steals (77), three-point percentage (.377), three-pointers made (40) and minutes per game (37.2).
Forward Aishah Sutherland was the final Jayhawk honored by the league’s coaches. The senior from Perris, Calif., received an honorable mention nod for averaging 13.9 points and 9.1 rebounds per game. She is one of just four players in the Big 12 to rank in the top 10 in both scoring and rebounding, and her eight double-doubles put her in a tie for fourth place among all Big 12 players.
As for Knight, she became the first Jayhawk to win freshman-of-the-week honors since Davis in February 2010. During KU’s victory against Oklahoma, Knight exploded for a career-high 18 points on 4-of-8 shooting, including a 3-of-6 mark from three-point land. The Olathe freshman also knocked down seven of the eight free throws she attempted and tied a personal best with seven rebounds.
The victory was the Jayhawks’ first in Norman since 1998, snapping a 15-game losing streak to OU.
LJW
Big 12/College News
Big 12 Conference Tournament guide: Schedule, stats, media
KC Big 12 Tournament guide: Ticket, parking, lodging, entertainment info
KU AD video/transcripts: Coach Self & players preview Big 12 Tournament
“To me the fact the arena is located across the river or whatever is irrelevant,” said KU coach Bill Self, who is all for the tourney staying in Sprint Center. “It’s in the state of Missouri, but it’s still Kansas City.
“Kansas City is split. I still think Kansas City is more of a K-State, KU town than it is a Missouri town, at least the way we see it. If you are going to poll the people that are living in the 30-mile radius, I’d think you would have far more K-State and Kansas people than you would Missouri people.
“It’s who puts on the best show,” Self added of the city to ultimately be awarded the Big 12 tourney. “Obviously Kansas City has done such a great job historically. I can’t see it taking a step backward at all from an interest standpoint and attendance standpoint, I don’t,” he added.
“I think it would give the appearance it (MU leaving) would hurt it, but I can’t see that happening. This will be a situation moving forward I think there will be as much interest in the conference tournament as there ever has been.”
LJW
Self, whose team has won the previous two tournaments at Sprint Center, laughed about the commotion afterwards, and asked, “Am I wrong?”
Based on alumni population, no.
In figures provided to The Star by the three schools’ alumni associations, Kansas leads the way in the Kansas City metropolitan area with about 57,000 graduates.
Missouri alumni numbered about 25,000.
Kansas State figures weren’t available on Monday, but in a previous story about area alumni population, there were 19,000 Kansas State graduates living in Johnson County.
The figures were through December.
KC Star
For those fond of favorites, Kansas is the easy pick at this week’s Big 12 Tournament.
Looking for a sleeper? Kansas State is an intriguing choice after closing the regular season with four wins in five games.
In both cases, the trip to Sprint Center begins with a common goal.
“We’re going to try to validate our championship,” KU coach Bill Self said. “We’re going to go over there and try to win it.”
KU enters as the tournament's top seed after finishing 16-2 in league play, two games in front of second-place Missouri. A tournament title would rank somewhere below a regular-season championship or a deep NCAA run in the hierarchy of accomplishments, but conquering the field in Kansas City still has meaning for the Jayhawks.
“We’ve won it five out of the last six years, so we go over there fired up,” Self said. “That doesn’t guarantee you’re going to win, but we certainly are going over there with the idea that’s what we want to do. We’ll be charged.”
TCJ
It’s a seller’s market. The tournament has been an advance sellout in each of its previous three years at the Sprint Center, but 2012 is ratcheted up for a few reasons.
First, the four schools closest to Kansas City — Kansas, Missouri, Kansas State and Iowa State — are having excellent seasons with the Jayhawks and Tigers ranked among the nation’s top five teams. The Wildcats and Cyclones are well-positioned to join KU and MU in the NCAA Tournament.
They all have rabid fan bases, and as former Iowa State coach Johnny Orr said, “You’re going to see a caravan to Kansas City from Iowa.”
Also, it’s Missouri’s last stand as a Big 12 member. The Tigers would love nothing more than to depart the conference with a trophy.
Add it up, and the price soars. Tickets for all five sessions have a face value ranging from $195 to $350. But Shahan, a Kansas fan, said he contacted three brokers on Monday, and saw an all-session ticket going for $2,100.
Dan Rouen, president of Tickets for Less in Overland Park, said interest has been building for weeks, and the prospect of a Kansas-Missouri championship game is driving the price.
“The KU-MU buzz is just huge with how good the game was in Lawrence a couple of weeks ago,” Rouen said.
But it’s not just the final. Rouen said interest has spiked for the quarterfinal round Thursday. The daytime session opens with Kansas State and Baylor. The Jayhawks play next. The evening session includes Missouri and Iowa State.
KC Star
KC Star: Colorful coaches made Big Eight a battle royal
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Forbes: Highest-paid college basketball coaches
The only answer UF had for Kentucky Sunday came in the form of a sign held up by one fan as the Gators scored only one basket in the final nine minutes of the game.
"You still don't have a football team!"
That may be true, but Calipari has built the nation's most dominant basketball team by becoming the sport's ultimate baby-daddy. Who will ever forget two years ago when Kentucky — after finishing with a 35-3 record and advancing into the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament — had five players, including four freshmen, taken in the first round of the NBA draft. Calipari, obviously forgetting the seven national titles the storied Wildcats have in their history, called it "the biggest day in the history of the Kentucky program."
Translation: Sending players to the NBA is more important to Calipari than all that other stuff college is supposed to be about. You know, stuff like growing up, developing as a person, going to class, getting a degree, blah, blah, blah.
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo probably put it best when he told Sports Illustrated recently: "It [Kentucky] is like a factory. Nobody has any ties to the place."
Calipari obviously has grown weary of defending himself and his program. When I asked him about his reputation as the king of the one-and-doners Sunday, he went on an animated rant about what the NBA and college basketball should do to encourage players to stay for more than one year. Among his suggestions: The NCAA should give players a sizable stipend and the NBA should allow players to who stay in college to subtract years from their less-lucrative rookie contract.
Calipari, though, refuses to apologize for signing the best players in the country even when he must know his program is nothing more than a glorified AAU squad.
"What I would tell you is this is not my rule," he says. "I can't stand the rule, but it's the rule so I go out and recruit players who want to play here.
"When we lost five guys in the first round [two years ago] everybody said you cannot do this and you're taking too many good players. The next year, we went to the Final Four and lost four of those players to the NBA."
He then added facetiously: "This year, we're doing OK — we're hanging on."
Welcome to college basketball's worst nightmare.
Orlando Sentinel
CALIPARI: I wouldn’t be surprised if the Memphis kids come back and sue the NCAA. Those guys are saying, “We earned those wins. ... None of us knew anything about anything, Coach. That’s wrong. Why are they punishing me and the number of wins I had?” Like, Antonio Anderson and Robert Dozier had the most wins of anyone over a four-year period, but they take away 38.
They’re not going to be around long. The NCAA will not. Before I retire from coaching, they will no longer oversee college athletics. They will, but it won’t be the four power conferences—they’ll be on their own. And the main thing is, do you really care about these kids? They’ll get mad that I say it. The NCAA Tournament, for example. It’s more about the selection committee getting on TV, everybody getting their tickets on the aisle, down low, all the parties they go to, the traveling. But we don’t take the parents of the participants. But they take their kids and their families.
The officials will get better hotels than some of their teams. And I know it for a fact. The decisions they make on the $2,000 (expense allowance for student-athletes)—it should have been $4,000. It’s a stipend. It’s not salary. It’s not “pay-for-play.” It’s a stipend. It’s expenses. And then schools vote against it. All this stuff piles up to where people are going to say, “Enough’s enough.”
Sporting News
During a decade in which Syracuse basketball reached the pinnacle of national prominence, the program was awash in positive drug tests and, in many cases, failed to adhere to its internal drug policy while playing ineligible players, Yahoo! Sports has learned.
Over the course of a three-month investigation, four sources with intimate knowledge of the Syracuse men’s basketball program told Yahoo! Sports at least 10 players since 2001 have tested positive for a banned recreational substance or substances. The sources said all 10 of those players were allowed to practice and play at times when they should have been suspended by the athletic department, including instances when some players may not have known of their own ineligibility. The four sources said Syracuse violated its drug policy in at least two areas: failing to properly count positive tests; and playing ineligible players after they should have been subject to suspension.
A fifth source, a former Syracuse basketball player, told Yahoo! Sports he was questioned by the NCAA regarding the school’s drug testing policy. It is unknown whether the positive tests or potential NCAA investigation affect the current Syracuse basketball team, which is 30-1 and ranked No. 2 in the nation under Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim. However, four sources said the breadth of potential violations could apply to Syracuse seasons as far back as 2001 and include the 2002-03 national championship season.
Yahoo
Michigan State standout freshman Branden Dawson is out for the rest of the season after injuring his left knee against Ohio State.
Dawson limped off the court with 10:16 left in the first half of Sunday's 72-70 loss to the 10th-ranked Buckeyes, which left the No. 5 Spartans in a three-way tie for the Big Ten title with Ohio State and Michigan.
AP
Recruiting
Controversial youth basketball coach Ro Russell rejected CBC allegations that he exploited Canadian teenagers by misleading their parents into paying him directly to attend an American basketball academy.
Russell spoke to QMI Agency after refusing to grant an interview to The Fifth Estate, which on Friday broadcast an hour-long documentary centred on the Toronto native's track record as a hoops coach and power broker on both sides of the border.
Several basketball figures criticized Russell in the documentary, including former Team Canada coach Leo Rautins and Ron Neclario, the head coach at Cardozo High School in Brooklyn, N.Y.
The most serious allegation concerned tuition payments that Laurie Anderson, mother of athlete Braeden Anderson, said she thought had gone to North Carolina-based Christian Faith Center Academy (CFCA) for the 2009-2010 season.
The Fifth Estate said the money, which amounted to thousands of dollars for each of the 11 athletes, instead went to a school with a similar name that's owned by Russell.
The coach did not dispute that fact but said Laurie Anderson and the parents of the 10 other boys knew they were paying him directly and agreed to do so.
He explained that he was forced to set up his own temporary academy in 2009 after American student visas for CFCA were unexpectedly delayed.
Russell said the Canadian kids trained in the CFCA gym in Creedmoor, N.C., but did not attend classes that year and instead took online courses.
"They weren't at the school so they would they pay me," said Russell, adding that the tuition covered a full basketball schedule, travel and lodging while he took "very, very little salary.
"Obviously the guys lived there, and the transportation, gas, amenities, food, car rentals ... you have to pay bills."
Braeden Anderson and another former player, Xavier Rathan-Mayes, told the CBC that Russell hung them out to dry. Anderson, a 6-foot-9 forward from Okotoks, Alta., said Russell failed to supervise the students in the dorm, located an hour from campus.
"We were basically on our own," Anderson told the CBC. "Basketball was everything. That's all we did. School was there, but it was basically basketball."
Anderson accepted an offer last year from the University of Kansas but couldn't play because he was only ruled a partial-qualifier due to his online courses. He has since moved on to Fresno State and says he holds no grudges against his former coach, but hasn't forgotten his experience.
"He knows what he was responsible for and most of the world does as well," said Anderson. "It's no secret."
http://www.lfpress.com/sports/basketball/2012/03/04/19457306.html
CBC Fifth Estate video: Complete episode with Braeden Anderson's story included.
When Conner Frankamp exited the Wichita North locker room Saturday night, he did so with a grimace.
Despite the Redskins' 46-26 annihilation of Maize in the 6A Hutchinson sub-state B-bracket game, it was hardly an easy night for the star guard. The Kansas commit became pretty accustomed to the floor at the Salthawk Activity Center. Frankamp hit the hardwood a time or two while trying to fight through Maize's constant double teams.
So after a night of scraping himself up off the floor, his exhaustion was apparent - and the subject of his first quote after the Redskins' state tournament berth.
"(I'm) tired, man," Frankamp said, while sporting an ice pack on his knee.
Such is the price of winning - and being the offensive operator - this late in the year.
…The junior's 12 points shone bright in the defensive slugfest Saturday night but his other numbers - five defensive rebounds, three assists and three steals - underscore his other abilities as a guard.
There's a reason Frankamp's basketball talents earned him possibly the greatest birthday gift a Kansas prep athlete could dream of - a scholarship offer from the Jayhawks on July 16. Now he's using the rest of his high school career - this year's playoffs included - to become a more complete player.
"I'm working on defense a lot because to play at KU you have to play great defense," Frankamp said.
Hutch News
Ellis, who is headed to Kansas, admitted it wasn’t one of his best performances, but he was at his best when it mattered the most, scoring 12 points in the fourth quarter to finish with 22 points and nine rebounds as the Falcons avenged a loss to the team that had stopped Heights’ state-record 62-game winning streak the final week of the regular season.
“That happens sometimes,” Ellis said of his slow start, “and my teammates picked me up, they really picked me up. It was a great win and great defense the whole game, which really pushed us.”
Auer had no doubt that Ellis would deliver with the game on the line.
“It’s always nice to have the most successful high school basketball player in the history of Class 6A on your team,” Auer said.
Now, after a frantic couple of weeks, which included two straight losses to end the regular season, Heights can take a moment to breathe and get ready for the state tournament, which begins Thursday at Wichita’s Koch Arena.
…Heights will play Olathe East (20-2) at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Also on Heights’ side of the bracket are No. 3 Blue Valley North (19-3) and Wichita North (15-7), which will meet at 8:15 p.m.
Wichita North is led by junior star guard Conner Frankamp, who torched Heights for 38 points in the Redskins’ win against the Falcons.
On the other side of the bracket, Blue Valley Northwest will face Dodge City (13-9) at 3 p.m., and Olathe South (17-5) will face Topeka High (17-5) in the 4:45 p.m. game.
TCJ
The Atlanta Tipoff Club today announced that Shabazz Muhammad, the still-undecided No. 1 overall ranked boy’s player in the Class of 2012 from Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, Nev., is the 2012 Naismith High School Boy’s Player of the Year
Slam
“There’s always something you could’ve done better,” said Muhammad, a senior swingman who is ranked No. 2 in the ESPNU 100.
Plenty of players shared Muhammad’s sentiments when we asked them what, if anything, would they have changed about this past season.
Shabazz Muhammad
Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas), 2012, SF
Undecided
The thing I would’ve changed this season…
“That’s hard because I feel like I did pretty well this season with a lot of stuff. But I guess one of the things that I probably would take back is the game against Findlay Prep [Henderson, Nev.]. I want to get one more shot at them.”
Brannen Greene
Mary Persons (Monroe, Ga.), 2013, SG
Committed to: Kansas
The thing I would’ve changed this season…
“I would’ve let [my teammates] know I had all the confidence in the world in them and see where that would’ve gotten us. We had too many players with low self-esteem when it came to the court. I think that may have translated to game production.”
ESPN
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