Jeff Withey, who blocked five Colorado shots while wearing a Kansas University basketball jersey Saturday, capped his weekend in a cap and gown Sunday.
Withey, KU’s senior center from San Diego, graduated with a degree in American studies and a minor in education Sunday afternoon at the Lied Center.
“It’s been a long time (in the classroom). I’m certainly proud of myself. It feels good to have all your hard work pay off,” said Withey, who spent one semester at the University of Arizona (2008-09) before transferring to KU in time for second-semester classes.
“I knew at the beginning of last year (he could receive diploma in December),” Withey added. “Scooter (Scott Ward, associate AD, academic and career counseling) told me if I did everything I was supposed to, I’d be able to graduate. I’m doing it early. That way I can kind of just focus on basketball next semester.”
…KU fans in Western Kansas and Denver who are used to filling half of Coors Events Center for the KU-Colorado game in Boulder might need to find creative ways to land tickets to next year’s game at CU.
Just a handful of Colorado State fans were among a record crowd of 11,708 that attended Wednesday’s game.
Boyle has challenged CU fans to buy enough season tickets to sell out the arena next season before Jayhawk fans can get their hands on tickets.
It should be interesting to see how many KU fans purchase season tickets just to attend the KU-CU game in Boulder.
LJW
Kansas coach Bill Self said Ben McLemore was the team's top NBA talent a year ago, when the Jayhawks had Thomas Robinson and Tyshawn Taylor. McLemore sat out due to academics. Keep watching his trajectory -- he will get only better and make more of an impact. He scored 24 points in a win over Colorado on Saturday after 21 against Oregon State previously. The two best players in the Big 12 this season will likely to be first-year players in McLemore and Oklahoma State's Marcus Smart.
ESPN Katz
Tensions between the University of Kansas and the University of Missouri have made it all the way to the Missouri courts.
Just because Missouri and Kansas don't play each other on the field or on the court any longer, that doesn't mean the border war rivalry is losing any of its steam. In fact, you'll find the latest example of the classic rivalry on the back of a Dodge sports car.
The Missouri license plate MZU SUX is causing more than a few double takes in the St. Louis area.
"Oddly enough, living in Missouri I get more thumbs up and people taking pictures at red lights than I do the bird, but I occasionally get one of those too," the owner of the plates said.
The owner of the plates, who asked to remain anonymous, is obviously not fond of Mizzou athletics.
When he went to renew the plates he discovered someone, possibly a Mizzou fan, had filed a complaint saying his plates were obscene. The Missouri Department of Revenue agreed.
"I don't think any reasonable person would look at the license plate and think that it was sexually orientated at all. It's pretty obvious that I'm using it in fashion that demonstrates my belief that Missouri's athletic program is more subpar than anything else," the owner said.
So he went to court, won the initial verdict, but now the revenue department is appealing
"I'm a big Kansas fan and I don't really care for Mizzou. It's an interesting rivalry and it's unfortunate the Department of Revenue is trying to take it away."
The owner of the controversial license plates is actually a Pittsburgh State graduate and grew up in Independence, KS.
While he's appealing the case, the license plates remain on his car.
http://www.kctv5.com/story/20290306/man-fights-to-keep-controversial-license-plate
Senior forward Carolyn Davis scored 10 consecutive points in the opening three minutes of the game to lead No. 17 Kansas past Newman University, 97-64, Sunday at Allen Fieldhouse.
The Jayhawks took control early and never trailed in the game, jumping out to a 17-4 lead at the 14:23 mark in the first half behind Davis' 5-for-5 shooting from the field. Kansas' 51-31 halftime lead was its largest at the intermission this season, as well as the most points scored in the first half of a game since putting up 69 in a 126-63 victory over Maine on Dec. 1, 2010.
Coach Bonnie Henrickson got her 50th consecutive home victory over a non-conference opponent in the regular season as her team fell just short of its second triple-digit scoring performance in its last four contests.
Kansas led by as much as 36 with 2:09 left to play, holding an advantage of 20 points or more in nearly all of the game's final 20 minutes. KU finished the game shooting 54.8 percent from the field on 40-for-73 shooting with 68 of their points coming from inside the paint.
KUAD: Box score, recap
Kansas 2012-13 MBB Schedule
Kansas 2012-13 WBB Schedule
Big 12/College News
Richmond guard Kendall Anthony converted one of two free throw attempts with 4.7 seconds left to pull out an 83-82 overtime win against James Madison in a non-conference basketball game Saturday night at the JMU Convocation Center.
UR won its fourth game in a row, three against Colonial Athletic Association schools, to improve to 8-2. JMU had won consecutive games before falling to 3-6 overall and evening its current five-game home stand at 2-2.
Link
UNLV's talented trio of Anthony Bennett, Bryce Dejean-Jones and Anthony Marshall accounted for nearly 80 percent of the Runnin' Rebels points.
Quintrell Thomas scored the ones that mattered most.
Thomas, a senior reserve forward on coach Dave Rice's mostly young squad, grabbed Marshall's airball under the basket and scored on a short hook shot with 1.2 seconds remaining to lift No. 21 UNLV to a 76-75 win over California on Sunday.
"I saw it was going to be an airball so I just tried to go get it as fast as I could," Thomas said. "I saw the guy in (Marshall's) face so I assumed if it was going to go anywhere it was going short. I was surprised I beat the shot clock."
He did, just barely, helping the Rebels (7-1) stay unbeaten on the road while extending their winning streak to six games.
ESPN
12/9/12, 10:39 AM
Feel bad for Bruce Weber. His next game will be vs. Zags in Seattle next Saturday. Tape he'll be studying this week will be Illini. Hurts!
Fran Fraschilla (@franfraschilla)
The Illini made 11 of its 26 3-point attempts.
So now Groce is the first Illinois coach to win his first 10 games in more than a century, the Illini are 10-0 and on the verge of breaking into the top 10 of the Associated Press poll, and Paul has to be under consideration for Player of the Year honors on both the Big Ten and national levels. Put another way, things are going well in the world of Illinois basketball. And it's hard to remember the last time anybody could've reasonably typed those words.
"I'm happy for Illini Nation," Groce said following his team's 85-74 victory here inside the McCarthey Athletic Center that represented just the ninth time in 118 outings that Gonzaga has lost in this building. "I'm happy for our students, our fans, all of our alums. It's great. But I'm most happy for our guys. They've been through a lot."
Most notably a 2011-12 season in which they lost nine of their final 10 games and (consequently) their coach who had led their school to six NCAA Tournaments in the previous eight seasons, including an appearance in the 2005 national championship game. Even worse, they were labeled quitters who stopped playing for Bruce Weber, plain and simple. So Groce had some kind of job on his hands when he left Ohio for Illinois last March. And he knew it. But he also knew he was inheriting at least one dynamic guard in Paul who had shown signs of brilliance, and Groce figured he could win immediately if the brilliant moments came more often.
CBS
UCLA coach Ben Howland couldn't hold back a wide grin as he praised his trio of freshman stars.
Jordan Adams scored 18 points, Shabazz Muhammad had 16 and Kyle Anderson 11 as UCLA closed the game on a 13-2 run to defeat Texas 65-63 Saturday in Reliant Stadium.
"Everybody is out to get these guys because they're highly touted and the No. 1 recruiting class in the country," Howland said. "This was a good experience for them to fight hard and come out with a win as we build some momentum, hopefully."
For the first time this season, the Bruins (6-3) were the more experienced team against Texas (5-4), which started three sophomores and two freshmen under coach Rick Barnes.
"Rick is dealing with the same things in terms of dealing with freshmen and the high expectations," Howland said. "So we're happy to come away with this."
The Longhorns had an eight-point lead late in the game, but made just 2 of 9 shots in the final six minutes.
"We gave the game away," Barnes said. "And I'm not taking anything away from UCLA because in the last three minutes, they won the game. They went down and made plays and we didn't."
Link
As several players divorced themselves from Twitter accounts because of what Willie Cauley-Stein called “a bunch of negativity” from fans, Kentucky Coach John Calipari encouraged a new love interest: the gym.
Ah, the sweet smell of sweat. The comforting touch of seams on a basketball. The reassuring rippling sound of leather swishing through twine. Oh, to be young and …
“Individual players have to fall in love with that gym,” Calipari said Monday in assessing his team. “They haven’t yet. So do they have to keep falling till they realize that?”
Lex HJ
Travis Ford keeps popping up around the Student Union, reaching out to new friends — and fans — in Oklahoma State's students.
And it's working, with the young crowd suddenly the “in” crowd at Cowboys basketball games. The lower ends of Gallagher-Iba Arena are filling in, with students responding to Ford's urging to come check out the good things that are happening with his program.
Next on the “Bring The Rowdy Back” agenda: bringing back the older crowd.
You are wanted.
And needed.
Any previous reasons for staying away no longer exist. As football nears an end and big basketball games — Gonzaga and the Big 12 — are recognizable on the horizon, a team with talent and ample upside should appeal to a fan base that once transformed GIA into a raucous two-hour thrill ride.
So if you've been away, perhaps it's time to put away past grievances and prove that a college basketball pulse remains in Stillwater.
The Oklahoman
With no charges against him, Dixon received a lot of support amid the allegations. After he announced he would transfer, some students remained troubled by the backlash faced by women who allege sexual assault.
"Despite the incredible resources meant to educate on this issue, the sad truth is that there is still a culture of victim blaming that permeates MU and countless other college communities across the nation," student government president Xavier Billingsley wrote Wednesday in an open letter to the campus community titled "For A Safer Mizzou."
"Rape is rape - not only when a sexual advance is forcible, but any time one party says 'no,'" Billinsgley continued. "There have been no convictions borne out of the accusations discussed this past week, but to think that any student would want to shut out serious concerns about whether an awful crime was committed for the sake of athletics is incredibly disappointing. This shows that even though we have made great strides in dealing with sexual violence and violation, we still have a long way to go. "
Dixon was suspended for two games in December 2010 for violating unspecified team rules under former Missouri coach Mike Anderson, who is now at Arkansas.
AP
2012-13 Early Season Events List
Big 12 Composite Schedule
Recruiting
@WayneSelden23 went for 25 points and 9 rebounds. Again, Tilton won big. #kubball
https://twitter.com/JayhawkSlant
Big weekend for @b_greene14, @CFrankamp_23, and @jojo_embiid . Greene went for 31/11, Frankamp 32 (I believe) and Embiid 14 and 16
https://twitter.com/JayhawkSlant
12/8/12, 7:15 PM
Kansas signee Brannen Greene @b_greene14 finishes with 31pts as Tift Co. (GA) routes Buford (GA) 86-55
Shun Williams (@OntheRadarHoops)
12/9/12, 10:43 AM
Tift County Brannen Greene is Making a Case for Mr.Georgia Basketball, 3 Straight 30+ Pt Games! Kid Is Playing at Elite Level! @b_greene14
Corry Black (@CoachCBlack)
The first five minutes of the third quarter were a nightmare for Bainbridge on Friday.
#The Bearcats can blame Brannen Greene for the midnight shivers.
#Greene, the 25th-ranked player in the nation by Rivals.com, scored 36 points to lead the Blue Devils to a 78-50 win over Bainbridge in non-region play.
#Greene hit 5-of-8 from 3-point land and grabbed five rebounds to lead Tift (2-0) on a second-half surge after Bainbridge played the No. 2-ranked team in the state tough in the first half.
…Greene, who has already signed with the University of Kansas, did whatever he wanted on the court Friday.
At one point, he even told a Becarcats defender he couldn’t guard him — and then drove past him for the bucket and foul. He scored 30 with 10 boards in the season opener against Westover, a 22-point win for the Blue Devils.
Albany Herald
Rivals: Bossi's Mailbag (Free)
My 2012 KU Alumni games, 2011-12 Border War, Legends of the Phog, KC Prep Invitational, & Jayhawk Invitational Videos, Late Night in the Phog, and more now on YouTube
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