The hew and cry over the non-block/charge call at the end of regulation amuses me. As noted in my post yesterday, the refs blew the goal-tending charge and cheated Kansas out of two points. So? So the game was filled with horrid calls, some for Kansas, some against. So what? Any veteran of college basketball knows you could fill the internet with video of craptastic calls by refs, but all this chatter about "who should decide the game" reminded me of this moment. It's in an older Quicktime format, but you get the drift...
With all the talk and all the hype surrounding the new Adidas jersey that are being launched, I wondered when we would finally get a glimpse of them.
Louisville, Baylor and UCLA will be getting sleeves on their jerseys. Notre Dame, Cincinnati and Kansas are simply donning the camo threads.
Here are the new uniforms that will be worn by six programs sponsored by Adidas beginning with conference tournament play:
Link
The Government of the Student Body president, Jared Knight, released a statement last night concerning two ISU students’ offensive tweets at a member of the men’s basketball team from the University of Kansas.
“At approximately 10:45 p.m on Monday, Feb. 25, two Iowa State students began tweeting a series of reprehensible and disgusting messages toward the University of Kansas basketball team and one player in particular,” said the statement released by Knight.
“Though the individuals’ accounts have been deleted, those messages contained threats of violence as well as derogatory, racial slurs.”
At the GSB meeting Feb. 27, 2013, Knight told the senate he had three issues with the men’s basketball game on Feb. 25, 2013, at Hilton Coliseum.
“Its very frustrating and embarrassing coming from students at this university,” Knight said at the meeting regarding the tweets sent to Kansas basketball player Elijah Johnson.
There were several tweets sent from the two ISU students, both threatening his personal safety and using racial slurs.
“One is assault, and one is just disgusting,” Knight said. “They’re both violations of the student conduct code.”
One of the GSB senators asked Knight what he thought the repercussions would be for those students.
“I don’t think they will be expelled,” Knight said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they were suspended."
Knight expressed disbelief at the actions of the students on social media.
“That there are people who still think, talk and act like these students is stunning to me,” Knight said. “It sadly reminds us that there is much work to do in eliminating racism and violence from our society. These individuals are a disgrace to our student body and our university, and we sincerely apologize to everyone affected by this incident.”
Knight also addressed the overselling of student season tickets and the various objects thrown on to the court at the end of the basketball game.
“If you guys are at games in the future in that situation, I hope you guys will step in because that’s not acceptable,” Knight said to the GSB senators.
Knight also an included an apology on behalf of all ISU students in his statement.
“I apologize to Elijah Johnson, the students at the University of Kansas and anyone else who read these hateful and disgusting tweets," Knight said. "I am embarrassed to be associated with these individuals, and I unequivocally condemn their statements. “
Iowa State Daily
Kansas Coach Bill Self talks about the Jayhawks rebounding from their mid-season losing streak, the thrill of winning his 500th career game and more on "SVP & Rusillo."
ESPN Podcast with Coach Bill Self
Self said it was the best locker room of the year and not because he’d wrapped up his 500th victory. KU remained tied with Kansas State for first place in the Big 12 race at 12-3.
“They were fired up,” Self said on his weekly “Hawk Talk” radio show. “The guys love Elijah (whose 39 points were most by a Jayhawk since Terry Brown’s 42 against North Carolina State on Jan. 5, 1991). They had some song or dance, and were singing with him. We were a tight-knit group. Everybody to a man was so excited for Elijah.”
Self, who has thanked his family members, players, assistant coaches and administrators, said he definitely appreciates the three college coaches he worked for: Larry Brown at KU, as well as Eddie Sutton and Leonard Hamilton at Oklahoma State.
“Coach Brown to me has as good a basketball mind as there is,” Self said. “Leonard Hamilton is the hardest worker I ever worked for. Coach Sutton to me is the perfect college coach, combining recruiting, family atmosphere.”
He also thanked coaches he played for: Paul Hansen at Oklahoma State and Mike de la Garza at Edmond (Okla.) Memorial High.
“Mike de la Garza is the best salesman I ever learned under, selling the program to the school and community. He’s so enthusiastic. Paul Hansen is the nicest man I’ve ever been around,” Self said. “I’ve stolen from all of them. I remember after I started coaching, I called coach Hansen. I said, ‘I understand better now why you did what you did.’ I learned a ton from all of them.”
LJW
Combined in their first years at Kansas, these four seniors averaged 10.1 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. Years later as seniors, they countered Hilton Magic with a combination of 84 points, 27 rebounds, and a myriad of heart and hustle.
At one time or another, fans questioned whether Young, Withey, Johnson, and Releford even belonged on a Kansas basketball roster.
Now, they are the backbone of a program seeking its ninth straight Big 12 title and another national championship.
UDK
With the discerning eye of a jeweler, Larry Brown made the same observation every time he watched Kansas practice last season: Of all the talented Jayhawks that led them to the national title game, the brightest gem was a freshman academically ineligible to play in games.
"Bill," Brown would ask Kansas coach Bill Self, "you realize what you have here?"
One year later, Self knows exactly what he has in Ben McLemore: the most talented young player, by far, that he says he has ever coached. Though the foundation of Kansas' team is four senior starters, the difference maker is a 6-5 redshirt freshman, McLemore.
…Unlike many of today's top players, McLemore was not showered with adulation or anointed a future star from the time he was an adolescent. Rather than obsess over national player rankings, phenom camp invitations or third-party handlers, McLemore focused on more fundamental concerns amid one of the poorest urban communities in Missouri: finding food.
Says McLemore: "It's hard to play basketball when nothing is inside of you."
…McLemore says on any given night as many as 10 relatives, including siblings, nieces and a nephew, would sleep inside his home, which is smaller than 600 square feet. The home's only bed had three legs, with the other corner supported by a pile of books.
His home, McLemore says, was filled with love but little else. He remembers his mother working nights for a cleaning staff near downtown Busch Stadium. He remembers older brother Keith cycling through odd jobs fixing bikes, trying to make money to support the family.
But it wasn't enough. He won't forget the feeling of waking up knowing there was no food or beverage in the refrigerator, with none on the way those days. He says at times he would go one or two days with no food.
"It's a hard feeling — just starve," McLemore says. "Dang, what are we going to do? Dang, how are we going to eat? How are we going to put food on the table?"
…McLemore says the only meals he sometimes had were the free ones at school. His mother, he recalled, sometimes made the difficult decision to sell food stamps in order to pay bills.
"Sometimes we would not have food so we could keep our lights on and have hot water," he says. "She had to sacrifice for that."
When the family did not have hot water, McLemore remembers one nightly routine: Fill the bathtub with cold water. Heat up bowls of water in the microwave, then run them to the bathtub to make the tub water lukewarm for baths. The warmth never lasted, he says.
…McLemore, caught in a swirl of emotions, was 15 at the time of his brother's incarceration, but he knew that he must become the man of the house, ready or not. And he knew it would be years before he would again see Scott, whom McLemore considers a role model because of his infectious personality and because of how Scott helped support the family.
McLemore says the day he watched police take his brother away was worse than any pain caused by hunger or no heat.
"Not having food for a couple days, no lights, no hot water, I knew we could always get that back," McLemore says. "Taking my brother, I didn't know when I could get that back. I don't know when he will come back home. That was the worst feeling. And I am still feeling it. Each and every day."
…That said, Brown, who coached Kansas to the 1988 national title, watched the Jayhawks' double-overtime victory at Oklahoma State on television, seeing McLemore turn nearly invisible in the final minutes. Brown calls McLemore a "phenomenal" athlete and "coachable as hell," but says he is a little fragile because this level of play, this stage, is all new to him.
"Danny (Manning) was a little like that," Brown says. "He didn't realize how great he was. You had to remind him all the time. Ben is like that."
…As Brown says, "If you ask Ben if he wants to stay at KU for four years, I bet he would want it in a minute. But he can't."
...McLemore says his mother is unemployed. He says they are struggling financially. He says he tries not to think about that much and tries, sometimes futilely, to maintain focus on school and basketball. But he knows what lies ahead in June, and that his brother would somehow find a way to watch the NBA draft from his cell. Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress says that in the wake of the knee injury to Kentucky freshman Nerlens Noel, McLemore will get strong consideration for the No. 1 pick.
…As winter soon turns to spring, McLemore is a reluctant star caught between both worlds, striving to succeed in March Madness with his mind never far from a family that still calls that small house on Wellston Avenue home.
"It's a blessing to be in that house, and to have a house," McLemore says. "A lot of people don't have a house. My mom is proud of me. I just want to keep working hard so one day I can help my family. I am going to get a big house one day and we all can stay in it and eat."
USA Today
Kansas senior Angel Goodrich was one of 30 NCAA Division I women's basketball student-athletes to be under consideration for the Naismith Women's College Player of the Year award, as announced by the Atlanta Tipoff Club's Board of Selectors Wednesday.
The top-30 candidates were selected based on player performances during this year's college basketball season. Goodrich, who ranks first in the Big 12 Conference in steals per game (3.0) and third in assists per contest (6.7), is also a finalist for the Lieberman Award, Wade Trophy, Ann Meyers Drysdale Award and Wooden Award. Goodrich is second on the Kansas' squad in scoring with 14.3 points per game.
In late March, the Naismith Trophy voting academy will narrow down the pack to four finalists. The Naismith Women's College Player of the Year, presented by AT&T, will be awarded to one female athlete on April 8, 2013, in New Orleans, La.
KUAD
Angel Goodrich and Monica Engelman combined to score 41 points, but lack of an inside game doomed Kansas University’s women’s basketball team to an 83-68 loss to No. 23 Iowa State on Wednesday at Hilton Coliseum.
Goodrich had 21 points, seven rebounds, nine assists and four steals, while fellow senior Engelman added 20 points, three boards and a pair of assists for KU (16-11 overall, 7-9 Big 12).
But center Carolyn Davis was held to a season-low two points on 1-for-5 shooting before fouling out, and KU was outscored 36-16 in points in the paint (and 19-9 in points off turnovers).
LJW
VOTE for Wooden Award nominees McLemore & Withey
VOTE FOR COACH SELF (West Region, for god's sake people vote! Weber is ahead of Self!)
VOTE for Kansas players, team, and moment in NCAA 75th Anniversary of March Madness (Vote for Wilt, Clyde, Danny, 51-52 Kansas, Mario's Miracle)
Kansas 2012-13 MBB Schedule
Kansas 2012-13 WBB Schedule
Big 12/College News
The Kansas basketball squad is three wins away from winning its ninth straight league title -- a feat that hasn't been accomplished by a major conference program since the days of UCLA and John Wooden.
Still, if the Jayhawks end up hoisting the Big 12 trophy, coach Bill Self won't expect the accomplishment to generate much buzz in Lawrence.
"A few fans might buy T-shirts," Self said. "But that'd be about it. Winning a conference title means you had a good year. But to make it special, you've got to do well in March."
Self paused. "At least in some people's minds," he said.
The next 10 days will feature some of the most compelling races for conference championships that we've seen in years.
Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Michigan State are battling it out the Big Ten. Georgetown, Marquette and Louisville are positioned near the top of the Big East. Kansas and Kansas State are tied for the Big 12 lead and the Pac-12 is wide open.
But does anyone care?
…That's what makes the NCAA tournament both beautiful and maddening. It can turn 35-win campaigns into failures and crown champions who, for most of the season, appeared deeply flawed. It's the ultimate equalizer.
That's great for a team such as the 2011 Connecticut Huskies, who won the national championship despite finishing in a tie for ninth place in the Big East. But it has to be frustrating for coaches such as Pittsburgh's Jamie Dixon, whose Panthers won the Big East title the same season with a 15-3 record. That Pittsburgh team will be remembered more for losing to Butler in the Round of 32.
"You could be ranked in the top 10 in the country the whole year," Purdue's Matt Painter said, "but if you lose in the first or second round, people look at you like you're a failure.
"You're not a failure. You're playing on a neutral court, you're playing another really quality team. There are a lot of things that can change the game: where you're playing, who the officials are, who's hurt, who's sick. You get knocked off, and that's how your season is judged.
"Whether it's fair or not, it's reality."
ESPN Kings Court
When Oklahoma's Amath M'Baye leaped to dunk and flashed an upside-down "Hook'em Horns" hand sign, the Sooners were in complete control of archrival Texas with a 22-point lead in the second half.
And then Texas' Myck Kabongo took over and the Longhorns salvaged a sliver of fun in an otherwise miserable season by rallying to a wild 92-86 overtime victory Wednesday night.
Kabongo scored 31 points, fueling a rally over the final 8 minutes of regulation and sending the game to overtime with a desperation jumper over a defender at the buzzer to tie it at 77.
Then Kabongo scored Texas' first six points in overtime as the Longhorns (13-15, 5-10 Big 12) stunned Oklahoma (18-9, 9-6) with their largest comeback in 15 years under coach Rick Barnes.
"Momentum changes," Barnes said. "I'm sitting here thinking to myself, `What just happened?' But it happened."
Thanks mostly to Kabongo, who scored 24 points over the final 8 minutes of regulation and overtime, shooting 7 of 7 from the floor and 8 of 10 on free throws in that span. His 3-pointer to start overtime gave Texas its first lead since midway through the first half.
"These guys know what I'm capable of doing," said Kabongo, who has played only five games after sitting out a 23-game NCAA-imposed suspension.
Romero Osby scored 31 for Oklahoma but missed a critical free throw at the end of regulation that would have given the Sooners a three-point lead before Kabongo's game-tying shot. The Sooners now have lost eight in a row in Austin.
Kabongo was supposed to dribble and kick the ball to Sheldon McClellan for the final shot, but he got tied up and had to put it up himself.
"I prayed," said Texas freshman forward Ioannis Papapetrou. "He threw it up, and he made it. I was just standing there watching it."
Oklahoma never saw it coming when the Sooners were dominating what had been a punchless Texas team going through the motions of another loss. But M'Baye's dunk and hand gesture -- and stifling full-court defense by Texas -- seemed to change everything.
AP
Marcus Smart got the loudest pregame cheers among Oklahoma State players facing TCU in something of a high school reunion.
Le'Bryan Nash made sure all the family and friends went home happy.
Nash scored a career-high 28 points, Smart had his typically strong all-around game not far from the school where he won two state championships, and No. 15 Oklahoma State beat offensively challenged TCU 64-47 on Wednesday night.
ESPN
SI Luke Winn Power Rankings
Jermaine Marshall scored 25 points and hit a key layup with 1:06 left to help Penn State roar back from a 15-point deficit and upset No. 4 Michigan 84-78 for its first Big Ten victory in more than a year.
No wonder fans rushed the court in delight after the final buzzer.
"I was looking around. I wanted to see our team," Chambers said about the frenzy inside the Jordan Center. "I wanted to embrace it and be in that moment because those moments don't come very often."
Penn State (9-18, 1-14) had lost 18 consecutive regular-season Big Ten games dating to last season. The team's previous conference win came on Feb. 16, 2012, a 69-64 victory over Iowa.
It was Penn State's first win over a top-5 team since defeating No. 5 North Carolina 82-74 in the second round of the 2001 NCAA tournament, and the highest ranked opponent that the Nittany Lions have beaten since moving to the Jordan Center in 1996.
Even Michigan coach John Beilein was impressed.
"I think what you saw tonight is why we all love college basketball," he said.
ESPN
By moving the ball and creating quality shots, Southern California cruised to one of its best wins in years.
Eric Wise scored 22 points to lead five Trojans players in double figures, propelling USC to an 89-78 victory over No. 11 Arizona on Wednesday night.
Southern California (13-15, 8-7 Pac-12) shot 33-for-54 from the field, led by Wise's 9-for-12. Byron Wesley added 18 points, J.T. Terrell had 14 and Jio Fontan scored 12 with nine assists. Aaron Fuller also had 12 points.
It was USC's first win over a ranked team since it beat then-No. 10 Arizona two years ago.
ESPN
Inspiration struck Conor Mongan in November 2002, while he was sitting on the purple, velour sofa in his apartment in the Mission Valley neighborhood of San Diego, Calif. He was watching a television news report about a court appearance by Michael Jackson when a close-up image of the pop star appeared on the screen. Mongan shuddered at Jackson's unsightliness, at his unnaturally pointy and scabby nose, his too-white skin and bug-eyed expression. Then he thought:
That's it! It's perfect!
His reaction requires some context. At the time, the 25-year-old Mongan was one of the ringleaders of the student section at San Diego State men's basketball games, a group later self-dubbed The Show. Though he stopped attending classes at San Diego State in 1999, Mongan remained one of The Show's figureheads, using his background in graphic design to create the T-shirts that fans wore during games. That November, Mongan had been pondering ways the group could better distract opposing free throw shooters. When Jackson's face popped up on Mongan's television, it triggered an aha moment: If he had been so stricken by Jackson's mug, Mongan thought, imagine how a free throw shooter would react.
Working out of a local Kinko's over the next few days, Mongan divided the image of Jackson into quarters using Photoshop and then printed each quarter on an 11x17 piece of paper. He then pieced the photo back together, adhered it to a 20x30 poster board, and cut the outline with scissors.
The Jackson big head made its first appearance at the Aztecs' Dec. 12 game at Long Beach State. At the largely empty Pyramid in Long Beach, Mongan positioned himself two rows behind one basket and waited. With 11:03 left in the first half, Long Beach State guard Darnell Thompson stepped to the line to attempt the game's first free throw. Just as Thompson set to shoot, Mongan held up the giant Jackson head and moved it from side to side. Thompson stopped, clearly startled, Mongan recalls, and then Thompson looked to the sideline, as if asking his coaches: Do I really have to shoot with that in my sightline?
Thompson missed both free throws, and Mongan and the other members of The Show roared. "I knew we were on to something," Mongan says, and over the next three seasons he revealed more than a dozen new heads that featured Gene Simmons ("with a moveable red sock tongue"), Siegfried & Roy ("Roy's eyes were X'd out after he was mauled by that tiger") and David Hasselhoff ("before he got cool again").
In those early years, Mongan never envisioned that big heads would become so common in college basketball that it is now rare to find a student section without them. He did not foresee them joining foam fingers, rally towels and thundersticks among the great innovations in fandom, nor did he realize that his Michael Jackson head would spawn a multi-million dollar industry with a compelling large corporation vs. small startup storyline.
"I never looked at the heads as anything other than something to distract a shooter," Mongan says. "What has happened the last couple years, it has blown me away."
…It is a safe bet that no athletic department would have endorsed many of The Show's most creative heads, including what Mongan considers his pièce de résistance: The three-year campaign mocking former Wyoming coach Steve McClain, known among Mountain West fans as "Rat face."
"The first one I did of McClain, I superimposed his head on a rat's body, gave him whiskers and teeth," Mongan says. "The players on the Wyoming bench saw it and were covering their faces with towels to hide their laughter." By McClain's final season (2006-07), several "Rat face" McClain heads were displayed whenever Wyoming played the Aztecs -- one featured him holding a glowing piece of cheese -- and members of The Show also held up giant cutouts of a rattrap and similar props. After one game, McClain flipped off The Show, Mongan says, and McClain's mother approached the group and expressed her disappointment with the "rat-ification" of her son.
McClain is now an assistant coach at Indiana, a school that has embraced the use of sanctioned big heads like few others. When Tom Crean moved from Marquette to Indiana in 2008, he brought the heads with him (figuratively speaking). Now, Indiana athletic department staffers hand out between 75 to 100 big heads before each game. At halftime, they move the heads from the north to the south end of Assembly Hall so that visitors are always shooting into a sea of big heads. At game's end, staffers stand at the exits closest to the student section and retrieve the heads.
"Last year, when we beat No. 1 Kentucky, we lost about 40-50 percent of our stock," says Mark Skirvin, Indiana's associate athletic director for marketing. "Kids were tearing them into pieces and throwing them in the air."
Indiana produces so many heads -- a local printer charges $75 apiece for the largest heads, which are mounted on foam board -- that there is a line item for them in the athletic department budget. "It's a significant cost but it has really caught on with our student fans," says Skirvin. "How long they will keep liking them is hard to say, but I don't think they are going anywhere for awhile."
SI
NYT: Calls for NCAA reform grow louder
Big 12 Composite Schedule & Result
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Recruiting
Conner Frankamp scored 20 points as City League boys champion North opened its Class 6A sub-state with a 63-28 victory over Campus on Wednesday night at North.
Frankamp scored 16 of his points over the second and third quarters as the Redskins pulled away. North (19-2) will play host to Hutchinson (11-9) in Friday’s sub-state final.
Wichita Eagle
So I know that I got crossed by @CFrankamp_23 tonight. But I mean at least I can say I got my ankles broken my kid who's going to KU #RCJH
https://twitter.com/nicks_cody
With all due respect to senior Conner Frankamp and his gazillion points per game in his career and the ticket to the Kansas Class 6A tournament that is up for grabs, the lead role on Friday night will be played by the building itself.
The ostensible purpose of Hutchinson's trip to Wichita is to punch its ticket to the state tournament. Yes, that's big. So is playing against the University of Kansas-bound Frankamp, who might someday be remembered as one of the great high school players ever to play in a state that loves its basketball.
But let's hope, too, that the Salthawks relish the opportunity to close the curtain on a gymnasium with 85 years of memories, a gym with 85 years of war stories. If those walls could talk ...
If they could, they'd tell stories of school rife with pride and tradition.
They'd speak with delight about the Wichita North drum line, which each home game would go through a 20-minute routine on the court during the pre-game, while the Redskins dribbled around each drummer like a downhill slalom skier, navigating each gate.
They'd tell stories of North graduate Lynette Woodard, maybe the greatest female basketball player ever, and of Barry Sanders, who played basketball there, but made a name for himself by playing a different sport.
It's a magical place, steeped in history. It was built in a different time when people were smaller - as was the population - and it served a valued purpose. Unfortunately, society outgrew its usefulness. It holds just a tidge over 1,200 people, all of whom watch from an area elevated from the court. Many of those seats offer obstructed viewing because of the pillars - a sign of the architectural time.
Hutch News
2/27/13, 4:58 PM
“@CamDurley31: @drescher125 and @JohnWitkowski33 stepped up day amazing games out of both of u guys #RAMNation #lovemyteam” truuuuuuuuuuu !
https://twitter.com/wayneselden23
Fifth-seeded Tilton came back from a 16-point deficit in the second half to upset fourth-seeded Marianapolis, 72-65, on Wednesday.
Marianapolis (21-9) started the game with three straight turnovers and on the wrong side of a 10-0 run, at one time trailing, 20-9. Tilton hit six 3-pointers in the first six minutes, three by McDonald’s All-American and Kansas-committed Wayne Selden (24 points).
Norwich Bulletin
North Cobb was a perfect 15 of 15 from the line and hit nine three-pointers Wednesday night as the Warriors knocked off the No. 1 Tift County Blue Devils, 68-63 in the state quarterfinals. Tift had the lead after each of the first three quarters, including 52-45 going into the fourth.
Brannen Greene led Tift with 22, Tadric Jackson had 15 and D.J. Bryant chipped in 13. The Devils end their season 25-5.
Tifton Gazette
2013 KENTUCKY DERBY FESTIVAL BASKETBALL CLASSIC ROSTERS
AS OF 2/26/2013
White Team
Akoy Agau – Louisville
Connor Frankamp – Kansas
Keith Frazier – Undecided
Anton Gill – Louisville
Jarell Martin – LSU
Jordan Mickey – LSU
Robert Hubbs – Tennessee
Jajaun Johnson – Marquette
Rysheed Jordan – Undecided
Austin Nichols – Memphis
Coach Jeff Jones – Madison Preparatory Academy (LA)
Coach AW Hamilton – Hargrave Military Academy (VA)
Black Team
Jabari Bird – California
Stevie Clark – Oklahoma State
Devin Davis – Indiana
Tyler Ennis – Syracuse
Luke Fischer – Indiana
Zak Irvin – Michigan
Sindarius Thornwell – South Carolina
Stanford Robinson — Indiana
Troy Williams – Indiana
Derek Willis – Kentucky
Coach Paul Melnik – Fr. Henry Carr Catholic Secondary School (ON)
Coach Troy Barr – Bullitt East High School (KY)
Tickets for the event are on sale now. Basketball Classic tickets are $11 and $16 (includes $1 facility fee) and are available at TicketMaster locations (www.ticketmaster.com), by phone (800-745-3000) or the Freedom Hall box office (502-367-5144).
Link
KDF website
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
Frankamp scored 16 of his points over the second and third quarters as the Redskins pulled away. North (19-2) will play host to Hutchinson (11-9) in Friday’s sub-state final.
Wichita Eagle
So I know that I got crossed by @CFrankamp_23 tonight. But I mean at least I can say I got my ankles broken my kid who's going to KU #RCJH
https://twitter.com/nicks_cody
With all due respect to senior Conner Frankamp and his gazillion points per game in his career and the ticket to the Kansas Class 6A tournament that is up for grabs, the lead role on Friday night will be played by the building itself.
The ostensible purpose of Hutchinson's trip to Wichita is to punch its ticket to the state tournament. Yes, that's big. So is playing against the University of Kansas-bound Frankamp, who might someday be remembered as one of the great high school players ever to play in a state that loves its basketball.
But let's hope, too, that the Salthawks relish the opportunity to close the curtain on a gymnasium with 85 years of memories, a gym with 85 years of war stories. If those walls could talk ...
If they could, they'd tell stories of school rife with pride and tradition.
They'd speak with delight about the Wichita North drum line, which each home game would go through a 20-minute routine on the court during the pre-game, while the Redskins dribbled around each drummer like a downhill slalom skier, navigating each gate.
They'd tell stories of North graduate Lynette Woodard, maybe the greatest female basketball player ever, and of Barry Sanders, who played basketball there, but made a name for himself by playing a different sport.
It's a magical place, steeped in history. It was built in a different time when people were smaller - as was the population - and it served a valued purpose. Unfortunately, society outgrew its usefulness. It holds just a tidge over 1,200 people, all of whom watch from an area elevated from the court. Many of those seats offer obstructed viewing because of the pillars - a sign of the architectural time.
Hutch News
2/27/13, 4:58 PM
“@CamDurley31: @drescher125 and @JohnWitkowski33 stepped up day amazing games out of both of u guys #RAMNation #lovemyteam” truuuuuuuuuuu !
https://twitter.com/wayneselden23
Fifth-seeded Tilton came back from a 16-point deficit in the second half to upset fourth-seeded Marianapolis, 72-65, on Wednesday.
Marianapolis (21-9) started the game with three straight turnovers and on the wrong side of a 10-0 run, at one time trailing, 20-9. Tilton hit six 3-pointers in the first six minutes, three by McDonald’s All-American and Kansas-committed Wayne Selden (24 points).
Norwich Bulletin
North Cobb was a perfect 15 of 15 from the line and hit nine three-pointers Wednesday night as the Warriors knocked off the No. 1 Tift County Blue Devils, 68-63 in the state quarterfinals. Tift had the lead after each of the first three quarters, including 52-45 going into the fourth.
Brannen Greene led Tift with 22, Tadric Jackson had 15 and D.J. Bryant chipped in 13. The Devils end their season 25-5.
Tifton Gazette
2013 KENTUCKY DERBY FESTIVAL BASKETBALL CLASSIC ROSTERS
AS OF 2/26/2013
White Team
Akoy Agau – Louisville
Connor Frankamp – Kansas
Keith Frazier – Undecided
Anton Gill – Louisville
Jarell Martin – LSU
Jordan Mickey – LSU
Robert Hubbs – Tennessee
Jajaun Johnson – Marquette
Rysheed Jordan – Undecided
Austin Nichols – Memphis
Coach Jeff Jones – Madison Preparatory Academy (LA)
Coach AW Hamilton – Hargrave Military Academy (VA)
Black Team
Jabari Bird – California
Stevie Clark – Oklahoma State
Devin Davis – Indiana
Tyler Ennis – Syracuse
Luke Fischer – Indiana
Zak Irvin – Michigan
Sindarius Thornwell – South Carolina
Stanford Robinson — Indiana
Troy Williams – Indiana
Derek Willis – Kentucky
Coach Paul Melnik – Fr. Henry Carr Catholic Secondary School (ON)
Coach Troy Barr – Bullitt East High School (KY)
Tickets for the event are on sale now. Basketball Classic tickets are $11 and $16 (includes $1 facility fee) and are available at TicketMaster locations (www.ticketmaster.com), by phone (800-745-3000) or the Freedom Hall box office (502-367-5144).
Link
KDF website
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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