TUESDAY

Kansas Jayhawks

Temple's basketball team prides itself on facing tough nonconference opponents.

That's why it's not surprising that the Owls will face national power Kansas in a home-and-home series. Temple is also scheduled to play Duke for the third consecutive season and 28th time overall. And as reported in March, Temple will also play Syracuse next season.

Temple will face Kansas next season at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kan. The two teams will play again during the 2014-15 season in Philadelphia, most likely at the Wells Fargo Center.
Philly Inq


The Lawrence Community Shelter will benefit from Kansas University’s men’s basketball team’s loss to the University of Kentucky in the NCAA championship game.

Because of a wager between Gov. Sam Brownback and Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, Brownback will send 440 Kansas steak burgers to the Hope Shelter in Lexington, Ken.

In addition, Brownback Tuesday will deliver 120 steak burgers to the Lawrence Community Shelter.

“Like Gov. Brownback, we were cheering for a different result of the basketball game, but as a second outcome everyone at the Lawrence Community Shelter is grateful to the governor for this delicious and generous gift as a slam dunk of another sort,” LCS Executive Director Loring Henderson said.
LJW


Spots remain available in KU coach Bill Self’s two summer camps for youths to be held June 10-14 and 17-21. For information go to billselfbasketballcamp.com.

Former KU center Cole Aldrich of the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder will hold his second-annual camp for boys and girls in grades kindergarten through eighth grade July 9-12 at Olathe Northwest High. The camp will run 9 a.m.-noon each day. Former KU players Tyrel Reed, Jeff Gueldner and Mark Randall will serve as counselors. For information go to colealdrich.com.
LJW


Ryan Robertson, a former St. Charles West High School basketball standout, is now president of the St. Charles Community College Board of Trustees.

The board on April 16 elected officers for 2012-14. Robert Proost was elected vice president, William T. Lohmar Jr. treasurer and Rose Mack secretary.

Robertson, who also played basketball for the University of Kansas and the NBA's Sacramento Kings, is a regional director for Goldman Sachs Asset Management. He was appointed to the SCC board in 2008 and elected to a six-year term in 2010.
St Louis PD

Big 12/College News

Big 12 presidents have verbally agreed to a lucrative new media rights agreement, a source told CBSSports.com.

The deal is expected to be the one reported by CBSSports.com on March 13 worth a combined $2.6 billion with ESPN and Fox. The 13-year deal is projected to be worth $200 million annually to the conference (an average of $20 million per school) through 2025. For the moment, the Big 12 enters the stratosphere of the Pac-12, SEC and Big Ten, all of which are near or above the $200 million per year mark.

Expected to be announced along with the new deal is an extension of the league's grant of rights. League CEOs had previously agreed to a six-year grant of rights that would allow the conference to keep a school's television rights if it left for a new league. The expectation is that the new grant of rights will be 13 years to match the TV deal. That provision essentially binds the at-times contentious league together for the term of the agreement.

The hiring last week of Bob Bowlsby as the new Big 12 commissioner has to be an indication that the TV announcement is near and the league is on stable ground.

Even though it has been nearly two months since the news of the deal broke, lawyers continue to work on details of the final contract. While there isn't expected to be a hang up, the source added that until the agreements are actually signed the deal is not official.

The Big 12's current deal with ESPN/ABC doesn't expire until 2016. That part of the agreement is being termed an extension that would “sync up” with a $1.2 billion, 13-year deal signed with Fox in April 2011.

The first order of business for Bowlsby is possible expansion. While there are few candidates available that would be worth $20 million annually to the contract, it is known that Louisville is interested in joining the league.
CBS


One of the most sought-after college basketball transfers of the year wanted to come to Texas. But his old school had different ideas.

Tulsa’s Jordan Clarkson, the former Express-News greater San Antonio player of the year who was an all-Conference USA selection last year, will transfer to Missouri, his father confirmed Monday.

Mike Clarkson said his son had interest in playing at UT, but Tulsa would not grant him a release to play for the Longhorns. Originally, Tulsa gave only three schools (Colorado, Vanderbilt and TCU) permission to talk to Jordan Clarkson, but later expanded that list to include Missouri.

“It’s a positive outcome,” the elder Clarkson said. “It couldn’t get any worse than it started for him. At least this way he’s in a stable situation.”
SA Express


Forward James Watson won’t be part of the Kansas State basketball team next season.

Watson’s mother, Annette, said a school official informed her of the decision Friday, citing health concerns. Annette Watson said her son suffers from sickle-cell anemia and was diagnosed with a heart defect while playing at Washington State. Watson has a history of fainting, she said, and was found unconscious in his bathroom early in his first season at K-State.

“Once he was found unconscious there, I think they were very concerned about the risk of him playing, if it reoccurred,” she said.

Watson, who is scheduled to graduate in December, will remain on scholarship at K-State, his mother said. The school can apply for a medical exemption that would allow Watson to receive financial aid without counting toward the team’s scholarship limit.
TCJ


Byrne, 66, on Monday told his staff members at a social gathering on campus he would announce his retirement at a 12:30 p.m. news conference today at Kyle Field. Associate athletic director John Thornton, a former A&M basketball player and coach, will serve as interim athletic director while a search begins, an A&M official said.

One insider present at the gathering in the A&M Letterman's Lounge said Byrne was “very professional” and a bit emotional in urging his staff to continue “building champions” — a motto Byrne has promoted nearly since his arrival.

A&M president R. Bowen Loftin said last month he and Byrne were “holding conversations about the future” and that A&M intended to pay Byrne's contract ($690,000 annually) that expires at the end of August 2013. Loftin also made it clear that Byrne's job description would be determined between now and then, as the Aggies exit the Big 12 after 16 years to enter the Southeastern Conference on July 1.

While at Nebraska, Byrne was a founding father of the Big 12, and he was minimally involved in the Aggies' impending Big 12 exit and SEC entrance. The drive to change conferences last summer was spearheaded by Loftin and A&M regent Jim Wilson.

In December, an A&M insider said Byrne would be gone before the Aggies officially entered the SEC because of a growing rift between him and the administration
SA Express


An internal investigation into UNC-Chapel Hill’s Department of African and Afro-American Studies has found evidence of academic fraud involving more than 50 classes that range from no-show professors to unauthorized grade changes for students.

One of the no-show classes is the Swahili course taken by former football player Michael McAdoo that prompted NCAA findings of impermissible tutoring, and drew more controversy when the final paper he submitted was found to have been heavily plagiarized.

The investigation found many of the suspect classes were taught in the summer by former department chairman Julius Nyang’oro, who resigned from that post in September. The university now says Nyang’oro, 57, who was the department’s first-ever chairman, is retiring July 1.

…The 10-page report said the findings are a blow to the university’s academic integrity. The findings were so serious that the university consulted with the district attorney and the SBI about investigating forgery allegations, as some professors said their signatures were forged in documents certifying that they had taught some of the classes in question. Professors also said they had not authorized grade changes for students that the department submitted to the registrar’s office.

Law enforcement officials declined to investigate because they did not think the forgeries, if proven, rose to the level of criminal activity, according to the report.
News Observer


Leo Morton was sitting in a restaurant near the University of Missouri-Kansas City recently when a waiter asked about the kangaroo pin on his jacket’s lapel.

“I told him the kangaroo is the mascot for UMKC,” recalled Morton, the school’s chancellor. “He said, ‘Oh, I thought you guys were the Tigers.’ ”

That encounter got Morton thinking that it’s time to act on a long-percolating idea: Drop the “University of Missouri” and return the school to its original name, the University of Kansas City.

“We are not a branch of the University of Missouri Tigers,” Morton said, a hint of frustration in his voice.
KC Star


Louisville coach Rick Pitino said he wants to play Indiana next season. Hoosiers coach Tom Crean confirmed that the two sides are discussing the idea of a home-and-home series. “This is something we have to consider,’’ Crean said. IU is playing Butler in Indianapolis and could play UCLA or Georgetown in the Legends Classic in Brooklyn. IU could also draw North Carolina in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge in the most likely scenario. Louisville is in the Battle 4 Atlantis with a field that has all NCAA projected or bubble teams in Duke, Memphis, Stanford, Missouri, Minnesota, VCU and Northern Iowa. The Cards host Kentucky and will play a road SEC-Big East Challenge game. IU and Kentucky couldn’t agree on a series for next season, leaving the Hoosiers open to another high-profile game. “The polls have us 1 and 2,’’ Pitino said. “It would be good for us to have a game a 1-[hour], 45-[minute] bus ride away. It would be good for college basketball.’’
ESPN


Illinois State has hired Vanderbilt assistant and former Redbird player Dan Muller to replace Tim Jankovich as its men's basketball coach.

The school announced that it will hold a 5 p.m. news conference on Tuesday to introduce Muller as the program's 19th coach.

Jankovich left the Redbirds to be the coach in waiting under Larry Brown at SMU. The Redbirds, who played in the Missouri Valley final last March, are expected to challenge Creighton for the league title next season.

Mullet beat out current Illinois State assistant Rob Judson and Gonzaga assistant Ray Giacoletti for the job.

Muller played at Illinois State under current Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stalling from 1995-98 and has been part of his staff in Nashville, Tenn., since 2000.
ESPN


UConn athletic director Warde Manuel said Monday he has no plans to name Kevin Ollie or anyone else as a coach-in-waiting for the men's basketball program.

Coach Jim Calhoun, who turns 70 this month, is expected to return next season, but has not made his plans public.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, Manuel said he is operating under the assumption that the Hall of Fame coach will be back, noting that Calhoun has two years left on his contract.

"I don't sit here wondering on a day-to-day basis who is going to be my coach next year," Manuel said. "Unless something changes that I don't foresee ... Jim's our coach and I'm moving forward in that direction."

He would not disclose the conversations he and Calhoun have had about the future of the program, but said the plans don't currently include naming a successor while Calhoun is still coaching.
The Day


2012-13 Early Season Events List

Recruiting

Austin Nichols, a 6-foot-8, 193-pound senior-to-be from Briarcrest Christian School in Memphis, has received a scholarship offer from Kansas University, Rivals.com reports.

Nichols, who is ranked No. 40 nationally in the Class of 2013 by Rivals.com, has also received offers from North Carolina, Duke, Florida, Florida State, Louisville, Memphis, Mississippi, Ohio State, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Virginia.

“He runs like (UNC’s) Tyler Zeller did and we get him the ball on the run very often the same way the Tar Heels did with Zeller,” Briarcrest coach John Harrington told tarheelillustrated.com. “His only thing is to get stronger and he is working on it but Austin has never had a problem with getting pushed around. I can tell you that and we play in Memphis so the competition is tough.

“He is naturally right-handed but writes with his left and he led the city of Memphis in field goal percentage the past two years at 69 percent his sophomore year and 70 percent this past year.

“It really came together for Austin toward the end of the year. He had 21 points and 19 rebounds in our regional championship and then in the final four he had 30 points one night and 26 the next,” added his coach.
LJW


In 1990, Florida State great Tharon Mayes averaged over 23 points per game for the Seminoles, finishing his career 12th all-time in steals and 18th in scoring. Now, over two decades later, his son, class of 2013 shooting guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes, is taking the recruiting world by storm.

“I have around 34 offers,” Rathan-Mayes told NRS. “Recently, I’ve been offered by LSU, Seton Hall, Gonzaga, UCLA, Alabama, La Salle, UAB, SMU and Minnesota. I also have offers from Louisville, Kansas, Baylor, Florida State, UConn, Illinois, Marquette, N.C. State and a lot more.”

…“I want to go in and be able to make an immediate impact right away,” Rathan-Mayes said. “I want to have a great coaching staff who is going to push me and get me to the next level as well as being able to win a National Championship, that’s important. As for the playing style, I love to be able to get up and down, I just want to run. I want to be free in the system a little bit, too.”

He also knows several schools who fit that description and who can help him get to where he wants to be. “Kansas, Louisville, Baylor, Florida State, UCLA, Oregon, Alabama, Gonzaga and a lot of other schools that I’m forgetting all fit that,” Rathan-Mayes added.

Some of those schools that he mentioned, particularly Kansas, have a good idea of how they want to use him in their system and have compared him to past players. “Kansas talks about Sherron Collins, they want me to fit into their system like him,” Rathan-Mayes said. “It’s special, it’s really special to be compared to a guy like Sherron Collins, he was great at Kansas.”
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