WEDNESDAY - 52 days to college bball!

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

NBA.com pic

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

VOTE for KU


Kansas 2012-13 Schedule

Big 12/College News

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

Recruiting

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.
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