Entries Tagged 'National news' ↓

Guard Tyrone Appleton, who made an official recruiting visit to Kentucky last season, has committed to Kansas.

Here’s the release from Kansas:

University of Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self announced Wednesday that standout guard Tyrone Appleton (6-3, 195) from Midland (Texas) College has signed a national letter of intent to play at KU next season.

A native of Gary, Ind. (Harmony Prep), Appleton averaged 13.2 points (46 percent shooting), 5.2 assists and 1.7 steals per game last season for 28-4 Midland. Appleton led the Western Junior College Athletic Conference in scoring, assists and steals as he was named MVP of the league. He was also named second team NJCAA All-American in 2007-08.

“Tyrone is a do-everything guard,” Self said. “He’s a good shooter. He’s a good handler. He can play the one (guard) or the two (guard). He will fit in well with the way we play with our interchangeable parts on the perimeter.”

“Tyrone has won big at the junior college level and certainly has sacrificed individual stats for the betterment of his team,” Self said. “We were sold on Tyrone when we first came in contact with him. He’s going to be a terrific addition to a young basketball team from a talent standpoint but most importantly from a leadership standpoint.”

As a freshman in 2006-07, Appleton led Midland to the NJCAA national title in which the Chaparrals went 29-8. He was second on the team with 14 points per game, including a team-best 16.4 points per game in league play. He also averaged 3.2 assists and 1.9 steals for the Chaparrals. Appleton played for coach Grant McCasland while at Midland.

“Having played for Coach McCasland – having won the national championship his freshman year and they had a terrific team this year – Tyrone has been well drilled and I am sure the transition will be smooth with him coming into our system,” Self said.

Appleton joins five future Jayhawks who signed national letters of intent last November. Those include junior college transfer Mario Little of Chicago, Ill., and freshmen Marcus Morris and Markieff Morris of Philadelphia, Pa., Travis Releford of Kansas City and Quintrell Thomas of Elizabeth, N.J.

Highly regarded prospect Tyreke Evans has committed to Memphis.

Here’s the report by The Associated Press:

One of the country’s last undecided high-profile basketball recruits will spend next season at Memphis.
<*J>Tyreke Evans, the most valuable player of the McDonald’s All-American game last month, announced his decision Wednesday at a news conference surrounded by his family at American Christian School.
<*J>“It was a tough decision, I wanted to stay close to home with my mom, my brothers and my family, but the school I chose was the University of Memphis,” Evans said.
<*J>A three-time state player of the year, Evans averaged 29 points per game as a senior and capped it off with a 21-point, 10-rebound performance in the McDonald’s game, the top event for high school seniors.
<*J>He seriously considered nearby Villanova as well as Texas before settling on the Tigers.
<*J>“I just decided Memphis was a better offense for me,” Evans said. “I would like to play with coach (John Calipari) because of the offense he ran.”
<*J>Evans will join the Tigers, who led Kansas down the stretch in the NCAA title game before falling in overtime, just as two of their top players may be leaving.
<*J>Evans could step directly into the starting spot vacated by Derrick Rose, who announced Tuesday that he is leaving for the NBA after one season with the Tigers. Chris Douglas-Roberts, the team’s leading scorer and Conference USA player of the year, may also end up in the NBA next season.
<*J>Evans, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard who excels at getting to the basket, could follow Rose as a one-and-done member of the Memphis backcourt.
<*J>“Hopefully coach Cal can get me ready to get to the next level and be a successful player in the NBA,” Evans said.
<*J>Evans played the last few games of his senior season with extra security after he began cooperating with police investigating a murder.
<*J>Evans in February testified against his cousin, Jamar Evans. Tyreke Evans said he was the driver of an SUV from which his cousin fatally shot another man.
<*J>Tyreke Evans testified that he heard a gunshot as the victim approached the vehicle and then drove off. He heard another, closer shot before seeing his cousin put a small handgun into his hooded sweat shirt.
<*J>Tyreke Evans was not charged in the case, but police complained that he did not talk to them until three weeks later — a few days before Jamar Evans was charged

The Derby Festival announced rosters for its April 19 high school all-star game.

One team includes Kentucky signees Darius Miller and DeAndre Liggins, plus three possible new signees: Paul McCoy, Maurice Sutton and Ater Majok.

Miller’s coach at Mason County High, Chris O’Hearn, will coach the team.

Basketball Classic tickets are $15 and $10 and are available at TicketMaster locations (www.ticketmaster.com), the Freedom Hall Ticket Office, or by phone (502) 361-3100 or (800) 487-1212.

Tyler Hansbrough was also named The Associated Press national Player of the Year in college basketball on Friday.

Earlier in the day, the United State Basketball Writers Association also named him its national Player of the Year.

North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough won the Oscar Robertson trophy, which goes to the United States Basketball Writers Association Player of the Year.

Here’s the news release:

Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina’s 6-9 junior All- American from Poplar Bluff, Mo., has been chosen winner of the Oscar Robertson Trophy by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association as the nation’s top college basketball player for the 2007-08 season.

Hansbrough received the trophy at the USBWA’s annual college basketball awards breakfast this morning in San Antonio. Drake coach Keno Davis was presented with the Henry Iba Award as the USBWA’s Coach of the Year and LSU-Shreveport’s Josh Porter was presented with the USBWA’s Most Courageous Award at the breakfast as well.

Selected by the USBWA two years ago as its national freshman of the year, Hansbrough was a dominating force for North Carolina this season, leading the Tar Heels to the NCAA Final Four in San Antonio, a No. 1 ranking in the national polls and a school-record 36 wins.

He was the Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year and led the league in scoring and rebounding with averages of 23.1 and 10.5, respectively.

Hansbrough is the fourth player from North Carolina to receive the USBWA player of the year award. The others are Phil Ford (1978), Michael Jordan (1984) and Antawn Jamison (1998).

This is the 50th anniversary of the USBWA player of the year award. First presented in 1959 to Oscar Robertson, it is the nation’s oldest and only one named after a player.

The USBWA named its player of the year award the Oscar Robertson Trophy in 1998 in honor of “The Big O,” named “College Player of the Century” in 2000 by the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

In Thursday’s story about Kentucky, I made a mistake. I said that only George Mason in 2006 had advanced to the Final Four as an 11 seed.

A reader reminded me that LSU did the same thing in 1986. Who could forget that? I could.

So two out of 92 No. 11 seeds have advanced to the Final Four.

Kentuckian Chris Lofton made the United State Basketball Writers Association’s All-American second team.

Vanderbilt forward Shan Foster also made the second team. Kansas State forward Michael Beasley was named Freshman of the Year.

Here’s the first two teams as announced Monday:
First Team
D.J. Augustin, G, Texas, So.
Michael Beasley, F, Kansas State, Fr.
Chris Douglas-Roberts, G, Memphis, Jr.
Tyler Hansbrough, F, North Carolina, Jr.
Kevin Love, C, UCLA, Fr.
Second Team
Shan Foster, G/F, Vanderbilt, Sr.
Luke Harangody, F, Notre Dame, So.
Chris Lofton, G, Tennessee, Sr.
A.J. Price, G, Connecticut, Jr.
D.J. White, F, Indiana, Sr.

UK Coach Billy Gillispie choked up as he spoke about Kentucky overcoming obstacles and doubts this season to receive a NCAA Tourmament bid on Sunday.

“I’m really proud . . .,” he said before pausing to regain his composure at a news conference.

A few moments earlier, he called the bid a “great testament” to players who believed in themselves.

Gillispie described Marquette, UK’s first-round opponent, as another tough opponent.

“It’ll be a major undertaking,” he said. “But we’ve faced a lot of good teams. We haven’t backed down from any of them and I don’t think we will on Thursday.”

Gillispie had no complaints about:

– an 11th seed, which is the program’s second worst in the 64 (or 65)-team field. In 1985, Joe B. Hall’s last season as coach, the Cats were seeded 12th. “Seeding is very, very, very important,” he said. “But . . . the most important thing is to see your name pop up on the TV screen.”

– Having to travel to Anaheim and play on the first day of the tournament. “We’ll love it out west,” he said before playfully noting that UK had been as far west as Nashville this season. (Actually, the farthest West this season was the game at Houston.)

Gillispie said he had not studied Marquette yet. But, he added, UK admired Marquette “from afar.”

“What jumps out at you is their athleticism,” he said. “They have great guards and really good role player inside guys. They compete hard on every single play. I’ve always admired how hard (Tom Crean’s) teams play.”

Here’s the information on tickets for games in Anaheim later this week.

The ticket price is $153. The phone number to call is 714-704-2500.

The website is www.hondacenter.com.

Nine teams with better Ratings Percentage Index numbers than Kentucky’s No. 57 failed to receive a NCAA Tournament bid.

The nine were No. 32 Dayton, No. 33 Illinois State, No. 46 Creighton, No. 47 Ole Miss, No. 49 Ohio State, No. 53 Virginia Tech, No. 54 Virginia Commonwealth and No. 55 Syracuse and No. 56 UAB.