Former Jayhawk Brandon Rush addresses the crowd at halftime of the TCU game as his No. 25 jersey is added to the rafters of Allen Fieldhouse
BRANDON RUSH
Guard, 2005-2008 No.25
SKYLAR ROLSTAD
@SkyRolSports
Bob Davis left the Jayhawk Radio Network mic after last season, but he returned to Allen Fieldhouse on Wednesday to honor another Kansas Jayhawks great.
Before introducing Brandon Rush, a ceremonial video played on the video board, incorporating Davis's famous "swish" calls along with a few of Rush's best shots.
"One of the greatest defenders in KU history!" Davis boomed to the Allen Fieldhouse crowd after taking the audience through the story of Brandon Rush's stonewall defense on Stephen Curry in the 2008 NCAA Elite Eight in a way only a 32-year radio veteran could.
Curry passed the ball off to a teammate on the final play of the game, then the miss that ensued bought
the jayhawks a spot in the 2008 Final Four. It was one of many moments that defines Kansas basketball, and one of many reasons Rush addressed Kansas fans Wednesday night.
"This is the biggest day of my life," Rush said in his speech on James Naismith Court.
Rush's No. 25 went into the rafters on Feb. 22, as the curtain unveiled his No. 25, to the right of the Mario Chalmers' No.15. It will stay there among Kansas basketball's most venerable athletes for the rest of Kansas basketball history.
Rush's No. 25 hangs on the opposite end of the
Fieldhouse of the team's 2008 national title banner. Rush helped win that title, and joins 2008 teammate Mario Chalmers as players with retired jerseys from that championship team. Rush also joins Danny Manning and B.H. Born as players with the No. 25 jersey retired.
"That's just a big deal, for me and my family," Rush told the Kansan in a phone interview. "To have my name retired in the rafters at a very prestigious school and just to have my jersey retired there is a real big thing for me."
In only three years at Kansas, Rush reached 23rd in all-time scoring for Kansas with 1,477 points. He averaged 13.6 points over three years, having averaged over 13 points each year, and averaged 5.5 rebounds.
On Wednesday night, Kansas defeated TCU, 87-68, locking up at least a share of the program's 13th Big 12 title in a row. The Jayhawks maintained similar dominance even in Rush's playing days. The team won the fourth in that streak in Rush's junior year, before he left for the NBA.
Each year a new Kansas basketball season starts, and Kansas coach Bill Self is never shy about comparing the new squad to the one that won it all in 2008.
'When we won it in 'o8' or 'That 'o8 team' are familiar refrains for Self in news conferences. For fans, too, it makes sense that a perennially top-ranked team should be measured to the squad that achieved what Kansas takes the floor every season intending to
accomplish.
"It means all the hard work,all the wins,all the rough practices have paid off for us," Rush said. "It's very exciting to see everybody comparing the team to what we were in 'o8."
Rush thanked a number of people in his life when speaking about his accomplishment. When he mentioned Self, he quipped about the treadmill Self used to teach him to become a better basketball player.
Self forced Rush to run on a treadmill at practice, Rush said. Rush called the treadmill his fondest memory of Self.
"I just remember the times when he told me to be aggressive and if I wasn't aggressive he put me on the treadmill," Rush said. "I used to run on the
milk a oe on the use I vessive, m.That's stories that coach $
finally,
this new
house o
in nineye
best men
house. I
the ovi
ned from
In Nover
When I go
ACL injury
e the o
I care
and al-
ing their
body ho
for me.
t's a pr
ent for me
was an
thawed
s as lu
he NBA
2006-07
omore
as. I st