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SPORTS / WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
BASEBALL (CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13)
the rankings.
Despite Thompson's late return to form — he finished with a .338 average and six home runs in 40 games, most of his production coming in a torrid in the last few weeks — he failed to match his Triple Crown-winning season of 2009 and couldn't help the team to a third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.
Despite the drop in numbers, Thompson played his last game in a Jayhawk uniform in the season- ending loss to Baylor.
Thompson became the highest drafted Jayhawk in the eight-year Ritch Price era Tuesday night.
The Oakland Athletics selected him with the 10th pick of the sixth round, 185th overall. It's the highest any Jayhawk has gone since Brandon O'Neal went 170th overall to the Anaheim Angels in 2000.
Thompson missed the first 19 games of the season with the injury and was slow to return to form, but
finished the season with a respectable .338 average with six home runs and 38 RBI in 40 games.
In his sophomore year Thompson won the Triple Crown in the Big 12, leading the conference in batting average (.389), home runs (21) and RBI (82).
Next off the draft board was senior second baseman - and coach's son - Price, who was selected in the 13th round with the 401st overall pick by the Tampa Bay Rays, a team with a notably strong farm system.
Price, always solid defensively was the beneficiary of an offensive breakthrough in his senior year after a nagging labrum injury held him back in his early years. Price was second on the squad with a .351 batting average and six home runs and was third with 49 RBI
The San Francisco Giants selected Bochy in the 20th round. Bochy's father, Bruce, is the manager of the Giants.
Bochy, Kansas' closer until a torn ligament in his throwing elbow ended his season early, posted stellar numbers in limited action this year. In 12 appearances, Bochy posted a 0.78 ERA, allowing just two runs over 23 innings. He led the team with five saves.
Bochy underwent Tommy John surgery on April 8, which in most cases takes a full year of rehabilitation. With the opportunity to play for his father's organization, however, it is expected that Bochy will sign with the Giants and forego his final year of eligibility.
Selik became the 22nd round pick of the Washington Nationals, and the fourth Jayhawk off the board. Selik went 6-4 in 15 starts this year, with a 5.06 ERA and 72 strikeouts. Selik, who spent two years at Grossmont College before coming to Kansas for his junior and senior years, won his first four starts this year before struggling on the way in.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Selby arrives in town, discovers broken finger
A doctor's appointment made incoming freshman Josh Selby two hours late for his first press conference Tuesday.
It was apparent why the appointment took so
ment took so long when he walked in with a cast on his left arm: a broken bone in his left hand. Out four to six weeks.
Selby said he broke it a while
Selby
ago during a pick-up game and didn't think anything of it. Only Monday, while he was moving into his dorm, did he feel pain.
"When you're playing, your adrenaline is pumping so I didn't
notice it,"he said.
The Rivals.com No.1 recruit got this news less than a day after arriving in Lawrence.
The injury puts a damper on his basketball workouts, though he can still condition and do ball handling drills with his dominant right hand. He said he won't let the injury prevent him from improving.
Selby has a history of showing toughness. Just a few weeks ago, Selby was playing in New York and slit his right hand between two of his fingers. Already bleeding, he dunked the ball, opened the wound further and ended up needing stitches.
"I was always told if you're hurt, you can still play," Selby said. "The only time you really can't play is when you're dead."
Corey Thibodeaux
MONTEMAYOR (CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13)
In any scenario, Kansas needs to look out for its own best interests. If one or multiple raids on the Big 12 leave Kansas stranded, it can be sure that its basketball program will mean something to someone. Options exist from the Mountain West to the Big East, Conference USA or, in a reach,
even the Big Ten.
If nothing happens and the Big 12 exists more or less as it does now, the University and Athletics must remember how close it all came to falling apart. It would be unwise to forget how the birthplace of basketball found itself searching for suitors in most all
scenarios thrown about.
More questions still exist than answers, but perhaps this episode can at least be used as an opportunity for the University to review its priorities. The University must continue to seek and demand transparency in the ongoing ticket scandal. It must do all it can to
ensure that the vast majority of students here that do not participate in NCAA sports receive a strong educational value for their money.
Don's Auto Center
It is important that the University consider all options when deliberating on the best path forward from all this. The option that makes our diplomas most valuable to potential employers is the best one. If that means privatizing the school, so be it.
It is clear that those involved in reshuffling or expanding conferences have only their best interests in mind. Such drastic change will be easier to stomach knowing that our own school has our own interests in mind too.
I agree with what the chancellor said when she told The Associated Press Monday that "Athletics are important to a university. Athletics helps develop friendships and allegiances to the university." We don't have to lose athletics if the entire landscape of the NCAA is shaken. We don't have to get lost in the greed and corruption that shapes big time college sports, either.