2B
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2008
Sportin' Jayhawks
trivia of the day
Q: Before junior cornerback Aqib Talib was named a First Team All American last season, when was the last Kansas fielded an All-American football player and who was it?
A: 1983 when senior kicker Bruce Kallmeyer was named to the team. Kallmeyer ranks third in Kansas history in scoring with 233 points.
Kansas football media guide
fact of the dav
Kansas football media guide quote of the day
Only two Jayhawk football players have been named to the All-American team two years in a row. As a quarterback and halfback, John Hadl earned the honor twice in 1960 and 1961, Kansas running back legend Gale Sayers accomplished the same feat in 1963 and 1964.
"We had an excellent season and this is how I want to go out"
on tv tonight
MLB:
—Kansas City at Seattle, 5:30 p.m., FSN
—Aqib Talib
Women's Softball:
Women's Softball:
—Team USA vs. Arizona, 6
p.m., ESPN2
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BIG 12 BASKETBALL
Beasley declares for NBA draft
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kansas State freshman Michael Beasley announces his plans to take part in the NBA draft during a news conference in Manhattan on Monday.
BY JOHN MARSHALL ASSOCIATED PRESS
MANHATTAN — After putting together one of the best freshman seasons ever, Michael Beasley is headed to the NBA.
Kansas State's All-American freshman announced Monday that he will skip his final three seasons to enter the June 26 NBA draft, where he could be the No.1 overall pick.
"It's time to take my game to the next level," Beasley said as his family and several teammates looked on. "I think I proved myself over the course of the season. I just think it's time for new challenges."
Fellow freshman Bill Walker also announced Monday that he was making himself eligible for the draft, but he won't sign with an agent. That means that Walker, who averaged 16.1 points and 6.3 rebounds this season, can remove his name prior to the draft and be eligible to return to Kansas State for his sophomore year.
Beasley dominated his lone college season, averaging 26.2 points and becoming just the third freshman in NCAA history to lead the nation in rebounds at 12.4 game. He had the second-most rebounds and third-most points by a freshman in NCAA history, helping Kansas State to its first NCAA tournament victory in 20 years.
Beasley also was a consensus All-American, was named Big 12 player of the year and finished second to North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough for numerous player of the year awards.
"Mike's as good as I've seen," said Kansas State coach Frank Martin, seated next to Beasley in front of dozens of reporters.
NBA scouts and general managers like him, too.
An agile 6-foot-10 power forward. Beasley is exceptionally versatile, able to power his way inside or step out to the perimeter, shooting 37 percent from beyond the arc.
NBA officials came out in droves to watch him play at nearly every game, and some general managers spent three to four days at a time in Manhattan, leading to speculation that Beasley would be the No. 1 overall draft pick if he left school early.
Millions of dollars awaits Beasley in the NBA, but it still wasn't an easy decision to leave school.
He spent the weekend debating whether he should stay or go, talking with family, friends and coaches about the NBA. It wasn't until Monday morning, just hours before his self-imposed deadline, that Beasley made his final decision.
"I kind of made my mind up, then went back to being undecided.
made my mind up, then went back to being undecided," said Beasley, who signed with agent Joe Bell. "Today was when my decision stuck."
Beasley leaned heavily on his mother, Fatima Smith, and Martin in making his decision.
Smith has been Beasley's main supporter, helping him as he bounced from once high school to another after his pranks wore thin, moving her family to tiny Manhattan once he decided to attend Kansas State. She was there again when the time came for 'Lil Mike, as she calls him, to make a decision about the NBA.
"The best thing I could have done was let him breathe, come to some decisions on his own, let him come to me with some questions," Smith said. "And once he came to me with some questions, I kind of guided him and turned the questions around: 'what would you do or how do you think this would happen?' It was still a battle up until last night, until this morning."
Beasley said at the start of the season that he wanted to play at Kansas State for four years, that he had made a commitment and wanted to earn a degree. He started hinting early in the season that he might not stick around and ultimately decided the money was just too much to pass up.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Manchester United's Wayne Rooney, left, vies for the ball with Arsenal's Alexandre Song, during their English Premier League soccer match at Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England on Sunday.
Associated Press
Ahead of the competition
LAWRENCE — Roy Williams is out of the outhouse.
LAWRENCE Roy Williams no longer decorates restroom door
The large sketch of the former Kansas coach was removed from the men's room of the Downtown Barbershop on Monday where it had hung as a symbol of fan anger ever since he departed for North Carolina in 2003.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Now "Ol'Roy" is back where he used to be, prominently displayed among the hundreds of sketches, photographs and memorabilia that make the landmark little shop near the Kansas campus a shrine to Jawhawk athletics.
Jon Amyx removes a painting of former Kansas basketball coach Roy Williams from the restroom in his barbershop in Lawrence on Monday. Amyx moved the portrait from a wall of Kansas memorabilia in his shop to the restroom five years ago after Williams left Kansas for a position at North Carolina.
Instead of facing the urinal in the back of the building, the man who coached Kansas to nine conference championships is facing customers out front. His smiling countenance is nestled between
photographs of former Jayhawk greats Clyde Lovellette and Wilt Chamberlain.
"The hatchet is buried," said shop owner Jon Amyx. "I think most people would tell you that now."
When Kansas beat Williams' North Carolina team 84-66 in the semifinals of the NCAA tournament, Kansas fans had a wild, impromptu celebration in downtown Lawrence. Many said that night that now, at last, they were no longer hurt and upset that Williams had left town without even saying goodbye when he
scurried away to the Tar Heels.
Then last Monday night they saw Williams wearing a Jayhawk on his heart and cheering Bill Self's Kansas team to an overtime victory against Memphis in the NCAA championship game.
"I was surprised to see that," Amyx said. "A lot of people were. It was neat to see him sitting there with that on his chest. People wanted to beat Roy more than they wanted to beat North Carolina, and we did. Now I think next time we play them, we'll just want to beat North Carolina."
Associated Press
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