Tag: kansas basketball

Rutgers basketball: What new schools reached out to Cliff Omoruyi this weekend?

Three new schools are involved with Cliff Omoruyi’s recruitment on Sunday.

There are three new programs involved with Cliff Omoruyi on Sunday, with two of the new programs being traditional powerhouses in college basketball. Not surprisingly, the former Rutgers center is generating some serious transfer portal interest.

A source close to the situation tells Rutgers Wire that the former Rutgers center saw Baylor, Kansas and Kentucky get involved in his recruitment on Sunday. Omoruyi entered the transfer portal last week after spending the last four seasons at Rutgers.

A three-year starter at Rutgers, he has one year of eligibility left.

At Rutgers, Omoruyi was an All-Big Ten selection on multiple occasions. This past season was a bit of down year as Omoruyi averaged 10.4 points per game this season while also averaging 8.3 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game.

On Saturday, a source told Rutgers Wire that the following schools have reached out to Omoruyi:

This past season, Cliff Omoruyi earned honorable mention All-Big Ten honors. Scroll down and check out the best photos from his season!

Bill Self’s admission of looking forward to next season while Kansas was still alive was unfair to this year’s team

Bill Self could have kept this to himself.

Bill Self put his foot in his mouth Saturday after Kansas was eliminated from the second round of the NCAA tournament with a blowout loss to Gonzaga. During his postgame press conference, Self was asked if he was already looking forward to next season and the head coach responded by admitting he was looking ahead even before the tournament started.

“For the last month I’ve been thinking about next season, to be honest,” Self said. Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the team he was still coaching just a few moments earlier.

College basketball fans dragged Self for what sounded like an admission of giving up on a season that ended with a top-25 AP ranking and 4-seed in the tournament, disappointing only by Kansas’ own high standards. Sure, the Jayhawks had four losses in their previous five games before the tourney started, including the last two by a combined 50 points, but March is for miracles and a deep Kansas run would have hardly counted as such.

What Self said isn’t actually the problem, though, and shouldn’t be interpreted as him quitting on the season. In fact, him acknowledging he can do better to improve the roster is actually a statement of accountability — an admission of his own failure to put together a team he could believe in this year. Where he went wrong is that he said it out loud. Self should have kept this to himself.

“We could have done a much better job as a staff putting more guys out there that we could play,” Self said. “And so that’s something that I’ve thought about for a long time.”

Every coach is concerned with how they can improve their teams from year to year, and that doesn’t start and end in the offseason. Holes on a roster are never more evident than during the grind of a regular season. Self admitting as much shouldn’t be taken as him giving up, rather it’s a peek into the mind of someone obsessed with winning. There’s no way to prove Self wasn’t giving 100 percent while manning the sidelines for this year’s team, but if anyone deserves the benefit of doubt, it’s a two-time champion and third active career wins leader.

Because a team isn’t good enough doesn’t mean it needs to be said, though. Self admitting his team was short on “firepower” and lacked the depth to overcome injuries didn’t accomplish anything but throw his current players under the bus. Maybe he did it to absolve himself of a sub-par coaching job, or maybe he lacked the awareness to know how it would come across. But it was completely unnecessary and below any coach, particularly one already held in high regards.

Kansas rallies past Michigan in OT at the Galen Center, could face USC in Women’s NCAA Tournament

Kansas struggled in the second and third quarters but found a finishing kick in the fourth and OT.

The Galen Center hosted its first Women’s NCAA Tournament basketball game on Saturday. It didn’t involve USC. Michigan and Kansas were the undercard with a start time of just after 11 a.m. in Los Angeles, preceding the Trojans’ March Madness debut in the second game of a Saturday doubleheader. It seemed that Michigan would advance in the bracket to potentially play USC, but Kansas insisted on a different outcome.

The Jayhawks, down 10 points with 6:30 left in the fourth quarter, rallied to force overtime and then scored the first five points of the extra period en route to an 81-72 win which sends them into Monday evening’s second round. The Trojans hope to win their game on Saturday afternoon versus Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and meet KU on Monday.

The turning point in the game came in the fourth quarter, when Michigan post player Cameron Williams — who had been the best player on the floor until that point — picked up her fourth foul and went to the bench. Kansas drives had been getting thwarted by Williams near the rim. After Williams left, Kansas was able to earn fouls and free throws to reduce the deficit. KU got within three points and then tied the game at 67 on a multi-bounce 3-pointer from Zakiyah Franklin with 12 seconds left. Michigan’s Lauren Hansen launched a 3-pointer in the final seconds for the win, but it missed. Kansas then outscored Michigan 14-5 in overtime for the victory.

Follow Trojans Wire for more on the Galen Center Women’s NCAA Tournament subregional this weekend.

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USC Women’s NCAA Tournament preview: Trojans are focused on Game 1, but what about Game 2?

USC, if it wins its first game this weekend, has a short turnaround for a Monday second-rounder. Here’s a quick look:

The USC Trojans need to win four games in the next two weeks to punch their ticket to the 2024 Women’s Final Four in Cleveland. This Women’s NCAA Tournament will be an unqualified success for USC if it can get that far. First things first, though: USC needs to win its two games this weekend in the Galen Center at the NCAA Women’s Tournament’s subregional, the four-team pod through which one team will advance to the Sweet 16 next week in Portland. USC has its first-round game versus Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, but before that game on Saturday in Galen, Michigan and Kansas will battle in the 9-versus-8 seed matchup.

In previewing this subregional, Kansas appears to be the tougher, thornier potential opponent for USC for one basic reason: The Jayhawks are a defense-first team. They rely on their toughness to win games. This brings up a memory from last year’s NCAA Tournament which doesn’t involve USC but could play into a potential Kansas-USC matchup on Monday in the second round.

Ole Miss, under coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin, is a defense-first team. “Coach Yo” had Ole Miss ready to muck things up against Stanford and its skilled performers in the second round last year. It didn’t matter that Stanford was a No. 1 seed playing on its home floor. Ole Miss made the game physical and ugly and difficult, and Stanford couldn’t handle that. USC has seen what a physical, tough, defense-first team can do to its offense. Arizona really bothered the Trojans in recent weeks. Kansas could be that thorny kind of foe in the second round. USC needs to be ready to win an ugly game.

Yes, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is the first point of focus for this team. We’re not ignoring that. However, in terms of looking at all four teams in Los Angeles this weekend, we who write about USC sports can give you a little sneak peek at Kansas in a possible second-round game. Our conclusion: Michigan beating Kansas would be a good outcome for USC. We will see what happens.

Michigan-Kansas starts the Saturday schedule at Galen Center at 11 a.m. local time in Los Angeles on ESPNEWS. USC then follows with a 1:30 p.m. game (30 minutes after Michigan-Kansas) on ESPN.

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Texas prepares for massive matchup with No. 9 Kansas

There’s no better resume building opportunity moving forward for Texas than Kansas on the road.

Another opportunity to move off the bubble will take place on Saturday. The Texas Longhorns (17-9) take on the No. 9 Kansas Jayhawks (20-6) in Allen Fieldhouse.

Like the Houston Cougars who Texas faced last Saturday, the Jayhawks are good at protecting their home floor. Kansas is 13-0 at home on the season compared to a 3-5 record on the road. That doesn’t make them any less vulnerable.

The Jayhawks have five losses in Big 12 conference play with an 8-5 record in such games. College basketball’s toughest conference has got the better of most teams. Kansas is no exception. Pulling an upset will still be a tall task for the Longhorns.

Texas enters the game with conference wins over No. 11 Baylor (19-7), Oklahoma (18-8) and TCU (18-8). Another top victory could solidify the team’s NCAA Tournament resume and take pressure off of its final four regular season games.

It’s not a must-win game for the Longhorns, but like Houston, Iowa State and BYU it’s an opportunity to earn a difficult win that they failed to earn in previous tries. Texas will face Kansas on Saturday at 5 p.m. CT on ESPN.

Watch: Flory Bidunga is dominant on both ends of the court in this highlight

Flory Bidunga shows off his elite athleticism.

Kansas basketball is getting a special player in Flory Bidunga, one who has some truly special and unique athleticism.

The five-star center, committed to the Jayhawks since August has the ability to control the paint on both ends of the court. Combine this with his understanding of the court and spacing and Bidunga is a match-up nightmare in the making for Kansas.

Bidunga showed that off this week for Kokomo High School (Kokomo, Indiana), first off with a block that was dominant and then finishing off the sequence with a dominant block.

(Nice court awareness from the teammate to assist off the backboard on that one).

Without lumbering, Nidunga moved up and down the court almost effortlessly. He made both plays seem rather ordinary which, for the five-star, is truly normal:

 

Just some outstanding athleticism and agility for the 6-foot-9, 210-pound center.

Bidunga is ranked the No. 1 center in the nation by ESPN and is a five-star recruit. He is the ninth-best player in the 2024 recruiting class.

Shaka Smart had to be held back as benches cleared during a skirmish with Bill Self at Maui Invitational

This was INTENSE.

Tensions were high between No. 4 Marquette head coach Shaka Smart and No. 1 Kansas head coach Bill Self during the 2023 Maui Invitational Semifinals.

During the first half, Kansas senior Kevin McCullar hit a 3-point shot and, as the two teams went into a break for a media timeout, it wasn’t long before both benches cleared.

While it wasn’t initially clear what caused the skirmish, the two teams were eventually separated and both of the coaches were issued off-setting technical fouls. NCAA referee Roger Ayers then huddled with Self and Smart in an effort to de-escalate the conflict.

But the two sides remained heated and ESPN clearly captured Self saying the word “unbelievable” after the interaction.

After the game, which Marquette won 73-59, Smart offered his take on what happened during his exchange with McCullar (via KansasCity.com):

“He played at Texas Tech and he always has brought an edge that is different. He’s always enjoyed having a dialogue with me. He probably does that with all coaches. That kind of started the little dust-up. Their bench got involved. Our bench got involved. At the end of the day it really had very little to do with the game.”

Self, meanwhile, didn’t want to talk about the incident after the game but he told reporters that he doubted Smart provided an accurate summary.

For what it is worth: The two coaches and their teams have not seen eye-to-eye for more than a decade. Back in 2011, VCU (then coached by Smart) faced Kansas in the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament. Before the game, Marcus and Markieff Morris had an altercation with VCU in the tunnel.

Smart was later hired by Texas, and for many years, he and Self battled for recruits and conference titles in the Big 12. Three of Smart’s highest-ranked wins have come against Self and Kansas, per ESPN.

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Texas Basketball: Looking at the biggest games of the 2023-24 season

Texas has exciting matchups in basketball heading into the upcoming season.

The Texas basketball season is under a month away. The Longhorns will look to match last season’s terrific results after reaching the regional finals of their bracket.

This team is going to look different. While Dylan Disu, Dillon Mitchell, Tyrese Hunter and Brock Cunningham are among last season’s contributors, more than half of the team’s most integral players from last season are gone.

Oral Roberts guard Max Abmas and Virginia forward Kadin Shedrick stand as the big headliners from the Longhorns’ portal class. After averaging over 21 points and four assists last season, expect Abmas to be a major part of this year’s team.

The Longhorns are going to face several big matchups in the 2023-24 season. Here’s a look at some of the team’s biggest games.

Five-star shooting guard Tre Johnson cancels visits, is down to two schools

Tre Johnson is down to two schools as the a decision is fast approaching.

Tre Johnson seems to be winding down his recruitment with the five-star guard canceling the remainder of his visits.

The class of 2025 recruit is down to Baylor and Texas, with Johnson cutting programs Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas and Kentucky from his final list. A 6-foot-5 shooting guard from Link Academy (Dallas), Johnson is a consensus five-star recruit and is ranked a top-five player nationally by all four recruiting services.

He is the No. 4 recruit in the nation according to ESPN and for good reason. Johnson is a confident and creative scorer who has the ability to create off the dribble. He has a nice touch on his jump shot.

There is good range to his game and he is effective when posting up.

According to the On3 Prediction Machine, Baylor is the favorite to land Johnson at 38.2 percent. Predictably, it is Texas at second with 33.4 percent.

His father, Richard Johnson, played his college basketball at Baylor and Midwestern State. He is in the Hall of Honor at Midwestern.

Q&A: Raptors rookie Gradey Dick: ‘I just try to be myself in everything that I do. It’s goofy.’

For The Win caught up with Raptors rookie Gradey Dick.

NEW YORK — Toronto Raptors rookie Gradey Dick is one of the most interesting rookies in the league.

The former McDonald’s All-American and Gatorade National Player of the Year (we spoke to him after he won the award) was a standout freshman at Kansas last season, earning Big 12 All-Freshman. The 19-year-old forward was then selected by the Raptors at No. 13 overall in the 2023 NBA Draft.

While he is known for his sharpshooting off the court, he is also an animal lover who does a shockingly good impression of the Disney character Donald Duck.

He performs dance routines and backflips on his TikTok, he is followed by Drake on Instagram and he has a personality as vibrant as the suit he wore on draft night.

Before the 2023 NBA Draft, For The Win met up with Dick, who shared his thoughts about his transition to the NBA.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity. Read more of our pre-draft interviews with NBA prospects.

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