Four Big Monday games set for KU men’s basketball team; Taylor won’t wear headband

By Gary Bedore     Jul 16, 2009

For the fourth straight season, Kansas University’s basketball team will be featured four times on ESPN’s Big Monday, the Big 12 Conference announced Thursday.

The Jayhawks like last year will play two games at home and two on the road.

KU, will play host to Missouri on Jan. 25 and Oklahoma on Feb. 22. The Jayhawks will travel to Texas and Texas A&M on Feb. 8 and 15 respectively.

“Wow. That’ll be interesting,” KU coach Bill Self said Thursday night when informed of the Big Monday schedule which includes those back to back games in Texas and the third consecutive game on the slate versus OU.

“We’re always happy to get four Big Monday games. Obviously Texas and A&M will be difficult road games, (but) it’s nice to be playing two (at home) instead of three (on road).”

KU has played three Big Monday games on the road twice in Self’s seven seasons at KU. The Jayhawks have played three at home one time. KU is 8-0 at home and 7-7 on the road in Big Monday games in the Self era.

• Recruiting: Self has a couple days off before hitting the road for the second half of the July recruiting evaluation period.

“We thought as a staff it was a productive period. We were able to evaluate guys we had been involved with and came up with a couple new guys through the evaluation process. It was a productive 10 days,” Self said of the first half. He cannot comment on specific recruits in accordance with NCAA rules.

Self before the start of the recruiting period said KU is looking for a big man, a point guard and a shooting guard/small forward.

Rivals.com says KU is now pursuing Florida center Fabricio de Melo, a 7-foot, 270-pounder from Sagemont High in Weston, Fla. Other top players on KU’s list include Harrison Barnes, 6-6 from Ames, Iowa, Brandon Knight, 6-3 from Coral Springs, Fla., Ray McCallum, 6-1 from Detroit, and Cory Joseph, 6-3 from Henderson, Nev. The Jayhawks have received a commitment from Royce Woolridge, 6-3, from Phoenix.

KU will lose Sherron Collins and Mario Little to graduation with Cole Aldrich all but certain to leave after his junior season. Xavier Henry is expected to be a one-and-done at KU.

• No headband: Self said Tyshawn Taylor, who joked Wednesday that he’d be approaching Self about wearing a headband his sophomore season, won’t be wearing the headband in games. Self said the team now has a rule that only players who wore headbands in games all through high school could wear headbands on KU’s squad and “nobody on this team qualifies.”

The complete Big Monday schedule is below.

2010 ESPN Big Monday Schedule

January 11 — Oklahoma State at Oklahoma

January 18 — Texas at Kansas State

January 25 — Missouri at Kansas

February 1 — Texas at Oklahoma State

February 8 — Kansas at Texas

February 15 — Kansas at Texas A&M

February 22 — Oklahoma at Kansas

March 1 — Oklahoma at Texas

All gametimes are 8 p.m. CST.

PREV POST

Caption contest: Dog Days

NEXT POST

33212Four Big Monday games set for KU men’s basketball team; Taylor won’t wear headband