Here are bios of the players who will be singing, dancing, dunking and scrimmaging at Allen Fieldhouse at the 2001 Late Night With Roy Williams.
Jeff Boschee, 6-1, Sr., Valley City, N.D.: Boschee, who is known for his long-range shooting, showed dramatic improvement on defense last season, winning the team’s Ted Owens defensive player of the year award. He also improved his ballhanding, leading the Big 12 in assist to turnover ratio (115 assists, 54 TOs).
Overall Boschee, who averaged 11.1 points a game, cashed 68 of 189 three-point tries for 36 percent. Overall, he was a 43 percent shooter while logging a team-leading 33.3 minutes per game.
Boschee potted 23 points against Kansas State at Kemper Arena and scored 21 at Colorado and 19 at home against Middle Tennessee State (19).
He also had 19 against CS Northridge in the NCAA Tournament, 16 versus Syracuse,then three in a season-ending loss to Illinois.
Boschee has yet to miss a game because of injury in his three years and has started 95 of 100 games played.
Boschee, who has been compared to Bobby Hurley and Mark Price, credits his brother, Mike, with teaching him his basketball skills. He has been a Jayhawk fan since elementary school.
Nick Collison. 6-9, Jr., Iowa Falls, Iowa: Collison, who earned all-Big 12 honors last year, is one of 50 preseason candidates for the Wooden All-America Team.
A great passer for a post player, Collison totaled a career-best seven assists in a game against Colorado last season.
During the summer, he competed for USA Basketball for the fifth time in four summers, this time as a member of the gold-medal winning USA Basketball World Championship For Young Men Team. Collison averaged 9.1 points and 5.4 rebounds for the squad, which went 8-0.
For KU last year, Collison started 23 of 33 games and logged 27.0 minutes per contest. He averaged 14.0 points and 6.7 rebounds to rank third and fourth, respectively, on the team.
He led all KU regulars and ranked 10th in the country with a 59.7 field goal percentage. Collison also led the team with 54 blocked shots, tying for 10th on the KU single-season list and ranked second on the squad with 36 steals.
Collison led the team in scoring 12 times and in rebounding seven times. He had five 20-plus scoring games, tallying 26 versus Colorado.
He lit up the scoreboard for 23 points with 11 rebounds in KU’s NCAA Tourney win over C-S Northridge.
Drew Gooden, 6-10, Jr., Richmond, Calif.: Gooden led KU in scoring (15.8 ppg) and rebounding (8.4 rpg) as a soph in earning all-Big 12 honors. He is also a candidate for the Wooden All-America Team.
Gooden, who started 20 of 28 games played, hit 51.6 percent of his shots and logged 27.2 minutes per outing. He recorded a club-best 10 double-doubles, tying for seventh on KU’s single-season list. Gooden reached double figures in scoring in 26 games played, leading KU in scoring 11 times and in rebounding 13 times.
He scored 17 points and had a career-high 15 rebounds in an NCAA Tournament win over Syracuse. He had 13 points and nine rebounds versus Illinois.
Gooden worked Michael Jordan’s camp in Santa Barbara, Calif., last summer and returned to Lawrence with the revelation that Jordan is the best player he’s ever faced. He says he wears No. 0 because it’s “unpredictable.”
Gooden’s nickname is ‘The Truth’ because, in Drew’s words, “My game is real. It doesn’t lie to you.”
Gooden’s mother and stepfather live in Fayetteville, Ark., which is just over a four-hour drive from Lawrence.
Kirk Hinrich, 6-3, Jr., Sioux City, Iowa: Hinrich averaged 11.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and 32.7 minutes per game his soph season, dishing a whopping 229 assists, good for fourth on KU’s single-season chart. His 6.9 assists per game ranked eighth-best in the country.
Hinrich shot 50.5 percent from three-point land, good for the Big 12 lead and the best single-season three-point percentage in KU history.
Hinrich has started 46 straight games dating back to his freshman season. Hinrich earned three awards at the team’s annual postseason banquet Clyde Lovellette Most Improved Player Award, Dutch Lonborg Free Throw Percentage Award and Cedric Hunter/Jacque Vaughn Assists Award.
Hinrich , who hit 84.3 percent of his free throws, led the team in scoring in four games and in assists 29 times.
In high school, he earned numerous individual honors including Co-Iowa Mr. Basketball (with Collison), all-metro, all-northwest Iowa and all-state tournament. He scored 34 points in an Iowa high school all-star game.
Jeff Carey, 6-10, Sr., Camdenton, Mo.: A fifth-year senior, Carey is coming off his most productive year. After red-shirting his freshman season then battling through numerous injuries his first two years, he played in all 33 games a year ago, averaging 8.3 minutes per contest.
He stepped up when Gooden missed five games with an injuried wrist as he increased his court time to 17.8 minutes a game while scoring 4.0 points and grabbing 5.0 boards. He finished the year with a 1.6 scoring and 2.1 board average.
Carey is a three-time academic All-Big 12 pick. He has already graduated with a degree in business administration and is now in graduate school. His sister and cousin attended KU. He became engaged to Mollie Hampton in May.
His hobbies include golf, hunting and fishing. He has a superstition: Making all his shots in warm-ups means he won’t shoot well in the game.
Bryant Nash, 6-6, 200, Soph., Carrollton, Texas: A high school track standout, Nash is one of the fastest players on the squad. He played in 24 games his rookie season, registering 29 rebounds and 16 points.
Nash, who averaged 5.1 minutes per outing, scored the first points of his career against St. John’s, recording two points in the win over the Red Storm on Nov. 9 at Madison Square Garden.
At Turner High, Nash was a four-year letter winner in basketball and a two-year letterman in track.
He averaged 15 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks per game, choosing KU over Memphis in recruiting. In hoops, he led Turner to a 25-8 record and a second-place finish in the district his senior year. He was named first team all-district in both his junior and senior seasons, in a district which sent 11 players to NCAA Division I schools in that time frame.
Nash broke his high school triple jump record four times.
Brett Ballard, 6-1, Sr., Hutchinson: Ballard, a former Hutchinson CC player who joined KU’s team as a walk-on last season, played in 24 of KU’s 33 games. He hit 9 of 23 three-pointers for 39.1 percent. He had two games with three or more assists.
Ballard played 13 minutes in a convincing 92-69 win over Tulsa. He also had big games against Oklahoma State (two three-pointers in 11 minutes); Iowa State (three assists); Kansas State (four pointws, four rebounds at Big 12 tournament).
He saved his best for the NCAA Tournament, scoring a career-high eight points with five assists while logging 18 minutes in KU’s NCAA tournament opening win over Cal State Northridge. He played eight minutes against Illinois in KU’s season-ending loss.
Ballard played in KU’s final 12 games and was the primary backup to Kirk Hinrich late in the season. Ballard is known for his streak shooting at practice.
Ballard is an education major who would like to coach some day.
Todd Kappelmann, 6-9, Sr., Augusta: A transfer from Butler County CC, Kappelmann made the team via walk-on tryouts prior to the 2000-01 season.
Kappelmann played a total of 26 minutes in 16 games. His career high is three points versus Washburn. He also had a pair of rebounds against Illinois State and Middle tennessee State.
The former Augusta High player was all-league and honorable mention all-state his senior year. He led the Orioles to the 4A state title game as a junior.
Kappelmann has come a long way. He has overcome blindness in his left eye to embark on his successful career. He aspires to work in finance after graduation.
Kappelmann’s family has a long history in KU athletics, as his grandfather, Elmer Kappelmann, played for Phog Allen at Warrensburg Teachers College, and his grandpa’s two cousins, Lester and Francis Kappelmann, played at KU in the late 1930s.. His brother, Brett Kappelmann, was an outfielder for the Jayhawk baseball team from 1997-2000.
Kappelmann is believed to be the first KU player to wear No. 50.
Lewis Harrison, 6-0, Sr., Kansas City: The former Kansas City CC player made KU’s team via walk-on tryouts prior. Harrison played in 16 games his debut season, averaging 2.4 minutes. He scored seven points, dished nine assists, made two steals and grabbed four boards.
Harrison made his major college debut against North Dakota on Nov. 17, scoring one point.
He had one board and two assists in a win over Washburn win Nov. 25. He tied a season-high with five minutes played and made his first career field goal in a win over Kansas State at the Big 12 Tournament.
For KCK, he tallied career-highs of 24 points and 19 assists. At KC Piper High, he won three letters in basketball and two in baseball. Harrison wants to be a coach some day. On a serious note, Harrison was involved in a car accident the June before he started at Kansas, and had nearly decided to give up competitive basketball until he decided to participate in walk-on tryouts.
Chris Zerbe, 6-5, Sr., Andover: Zerbe is a physical post player who was recruited to walk on last season out of Hutchinson CC.
Overall he played 16 games, averaging 1.9 points, 0.6 boards and 2.1 minutes. Zerbe shot 68.4 percent from the field (13-of-19). He made his only three-point attempt in averaging just under a point per minute played.
Zerbe scored a career-high six points on 3-of-4 shooting in three minutes against Boise State. He tallied four points against Tulsa and grabbed a career-high two rebounds against Nebraska. He connected on his only three-point shot of the season to finish with three points in one minute versus Kansas State Jan. 27.
As a sophomore at Hutchinson CC, Zerbe averaged 13 points and six rebounds. He shot 54 percent from the field and 64 percent from the line. Also, Zerbe made 13-of-30 (.433) threes, leading the Blue Dragons to a 22-10 record. He scored 28 in a win over Cowley County and 27 in a season-ending loss to Independence Community College.
He led Andover High to 5A sub-state titles in in 1996 and 1998. He averaged 16.7 points and 7.8 rebounds as a senior and holds the school record with 1,327 career points.
Jeff Hawkins, 5-11, Fr., Kansas City: Hawkins says he aspires to be a defensive stopper for KU. As a senior at KC Sumner, he carried the Sabres to the class 4A state title as a junior, averaging 17.7 points and 3.0 steals per game.
He upped his numbers to 19.6 points, 4.5 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 2.6 steals per game his senior year, as he led Sumner to a 19-7 record and an appearance in the class 4A state semifinals, where he scored 35 points in a loss to Topeka Hayden.
Hawkins lettered one year each in track and cross country. He is a big fan of Philadelphia 76ers guard Allen Iverson and is related to former North Carolina All-American Joe Forte and current New Jersey Nets head coach Byron Scott.
Keith Langford, 6-4, Fr., Crowley, Texas: Langford earned co-Most Valuable Player honors at the 2001 Global Games in Dallas after scoring 15 points and grabbing a team-high six rebounds to help Team USA/Texas beat Puerto Rico 104-99 and win the bronze medal.
The lefthanded shooter averaged 25.7 points, 8.6 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game, leading North Crowley to a 29-5 record.
He posted a school-record 1,844 career points and 844 rebounds. Langford notched 19 double-doubles in 2001. He erupted for 40 points to go with 20 rebounds against Burleson High.
While growing up, Langford dreamed of playing football at the University of Michigan, then he broke his foot in football at the start of his freshman year and has concentrated on basketball ever since.
Michael Lee, 6-3, Fr., Portland, Ore.: Lee plays primarily at the off guard, but has shown the ability to handle the ball well enough to play point in a pinch. Lee averaged 19.7 points his senior year at Jefferson High, leading the Democrats to a third-place finish in state. He played a key role in Jefferson’s 28-0 record and state championship run as a junior, averaging 12 points and five rebounds per game.
Lee was named the Portland Interscholastic Defensive Player of the year in football his senior year. He carried a 3.3 GPA in high school. Lee was also a tight end on his high school football team.
Aaron Miles, 6-1, Fr., Portland, Ore: One of the top prep points in the country, Miles averaged 20 points, eight assists, six rebounds and five steals per game last year. He was named Gatorade Player of the Year in Oregon.
Miles set a new record with 27 steals in four games in the class 4A state tournament before being ousted in the semifinals. Miles earned the Morgan Wooten Award for the national player of the year with regards to academics and athletics.
A McDonald’s All-American, Miles was named the Portland Oregonian’s class 4A Player of the Year.
Wayne Simien, 6-9, Fr., Leavenworth: The power forward was named the Gatorade Player of the Year in Kansas last season. He also was Kansas’ Mr. Basketball and a McDonald’s All-American. Sunflower League player of the year, Simien poured in 19.3 points to go with 10.0 rebounds per game as a senior.
He led the Pioneers to a 17-4 record his senior season. During his junior year, his 16.5 points, 9.7 rebounds and 1.6 blocks helped the Pioneers to a 23-2 mark and state title.
