Five members of Kansas University’s most recent Final Four teams participated in graduation ceremonies Sunday at Memorial Stadium.
Nick Collison of the 2001-02 and ’02-03 squads received his degree in communications, while four other players off the 2001-02 team — Brett Ballard, Jeff Boschee, Lewis Harrison and Chris Zerbe — also earned diplomas.
Kirk Hinrich, who will earn his communications degree after taking a course this summer, did not take part. Like fellow Iowan Collison, Hinrich played in the past two Final Fours.
“Nick and Kirk getting it done in four years is exceptional,” said Wayne Walden, KU director of degree and career counseling/student support. “We’re proud of all these guys. If you look nationwide, it is not as common.”
Boschee, a sports-management major who eventually wants to pursue a career in coaching, hopes to play basketball for a living next season. Boschee reportedly will be added to the roster of one of Kansas’ two USBL teams — Salina or Dodge City — this week. He will pursue NBA free-agent opportunities this summer.
“Today was extremely satisfying,” Boschee, a Valley City, N.D., native, said of taking part in the traditional walk down Campanile Hill. “It felt good to know I’m done with school basically for the rest of my life. I never thought it’d go that fast.”
Ballard, who majored in secondary education, still needs a year of student-teaching to be certified to teach in Kansas. The Hutchinson native will work in the KU basketball office this summer while helping run coach Bill Self’s KU summer camps.
Zerbe, of Andover, and Harrison, of Kansas City, received degrees in communications.
All of KU’s returning players except Brett Olson, plus signees Jeremy Case, J.R. Giddens, David Padgett and Omar Wilkes, are enrolled in summer school, which starts June 3.
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1997 big year, too: The five Jayhawks to walk down the hill Sunday were the most since 1997, when Jacque Vaughn, Jerod Haase, B.J. Williams, Scot Pollard, Joel Branstrom and Steve Ransom graduated together.
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Williams heads Senior field: North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams, who coached at KU 15 years and still has a house in Lawrence, will tee it up at 9:50 a.m. today in the KGA Senior Fourball championships, which run today and Tuesday at Lawrence Country Club. Williams will team with Lawrence’s Scot Buxton. The two will be playing in the same group with Ray Borth and Bob Eils of Leawood.
Don Cox, Lake Quivira, & Bill Toalson, Mission Hills, the defending champs, will tee off at 8:10 a.m.
The format is 36-holes four-ball stroke play with two flights based on total team handicaps with gross and net prizes.
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Big seller: Boschee reports that his book, “Long Shot” has sold about 20,000 copies.
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Family matters: Coaching at tradition-rich Kansas is perhaps the main reason Self left Illinois for KU.
However, there were other reasons — family factors.
Self’s dad has a back problem that makes travel difficult. Self likes the fact it’s just a three-hour drive from Grand Lake, Okla., where Self’s dad lives, to Lawrence. It’s a much longer trek to Champaign, Ill.
“My dad never put any pressure on me one way or the other,” Self told the Chicago Sun-Times. “But when he said it would be great if I took the Kansas job because then he’d have a chance to come to games (frequently) and be a part of it, that was the clincher.”
