Kansas University’s men’s basketball team will open the 2004-05 regular season with nine straight home games.
None of those nonconference contests are against teams that could be considered true patsies.
“Coach doesn’t think we need to play weak teams,” KU senior associate athletic director Larry Keating said of second-year Jayhawk coach Bill Self.
“It’s an expensive ticket. We’re asking fans to support us. We need to give them as good a set of games as we can.”
Ticket prices have reached an all-time high at $40 a game this season.
While there never has been a problem selling out Allen Fieldhouse — games against Vermont, St. Joe’s, Nevada, Pacific, TCU, South Carolina, Georgia Tech and Wisconsin-Milwaukee should keep KU fans interested.
“This is a much better fan schedule. We are playing more home games,” Self said of the 19-game home slate, which includes two exhibition games and a game against UW-Milwaukee game in Kemper Arena. An additional game against a to-be-determined foe will be played Dec. 11.
“We need more home games (to raise money for the athletic department),” Self added. “Last year we had 14. This year we have more than that.”
Vermont, St. Joe’s, Nevada, Pacific, South Carolina and Georgia Tech all made the NCAA Tournament a year ago. Wisconsin-Milwaukee won the Horizon League regular-season crown last year and will be favored again this season.
KU will play road nonconference games at Kentucky and Villanova. Two road games will be the norm for years to come.
“We need four home-and-homes we play each year in our opinion — where you play at a Michigan State or have a Kentucky coming here or an Arizona, Georgia Tech, UCLA or Stanford type team coming in here,” Self said.
KU has filled its road slate for the 2005-06 season.
The Jayhawks will travel to Georgia Tech and play St. Joe’s at Madison Square Garden in New York.
KU will compete in the ’05 Maui Invitational with Arizona, UConn, Michigan State, Arkansas, Maryland, DePaul and Chaminade.
“They are publicizing it as the best field they’ve ever had,” Self said, “and there have been a lot of good ones over there. There are six teams in there that have won national titles in the last 15, 16 years.”
Also, in ’05-’06, KU will play California in Kemper Arena and Kentucky in Allen Fieldhouse. In ’06-’07, KU will travel to South Carolina and Michigan State and play in an exempt tourney if the courts decide teams can play in exempt events every year instead of twice every four years.
Inactivity in the court system killed KU’s chances of playing in this year’s Coaches V. Cancer Tournament. Because of that tourney falling through, the Jayhawks won’t play a true road game until Jan. 9 at Kentucky.
“We could have played Villanova then (in November), but CBS said they’d take the game in January. Naturally we took the game in January,” Self said. “Then we get Kentucky on the schedule, and the only date CBS could give us for that one was January, too.”
CBS ultimately dropped the Villanova game for Kentucky. The ‘Nova game was shifted to ESPN.
“We always knew we were going to get it (on TV) as far as ESPN (being option),” Keating said. “Having two nonconference games after the first of the year does give you a little imbalance home and away after Jan. 1.”
KU will play five of six games on the road from Jan. 9 to Jan. 25.
“It kind of didn’t play out the way we wanted it to. In a perfect world we’d play a road game in December, but that’s all right,” Self said.
As far as the one opening on KU’s schedule, Keating is in no hurry to fill the Dec. 11 date.
“We’re looking for anybody who wants to play,” Keating said. “It’s only Aug. 12.”
Last year’s schedule was announced on Sept. 8.
Instead of facing Simon Fraser on Sept. 6, the Jayhawks will meet the “Burnaby Mountain All-Stars” — a team of Canadian national team and former Simon Fraser players, plus some current SFU players. Long-time Canadian national team player Peter Guarasci will play for the All-Stars.
University College of Fraser Valley, KU’s Sept. 5 foe, also is planning on merging its current roster with some Fraser Valley alumni and area standouts.
