Former Kansas University basketball player Steve Woodberry is close to landing his first college coaching job.
Woodberry, a 6-foot-4, 190-pounder out of Wichita who played for the Jayhawks from 1991-94, on Tuesday interviewed for a second time for an assistant’s post on Barry Hinson’s staff at Missouri State University.
Former KU assistant Ben Miller has worked on Hinson’s staff the past two seasons at the Missouri Valley Conference school in Springfield, Mo.
The Bears recently had a staff opening when Troy Collier resigned to take an assistant’s job at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind.
Woodberry, 34, played on KU’s 1991 and 1993 Final Four teams, leading the Jayhawks in scoring during his senior season (1993-94).
Upon departing KU, he be-came a standout player in Australia’s pro league, winning MVP honors in 1999 as a member of the Brisbane Bullets. Woodberry ranks sixth all-time in scoring in the Australian pro league at 24.2 career points per game.
Woodberry also played for league championship teams in Switzerland and Lithuania. He also played in Greece and for the Sioux Falls (S.D.) Sky Force of the Continental Basketball Assn.
The former Wichita South standout officially retired a year ago, living in Lawrence where he’s worked as a coach for Kansas City Pump N Run AAU.
¢ Davis’ mother dies at 85: Vera Marie Reinfeld Davis, the mother of KU football and basketball play-by-play announcer Bob Davis, has died at the age of 85. Friends may call after 2 p.m. today at Penwell-Gabel Mid Town Chapel in Topeka, where the family will receive them from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. today. The family suggests memorials to West Side Christian Church, 432 S.W. Lindenwood, Topeka 66606.
¢ Leuer explodes on national scene: Cole Aldrich won’t be the only member of the Minnesota Magic Elite AAU program playing major college ball in a year.
Jon Leuer, a slender 6-foot-10 forward from Orono (Minn.) High, who excelled in last weekend’s Jayhawk Invitational, has heard from a batch of schools – including KU – since the conclusion of the tourney Sunday.
Leuer, who averaged 20 points per game as a junior, Monday and Tuesday heard from coaches from KU, Virginia, Purdue, West Virginia, Vanderbilt and North Carolina.
“Jon doesn’t answer the phone much. I told the coaches to have me take the calls,” said Leuer’s dad, Mike, who along with his wife, Holly, was in town for the tourney.
“He did very well at the Houston Tournament (in late April). That opened Pandora’s box. He had about 10 schools call before that, now it’s much more than that,” Mike Leuer added, noting about 40 schools in all have made contact.
Jon Leuer over the weekend exhibited good ball-handling skills and deep outside shooting touch for a big man. He’s used to playing the perimeter, having grown a whopping nine inches in the past two years – seven in the last year.
Some other schools interested in Leuer: Iowa State, Rice, Air Force, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Bradley, Princeton and Minnesota.
