Kansas University’s opening opponent in the four-game, round-robin Las Vegas Invitational men’s basketball tournament has changed.
The Jayhawks will meet Towson University of the Colonial Athletic Assn., instead of Hartford, on Nov. 19 at Allen Fieldhouse.
KU will next meet Tennessee State on Nov. 21 in round two, then travel to Las Vegas where the Jayhawks will play Ball State on Nov. 24 and Florida on Nov. 25 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Towson returns five starters from last year’s 12-16 team, including 6-foot-4 senior guard Gary Neal, who averaged 26.1 points per game. The LaSalle University transfer hit 62 of 153 threes in 17 games after becoming eligible at the semester break.
The Tigers are coached by Pat Kennedy, who has also led programs at Iona, Florida State, DePaul and Montana.
The two Las Vegas Invitational games in Lawrence will be part of KU’s season-ticket package. Ticket information on the games in Las Vegas will be mailed to Williams Fund members in the next couple weeks.
“The tickets will be sold through the schools – ours through the Williams Fund,” KU senior associate athletic director Larry Keating said, referring to the eight schools that will congregate in Vegas – KU, Towson, Tennessee State, Ball State, Florida, Western Kentucky, Tennessee-Chattanooga and Prairie View.
“I suspect at some point there will be a general public sale. Some of the schools may not travel as well as others (making tickets available at the Convention Center, which will seat between 3,000 and 6,000 fans).”
Florida has a major conflict Nov. 25. The defending NCAA champion Gators, expected to be preseason No. 1 basketball team in the country, will be playing Florida State in football that afternoon in Tallahassee, Fla. The KU-Florida hoops game will tip at 9:30 p.m., Central time, on ESPN2.
Keating is still awaiting contracts from four schools and needs to fill one more home date before the 2006-07 schedule will be ready for release.
The marquee games on the slate have already been revealed.
KU will play Southern California (Dec. 4) and Boston College (Dec. 23) at Allen Fieldhouse and travel to DePaul and South Carolina, also in December. KU will meet Toledo on Dec. 9 at Kemper Arena.
The Jayhawks’ regular season opener will be Nov. 11 vs. Northern Arizona. The exhibition opener will be against Washburn on Nov. 2 with an exhibition with Emporia State set for Nov. 7.
KU’s schedule for the 2007-08 season is already taking shape. The Jayhawks will make trips to Georgia Tech, USC and Boston College that season, with DePaul coming to Lawrence.
The Jayhawks have had talks with some fellow powerhouse schools. KU and Kentucky hope to play in 2007-08 if the Wildcats can begin a two-year series in Lawrence. KU had hoped to begin a series with Arizona in 06-07, but talks fell through, the Wildcats instead agreeing to play Louisville in the Jimmy V. Classic.
“Arizona, UCLA, Duke, Kentucky, Indiana, Notre Dame, we’d like to try to get a couple each year,” Keating said. “Indiana has been so overscheduled a couple years. The last couple years they had too many big games.”
The Chicago Bulls and Seattle SuperSonics will play an NBA exhibition game at 1 p.m. on Oct. 15 at Allen Fieldhouse. Ex-Jayhawk guard Kirk Hinrich plays for the Bulls and former KU forward Nick Collison for the Sonics.
Late Night in the Phog will be the night of Friday, Oct. 13, with KU playing Oklahoma State in football on Oct. 14 at Memorial Stadium.
KU’s women’s basketball team will compete at the WBCA Classic on Nov. 11-12 at Kansas City’s Municipal Auditorium. The field consists of KU, Missouri State, Seton Hall and Iowa. KU’s women will entertain California at Allen Fieldhouse and travel to WIsconsin and Indiana next season.
¢ Walters hires KU manager: Justin Bauman, who worked at KU as basketball manager the past four years, has been named director of basketball operations at Florida Atlantic University. Bauman, a native of Canton, Ill., was head manager last season.
“I am very lucky to have him join the staff,” first-year Florida Atlantic coach Rex Walters said. “Some of his responsibilities will include summer camp, video coordinator and on-campus recruiting. He comes highly recommended by both coach (Roy) Williams’ and coach (Bill) Self’s staffs.”
