Kansas University has added a pair of local schools – University of Missouri-Kansas City and Washburn – as well as Northern Arizona to its 2007-08 men’s basketball schedule.
The three teams will play the Jayhawks at Allen Fieldhouse as part of the Jayhawk Invitational, KU officials announced Tuesday.
KU will play UMKC on Sunday, Nov. 11; Washburn on Thursday, Nov. 15; and Northern Arizona on Wednesday, Nov. 21. Pac-10 school Arizona will invade Allen for the Invitational finale on Sunday, Nov. 25.
NCAA Div. II school Washburn and Div. II Adams State will play two games in the tournament, while KU, Arizona, UMKC and Northern Arizona will play four.
Washburn also will travel to UMKC, while Adams State will travel to Arizona and Northern Arizona.
Arizona will play UMKC, NAU and Adams State at home. UMKC will travel to KU, Arizona and Northern Arizona as well as play Washburn at home. NAU will travel to KU and Arizona and play home games against Adams State and UMKC.
“It was hard to get the last team,” KU senior associate athletic director Larry Keating said. “We had somebody, but that team dropped out. The solution was to get two Div. II teams. One (Washburn) plays two games in this area; the other (Adams State) plays two out there.”
It turns out Adams State already was on Northern Arizona’s schedule. Washburn yearly likes to play a couple of guarantee games against Div. I teams.
“Washburn has always had a good program,” Keating said, noting the Jayhawks “absolutely” wanted to contact the Ichabods first if they were to play a Div. II team in the tourney. “We’ve played two in-state schools per year. Now we play three (including Fort Hays State and Pittsburg State in exhibitions). Northern Arizona tied for its conference championship (Big Sky at 18-12) last year. They’ve been good in the past.”
As far as UMKC, the Jayhawks have contacted the K.C. school in recent years.
“The previous coach didn’t want to play us,” Keating said. “The new coach (Matt Brown) and athletic director (Tim Hall) are excited about playing the game. It’ll be on TV. It’ll be written about. There will be great interest in the game. It’s a game of great interest locally.”
The Kangaroos went 12-20 a year ago, while Washburn was 8-19.
KU’s non-conference schedule, which now is complete, includes a home game against DePaul and trips to Southern Cal, Georgia Tech and Boston College. The USC contest has been moved to Sunday, Dec. 2. It was previously scheduled for Dec. 1.
The Big 12 Conference schedule and television information will be released later this summer.
¢Buds: Best of friends, KU coach Bill Self and Kentucky’s Billy Gillispie sat next to each other while scouting prospects Monday at the RBK U event in Philadelphia.
Gillispie was an assistant on Self’s staffs at Tulsa and Illinois and coached against Self while at Texas A&M.
“I’d rather play a friend than recruit against him,” Self told Andy Katz of ESPN.com. “You play your friend and it’s over. You recruit against him and it could last for 18 months or two years. It’s going to happen. I can understand why people don’t enjoy doing it.”
KU topped A&M by a game in the Big 12 standings last year despite the fact the Aggies stopped the Jayhawks in Lawrence.
The two have talked about continuing the KU-UK series. KU swept a home-and-home in 2004-05 and ’05-06.
“It would be great for college basketball,” Self told Katz. “There wouldn’t be as much at stake, but the stakes are always high to win every game. You think nonconference games are important until the conference season. You think conference games are important until you get into the postseason. I’d rather stay away from (playing Gillispie) in the postseason unless it was for the championship.”
¢Vegas summer league update: Former Kansas guard Aaron Miles scored four points with no assists, four turnovers and one steal while playing 23 minutes in Washington’s 75-64 loss to Sacramento on Tuesday. He made one basket in one try and two free throws … Jeff Graves did not score but grabbed six rebounds in 15 minutes in the Lakers’ 98-95 loss to Philadelphia. He took one shot … Keith Langford did not play in the Spurs’ 90-80 win over Golden State.
