More Postseason Honors for Self, Rush

March 7, 2006

LAWRENCE, Kan. –

The postseason accolades keep rolling in for head men’s basketball coach Bill Self and freshman guard Brandon Rush. The pair was named District VI coach and player of the year, respectively, by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association on Tuesday, March 7. District VI includes schools from the states of Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. The awards follow yesterday’s announcement that Self was voted Big 12 Coach of the Year and Rush took Freshman of the Year honors.

The top scoring freshman in the conference with 15.1 points per game, Rush also ranks seventh with a 6.6 rebounding average. He is also the fourth KU player to surpass 400 points (408) in his freshman season.

After returning just 21.2 percent of his scoring from a year ago, Self guided KU to a share of the Big 12 regular season championship, its sixth in league annals. Starting three freshmen and two sophomores, Kansas recorded its 18th straight season with at least 22 victories.

The Jayhawks will play the winner of the Iowa State-Oklahoma State matchup on Friday at 6 p.m. in the quarterfinals of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Basketball Tournament.