Jayhawk Men's Basketball to Play Exhibition Games in Canada
Aug. 29, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Jayhawks Head to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Kansas men’s basketball will start its season early when is plays three exhibition games in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, this weekend. The defending NCAA Champions will depart Lawrence Friday, August 29, and play two games Saturday and one Sunday before returning home on Labor Day. KU will face McGill University on Saturday at 10 a.m. (Central) at Montpetit Hall on the campus of Ottawa University. That evening the Jayhawks will play Carleton University at 6 p.m. (Central) at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa. The venue is home of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators. The KU-Carleton game at Scotiabank Place is the second game of the CAN-AM Shootout as Ottawa will play South Alabama in the opening game of the evening. On Sunday, KU will return to Montepetit Hall to play Ottawa University at 6 p.m. (Central).
On the Air
All three games can be heard on the Jayhawk Radio Network with KLWN’s Brian Hanni calling the action. The McGill and Ottawa contests will be heard live on the network, while the Carleton contest will air following the KU-Florida International football game coverage Saturday night. The same contest will re-air at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, prior to the Ottawa tip.
About Kansas
Coming off its winningest season in school history, including its third NCAA and fifth overall national championship, Kansas returns eight letterwinners from its 37-3 team. KU lost nine letterwinners, including five NBA Draft selections and all five starters, from last season’s team. The Jayhawks return less than 20 percent of all but one statistical category. Junior guard Sherron Collins is KU’s leading returner having averaged 9.3 points and 3.1 assists per game last season. Collins, the 2008 Big 12 Sixth Man Award winner, underwent knee surgery following the 2007-08 season and will be limited, at best, on playing time in Canada. Center Cole Aldrich will anchor the inside. The 6-11 sophomore played an understudy role last year with an average of 2.8 points and 3.0 rebounds per game. He was third on the team with 34 blocked shots. Expect returnees Brady Morningstar, Tyrel Reed, Conner Teahan and Matt Kleinmann to see significant minutes in Ottawa. All played limited minutes in 2007-08 for KU.
Seven newcomers will have an opportunity to see playing time on the inexperienced Jayhawk team. Look for junior college transfers Mario Little (6-5) and Tyrone Appleton (6-2) to see significant minutes having played at the collegiate level. Little is a guard who was ranked as the No. 1 JUCO player nationally by Rivals.com last year out of Chipola (Fla.) College. Appleton was an NJCAA All-America Second Team selection for Midland (Texas) College in 2007-08. Freshmen forwards Marcus Morris (6-8), Markieff Morris (6-9) and freshman forward Quintrell Thomas (6-7) will provide inside help for Aldrich and Kleinmann. Additionally, look for guards Tyshawn Taylor (6-3) and Travis Releford (6-5) to provide depth on the perimeter. Taylor is more of a 1-2 guard, while Releford can play the 2-3-4 spots.
Head Coach Bill Self
In his first trip to the Final Four, Kansas head coach Bill Self won the national championship in 2008. Through five seasons at KU, Self has a 142-32 record. His 81.6 winning percentage at KU is the highest among NCAA Division I coaches in the last five years. Overall, Self is 349-137 in 15 campaigns. In 2007-08, Kansas won a school-record 37 games and the Jayhawks have posted 70 victories in the last two seasons. Last season, Self earned the Winged Foot Award presented to the coach who won the national title and Kansas was nominated for two ESPY Awards – for best team, won by the New York Giants; and best game – won by the Boston-L.A. Lakers Game 4 of the NBA Finals.
Under Self, KU has won the last four Big 12 regular-season crowns, the last three conference tournament titles, has advanced to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight three times (2004, 2007 and 2008), the NCAA Tournament Final Four once (2008) and won the school’s third NCAA and fifth national title (1922, 1923, 1952, 1988 and 2008). The 2006 Big 12 Coach of the Year, Self has won league titles in eight of his last 10 seasons – Tulsa (1999, 2000), Illinois (2001, 2002) and KU – and finished runner-up the other two years. Self has guided three teams to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight – Tulsa, Illinois and Kansas (three times). He has recorded at least 23 wins in each of his last 10 seasons, including 2007-08, and 20-plus in 11 of his last 12.
A 1985 graduate of Oklahoma State, Self began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant at Kansas in 1985-86 under Larry Brown. That team advanced to the Final Four. He then returned to his alma mater as an assistant from 1987-93 working under head coaches Leonard Hamilton and Eddie Sutton. Self’s first head coaching position was at Oral Roberts in 1994 where he was 55-54 in four years. He took over at Tulsa in 1998 with three winning seasons before moving on to Illinois from 2001-03. He was named the eighth head coach at Kansas on April 21, 2003.
About the Competition
McGill, Carleton and Ottawa are members of the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS). In the CIS, Ottawa and Carleton are members of the Ottawa University Athletics (OUA) conference, while McGill is a member of the Quebec division. Carleton has won the CIS men’s basketball national championship five of the last six years (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007) dating back to 2003 and the last eight OUA titles. Last year, the Ravens lost in the semifinals of the CIS national championship and were ranked No. 1 heading into the tournament.
McGill will open its 107th season of men’s basketball against Kansas. The Redmen return seven players from last season’s 15-16 team which tied for third in the CIS’s Quebec division with an 8-8 record. Fifth-year forward Sean Anthony (6-4) leads the team after scoring 15.3 points and pulling down 6.9 rebounds last season. Third-year player Moustafa El Zanaty is also a top returner for the Redmen after averaging 17.8 points per game and making 85.9 percent from the free throw line last season. Craig Norman begins his fifth season as McGill head coach with a 36-86 record. Under Norman, last season’s 15 wins were six better than the previous season.
Carleton has one of the top men’s basketball programs in Canada having won CIS national titles five of the last six years and the OUA title each of the last eight seasons. The Ravens posted a 26-1 regular-season record last year, 33-3 overall, winning the OUA title and losing in the semifinals of the CIS national tourney. Carleton returns 10 players from last season’s team, including 6-7 forward Aaron Doornekamp, the 2007-08 CIS Player of the Year. The fifth-year player averaged 15.6 points in regular-season play and 18 points in the Ravens’ CIS championship. This past summer Doornekamp was invited to try out for the Canadian national team. He did not make the 12-man squad, nor did the Canadian team qualify for the Olympics pool play. Fifth-year guard Stuart Turnbaull, 6-2, was Carleton’s leading scorer having averaged 16 points during the OUA regular-season and 15.5 ppg in three CIS Championship games. Last year, Carleton went 1-2 against NCAA teams over Labor Day. The Ravens lost to Illinois, 74-72 in overtime, and Villanova, 61-46, before defeating Alabama 83-72. Dave Smart is the head coach at Carleton with a 213-24 record in nine seasons. During his tenure, the Ravens have won nine straight OUA East regular titles, five OUA championships (2003-04-05-07-08) and five CIS “Final 8” Championships.
Ottawa returns 10 players from last season’s team which finished third in the OUA regular-season with a 16-6 regular-season record and advanced to the OUA semifinals before losing to Carleton, 75-56. Fourth-year guard Josh Gibson Bascombe (6-4) led the Gee-Gees with an 18.6 scoring average last year during the regular season. Fifth-year center Dax Dessureault (6-9) averaged 12.4 points last season for Ottawa, while fourth-year guard Donnie Gibson (6-3) scored 11.8 points per contest. Ottawa is coached by Dave DeAveiro, who is in his eighth season as Gee-Gees coach with a 95-59 regular-season record. DeAveiro is in his 23rd year associated with the program going back to his playing days, when he was a four-year captain and scored a career 1,010 points for the Gee-Gees.
Naismith, McGill and Kansas
McGill and Kansas share a historical link to James Naismith, who invented basketball in 1891. Naismith was born in Almonte, Ontario, Canada and was a star gymnast, lacrosse and football player at McGill, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1887. He later taught physical education and became McGill’s first director of athletics before accepting a position at the YMCA College in Springfield, Mass. Naismith eventually moved to KU in 1898, where he became a professor and the school’s first basketball coach. It’s ironic that of the eight coaches in KU’s rich basketball history, Naismith is the only one to have a losing record as he went 55-60 from 1899-1907. Naismith is buried in Memorial Park in Lawrence.
The Venues
In 1972, Montpetit Hall was constructed to house the School of Human Kinetics, as well as sports and recreational facilities. The complex was named for Médéric Montpetit, who in 1949 persuaded the University to establish an Institute of Physical Education and Recreation, which he administered until 1964. Montpetit was awarded an honorary doctorate at the inauguration of Montpetit Hall in 1973. Montpetit Hall is completing a recent renovation with the new capacity listed at 850.
Scotiabank Place, home of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators, opened in 1995 and has played host to Carleton and Ottawa college basketball games in the past, with the most memorable being a 64-62 Ottawa upset win over Carleton in 2007 before a Canadian regular-season record crowd of 9,730. Basketball capacity for Scotiabank Place is 18,500 and almost 6,000 tickets have been pre-sold for the CAN-AM Shootout.
Second Trip to Canada
KU is making its second trip to Canada as the team traveled north in 2004 and posted a 4-0 record when visiting the Vancouver, British Columbia, area. Also over the Labor Day weekend, the Jayhawks defeated British Columbia 82-51 on Sept. 4, then Langara College 101-46 and the Fraser Valley All-Stars 106-71 on Sept. 5. The B.C. and Langara contests were played in Vancouver, while the Fraser victory was in Abbotsford, B.C. KU closed out its trip with a 98-76 win against the Burnaby All-Stars in Burnaby, B.C. KU senior Matt Kleinmann was a member of the 2004-05 team, but was a redshirt and did not play in Canada.
Exhibition Play
Kansas takes a 28-game win streak in exhibition play into this weekend’s action. The Jayhawks are 46-7 all-time in exhibition games, including a 4-3 record in exhibition games played outside of Lawrence. Besides going 4-0 in British Columbia in 2004, KU went 0-3 in a three-game series in Strasbourg, France, in 1995.
Noting Kansas Basketball
–Kansas has won three NCAA championship (1952-1988-2008) and five national titles (1922-1923).
–Kansas won a school record 37 games in 2007-08.
–KU has won 30 or more games in eight seasons, including four times since 2000.
–Kansas ranks third all-time in NCAA Division I victories with a 1,943-785 record. Only Kentucky and North Carolina have more wins.
–Kansas is entering its 111th season of college basketball in 2008-09.
–The Jayhawks’ 37 NCAA Tournament appearances are fourth nationally behind only Kentucky (48), UCLA (40) and North Carolina (40).
–The Jayhawks have appeared in the Final Four 13 times – making KU one of just five schools to reach the Final Four 10-plus times.
–KU is one of 14 schools that have won at least two NCAA Championships. The Jayhawks won the NCAA crown in 1952 and 1988. Oklahoma State (1945 and 1946) is the only other Big 12 school to win the title.
–Five different Jayhawks have been named NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player, including B.H. Born in 1953 and Wilt Chamberlain in 1957, who won the award even though KU lost in the finals. Clyde Lovellette (1952), Danny Manning (1988) and Mario Chalmers (2008) also won the honor.
–Former coach Larry Brown is the only man to coach teams to the NCAA Championship – Kansas in 1988 – and the NBA Championship – Detroit in 2004.
–Kansas has been the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament eight times since the event started seeding in 1979 – 1986, 1992, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2007 and 2008.
–In 2007-08, Kansas became only the fourth school to win a BCS game then play in the Final Four that same academic year. The KU football team won the FedEx Orange Bowl in January 2008. Other schools to accomplish that feat include Ohio State (1999), Wisconsin (2000) and Florida (2007).
–The combined record of the Kansas men’s basketball and football teams was 49-4 (92.5 winning percentage) in 2007-08. The 49 combined wins are more than any other NCAA Division I school. The Jayhawks were a combined 27-0 in home games at Memorial Stadium and Allen Fieldhouse.
–Kansas finished 20-0 at home in 2007-08 to mark its 14th all-time undefeated home season and first since 2001-02 (13-0) – 15th time if you count 2-0 in 1955.
–KU’s 24-game home court winning streak ranks fourth nationally.
–Ten former Jayhawks appeared on NBA rosters during the 2007-08 season.
–KU has held opponents to under 100 points in 223 consecutive games. The last team to score 100 on Kansas was Texas on Feb. 11, 2002 – a KU 110-103 overtime victory.
–Kansas has held 111 of its last 114 opponents to under 50 percent shooting.
–Kansas has sold out its last 111 games in Allen Fieldhouse dating back to the second game of the 2001-02 season.
–Each KU senior class since 1986-87 has won at least 100 games. The 2007-08 seniors finished at 118-23.
–Including 2007-08, Kansas has won 23 or more games in each of the last 19 seasons dating back to 1988-89 and has 22 victories 21 times in the last 22 years.
–KU has won 10 or more league games for the last 14 seasons and 46 times overall, including 2008.
–Kansas has won eight of the 12 regular-season Big 12 titles and six Big 12 Championship postseason crowns.
–KU’s 51 conference titles are the most in NCAA Division I basketball.
–Kansas has led its league in home attendance each of the last 22 seasons, dating back to 1986-87 and 27 times in the last 31 years.
