🏀 Kansas Women’s Basketball Honored at State Capitol

TOPEKA, Kan. – The 2023 Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) Champion Kansas Jayhawks were recognized by the State Senate, State House of Representatives and Kansas Governor Laura Kelly at the capitol building Thursday afternoon.

Present from the Kansas women’s basketball team were head coach Brandon Schneider – the 2023 Kansas Basketball Coaches Association (KBCA) Women’s Four-Year College Coach of the Year – and members of his coaching staff and student-athletes from the championship team. Leading the Jayhawks through the day was Deputy Athletics Director for Sports Administration and Student-Athlete Well-Being/Senior Woman Administrator Nicole Corcoran, who came to KU in 2009 after working as press secretary for then-Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius from 2002-09.

The first stop for the KU contingent was in Governor Kelly’s ceremonial office, where she signed a proclamation honoring the team naming April 27, 2023, “KU Women’s Basketball NIT Championship Victory Day”. The Jayhawks, who finished 25-11 for the year, defeated Western Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, Arkansas, Washington and Columbia on its path to winning the WNIT, defeating Columbia 66-59 April 1 in the championship game in front of 11,701 fans at Allen Fieldhouse.

The group then stopped on the floor of the Kansas House of Representatives, where representatives Fred Patton of Shawnee County and Barbara Ballard of Douglas Country introduced a resolution that honored the team, which was adopted. Following the House, the group made its way to the floor of the Kansas Senate, where a resolution by Senators Renee Erickson of Sedgwick County and Marci Francisco of Douglas County was adopted.