KU now plays Nebraska in the Big 12 tournament championship today.

“It’s exciting,'’ said KU center fielder Matt Baty, who was at the heart of the game-winning rally in the eighth inning. “I’ve been here four years, and it’s a dream come true. And we got exactly who we want. We wanted to face one of the best teams in the conference, and we got Nebraska.

From ESPN:

Former Oklahoma basketball coach Kelvin Sampson cannot recruit off-campus for Indiana or make phone calls for one year, ending May 24, 2007.

The NCAA announced Thursday its decision in the case that involved improper phone calls to recruits when Sampson was still coaching at Oklahoma.

I really shouldn’t be posting this, but the moustachioed pervert contained within this video is wearing an Ohio State shirt. And his dad does go WWE when approached.

I would advise a little parental discretion when watching this video of a news report. It is work safe, but the topic is well, I’ll just let you watch it.

Looks like the Las Vegas Invitational games are set. Also interesting to note is that KU will be selling tickets to the Vegas game via the Williams Fund. The convention center - where the event will be held - only seats 6,000. Methinks that the KU-Florida tickets will demand a pretty penny.

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.

You have represented the program well. Whatever you may do in the future, you will always be Jayhawks.

Thanks and good luck.

Nothing like staring at a fax machine waiting for it to start singing its dulcet screamsong.

“Nothing came over last night,” Hill said, referring to the fax machine that was expected to pump out Hannah’s signed letter of intent to K-State. That was what the Wildcats had hoped for on the last day of the spring signing period.

It became more evident Thursday that Hannah might not be a Wildcat after all - and no one at K-State appears to know why. But a new name surfaced that could take his place: Tyree Evans. And his story could prompt the Bob Huggins critics to surface, especially if Evans winds up at K-State.

Let’s not get started on Tyree Evans, who, despite Kevin Kietzman’s yammering apologetics, has been charged with Statutory Rape (along with three others) and indecent assault. Yes, he and three other guys and one girl. Statutory rape and indecent assault. Missed those merit badges while you were a Boy Scout?

So did I. But don’t be surprised if he’s wearing Purple and White.

The NABC has discussed it.

And I don’t think it’s just a ploy to get Mizzou in. How would 80 teams work, you ask?

80 - 64 = 16 extra teams.

There are four brackets, so I would assume there would be 4 new teams per bracket, the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th seeds. I don’t think it would be at all fair to have these guys battle it out in two games each to make the actual tourney, so I’m guessing that they would do battle with the 16, 15, 14 and 13 seeds respectively for the honor of getting to play one of the top 4 seeds in what used to be the first round.

They might play all of the games at one location, effectively adding four new first round locations.

I’m all for more excitement, but this just seems a little paunchy to me.

Anybody else have any thoughts? Am I putting this thing together wrong?

Mizzou will have a rough go of it next year without their best player, but I’ll bet they’re a better team when they’re not playing KU.

“It was a tough decision for me to leave Mizzou,” Gardner said in a statement. “I feel like it was the right time for me to pursue my dream to play in the NBA.”

Link to article.

Aldridge will be gone. Mike Williams will be gone. PJ Tucker is gone, and Dan Gibson could be gone. Oh, and Buckman is graduating.

AUSTIN - Texas forward and Big 12 player of the year P.J. Tucker has signed with an agent and will not return to the Longhorns.

Tucker said last month he would explore his NBA draft position, but remained eligible to return to the Longhorns because he had not signed with an agent.

Tucker signed with agent Leon Rose, Longhorns team spokesman Scott McConnell said Thursday. A call to Rose’s office was not immediately returned.

McConnell said coach Rick Barnes did not have an immediate comment on Tucker’s decision.

CBSSportsline.com’s Gregg Doyel writes an interesting Ten for Tuesday column on the ten most difficult places to be a college basketball coach.  Number 10 on the list is interesting:

10. Kansas State: If everything breaks right, Bob Huggins is going to win so big at Kansas State you’ll wonder how the Wildcats ever got onto this list. But if everything breaks wrong — if O.J. Mayo and Bill Walker go to Southern California or just turn pro; and if Michael Beasley and Herb Pope decide not to be traded to Kansas State like pieces of horse flesh — Huggins will find out just how bad this job really is. When the NCAA ruled that schools can’t use private planes to fly in recruits, it was a shattering blow in Manhattan, Kan., a suburb of Hades.

Boy!  That Doyel knows his stuff!

Most of you have probably already seen this Star article, but you should probably check it out. I think a lot of people are skeptical because Reed is from Burlington and looks a bit shocky. Reed’s definitely the real deal and I would be pretty upset if we aren’t able to pull the best talent out of Kansas. From what I understand, it’s between us and UNC. I’d probably give the nod to them at present, but my opinion matters little in this sort of thing:

“The thing I really like about him is that he’s got his head screwed on straight,” said Martin, whose final team in 2003-04 with Reed as a freshman went undefeated and won the Kansas Class 3A crown. “His work ethic is relentless, and he’s brought a little prestige to people that have lived here their whole lives.”

I would really like to get a commitment from him. Don’t worry about his ranking, he’s almost exactly where Hinrich was when we picked him up.

I was away this weekend, so I didn’t get to check out any of the games, but I was pleased to hear Travis Releford enjoyed his time here:

“I like the lights and the fans,” Releford said. “There’s a whole lot of people giving me hype.”

I think we’ve got a really good shot at Releford for 2008. We’re closed and very tied in with him, and we should have some vacancies.

I’m a little concerned to hear that Cole Aldrich continues to struggle with injuries. He had a stress fracture earlier in the year which nearly caused him to miss most of last season, and he’s having foot issues now. Additionally, he had to be hospitalized for bruised ribs.

Hopefully, his frame will get a bit stronger so this isn’t a lingering issue moving forward.

Tyrel Reed also played this weekend, drawing yet more comparisons between himself and former Jayhawk great, Kirk Hinrich. I’d love to hear impressions from anybody that was lucky enough to attend the event.

Oh, and a belated Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers who read the Phog Blog.

Link to LJW article on the JIT.