Kansas University’s Bryant Nash recently received an offer he could not refuse.

“I didn’t hesitate. I said, ‘Yes,”’ Nash, a 6-foot-6, 210-pound forward from Carrollton, Texas, said of his reaction to an invitation to play on a Big 12 basketball all-star team in August.

“It’s exciting. Now I’m just anxious for the time to come.”

Nash, who has played sparingly in his first two seasons at KU, saw lots of positives, no negatives, in playing six games in Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

“I think the experience by itself will be good for me. It’s more playing time for me,” Nash said. “I hope that when I get over there I’ll just go out and be more aggressive, show coach (KU’s Roy Williams) what I’m trying to do this summer. I’m trying to get better, trying to earn more playing time.”

Baylor coach Dave Bliss, who will take the all-stars overseas, won’t guarantee anybody extensive playing time.

Jake Sullivan (Iowa State), Ivan McFarlin (Oklahoma State), Lawrence Roberts (Baylor), Travon Bryant (Missouri) Pervis Pasco (Kansas State), Quannas White (Oklahoma), Deginald Erskin (Texas), Will Chavis (Texas Tech), Blair Wilson (Colorado), Nick Anderson (Texas A&M) and Jake Mulheisen (Nebraska) join Nash on the Big 12 roster.

“I’m going with the idea of starting,” said Nash, who is lifting weights four times a week and playing pick-up basketball while taking six hours of summer school at KU.

“I decided to spend the whole summer here. Last summer I did a few workouts back home with my high school coach. It was not as much as here because I didn’t have the resources I have here. I didn’t have as good competition back there.”

Nash knows what he needs to work on before the start of the 2002-03 season.

“Defense,” he said. “I need to be more aggressive. I need to attack the rim. When we play pick-up here, my teammates encourage me to dunk the ball. On the fast break I’ll get the rebound and pass it instead of pushing it up by myself. They tell me, ‘Push it first. If you can’t get to the hole, then dish it.’ I have to look for my shot, be more selfish that way.”

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Ryan gives campers hope: Former KU guard Ryan Robertson, who played professional basketball in Holland last year, was guest speaker at Williams’ basketball camp Tuesday. He told the campers he had something in common with them. He attended Williams’ camp after his freshman season at St. Charles (Mo.) West High.

“Something happened at Allen Fieldhouse that changed my life forever,” Robertson recalled. “As we were playing the first scrimmage I picked up a loose ball, got to the free-throw line, made a jump stop and threw a simple bounce pass to a teammate who scored.

“As soon as I turned around, I heard a voice say, ‘Nice pass.’ It was coach Williams. He asked me my name.

“After the game we had a little conversation. At that minute I knew if I worked hard on my game I had a chance to play at Kansas. To this day I believe if I hadn’t made that simple bounce pass if I had made a behind the back pass and threw it in the bleachers my whole life might be different. I might not be at Kansas.

“Two weeks later I got a letter from the University of Kansas. It said, ‘Ryan great week of camp, good luck in the future.’ I knew then I wanted to play at Kansas and it was all made possible because I made a simple pass.”

The moral of the story? “Little things are important,” Robertson said, “and always give 100 percent. You never know who might be watching.”