There was a bit of the old and new at last Friday’s Late Night With Roy Williams.

Former Kansas University basketball players Brett Ballard, Todd Kappelmann and Jeff Boschee senior members of last year’s 33-4 Jayhawk squad joined KU’s 10 scholarship players and two walk-ons for the night’s 20-minute midnight scrimmage at Allen Fieldhouse.

Boschee, Kappelmann and former Jayhawk Steve Woodberry have been practicing with the KU team this week, providing coach Roy Williams with some experienced bodies for drills.

“I am going to help out some (at practice), Jeff and Todd quite a bit,” Ballard, a 6-foot-1 Hutchinson native, said. “Practices are fun, (but) there are some things I don’t miss, like the running.”

Ballard is only available to help out at KU practices on weekends.

He’s tied up from 4-6 p.m. Monday through Friday, serving as co-host of the “Rock Chalk Sports Talk” show on KLWN radio.

“It’s fun. But this is a temporary thing. I still want to coach,” said Ballard, who will complete his degree in secondary education next May.

He’s looking forward to monitoring the progress of several KU players this school year, including guards Michael Lee and Jeff Hawkins.

“I really think Mike Lee will step up. I know he has worked awfully hard,” Ballard said of the 6-3 Portland native. “Jeff Hawkins (5-11, Kansas City) will step up. I played with Jeff in practice last year. He only got better and better. His attitude got better over the summer and he’s really improved. I think you’ll see Moulaye (Niang, 6-10 frosh, Senegal) contribute all the guys.”

On Friday, Ballard guarded sophomore Keith Langford, who scored 15 points off 7-of-10 shooting.

“Keith may have seen the old man, Brett, was guarding him. That may have had something to do with it,” KU coach Roy Williams needled.

Boschee, who, like Ballard, wants to be a coach, will intern in the KU basketball office next spring. Boschee’s book, “Long Shot: Beating the Odds to Live a KU Dream,” has been printed and should be available for sale at area bookstores on Oct. 25.

In past years, former Jayhawks like Billy Thomas and Nick Bradford have helped out at practice.

More trips for Boone: Josh Boone, a 6-8, 205-pound forward from West Nottingham Academy in Maryland, who visited KU last weekend, told rivalshoops.com he would visit UConn on Friday and Saturday and Georgetown on Sunday.

He will visit Virginia the following weekend. St. Joe’s and Rutgers also remain on his final list.

“I was really impressed with the fans and the support the basketball team has at Kansas,” Boone told analyst Mike Sullivan. “I had a great time (at Late Night). The fans are excited about the team. It’s a great atmosphere to play.”

“I can’t have a leader right now,” Boone said. “I haven’t seen all the schools. Once I have seen all the schools I should have an idea on where I might go.”

Ibekwe chooses Maryland: Ikene Ibekwe, 6-9 from Carson, Calif., who at one time was on KU’s recruiting list, has committed to Maryland. Ibekwe chose the Terps over Southern California. KU dropped him as a recruit following the recent commitment of David Padgett.

NBA talk in Minnesota: It seemed every day last year some media member asked Drew Gooden about possibly heading to the NBA after his junior season.

This year, Minnesota sophomore center Rick Rickert, who averaged 14.2 ppg last year and was chosen Big 10 freshman of the year, will be fielding the same sort of NBA queries.

“I’ll consider it,” Rickert told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “It’s got to be an option. I’ve got to keep all my options open. It’ll depend on my year, on who’s going out, a lot of things. It all depends on how I develop and how things are going with the team.”

Rickert at one time was on KU’s recruiting list.

“It’s a very good problem,” UM coach Dan Monson said. “If you have a player the NBA is looking at, it’s a very good thing to deal with. If he’s ready to leave after this year, he had a very good season and that means we probably had a very good season. He knows right now he’s not ready.”