Notebook: Graves pays price for tardiness

Jeff Graves had a problem with the snooze button on his alarm clock Saturday morning.

“I kind of overslept,” said Graves, Kansas University’s junior power forward, who incurred the wrath of coach Roy Williams by reporting six minutes late to a morning workout. “Practice was at 10. I showed up at 10:06. It was my fault. I was late. I knew I had to suffer the consequences.”

His penalty was severe.

“He was six minutes late, so he ran the whole time,” reported Williams, who started Bryant Nash in place of Graves Sunday.

Graves had started KU’s last 11 games while subbing for the injured Wayne Simien.

“I was mad at Bryant, too. He didn’t do what he was supposed to do at pregame. It was just really a screwed-up day, but it was a win,” Williams said of the Jayhawks’ 70-51 victory over Iowa State Sunday at Allen Fieldhouse.

Graves finished with four points, five boards and three assists in 16 minutes.

“It was physical, old-school, Detroit Pistons basketball with Bill Laimbeer. It was grind-it-out basketball. I like that,” Graves said. “It reminded me of my old football days.”

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Raef honored: Raef LaFrentz, the second-leading scorer in KU history, had his jersey retired in a pregame ceremony. He was picked up by the KU university plane and arrived in Lawrence about 2 a.m. Sunday.

“It was first-class, like always,” said LaFrentz, who plays for the Dallas Mavericks and flew out of Dallas Saturday night after a game against Miami. “This is the highest honor a player can have.

“Coming here out of high school, I could never imagine this happening. KU is remembering me, and it makes you feel good.”

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Dizzy Lee: Michael Lee banged his head hard on the court after falling early in the game. He was in a daze until the second half.

“I hit it hard. Usually I can bounce up. This time I was dazed,” said Lee, who had five points in 12 minutes. “It was hard to get up.”

Lee was checked by doctors and deemed OK after the game.

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Coming to the rescue: Langford wasn’t surprised Aaron Miles came to the rescue of Simien after Simien was shoved in the back by Jackson Vroman in the second half.

“That’s how we are. It has nothing to do with basketball. If you put your hands on my friend, you suffer the consequences, whether it be on the basketball court or in the yard,” Langford said.

After the game, Williams reminded his team of Big 12 rules involving on-court disputes. If players leave the bench or throw punches, they are to be ejected and suspended the following game. If they shove opposing players in an attempt to restore peace, it can be interpreted as contributing to a fight, and they might have to sit the next game.

“We went over it a bit more. We don’t do that often because we don’t have those kind of scenarios very often,” Williams said.

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Recruit has great time: Recruit Daniel Gibson, a 6-foot-3 junior guard from Houston, attended and sat next to KU signee J.R. Giddens. Gibson is considering KU, Texas and others and will pick a school later this month.

“I hope he comes here. I think he’ll come here,” Giddens said. “If he doesn’t come here, he’ll miss a chance of a lifetime. I think it’s between KU and Texas. If he sees KU’s tradition, he’ll pick KU.”

Giddens wouldn’t confirm reports he had been named to the McDonald’s All-America team, but hinted to media members he had been tapped to the 20-player team. “Thumbs up,” he said.

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Senior Award: KU’s Kirk Hinrich and Nick Collison are two of 10 finalists for the Senior Award, to be presented to college basketball’s top senior at the Final Four. OU’s Hollis Price is also a finalist.

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Not full: Empty seats were obvious high in the north end and in the northwest corner bleachers of Allen Fieldhouse, even though Sunday’s game technically was a sellout. Apparently, the noon start was too early for many students. KU associate athletic director Richard Konzem said more than 2,000 students had claimed tickets for the game, but only about 1,200 showed up.