No final decision has been announced, but it appears certain Kansas University sophomore Jeremy Case will take a red-shirt season this year.

“Jeremy and I have an understanding. It’s not definite, but he’s going to red-shirt,” KU basketball coach Bill Self said Thursday, referring to the injured combo guard practicing but not playing in games about extending his college career one year.

“We’ll give it a couple of weeks to see if he gets healthy, but all indications are he’ll red-shirt.”

Case, a 6-foot, 165-pound native of McAlester, Okla., who played sparingly his freshman season, has yet to practice this season because of a hairline fracture in his pelvic bone he suffered in August.

“I definitely want to play, but we have so many guards,” Case said recently. “I could red-shirt this year and have three years to get better.”

Case, a high school sharpshooter who hit six of 26 three-pointers while averaging 3.9 minutes a game in 21 games a year ago, has lofty goals for his college career.

“I want to do everything possible I can to play here. I want to play here. I don’t want to go lower just so I can be the star,” said Case, who said he never considered transferring to a school in a lower division for more playing time.

“I believe I do,” he added, asked if he had what it took to contribute at KU. “I definitely believe in my heart I can help this team out.”

Self agrees.

“Jeremy is a good player. He is an excellent shooter that needs to get stronger,” Self said. “I think Jeremy can have an impact on our program.”

Case said it has been frustrating to be nursing a groin injury for so many weeks.

Owens honored

“It’s hard to watch them play, real hard,” Case said of watching the Jayhawks scrimmage as he shoots on the side at practice or rides the stationary bike. “I try to shoot free throws, do ball-handling drills, stay as close to it as I can.”

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Galindo recovering: KU freshman Alex Galindo, who practiced for the first time Wednesday afternoon, was able to practice again during the Jayhawks’ early 6 a.m. workout on Thursday.

“He was just average,” Self said of Galindo’s ability to get through drills as he recovers from a pulled groin.

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Ted Owens lauded: Self attended Thursday night’s “An Evening with Ted Owens and Friends” benefit for Bert Nash Center at the Holidome.

Owens, 75, was head coach at KU from 1964 to ’83.

“I love the guy. He was one of the first people I talked to when I got the job here,” Self said. “He feels great about coming back. I feel great that we’re recognizing him and recognizing some of the great players he coached this season.”

KU will be hanging the jerseys of Owens-era players Bill Bridges, Dave Robisch, Bud Stallworth, Darnell Valentine and Walt Wesley in the rafters of the fieldhouse this season.

“I’ve known coach Owens a long time. I played against him in college,” said Self, a former Oklahoma State player. “I followed him when he was at Oral Roberts, too. He’s a great coach and a class guy.”

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Clinic coming: Self will play host to several hundred junior college and small-college coaches at this weekend’s KU coaches clinic. He and his staff members will speak to the coaches during Saturday’s program.

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TV update: Here’s some good news for out-of-state fans who have been concerned the Jayhawks games not shown on national TV won’t be available on ESPN’s Full Court package this year.

“We expect to announce in a day or two we’ve come to an understanding and Jayhawk TV games will be available on Full Court,” Tim Allen, associate commissioner of the Big 12 Conference said.

“We’re trying to get it so all Big 12 teams have the opportunity (to have all games shown). It’ll be a combination of Full Court and schools (without their own TV networks) being able to show games on the Internet.”

Both KU’s athletic department and the Big 12 office have been flooded with phone calls from fans all week livid when they were informed Full Court would not be showing as many KU games this season as in the past.

“The volume of phone calls we’ve gotten from Jayhawk nation is staggering,” KU associate AD Jim Marchiony said. “This was resolved at the last minute last year, and hopefully it will be this year.”

As explained to the Journal-World, the Big 12’s agreement with ABC and ESPN prohibits Jayhawk TV games from being shown outside the state. ESPN, however, is rights holder for KU and Iowa State’s third-tier package of games, that is Jayhawk TV and Cyclone TV games.

The Big 12 says ESPN has been inadvertently violating the contract by allowing those KU and Iowa State games to be shown on Full Court.

All schools, the Big 12 says, want to have the same opportunity as KU and ISU to have their fans see their games nationwide.

“We would love to see all the games on Full Court,” Marchiony said.