KU basketball briefs
Injury update
Kansas University’s men’s basketball players, who have had plenty of injuries this season, aren’t completely healthy entering the NCAAs.
“I think it will be great by Friday,” KU coach Bill Self said of the Jayhawks’ health. “It’s very average as we speak.”
Senior Keith Langford, who has been hobbled by an ankle sprain, practiced Monday.
“Keith is still laboring quite a bit. I told everybody he’d have played Sunday. I know he’d have tried, but based on today, he’s still gimping pretty good,” Self said.
“The thing that concerns me about Keith is, we’re going on two weeks (where) he hasn’t done anything. After Senior Day, he hurt his ankle at the start of practice and didn’t do anything until the Missouri game and he sprains it there in the first three minutes. He’d not done anything since then until (Sunday’s) individual workout. How well he’ll do without repetition and conditioning remains to be seen.”
Christian Moody has been hobbled by an ankle sprain and staph infection in his knee the past several weeks.
“Christian, to me … you watch us play, Christian does not have the same expressiveness or aggressive nature. His knee is still bothering him,” Self added of the junior forward.
“Other than that, 40 percent of our starting five … we’re in pretty good shape,” Self quipped. “We’ve not been whole all year for the most part.”
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Kansas signee Wright not involved in brawl
Chicago — A large brawl broke out between spectators at the Homewood Flossmoor-Thornton high school Class AA supersectional Monday night at the United Center, sending at least three people — including a police sergeant — to the hospital.
Two individuals were in critical condition, and one person was in stable condition, Chicago Fire Department official Will Knight said. The police sergeant suffered a heart attack, but his injuries were not considered life-threatening, police Sgt. Robert Cargie said.
Five ambulances were sent to the scene of the fight, which broke out around 8:30 p.m. at the home of the NBA Chicago Bulls.
The fight did not involve the players on the court or any relatives of the players competing in Homewood-Flossmoor’s 46-40 loss.
Kansas University signee Julian Wright competes for H-F.
The fight grew too large for the United Center security staff, which consists of several off-duty city, state and county law-enforcement officers, and Chicago Police were called for help, Cargie said.
Before the game, Wright, a 6-foot-8 guard/forward, was named first-team all-state.
League strong
Six Big 12 Conference teams are in the NCAA Tournament, tying the Big East for most teams from a conference in the 65-team field.
“That doesn’t surprise me at all,” Self said. “I thought if Texas A&M had won a couple of more, they could have gotten in.”
Asked if any of the teams could reach the Final Four, Self said: “Yes, but being very realistic, teams are going to have to get really hot, KU included, and play their best basketball of the year. The same is true of all leagues.”
Texas Tech coach Bob Knight on the Big 12 teleconference was asked if it was a good sign his team was entering the NCAAs on a hot streak.
“Just because we caught fish yesterday doesn’t mean we’ll catch them today,” he said.
Famous papa
Second-year Bucknell assistant coach Mark Prosser’s dad is Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser. The Demon Deacons have a No. 2 seed in the Albuquerque regional.