A case in Lawrence Municipal Court against Kansas University basketball player Brandon Rush has been continued to April 11 – after the season is over.

Rush, a junior from Kansas City, Mo., was supposed to appear in court Wednesday morning on charges of failing to appear in court on two other occasions for traffic violations.

Instead, Rush’s appearance in court Wednesday was entered by his attorney, David Brown, according to the city prosecutor’s office. His case was rescheduled before Judge Randy McGrath for 7 a.m., April 11, four days after the NCAA title game.

Rush was arrested last week on two warrants for failure to appear. McGrath ordered him to be transported to the Douglas County Jail, where he posted $500 bond and was released.

Rush had been cited on Oct. 19 for speeding and in December 2006 for driving on the left of a road and not having proof of insurance.

“I needed some more information. We needed to push it back a little bit. A week wasn’t enough time,” Rush said Wednesday. “It’s after the season so I don’t have to worry about it at all.”

Of the continuation, KU coach Bill Self said: “That is between Brandon and his attorney. That’s what was done. He’ll be responsible and take care of it whenever it needs to be taken care of.”

Back to basketball, Self said Rush would return to the starting lineup for Saturday’s game against Ohio, set for a 4 p.m. tipoff at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.

“He’s earned it,” Self said Rush, who has come off the bench in seven games as he recovers from June 1 ACL surgery.

“Physically, I see signs every day he’s getting closer to being the old Brandon,” Self said, noting he now believes Rush will not need a full year to return to his old form.

“He is so farther along than people envisioned him being back when they performed the surgery. He’s done remarkably well. Whether or not he can put it all together where he’s 100 percent, I don’t know. Maybe 98 percent, 99 percent, but he’s going to get real close.”

Rush agrees: “My explosiveness and first step … they are coming back. Around Big 12 play, I should be 100 percent.”

“I’ll be back to my old self by January or February. Getting there and battling with big dudes, trying to rebound over everybody … it’s still in my mind, but starting to fade away,” Rush said of being tentative.

Meanwhile, Rodrick Stewart, who has started seven games, will be used off the bench.

“Being real candid, yes,” Self said, asked if Stewart’s minutes will decrease with Rush healthy and Sherron Collins recovered from a stress fracture. “I (also) told Russell (Robinson) and Mario (Chalmers) their minutes are going to go down. I think everybody’s minutes will go down if we play to our strength, which is getting out, pressuring and playing fast.”

Self noted Stewart, who averages 20 minutes per contest, still figured to play between 15 and 20 minutes a game.

¢ Collins getting stronger: Collins, who played 13 minutes against DePaul on Saturday, will likely go longer than that against Ohio.

“His weight is good. His conditioning is not. It’s a gradual process where it’s getting better daily,” Self said. “He’s not far off. I don’t know if he’ll be 100 percent by Saturday, but he won’t be far off.”

¢ Old ankles: Tyrel Reed has been practicing as he recovers from a pair of sprained ankles.

“He’s sore. He said yesterday he felt like an old man getting out of bed walking around. I said, ‘Welcome to my world,”’ Self said. “He’s not quite 100 percent. He’s doing fine. He just has some bum ankles. Those are things you play with.”

¢ Tough league: The Big 12 Conference is currently ranked second nationally in the RPI ratings behind the ACC.

“We need to solidify that to make sure we don’t have (just) four teams in the NCAA Tournament again,” Self said, adding, “we can’t underestimate the importance and value of young talent. We have young talented guys in our league leading their teams in ways we didn’t envision they could.”

¢ Finals: KU’s players have been both practicing and taking final exams this week.

“Our practice Monday ranked up there as one of the top 10 worst ever,” Self said. “Yesterday was average to above average. If I go back over time it’s always that way over finals week. Guys don’t sleep or shouldn’t. If they are sleeping they aren’t studying hard enough.”

What was wrong Monday? “I think we tried hard. Our minds were somewhere else. Everybody was yawning,” soph guard Collins said. “We are getting used to it now,” he added of finals week.

¢ Solid B: Self said he’s give his team a grade of B for its work first semester.

“Attitude and effort and unselfishness and those things I give a pretty high grade,” Self said. “Execution, paying attention to detail have been average. Toughness can get better.”