For the seventh-straight season, the Kansas men’s basketball team will make four appearances on ESPN’s Big Monday, as announced by the Big 12 Conference Wednesday.

KU will be featured on ESPN’s Big Monday on Jan. 14 versus Baylor, Jan. 28 at West Virginia, Feb. 11 versus Kansas State and Feb. 25 at Iowa State. The Jayhawks have played Baylor in a Big Monday contest three times in the Big 12 era, while facing Kansas State and Iowa State four times each. KU and West Virginia will be meeting for the first time as conference members and the first time in men’s basketball history.

Since the inception of the Big 12 in 1996-97, Kansas is 45-16 all-time on ESPN’s Big Monday (25-1 at home, 20-15 on the road), including 26-8 under head coach Bill Self. Additionally, KU has won 18-straight Big Monday games in Allen Fieldhouse, which includes a 14-0 mark under Self.

2013 Big 12 Men’s Basketball Schedule on ESPN’s Big Monday

All games televised on ESPN and available on WatchESPN.com

January 14 – Baylor at Kansas 8 p.m.
January 21 – Oklahoma State at Baylor, 4:30 p.m.; Texas at Oklahoma, 8:30 p.m.
January 28 – Kansas at West Virginia – 8 p.m.
February 4 – Texas at West Virginia, 8 p.m.
February 11 – Kansas State at Kansas 8 p.m.
February 18 – West Virginia at Kansas State, 8 p.m.
February 25 – Kansas at Iowa State, 8 p.m.
March 4 – Baylor at Texas, 8 p.m.

— KU Sports Information —

Kansas senior tight end Mike Ragone has been named to the John Mackey Award Watch List by the Nassau County Sports Commission. The commission released its list of 33 student-athletes up for the award, which recognizes the top tight end in the country each year, on Tuesday.

Ragone, a 6-foot-4, 262-pound senior from Cherry Hill, N.J., transferred to KU from Notre Dame on April 17. Ragone played five seasons for the Fighting Irish, appearing in 37 games. He recorded 11 catches for 109 yards at Notre Dame, including six receptions for 60 yards in 2009. He missed the entire 2008 season with an injury and was lost for all but one game in 2011.

Ragone was rated as the No. 3 tight end in the country coming out of high school and the third-best player at any position coming out of New Jersey following his senior year at Camden Catholic High School. He was named the No. 2 tight end in the nation and 33rd-best prospect by CSTV/Tom Lemming and was rated the 55th-best prospect in the nation and No. 2 tight end in his class on the ESPN 150 list.

Given annually to the most outstanding tight end in college football, the award recipient is selected by a vote of the John Mackey Award Selection Committee with the winner recognized at The Home Depot College Football Awards Red Carpet Show on Dec. 6. Other key dates include the announcement of the Mackey semi-finalists on Nov. 12 and of finalists on Nov. 19.

Kansas football will open the 2012 season at home against South Dakota State on Sept. 1.

— KU Sports Information —

Kansas football head coach Charlie Weis completed his 27-player signing class by announcing the addition of Jon Shelby here Friday. KU had the opportunity to address its many needs by signing up to 27 players and it did just that by inking the standout junior college linebacker.

Shelby, a native of Brockton, Mass., comes to Kansas after spending his first two collegiate campaigns at Nassau Community College in New York, where he teamed up with fellow KU signee Aslam Sterling to help lead the Lions to a 19-2 mark under head coach Curtis Gilliam. NCC had a perfect 11-0 mark in 2010 and finished the year ranked No.3 in the NJCAA.

During his time at NCC Shelby played in all 21 games, collecting 82 tackles, 59 of which were solo stops. He also recorded 12 TFLs for minus 33 yards, two sacks for minus seven yards, two pass breakups and one fumble recovery. He was honored as an All-Northeast Conference first team member at linebacker in 2011.

Shelby starred at Brockton High School prior to attending NCC. He averaged 20 tackles per game his senior season and also had four sacks and three fumble recoveries, while playing both inside and outside linebacker for the Boxers. Shelby earned Big Three All-Star honors and was also named to the Enterprise News All-Scholastics Defensive Team in 2009.

Kansas will open the 2012 season on Sept. 1, when it plays host to South Dakota State at Memorial Stadium.

— KU Sports Information —

Big 12 Player of the Year and First Team All-American Thomas Robinson was selected with the fifth overall pick by the Sacramento and All-Big 12 First Teamer Tyshawn Taylor was selected 41st overall by the Portland Trailblazers, but his draft rights are believed to have been traded to the Brooklyn Nets in the 2012 NBA Draft Thursday night. Robinson is the highest drafted Jayhawk since Drew Gooden was the No. 4 overall selection in the 2002 NBA Draft.

The Washington, D.C. native, is the 10th Jayhawk to be drafted in the lottery since 2000, which is tied for the lead in the nation with Connecticut and North Carolina. The selections make Robinson the 14th and Taylor the 15th Jayhawk drafted under head coach Bill Self.

Since the inception of the Big 12 in 1996-97, KU has had 23 players drafted in the NBA, which is the most of any league member. Over the last decade, KU among the top-five for producing the most NBA Draft picks in the nation with 17. Three KU draft picks recently played for the 2012 NBA Championship, with 2008 second-rounder Mario Chalmers helping the Miami Heat win the crown.

“I want to thank the organization for taking me with the fifth pick and I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of the organization,” Robinson said. “I didn’t really know where I was going to end up at, but this is a bit of a surprise. I didn’t work out for Sacramento at all and I probably talked to them once. I’m here, so I’m meant to be here.”

Robinson and Taylor helped lead Kansas to 32-7 record on the season, advancing to the school’s 14th Final Four where it finished runner-up, won its school-record eighth straight and 12th Big 12 regular-season championship and finished the year No. 2 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll and No. 6 in the Associated Press poll, which is released prior to the NCAA Tournament. Additionally, KU finished the season 16-0 in Allen Fieldhouse, upping its home-court winning streak to 22 games.

Robinson leaves Kansas as one of the most decorated players in school history. Declaring for the 2012 NBA Draft, the Washington, D.C., native became Kansas’ 28th Consensus All-American following his junior year where he was the only player in the Big 12 to average a double-double with 17.7 points and 11.9 rebounds per game. The 2012 Big 12 Player of the Year who was also named the conference’s player of the week four times, Robinson set a Kansas single-season record and led the nation with 27 double-doubles and his 463 rebounds were second only to former KU legend Wilt Chamberlain’s 510 boards in 1956-57. His 11.9 rebound average was second in NCAA Division I in 2011-12.

Taylor, from Hoboken, N.J., was a four-year starter at Kansas amassing a 127-21 record with four Big 12 regular-season titles, two Big 12 tourney championships, two NCAA Elite Eights and one Final Four. A Bob Cousy Award finalist as a junior and senior, Taylor was a two-time Big 12 Player of the Week in 2011-12 where he averaged 16.6 points and a team-best 4.8 assists per game. Taylor, who was named to numerous 2012 All-America teams as either a third team or an honorable mention selection, had 13 games of 20 or more points scored his senior season.

Robinson and Taylor are the 71st and 72nd Jayhawks to be drafted in Kansas men’s basketball history. It marks the third-straight year in which at least two Jayhawks have been selected in the draft.

— KU Sports Information —

Standout combo guard Milton Doyle has signed a grant-in-aid agreement to play men’s basketball at the University of Kansas, KU head coach Bill Self announced Monday.

“Milton graduated this past week. He is in Lawrence, enrolled and attending class and is officially a Kansas Jayhawk,” Self said. “I’m excited for him. He’s got length and reminds me so much of Tyshawn (Taylor), including recruiting in that he committed to FIU (Florida International), and they had a coaching change and we were fortunate enough to recruit him after that.”

Taylor had committed to Marquette before its coaching change and then came to Kansas where he was a four-year starter from 2009-12 and a member of four Big 12 Championship teams, including this past season guiding the Jayhawks to the Final Four and the NCAA title game.

Doyle, 6-4,185 pounds, comes to KU from Chicago’s Marshall High School where he averaged 19.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 5.0 steals per game his senior season. He was selected as a Chicago Public League All-Star and scored 20 points in the league’s all-star game in May.

“He’s got a lot of upside,” Self said. “He’s a combo guard that can certainly play on the ball. He’s also big enough and skilled enough to play off the ball and a very good athlete. I think he’ll give us great depth in our backcourt.”

Doyle becomes the fifth Jayhawk from Chicago who has played or will play under Self at Kansas. Those include 2010 All-American Sherron Collins, Julian Wright, Mario Little and current Jayhawk Jamari Traylor.

“I’m so appreciative of his family trusting us throughout the recruiting process because it was so quick after the situation at Florida International,” Self added. “I have known coach (Henry) Cotton (at Marshall HS) for a long, long time and he sings Milton’s praises on his talent. Milton would have been a very highly recruited kid had he played AAU last summer but he didn’t because he was injured and a lot of people didn’t have the opportunity to see him.”

— KU Sports Information —

Doc Sadler has been named the director of basketball operations for Kansas men’s basketball, KU head coach Bill Self announced Wednesday.

Sadler replaces Barry Hinson who served in the position for two seasons, four total on the KU staff, before taking over as head coach at Southern Illinois following Kansas’ run to the NCAA Tournament title game in April 2012.

“I am excited to announce that Doc Sadler has accepted the position of director of basketball operations in our program,” Self said. “I’ve known Doc for 25 years and have certainly followed his career. Watching his career at UTEP and seeing and competing against him when he was at Nebraska sold me on his ability for him to come in here and make us better.”

“Very few programs in the country have the experience that our staff will have with Joe (Dooley), Kurtis (Townsend), Norm (Roberts) and now adding Doc into the mix,” Self said. “We lost two great coaches this past year due to staff turnover – Danny (Manning) getting the job at Tulsa and Barry (Hinson) getting the job at Southern Illinois. We replace them with Norm Roberts who is a terrific coach and recruiter and was a head coach at St. John’s for six years and Doc Sadler who has done just about everything and has been a head Division I coach for eight years. I’m excited. My batteries are charged and I know he’s ready to get to work July 1.”

“This is an unbelievable opportunity to have a chance to get back into college basketball,” Sadler said. “When making decisions, I really thought I would sit out this year but when this came along I don’t think anyone would ever pass it up. I am thankful to Coach Self in giving me this opportunity. To be part of a program such as Kansas is unbelievable.”

Sadler comes to KU after serving six seasons as head coach at Nebraska where he posted a 101-89 record. His 101 wins are fourth all-time at NU. Sadler guided Nebraska to three postseason appearances, with the Huskers advancing to the NIT in 2008, 2009 and 2011. His 2009 team finished Big 12 play with an 8-8 league record, the Huskers’ best conference mark in a decade, and his 2008 team posted a 20-13 record, giving NU its first 20-win season since 1999. Overall, at Nebraska Sadler owned eight wins against ranked squads in six years.

Under Sadler at Nebraska, more than 80 percent of seniors who finished their eligibility received their degrees at NU. Additionally, as a head coach, Sadler has mentored 19 players who went on to play in the NBA.

Prior to Nebraska, Sadler spent two seasons as the head coach at UTEP, where he compiled a 48-18 record with the Miners: 27-8 in 2005 and 21-10 in 2006. His 27 wins in 2005 rank ninth on the NCAA list for first-year head coaches.

Guiding teams to nine postseason appearances as a head coach, Sadler’s first head stint was at Arkansas-Fort Smith from 1998-99 through 2002-03. He has a career coaching record of 269-146 in 13 seasons, including a Division I record of 149-107 in eight seasons.

A native of Greenwood, Ark., Sadler also served one season as a high school coach, guiding County Line High School to a 38-7 record.

As an assistant coach, Sadler worked at seven current Division I schools, including Arkansas (1982-85, under Eddie Sutton), Lamar (1985-86, under Pat Foster), Houston (1986), Chicago State (1987-88, under Tommy Suitts), Texas Tech (1991-94, under James Dickey), Arizona State (1994-97, under Bill Freider) and UTEP (2003-04, under Billy Gillispie).

Over 12 full seasons as a Division I assistant coach, nine of his teams reached the postseason.

— KU Sports Information —

ESPN and the Big 12 Conference announced Thursday that the Kansas-Northern Illinois football game scheduled for Sept. 22 in DeKalb, Ill., will be picked up by the ESPN family of networks. The game will be shown on either cable station ESPNU or online on ESPN3. Game time has not yet been announced.

This will mark the first Kansas game televised by ESPNU and would be the second on ESPN3 after the 2001 meeting between KU and Oklahoma.

Kansas and Northern Illinois will be meeting for the third time on the gridiron and the second time in as many years. KU won a thriller against the Huskies, 45-42, at Memorial Stadium last season, while NIU took the first meeting in 1983 by a 37-34 score.

The Jayhawks will open the 2012 season on Saturday, Sept. 1 when they play host to South Dakota State.

— KU Sports Information —

Kansas football head coach Charlie Weis announced here Monday afternoon that linebacker Jake Farley will transfer. Farley, 6-foot-1 220-pound sophomore from Cedar Falls, Iowa, will complete his collegiate career at the University of Northern Iowa where he will play for his father, Mark.

“Jake met with me on Friday and told me he would like to finish his career playing for his dad,” said Weis. “How could I debate that one? On behalf of the KU program, I wish Jake success and happiness as he returns home to be with his family.”

“I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Kansas both as a member of the football team and academically,” said Farley. “I believe Coach Weis has really made a positive impact on the direction of the football program, but I have decided I want to have the chance to play for my dad and have my family watch me play. I appreciate the opportunity I had at KU and wish the team all the best.”

— KU Sports Information —