N.Y. SELECTS IONESCU WITH 1ST PICK IN WNBA DRAFT. 2B SPORTS B Lawrence JournaL-worLd l LJWorld.com/sports l Saturday, April 18, 2020 AD: KU isn’t considering getting rid of any sports By Matt Tait sports, six men’s programs and at $106.3 million. The depart- [email protected] There are other areas of our budget 10 women’s programs — the ment’s expenses that same year where we can cut expenses rather than two universities are on vastly were slightly lower at $104.1 While colleges and universi- different footing when it comes million. ties across the country wrestle eliminating any specific sports.” to their financial picture. The total revenue brought with the idea of cutting sports ‘‘— KU Athletic Director Jeff Long The biggest reason for that is in by Cincinnati’s athletic de- to save money in the midst of that KU is in the Power 5 Big partment during that same year the COVID-19 crisis, Univer- 12 Conference, while Cincin- ranked much lower, with the sity of Kansas Athletic Direc- nati competes in the American Bearcats, of the AAC, bringing in tor Jeff Long said no such dis- Two weeks ago, Long said bringing Cincinnati’s list of Athletic Conference. Thus, $61.8 million and spending $64.8 cussions had taken place in the KU athletic department athletic department-sponsored comparing the number of total million. Cincinnati ranked 55th Lawrence. was in “strong financial shape.” sports from 17 to 16 beginning school-sponsored sports at KU nationally in revenue. “We have not explored cut- Since then, universities across with the 2020-21 school year. and Cincinnati is far from an While Cincinnati is by far ting any sports here at KU,” the country have started to Although Cincinnati and apples-to-apples approach. the most high-profile universi- Long told the Journal-World make drastic cuts. Kansas compete at the same According to data from USA ty to announce the elimination on Friday. “There are other ar- Earlier this week, the Univer- level and serve a similar num- Today for the 2017-18 school of one of its athletic programs, eas of our budget where we can sity of Cincinnati announced ber of sports and athletes — year, KU’s athletic department others have done the same. cut expenses rather than elimi- that it would cut men’s soccer Kansas opened the 2019-20 revenue ranked 33rd among all nating any specific sports.” from its varsity sports lineup, school year with 16 varsity Division I public universities > CUTS, 4B Preps-to-pros Jordan’s ‘Last Dance’ opportunities changing college hoops recruiting MATT TAIT [email protected] p to this point, the talk about top college basketball pros- Upects considering Kansas but opting for professional opportunities instead has been mostly retrospective in nature. Some fans have surely talked about what Andrew Wiggins, Josh Jackson or even Josh Selby might have done had the rules been differ- ent. But few future Jayhawks from the past actually considered skip- ping college. However, with the college game and the recruiting efforts that feed it constantly changing, the vibrations are starting to be felt in Lawrence. In the past 11 months, KU has seen five-star prospect R.J. Hampton pick a pro opportunity in New Zealand over college at Kansas. Class of 2020 five- star forward Isaiah Todd followed that up by choosing Michigan over KU only to back out of that commit- ment this week with his own plans of turning pro. And then there’s the latest news about class of 2020 prospect Jalen Green, the top remaining uncommit- ted player in his class. Earlier this week, Green announced that he will skip college to take advantage of the NBA’s new G League developmental program that offers select prospects a contract worth up to $500,000 to play one year in the G League before entering the NBA draft. KU was not recruiting Green, but he, like Hampton, could have an im- pact on future prospects the Jayhawks are pursuing. Welcome to the newest wave of Beth A. Keiser/AP File Photo college basketball recruiting. It prom- IN THIS JUNE 4, 1997, FILE PHOTO, THE CHICAGO BULLS’ MICHAEL JORDAN (23) GOES UP AND UNDER the Utah Jazz’s Karl ises to be an interesting ride. Malone, left, as Jordan drives to the hoop during the third quarter of Game 2 of the NBA Finals in Chicago. Current NBA collective bargaining rules stipulate that players must be 19 years old and one year removed from high school to be eligible for the draft. Docuseries about ’97-’98 Bulls debuts Sunday That might change in the future, but those are the rules today. By Steve Reed “The beginning of the season, it focused on completing the task of Instead of waiting for their NBA started when (general manager) Jerry a second three-peat. riches while sitting through algebra l l l Krause told (coach) Phil Jackson that “Mentally it tugged at you that this and economics classes, more and Associated Press he could go 82-0 and he would never had to come to an end, but it also cen- more top prospects are starting to get a chance to come back,” Jordan tered our focus to making sure we consider striking out on their own. Charlotte, N.C. — Michael Jor- said. “Knowing that I had married ended it right,” Jordan said. “As sad The idea here is not entirely new. dan described his final NBA cham- myself to him, and if he wasn’t go- as it sounded at the beginning of the But having the NBA directly involved pionship season with the Chicago ing to be the coach, then obviously I year, we tried to rejoice and enjoy the is. Bulls as a “trying year.” wasn’t going to play. So Phil started year and finish it off the right way.” In 2008, Brandon Jennings played “We were all trying to enjoy that off the season saying this was the last The documentary was originally overseas instead of attending Ari- year knowing it was coming to an dance — and we played it that way.” scheduled to be released in June zona. Future lottery pick Emmanuel end,” Jordan told “Good Morning The series will debut Sunday during the NBA Finals, but ESPN Mudiay did the same thing six years America” on Thursday. Jordan ap- night on ESPN in the United States made the decision to accelerate later, opting for an opportunity in peared on the show via video con- and on Netflix internationally over its release because of the lack of China instead of a scholarship at ference from his home in Florida five consecutive Sundays through live sports programming amid SMU. A handful of others followed to promote the “The Last Dance,” May 17. There will be two hour- the coronavirus pandemic. The their lead — to varying degrees of a 10-part documentary series fo- long episodes each of those nights. series has been billed to include success — all the way up to Hampton cused on the final year of the ’90s Jordan said Thursday that after never-before-seen footage from and LaMelo Ball. Bulls dynasty that won six NBA Jackson told the team it was to be The incentive for the players is to titles in eight years. the final season together, the Bulls > JORDAN, 4B > RECRUITING, 4B 2B | Saturday, April 18, 2020 . SPORTS LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD BRIEFLY first-round picks the 2022 NBA draft. his diagnosis to show people Ionescu picked 1st for New York, Bates becomes 1st The 6-foot-9 guard averaged how serious the disease is. in WNBA draft which also had sophomore to win 32 points this year. His chance “I’m going to do whatever Nos. 9 and 12. to help Ypsilanti, Mich.’s Lincoln I have to do to get thru this!” by New York Ducks team- Gatorade’s prep High repeat as state champions Miller wrote in an Instagram New York (ap) — Sabrina mate Satou basketball award was cut short during the play- post Thursday night. “Take this Ionescu was the No. 1 pick in the Sabally, one of offs because of the coronavirus seriously. It’s definitely FOR Emoni Bates was named Ga- WNBA draft Friday night, going three juniors to pandemic. REAL.” torade’s national player of the to the New York Liberty in an forgo their last Miller told KUSA-TV in Denver year in high school basketball, Oregon sweep of the top two Ionescu year of college that he developed a cough a becoming the first sophomore picks. eligibility and enter the draft, Broncos’ Miller couple of days ago. When his to win the award, and he was Ionescu set the NCAA record went second to Dallas. It’s the nebulizer for his asthma didn’t informed Tuesday during a has COVID-19 for triple-doubles and was the third time in the history of the clear things up, he decided to FaceTime call with Boston Celt- aurora, Colo. (ap) — Den- first college player to have over draft that the top two picks get tested for the coronavirus, ics forward Jayson Tatum. ver Broncos linebacker Von Mill- 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds were teammates in college. and the test came back positive Bates could potentially be er has the coronavirus, and he and 1,000 assists in her ca- Dallas also had the fifth and Thursday. selected with the No. 1 pick in wanted to come forward with reer. Ionescu was one of three seventh picks. SCOREBOARD • FSKC 36, 623 • FSN+ 172 TODAY National Football League year contract.