The 2009–10 Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team represented the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

in the

2009–10 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2009–10 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 9, 2009, and ended with the 2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament's championship game on April 5, 2010, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. The openin ...

, which was the Jayhawks' 112th basketball season. Their head coach was

Bill Self Billy Eugene Self Jr. (born December 27, 1962) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball, Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team. Self has held various coaching roles at the collegiate level an ...

, who was serving his 7th year. The team played its home games in

Allen Fieldhouse Allen Fieldhouse is an indoor arena on the University of Kansas (KU) campus in Lawrence, Kansas. It is home of the Kansas Jayhawks men's and women's basketball teams. The arena is named after Phog Allen, a former player and head coach for th ...

Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

and are members of the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

. The Jayhawks finished the season 33–3, 15–1 in Big 12 play to capture the Big 12 regular season championship. They also won the 2010 Big 12 men's basketball tournament to earn the conference's automatic bid to the

2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 65 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament that determined the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's basketball national champion for the 2009– ...

. They earned the #1 overall seed in the entire tournament and were the 1 seed in the Midwest Region. They defeated 16 seed Lehigh in the first round and were upset by 9 seed

Northern Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

in the second round.

Pre-Season

On April 13, 2009, key players

Sherron Collins Sherron Marlon Collins (born March 18, 1987) is an American former professional basketball player who is currently the head coach for Oak Park High School in Kansas City, Missouri. He formerly played for the Charlotte Bobcats of the National Ba ...

and

Cole Aldrich Cole David Aldrich (born October 31, 1988) is an American former professional basketball player. He played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, Sacramento Kings, New York Knicks, Los Angeles ...

announced that they would forgo the NBA draft and return for the 2009–10 season. The Jayhawks will return all players who saw significant minutes on last years Sweet 16 team. In early polls for the season, The Jayhawks were almost the consensus #1 ranked team for the 09–10 season, the only other team that was #1 in any other pre-season polls, was

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...

, which defeated KU in the Sweet 16 of the 2009 NCAA tournament.

Departures

In the offseason the Jayhawks lost Senior walk-ons Matt Kleinmann and Brennan Bechard from the 2008–09 roster. On April 9, Quintrell Thomas and Tyrone Appleton announced their intention to transfer to other schools due to lack of available playing time. Appleton averaged 0.8 points on 2.2 minutes per game in 2008–09 and Thomas averaged 1.5 points on 5.4 minutes. Thomas announced that he will be joining the

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. ...

squad, however will not be eligible to play until the 2010–11 season. Appleton transferred to

Southwest Baptist University Southwest Baptist University (SBU) is a private Baptist university in Bolivar, Missouri, United States. It is affiliated with the Missouri Baptist Convention, which is part of the Southern Baptist Convention. In 2023, it had a total enrollment ...

in Missouri.

Recruiting

In October 2008, the Jayhawks received commitments from a pair of five-star recruits, Elijah Johnson from

North Las Vegas North Las Vegas is a suburban city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, in the Las Vegas Valley. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 262,527, with an estimated population of 280,543 in 2022. The city was incorporated on May 1, 1946 ...

and Thomas Robinson of

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

On Thursday April 23, 2009 McDonald's All-American

Xavier Henry Xavier Henry (; born March 15, 1991) is an American former professional basketball player. He played one year of college basketball with the Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball, Kansas Jayhawks before he was drafted in the 2010 NBA draft by the Mem ...

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

announced his intention to play at Kansas, prompting

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

to name the Jayhawks as "the team to beat in 2010." The Jayhawks will add center Jeff Withey, who transferred from the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

, and C.J. Henry who will transfer from the

University of Memphis The University of Memphis (Memphis) is a public university, public research university in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 20,000 students. The university maintains the Herff Col ...

to join his brother Xavier. C.J. will walk on as his tuition is paid by the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

who took him in the 2005 MLB Draft. Withey will not be eligible to play until the end of the fall semester.

Class of 2009

, - , colspan="7" style="padding-left:10px;" , Overall Recruiting Rankings:

Scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

– 4

Rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or Social group, groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each ...

– 6

– 5

Transfers

, -

Accolades

Team: *Big 12 Preseason #1 (unanimous) *

Blue Ribbon Yearbook Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The term ''blue'' generally descr ...

preseason #1 team *

Sporting News ''The Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a ...

preseason #1. *Associated Press Preseason #1 *ESPN/USAToday Preseason #1 Sherron Collins: *Big 12 Preseason Co-Player of the Year *John R. Wooden All-American and player of the year candidate *Blue Ribbon Yearbook preseason all-American team candidate *Associated Press preseason All-American Cole Aldrich: *Big 12 Preseason Co-Player of the Year *John R. Wooden All-American and player of the year candidate *Blue Ribbon Yearbook preseason player of the year candidate. *Associated Press preseason All-American

Season summary

Highlights

*Bill Self gained his 400th career victory with a 73–59 win over Iowa State on Feb. 13, 2010. *Bill Self gained his 100th win over a Big 12 opponent as coach of the Jayhawks with a 59–54 win over Texas A&M on Feb. 15, 2010. Self achieved the milestone in less than 7 seasons and in 121 games played. *Cole Aldrich broke

Greg Ostertag Gregory Donovan Ostertag (born March 6, 1973) is an American former professional basketball player. He spent most of his career with the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Kansas Jayhawks ...

's single season block record of 97. Aldrich had 98 as of Feb. 15, 2010. *Sherron Collins set the record for winningest Jayhawk in a four-year span with his 124th win, an 81–68 victory over Oklahoma on Feb. 22, 2010. Breaking the previous record of 123 set by Raef LaFrentz, Billy Thomas and C.B. McGrath. *Kansas won their sixth consecutive Big 12 Championship, a feat that hadn't been accomplished in a BCS conference since John Wooden's UCLA teams of the 1960-70's. *Kansas claimed their 2,000th program victory on March 11, 2010, when they defeated Texas Tech in the Big 12 tournament. They now rank 2nd in overall Division I wins, behind only Kentucky. *Bill Self scored his 200th win as Kansas head coach on March 12, 2010, when they defeated Texas A&M in the Big 12 tournament, the fastest to reach that mark in KU history. *The Jayhawks won the Big 12 tournament championship on March 13, by defeating Kansas State 72–64 and improving their record to 32–2. The following day, they became the #1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Awards

Cole Aldrich *Consensus Second Team All-American *NABC Second Team All-American *USBWA Second Team All-American *AP Third Team All-American *ESPN and

CoSIDA College Sports Communicators (CSC) is a membership association for all strategic, creative and digital professionals working in intercollegiate athletics across all levels for colleges, universities and conferences across the United States and Cana ...

Academic All-American of the Year *Academic All-Big 12 First Team *Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year *All-Big 12 First Team *All-Big 12 Defensive Team *AP Big 12 First Team *

USBWA The United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) was founded in 1956 with the urging of National Collegiate Athletic Association director Walter Byers to serve the interests of journalists who cover college basketball. Scholarships The U ...

All-District VI Team *Yahoo! Sports Third Team All-AmericanGeneral Awards List
*Foxsports.com Third Team All-American Sherron Collins *Consensus First Team All-American *NABC First Team All-American *USBWA First Team All-American *AP Second Team All-American *Sporting News Second Team All-American *All-Big 12 First Team *AP Big 12 First Team *USBWA All-District VI Team *Yahoo! Sports Second Team All-American *Foxsports.com Second Team All-American *

Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award The Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award was an annual college basketball award in the United States intended to honor players who excelled on the court in spite of their height. The award, named in honor of James Naismith's daughter-in-law, was establi ...

Lute Olson Award The Lute Olson Award is an award given annually to the most outstanding men's college basketball player in NCAA Division I competition. The award was established in 2010 and is named for former Arizona Wildcats head coach Lute Olson Robert Luth ...

*NABC Senior Achievement Award Xavier Henry *All-Big 12 Rookie Team *All-Big 12 Honorable Mention *Sporting News All-Freshman Team *USBWA All-District VI Team *Foxsports.com All-Freshman Team Marcus Morris *All-Big 12 Second Team *AP Big 12 Honorable Mention *Yahoo! Sports Most Improved Player of the Year Tyrel Reed *Academic All-Big 12 First Team

Roster

Schedule

, - !colspan=12, Exhibition , - !colspan=12, Regular season , - !colspan=12, Big 12 tournament , - !colspan=12, NCAA tournament

Rankings

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2009-10 Kansas Jayhawks Men's Basketball Team Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball seasons

2009 in sports in Kansas

Jay Jays are a paraphyletic grouping of passerine birds within the family Corvidae. Although the term "jay" carries no taxonomic weight, most or all of the birds referred to as jays share a few similarities: they are small to medium-sized, usually ...