So all those who want the Jayhawks and Shockers to face off in a battle for supremacy in Kansas in the 2014-15 season, you most likely won’t see it.

Said Self to the Kansas City Star in December of his reasoning not to play Wichita State: “This isn’t knocking Wichita State,” Self said. “But if it was best for our program, I would reach out to them about scheduling them. But it’s not. I’ve heard a lot of talk about them wanting to play us so bad; Gregg Marshall’s never contacted me about playing.”

What Self is trying to say is, if Kansas schedules a game vs. Wichita and wins, it’s a game it should win. And if the Jayhawks lose, it’s looked upon as a bad loss because Wichita plays in a mid-major conference.

You can see Self’s point, but considering how great the Shockers are playing, it would be great to see them go head-to-head.

Maybe we’ll get our wish in the NCAA Tournament. The Shockers are in line to be a No. 1 seed, and Kansas very well could end up as a No. 2.

See you in Indy?


DAWSON'S BACK


Michigan State will field a full roster on Saturday vs. Illinois with Branden Dawson returning to action for the first time since breaking his right hand while watching game tape.

Dawson has not played since Jan. 21, a stretch of nine games where the Spartans have gone 4-5. His work on both ends of the floor is a welcomed addition for Michigan State, which will have the top eight members of its rotation available for the first time since a Jan. 4 win vs. Indiana.

"He's gonna play with a little bit of a brace on that doesn't seem like it affects a lot of things, but it still is there," Spartans coach Tom Izzo told reporters of Dawson's wrist. "How much I play him, I have no clue. I might know a little more today and tomorrow."

Even with Dawson's return, the Spartans cannot call themselves 100 percent healthy, given senior point guard Keith Appling continues battling a wrist injury that has bothered him much of the season. He’s averaged just 3 points a game in the three games since missing contests against Penn State, Wisconsin and Northwestern earlier this month.

Gary Harris is the Spartans’ best player, but it is Appling who may be Izzo’s most important.


WILDCATS LOSE COBB FOR SEASON


Northwestern junior guard JerShon Cobb, the team’s second leading scorer at 12.2 points per game, will miss the rest of the season with lingering foot and knee injuries.

Cobb, who scored a season-high 23 points in a Feb. 16 loss vs. Minnesota, missed the team’s Feb. 22 game vs. Indiana.

“He’s going to have to have a great offseason of strength and conditioning,” Wildcats first-year coach Chris Collins said, according to a report from InsideNU.com. “He had a really good year for us, I’m really proud of what he did, but it’s going to be important going into his senior year that he has a great summer, and that he gets his body to the point where he doesn’t break down.”

Cobb has also dealt with injuries in his freshman and sophomore seasons, missing a total of 19 games.

Northwestern, which had won five of seven games in one stretch of Big Ten play, has lost its last five league games. Its next game is Saturday at Nebraska.


USBWA FINALISTS ANNOUNCED


The U.S. Basketball Writers Association announced its finalists for their player of the year, coach of the year and freshman of the year honors on Thursday.

Fifteen players are up for the Oscar Robertson National Player of the Year Trophy, 10 are candidates for the Henry Iba National Coach of the Year Award, and six freshmen are candidates for the Integris Wayman Tisdale Award.

While each player or coach is designated as a finalist, write-in candidates will still be accepted for each award.

Oscar Robertson Trophy Finalists

G/F Kyle Anderson, UCLA, 6-9, 230, So., Fairview, N.J. 	F Cameron Bairstow, New Mexico, 6-9, 250, Sr., Brisbane, Australia 	F Cleanthony Early, Wichita State, 6-8, 219, Sr., Middletown, N.Y. 	F Melvin Ejim, Iowa State, 6-6, 220, Sr., Toronto, Ont. 	G Tyler Ennis, Syracuse, 6-2, 180, Fr., Brampton, Ont. 	F C.J. Fair, Syracuse, 6-8, 215, Sr., Baltimore, Md. 	G Nick Johnson, Arizona, 6-3, 200, Jr., Gilbert, Ariz. 	G Sean Kilpatrick, Cincinnati, 6-4, 210, Sr., Yonkers, N.Y. 	F Doug McDermott, Creighton, 6-8, 225, Sr., Ames, Iowa 	G Shabazz Napier, Connecticut, 6-1, 180, Sr., Roxbury, Mass. 	F Jabari Parker, Duke, 6-8, 235, Fr., Chicago, Ill. 	F Casey Prather, Florida, 6-6, 212, Sr., Jackson, Tenn. 	F Julius Randle, Kentucky, 6-9, 250, Fr., Dallas, Texas 	G Russ Smith, Louisville, 6-0, 165, Sr., Brooklyn, N.Y. 	G Andrew Wiggins, Kansas, 6-8, 200, Fr., Vaughan, Ont.

For freshman and coach of the year lists, check out SportingNews.com.


UNC'S TROUBLES HIT FRONT PAGE


Bloomberg Businessweek’s in-depth cover story regarding the academic fraud exposed at the University of North Carolina was worth the read once you saw the strength of its take.

"This week's cover: BAD SPORTS: How UNC failed its athletes," Businessweek tweeted.

Those who have been following the story from the beginning won’t find a bombshell revelation, but Bloomberg did take the time to interview the woman at the heart of the controversy, Mary Willingham, and some other key players involved.

Willingham is the whistle-blowing academic adviser for UNC student-athletes that did a study that characterized 183 student-athletes between 2004-2012 as academically at-risk, and 85 percent of those were either football or basketball players.

A passage from the story characterizes what she told UNC provost James Dean in an email last July:

“ … 60 percent of the athletes she had studied had from fourth- to eighth-grade reading levels. About 10 percent read below a third-grade level. Willingham added: “Of the 183 students, 45 (about 24 percent) had UNC GPAs under 2.0, thus putting them at risk of academic disqualification. Ninety-four of the 183 students, over half, had GPAs under 2.3. Keep in mind that the bogus system of eligibility — UNC’s paper class system — was assisting these players to stay on the court/field.”

UNC has been dismissive of Willingham's study, calling the data flawed.

Said Willingham to Bloomberg Businessweek: “Let’s say my data are off a little bit. I don’t think they are, but let’s say they are. Set aside the data. Forget about it. The paper classes were still fake, and they existed to keep athletes eligible.”

“I’ve sat with these kids,” Willingham said of these athletes. “Some of them can barely read. We have to meet them where they’re at and teach them to read.”

Keep in mind that UNC just launched an independent study that will be led by former U.S. Justice Department veteran Kenneth Wainstein to look into information that could be gleaned from the criminal indictment of former UNC African Studies department chair Julius Nyang’oro, who’s accused of accepting payment for a class he didn’t teach in 2011. A number of the bogus courses found to have been conducted at UNC happened in that department.

Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall will share with Wainstein what he learned during his investigation to help Wainstein “address any questions left unanswered by previous reviews commissioned by the University,” the university said in a statement.


UCLA PAIR SUSPENDED


UCLA All-American candidate Kyle Anderson and leading scorer Jordan Adams were suspended one game each by coach Steve Alford for violating unspecified team rules.

They served the suspensions Thursday evening during the Bruins' home game against Pacific-12 Conference rival Oregon.

Anderson has been a revelation at point guard for the Bruins (21-6, 10-4) after spending most of his first year playing at power forward. Anderson is a 6-9, 230-pound sophomore from Fairview, N.J. He averages 14.9 points, 8.6 rebounds and 6.9 assists, one of the best across-the-board stat lines of any player in college basketball.

Adams, a 6-5 shooting guard from Atlanta, averages 17.2 points and 5.6 rebounds and shoots 46.6 percent from the field. He scored 28 points in the Bruins' victory over California last weekend.

Contributors: Roger Kuznia, Mike DeCourcy