Stewart breaks knee on dunk attempt

SAN ANTONIO -- Kansas guard Rodrick Stewart, a senior transfer from USC, broke his right kneecap Friday on a dunk attempt at the end of the Jayhawks’ practice session at the Alamodome.

Kansas Coach Bill Self said the injury would require surgery.

“I’m heartbroken right now,” said teammate Brandon Rush, who suffered torn ligaments in his right knee last year. “I’ve been there, it’s painful. The whole team is down right now.”

Self said Stewart slipped on a wet spot on the court. Self and several Kansas players surrounded Stewart under the basket.

Stewart’s knee was put in a brace and he was taken off the court in a golf cart.

Stewart averaged 2.8 points and 11.6 minutes.

Reserve senior guard Jeremy Case, whose playing time might increase in Stewart’s absence, said he first thought Stewart was joking when he fell to the floor after his dunk attempt.

After realizing the injury was serious, Case said, “I kind of got a bad feeling in my stomach. Sad day.”

Stewart transferred to Kansas from USC in December 2004 after averaging 4.4 points and 2.2 rebounds as a freshman.

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North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough was selected national player of the year by the Associated Press and the U.S. Basketball Writers Assn. on Friday, attending news conferences for both honors before practice.

It has been a busy weekend for Hansbrough. He’ll attend a photo shoot with the National Assn. of Basketball Coaches’ All-American team this morning before playing Kansas tonight.

On Sunday, the day before the national championship game he hopes to play in, Hansbrough is scheduled to attend the presentation of the Naismith and NABC awards, whose winners have not yet been announced.

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He’s coached everywhere, man:

Larry Brown stood in the hallway outside North Carolina’s locker room at the Alamodome.

“I didn’t want to come,” he said. “My wife convinced me. I didn’t think it was a win situation. But she said it was a win-win situation.”

You could understand why Brown might be conflicted. He has ties to all four teams playing this weekend.

Brown played for Dean Smith at North Carolina and later was an assistant under the legendary coach.

Brown coached UCLA to the NCAA title game in 1980, with the Bruins losing to Louisville, and later coached Kansas to the NCAA title in 1988.

Brown’s ties to Memphis?

He said he was offered the Memphis job before being hired at UCLA and John Calipari, who is coaching Memphis now, was an assistant coach under Brown with the Philadelphia 76ers.

But wait, there’s more.

Brown’s first head coaching job was at Davidson, although he left before ever coaching a game. Davidson, of course, came within a made three-point shot of beating Kansas and advancing to this year’s Final Four.

And that’s not all. Brown also coached the San Antonio Spurs.

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