One of Kansas' all-time great players, Wayne Simien, will have his jersey retired at halftime of the Kansas-Kansas State game on Jan. 29 (2011) in Allen Fieldhouse.
That's also the day ESPN's College Gameday will be there (and the 150th anniversary of Kansas becoming a state).
"Knowing all of the names and players who are already up there - Wilt (Chamberlain), Danny (Manning), Paul Pierce, and Jacque (Vaughn) - those were the guys who I grew up watching play and wanting to be like. Knowing that my name will be up there with those guys, it's really unreal to me," Simien said in comments released on the KU Athletics web site.
They'll be up there for good reason. He compiled some impressive numbers: No. 12 in scoring (1,593 points), No. 7 in rebounds (884), No. 4 in double-doubles (38) and tied for fourth in games with double-figure rebounds (39).
it doesn't hurt that he's from the area (Leavenworth). I remember going to one of his high school games when he was a senior and, yup, Roy Williams was sitting in the crowd watching.
Bill Self said Simien's senior year was probably the finest individual year he's seen during his time at KU.