Rock Chalk Roundball Classic to bring 2022 NCAA champs, NBA players to Lawrence
A mini-reunion of Kansas’ 2022 NCAA men’s basketball championship team will highlight the 16th-annual Rock Chalk Roundball Classic celebrity weekend Thursday, June 13, through Saturday, June 15, in Lawrence.
The title squad will be represented by Ochai Agbaji, Christian Braun, Mitch Lightfoot, David McCormack, Jalen Wilson and Chris Teahan as well as 2022 champs/current Jayhawk players KJ Adams and Dajuan Harris.
The all-star game involving former KU players will tip at 7 p.m. on Thursday at Lawrence’s Free State High.
Tickets can be purchased at: e.givesmart.com/events/AhL/. Information on the basketball game, as well as Friday’s dinner/auction (6 p.m., Burge Union) and Saturday’s bowling tournament (12 p.m., Royal Crest Lanes) is available at rockchalkroundballclassic.com.
Additional participants will include 2008 NCAA title team members Sherron Collins, Tyrel Reed and Brandon Rush.
Current NBA players to join Agbaji (Toronto Raptors), Braun (Denver Nuggets) and Wilson (Brooklyn Nets) include Udoka Azubuike (Phoenix Suns), Gradey Dick (Raptors) and Devonté Graham (San Antonio Spurs).
Also former Jayhawks Alonzo Jamison, Elijah Johnson, Michael Lee, Greg Ostertag, Travis Releford, Wayne Simien, Tyshawn Taylor, Calvin Thompson and Julian Wright are slated to attend as well as former KU women’s basketball player Kylee Kopatich and football player Aqib Talib.
Names of participants are being revealed daily on the Roundball Classic Facebook page. Tickets are also available at Johnny’s Tavern locations in Olathe, Topeka and Prairie Village, Jefferson’s in Lenexa, and 23rd Street Brewery in Lawrence.
All proceeds from three days worth of events go to families battling cancer.
KU radio basketball and football play-by-play announcer Brian Hanni created the event in 2009 as a benefit for the family of Brandon White, a Lawrence youth pastor who had lost his life to cancer.
Hanni, according to the event’s official website, “wanted to use his platform in Kansas Athletics to remind former KU stars of the position of influence they still have even after their days at Allen Fieldhouse are over. His new project attracted many former KU basketball players, who returned to play or coach in the game. Fans were given the opportunity to see Kansas basketball legends they admired in a close-up and intimate environment at the same time they were raising money to benefit Brandon’s family.”
More than $1,042,000 has been raised. In all, 109 former KU athletes have returned to play in the charity game, including 17 NBA draft picks and three NBA champions.
“The Rock Chalk Roundball Classic has helped more than 40 families to date. We hope through expanded awareness, player participation and personal donations we can continue to grow and exceed our goals for years to come,” Hanni wrote on the event site.
