No tickets remain for tonight's Kansas University basketball awards ceremony set for 7 p.m. at the Kansas Union Ballroom.

A capacity crowd of about 700 fans will join coach Bill Self in applauding the 2005-06 Jayhawks, who won a share of the regular season Big 12 Conference championship and claimed the postseason league tournament title before falling to Bradley in the first round of the NCAAs.

'We're excited to honor a group of guys that played at a very high level the vast majority of the season,' Self said of his 25-8 Jayhawks, who finished with 15 victories in their last 17 games.

'They improved so much and set the foundation for extremely high expectations next year. My favorite thing about this team is the improvement,' he noted. 'We're obviously disappointed with our loss to Bradley, but to see how far they came in a short amount of time makes us proud.

'It should be a fun night. Hopefully, we'll have a lot of people there.'

Freshman Brandon Rush, who led the team in scoring (13.5 ppg) and rebounding (5.9 rpg), enters as favorite to win the Phog Allen Most Valuable Player award, with assist leader Russell Robinson (152 in 33 games) a possible dark horse. Robinson was the team's third-leading scorer at a 9.3 clip.

Players and coaches vote for MVP, best defensive player, most improved player and the Mr. Jayhawk Award. Various other awards are decided by statistical categories.

'We had more than one guy challenge in all areas,' Self said, not revealing the winners.

'To me, the Jayhawk Award, which is named for Danny Manning, is our team's biggest honor. It represents more than basketball, going to the person who represents Kansas the best as a player, as a competitor and as a performance guy, as a student and as an ambassador.'

Self said the 6-foot-6 Rush, who hit 47.4 percent of his floor shots, including 50 of 106 threes (47.2 percent) 'statistically had the best year of any freshman I've coached.

'I don't think I ever had a young guy who over a period of time was consistently better than Brandon. Unfortunately, I don't think he finished the season the way he played the first 80 percent (of games). He played at a high level all year long. Winning at K-State and the Kentucky game, beating Oklahoma in a big comeback ... no question Brandon keyed us in a lot of games. As the season went on, Russell, Julian (Wright), Mario (Chalmers) all elevated their games and it became more balanced (team). We had three good freshmen by the end of the season.'

Patterson picks St. John's: Avery Patterson, a 6-4 sophomore shooting guard from Iowa Western Community College, has verbally committed to St. John’s. He chose former KU assistant Norm Roberts' Red Storm over Cincinnati and Miami of Florida.

KU's coaches made a trip to Council Bluffs, Iowa, last week ostensibly to begin recruiting Patterson. Arizona, Michigan State and Indiana also started recruiting the guard in recent weeks.

'They just got into it a little too late,' Iowa Western coach Jim Morris told the New York Daily News of the schools that failed to land Patterson.

Barnstorming Tour info: KU's seniors have announced dates for their annual 'Barnstorming Tou' of the state.

Jeff Hawkins, Christian Moody, Stephen Vinson and student manager Moulaye Niang will compete at Burlington High at 7 p.m. on Wednesday and at Wichita East at 7 p.m. on Friday. The Barnstormers also will visit Hays High at 2 p.m. on Saturday; Hutchinson High at 7:45 p.m. on April 18 and Leavenworth High at 7 p.m. on April 21. Tickets can be purchased at the individual high schools.

The Barnstormers are hoping to play a game at Lawrence High. No date or time has yet been set.

The University of Kansas men's basketball team defeated Oklahoma State, 63-62, in its first game of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. Freshman Mario Chalmers hit a pair of free throws with 19.8 seconds left on the clock to seal the victory for KU.

The game went back-and-forth for much of the game with both teams alternating runs and neither able to take a commanding lead. KU led by as many as 11 in the first half, but OSU got within two at the 2:26 mark in the first before Kansas took a 32-23 lead into the break.

The second stanza saw Oklahoma State take a one-point lead at 17:03 left in the game, but KU would use an 8-0 run to go ahead for good. Sophomore Sasha Kaun led the Jayhawks with 16 points on 6-of-9 from the floor. He helped Kansas control the paint, outscoring the Cowboys by a 38-20 margin.

The Jayhawks overcame sluggish shooting in the second half to move on to the next round of the tournament. KU, which leads the nation in field goal percentage defense, held the Cowboys to just 38.3 percent overall from the floor.

The victory sends the Jayhawks into Saturday's semifinal game against either Oklahoma or Nebraska. Tip-off is slated for 3:20 p.m. and can be seen on either ESPN-Plus or ESPNU.

History of the KU Fight Song
The KU fight song, 'I'm a Jayhawk,' was written in 1912 by George 'Dumpy' Bowles, a student with the class of 1892. Bowles longed to make a lasting contribution to KU spirit. Although he was not big enough for the athletic field, he produced some outstanding student musical shows.

'I'm a Jayhawk' was a song in one of these shows in 1912, but did not become a Jayhawk staple until 1920, when it began to be played with regularity. The song contributed to the raising of funds to build both the stadium and union as World War I memorials. The 1926 glee club made it known nationally.

The Words
By George Bowles
Talk about the Sooners, the Cowboys and the Buffs,
Talk about the Tiger and his tail,
Talk about the Wildcat, and those Cornhuskin' boys,
But I'm the bird to make 'em weep and wail.

Chorus:

'Cause I'm a Jay, Jay, Jay, Jayhawk
Up at Lawrence on the Kaw
'Cause I'm a Jay, Jay, Jay, Jayhawk
With a sis-boom, hip hoorah.
Got a bill that's big enough to twist the Tiger's tail.
Husk some corn and listen to the Cornhusker's wail.
'Cause I'm a Jay, Jay, Jay, Jayhawk,
Riding on a Kansas Gale.

"The word 'Jayhawk' was first used in present-day Kansas about 1858. It was associated with robbing, looting and general lawlessness. During the Civil War, however, it took on new meaning.

Dr. Charles R. (Doc) Jennison, a surgeon, used it in 1861 when he was commissioned as a colonel by Kansas Governor Charles Robinson and charged with raising a regiment of cavalry. Jennison called his regiment the 'Independent Mounted Kansas Jayhawkers,' although it was officially the First Kansas Cavalry and later the Seventh Kansas Regiment.

During the Civil War the word Jayhawk became associated with the spirit of comradeship associated with efforts to keep Kansas a free state. And following the war most Kansans were proud to be called Jayhawkers.

By 1886, the University of Kansas had adopted the mythical bird as part of the KU yell."

The first Jayhawk was rendered in 1912. Over the next 30 years, there were a number of versions of the mythical bird. The traditional smiling Jayhawk, pictured above, was drawn in 1946 by Harold D. Sandy and has been the official Jayhawk for the last 50 years.