Big 12 Basketball

The following article contains descriptions of interpersonal violence.

The Texas Longhorns announced men's basketball coach Chris Beard was suspended ahead of Monday's game against Rice following his arrest.

"The University takes matters of interpersonal violence involving members of its community seriously," Texas said in a statement, per Dana O'Neil of The Athletic. "… The University has suspended Chris Beard from his position as head coach of Men's Basketball and will withhold his pay until further notice."

The school also said associate head coach Rodney Terry will serve as acting head coach.

Matt Norlander of CBS Sports reported Beard was arrested and booked on a charge of assault against a family/household member, a third-degree felony, early Monday morning.

Tony Plohetski, Danny Davis and Ryan Autullo of the Austin American-Statesman reported Beard was booked into jail at 4:18 a.m. and released on a $100,000 bond.

The Austin American-Statesman report cited Beard's affidavit, which said a woman who said she was the head coach's fiancée told police "he just snapped on me and became super violent" after she broke his reading glasses while taking them from his hand.

She said he slapped her glasses off her face and "choked me, threw me off the bed, bit me, bruises all over my leg, throwing me around, and going nuts."

The woman also said Beard used his arm to impede her breathing and choke her from behind for five seconds.

According to the affidavit, the woman's visible injuries included a bite mark, abrasions to the right eyebrow and left leg, and dried blood on a cut on her left thumb.

Perry Minton, who is Beard's attorney, said he is "100 percent innocent of these charges. He should never have been arrested."

Beard was the head coach of Little Rock and Texas Tech before joining the Longhorns ahead of the 2021-22 campaign.

Texas is 7-1 on the season. Its next game following Monday's is Sunday against Stanford.

Texas men's basketball coach Chris Beard was arrested early Monday morning and charged with assault on a family/household member, a third-degree felony, according to Tony Plohetski of the Austin American-Statesman and Matt Norlander of CBS Sports.

Austin police reported to a "disturbance hot shot" at 12:15 a.m. local time, per Norlander.

According to the Travis County Sheriff's Office (via The Athletic), Beard's official charge is "assault by strangulation/suffocation – family violence."

Beard is engaged and has three daughters from a previous marriage.

Per the sheriff's office (via The Athletic), Beard's bond was set at $10,000. The Athletic also noted additional conditions to the bond:

"An additional condition of the bond requires Beard to stay 200 yards away from the victim and from his house as the case is pending. There is also a protection order in place, meaning Beard cannot communicate in a threatening way with the victim through Feb. 10, 2023."

Dana O'Neil of The Athletic reported on Monday afternoon that it appears Beard is no longer in jail:

Beard has since been suspended without pay, with associate head coach Rodney Terry set to fill in as the head coach for Monday's game against Rice at the Moody Center in Austin.

The 49-year-old is in his second season with Texas, joining his alma mater after spending the previous five years with Texas Tech.

He led the Longhorns to the NCAA tournament in his first season before helping the squad to a 7-1 start to the 2022-23 campaign. Texas won its first six games, reaching No. 2 in the Associated Press poll, before suffering its first loss last week against Illinois.

Beard has a 171-73 career record in Division I across eight seasons with Texas, Texas Tech and Little Rock, including one Final Four appearance.

As the Texas Longhorns men's basketball team hosts the Gonzaga Bulldogs on Wednesday night, it could be looking at its replacement in the Big 12 ahead of its impending departure to the SEC.

According to Action Network's Brett McMurphy, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark and Gonzaga athletic director Chris Standiford met earlier Wednesday in Austin and there is "growing mutual interest" for the Bulldogs to join the Big 12.

Texas is set to leave the Big 12 along with Oklahoma and they will become official members of the SEC on July 1, 2025. The Big 12 has already announced that BYU, Houston, Cincinnati and UCF will join the conference beginning in July 2023.

ESPN's Pete Thamel reported earlier this month that Gonzaga and the Big 12 were engaged in talks about joining the conference. The Bulldogs are a basketball powerhouse that plays in the West Coast Conference, which is a mid-major. Thamel noted that the school is fielding multiple discussions to move to a Power Five league.

"Sources indicate that Gonzaga has been exploring its conference options, as it has emerged as one of the premier basketball programs in the country," Thamel wrote. "Both the Pac-12 and the Big East have been engaged with Gonzaga, according to sources, but the extent of those conversations is uncertain."

The last two NCAA men's basketball champions are Big 12 schools in Baylor and Kansas, respectively, so adding Gonzaga to that mix would be a major boost to what is already a strength of the conference. The Bulldogs have been the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament in four of the past five years.

However, there's a chance Gonzaga would not be welcomed with open arms to the Big 12. West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins told reporters he "would think it would be a tremendous awakening for Gonzaga" to join the conference because "you don't get to make your own schedule in the Big 12."

Gonzaga is reportedly considering a move to the Big 12 amid the continued realignment in college sports, per ESPN's Pete Thamel. But West Virginia men's basketball coach Bob Huggins thinks the Bulldogs might be surprised by the strength of its new conference.

"I would think it would be a tremendous awakening for Gonzaga [to join the Big 12]," he told reporters Thursday.

Gonzaga has completely dominated the West Coast Conference since Mark Few took over as the head coach in the 1999-00 season, either winning or sharing the regular-season title in every season but 1999-00 and 2011-12. They've also won 18 conference tournament titles in that time.

But the Bulldogs have also fared well in the NCAA tournament, reaching two championship games, though a national title has eluded them.

And they've acquitted themselves well in non-conference games, with a 39-12 record against schools from the Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12, Big East, ACC and SEC dating back to 2017. A Sweet 16 loss to Arkansas was Gonzaga's last result against such a school.

So when they've danced with the big boys, they've generally fared well.

But there's little doubt the Big-12 would be a major step up in competition compared to the WCC. The past two national champions, Baylor and Kansas, hail from the Big-12. Five teams from the conference—Nos. 5 Kansas and Baylor, No. 12 Texas, No. 14 TCU and No. 25 Texas Tech—are all opening the season as top-25 teams in the Associated Press poll.

While Texas and Oklahoma are departing for the SEC in 2025, Houston—which starts the year ranked No. 3—will join the conference next season.

"To get in this league and play who we play day-after-day, I would think it would be a tremendous awakening," Huggins said of Gonzaga's potential defection to the conference. "You don't get to make your own schedule in the Big 12."

The University of Kansas reportedly self-imposed a four-game suspension for men's basketball head coach Bill Self and assistant Kurtis Townsend ahead of the 2022-23 season.

Stadium's Jeff Goodman reported Wednesday the punishment, which relates to an ongoing NCAA investigation into alleged violations within the program that began in 2017, also includes future recruiting restrictions.

Norm Roberts will serve as the Jayhawks' acting head coach until Self returns, per Goodman.

In August, the NCAA announced it would dissolve the Independent Accountability Resolution Process (IARP) once it completed all the ongoing investigations, including the one into KU. All the changes are scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1.

Despite the upcoming alterations to the governing body's review process, no timetable for the NCAA's final ruling in the Kansas case has been announced.

In May 2020, the NCAA enforcement staff announced its investigation into the five Level I violations showed "egregious" and "severe" rules violations by Self and Townsend, who allegedly "embraced, welcomed and encouraged" Adidas representatives to persuade highly rated recruits to sign with the Jayhawks, per ESPN's Mark Schlabach.

More than two years after that statement, the case remains unsettled.

Self has led the Kansas program since 2003, which ties him for the 10th-longest-tenured head coach in men's college basketball.

The 59-year-old Oklahoma native has compiled a 556-124 record (.818 winning percentage) across 19 seasons with the Jayhawks. He led the team to national championships in 2008 and 2022.

His nearly four-decade coaching career also includes stops as the head coach at Oral Roberts, Tulsa and Illinois before arriving to Kansas.

Townsend, 64, joined KU's coaching staff in 2004.

The fifth-ranked Jayhawks are scheduled to open their title defense Monday night at home against Omaha. Self and Townsend will also miss games against North Dakota State, seventh-ranked Duke and Southern Utah.

They'll be eligible to return for the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. Kansas' first game in the event is a Nov. 23 clash with NC State.

Former Florida basketball player Keyontae Johnson is expected to transfer to Kansas State after being cleared by medical personnel, Jeff Goodman of Stadium reported Saturday.

Johnson last played in December 2020 when he collapsed on the court during a game, spending more than a week in the hospital before being released. He made one ceremonial start last season on senior day but was substituted after the opening tip.

He entered the transfer portal in May and was also considering Western Kentucky and Memphis, per Goodman.

Johnson had proved to be an impact player.

The 6'5" wing averaged 14.0 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game as a sophomore in 2019-20 and was the leading scorer for a Gators team that featured future NBA draft picks Tre Mann and Scottie Lewis.

Johnson was named the 2020-21 SEC Preseason Player of the Year and was off to a strong start with 19.7 points per game in three contests. His fourth appearance lasted just four minutes before he collapsed in a scary scene.

He was placed in a medically induced coma for three days and later diagnosed with myocarditis, which is heart inflammation.

More than a year later, Johnson will aim to make an impact for Kansas State. The Wildcats are coming off three straight losing seasons under Bruce Weber, but they are under the guidance of new head coach Jerome Tang.

Former Texas Tech women's basketball head coach Marlene Stollings has reached a settlement with the school following a discrimination and retaliation lawsuit.

Per USA Today's Josh Peters, the settlement came after Stollings and the university filed a joint motion to settle on Wednesday and a judge dismissed the case on Thursday.

Stollings filed a lawsuit against the school and athletic director Kirby Hocutt in October 2020, two months after she was fired by the program. She said the firing was due to "discriminatory biases against female coaches" and also accused the school of fraudulent inducement, fraud, breach of contract and defamation.

Texas Tech announced Stollings' firing on Aug. 6, 2020, one day after USA Today's Jori Epstein and Daniel Libit published a report with allegations of abuse and a toxic culture during her two seasons with the program.

In the report, multiple Red Raiders players said Stollings and the coaching staff would call players "disgusting," "trash," "fat pig," "grossly out of shape" and "grossly disproportional."

Three international players told Epstein and Libit they were targeted by coaches and ridiculed over their English language skills.

One of the players, Marcella Lamark, who is from Brazil, said Stollings called her "dangerous" to teammates and gave her instructions to eat and train in isolation.

According to Peter, Stollings argued in her lawsuit against the school that "two internal reviews conducted by the school before the investigation was published cleared her of the allegations."

Peter noted Stollings was under contract through March 2024 at the time of her dismissal.

Stollings was hired by Texas Tech on April 9, 2018. She took the job after resigning from the University of Minnesota, where she spent four seasons as head coach.

The 47-year-old Stollings went 32-28 overall at Texas Tech (11-25 in the Big 12). She didn't make the NCAA tournament with the Red Raiders. She has a 164-117 career record in 10 seasons as a head coach with four different programs.

Krista Gerlich replaced Stollings as head coach at Texas Tech. She is 21-34 overall in two seasons with the program.

Omaha Biliew, a 5-star power forward from the Link Academy in Branson, Missouri, committed to Iowa State on Tuesday, according to ESPN's Jeff Borzello.

He becomes the Cyclones' highest-ranked recruit in the modern recruiting era.

Biliew is considered the No. 12 player in the class of 2023, the No. 5 power forward and the top player from the state of Missouri, per 247Sports' composite rankings.

He has major upside, but on a talented Link Academy team that also has included Jordan Walsh, Julian Phillips and Tarris Reed, Biliew acknowledged in November 2021 that he's had to learn how to play a role and be a solid team player.

"My game is always going up," he told Eric Bossi of 247Sports. "Right now we have a lot of guys on our team so there are certain roles we have to have. My role is being a high motor guy right now. My time will come where I go out on the perimeter and touch the ball more and be more assertive with the ball. All that will come, I just have to be patient."

Iowa State surely respected that level of humility, as Biliew has gone from a state champion to finding his niche on a new squad:

He has all the upside of a future star, but Biliew's versatility and team-first attitude make him an extremely appealing addition for Iowa State as well.

The Cyclones are having one heck of a recruiting cycle.

The team already landed a pair of 4-star players in power forward Milan Momcilovic and shooting guard Jelani Hamilton. Now they've further improved their ranks, adding in Biliew as the headliner in the class. T.J. Otzelberger is building a strong team in Ames.

The Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team is in for a well-deserved greeting from its fans after making a historic comeback to defeat North Carolina 72-69 in the national championship game on Monday.

Kansas announced it's hosting a "welcome home celebration" at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium on Tuesday. Gates will open at 3 p.m. local time with the team expected to arrive around 4:15 p.m. after returning from the Final Four in New Orleans.

No announcement has been made about a potential championship parade in Lawrence.

The Jayhawks earned the celebration by making the largest comeback in men's NCAA tournament title game history.

After falling behind by as many 16 in the first half and facing a 15-point halftime deficit, a special second-half performance propelled Kansas to victory. The Jayhawks outscored the Tar Heels 47-29 in the final 20 minutes.

It was a balanced effort for the Jayhawks with five players scoring in double figures. David McCormack and Jalen Wilson led the way with 15 points apiece. Remy Martin had 14 points off the bench. Ochai Agbaji and Christian Braun each had 12 points. Braun added a team-high 12 rebounds and McCormack also had 10 boards.

The win helped KU capture its fourth national championship in men's basketball and the Jayhawks' first March Madness title since 2008.