By JASON WHITLOCK - Columnist
Date: 03/20/01 22:15

LAWRENCE -- Brett Ballard doesn't fit the stereotype of the typical hard-luck college basketball player we empathize with at this time of year.

Ballard, a junior and Kansas' top reserve guard, didn't dodge bullets while growing up in an inner-city ghetto. We hear that story year after year. It's a good story. But it's not the Brett Ballard story -- and Ballard's story is just as inspiring, just as interesting.

Ballard, a native of Hutchinson, Kan., has a real basketball jones, a love affair so deep that he spent two years taking long trips in vans and wolfing down crummy sack lunches playing junior-college ball just so he'd have the chance to take out a loan and pay his own way to ride the bench for Roy Williams' Kansas Jayhawks.

Ballard's love of the game has carried him to a neat, unexpected and temporary place -- a significant role in Kansas' plans to upset No. 1-seeded Illinois in the semifinal of the Midwest Regional.

When the Jayhawks hit the floor Friday night at San Antonio's Alamodome, it could be the last time Ballard plays important minutes in a meaningful basketball game.

Next season, no matter what he does the rest of this tournament, in all likelihood Ballard will return to the role he envisioned for himself at Kansas -- end-of-the-bench cheerleader, front-row student in Williams' Coaching 101 class.

The Jayhawks have recruited one of the nation's top prep point guards, Aaron Miles. Incumbent starter Kirk Hinrich will return. Jeff Boschee will be the starting off guard and recruit Michael Lee will be the backup.

Ballard will play in blowouts. This is it for Ballard. He's the seventh man in Williams' seven-man rotation. Next season he could be 12th.

"I try not to think too much about next year," Ballard said Tuesday at Allen Fieldhouse. "I know we do have some talented guards coming in, so I know this might be my only chance to really get some significant playing time. So I'm trying to take advantage of it...

"Coming into this year I never expected to play as much as I am. I'm not going to go into next year thinking I'm not going to play. I'll go in knowing that I probably won't, but with the same mentality that if things work out I might get some playing time."

Luke Axtell's bad back and Ballard's tenacity forced Williams to play Ballard this season. Ballard has played so well that in November Williams gave him a full scholarship for this season.

Ballard has rewarded Williams with some surprisingly strong minutes in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Ballard filled in nicely for a foul-plagued Hinrich with eight points and five assists in KU's romp over Cal State Northridge. Ballard can hit the open three, handle the ball in traffic, and Williams hides him defensively by mixing in some zone.

Ballard, who walked on at KU after playing at Hutchinson Community College, looked so good last weekend that I actually felt like Williams could have given Ballard more minutes. He could've made Syracuse pay for not stretching its zone defense.

Speaking of paying, Ballard's 2001-02 prospects are so bleak that he might be back to taking out loans and paying his own way.

"Coach told me coming in it's a one-year deal," Ballard said of his scholarship. "He told me he couldn't guarantee me anything next year."

Help the Jayhawks to the Final Four one year; pay room, board and tuition the next. It doesn't seem right. But Ballard isn't complaining. He wants to be a coach. Some KU insiders say he's the same kind of player that Williams was. Ballard says he can handle a return to the bench.

"Even if I was at the end of the bench and not playing and we were winning," Ballard said, "I would be very happy."

Ballard is just happy to get a small piece of the big time. He doesn't take the privilege of playing at Kansas for granted. He's never known the life of privilege that goes along with being everybody's high school All-American.

"I have gone through some tougher times than some of the guys, but I know in some aspects of my life it's probably been a lot easier than some people," Ballard said. "I'm glad I went through it because it makes me respect what I have now."

Source:  Kansas City Star