Jayhawks to Reitire Jersey of Mario Chalmers
Lawrence, Kan. (kuathletics.com)–Former KU basketball standout Mario Chalmers will have his No. 15 jersey retired at halftime of the ESPN College Gameday Texas at Kansas men’s basketball game Saturday, Feb. 16, 2013.
Chalmers was the 2008 Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player on Kansas’ NCAA National Championship team, but is most widely known for his game-tying three-pointer in the title game in KU’s 75-68 overtime win against Memphis.
“Mario definitely deserves to have his jersey hung,” Kansas head coach Bill Self said. “He was the most outstanding player in a 2008 Final Four, which featured four number one seeds. He was as clutch of a player as we’ve ever had here. He was a guy that seemed like the bigger the stage, the brighter he shined. He had an orneriness and toughness that a lot people didn’t see because they saw the smile. He was an assassin on the court.”
Chalmers’ lists of accolades go much deeper than the aforementioned. The Anchorage, Alaska, native was the 2007 co-Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year as a sophomore and an All-Big 12 Second Team selection during his junior year. He appeared on the league’s all-conference teams all three seasons he was a Jayhawk, including every Big 12 All-Defensive squad.
Besides his 2008 Final Four MOP, he was named to the Big 12 Championship All-Tournament team in 2007 and 2008, the second of which was bestowed on him after he scored a career-high 30 points against Texas in the title game.
During Chalmers’ three seasons at Kansas, the Jayhawks were 95-16 (85.6 percent) with three Big 12 regular-season titles, three Big 12 postseason championships, two NCAA Elite Eight appearances, one Final Four and one NCAA National Championship.
Chalmers becomes the second Jayhawk in the Bill Self era to have his jersey retired. Former KU consensus All-America honoree Wayne Simien, who played at Kansas from 2002-05, had his No. 23 jersey retired during the 2010-11 season.
