The complex, which would be called Fieldhouse Apartments and house up to 32 men’s and women’s basketball players along with 34 non-athletes to comply with NCAA regulations that do not permit athlete-exclusive housing, would be scheduled to open for the 2016-17 school year.

The one thing standing in the way: Board of Regents approval. The board is expected to meet next week.

The $265,000-per-student cost is far greater than a freshmen residence hall project that would cost the school $47.8 million to house 700 students ($68,000-per-student cost), indicating that the hoops players would be getting a far better deal than most of the rest of the student population, the Kansas City Star notes.

“We have one of the very elite basketball programs in the country, and we want to do everything we can to stay there,” Kansas associate athletic director Jim Marchiony told the newspaper.

Given that private donor money would be used for the hoops-centric housing, it’s hard to see why the regents would have any reason to turn this down.

Marchiony told Sporting News that no renderings of the project are currently available but could be forthcoming if the project gains approval.

Kansas is in a position of trying to match what the Kentucky did in 2012, when it built a $7 million Wildcat Coal Lodge that houses its hoops players. The Wildcats are among the Jayhawks’ biggest rivals on the recruiting trail.

So it’s not just first-class weight rooms and training facilities that basketball players will enjoy. It’s now trickling down to improved living accommodations.


HAIRSTON WILL PLAY IN NBDL


Former North Carolina player P.J. Hairston said Friday he will play in the NBA Development League.

In a statement, Hairston — who never played a game this season due to NCAA violations — said he submitted paperwork to play in the league Friday afternoon. He also said he is taking an online course through UNC toward his communications major and turned in his first assignment Thursday.

"I am excited to continue to pursue my degree at UNC while also pursuing my dream of becoming a professional basketball player," Hairston said. "I appreciate all the support I've received during this process and hope everyone is having a great New Year so far."

Hairston's statement comes exactly three weeks after the school decided not to seek his reinstatement from the NCAA for rules violations, including using rental vehicles tied to a felon and party promoter in Durham. He said he consulted with his family for several weeks before deciding on his next move.

There are 17 teams in the NBDL, the NBA's official minor league, with teams playing a 50-game regular-season schedule from November to April. Hairston will go on the league's waiver wire for two business days, where a team with the highest waiver priority — currently that belongs to the Texas Legends, an affiliate of the Dallas Mavericks — can claim him.

If Hairston goes unclaimed, he would then go into a player pool where any team can claim him without affecting their waiver priority status — meaning it will likely be Tuesday before Hairston knows where he'll play.

The 6-6 junior swingman practiced with the Tar Heels through the fall semester. He wore a suit and sat on the bench for home games until the Northern Kentucky game on Dec. 27, a week after the school's decision.


NO 'D' IN DUCKS


Oregon started 13-0 on the strength of terrific offensive output, but Ducks coach Dana Altman knows where to point the finger now that the team has lost two straight Pac-12 contests: the defensive end.

The Ducks allowed Colorado to shoot 56 percent from the floor in a 100-91 loss this past Sunday in Boulder, and then followed that up by allowing Cal to shoot 53 percent in a 96-83 loss Thursday in Eugene.

The numbers are indeed stark. Per TeamRankings.com, Oregon ranks 13th in offensive efficiency and 147th in defensive efficiency.

"We've got to do some soul-searching," UO coach Dana Altman told reporters. "We've got a lot of work to do. Defensively, we're not very good. There's no other way to put it."

Up next is a game Sunday vs. Stanford, a team that has length that will really put the smaller Ducks to the test. Oregon sure could use 6-8 Arik Armstead, but having just joined the team after the football season, he still needs to get up to speed before he can make any impact with the team.

"This loss makes that Stanford game a lot, lot, lot bigger," Ducks forward Mike Moser told reporters.

That’s especially so when the Ducks are two games down in the loss column to Arizona and Colorado (both 3-0) in the race to win the Pac-12.


MCCLELLAN DISMISSED


Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings has dismissed guard Eric McClellan from the team based on new information.


University officials announced Wednesday that McClellan was suspended for the spring semester for violating academic policy with the sophomore point guard apologizing and promising to return this summer.


But Stallings announced Friday that he has dismissed his leading scorer based upon information learned Wednesday night.
 McClellan had been averaging a team-high 14.3 points, and the guard who transferred from Tulsa started the first 12 games for Vanderbilt (8-5, 0-1 SEC).


The suspension had left Stallings with only seven scholarship players, but his leading scorer from last season, Kedren Johnson, is expected back this summer.


HUBBS LOST FOR SEASON


Tennessee announced that freshman guard Robert Hubbs III will have shoulder surgery on his left arm within the next week, ending the season for a very talented recruit who had been hampered by the injury all season.

Hubbs, the No. 23 overall recruit in Rivals.com’s Class of 2013, initially injured the shoulder as a senior in high school and has worn a soft brace on the shoulder all season.

Hubbs played in 12 games this season for Tennessee, averaging 5.0 points and 1.5 rebounds in 18.3 minutes of action. Had he been healthy, he could have made an impact for the Vols down the stretch. He missed Tennessee’s past two games with the injury and will not play Saturday vs. Texas A&M.

Rehab will begin immediately for Hubbs, and his return to full health is unclear.


SOCIAL CENTER


Kids, even Flea makes mistakes.

This was Flea, the bassist for the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, performing the national anthem on his guitar prior to Thursday night’s Arizona-UCLA game. And this was Flea playing the same “and the rockets red glare” verse of the song twice.

Normally, we’d give the artist the benefit of the doubt for just making the song his own. But Flea fessed up on Twitter, and we then knew he’s human.

“My goodness I just totally blew clams doing the anthem at the bruins game. Yikes. Played the whole rockets red glare part twice. Oops.”

At least he didn’t lip sync at President Obama's second inauguration. So he earned his backstage pass to the Bruins' locker room.


PART 2


Digger Phelps will be inducted into Notre Dame’s ring of honor on Jan. 19. His signature win as Irish coach came in 1974, when his team ended UCLA’s 88-game winning streak.

Bruins great Bill Walton was on the team that incurred the loss, and he has not forgotten about it, even if the Bruins exacted revenge a week later by beating the Irish to regain the No. 1 ranking.

In the second half of Thursday’s broadcast of the UCLA-Arizona game, one in which the Bruins lost, Walton let the former Notre Dame coach have it as Walton’s play-by-play partner on this night, Dave Pasch, alluded to that Bruins loss 40 years ago. And here was Walton's response.

“They're honoring Digger Phelps' team in South Bend next weekend on the 40th anniversary of the day the earth stood still,” Walton said. “Now, if I was gonna be there — they're going to put Digger in the ring of honor that day — and if I was going to be there, I'd take that ring of honor, and I'd put it around Digger's neck. That guy's the devil.”

Funny that both Walton and Phelps work for ESPN, and Walton blasted Phelps on the network's airwaves.

The ever-quotable Bill Walton.

Contributors: Roger Kuznia and The Associated Press