Brian Hanni
Brian Hanni is a sportscaster and writer in Lawrence, KS., where he broadcasts for his alma mater, the University of Kansas. In his sixth season as the “Voice of the Jayhawks,” Hanni had the privilege of calling KU Basketball's 2022 National Championship run. His annual poetic season recap was the initial inspiration for this book. “Banner Year” is Hanni's second book. His initial work, “Game Maker,” is a children's book that delivers the inspiring true story of James Naismith as an ambitious and creative child who grew up to become the inventor of Basketball. While Hanni's first love will always be behind the mic, he's enjoyed crossing over into the written word as his storytelling style evolves.
Bill Self
Bill Self is one of the most accomplished coaches in the history of college basketball. A first-ballot inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, he has led Kansas to two NCAA National Championships, nine Elite Eights, and four Final Fours. He is one of only two active coaches (Rick Pitino) to have won multiple NCAA titles. He has led Kansas to 16 Big 12 Conference regular-season titles, including an NCAA-record 14-straight between 2005 and 2018. Overall, in 29 seasons as a head coach, Self has a 763-229 record (76.9 percent). A native of Edmond, Oklahoma, Self played basketball at Oklahoma State where he was a four-year letterwinner from 1982 to 1985. He received his bachelor's degree in business in 1985 and a master's degree in athletic administration in 1989, both from OSU.
David McCormack
David McCormack is a two-time All-Big 12 selection who excelled in KU's run to the 2022 NCAA National Championship. He earned all-tournament honors at the Final Four and at the NCAA Midwest Regional. McCormack played in 132 games at KU, starting in 96 of them. He ended his career 46th on KU's all-time scoring list; his 1,145 career points made him just the 64th player in the long history of KU basketball to reach the 1,000-point plateau. He finished 19th on the KU career rebound list with 681. He was the 2022 Big 12 Men's Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and led the Big 12 in field goal percentage in 2020-21 at 51.5%. McCormack graduated from Kansas in three years with a Communications Studies degree in May 2021 and is near completion of his master's degree in digital content strategy.
