COLLEGE

Proud played college basketball at Kansas during the 1993-94 season, which the program’s year-by-year records list as a 27-8 campaign under head coach Roy Williams, and it was the only NCAA season of his college career before graduating prior to 1996.

Proud arrived in Lawrence after attending Alta High School in Sandy, Utah, and Kansas listed him as a freshman center wearing No. 44 on its official 1993-94 roster, with his hometown noted as Sydney, Australia.

Kansas spent the season in the Big Eight Conference, finished 9-5 in league play for third place, and ended the year ranked No. 13 in the final AP poll while also capturing early-season event titles that included the Preseason NIT and the Golden Harvest Classic.

In that 1993-94 season, Proud appeared in 16 games and did not start, averaging 6.0 minutes per game while totaling 51 points (3.2 points per game) and 29 rebounds (1.8 per game) in 96 minutes across the season.

Across those 16 appearances, he shot 13-for-29 from the field (44.8%), did not attempt a three-pointer, and went 26-for-37 at the free-throw line (70.3%), while adding 2 assists, 5 steals, 6 blocks, and 6 turnovers, with 14 personal fouls recorded over the year.

His best single-game scoring output came on January 5, 1994, when he scored 11 points in a 90-44 win over North Carolina Asheville, a night that also featured a double-double from teammate Greg Ostertag as Kansas overwhelmed the visitors at Allen Fieldhouse.

Kansas carried its momentum into March and earned a No. 4 seed in the 1994 NCAA Tournament’s Southeast Region, opening postseason play with a 102-73 win over No. 13 Chattanooga on March 17, 1994, then advancing with a 69-58 win over No. 5 Wake Forest on March 19, 1994.

The Jayhawks’ run ended in the Sweet Sixteen on March 24, 1994, when they fell 83-78 to No. 1 seed Purdue, finishing the season at 27-8 and closing a year in which Proud’s minutes came primarily as reserve depth behind Kansas’ established frontcourt rotation.