Rio Adams, who has announced plans to leave Kansas University and was released from his scholarship Wednesday, is apparently having second thoughts.
“I’m going to speak with coach on Monday. I’ve decided to stick it out,” Adams, a 6-foot-3 freshman from Seattle, told the Journal-World late Thursday night.
He relayed that message to the J-W after posting on Twitter: “I’m not going anywhere I’m a Jayhawk for life,” and “I can’t go I love my team too much.”
Adams, who has expressed dissatisfaction about playing time his freshman season, said he’s reconsidered his position on that matter.
“I didn’t get what I expected,” Adams told the J-W, “but there have been other players in the past who have worked hard, and eventually it pays off. The scholarship is still there. Coach said we could talk Monday (when he returns from Final Four). I’m deciding to stay.”
LJW
NCAA All-Time 75th Players, Team, Moment: Danny Manning made the players list
Michael Lee: "We weren’t too worried about them, but not in a cocky way. Me, personally? I didn’t give too much credit to the zone. I’m thinking, ‘Syracuse? It’s just a zone. Who cares about a zone? We’ll attack it. We’ll penetrate it.’ We were riding high after beating Marquette, so we had no nerves. A zone? No big deal. We felt like we needed to do a good job of beating up on Melo because Melo was the man. And he was. But McNamara going six-for-six from the ‘three’ in the first half changed the whole dynamic of the game."
Hakim Warrick: "The way that Gerry came out and hit big shot after big shot showed me that we could do it. To see a freshman come out and perform like that? It definitely gave me confidence that we could actually get the thing done. But they were good. You looked around and you saw Collison and (Kirk) Hinrich and (Aaron) Miles and (Keith) Langford. There was a lot of talent. And Collison, man, he had all those rebounds in that game. He had a knack for the ball, so you had to pay attention to him all the time. Sometimes, you had to take yourself out of position so he wouldn’t get the ball. Luckily, we were able to get the rebounds we really needed so we could get out and run."
Michael Lee: "I guarded McNamara some in the first half and I’m telling you, he was shooting from 25 feet out. And it wasn’t a matter of not having a scouting report. He’d dribble over the half-court line, take one or two dribbles . . . and just pull up and let it go. I was looking over at Coach (Roy) Williams and I’m, like, ‘Whaaat?’ He was making some incredible shots. At least two or three of those three-pointers were unreal. McNamara was really scatty — you know, short and quick. And, man, he had a quick release."
The shot . . .
Hakim Warrick: "The play before I had missed two free throws, so I was feeling pressure to make a big play on the defensive end. At the time, I was playing center and I remember Kueth (Duany) going out to get Hinrich, I think, on the wing. And I knew that Kueth wasn't going to be able to get back out there on the corner to cover Lee. The center would not normally go there, himself, but I wanted to try to close it out. I wasn’t going out there to block the shot; I just wanted to contest it. Then, once I got closer, I thought I might actually have the chance to block it. I just wanted to make sure that when I got to Lee, I didn’t foul him."
Michael Lee: "Absolutely, I was wide open. That’s what took me so long to get it off. Hinrich got doubled. Two guys ran to him and I was on the periphery. I think Warrick had a foot on the other side of the lane. He got a good jump on the ball. By the time it was in my hand, he had already made two big steps coming at me. But my thing was, I had time on the shot clock and I knew I had time to get it off. I didn’t think he could get there. To be honest, I didn’t even look at Warrick. All I knew is that the ball was coming, I had time and I was relaxed. I’m thinking, ‘Now, go on. Just shoot it.'"
The block . . .
Hakim Warrick: "It was kind of slow motion. I was looking and I saw the ball go to him in the corner and Lee was wide open. I was pretty much the guy closest to him … and I was under the basket! I know he was probably thinking, ‘Man, I’m wide open.’ After I got the block, I just started shaking. I was looking at the crowd. I was looking at my teammates. Because after I blocked the shot, that was pretty much the game. I was jumping in celebration. I don’t remember anything after that. I don’t remember what Lee did or where he went."
Michael Lee: "When he blocked it, I didn’t know it was blocked. All I was doing was looking at the rim. Then I heard the crowd go, ‘Whoa!’ And I looked up and saw the ball was coming back in from the third row. I have no idea how Warrick got a hand on that shot. He made a perfect play. Every time I think about that game, I think about that shot. Because I think I lost the game for us by not getting that shot off and putting us into overtime."
The aftermath . . .
Hakim Warrick: "I didn’t realize it at the time, but that was almost the exact same spot where Keith Smart made his shot. I had no idea. I’m kind of glad I didn’t know because that probably would have made me a lot more nervous. People came up to me all the time after that block and said, ‘That erased the Keith Smart memories.’ And I’d be, like, ‘No problem.’ But I didn’t really get it. And then I looked at it again and I realized: Same spot . . . same corner . . . same city. Fans always thank me. They say it not only sealed the national championship, but it took care of Keith Smart. I always say, ‘You’re welcome.'"
Michael Lee: "I can talk about it now, but at the time I was out of it. I was out of it for at least a couple of months. That was devastating, man. Everybody wanted to pat me on the back. Everybody was saying, ‘It’s not your fault. We missed all those free throws (18 of them).’ Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. All I know is that at the end of the day I had the chance to be the hero, so to speak, and I didn’t do it. Outside of my family and my teammates, I tried to avoid people as much as I could. You know, we went into that game saying, ‘Let’s make history.’ Now I joke with people that I’m on the wrong side of history. I get my recognition for getting a shot blocked. For not making a shot. I’m famous in Syracuse for all the wrong reasons."
syracuse.com
KCUR: Taking a look back to 1988's NCAA in Kansas City
List of Kansas McDonald's All-Americans
4/4/13, 8:59 PM
Coach Self and the twins hashing out their differences... #greatguy pic.twitter.com/xee6gVzeC9
https://twitter.com/isumayor32
@FakeJeffWithey Revealed
4/4/13, 12:26 PM
... And with the number 23 from Austin, Texas... Kaycen Langford, son of the great @keith_langford! yfrog.com/g0e6ticj
https://twitter.com/olimpiaea7mi
Big 12/College News
The Wichita State University Shockers shocked many college basketball fans by making it to the Final Four.
But, fans of the team say there's plenty of room for people to jump on the bandwagon.
That's why the school's bookstore is offering students a deal on Wichita State swag.
Student Ashley Donnelly says students will get a discount if they hand over shirts that bear the name of the other big universities in Kansas.
"Well, we're trying to increase Shocker pride on campus,” Donnelly said. “There's a lot of people who walk around with KU or K-State shirts and so we just want to increase Shocker pride here."
KSHB
Long after practice ended Monday evening -- and less than 48 hours before the Wichita State basketball squad boarded an Atlanta-bound plane for the Final Four -- Shockers coach Gregg Marshall did what he once told his team he would never do.
He logged on to Twitter.
Marshall used to think it was silly. He'd get mad at the Shockers for things they would post and encourage them to make better use of their time. But this season the 50-year-old signed up for an account and immediately became hooked.
"Every time we get on the bus after a game, he's the first one with his face in his phone on Twitter," guard Fred VanVleet said. "It's actually kind of funny."
Marshall doesn't tweet. He lurks. And hardly a week passes, his players said, when Marshall doesn't forward them a comment from a naysayer expressing doubt about his team, which plays Louisville in the NCAA semifinals Saturday at the Georgia Dome.
Wichita State's only other Final Four berth came in 1965.
"He finds everything," VanVleet said Tuesday. "Last night he sent us something from an Atlanta radio guy about how our guards can't handle the ball.
"He truly gets upset about what people say. It fires him up. He has the utmost confidence in himself and in us. He feels like we should get more respect than we do."
ESPN
The Shockers will participate in the CBE Classic in November at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo., as part of the College Basketball Hall of Fame induction festivities. They’ll be joined by Texas, BYU and DePaul in the tournament championship rounds.
The semifinals will be held Nov. 25 with the third-place and title games the following night.
Link
The Big 12 sent out a press release this week, praising its stable of basketball coaches. With the hiring of Tubby Smith at Texas Tech, six of the head coaches in the league have guided teams to the Final Four at some point in their careers and five of the 10 Big 12 coaches have at least 500 career wins.
The Final Four coaches: KU’s Bill Self at Kansas, OU’s Lon Kruger at Florida, Texas’ Rick Barnes at Texas, Tech’s Smith at Kentucky, Kansas State’s Bruce Weber at Illinois and West Virginia’s Bob Huggins at West Virginia and Cincinnati.
The 500-win coaches: Huggins, Barnes, Kruger, Smith and Self.
So granted, the Big 12 has some Rushmore coaches in its league. But is that necessarily a good thing?
Two of the five were hired after getting fired in the last 13 months from better jobs: Smith by Minnesota, Weber by Illinois. Kruger is on the downslope of his career, too, though he’s absolutely got the Sooners on an upswing. That leaves Barnes and Self at the schools of their prime, except Barnes has hit choppy waters.
The truth is, the younger coaches — Baylor’s Scott Drew, Iowa State’s Fred Hoiberg, OSU’s Travis Ford — give the Big 12 as much hope for the future as the 500-win, Final Four crowd.
The Big 12 is the only league in America in which all of its coaches have taken teams to the NCAA Tournament. That’s the product of two things: 1) Only 10 schools. When your numbers are smaller, such feats are easier to reach; 2) Hiring coaches away from other schools. Trent Johnson went to the tournament with Nevada and LSU, but he doesn’t seem anywhere close to getting TCU to the tournament.
However, what is impressive is this: eight of the 10 coaches have taken their current employer to the tournament — all but Smith and Johnson, and Johnson’s only had one year to do so, Smith zero.
So that is something to be proud of.
The Oklahoman
Rutgers AD out
Ed Rush out
Pitino joins Naismith HOF
Tarkanian also in the HOF
NCAA President Came Ready To Fight
Recruiting
http://www.mcdepk.com/2013allamericangames/media/BoysGameStats.html
http://www.youtube.com/user/McDonaldsAllAmerican?feature=watch
NHSI schedule and results
Nick Wiggins told me he doesn't think Kentucky would be best fit for Andrew b/c they have so many guys coming in
Nick said he thinks Andrew will announce in the next '2 to 3 weeks'
Nick Wiggins told @SNYtv his parents probably want Florida State but they would support whatever he decides
https://twitter.com/AdamZagoria
The 2013 American Family Insurance High School Slam Dunk & 3-Point Championships, which will showcase the dunking and shooting talents of 16 of the nation's top high school seniors, will air at 2 p.m. ET on April 6 on CBS. The program is being taped at Long Forum on the campus of Greater Atlanta Christian School.
The CBS broadcast team includes Tim Brando, Bill Raftery and Lewis Johnson. The program will have numerous encore presentations on CBS Sports Network. Check local listings for dates and times.
American Family Insurance Slam Dunk Championships
Name – High School – College Choice
Jordan Bell – Long Beach Poly (Calif.) – Oregon
Deonte Burton – Vincent (Milwaukee, Wis.) – Marquette
Isaiah Dennis – Eagle's Landing (McDonough, Ga.) – Georgia State
Soma Edo – Berkner (Richardson, Texas) – Fresno State
Anton Gill – Hargrave Military Academy (Chatham, Va.) – Louisville
Craig Hinton* – East Forsyth (Kernersville, N.C.) – VMI
Kuran Iverson – Fishburne Military (Waynesboro, Va.) – Memphis
Kendrick Nunn – Simeon (Chicago) – Illinois
US Marines 3-Point Championship
Name – High School – College Choice
Bryce Alford – La Cueva (Albuquerque, N.M.) – New Mexico
Conner Frankamp – North (Wichita, Kan.) – Kansas
Brannen Greene – Tift County (Tifton, Ga.) – Kansas
Zak Irvin – Hamilton Southeastern (Fishers, Ind.) – Michigan
Nick King – Memphis East (Tenn.) – Memphis
Race Parsons* – South Sevier (Monroe, Utah) – Southern Utah
Matt Thomas – Onalaska (Wis.) – Iowa State
Derrick Walton Jr. – Chandler Park Academy (Harper Woods, Mich.) – Michigan
https://www.facebook.com/HighSchoolSlam
Jordan Brand Classic
My KU Alumni games, 2011-12 Border War, Legends of the Phog, KC Prep Invitational, & Jayhawk Invitational Videos, Late Night in the Phog, and more now on YouTube