LJW image
KUAD: Self talks Texas at weekly presser
ESPNU
Anish Shroff (Play-by-Play)
Tim Welsh (Analyst)
Kaylee Hartung (Sideline)
KUAD: Pregame Notes
The 7-footer told his coach everything was good, and he repeated that same message Thursday afternoon with reporters when asked if he was sore after KU’s 64-63 victory against Texas Tech.
“Not that much,” Embiid said. “The treatment I’ve been getting helped me a lot, so my knee felt fine and my back was also fine.”
Embiid says the bigger concern of the two right now is his back, which he ices after every practice. He appeared to tweak it for a second in the first half against Tech but didn’t seem affected after that while tying a career high with 32 minutes.
“It was fun,” Embiid said. “I wanted to get back on the court and have a good game, and I felt like I did.”
…Embiid, who has vaulted to the No. 1 spot on Chad Ford’s latest 2014 NBA mock draft on ESPN.com, says it hasn’t been difficult to handle the additional national attention he has received in recent months.
“I try not to pay attention to all of that,” Embiid said, “but I think I’m doing fine.”
TCJ
One blocked shot against Texas on Saturday would give Kansas University’s Joel Embiid a school freshman record 63 rejections.
The 7-footer from Cameroon is primed to pass Californian Eric Chenowith, who will be sitting in the Allen Fieldhouse stands during the 6:30 p.m., game and also will attend Monday’s 8 p.m., home contest against Oklahoma.
“I mean I think it’s a great accomplishment for myself. I think I need to keep it up, keep blocking shots,” said Embiid, currently tied with Chenowith, who blocked 62 in 1997-98. “I just have to have the mindset to block every shot.”
…Self said: “I would say Jo is good, but could be great, and there’s still another step for him to take there.”
As far as the freshman record, Self noted: “I think those records to me are pretty meaningless because the reason he’s breaking the record is because he’s playing more minutes than other freshmen have played maybe. (Jeff) Withey didn’t play at all as a freshman. If he had played he probably would have blocked some shots.”
…KU ranks second in the country in field-goal percentage (50.3 to North Dakota State’s 50.4) and is not ranked in the top 50 in field-goal percentage defense (41.2). In the league, KU is fifth in field-goal percentage defense in all games; third in league games (41.6). KU is first in field-goal percentage in league games (51.3).
“Which one would I rather be good at? I would say I’d rather be good making it hard for people to score, because to me, no matter what your field-goal percentage is offensively, you’re going to have some games like you had against Texas Tech that you’re not going to make shots, and you’ve got to figure out a way to win those games when you don’t make shots,” Self said.
LJW
At both ends, Tharpe has been an X-factor for KU. In KU’s six losses, he has averaged 6.0 points and shot .349 from the field, .300 from three. In the 19 of 20 victories in which he played, he has averaged 9.8 points, shot .508 overall and .441 from three.
“I’m pleased with Naadir,” Self said. “He’s had a good, solid year. Defensively, he, along with others, certainly can guard the ball better than what we have.”
Reserve point guards Frank Mason and Conner Frankamp also lack size. Wayne Selden is capable of checking bigger point guards, such as Iowa State’s DeAndre Kane, but it’s the jets KU needs to figure out how to slow down.
“Even though, Naadir has a big challenge ahead of him because physically he’s not as big and things like that, but he’s the one to me — and Frank — that can do a better job of maybe making other teams play poorly because their point guard isn’t comfortable,” Self said. “I’m not just picking on them. It’s kind of the way we’re playing and also body type and physical ability and things like that. They’re just not very big.”
It will be interesting to see what KU does to try to keep Taylor from dictating the game the way he did in Austin. The crowd will help, but spectators aren’t allowed on the court during games and know enough to stay off it after games.
LJW Keegan
It would be a fitting payback if the Jayhawks stomp out Texas’ hope for a share of the league title. The Longhorns handed Kansas its worst defeat of the season, 81-69, when the teams met in Austin. More than just the score, the Horns were physically tougher.
Kansas needed a last-second layup from Andrew Wiggins to escape Lubbock, Texas, earlier this week with a win over Texas Tech. Wiggins will now be looking for redemption against the Longhorns.
He had one of his worst games shooting in the first meeting, going just 2-of-12 before fouling out with seven points. Texas guard Demarcus Holland successfully kept the freshman forward from scoring in transition and getting in the lane. In the five games since that loss, Wiggins has gotten back to business, averaging 17 points per game.
Texas made Kansas center Joel Embiid look soft in their first meeting. Sophomores Cameron Ridley and Prince Ibeh combined to get the best of their matchup, totaling eight blocks. Embiid was sharp in his return to action against Tech after sitting out the TCU game with nagging back and knee injuries. Embiid made 6 of 7 shot attempts en route to 18 points and 8 rebounds.
To have a shot at winning in Allen Fieldhouse for the first time since Jan. 22, 2011, Texas will have to find a way to get better shots from its backcourt than it did in its 85-76 loss to Iowa State.
Freshman guard Isaiah Taylor neared triple-double territory against Iowa State with 26 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds, but he shot just 8-of-20 from the floor. Sophomore guard Javan Felix was 6-of-22. It made for a tough game offensively for Texas.
The Longhorns’ defense will be the barometer against Kansas. It should be fairly easy to detect which way the game is headed based on the points being scored. The Longhorns have held Big 12 opponents to an average of 66.1 points during their nine conference wins. During their four league losses, they’ve given up an average of 83.5 points.
ESPN
Into The King’s Lair ( A Texas fan’s blog)
Don't be surprised if ... Texas runs more zone than usual
Because Kansas will try to establish inside dominance at home in Allen Fieldhouse, don't be surprised if Barnes utilizes more zone in this game.
He's never been afraid to use the 2-3 zone in the past as a main defense, particularly when he has length inside. He has that kind of team this season with Ridley and Co.
The Longhorns will open the game in man-to-man; however, I expect we'll see the zone from Texas, both as a change-up defense and potentially as a necessity. The problem that Self and Kansas create is that they will not rely on the jump shot to defeat the zone. Few are better at getting the ball in the paint against the zone than Kansas.
Get Holmes Involved
Holmes is the heart of the Longhorns. When he is engaged, he raises the level of his teammates. Holmes is an active rebounder, and it's his ability to get to the glass that will be needed for the Longhorns to extend possessions as well as put a stop to Kansas' runs. He is fourth in the Big 12 in offensive rebounding (2.75 per game). Texas needs to free him up early for room-and-rhythm shoots. In the Longhorns' wins, Holmes is shooting 42 percent; in their losses, he is shooting just 20 percent.
Fraschilla/Greenberg: Scouting Texas - Kansas
ESPN ($)
FIVE HUNDRED YARDS from Allen Fieldhouse -- deep inside the dull-brown bowels of the University of Kansas' Robinson Health and Physical Education Center -- is a lab that holds the story of the Jayhawks' 2013 trip to the Sweet 16. In a freezer set to a constant minus-80 degrees Celsius are saliva samples, taken weekly for 27 of 30 weeks, from 16 of coach Bill Self's players during a season cut short by a Michigan team marching its way to the championship game. Removed from the freezer, thawed and then placed in a centrifuge at 3,000 rpm, the samples are removed of impurities, and stories are spun for each player. Every finals exam, every fight with a girlfriend, every head-coach chew-out is laid bare; every week the thing that contributed to failure or success on the court is an open book.
The samples are part of a study conducted by Kansas that takes the concept of game prep outside the gym and into the world of science fiction. Using the Jayhawks' 2012-13 men's and women's basketball teams, researchers measured the cortisol levels of their saliva, looking to determine what role the hormone might play in making certain players excel in the heat of battle while others fade. Why focus on cortisol? It's released by the brain to help the body deal with physical and mental stress. But excess cortisol has a catabolic effect on tissue (it breaks it down), and prolonged elevated levels have been proved to curtail the production of necessary hormones that promote muscle growth and repair. In other words, players could be more susceptible to injury or may take longer to heal. So for any athlete or coach, managing healthy cortisol levels is key to peak performance, and it's something Kansas hopes to be able to address with tailored exercise and stress reduction. "We looked at playing minutes, we looked at practice minutes, we looked at volume of free weight exercises in the weight room, we looked at the academic schedule, we looked at the travel schedule, we looked at if they won or lost," says Andrew Fry, a professor in KU's Department of Health, Sport and Exercise Sciences, who is helming the study.
…"We'll see stiffness in a big game, and the guys who have huge increases in stiffness don't play well," adds Andrea Hudy, KU's highly lauded strength and conditioning coach, who has been working with Fry and his team. But now, with weekly cortisol-level breakdowns for the players, Hudy hopes to finally have hard evidence for what she has had suspicions about but could never measure: psychological and mental fatigue. "I think stress is a lot more psychological than physical," she says.
The task for Hudy and the coaching staff would then be to manage the external stress factors, either through herself, the sports psychologist they have on staff or even Self, who Hudy stresses "is hard on players but the first to slap them on their ass after practice." She explains: "We looked at biological stiffness and environmental stiffness. Biological stiffness would be from strength training and what you have genetically. That's affected by what we can prescribe and increase or decrease for you. But then we looked at their environmental stiffness -- psychological fatigue, stress, things we could control. It was the big thing I got out of the cortisol study: What psychological work can we do in that time frame so the players don't get stressed?"
ESPN The Magazine
Vote for Wiggs for the Wooden Award
Former Brooklyn Nets and Kansas guard Tyshawn Taylor has signed with Atléticos de San Germán in Puerto Rico, the team announced on its Facebook page.
Taylor’s former St. Anthony High School teammate, Mike Rosario, as well as former St. Anthony forward Chris Gaston both play for Leones de Ponce in Puerto Rico.
Zags Blog
An online video company that films college life — including students getting drunk and rowdy — is in Lawrence this week, and University of Kansas officials are asking students to behave.
“Clearly, universities nationwide need to have conversations to remind students that college fun doesn’t need to involve stupid choices,” read a statement from KU that was sent to students Thursday. It noted that students’ actions “can reflect poorly upon themselves and their futures.”
Leaders of several student organizations said they had talked with their members about avoiding participation in videos by the company I’m Shmacked.
“Some of the behaviors caught in their videos don’t reflect what our organization stands for,” said Kevin Simpson, president of the Interfraternity Council at KU.
Last month, the company’s co-founder, a cameraman and another employee were arrested at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., on allegations of inciting a riot after a crowd of students smashed an SUV while the I’m Shmacked crew filmed.
After I’m Shmacked sold tickets for an event last fall in Newark, Del., for which it had no venue, thousands of students mobbed streets, and the club rugby team for the University of Delaware earned itself a five-year suspension.
A Rhode Island event ended with young people in the hospital.
I’m Shmacked co-founder Arya Toufanian said in a telephone interview Thursday that his company is out to show all aspects of college life — “academics, Greek life, as well as partying.”
“We are not there to cause trouble, we are there to capture the school’s essence,” said Toufanian, a 21-year-old graduate of George Washington University.
When I’m Shmacked lands in a college town, it often throws a party or concert and through social media students find where the crew is filming.
Toufanian said the company aims to make short videos to show potential students that “college doesn’t have to be boring, that it can be fun.”
“We do not promote or encourage underage drinking,” he said. “But without the partying aspect, kids won’t really watch this.”
Toufanian said his company does not work with the universities, and KU officials said they had not given the film crew permission to be on its campus.
“They are filming in Lawrence, not on campus,” university spokeswoman Jill Jess said.
Also, for $17 a pop, the company is selling I’m Shmacked shirts with the KU logo and the Jayhawk mascot.
University of Kansas officials said they are having lawyers look into the company’s use of the school’s logo and mascot without KU permission.
KC Star
“Pay Heed. The game you love began here. Respect those who came before you. Make their legacy your own. Because destiny favors the dedicated. And rings don’t replace work. In this game you don’t get what you want. You get what you earn. We are Kansas. Together we rise. Rock Chalk Jayhawk!
Big 12 / College News
Most Wins vs Top 25: pic.twitter.com/kAb4PYPPhI @ESPNCBB
The mood that fell over campus after the K-State men’s basketball team walked away with an overtime win against the Jayhawks, was joyous. But, a cloud hung over what should be a perfect memory in the eye of a K-State fan. That cloud was the F-word.
College kids have never been ones to play by the rules. In this instance, good fortune, team rivalry and syllable counting led the "K-S-U" to become "F***-K-U" (with the "F" standing for a four-letter expletive rhyming with duck and stuck) whenever K-State plays Kansas.
It got to the point that so many people, student or otherwise, were yelling the revised chant that those watching the game on television could hear it too.
That did not sit well with some people, who have said they find the chant to be classless, obscene, horrifying and downright wrong. People wonder what has become of the students in Manhattan.
What could possibly possess them to yell that horrible word?
There are a lot of possible answers to that question. While I’m sure everyone has their own special reason for doing it, it tends to boil down to one specific word: frustration.
Suffice it to say that history has not been kind for K-State fans when it comes to the Sunflower Showdown. Kansas has a 187-92 lead in the overall record. In the past few decades, the count is even more lopsided.
Hearing something like that tends to dishearten a K-State fan. It makes them feel down about themselves, almost hopeless. There is only one other Big 12 team that leads the overall record against K-State, and that’s Oklahoma by only 10 games. So, fans must understand that when celebration breaks out over something good that happens against Kansas, it is a celebration that recognizes zero limits.
KState Collegian
The day after the game, The Kansas City Star wrote about the situation, saying, "(B)ut the anger here is a different flavor. It’s heavy from the start, layered throughout, and cover your children’s ears when they play that techno song in the second half."
The major problem with the chant is the nationwide effect that it has on not just the university, but the students themselves. After the Wildcat win, SportsCenter attempted to show highlights of the game, but some of them were ruined by the profanity laden chant from the student section. It comes off terribly and makes both our basketball team and fan base look like we lack common courtesy for any other team. It is not in good taste and portrays us in a bad light, something students and the university should not want.
As K-State fans, most of us would like to think that we are "better" than our blue and red loving counterparts. Think back to when the Wildcats played at Allen Fieldhouse earlier this year. Although the Jayhawks ran away with the victory, what stands out in my mind was when, about halfway through the second half, KU fans started performing the highly-annoying Rock Chalk chant they love. When we performed the "F-KU" chant at Bramlage, it made me think back to when they did their chant. Our actions made us no better than them.
The chant was not in good taste and it puts our university, fan base and basketball team under a bad light. Our reaction made it appear that we’d never won a game, and our lack of true sportsmanship and respect is not how we would have been wanted to be treated had we lost the way the Jayhawks did in Manhattan.
KState Collegian
Blue Blood Card Revoked! Getty image
UNC officially has the weirdest profile of any team in recent Bubble Watch history. Arizona is the only team in the country with a better collection of marquee wins. Wisconsin comes close. But no one even approaches UNC's eclecticism, its mix of impressive victories and baffling losses.
Which is precisely why UNC isn't yet a 100 percent guaranteed lock to make the NCAA tournament. The Tar Heels have a quick home turnaround against Wake Forest on Saturday. They go to NC State and visit woeful, RPI-killing Virginia Tech next week. Then, it's a home date with Notre Dame before the rematch at Duke on March 8. Could North Carolina go 5-0 in those five games? Yes. Could it go 0-5? Absolutely! Would a 19-12 team with losses to UAB, Virginia Tech and a sweep at the hands of Wake Forest have to sweat out the ACC tournament? Probably.
Best bet? UNC ends up a No. 6 seed. But if there's one thing we know about this North Carolina team, it's that there's no such thing as a "best bet."
ESPN Bubble Watch
Strong college basketball is fine. Great, even. The rest of his statement was thinner. If Silver finds people who “dislike the so-called ‘one-and-done’” everywhere he goes, perhaps he doesn’t go many places. At the least, he goes different places than I do. I’m not a fan of the one-and-done rule either, but for a different reason. I’ve long preferred the old unrestricted free market system that allowed LeBron James and Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett and others to bypass college in favor of the pros. In fairness, the previously permissive system also gave us Kwame Brown and Sebastian Telfair, but these things happen. The pool should be open to all. The capable will swim and the incapable will drown. No lifeguards are needed. Talent is its own flotation device.
To enter the draft, the NBA requires players to be at least 19 and a year removed from high school. During the 2011 lockout, the league briefly proposed raising the minimum age to 20, but the owners and players were too busy arguing over other issues they deemed more important. Like money.
Next year will mark a decade since the league imposed the 19-year-old rule. The idea was to save players from themselves while saving college basketball. No one seemed interested in whether anyone actually needed saving in the first place. No one seems interested in that now, either.
Silver said the NBA has a “responsibility” to “ensure that the game is played the right way.” He also wants “values of the game” to be “executed properly.” If only James Naismith was still around. He’d surely agree and rush to replace the breakaway rims with traditional peach baskets. Silver might have a harder time selling Naismith on the league’s ever-increasing love and dependence on the three-point shot, though.
While couched in standard finger-wagging, back-in-my-day retro-speak, Silver’s underlying point wasn’t a bad one. Many young players would no doubt benefit from better and longer coaching at lower levels before trying to make it in the league.
The issue here –- and this is where I part company with Silver –- is the talent evaluators who eagerly spent real dollars like counterfeit currency on players who simply weren’t ready to graduate from high school to the NBA. Boy geniuses like James and Bryant and Garnett are few –- but that doesn’t mean they should be held back because too many of their peers were allowed to skip ahead before they were ready for advanced placement. Again, the sink or swim approach –- or, in this case, pass or fail -– would be fine. The people doing the grading just have to be more judicious about who's admitted to the NBA’s exclusive doctorate program.
philly.com
The National Collegiate Athletic Association must go to trial over claims by football and basketball players who are seeking a share of $800 million a year in licensing fees for televised games, a judge said. The case is part of a movement by current and former college athletes to secure compensation, and greater medical benefits, control over their images and labor protections in a system that considers them amateurs. The athletes aren’t paid despite generating sponsorship, ticket and merchandise revenue in addition to that from TV contracts. U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken in Oakland, Calif., said a trial will be needed in June after lawyers on each side failed at a hearing yesterday to persuade her to rule in its favor without one. Lawyers for the Indianapolis-based NCAA, the governing body for major college sports, argued that games are public events that aren’t commercial in nature and therefore fall within free-speech protections under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment. “I don’t really buy the commercial speech argument,” Wilken said yesterday. She said she will issue a written order soon on the lawyers’ requests for a judgment without trial.
Link
AVERAGE ATTENDANCE BY BCS LEAGUES
1. Big Ten 13,447
2. ACC 10,446
3. SEC 10,251
4. Big 12 9,969
5. AAC 8,502
6. Pac-12 7,496
Ten Big Ten programs are averaging at least 12,000 fans per game. The American Athletic Conference has five programs that aren't averaging half that total.
The SEC has three at 12,000-plus – Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas. The SEC also has five programs averaging fewer than 7,500 fans per game – Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Georgia, Auburn and Texas A&M.
ATTENDANCE TREND
1. ACC – up 4.6 percent, 9,990 in 2013 to 10,446 this season.
2. Big Ten – up 2.5 percent, 13,114 in 2013 to 13,447 this season.
3. Pac 12 – down 1.8 percent, 7,631 in 2013 to 7,496 this season.
4. SEC – down 3.0 percent, 10,571 in 2013 to 10,251 this season.
5. Big 12 – down 3.1 percent, 10,289 in 2013 to 9,969 this season.
The ACC has received a nice bump from Syracuse (the national attendance leader at 26,223 per home game) and Pittsburgh (10,816). But the league also has a half-dozen teams that have failed to average 7,500 – Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College. The addition of Louisville next season will lift the ACC again.
THE TOP TEN – AVERAGE ATTENDANCE IN BCS LEAGUES
1. Syracuse 26,223
2. Kentucky 22,780
3. Louisville 21,186
4. North Carolina 18,127
5. Indiana 17,336
6. Wisconsin 17,085
7. Kansas 16,469
8. Ohio State 16,234
9. Memphis 15,884
10. Tennessee 15,156
Breakdown by league: Big Ten 3; ACC 2; AAC 2; SEC 2, Big 12 1.
WDRB (KY)
Today a first-of-its-kind network partnership involving multiple leagues and media properties was announced as 120 Sports, a live-streaming network created for the digital generation and the devices it uses most. In 120 Sports, today's fans will have access to unauthenticated video programming through a new technology platform built to intuitively integrate video and data in ways fans haven't experienced before. At launch, content partners will include 120 Sports equity investor Time Inc. (owner of Sports Illustrated), as well as the NHL, NBA, MLB.com, NASCAR and leading collegiate conferences via Campus Insiders (a joint venture between IMG College and Chicago-based digital sports-media company Silver Chalice).
The groundbreaking enterprise, named 120 Sports for its concept of offering original sports programming in two-minute segments, will produce and distribute a 24-hour live linear network driven by a videocentric, 360-degree look across all sports. Set to debut later this spring, 120 Sports will feature original and hosted programming that will deliver timely, interactive narratives of the stories around sports, including game footage, analysis, conversation and social commentary from the players, newsmakers as well as voices of the fans.
Press Release
Big XII composite schedule (includes results, highlights, stats)
ESPN College GameDay Schedule
2013-14 TV Schedule
Recruiting
The "Clash of the Titans 2014" is on. While the two meetings in past seasons between the two current best high school players in the nation settled nothing, 7,000 some-odd folks will be judging their every move Friday night at Chicago State in the Public League championship game between No. 1 Curie and No. 3 Young.
Alexander, for his part, did not bother to feign indifference over his next opponent in the minutes between Curie's semifinal victory over Hyde Park and the beginning of Young's comeback against Orr on Wednesday.
"That," Alexander said, "is the matchup I want."
True to form, Okafor, a Duke signee, did not take the bait after Young's win Wednesday night, talking only in terms of team.
But Kansas signee Alexander, in this dynamic, is the hunter. He's been better than good all season, yet Cliff still is ranked in the top five nationally by most recruiting services.
That fate probably was sealed when he decided to play for the Mac Irvin Fire, Okafor's AAU team, last summer.
Curie coach Mike Oliver advised him against it, telling him the only way he was going to supplant Okafor was by playing against him.
Not only is a city title at stake, but these two could go down as the two best bigs Chicago has ever produced, especially if you disqualify South Carolinians (Kevin Garnett) from that subjective list.
The chance of a fourth meeting at the Marist Sectional is good, but the size of that gym is modest.
Public League final
Who: Curie vs. Young.
When: 7 p.m. Friday.
Where: Chicago State.
Chicago Tribune (Scheduled to be shown live on espn3)
A familiar face from the Marshall men’s basketball sidelines made a return to Huntington on Thursday night.
Dana Altman, who was head coach for the Herd in the 1989-90 season and is currently the head coach at Oregon, was in town to check out Huntington Prep’s JaQuan Lyle on Thursday.
…Lyle showed off his ability to distribute the basketball, finishing with a game-high 11 assists. He also had 16 points in the win.
Herald Dispatch
2/20/14, 10:48 PM
Stats from Findlay Prep game tonight..
Thornton Jr 9pts, 2 Rebs, 10 assists, 3 steals; Oubre Jr 37pts, 10 Rebs, 4 assists, 3 blocks
@CoachAJohnson
No one needs Turner quite like Barnes and the Longhorns.
It has nothing to do with the fact that Duke will bring in skilled big man Jahlil Okafor next season; or that Kansas already has hard-playing power forward Cliff Alexander on his way; or that Kentucky will almost certainly still have Dakari Johnson, and will add Karl Towns; or that Arizona will likely have Kaleb Tarczewski and Brandon Ashley back in the fold.
Sure, Texas could use Turner on the court. The Longhorns have everyone back from this season's group and the addition of Turner could make them a legitimate Final Four -- and even national title -- contender.
But it’s equally important for both the national and local perception that Barnes can still recruit top-flight players, especially within the state lines. Barnes has taken a hit recently, the industry perception that he doesn’t get after it on the recruiting trail nearly as much as in the past.
The addition of Turner would make it “cool” to go to Texas again.
ESPN Goodman ($)
He’s one of the top scorers in Kansas prep basketball this season.
Averaging over 19 points per game for Circle High School, Dylan Driver has helped the Thunderbirds make massive improvements from a year ago.
“Definitely, I mean he’s a guy who, when he gets on a roll, he can put up points very quickly.”
“I think we got a good shot to make a run in the state tournament, and Dylan’s going to help us out,” said Jake Smith, Circle High School player.
An incredible feat considering his playing days nearly ended.
“It’s incredible, I was even able to move and walk,” said Driver.
Starting his high school career at Andover, Dylan made varsity as a freshman.
He averaged 17 points per game until a devastating concussion changed everything.
The side effects lingered on for months.
“I’d see people walking past me. It just made me feel real dizzy. Like, the world was kind of spinning too fast.”
Dylan’s weight plummeted from 165 to 130 in roughly eight weeks.
After months of therapy, he was cleared to practice with his team at the end of his sophomore year.
Just two weeks after returning, disaster struck again.
“We were working on fast breaks, two on one, I went up to dunk and came down on my shoulders, straight to my neck.”
It ended with an ambulance ride to the hospital.
Dylan wound up breaking the C5 bone in his neck.
Doctors say in many cases it can lead to being paralyzed.
Dylan spent the next three months in bed.
“I had to just wait out the injury.”
After many more months of rehabilitation, Dylan was cleared to return.
Standing tall and healthy and 6 feet 4 inches tall, 175 pounds, he opted for a fresh start and transferred to Circle.
He fought back and got back to how he was.
Dylan’s been named most valuable player in multiple tournaments this year.
KSN
Recruiting Calendar
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