Morris twins commit to KU

By Gary Bedore     Nov 1, 2007

Men’s basketball preview

Kansas has ventured to Philadelphia – home of former KU great Wilt Chamberlain – for not one, but a pair of blue-chip high school basketball prospects.

“Wilt Chamberlain … he is big here, very big,” exclaimed Markieff Morris, a 6-foot-10, 230-pound power forward/center, who on Wednesday night orally committed to play ball at the alma mater of the late, great Chamberlain.

He and brother Marcus, a 6-foot-81â2, 220-pound small forward, chose coach Bill Self’s Jayhawks over Villanova and St. John’s.

“I kind of knew that Wilt was from Philadelphia,” the twins’ mom, Angel, who also played basketball during her school days, said with a chuckle.

Whether the Philly twins, who attended Prep Charter High for four years prior to enrolling at APEX Academies prep school in New Jersey this school year, can come close to impacting KU the way Chamberlain did remains to be seen.

Marcus is Rivals.com’s No. 37-rated player, and Markieff is No. 74.

If being enthusiastic about Mt. Oread is a key factor, one shouldn’t bet against them.

“I told coach Self, ‘We’re going to be Jayhawks!” Marcus said of the way he committed via cellphone. “He was very excited. He was happy to get it all over with.

“Since I was 10 years old, it was my dream school,” Marcus added.

Dream school? Because of Wilt?

“When you are young, watching games (on TV), you just look at the crowd. I always liked Kansas,” Marcus said.

Marcus Morris averaged 27 points and 12 rebounds, Markieff 23 points and 15 boards their senior seasons at Prep Charter.

“I think I pass better than a lot of big men. I can play the 1 to the 5 all five positions,” stated Marcus, whose brother Markieff compared him to NBA players Carmelo Anthony and Joe Johnson.

“I can mix it up. Sometimes I’ve got to be a bruiser,” Markieff said of his own playing style.

Marcus compared his fraternal twin to Al Harrington, Rasheed Wallace and Drew Gooden.

“Markieff is a a great defender. He blocks shots. He’s a big man with a soft touch. He can shoot the three. All he has to work on is his jump hook. That will come,” Marcus said.

The two at one time were bound for the University of Memphis. They signed letters-of-intent last November with John Calipari’s Tiger program. However, they recently asked out of their letters-of-intent.

“You’ve got to be 100 percent sure where you want to go to school,” Marcus said. “We weren’t sure.”

Normally players are only allowed to sign letters-of-intent once. However, the two will sign with KU in the middle of this month. Their previous letters are not binding because they have not yet qualified for a scholarship. They will take the SAT test this weekend.

“When you are being recruited by colleges like this, you have to be completely comfortable with your decision,” mom Angel, said. “I thought Kansas was great (while in Lawrence for Late Night). The players, coaches, coaches’ wives are all like a family.”

The twins’ mom, who works as an attendant in the operating room of a Philadelphia hospital, has already made the decision to relocate to Lawrence to be with her boys.

“Being with my kids; being able to go to Allen Fieldhouse to watch the boys play, to support them is exciting,” she said. “I want to be there for them and support them.”

She says KU fans will love her boys, who by the way, didn’t start playing basketball until eighth grade.

“They are fun-loving kids, both of them,” she said. “They don’t get mad an awful lot. They are good kids and they love basketball.”

Of their style of play, she added: “They are excellent players, very competitive and it’s not hard to teach them. They are willing to learn and eager. It won’t be hard for coach Self to get through to them.”

¢Friends: The Morris twins are best friends.

“Of course,” Markieff said. “Always have been. We are there for each other. We couldn’t imagine going to a college unless we were together.”

“We’ve always played on the same team,” Marcus noted.

¢Why prep school?: The two decided early on they wanted to attend prep school a year before enrolling in college.

“We’re young. We just turned 18,” Markieff said.

APEX Academies, which is located in Pennsauken, N.J., will play a 30-game national schedule this year.

¢Playing time a factor: KU, which loses Sasha Kaun and Darnell Jackson to graduation and, in all likelihood Darrell Arthur to the NBA, is in need of big men next season.

“It was very important,” Marcus said of playing time. “To have open spots where only freshmen can beat you out at a school like Kansas, that’s amazing,” he said.

¢Hometown school: It was tough for the twins to turn down Villanova, a school located in Philly.

“It was very hard to say no to Villanova. Jay Wright (coach) is a good guy. They play a fast-paced game, the way we play,” Markieff said. “It came down to everything: playing as freshmen, playing a lot as freshmen. Kansas has an exciting style of play. It’s a great school.”

¢Recruiting update: KU has received oral commitments from five players in a year coach Bill Self may sign up to seven.

They are: Morris twins, Quintrell Thomas, 6-8 power forward, St. Patrick High, Elizabeth, N.J.; Travis Releford, 6-4 guard, Roeland Park Miege and Mario Little, 6-5, guard/forward, Chipola (Fla) Community College.

J’Mison Morgan, 6-10 from Dallas, will choose either KU, LSU, UCLA, Alabama or Cincinnati on Friday. Devoe Joseph, 6-2 from Ontario, Canada, will visit KU this weekend. He also is considering Vanderbilt, Minnesota and Virginia Tech. Willie Warren, 6-3 from Fort Worth, Texas, who is considering KU, Oklahoma and others, will sign in the spring.

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