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Men's Basketball

Monday, September 15, 2008

Ex-Jayhawk Thomas headed to Greece

By Gary Bedore

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Former Kansas University basketball shooting guard Billy Thomas, who has played professionally in Argentina, Italy and Serbia, now is giving Greece a try.

Thomas, 32, on Sept. 7 signed a contract with Kavala/Panorama of Greece's top pro league.

Thomas last year played for the NBA's New Jersey Nets and Cleveland Cavaliers. The News-Herald of Northern Ohio reported Sunday that Thomas had a contract worth $826,269 from the Cavaliers for the upcoming season, but it was contingent on his making the team.

The Cavs made it clear they didn't want the 6-foot-5, 220-pound Thomas by signing shooting guard Tarence Kinsey on Aug. 4.

"Everybody knows about my travels," Thomas told the Journal-World last summer. "My heart will always be here."

KU now will have at least three players in Greece this season. Aaron Miles plays for Panionios Athens and Kenny Gregory for Paok.

¢ Recruiting: KU basketball coach Bill Self covered a lot of miles in recruiting last week.

Self, who had an in-home visit with 6-4 shooting guard Michael Snaer in Moreno Valley, Calif., on Thursday, headed 3,057 miles in the opposite direction for Saturday night's visit with Thomas Robinson, a 6-8 forward from Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H.

Robinson, the No. 17-ranked player in the Class of 2009, will visit KU this weekend. Brewster coach Jason Smith told Rivals.com Robinson has a final list of KU, Memphis and Southern California.

Tonight, Self will visit the home of Dominik Cheek, a 6-5 shooting guard from Jersey City, N.J.

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Comments

crooner (anonymous) says...

Go Billy! And Go Bill! Travel safe.

September 15, 2008 at 5:21 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

JayCeph (anonymous) says...

Greece is the word!

September 15, 2008 at 9:07 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

Advice for Commish of Greece's pro hoops league (the GBA?):Set up two portable basketball goals in the Parthenon and video tape two of your pro teams playing 5 on 5. Next, cut the footage into a commercial and put on a chiron slogan of: "GBA: its classic!"

September 15, 2008 at 9:22 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

KUFan90 (anonymous) says...

Good stuff JayCeph...thanks for the laugh.

September 15, 2008 at 9:50 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Lebowski (anonymous) says...

Quite seriously, that's exactly what I was thinking jaycheph!OKAY... serious question to throw out there for everyone who wants to play along:Considering everything from our current roster, and subsequent defections of current players, to how long we might have them, if you could CHOOSE any 3 recruits to land for '09... who would it be, and why? Pick only from this list:http://kansas.scout.com/a.z?s=172&p=9&cfg=bb&c=4&yr=2009

September 15, 2008 at 12:32 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

JayCeph (anonymous) says...

Also, for former KU players: CJ Giles is with the Lakers...http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=txlakersgiles&prov=st&type=lgns

September 15, 2008 at 12:46 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Lebowski (anonymous) says...

1. Derrick Favors. To me, I get the feeling he's a more athletic version of Simien, and is noted for his character. Also, he's more of a true post player (of which we lack depth)... and doesn't stray outside as much, which I like. An added bonus might be that his slight size might better his chances of being in college for at least two or three years. He at times has been the top ranked player in the class, which says he has to have some serious skills. Self has not yet landed what I call an elite post recruit, and more than anything it would be nice to set a precedent for future top big men that they can come here and then get drafted high in a few years.2. Maybe either John Wall OR Xavier Henry. Although I wouldn't complain, I don't even know how much it would help to land both. It would just cut that much more into the minutes of guys who need to develop... and they'd pretty much be done in one anyway. I would typically say I'd rather have a 2 or 3 year player anyway, but at this point with our depth at guard a one-and-doner wouldn't hurt.3. Thomas Robinson. If we landed one of the two guards above, we'd have such a logjam in the backcourt that another athletic post player would be far more useful. And Robinson seems like another special athlete who has been a late riser and has plenty of room for his offense to grow. Daniel Orton is close, but I think Robinson looks like more of a sure bet to come in and work hard to improve.There are so many G or SF on our list, but next year Little, Appleton & Collins will all be SR's and with Wall or Henry added to the mix for 3 positions along with Reed, Relaford & Taylor... any additional incoming freshmen are going to have a hard time beating them out for minutes no matter how good they are. It's only a matter of time before we have some people leave because they are the odd man out.

September 15, 2008 at 1:11 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

bmkjayhawk (anonymous) says...

How many scholarships do we have?I think we'll get Thomas Robinson. If Henry seriously is undecided and his brother's choice really has no bearing on his own, then I think we've got a pretty good shot with him. And I think Wall's visit will obviously only help our chances. Tyshawn Taylor and Dominic Cheek are allegedly very close friends, so couple that with a visit (is he visiting? I forget) and there's a good shot there, too.In terms of a top three, I don't know. Just a good mix. I definitely don't want three "one-and-done" because while we might be very good, those three would be gone after the 09-10 season in addition to Collins, Little, Appleton, maybe Aldrich? We'd be pretty depleted again. I'll repeat though, regardless of what happens, it is going to be interesting.

September 15, 2008 at 2:36 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jayhawkinatl (anonymous) says...

Damn...I forgot all about Kenny Gregory.

September 15, 2008 at 3:19 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

yovoy (anonymous) says...

i forgot about him too...and that's while he was still here.

September 15, 2008 at 3:54 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

txrockchalk (anonymous) says...

The Dude - very nice analysis. I don't think you could ever have too many top notch players such as Wall and Henry. In the unlikely event we land them both, I am sure Coach Self could develop a scheme to use them prominently. Realistically, if we can land one of them, being able to sign Favors or Robinson (or both!) as well would add some much needed depth in the post.

September 15, 2008 at 5:09 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

flipborder02 (anonymous) says...

Were not even in the running for Favors but for some reason it shows us on his list. He hasent said anything about a visit or anything like that.

September 15, 2008 at 6:01 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

Once in awhile in college basketball, a coach and school gets more than their share of the top players for a few years. I suppose you could say KU did in the early years of the game. I can't say for sure, but it appears UK did it during some of their title runs under Rupp. UCLA got quite a run of talent under Wooden. Dean Smith at UNC racked up some really deep teams for a number of years. And Duke under Coach K certainly had more and better talent than anyone else for about five years. Maybe KU under Self is about to join this list. Posters are doubting Self can land more than one or two of these guys, but talent attracts talent. Great players love to play together. It is always fun to be on the team with the most guns. It is quite possible that Self could land them all. Players have seen that Self can and does play a lot of guys, if a lot of guys are good (e.g., RR, Chalmers, Collins all rotated even though any two were good enough to take the lion's share of the minutes). Players have seen that Self plays the best guys, even if they are frosh (e.g., BRush). Players have seen that Self can win a ring with guys sharing and players have seen that Self's players get drafted high despite splitting time.I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Self land a Fab Five, or a Fab 4. It happened to John Wooden after he won his second ring in a row. He landed Jabbar, Lucious Allen, and so on. It happened to Steve Fischer at UM after he won a ring and Fisher wasn't even a very good coach. it can happen and it can happen at ku.

September 15, 2008 at 10:54 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Lebowski (anonymous) says...

Flipboarder, I'm thinking Favors is not likely, but I haven't seen anything that indicates he's removed Kansas or many other schools from his list. He has said he won't even make a decision until next spring. I'll give up hope for him only when he actually commits elsewhere. But if I had to bet, it would be that he doesn't leave the state of Georgia. (Glad I don't have to bet, though!)

September 16, 2008 at 2:20 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Lebowski (anonymous) says...

Apparently Cheek may be here for Late Night as well.http://theshiver.com/2008/09/dominic-cheek-enjoys-his-visit-with-kansas/#more-145

September 16, 2008 at 2:25 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

bmkjayhawk (anonymous) says...

That is awesome Lebowski. People have said Villanova was the leader for Cheek, but it seems like we're making a strong push.

September 16, 2008 at 2:44 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

esque (anonymous) says...

It seems as if El Duderino is doing his homework. Keep it up dude.

September 16, 2008 at 5:19 p.m. ( | suggest removal )