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Men's Basketball

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Ready to rumble

Releford healthy for alumni game

By Gary Bedore

Former Jayhawk standout under Roy Williams and Bill Self AAron Miles was the guest speaker at Self's camp on Tuesday.

Photo by Richard Gwin

Former Jayhawk standout under Roy Williams and Bill Self AAron Miles was the guest speaker at Self's camp on Tuesday.

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Former KU hoopster Billy Thomas back in town

In the 90s, Billy Thomas lit up the nets for KU's men's basketball team. Now he's back in town to teach some youngsters.

Kansas University sophomore guard Travis Releford, who missed last week’s Bill Self campers game because of a painful skin irritation, says he’s healed and ready to play in today’s Camp Game Part Two.

In fact, the 6-foot-5 Releford will take a turn guarding 33-year-old Billy Thomas, who last Wednesday exploded for 33 points in the KU alumni team’s 67-52 victory over the current Jayhawks in Horejsi Center.

“Get up on him and make him put it on the ground,” Releford said of his strategy to slow the 6-foot-5 Thomas, who last week drilled seven of 11 threes.

“He likes to dribble into his shot. I saw that from watching last week. I kind of got to sit back and see how the alumni played.”

Though nobody ever knows for sure who will play before the 3 p.m. game, alumni Keith Langford, Aaron Miles and Darnell Jackson have said they will participate. Thomas last Wednesday said he planned to play again this week.

Releford, meanwhile, is just happy to be back on the court.

He admits he was getting a bit concerned about his skin irritation after several trips to the doctor showed no reasons for the stabbing sensation he felt when anything touched his skin.

Even sleeping proved to be a problem.

“It hurt in bed with the covers on top of me,” Releford said. “I’m fine now. It was a skin reaction. I have been taking a lot of medicine. No more pain.”

• NBA rule should be amended: Self said Tuesday he was in favor of changing the rule that forces high school players to attend college a year prior to turning pro.

“In my personal opinion, I think kids should be allowed to go out of high school or (if they enroll in college) stay in college for three years. I think it will move to two (years), and I think that would be good because if someone wanted to make a mockery of our education system, they could with the one-and-done player,” Self said.

“They (the one-and-dones) could take six hours in the fall and not go to school in the spring, and the next thing you know they are still eligible to play the full year.”

• No more on-and-dones?: “I think it sounds good, but if you were to tell 100 percent of the coaches out there they could have somebody in their program that’s good enough to be a lottery pick after one year, then there’s a great chance they would take them. And there is still no guarantee that they would leave after one year,” Self said.

“There have been a lot of guys projected to be one-and-done that stay in school for three (years). There have been a lot of guys that are projected to be in school for four that leave after one or two. Everybody matures and develops at different rates, so I think it is an inexact science, and I do believe that coaches still want to recruit the best guys. I don’t think you can have an entire team of them. If you do that, you’ll be really good for one year, but there will certainly be a drop-off. I do think guys want the best players they can possibly recruit.”

KU is bringing in a projected one-and-done this year in Xavier Henry.

• Dooley on Holy Cross list?: ESPN’s Andy Katz reports that KU assistant coach Joe Dooley is on the list of candidates for the vacant Holy Cross coaching job. Coach Ralph Willard recently left Holy Cross to join Rick Pitino’s Louisville staff as an assistant. KU assistant coaches do not comment on job vacancies across the country.

• Rankings: Katz has kept KU as his preseason No. 1 team for next year in his updated rankings following the NBA early-entry draft withdrawal deadline. Michigan State is No. 2, Texas 3, Villanova 4 and North Carolina 5.

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Comments

jaybate (anonymous) says...

} It sounds like Travis has one of the viruses, a variation on shingles, that sleep in your neurons for a long while, then awaken and move up the nerve endings, hurt like hell for awhile, and then move back down and return to dormancy. Had it once. Sucked.

} Dooley to Holy Cross: Joe, take it.

} O&D: Let'em go if they want. Let'em come back to college if they fail.

June 17, 2009 at 12:57 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

FairgroveJayhawk (anonymous) says...

No picture the guy the article is titled after..

Don't go Joe, this is a national championship year. There are many Holy Cross jobs.

Is Self saying the NCAA will ammend the rule to two years in college as a minimum with the option of jumping to the NBA right out of H.S. or two years minimum without the HS/NBA jump option?


June 17, 2009 at 7:18 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

truehawk93 (anonymous) says...

• Dooley on Holy Cross list?: ESPN’s Andy Katz reports that KU assistant coach Joe Dooley is on the list of candidates for the vacant Holy Cross coaching job.

I knew this was going to happen. I just thought it would happen after our next NC! Congrats on the offer Coach Dooley and I hope you make the right choice.

June 17, 2009 at 7:41 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jayhawkinatl (anonymous) says...

Smart man, Katz!!! Don't fall for the UK hype!!!

June 17, 2009 at 7:57 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

KanedaMGM (anonymous) says...

I had shingles recently myself. It was terrible. I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

June 17, 2009 at 8:40 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

drgnslayr (anonymous) says...

I agree with Jaybate and KanedaMGM... sounds like shingles. Been there. Calling it a "skin irritation" is not adequate. There seems to be variants on shingles, often making it hard to diagnose.

I hope Travis makes the most of this off-season developing his game, primarily his outside shooting and defense. He could use some strength training, too. I'd hate to see him passed over because of the new talent coming in. With a bit of work he fits in so well with the CS philosophy towards perimeter players; tall (or long-armed), lanky, quick, scrappy utility players capable at several positions.

June 17, 2009 at 9:37 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

KUFan90 (anonymous) says...

Releford will redshirt. Mark it down. I think it will be in his best interest as well. He will be a stud in future years.

June 17, 2009 at 10:16 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

AverageCitizen (anonymous) says...

"Is Self saying the NCAA will ammend the rule to two years in college as a minimum with the option of jumping to the NBA right out of H.S. or two years minimum without the HS/NBA jump option?"

FairGrove- The NBA is the one making the rules over when they will accept players. They set job requirements like all employers do. I don't see what the NCAA can do. They aren't going to deny someone the opportunity to go the college as long as they are still an amateur and in good standing academically. It's all up to the NBA management and players association.

June 17, 2009 at 10:18 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

ReasonableBill (anonymous) says...

I think that any person should be able to be a professional in their chosen field if their skills merit this. No arbitrary rules should be created or used to limit the economic gain of a person in their chosen occupation. The benefit to college basketball teams does not justify taking away rights held by 18 or 19 year olds.

June 17, 2009 at 3:44 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

dagger108 (anonymous) says...

Creating a rule to protect the value of an investment is a very reasonable agreement to make, which is exactly what the NBA did after watching too many HS players become NBA busts, and suck $$$$$$ out the end of the bench.

The NCAA needs to be concerned about preserving the integrity/value of their investment also. They just have less leverage. A few more TheOSU incidents costing scholies will help to encourage the NCAA to seek more cooperation.

June 17, 2009 at 4:34 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Jhawkerman (anonymous) says...

I totally agree with HCBS comments about the need for a rule change. Let the HS players who would like to try for the NBA go straight from HS. Keep the college an educational system and require players who want to attend commit to at least 3 yrs in college. Our current system is a farce and we need to change it. It's not a perfect system but it's a lot better then what we have now. College is #1 about education and although athletics is a fun and exciting part it's not #1. Kids leaving after one or two yrs don't help there team or the school who invests in there costs. One and done players only disrupt the team and hurt recruiting in the long run. I am with you Coach I hope the NCAA is listening.

And yes before someone says it They can just flunk out of school and be gone if there is not a penalty of one or two yrs ineligibility if they don't complete there three years.

I know that sounds harsh but lets face it ... how many player flunk out now .. almost none so its not a problem staying eligible if they want to study. They all have tutors.
Rock Chalk

June 17, 2009 at 4:53 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

kingpin (anonymous) says...

Dooley, you are better than the Holy Cross job and you know it. Some may think it is a good job, but for Dooley it wouldn't be. Dooley is one of the top assistants in college ball. If a school like Texas opened up I would say take it. ...of course he should take a job at ucla, duke, unc, or kentucky if they wanted him to. There is line that must be drawn. Self and Dooley know about where that line is and I'll trust them with any decisions on coaching vacancies.

June 17, 2009 at 5:42 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

ralster (anonymous) says...

Kingpin, I like your point, but lets not send our good man Dooley to that coaching black hole of UK. I know your list includes the usual top 5 "storied" programs in college BB, but the shenanigan headlines out of UK the last few months cry of desparation--they need to be humbled into realizing that to build something grand, you have to build it right. I hope they regain their recently tarnished image, purely for their own sake, speaking as a college bball fan...
-------------------------------------
I was just on the UK athletic website, sneaking around for info, and saw an interview with Calipari, who was complaining about the weather in Lexington, KY when he got off the plane stating: "...when I got out I asked 'where are we?' " LOL!

June 17, 2009 at 7:35 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

ralster (anonymous) says...

I noticed that too: Story about Releford, but NO PIX of the young man! (No offense to Aaron Miles). Hmm...rash on skin, now better, and story title of 'ready to rumble'...gives new meaning to phrase: 'light a fire under his azz'...haha!

June 17, 2009 at 7:40 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

FairgroveJayhawk (anonymous) says...

AverageCitizen- thanks for the insight, I appreciate it. I had it completely backwards.
Now that you put it that way, I don't see what the NCAA can do either. Pretty unfortunate for higher education. Self's prediction sounds like a good one, I hope it happens.

June 17, 2009 at 9:48 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Self4Prez (anonymous) says...

Releford does not have shingles - it is a rare form of a chronic pain condition.

June 20, 2009 at 1:02 p.m. ( | suggest removal )