Milton Doyle to play basketball at Kansas University

By Gary Bedore     Jun 15, 2012

Milton Doyle, a 6-foot-4, 185-pound combo guard out of Chicago’s Marshall High, will be attending Kansas University on basketball scholarship this season.

Doyle — he averaged 19 points, seven rebounds, five assists and five steals a game his senior season — will arrive in Lawrence on Sunday and begin summer school classes on Monday, sources told the Journal-World.

At KU, he’ll be a roommate of fellow freshman newcomer Tyler Self.

Doyle, who visited KU on May 14-15, graduated high school earlier this week. He had to wait on his final grades to be matched with his ACT score to see if he’d qualify for a scholarship at KU. Though the NCAA Clearinghouse typically does not officially clear any players for eligibility until late summer, it is believed Doyle will be fully qualified to play college basketball as a freshman. He and family members celebrated the good news on Friday night at a going-away party for Milton in Chicago, organized by his mom, Lisa.

Lisa explained the specifics of Doyle’s eligibility situation to the Chicago Tribune on Saturday. Doyle recently signed a financial aid agreement with KU, the Trib reported, but, like all freshmen, needs to be cleared by the NCAA Clearinghouse to be on scholarship.

In Doyle’s case which goes before the Clearinghouse, his mom said he has the grades and test scores to be eligible next season, but he’s awaiting approval of two courses he took online because of complications following his transfer from Chicago Tilden to Marshall after his sophomore year.

“I thought we had taken care of this at the end of his junior year,” Lisa told the Tribune. “We went to Tilden to get all of this settled. But most of the staff at Tilden was either fired or transferred so the papers never went to Marshall.”

Doyle, who last month scored 20 points in the Chicago Public League all-star game, is unranked nationally by Rivals.com. He missed his entire junior season after transferring from Tilden to Marshall because of a broken wrist. He did not play AAU ball in July last year, instead concentrating on his academic work.

Doyle chose KU over Marquette, a school he would have visited had things not worked out in terms of receiving a scholarship offer at KU.

Anrio Adams, a 6-3 guard from Seattle’s Rainier Beach High, also graduated this week and is planning on arriving at KU on July 1 (if he has qualified academically), he reports on his Facebook page.

“I call him the quiet assassin,” Marshall High coach Henry Cotton told the Chicago Tribune. “He just goes about his job relentlessly. If he had waited (until second semester instead of committing to FIU) he could have gone anywhere he wanted to, but he was loyal to the people who showed him interest when no one else did. That’s the way he is.”

Cotton told the Chicago Sun Times that Doyle, who is known for his slashing ability is most effective when the game is on the line.

“The one thing I learned coaching him this year was that when he wants to score, when he really wants to score, he’s going to score,” said Cotton, whose team won 3A regional and sectional titles. “He will find a way. He will get to the rim. He will knock down mid-range shots, pull up, go get a teammate’s miss and put back an offensive rebound. He’s an exciting talent, a natural player who does things you can’t teach. What I’m looking forward to seeing is what he becomes when a college program develops his body.”

He’s impressed the Chicago media.

“Doyle is the ultimate sleeper, an underrated talent who fits the cliché ‘his best basketball is ahead of him’ perfectly. It’s true,” wrote Joe Henricksen of the Chicago Sun Times. “Doyle is just scratching the surface. He’s long, wiry, active, extremely athletic and his skill level has improved the more he plays.

“Doyle remained a rather unknown. Florida International snuck in and nabbed a commitment from Doyle last fall before the kid’s talent blew the top off and he became a hot commodity. Thomas, however, was fired following the season and Doyle was back on the open market. … You just don’t typically find a talent this late in the recruiting game like Doyle, who has tremendous upside and untapped potential,” Henricksen added.

Noted ilprepbullseye.com: “A stellar athlete who was among top five players in Chicago Public League based on performance this past season.  Excels at slashing and has a tremendous mid-range game.”

Academic honors: KU’s basketball team was one of nine men’s NCAA Tournament qualifiers and more than 950 teams overall handed public recognition awards by the NCAA based on their Academic Progress Rates (APRs). Their scores ranked among the top 10% in their respective sports, USA Today reports. Individual team scores weren’t released.

Early Father’s Day: Former KU All-American Wayne Simien and wife Katie are celebrating Thursday’s birth of son, Shepherd. They also have daughters Selah and Rael and a son, Simon.

“My Father’s Day gift came early with the arrival of our 4th child, Shepherd Allen Simien!” Simien wrote on Twitter on Thursday. “Lots of folks asking why we named our son Shepherd. My heart has always been moved with Jesus’ identity as the Good Shepherd, John 10:11,” Simien explained.

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