Report: Mitchell Robinson saga set to end where it began

By Matt Tait     Aug 27, 2017

Kansas University basketball recruiting

Long off the Kansas radar, the Mitchell Robinson saga appears to be ending right where it began.

According to a report from Chad Bishop of WBKO 13 in Kentucky, the 7-foot, McDonald’s All-American who, earlier this summer, asked for his release from Western Kentucky University after his godfather left the coaching staff, is planning to return to WKU for his freshman season.

Robinson, who visited KU, LSU and New Orleans while looking for a new place to play, also seriously considered sitting out the 2017-18 season altogether to prepare for the NBA Draft instead of heading to another school where he likely would have been ineligible to play because of NCAA transfer rules.

Now, if he does in fact return to the school with which he initially signed, Robinson will be able to play during the upcoming season and will navigate what he hopes will be a one-and-done college career that way.

According to Bishop’s report, Robinson has until 4 p.m. Monday to officially enroll at WKU for the Fall semester. He already enrolled in summer school classes at WKU and practiced some with the team before attempting to leave.

In order to be eligible at another school, Robinson would have needed to receive a waiver from the NCAA granting him immediate eligibility and this outcome is a likely sign that neither Robinson nor the schools recruiting him believed he would get it.

LSU backed out of the pursuit first and KU followed suit a couple of weeks later.

This last step in Robinson’s recruitment — if it has in fact finally come to that — leaves KU with one available scholarship, though Kansas coach Bill Self recently said it was unlikely that his team would sign another player before the start of the 2017-18 season, which will officially get under way on Sept. 30 at Late Night in the Phog.

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.