Bryant Nash didn’t need a lot of time to ponder a basketball scholarship offer from Kansas University.
“I decided on the last day of my visit and told the coaches today. It’s the best place for me to be,” Nash, a 6-foot-6 senior forward from Carrollton (Texas) R.L. Turner High, said late Monday night after orally committing to KU, just one day after his Friday-Sunday visit to KU’s campus.
Nash, who said he would mail his letter of intent to KU’s basketball office today, chose the Jayhawks over runner-up Memphis. He also considered Texas A&M and Florida earlier in the recruiting process.
He visited Memphis’ campus two weeks ago.
“I liked the campus, coaches and players,” Nash said of KU. “I liked the attitude of the coaches. Drew Gooden was my host. He was cool. I like (Jeff) Boschee and Kenny (Gregory), too. I think I’ll fit in well there.”
Nash averaged 15 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks a game for 25-8 Turner High.
KU coach Neil Dougherty watched Nash play a regular-season game in February. KU coach Roy Williams scouted Nash at an AAU practice last month, when everybody else in attendance thought Williams was looking at future KU walk-on Mario Kinsey of Waco, Texas.
“I grew up a fan of the Dallas Cowboys and Chicago Bulls. I didn’t follow college basketball that much, but I knew Kansas had a great program,” Nash said. “I learned a lot on my visit. I learned they’ve had seven coaches in 103 years.”
Nash, who played the post position for Turner, will move outside at KU.
“I’ll play the three,” he said, referring to small forward. “It’ll take some work but I should be able to do it. I need to work on my dribbling. As a player, I’m best at driving to the hole and jumping.”
His prep coach, Mark Bishop, also believes Nash can move outside in college.
“He played the post for us, but ultimately on the Div. I level he will be a small forward. He has long arms. He got one-third of all our rebounds,” Bishop said, noting Nash reminded him a bit of former Oklahoma State standout Desmond Mason.
“Athletically, yes he’s ready for that level,” Bishop added. “He’s pretty fast. As far as his skill, moving to the guard position will take some time. It depends how hard he works this summer and how he picks things up facing the basket.
“Is he ready to play the wing right now? It’ll take some work, some time to get acclimated. If he gets a good look at the basket, he is a good three-point shooter. He needs to work on shooting the three off the dribble. He is very athletic. He can get above the white box.”
Nash is a good student and has already qualified academically.
“He is a good kid. He looks you in the eye and gives respect to people wherever he goes,” Bishop said.
Nash’s mother drove from Texas to Lawrence for the trip. Her son was able to fly courtesy of KU in accordance with NCAA rules.
The highlight of the trip for Nash’s mom?
“We had dinner Saturday night, went to the football stadium and they put Bryant’s picture on the big football scoreboard,” she said. “The coaches at Kansas and Memphis were both very impressive and both schools were nice. Kansas’ campus has a lot more trees.”
“Coach Williams he’s really a cool coach. My mom really liked coach Williams,” Bryant Nash said.
A long-jump specialist, Nash has competed in track since sixth grade.
Kansas University signee DeShawn Stevenson will have to wait a while longer for his SAT test score to arrive in the mail.
Stevenson, a 6-foot-5 senior guard from Fresno, Calif.’s Washington High, learned Monday his SAT score has been delayed “under routine administrative review.”
His test has been shipped to the SAT home office in New Jersey for analysis.
An official familiar with standardized tests said this is normal procedure, much like a random tax audit. Every hundred or so tests are shipped to the home SAT office for review.
It’s Stevenson’s bad luck it’s his test score being reviewed.
The family is anxious awaiting learning whether Stevenson will qualify for a college scholarship. It’s possible he could declare for the NBA Draft. The deadline is May 14.
Stevenson also has yet to receive his most recent ACT test score. Stevenson was quoted in Sunday’s Fresno Bee as saying he does not want to sit out a season at KU as a partial qualifier. So he either records a passing score on the ACT or SAT or would likely declare for the draft.
Asked what would happen if he fails to record qualifying scores on the yet-to-be-delivered SAT and ACT scores, Stevenson’s mother, Genice Popps said, “I don’t know.
“I don’t even know when we’re going to get these scores now,” she added, with an exasperated laugh.
Travon Bryant, 6-9 from Long Beach, Calif., is expected to choose Missouri over Cal-Berkeley at a press conference today.
Bryant has yet to record a qualifying score on his standardized test. Ditto Bryant’s buddy, Missouri signee Wesley Stokes. Bryant visited KU for the Late Night With Roy Williams season-opening practice last Oct 15.
He couldn’t come up with a decision early signing period and eventually Kansas lost interest in Bryant, shortly after Kentucky also stopped calling the McDonald’s All American.
