Axtell back, in better shape than ever

By Andrew Hartsock     Oct 13, 2000

Earl Richardson/Journal-World Photo
KU senior Luke Axtell has returned to the Jayhawks. He said he's in "the best shape I've been in" during the team's annual Media Day on Thursday at Allen Fieldhouse. Axtell played in just 20 games last season due to a medical condition.

A revelation hit Luke Axtell the other day.

“Every time I go through something this season,” Axtell said, “it’s going to be the last time I do it.”

Armed with that knowledge, backed by a tough offseason conditioning program that put him in the best shape of his life and confident that the still-undisclosed medical condition that stole half of his junior year is behind him, Axtell, Kansas University’s 6-foot-10 swingman, can’t wait to suit up again.

Heck, Axtell is even eager for practice.

“I wouldn’t call it urgency,” Axtell said Thursday at KU’s annual Media Day. “I’m more excited about it than urgent. We’ve got some great challenges coming up. I’m eager for the challenges and eager to come out on top.”

It has been a long, sometimes tortuous, climb.

After averaging 13.3 points a game for hometown University of Texas as a true freshman, Axtell left the Longhorns behind in an ugly divorce. He sat out his sophomore year at KU, then played just 20 games last year before his medical condition forced him off the court.

In those 20 games, Axtell averaged 8.7 points and hit 39.2 percent of his three-point shots.

“There were flashes of my old self last season, definitely,” Axtell said.

But the Axtell who takes the court this season will be more like the Axtell who made a splash as a UT freshman, not the one who struggled as a KU junior.

“If people are surprised, they shouldn’t be,” Axtell said. “I know what I can do.”

To make sure he can do those things, Axtell pushed himself over the summer. Once he received a clean bill of health Axtell says he might reveal the nature of the condition after the season Axtell threw himself into a conditioning and shooting regimen designed to make him better and fitter than ever.

“I’m in the best shape I’ve been in, ever,” Axtell said. “I wanted to make sure I have all the advantages, whether an injury happened or not. I did that, and it worked out great.”

Axtell got a feel for his new self over the summer. In addition to recording a compact disc the sale of which has been blocked by the NCAA Axtell played plenty of pick-up games in his Austin, Texas, hometown.

Then he took the show on the road when he played on the Big 12 Foreign Team Tour, a six-game roadshow in Austria. Axtell averaged 10.7 points in three games before pulling a groin.

“It was fun,” Axtell said. “It was good to get some games. The competition wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad, either. I’d played pick-up, but I hadn’t played with refs and stuff. You don’t waste time arguing and stuff like that. We had plays and defenses.”

Speaking of the latter Axtell hopes to prove he’s a more well-rounded player than his gunslinger image.

“My shot’s fine,” he said, “but my goal is to do more than just that this year, such as rebounding and defensively.”

KU coach Roy Williams cited Axtell and fellow senior Eric Chenowith as the keys to the season. It’s a role with which Axtell is comfortable.

“That’s fine. I’ll have a good year,” he said matter-of-factly. “It’s my senior year. This team has the talent to do whatever. I look around and it’s kinda scary.

“We have a lot of talent condensed into seven, eight players.”

The other half of the keys to the season has noticed a difference in Axtell already.

“He is stronger, more enthusiastic about things,” Chenowith said. “He has so much confidence in his shot. I see big things for Luke, whether he’s starting of comes off the bench.”

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