Late Night is always a good night for Kansas basketball fans to check out the squad’s newcomers.
The Jayhawks have added one scholarship freshman to the roster this season. He’s Bryant Nash, a 6-foot-6 guard/forward from Carrollton, Texas.
Nash signed a scholarship agreement with Kansas last April, after the Jayhawks dropped Travon Bryant as a recruit and learned signee DeShawn Stevenson was headed to the NBA, not college.
Nash was recruited early by Florida and Texas A&M and ultimately chose the Jayhawks over Memphis.
“He has tremendously long arms and is a very good jumper,” KU coach Roy Williams said of Nash. He averaged 15 points, 10 boards and four blocks in leading Turner High to a 25-8 record.
“He’ll probably jump in the vicinity of where Kenny (Gregory) jumps. That athleticism will help us. I would expect we’ll have nobody on our team who can run anywhere near as fast as Bryant runs. Kenny’s probably the fastest on our team right now, but I’ve got to think Bryant will be right there with him.”
Nash played pivot for Turner High.
“He was an intimidating factor on the high school level,” Turner High coach Mark Bishop said. “He averaged four blocks a game. He really helped us on the defensive end. He has tremendously long arms.”
To go with his quick feet.
“He does not yet have the bulk or strength,” Bishop said. “That’s what he’ll need to work on along with dribbling and some other things.”
Nash said he didn’t know if he’d red-shirt his rookie season. His athleticism could find him a spot on the court right away.
“My strengths at this point are driving to the hole and rebounding,” Nash said. “I’m pretty good on the boards. I know that moving from the inside to the perimeter is going to take a lot of hard work on my part and I’m ready for that. From my coach’s point of view, I have to learn to shoot off the dribble. I think he’s right, too. I’m pretty good at the catch and shoot, but I’m not accustomed to shooting off the dribble.”
Also for KU, invited walk-ons Mario Kinsey and Chris Zerbe have already accepted spots on the team. There’s strong possibility Zerbe’s Hutch CC teammate point guard Brett Ballard will join the squad following walk-on tryouts.
Zerbe, a 6-foot-5 standout prep player at Andover High, realizes minutes will be hard to come by at KU.
Yet … “I go by the slogan, ‘Never say never,”‘ the 230-pound Zerbe said. “Coach (Roy) Williams said straight up it’ll be very, very hard to get in games. If I go and bust my butt, maybe he’ll put me in a game or two and I can prove I can play.
“Playing at Kansas is the dream of every kid. This is my wildest dream come true.”
Zerbe averaged 13 points and six boards while playing in all 32 games his soph year at Hutch CC. He shot 54 percent from the field and 64 percent from the line a year ago.
He hit 13 of 30 threes and led Hutch to a 22-10 mark.
“He has an extremely low center of gravity. He posts up and uses his body as well or better than anybody I’ve ever been around,” Hutch coach Tim Duryea said. “Once he catches the ball under the basket, he’s almost ambidextrous in being able to use either hand to put it in the basket.”
Zerbe exploded for 27 points in a season-ending loss to Independence CC after scoring 28 the game before against Cowley County.
He chose KU over Cen-tenary, Stephen F. Austin and Wisconsin-Green Bay. Wichita State also wanted Zerbe to walk on.
“I always wanted to be a Shocker,” Zerbe said, noting Andover is located 20 minutes from the WSU campus. “I never thought I had a chance at KU. When my coach told me coach (KU assistant Joe) Holladay liked the way I posted up and KU was interested, I said, ‘Whatever.’ When I heard it was true, I said ‘Heck yeah I’d be interested.”
Kinsey, 6-2 from Waco, Texas, accepted a football scholarship offer with KU after throwing for 2,003 yards and 25 touchdowns for 8-3 LaVega High.
“I like both sports the same. I always have,” said Kinsey, whose idol growing up was Florida State QB/basketball player Charlie Ward, now a member of New York’s Knicks.
Kinsey he chose Kansas over hometown school Baylor plus Oklahoma State saw his basketball stock skyrocket as the 1999-2000 season progressed. The tall playmaker averaged 16.3 points, 6.2 assists, 4.5 steals and 3.3 rebounds in pacing La Vega to a 34-4 record and the school’s first-ever state championship.
“He’s good in whatever he wants to be. A lot of the kids call him, ‘Super Mario,” La Vega High basketball coach Kevin Gill said of Kinsey, also a standout baseball player and track athlete.
He is known for his athleticism.
“I like an up-tempo game. I like to drive to the hole and dish,” Kinsey said. “I think it will be an easy transition because they (Jayhawks) like to run with the ball, just like our high school team. I watched them on TV in the (NCAA) Tournament. I think I can bring something to the table.”
Kinsey’s ability to take the basketball to the goal im-pressed KU coach Williams.
“He has great athleticism. He has some gears,” Williams said. “On tape, he has some serious speed. It’s something we’d like to add to our team.”
“It’s what I wanted to do. My college decision was based on where I could play both,” Kinsey said. “If I could only do one, my decisions would have been different.”