Manhattan ? Watch Todd Kappelmann closely in warmups and you may notice something unusual about the Kansas basketball walk-on’s shooting form.
The 6-foot-9, 230-pound junior’s head sometimes hangs to the left before he releases the ball.
What’s up with that?
“It’s my left eye. I’m blind out of it,” explains Kappelmann, who has had superior vision out of his right eye, no vision in his left eye, since birth.
“People tell me I tilt my head a little to the left to get better aim with my right eye. I’ve seen myself on tape and I do that sometimes so my right eye can focus better.”
Kappelmann he’s hit two of four shots and one of four free throws in 12 games entering tonight’s 8:05 p.m. battle at Kansas State has never used his half-sight as a reason for shooting slumps.
“I don’t consider my eye an excuse,” he said. “Maybe if it was something that just happened and I had to adjust to it. But it’s been this way my whole life. I’ve never known anything else.”
Kappelmann, who was a standout center at both Augusta High School and Butler County CC, took the modest route when asked if he could serve as inspiration for those who are born with handicaps.
“I guess if you want to look at it that way,” he said. “Really I just shoot the ball like anybody else and hope it goes in.”
Kappelmann had a seven-game streak of inactivity broken in last Sunday’s victory at Nebraska.
He entered for the final play of the first half, guarding Nebraska’s fullcourt in-bounds pass with less than a second left.
“I thought, ‘I won’t be able to screw it up in 9/10s of a second,'” Kappelmann joked. “I was in there so Nick Collison wouldn’t pick up a foul with 9/10s of a second on the clock.”
Playing time isn’t an issue for Kappelmann, who is happy with his role as a practice player.
“I had second thoughts now and then, but this is what I wanted to do. Obviously I’d like to play, but being on the bench and being part of the University of Kansas basketball team is a dream come true,” Kappelmann said.
He received recruiting interest from Saint Louis, Iowa State and Wichita State after averaging 14 points and eight rebounds a game his senior year of high school.
He had no recruiting calls his sophomore season at Butler County CC because he’d decided to follow his brother Brett, a former KU baseball player, to KU.
“I told everyone I knew I was going to KU,” said Kappelmann, a business administration and accounting major who hopes to work in the field of finance after graduation. “I knew athletics was not a main concern. I wanted to go to a school I liked. My dad and both brothers went to KU. I’ve been a KU fan all my life.”
Coincidentally … “I’ve hated K-State ever since I was born,” said Kappelmann, who had a block in one minute in KU’s 92-66 win over KSU on Jan. 27.
Kappelmann is 22 years old. The Jayhawks have won 17 straight games in Manhattan, meaning Kappelmann knows nothing but KU victories against his hated rivals.
“I remember Steve Henson back in the day. They had some good years with him,” Kappelmann said of the former Wildcat and NBA player.
“It is strange,” he said of KU’s win streak in the Little Apple. “It is a little bit of luck and a lot of times we’ve had better teams than they have. We don’t talk about it. This is the present. That’s the past. We can’t do anything about the past. We can only try to win in the present.”
Kappelmann said there’s little chance the Jayhawks (21-5, 10-4) will take the Wildcats (9-16, 3-11) for granted.
“I don’t think so. Not after Baylor. Everybody saw what happened there. We can’t take anything for granted,” Kappelmann said. The Jayhawks were heavily favored on Feb. 12, only to lose at Baylor, 85-77.
“We need to come out and play well. Like coach has said, K-State has improved. They’ve gotten a lot better. They beat Missouri in Manhattan and almost beat them in Columbia.”
Indeed, KSU stopped MU, 80-59, on Jan. 16, at Bramlage Coliseum, then lost to the Tigers, 70-66, on Feb. 7 at Hearnes Center.
If Kappelmann does get in the game tonight, it means the Jayhawks are likely winning big. He won’t face any players better than the guys he goes against every day at practice.
“Eric (Chenowith), Drew (Gooden) and Nick. Obviously they are really good,” Kappelmann said. “In juco, I could out-think people. Not here.”
Kappelmann he definitely wants to play for the Jayhawks again next season lists his highlights to date.
“Well, Nick Collison broke my nose earlier,” said Kappelmann, who took an elbow at practice. “It was no big deal. I’ve broken it before. And I remember trying not to die running sprints at practice after the Baylor game.”
The Jayhawks ran lots of penalty laps for their effort at BU.
The Jayhawks are 2-1 since the Baylor debacle.
“We have a lot of confidence. We truly believe we can do this,” Kappelmann said of making a strong postseason run. “Having Drew back (after five-game absence with wrist injury) gives us a big boost.”
Indeed, Gooden is slated to return tonight after missing five games (three wins, two losses) with a wrist injury. The Jayhawks will conclude the regular season against Missouri at 1 p.m. Sunday at Allen Fieldhouse.
