Like Roy Williams says, a Kansas University basketball player’s career really does pass in the blink of an eye.
“These four years have gone by in a flash,” KU senior center Eric Chenowith said. “While you are doing it, on a day-to-day basis, it’s a long road. Looking back, it’s gone by so fast.”
Three seniors Chenowith, Kenny Gregory and Luke Axtell are entering the postseason for the final time. They are hoping for big things before hanging up their KU jerseys for good.
“We’ve won a lot of games,” Gregory said of the senior class, which finished the regular season with an all-time record of 106-30. “We haven’t accomplished as much in the NCAA Tournament as I wish. Hopefully this year will be a little different in the NCAA Tournament.
“We have several goals and dreams, and one is to win a national championship. We’re going to do all we can to make it come true.”
Here’s a look at KU’s three seniors entering postseason play:
Gregory wants to be remembered as a player who improved during each of his four years at Kansas.
Fair enough.
Yet even Gregory realizes his legacy may be his rim-rattling slam dunks.
“I’ve tried to put it down pretty hard for the guys,” Gregory said. “I think it motivates the guys and definitely motivates the fans.”
He hasn’t dunked as much as he would have liked during his KU career because of a lingering back problem that plagued him four years. But Gregory still has put home some memorable slams.
“I’d say my best (dunk) was last year against Princeton,” Gregory said. “Nick Bradford threw me a lob. It was a terrible pass. I just went up and got it. Since I’ve been here, it’s really the one that sticks out.”
Gregory arrived his freshman year with a reputation as a crowd-pleasing dunker. Partly because of that, he felt some great expectations right off the bat at Kansas.
“I think I had a lot of expectations coming for the wrong reasons,” said Gregory. “I got MVP of the McDonald’s game. Things like that showed people I could jump really high and was athletic. Overall I had a lot of things I needed to work on. People took it the wrong way and expected big things out of me immediately.”
He chose KU over Clemson, Kentucky and Ohio State.
“It’s one of the reasons I came to Kansas a lot wouldn’t be expected of me right away,” Gregory said. “I could have stayed home at Ohio State and could have gone to a smaller school and started immediately and shot the ball every time. I wanted to come here and get away from all that. It still followed me anyway.
“Expectations were a little high. I knew it’d be a gradual process for me. I just wanted to get better each year and I think that’s what I’ve done. I’d like to be known as somebody who worked on his game each and every year and tried to get better.”
Gregory’s stats have shown improvement. He averaged 7.1 points per game his frosh year, 11.3 his sophomore season, 12.8 his junior campaign and 16.1 this season. His rebounding has blossomed. Gregory averaged 7.2 boards in the regular season this year. Prior to that his high was 4.7 in 1998-99.
“It’s just a matter of working hard on all parts of my game and natural improvement you make when you put in the effort,” Gregory said.
Chenowith says he’s been amazed by many of Gregory’s jams. The best one he’s seen?
“Actually it was in high school. We were in Fort Myers at the Twin Palms Tournament and they were playing Long Beach Poly,” said Chenowith, who at the time played for Villa Park High in California.
“I’ll never forget it because one of my friends played for Long Beach Poly. I went to watch the game. His point guard threw him an alley oop and it was the worst alley oop I’ve ever seen. It was behind the backboard two feet above the square. And Kenny jumped a yard outside the key and caught it and just flushed it. He didn’t really grab the rim. He just kind of threw it through. It was amazing. It was crazy. I couldn’t believe it.”
Chenowith had much in common with Gregory in terms of arriving with massive expectations. He arrived with McDonald’s All-America credentials out of Villa Park High.
“I chose Kansas because of the coaches, the campus, the fan support, the overall atmosphere. It’s been everything I imagined,” said Chenowith. He chose KU over UCLA, Indiana and Duke. “The fans here want you to succeed. We get 16,300 every night no matter how we’re playing or the weather.”
Chenowith was roundly criticized for not working hard the summer between his sophomore and junior campaign. He was praised for his work between his junior and senior campaign.
“I didn’t want to leave any question marks next to my name. I worked every day to have the best possible senior season,” Chenowith said. “I took advantage of every single opportunity available and I think it showed in my play.
Kenny Gregory
“I worked as hard as I could every day this past summer and past season to get better. It’s been a great senior year.”
He hopes it pays with a Final Four berth and national title.
“I’ve always wanted to go to a Final Four for coach Williams,” said Chenowith, who averaged 10.3 points and 7.9 boards during his final regular season. “I want to win a championship for coach.”
Axtell had an injury plagued final season. He missed six games because of a severe ankle sprain.
And the last month or so he’s been plagued by a bad back that’s rendered him helpless on the court. Just before the start of last week’s Big 12 tournament, Axtell decided enough was enough. He won’t play in any postseason games and his KU career effectively is over.
“I mean, it’s ridiculous. You could not guess the stuff that’s happened to me. All these weird things, super strange things happening to one person,” said Axtell, who averages 5.3 points. “I have definitely learned a lot from it. I have plenty of room to go up in life career wise. Otherwise, I’m doing well. Talking career, it’s been tough.”
Like Chenowith and Gregory, he’d like to make some money playing basketball. If not, Axtell will continue writing and recording music while pursing a possible career in entertainment.
“I have no clue,” Axtell said of what’s ahead. “I definitely had hoped for more. If I’d been healthy and averaged 18 points a game, maybe we’d have had one loss or none. But that’s OK. I can deal with it.”
All because of his faith. He was re-baptized in an apartment pool last summer.
“I’d been around the Bible and church all my life and I think I knew I’d wind up going back to it someday,” Axtell said.
He returned to God on Sept. 19, the day he turned 22.
Eric Chenowith
“I just was ready,” Axtell said. “I called some people who had been ministering to me and told them I was ready. I got baptized that night. The Lord used everything in my life to bring me to him. I don’t think there was any other way to go.”
Of his injury-plagued year, he said: “Somehow or other it’s what the Lord wants,” said Axtell. “I can’t argue about the way it’s panned out.”
He’s still happy he made the decision to transfer to KU from Texas.
“I’ve matured so much, grown so much,” Axtell said. “When I first arrived here I had no discipline. I’ve changed so much for the better.”
After the season, he hopes to market his CD that was put on hold by the NCAA and perhaps work out for teams leading to the NBA Draft.
He explained his love of music.
“Over the years, I’ve just written songs as an outlet,” Axtell said. “I ended up with 10 songs and decided to do something with them.”
