For surely what must be the first time in the storied history of Kansas University men’s basketball, the First Amendment appears to have cost the Jayhawks a player.
Those of you still baffled by the unexpected announcement last week that freshman David Padgett would transfer never have read The University Daily Kansan.
The Kansan, the newspaper produced by KU students, contains a daily feature called “Free for All.” All a student — or anybody else for that matter — has to do is call a listed phone number and register a pithy comment.
Most of the phoned-in remarks either are inane or unintelligible. However, some also are cruelly mean-spirited personal attacks, and, for some reason, Padgett was the designated target of most of those attacks this winter.
Don’t believe me?
Here are some comments that were published in The Kansan during the season:
After Padgett announced he was leaving, The Kansan’s “Free for All” contained many pro-Padgett comments, but the majority were ugly. In fact, the KU student newspaper stated it ran only a small portion of the negative ones.
Here’s a sampling:
First of all, I don’t believe in features like “Free for All” for the simple reason that they allow anyone to say anything in anonymity. The Journal-World and most other newspapers draw a thicker line. They will not run letters to the editor that are not signed and they will not run personal attacks, even if they are signed.
At the same time, I will defend to the death The Kansan’s right to run “Free for All.” Freedom of speech must be unassailable in a democracy.
How large a role “Free for All” played in Padgett’s departure might never be known. All Padgett would say was he wanted to be more of a face-up player and that he thought he would have a better opportunity to do that at another school. Huh? That’s like a leopard saying he believed he would have a better chance to display his spots at another zoo.
Padgett is a talented outside shooter, and that’s rare in a 6-foot-11 player. When big men are young they’re so much taller than their peers that they shoot mostly under the basket and don’t have to develop a long-range shot. Padgett obviously has worked long and hard on his outside shooting.
However, to intimate that KU coach Bill Self wouldn’t allow Padgett to shoot from the outside is ludicrous. Self has been coaching long enough to know how to take advantage of a player’s strengths, and Padgett never had the red light when he was at or near the top of the circle.
Padgett also is strong on defense. He’s a gifted shot-blocker, and he’s aggressive. His only difficulty — and it’s typical for a freshmen — is learning how to play defense at the college level. Aggressive play is one thing, but the key to becoming a consummate defender is to play smart, and that comes only with experience.
Nick Collison, for example, also was in constant foul trouble as a freshman, and he went on to become an All-American. I’m not sure Padgett ever will acquire Collison’s instinctive rebounding skills or develop as many moves around the basket, but Padgett certainly possesses the potential to evolve into an All-American.
I can’t tell you why Padgett became the designated whipping boy for Kansas University’s fickle front-running students. He was, though. Why they preferred the enigmatic Jeff Graves to him is beyond me — additional proof, I guess, that life isn’t fair.
There’s no question in my mind Padgett’s decision to depart was based at least in part on what he read in The Daily Kansan. To you and me, Padgett’s reaction to the printed barbs may seem like a trifle, but we’re not 19 years old, either.
