Hillside, Ill. ? Typically, for a high school basketball player regarded as one of the top 10 prospects in the country, winter is a stressful time.
There are phone calls, endless mail from every school imaginable and countless scouts ogling from the seats.
Julian Wright, a 6-foot-8 senior forward at Homewood-Flossmoor High who has committed to Kansas University, feels none of that.
The reason? A hamburger.
“I’m gonna tell you the analogy he gave me,” said Freddie Barnes, H-F senior guard and one of Wright’s closest friends. “In the beginning of the process, he had Kansas, Illinois, Arizona and DePaul. Out of nowhere, Kansas just stopped recruiting him, or at least it seemed that way to him.
“I asked him what made him change his mind about Illinois and Arizona. He said the best way to explain it is that you have three hot dogs, but you want a hamburger. He was confused choosing the best of those three hot dogs. So he said when his hamburger came and told him what happened, he went for his hamburger.”
Kansas University coach Bill Self had taken a hiatus in the recruitment process when he underwent abdominal surgery last spring, but still was able to land an oral commitment from Wright on Sept. 9. Wright called Self back to his Chicago Heights residence just 15 minutes after the two concluded an in-home visit.
What made the commitment even more surprising was that Wright never had seen the KU campus. He since has taken an official visit, and he made the nine-hour drive last weekend to watch the KU-Georgia Tech game in Allen Fieldhouse.
| Height: 6-foot-8.Position: Forward.School: Homewood-Flossmoor High, Flossmoor, Ill.College plans: Has made oral commitment to play basketball at Kansas University; picked KU over Illinois, Arizona and DePaul. |
Led by Wright, Homewood-Flossmoor made national noise Dec. 4 by defeating the then-No. 1 team in the country — perennial power Oak Hill Academy (Va.). At the Marshall County Hoop Fest in Benton, Ky., Self watched Wright hit two free throws with seven seconds left to secure the Vikings’ 67-66 victory.
The triumph boosted the Vikings to No. 3 in the Illinois rankings. Last week, they won three of four games in the 44th annual Proviso West Holiday Tournament.
The Vikings cruised through the first two rounds, defeating Hubbard and Proviso West. However, the Vikes stumbled in the semifinals, suffering a 45-42 loss to No. 8-ranked Julian in a rematch of the tournament’s 2003 championship game won by H-F. But Wright and his teammates recovered in the third-place game, toppling No. 11 Von Steuben, 71-60.
For Wright, it was an up-and-down week individually as well. He showed his all-around potential in the opener against Hubbard, with 16 points, eight rebounds, five steals and four blocked shots. In each of the next two games, as H-F struggled to find its rhythm, Wright had 13 rebounds in each contest, but only scored 11 total points, including a 3-for-11 shooting performance in the loss to Julian.
The Von Steuben game showcased Wright against another local standout, 6-1 shooting guard Angel Santiago. Wright, who had been fairly passive on offense, had 20 field-goal attempts against the Panthers, scoring 21 points and adding another 13 boards.
During the tournament, Wright averaged 12 points, 11.8 rebounds, 3.8 steals and 2.5 blocks per game.
Without seeing Wright play, his relatively low point totals stick out. But there is no question that when the situation calls for it, he has no problem creating his own shot and scoring.
Wright put in long hours in the gym this summer to develop his mid-range jumper, but what makes him even more valuable is his court vision. Aside from being a crisp passer, he constantly is directing his teammates from his position in the post.
“Julian doesn’t have to score to be happy. He really doesn’t,” H-F coach Roy Candotti said. “Everyone thinks of points and seeing themselves on that highlight reel. But he’s not like that, and he’s never been like that. That’s what makes him unique.”
Don’t be fooled, though, because Wright is more than capable of making highlights. He had crowds of more than 4,000 at the Proviso West tourney on their feet with dunks, up-and-under layups, turnaround jumpers and no-look passes. It was only in the game against Von Steuben in which Wright made the extra effort to put himself in the points column.
A common knock on his game is that he can be too passive at times, but that’s something he hopes to correct to an extent before coming to Kansas next fall.
“I’ve always just kind of let the game come to me, but sometimes you have to be more assertive,” Wright said. “I’m just trying to work on being more assertive. I’m trying to learn to take control and be a leader on the court.
“Last year, we had a senior-oriented team. I just tried to kind of follow them, lay back, observe and take good traits from the seniors and how they prepared for games.”
Wright said preparation was another focus this season, and having his recruiting out of the way along with all of its pressures had made improving his game much easier.
Another aid is that Wright is on a team where the focus isn’t solely on him. Senior point guard D.J. Posley is an IUPU-Fort Wayne commit, junior guard Marcus Relphorde is a standout in the making and Barnes, who committed to play quarterback for Bowling Green, is one of the most athletic players on the floor.
“Kansas was his first choice, and he got to go to where he really wanted to go,” Candotti said. “He’s been happy. And you know, Julian’s always been a happy kid, but even more so now. I think he knows where his future’s going to be, and now he can just concentrate on the season.”
Wright spent a large portion of his junior year playing point guard, but Candotti has begun to convert him into more of a post player. The jury still is out on what position Wright will play at Kansas, but with his old-school, team-first mentality on the court and pleasant attitude off of it, it shouldn’t really matter.
“He’ll fit in anyplace,” Candotti said. “They’ll fit in around him.”
And it would appear he will fit in off the floor as well.
“He takes everything on straight ahead,” Barnes said. “I’m talking about autographs and talking to everyone at the gym. He’s just an accepting person like that. And for a top-five player in the country, he’s just so humble. It’s not hard for him at all, because that’s how he is all the time.”
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