KU’s Self has help

By Jim Baker     Jun 15, 2005

Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photo
Sophomore-to-be Rodrick Stewart shows off his stuff while Kansas University coach Bill Self and his basketball campers watch. The camp was Tuesday at KU's Horejsi Center.

Huge St. John’s University junior power forward Lamont Hamilton patiently waited his turn in line during a dunk drill designed to thrill more than 500 Bill Self basketball campers Tuesday at Horejsi Center.

“This guy, Lamont, I don’t know if he can dunk. He comes from New York,” Self, KU’s hoops coach, said, needling the 6-foot-9, 242-pounder, who is in town all week working as a camp counselor and playing pick-up games with the current Jayhawk players.

“Little soft, little soft,” a grinning Self screeched after Hamilton caught a lob pass and rifled home a hard slam.

Hamilton — he averaged 13.3 points and 7.5 rebounds a year ago for former KU assistant Norm Roberts’ St. John’s Red Storm — flashed a big grin after his effort, flipping the ball Self’s way.

“Norm told us he’s a great kid. He is a fabulous young man and a good player,” Self said of Hamilton. “He’s good for our guys to go against a big body. He has some weight on him, can knock and bang some. I think he’ll enjoy this week a lot.”

That’s what’s happening.

“I love working with kids. I’m having fun working with the kids,” Hamilton said. “I’m helping my game by working with the Kansas big men, watching things they can do and working hard every day.”

Hamilton never had ventured to Kansas before this week.

“I’m from Brooklyn. This is a little different because it’s more quiet and stuff,” Hamilton said.

That’s exactly the same thing he told Self this week.

“The first night he said he couldn’t believe how slow it was out here and I said, ‘Well, you haven’t walked in my shoes the last three weeks.’ It seems like it’s not exactly slow,” Self said.

KU’s coach was referring to a hectic few weeks following the May 19 melee outside Moon Bar. J.R. Giddens, who had surgery to repair a slashed artery in his right calf, remains on crutches in Oklahoma City with a cast on the leg.

“He’s non-weight bearing for three or four weeks,” Self said of Giddens, who will be off the court, most, if not all, summer. Self said there was no change regarding Giddens’ status on the team, a decision to be made after results of the police investigation into the melee are completed.

  • Tough times for Jackson: Funeral services for Darnell Jackson’s grandmother, Evon, will be Saturday in Oklahoma City.

“Darnell got back to Lawrence Saturday,” Self said of the Jayhawk sophomore, who was in Las Vegas last week visiting his mother, Shawn, who is recovering from broken bones sustained in a car wreck — a crash that ultimately claimed the life of Jackson’s grandmother.

“We’re hopeful his mother, even though she’s had extensive rehab, will hopefully be able to travel home for the services. It’s been a tough time for the Jackson family. Darnell is holding up well and handling it all very well,” Self added.

  • Payne here, too: Luke Payne, a sophomore guard from University of South Carolina Upstate College also is visiting this week and working out with the Jayhawks. His dad is Eddie Payne, former head coach at East Carolina and Oregon State.

“Luke wanted to come out here because he’s real close with Joe Dooley,” Self said of his assistant coach.

KU’s Self has good reason to smile

By Mike Decourcy - The Sporting News     Jul 31, 2004

? It nearly is impossible to catch Kansas University coach Bill Self without that wide, disarming grin spread above his chin. Right now, though, he has a reason to smile.

Many of the other coaches in this gymnasium are searching for point guard prospects like blackjack bettors wishing for another ace. The supply is short, but the Jayhawks grabbed theirs early in the game.

Down on the floor at Shadow Ridge High in Las Vegas, Alaska’s next exceptional basketball product, Mario Chalmers, is playing with some not-so-great Alaskans. They are competing in the Adidas Super 64 event.

Chalmers is strong, long and fluid. He is an alert passer and effective shooter. He does not yet have a feel for what awaits him at Kansas — playing with, and trying to enhance, other talented players. As he figures that out, he’ll likely become the best point guard to emerge from the high school class of 2005.

That might be the least flattering compliment Chalmers ever receives.

Never has the importance of effective playmaking been more obvious.

Rarely have there been so few apparent options for teams seeking to add talent at point guard. This is not an especially good year for colleges to be seeking any sort of help at any position, but the shortage is worst where it matters most.

Recruiting analyst Dave Telep of TheInsidersHoops.com figures some point guards will be recruited two levels above where their talent suggests they should play. That would mean a guy who ought to be in the Southland Conference will wind up in the Big 12.

“I don’t know what the junior college ranks look like,” Telep says, “but somebody’s got to go check them out.”

The importance of employing a capable point guard can be gauged by measuring the gap last season between Georgia Tech and Michigan State.

Those schools were the final choices for Jarrett Jack when he was recruited three years ago. Tech got him and two years later surged toward the top of the ACC and into the NCAA championship game.

Without him, the Spartans struggled to create a consistent offensive flow, received only a No. 7 NCAA Tournament seed and lost an opening-round game to Nevada.

Indiana’s miscalculation of Marshall Strickland’s ability to play the point led the Hoosiers to finish 11th in the Big Ten in field-goal percentage. Louisville collapsed to a 4-9 finish after Taquan Dean, who had been successfully converted from shooting guard, injured his groin and could contribute only token minutes.

Programs now are so convinced of the value of point guard play they will employ as many as can fit into a lineup. Connecticut’s 1999 NCAA championship team, with Ricky Moore and Khalid El-Amin, helped pioneer the dual-point approach.

The list of high school seniors who might manage that in the next few years is painfully short.

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