Richard GwinJ.R. Giddens is back in Lawrence.
Giddens, wearing a protective boot and his trademark headband, was greeted by a police officer at the Douglas County Judicial & Law Enforcement Center at about 11:15 a.m. A police spokesman said Giddens was picking up items – including a set of keys – taken by the police the night of the Moon Bar incident.
Both police and prosecutors denied that Giddens was at the law enforcement center to give additional information for the investigation into the incident.
Douglas County Dist. Atty. Charles Branson denied that Giddens was visiting his office while prosecutors determine what – if any – charges to file in the fight that injured Giddens last month. A police spokesman said his department did not interview Giddens today.
“He’s already been interviewed,” Police Sgt. Dan Ward said.
The Kansas University basketball guard was stabbed outside the Moon Bar last month during a fight that later became the subject of a police investigation. Police recently forwarded their investigation report to the district attorney.
After the stabbing, which left the player with an injured calf, Giddens went home to Oklahoma City to recuperate.
Giddens left the D.A.’s office about 11:45 a.m. without speaking to reporters. He was driven away from the Law Enforcement & Judicial Center by an unidentified older man wearing khaki pants and a polo shirt. The pair were riding in a bronze Lincoln Towncar.
Kansas University basketball coach Bill Self hasn’t seen the police report on the May 19 stabbing incident involving Jayhawk junior J.R. Giddens outside the Moon Bar.
Thus, Self knows nothing more than the average KU basketball fan regarding possible charges to be filed following a melee which resulted in Giddens suffering a slashed artery in his right calf.
Friday, the report was forwarded to Douglas County Dist. Atty. Charles Branson.
“Not privy to seeing the report or anything like that, we don’t know if charges will be filed,” Self said Friday at Eagle Bend Golf Course at his golf tournament to benefit Lawrence Parks and Recreation.
“They may very well be, they may not be … I’m talking against anybody in this particular case. We’re obviously very disappointed in what happened, and the findings of the case — hopefully we’ll find out — will play a role in J.R.’s situation but not the only role (on whether Giddens will remain on team).”
Self, who will see Giddens today at the funeral of Darnell Jackson’s grandmother in Oklahoma City, has not booted Giddens from the KU squad.
“I’ve got some things in my mind that are very important. I’m not just talking about conditions (Giddens must agree to in future) but some mindset-type of things that are really important regardless of criminal wrongdoing,” Self said. “That is important, obviously, but that’s not the sole decision.
“Some people may say, ‘Why would you consider doing this (removing Giddens) if there is no criminal wrongdoing, at least by the investigation? Some people may say he embarrassed the program, and it’s a cut-and-dried deal.
“I think there’s a lot of gray area we’re still working through, trying to get a little more comfortable with.”
As far as Giddens’ health, Self said: “I think he’s progressing pretty nicely, even though it’s limited what you know because he has a cast on the leg and is non-weight-bearing still. The wound is healing nicely. Rehab, I’m sure, will start real soon for him.”
Self said he believed Giddens would be healthy enough to play his junior season.
“The doctors have told us they think if rehab goes well, if he’s into it, and I think he will be, they think he’ll be OK certainly early in the practice season or early in the game season, but it’s an inexact science,” Self said.
“We are not tying ligaments together; we’ve got to let muscle grow back together. It has set him back. Last summer was terrible for him with two surgeries. This unfortunately will play out to be the same situation.”
¢ Friends in the Finals: Self and son Tyler flew Thursday to Detroit to catch Game Four of the NBA Finals.
“I know he very much enjoyed seeing that style of play,” Self said of his son.
Self spent time with his former KU boss and current Detroit coach Larry Brown and good friend R.C. Buford, general manager of the San Antonio Spurs.
Self, who admits he doesn’t care much for the pro game compared to college, said he also was excited to see two quality teams square off.
“When the playoffs start is when I start watching,” Self said. “And I think this series is shaping up just about the way I thought it would. I’m glad that it’s evened up, and since there hasn’t been a close game yet I think the next couple could all come down to one possession.”
¢ Funeral in Oklahoma City: Self said Darnell Jackson’s mother, Shawn, who sustained severe injuries in a car accident last month in Las Vegas, had been transferred to a hospital in Oklahoma City. The move allows her to attend the funeral today of Jackson’s grandmother, Evon, who died from the injuries she suffered in the same accident.
The Journal-World’s Andy Samuelson provided information for this report.
Lawrence Police have completed their investigation of the May 19 bar brawl that led to the stabbing of Kansas University basketball player J.R. Giddens and four others.
“It’s an extensive report — probably 250 pages,” said Lawrence Police Capt. Dave Cobb.
Cobb said the report was forwarded to Douglas County Dist. Atty. Charles Branson’s office shortly before 10 a.m. Thursday.
Branson said it would be “weeks, not days” before he decided whether the evidence warranted filing charges.
“At this point, I don’t know if we’ll need to request any additional information or not,” Branson said.
Branson has been in court this week, prosecuting Martin K. Miller, a Lawrence carpenter accused of strangling his wife, KU librarian Mary E. Miller. The trial is expected to last another week.
Results of the police investigation are not public record.
“We had three or four people working on it,” Cobb said. “Thirty people were interviewed.”
Giddens, 20, was one of five people who went to Lawrence Memorial Hospital with knife wounds after an early-morning fight outside the Moon Bar, 821 Iowa.
Others stabbed include Marcus Knight, 29, Lawrence; Preston Patterson, 27, Lawrence; Derrick Newman, 20, Lawrence; and Brandon Waggoner, 21, Topeka.
Jeremiah Creswell, 24, Olathe, told police he stabbed the five men after being outnumbered in a fight. He denied throwing the first punch and accused Giddens of accosting him earlier in the evening.
KU basketball, football and track coaches have ordered their players — many of whom were in the Moon Bar the night of the fight — not to talk to reporters.
But sources familiar with Giddens’ account of the stabbing told the Journal-World that Creswell “sucker punched” Giddens while Giddens and teammate Jeff Hawkins “rough-housed” on a bench near the pool tables inside the Moon Bar.
They said Creswell waited outside the bar after he was thrown out.
Creswell was arrested Sunday in Olathe after being arrested for threatening his uncle and mother with a steak knife.
Creswell remains in the Johnson County Adult Detention Facility in Olathe, unable to post $50,000 bond.
During a first-appearance hearing Monday, Johnson County prosecutor Kathryn Jermann noted that Creswell’s record included aggravated battery and possession of cocaine with intent to sell.
His juvenile record included an incident involving a firearm. He’s also known to be affiliated with a gang in Topeka, Jermann said.
Records show that in 2002 Creswell spent five months in the Labette Correctional Conservation Camp in Oswego and five months in the Shawnee County Jail.
KU coach Bill Self, who says Giddens is still a member of the team pending results of the police investigation, learned Thursday the police report was headed to the district attorney.
“Our comment is the same. We are still time away from knowing what decision the D.A.’s office will make regarding the case,” Self said. “Certainly I feel it’s a step closer to finishing it, but we still have a ways to go.”
An investigation report about the fight and stabbing at the Moon Bar that left Kansas University basketball player J.R. Giddens with a slashed artery was turned over by police to the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office this morning.
Giddens was one of five people who went to Lawrence Memorial Hospital with knife wounds after the melee about 2:20 a.m. on May 19 outside the Moon Bar, 821 Iowa.
The aggravated battery report involved Giddens and five others. Douglas County Dist. Atty. Charles Branson said his office will review the report. That will take some time, he said.
Lawrence Police officers interviewed about 30 people during the investigation, Lawrence Police Capt. David Cobb said.
“It’s a very extensive report,” he said.
More than 100 hours was put into the investigation. The report itself is about an inch to an inch and a half thick, Cobb said.
In addition to information about Giddens, the report also includes information about Jeremiah Creswell, 24, of Olathe; Marcus Knight, 29, of Lawrence; Preston Patterson, 27, of Lawrence; Derrick Newman, 20, of Lawrence; and Brandon Waggoner, 21, of Topeka.
Earlier this week, stemming from an unrelated incident, Creswell was charged with two felony counts of aggravated assault in Johnson County magistrate court, which handles domestic violence cases. He allegedly threatened Beverly Creswell, his mother, and Randall Wilson, his uncle, with a kitchen knife.
Creswell and other witnesses have said he was the one who wielded the knife at the Moon Bar.
OKLAHOMA CITY ? Mike Maples has kept an eye on the flap over Kansas University basketball player J.R. Giddens getting stabbed outside the Moon Bar.
He can accept that Giddens may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time or that he said something that rubbed somebody the wrong way.
But a fighter, he said, Giddens is not.
“Oh, no, J.R. has never represented himself as a fighter,” said Maples, who was vice principal and athletic director at Oklahoma City’s John Marshall High School during Giddens’ junior and senior years.
“I can’t picture him being the aggressor,” he said. “That’s just not who he is. Now, he could be aggressive on the basketball court, but off the court he was just the opposite. He wasn’t involved in any of that stuff.”
Giddens’ hometown fans are puzzled by reports that he suffered a fall from grace last month that could lead to his being dropped from the team.
This, they say, is not the Giddens they know.
“He’s a good kid,” said John Martin, Giddens’ senior-year basketball coach. “If I had to be out of town and needed somebody to watch my house and feed the dog, I wouldn’t think twice about giving J.R. my keys. I mean that. I trust him that much.”
But, clearly, Giddens is in KU coach Bill Self’s doghouse:
Contacted by Journal-World sports reporter Gary Bedore, ESPN college basketball analyst and color commentator Dick Vitale offered the following comments on the controversy surrounding J.R. Giddens:
¢ Helping hand
“Obviously the J.R. situation – I’ve been following it in your paper – he is young enough and will have the support staff available at Kansas to give him a helping hand. But obviously whenever you get involved in a scenario like that, it certainly creates problems in many ways.
“He certainly can utilize the situation at Kansas, the counseling that’s available, and the people who are available to help him – Bill Self, the coaching staff, the people behind the scenes to get himself in order.”
¢ On the road
“He’s going to take big hits (from opposing fans) on the road. He’s also, right now, in a situation where obviously controlling emotions in situations involved in is certainly part of maturity.”
¢ Hoop dreams
“As far as the NBA is concerned I don’t think that (situation) creates much of a dilemma. He’s got to prove first of all he can play. He’s got to do it consistently at the level at Kansas where, obviously, at this moment, he’s been an inconsistent player. He’s demonstrated the ability to shoot a three, but he’s got to add other parts to his game.
“Most of all he’s got to come out with a lot of enthusiasm, lot of spirit and he has got to get himself back a positive attitude to rebuild that image. One thing about Rock Chalk, Jayhawk land everything they basically do there has been done with class.
“He’s now got to realize he’s representing – and has to be accountable for – all the great tradition, the history at the University of Kansas. He’s got to understand you’ve got to be accountable for your actions, that wearing the Kansas uniform is about pride and solely about the rich tradition it represents.”
¢ Giddens has reportedly admitted to the police that he was drinking that night, even though he is 20 and the legal drinking age is 21.
¢ He was out partying at 2 a.m. on a Thursday with two final exams left to take.
¢ Some witnesses say Giddens started the fight that left his right calf slashed, which required 23 stitches to close. Others insist he did not.
¢ Instead of taking summer classes, lifting weights, and getting ready for next season, he’s on crutches, parked at his parents’ home in Oklahoma City.
¢ In a program that’s come to value humility, he is well-known for his chest-thumping, jersey-popping cockiness.
“J.R. is a good person who’s made some bad decisions,” said KU coach Bill Self, “but those decisions have affected far more people than himself.”
The consequences on Giddens’ chances for making the NBA remain to be seen.
“I wouldn’t think (it would affect him),” said Andy Katz, ESPN college basketball analyst. “People have done far worse things and have still made it to the NBA.”
Keeping quiet
Since the stabbing, KU officials have warned members of the basketball, football and track teams – many of whom were at Moon Bar the night of the fight – not to talk to reporters.
Last week, Giddens’ parents took the family’s telephone out of service.
“J.R.’s parents are wonderful people,” Maples said. “They’ve made a lot of sacrifices for their kids – J.R. has a younger sister.”
Martin said Giddens’ mother, Dianna, accompanied her hot-prospect son on his visits to university campuses.
“She really wanted to make sure her son went to a quality school,” he said.
Giddens’ father, Charles, often attends his son’s games at Allen Fieldhouse.However, Dianna Giddens is in ill health and no longer travels.
“J.R. has come back many, many times to see his mother,” said Jane Taylor, Giddens’ guidance counselor at John Marshall.
Back to school
He’s been back to John Marshall, too.
“He was here in March,” said school secretary Janet Harris. “He gave me a hug.”
During his junior and senior years with the John Marshall Bears, Giddens averaged more than 22 points and almost nine rebounds. He and teammate Adam Liberty, who recently transferred from Wichita State to Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla., led the Bears to the state 5A title in 2003.
School officials plan to retire Liberty and Giddens’ jerseys later this year. A 3-by-6-foot photograph of the champion Bears is on permanent display in the school’s aging gym.
Basketball at John Marshall is huge.
“We won three (state) titles in eight years,” Maples said. “My four years there, we didn’t lose a single regular-season game.”
Maples, who is now principal at Oklahoma City’s Southeast High School, explained that, in Oklahoma, the 32 largest schools are 6A, the next 32 are 5A.
“Oklahoma is a football state. If you play football and you’re college bound, you’re going to come from a 6A school,” Maples said. “The 5A schools are where you go to play basketball.”
After his sophomore year, Giddens left Yukon High School, a pleasant, suburban 6A school, for the considerably rougher, 800-student John Marshall.
“It’s a unique institution,” Maples said. “You drive a mile south and you’re in Nichols Hills, which is Oklahoma City old money. We’re talking millionaires and multimillionaires – five Kerrs of the Kerr-McGee Oil Co. live in Nichols Hills.
“And yet, right across the street from John Marshall, you’re dealing with gangs.”
Giddens’ transfer to John Marshall caused some to allege illegal recruiting.
“There was nothing to that,” Maples said. “I remember the day J.R. and his father came to enroll – they walked in and I remember saying to myself, ‘Man, that kid is tall and he looks athletic. I wonder who he is?’ They didn’t say anything about coming to John Marshall to play basketball; they said they were there to enroll in school just like anybody else.”
His senior year, Giddens was named one of the top five players in Oklahoma. He earned McDonald’s All-American honors.
ESPN.com tagged him the 17th best high school player in the nation.
“J.R.’s main thing was shooting threes,” said Michael Prandy, a coach and business technology teacher at John Marshall. “He made that his game. His talent pretty much speaks for itself.”
KU tops
Recruited by Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Purdue, Illinois and KU, Giddens quickly picked the Jayhawks.
“By his senior year, he’d already orally committed to KU,” Martin said. “He really liked Coach (Roy) Williams.”
But Williams left for North Carolina before Giddens arrived.
“I sat J.R. down and we talked about that,” Maples said. “I told him he’d made a commitment to the university, but we all know that, really, coaches sell themselves. So he had some decisions to make: whether his commitment was to KU or to Coach Williams.”
The next day, Giddens went to Maples’ office.
“He said he was going to KU,” Maples said. “He said what had impressed him the most were the fans, the way they supported the (basketball) team and the atmosphere of the arena there. It was just incredible to him.
“It’s kind of sad, seeing that same group questioning him now.”
Uneasy fans
After the Moon Bar fracas, several Jayhawk fans – it’s unclear just how many – have used Internet chat rooms and call-in radio shows to call for Giddens’ being dropped from the team.
Coach Self said the matter would be dealt with privately.
Lawrence police expect to complete their investigation within three weeks.
Giddens’ closet is not skeleton-free. His senior year at John Marshall, he and three adults – one of whom was his uncle – were taken into custody about 3 a.m. on Dec. 19 after Wal-Mart officials learned that an employee had disabled security tabs on several high-priced items.
The group paid $40 for $3,854 worth of merchandise.
Charges against Giddens, then 17, were dismissed.
“I don’t know what to make of that,” Maples said. “I was told J.R. had receipts for what was in his cart and that’s basically why they dropped it.”
Because the matter was handled in juvenile court, records were not made public.
Another skeleton: A year ago, Giddens and then-KU signee Darnell Jackson were in a serious automobile accident in Oklahoma City. Though the accident was not their fault, it occurred at 3 a.m.
Giddens’ friends say he has, in fact, been slow to figure out that bad things tend to happen after midnight. But, they say, he’s not a bad person.
“He’s an engaging person, he’s a guy you’d have over for dinner,” said Giddens’ high school coach Martin. “He’s well-mannered. You can have a mature conversation with him.”
A communications major, Giddens makes good use of the department’s academic support facilities.
“He’s a good student,” Self said.
He’s driven, too.
“I don’t know what’s happened at KU,” Prandy said, “but the whole time he was at John Marshall he was completely focused on playing college basketball. He’s got a goal: He wants to make it to the NBA.”
Jared SoaresA key witness to the Moon Bar fight denied reports Tuesday that Kansas University basketball player J.R. Giddens instigated the May 19 brawl that led to Giddens being stabbed in the calf.
“That’s not the way it happened,” said Marcus Knight, a Lawrence resident who, along with his cousin, Preston Patterson, entered the bar’s parking lot shortly before the fight began.
“When we got there, there was this white dude by the door, and he and these four black dudes was yelling back and forth,” Knight said. “My cousin and me, we knocked on the door because we thought they’d locked it because of what was going on outside. We wanted in to play some pool.”
Realizing that it was after 2 a.m. and the bar had closed, Knight, who is black, said he turned to Jeremiah D. Creswell, who is white, and said half-provokingly, “Man, you going to let (them) talk to you like that?”
According to Knight, Creswell replied: “I’m still standing here, ain’t I?”
Seconds later, Knight said, one of the four black men stepped forward and hit Creswell.
“After that (Creswell) put his head down and started swinging,” he said. “At that point, nobody knew he had a knife. I looked at my cousin and said, ‘Man, you’re bleeding,’ and then I realized I was bleeding, too.”
Knight said he and Patterson exited the fight upon realizing they’d been slashed.
“I can’t say who it was that threw the first punch. I don’t know the dude,” Knight said. “But it wasn’t Giddens. He was back behind the car there in the parking lot. He was yelling and stuff, but he wasn’t up there throwing punches.”
Knight admitted that he and Patterson had been drinking that night and that both have criminal records.
“That’s all behind me now,” Knight said, referring to the eight years he spent in prison for criminal possession of a firearm and attempted second-degree murder in Douglas County.
“I got a job. I’m working,” Knight said. “I’m just trying to take care of my family.”
In an earlier interview with the Journal-World, Patterson said he saw Giddens and Creswell squaring off in the parking lot about 15 feet from each other. The two, he said, fought one-on-one.
Patterson was convicted of aggravated burglary in Douglas County in May 1999 and spent roughly eight years in state prisons in Winfield, Hutchinson and Norton. He currently is on parole.
In earlier interviews with the Kansas City Star, other witnesses claimed Giddens had, in fact, struck Creswell.
But sources familiar with Giddens’ account of the stabbing told the Journal-World that Giddens had joined the group of four, but did not strike Creswell.
Giddens was stabbed, they said, after he turned his back on the melee.
Giddens, 20, reportedly has told police he was drinking that night. In Kansas, the legal drinking age is 21. Patrons over 18 may be in bars, but are not allowed to drink.
The sources, who insisted on anonymity, said that earlier in the evening Creswell had “sucker punched” Giddens while Giddens and teammate Jeff Hawkins “rough-housed” on a bench inside the Moon Bar.
Creswell, who is 5-foot-9 and 150 pounds, was thrown out of the bar after threatening Giddens, who is 6-5 and 200 pounds.
The altercation was witnessed by several football players, some of whom restrained Giddens inside the bar, the sources said.
Creswell told The Star he had gone to the bar with a girlfriend who knew Moon Bar owner Ron Ruiz.
During the parking-lot confrontation, Creswell said he’d called his girlfriend on his cell phone and told her to hurry out because trouble was brewing and they needed to leave.
Creswell said his girlfriend then brought him the four-inch folding knife he used to slash Giddens, Knight and Patterson.
Ruiz said he doubts that’s what happened.
“Think about it, man,” Ruiz said. “Who do you know that gets kicked out of a bar and hangs around outside, waiting for his girlfriend? Nobody — the only thing that’s on your mind is getting out of there. You don’t want to stay, you want to leave.”
Ruiz, who did not witness the parking lot altercation that involved Giddens and Creswell, said several patrons have told him that Creswell waited outside, intent on attacking Giddens after the bar closed.
“I don’t believe the bit about his girlfriend bringing him the knife,” Ruiz said.
Creswell, who is from Topeka, is known to have several tattoos similar to those sometimes sported by street gang members.
Others at the Moon Bar that night said that after being thrown out of the bar, Creswell was in the parking lot, lifting up his shirt, exhibiting his tattoos, and telling passersby that Giddens “doesn’t know who he’s messing with. He doesn’t know who I am.”
Attempts to reach Creswell for comment Tuesday were unsuccessful.
Shawnee County court records show that in 2002, Creswell spent five months at the Labette County Correctional Conservation Camp in Oswego on charges of selling cocaine and attempted burglary.
Since completing his parole conditions earlier this year, Creswell no longer was prohibited from being in bars.
After the fight at the Moon Bar, Creswell was arrested on an outstanding warrant from Topeka municipal court. He was released May 21 from the Shawnee County Jail.
Since taking over management at the Moon Bar three months ago, Ruiz said the bar had become a popular hangout for KU athletes.
“The night this happened was my birthday — there were probably 200 people in here,” Ruiz said. About half the crowd, he said, was family and friends. The other half was student athletes.
“There were no fewer than 40 football players in here that night. A lot of the track team was here, too,” he said.
One basketball player at the scene was C.J. Giles, a sophomore-to-be from Seattle. Giles is not talking about the incident, along with all KU student-athletes who have been ordered by KU officials to not talk to reporters about what happened that night.
KU coach Bill Self said he was not worried about Giles’ role in the melee.
“Based on the information I have, no, I’m not (concerned),” Self said. “But that doesn’t mean he won’t be disciplined for being there, though.”
Ruiz said the bar was popular among athletes because he goes to great lengths to see that everyone is treated equally.
“Some don’t come in here because they know other places will give them free drinks,” he said. “We don’t do that. Everybody’s equal.”
The bar, decorated in an Asian motif that includes stained-glass portraits of geisha girls behind the bar, also caters to minorities, Ruiz said.
“I bet you won’t find another bar in town where the waitresses include a Mexican-American, an Oriental and a Native American,” he said. “The diversity in here was incredible.”
Ruiz said Giddens was not a regular customer.
“We’re friends, I know him,” he said, “but he’s not in here as much as some of the others.”
Ruiz said he didn’t have Giddens thrown out for confronting Creswell because Giddens is not a troublemaker.
“He can be outspoken … more forward,” Ruiz said. “But he’s not the kind who’s going to start something. He’s always been a gentleman in here.”
Ruiz said neither he nor anyone on his staff served Giddens drinks.
Business has suffered since the fight.
“It’s hurt. Absolutely,” Ruiz said. “It’s going to take us all summer to recover.”
J.R. Giddens may not play basketball again at Kansas University – even if the junior-to-be is cleared of wrongdoing during a recent melee outside a Lawrence bar.
“It is safe to say that J.R.’s return will be my decision. And then after it is my decision, it’ll be J.R.’s decision to decide if, in fact, he can live by the terms of his returning,” KU coach Bill Self told the Journal-World on Saturday night in an interview from a Las Vegas hospital.
Self was in Nevada visiting the mother and grandmother of KU sophomore-to-be Darnell Jackson. The women suffered injuries in a recent car wreck.
“My decision,” Self said, “is to initially decide based on the facts I get (from police investigation), and J.R.’s decision is to decide if he can live by what criteria we will have for him.”
Self wasn’t prepared to reveal the criteria, though it is easy to imagine the player’s life consisting nearly entirely of basketball and study hall if he’s allowed to return.
Giddens may not be in town this week for the start of summer school.
“J.R. is at home with his family (in Oklahoma City),” Self said. “We have visited as a group. We will allow J.R. to be treated for rehab (on right calf, which had an artery slashed) when he is well enough for that to occur. But at this point in time there has been no official decision made on any penalty or his membership with our basketball program.
“We are still waiting for the police investigation to conclude, and commenting further than that would be probably unwise with only holding 50 percent of the information at best.”
Self is not dismayed the police investigation is ongoing.
“I’m not upset with the process. I’m disappointed we’re dealing with this. I understand these things take time,” he said.
¢ Jackson’s relatives: Jackson’s mother and grandmother suffered severe injuries, including broken bones, in the car wreck in Vegas. The two were visiting a family member.
“Shawn (Darnell’s mom) is doing well, and her mother is stable,” Self said.
Jackson’s grandmother is in an intensive-care unit.
“Both will have an extensive rehab period. It’s hard for Shawn to get comfortable right now,” Self said.
Darnell Jackson has made one trip to Vegas to visit his relatives.
“It puts so many things in perspective,” Self said. “Both are tough and have great attitudes. It was a severe enough accident that it was life-threatening. Certainly the most important thing is they survived and now hopefully soon will be able to start a rehab process.”
Las Vegas media sources indicate one person in the other car died, and the other two passengers remain hospitalized.
¢ Facial hair: Self took advantage of the long Memorial Day weekend to experiment with some facial hair.
“I didn’t shave for four days and said, ‘I’ll see what it looks like having a beard.’ I had more grays than I thought I would,” quipped Self, who shaved the growth after six days. “No, it wasn’t stress or anything. I just didn’t shave a couple days.”
¢ Kleinmann cited: KU red-shirt freshman Matt Kleinmann in April was cited by police for being a minor in possession of alcohol.
“Matt is a good person, usually responsible,” Self said. “On this occasion he did not represent himself and our program in a positive light. We have dealt with it accordingly. We have talked about the relationship he’ll have with us (in future).”
Self does not publicize his disciplinary actions against players.
¢ Simien looking good: Wayne Simien’s NBA Draft stock is rising after ESPN Insider revealed the ex-KU forward measured in at 6-foot-8 without shoes and 6-9 with shoes. It’d been rumored he was 6-7 at best. Simien, who Insider projects as a top 20 pick, will undergo a physical exam at this week’s NBA Draft camp in Chicago. Aaron Miles and Keith Langford will participate in games at the camp as well as taking physicals.
¢ Henry to learn fate: C.J. Henry, who recently orally committed to play basketball at KU, will find out Tuesday where he’ll be selected in the major league baseball draft. Baseball America lists Henry a top 20 prospect, comparing him to Vernon Wells of the Toronto Blue Jays.
Henry has said he likely would not go to college if he was tapped in the first three rounds. A pro team could allow him to play both pro baseball and college hoops, though unlikely, if Henry receives a big signing bonus.
J.R. Giddens’ high school basketball coach said Friday that he didn’t believe his former player was the instigator of the fight that left the Kansas University shooting guard on crutches with a knife wound to his calf.
John Martin, Giddens’ coach at Oklahoma City’s John Marshall High, said Giddens was a good kid, not a troublemaker.
“It surprised me. I have confidence in J.R.,” Martin said. “I’ve heard people criticize him, and I’ve heard the people at KU say they’re not going to say anything until the investigation is complete.
“That’s fine,” Martin said. “But, myself, I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt. He’s a good kid. The only thing I’d say to him is, ‘You know, nothing good happens in a bar after midnight.’ But I’m sure coach (Bill) Self has already told him that.”
Martin said he arrived at Marshall High in 2003, Giddens’ senior year. The team won the state Class 5A title, after which Giddens was named one of the state’s top five high school basketball players.
“When I took the job, J.R. had already committed to Kansas,” Martin said. “He really, really liked Roy Williams, but Bill Self had recruited him, too. So when Roy left, it wasn’t like (J.R.) was going to a program where the coach didn’t want him.
“After Roy left,” Martin said, “J.R. sort of shifted gears and signed up with coach Self. He’s totally committed to KU.”
Lawrence Police on Friday said they still had no timetable for completing their investigation into last month’s stabbing at the Moon Bar, which left Giddens with a slashed artery in a calf.
Police spokesman Sgt. Dan Ward said detectives still had numerous interviews to do and it would be “some time” before their report was forwarded to Douglas County Dist. Atty. Charles Branson.
Giddens and five others were injured in the knife fight outside the bar during the early morning hours of May 19.
Ward said police were trying to be thorough in their investigation.
KU sports officials continued to decline comment about the incident. Giddens, contacted at his parents’ home in Oklahoma City, where he is recuperating, also would not comment.
— 6News anchor/reporter Janet Reid contributed to this report.
Kansas University men’s basketball coach Bill Self said Thursday there was no truth to the rumor J.R. Giddens would be arrested today or kicked off the basketball team.
“I will not comment on any disciplinary action publicly until the investigation is complete,” Self said of Giddens’ involvement in a fight last week outside a Lawrence bar.
“I will not discipline somebody through events we don’t know transpired…
“There are all kind of stories of what happened that night,” Self said. “Nobody knows what the truth is yet. The police have to be allowed to do their job.”
Asked if Giddens was drinking the night he was stabbed in the calf outside the bar, Self said: “I do not know that.”
Asked if he threw the first punch that led to him being stabbed, Self said: “I do not know. I can’t comment on that.”
Reached Thursday in Oklahoma City, Giddens said: “I heard somebody will be printing stuff I know is false. You have to be better than that and let the police do their job.”
The Lawrence Police Department has not indicated if J.R. Giddens will be charged in the stabbing incident last week. However, it is likely that even if Coach Bill Self chooses to punish Giddens, that the details of the punishment will not be made public.
Kansas University men’s basketball guard J.R. Giddens was released from Lawrence Memorial Hospital on Friday after being slashed in the calf in a fight outside the Moon Bar early Thursday.
