Thad AllenderThere was a time not long ago when Chase Buford doubted whether he ever would play basketball competitively again.
It was just last year when Buford was preparing for his senior season at Alamo Heights High in San Antonio, Texas. But the week before practice started, he came down with a strange affliction.
“I got really sick, and I couldn’t even move,” Buford said. “So, I went to the doctor, and they found out I had mono.”
Buford suffered an enlarged spleen.
“That’s one of the complications that comes with (mononucleosis),” he said. “So, I went back to the doctor for every two weeks until the end of the year. I just never got healthy enough to play. I wanted to numerous times, but they just wouldn’t clear me.”
Thad AllenderAfter leading his team to a 20-12 campaign in his junior year, Buford could only look on as a spectator his senior season, and the team struggled without him. All this came on the heels of a broken ankle during football season in which he had to watch his team win the state championship.
“It was tough watching football win state knowing I would have been out there,” Buford said. “But basketball was really tough because that’s my sport. Watching our team struggle was hard. But it was a learning experience. I got through it.”
A basketball career that seemed promising for the 6-foot-3 combo guard had no direction, with interest from Division I colleges waning.
“After that last summer, I really stopped talking to a lot of schools about scholarships,” Buford said. “I was wondering whether I would even play again. Especially when I got sick, I was kind of thinking, ‘What happens if I don’t play again?’ But I got a good opportunity to do something like this, and it was the best opportunity I could imagine.”
Buford became an invited walk-on at KU – the same school his dad, R.C., helped guide to the 1988 national championship as an assistant coach.
Now, Chase is happy simply to be back in basketball shape. He wasn’t cleared medically to play basketball again until a month before arriving on campus in June. That fact alone had teammates marveling at Buford’s physical shape when practices began in October.
“He sits there, and sometimes you look at him because he couldn’t do much with mono, and you’re just like, ‘How is this kid doing this right now?'” said fellow walk-on Conner Teahan, also Buford’s roommate.
The true test of Buford’s endurance came during a two-week stretch in late September and early October when the team went through its grueling 6 a.m. workouts that have become known as Boot Camp.
“He worked really hard,” Teahan said. “He made it through Boot Camp, which had to be hard because it’s not like he had all this time to be conditioning. It shows he will suck it up for the team, which is something you need.”
Buford has come a long way from the days when he barely could roll out of bed. But he said he still felt compelled to disprove the naysayers, to show people he isn’t here based solely on the merit of his dad, whom Jayhawk fans still revere for helping to bring a national title to Lawrence nearly 20 years ago.
So far this season, Buford has played 13 minutes over seven games. He has missed all six of his field-goal attempts – four were three-pointers – but has four rebounds.
“I feel like I have to prove myself a lot more than a lot of other people, just throughout my life,” Buford said. “The only people I want to prove myself to here are the guys I’m playing with, to gain their respect. I think we’ve been through a lot so far, and that helps.”
In just a few months, Buford already has earned high marks from his Jayhawk teammates for his work ethic, taking steps to emerge from the shadows of his dad.
“Pretty much everybody knows who (R.C.) is,” Teahan said. “It has to be tough for him, but I think sooner or later, he’ll make a name for himself.”
Scott McClurgHe wants no more controversy.
Perhaps sensing that the quarterback carousel was speeding around so chaotically it was making everybody nauseous, Kansas University coach Mark Mangino made what appeared to be a definitive decision Tuesday.
Brian Luke will start at quarterback Saturday against Oklahoma.
“I told him, ‘I’m looking for you to start, to finish, and to win the game,'” Mangino said.
It’s a 180-degree turn from his stance a week ago, when the fourth-year coach had trouble picking a starter and even admitted on his radio show that he’d do a quarterback-by-committee if needed.
After Saturday’s 12-3 loss to Kansas State, a game bogged down by dismal offensive play, Mangino came to the realization that a committee wasn’t needed, wasn’t wanted and probably wasn’t healthy toward the management of an offense.
“You go way back to the first day I came in here, I told you that my personal preference was to not to (have multiple quarterbacks),” Mangino said. “But I think we’ve been forced to because we haven’t gotten answers in the last few weeks.”
Luke and Adam Barmann switched back and forth throughout Saturday’s game, with Barmann starting. Luke finished 4-of-13 passing for 86 yards, while Barmann was 3-of-8 passing for just 17 yards.
Now, it appears Barmann is headed back to the sideline. Mangino said Tuesday that Jason Swanson is getting increased work with the second-team offense in practice, is healthy and is ready to play behind Luke if he’s needed.
“This is the healthiest he’s been,” Mangino said. “I’m not going to start announcing the number two or three or four quarterback every week, but I think he is perhaps putting himself in a position to be the number two guy. We’ll see in a couple days.”
What is decided is number one. Now all that’s left is to see how solid of a starter Luke is in the eyes of the coaching staff. Mangino appeared serious Tuesday that Luke is the pony he’s riding to the finish line.
“After evaluating the last two conference games very thoroughly, we feel that right now that Brian Luke gives us the best opportunity to do what we want to do,” Mangino said. “Especially in this particular game plan.”
Perhaps the questions will fade away, now. Some teammates feel the quarterbacks have gotten the raw end of the blame game.
“It doesn’t matter what quarterback is in,” wide receiver Mark Simmons said. “Brian Luke, Adam Barmann, Jason Swanson, Marcus Herford, Kerry Meier, Charles Gordon : if we execute as an 11-man offense, we’ll do fine.”
¢ Not translating: Barmann, Mangino said, won the right to start against K-State based on performance in practice. But Saturday’s effort showed – not for the first time – that Barmann struggles carrying over his abilities into game situations.
“Why? I can’t answer that,” Mangino said. “My only guess would be that he’s not regained the confidence that he had in the past prior to his season-ending injury last year. I don’t know that; I can’t say that that is the case. Certainly we’re not making an excuse for him. He wouldn’t want anybody making an excuse for him.”
¢ Wideout shuffle: Quarterback is getting all the attention, but it appears Mangino is looking for a facelift at wide receiver, as well.
When questioned about Marcus Herford getting quarterback snaps, Mangino said without solicitation that Herford would get increased playing time at receiver. He also mentioned Charles Gordon and Dominic Roux as candidates to get more snaps on offense.
“What I’m trying to do is I’m trying to create more competition there,” Mangino said, “so they push each other and move their performance to another level.”
¢ Arrowhead convenience: Saturday’s 6 p.m. kickoff for the OU game – which was moved from Lawrence to Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., actually made things a little easier on the Jayhawks.
“We were thinking all along that it’d be a 1 o’clock kickoff, so we would spend the night in Kansas City,” Mangino said. “Now that it’s 6 o’clock, we will do our Friday routine here and bus over Saturday afternoon. In that respect, actually it worked out pretty well.”
¢ Players of the week: Mangino cited linebackers Kevin Kane and Banks Floodman for their efforts against Kansas State, naming them defensive players of the game. Derek Fine was named special teams player of the week.
An offensive player wasn’t named.
¢ Ringwood appears: Fullback Bruce Ringwood, who has been suspended since the beginning of the season, appeared in court Tuesday on charges of assault.
Ringwood was arrested Aug. 21 for allegedly scuffling with a husband and wife at a country music concert. Mangino suspended him indefinitely five days later.
¢ Another night game: Big 12 officials announced Tuesday afternoon that KU’s game at Colorado would kickoff at 6 p.m. CST on Oct. 22. It will not be televised.
