Kansas University freshman Micah Downs is no longer a member of Kansas’ basketball team.
KU coach Bill Self confirmed Downs’ decision to reporters after Tuesday’s practice, but said it wasn’t a planned deal — but rather one that took shape in the past couple of days starting last Thursday.
“I found out officially, I guess, this morning,” Self said. “He indicated that was the direction he was heading to the last couple of days.
“Micah has decided to go home to resolve some personal issues,” said Self, in a released statement by KU earlier in the day. “It is unfortunate that Micah’s tenure as a Kansas basketball player only lasted one semester. We wish Micah and his family the best.”
Self said that Downs — a 6-foot-8, 187-pound guard/forward, from Kirkland, Wash., who averaged 4.3 points in 13 games for the Jayhawks — did not practice yesterday and instead left for Seattle apparently last night. Downs then called his coach early Tuesday morning with the news that he would not be coming back.
The McDonald’s All-American — who Self said did not play in KU’s blowout victory over Nebraska on Saturday because of the flu — has not played in a game since the current semester began last week thus could be eligible to play the second semester of next season at a new school. However, Downs would have to clear a couple of hurdles in getting his release from KU and also proving his eligibility at a new instution.
“We will want to do everything that we can do to assist Micah as long as it is in conjunction with what is best for the Kansas program,” said Self, who said Downs did not say if he will even continue to play basketball in the future.
“He has not indicated he was going to transfer to another school,” Self continued. “He hasn’t indicated if he was going to continue playing ball. All he has indicated is that he wanted to be home.”
Downs said he needed to address some personal issues back home.
“I apologize to my former teammates and coaches for leaving at mid-year,” Downs said in a statement issued by KU. “I feel I can best deal with some personal problems closer to home that have been weighing on me over the last few months. I wish KU the best the rest of the season.”
Downs’ father, Steve, said the reason for his son’s decision to tranfer was not basketball-related.
“Our family appreciates the treatment of Micah by the Kansas coaches, players and administration,” he said. “This is not a basketball issue. At this time in his life, being closer to home will hopefully enable Micah to resolve some of his issues. We thank Kansas for its support and wish them the best of luck.”
Self said there is zero chance of Downs rejoining the team in the future.
“The cord has been cut,” he said. “The things he is working through are I don’t think things that will be repaired over night.”
Downs, who reached double figures three times this season and scored a career-best 13 points against Chaminade in the Maui Invitational, played just 18 minutes and scored only three points in four of KU’s seven games since Christmas.
Downs was the sixth player to transfer from KU since Self took over three years ago. However, only two of the six (Downs and Alex Galindo) were Self’s recruits.
Last season the highly-touted guard, who was the 14th-rated player in the nation according to rivals.com, made public his thoughts about possibly leaving early for the NBA draft.
Later in the year Downs, who played at a handful of different highs schools as his family moved because of his fathers’ construction jobs, had a highly publicized incident after playing only 11 minutes in the McDonalds All-American Game.
“I was frustrated,” said Downs at the time. “I don’t know why I wasn’t getting minutes. When I was out there, I was hitting threes and getting assists and stuff. I was just like, ‘Why aren’t I getting in there, you know? I’m just as good as anybody here.’
“It definitely soured the game for me. When I was in there, I was having fun, but this kind of ruins the whole thing.”
But earlier this year at KU’s Media Day, Downs — who was a member of last year’s “Fab Four” freshman class alongside Mario Chalmers, Brandon Rush, and Julian Wright — said he had put those incidents in the past and was focusing on his new role at KU.
“I think coach (Bill) Self recruited me to shoot and score,” Downs said. “I think I’m doing a pretty good job of that.”
Self said that Downs’ high school incidents didn’t raise red flags.
“If we were so concerned about that we shouldn’t have recruited him,” he said. “We like Micah and we thought if we got him here in this environment, he would really thrive in it.”
Playing time, however, grew scarce for the sharpshooter as the season went on.
Downs played a career-high 27 minutes and scored 10 points against Western Illinois. He played double-digit minutes against Saint Joseph’s and California, combining to score 16 points in the two contests and even took what would have been the game-tying three at the buzzer against St. Joe’s — but his trey missed.
After that three-game stint, Downs didn’t see double digits again in minutes and only scored four points the rest of the way, as an apparent hand injury limited the freshman.
Self said that he was disappointed with Downs’ decision.
“I’m personally disappointed because I don’t think it’s in his best interest to do this,” he said.