KU signee Aldrich so-so in showcase

By Gary Bedore     Mar 29, 2007

Future Kansas University basketball center Cole Aldrich scored six points and grabbed eight rebounds with two blocks, one assist and three fouls in the West’s 114-112 victory over the East in Wednesday night’s McDonald’s High School All-American game in Louisville, Ky.

Like most big men in prep all-star games, the 6-foot-11, 250-pound Aldrich was largely ignored by his West teammates while roaming the post area.

The Bloomington (Minn.) Jefferson High big man hit three of four shots. One was a jumper from the free-throw line off a feed from a teammate.

He converted a slam dunk off an offensive rebound and also pulled down a board and went up strong for a stickback hoop. He scored all six points in the second half.

Aldrich, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and St. Paul Pioneer Press state high school player of the year, next will compete in the Roundball Classic on April 3 in Chicago.

“I’m excited to be a Jayhawk. This is the start of it all for me. I can’t wait to get there,” Aldrich said of KU.

KU coach Bill Self, who said Aldrich would have the chance to contribute as a freshman, but would have to beat out some players ahead of him, said the McDonald’s game “was a great experience for Cole, a great experience for any high school player to get to take part in the game and the activities leading up to the game. It’s good for anybody to be in that type situation.”

Aldrich averaged 22.9 points, 17.6 rebounds and 3.8 blocks for state quarterfinalist Jefferson High.

He told the Pioneer Press he purchased ESPN’s Full Court package this year so he could watch as many KU games as possible.

“The team is great right now,” Aldrich said. “I just want to be that final piece to the puzzle that gets us over the top to win the national title. Now that the high school season is over, I really feel like I’m part of the program.”

Aldrich hit 59.4 percent of his shots his senior season.

“I went through a lot of physical and mental adversity early in the season,” he said. “My foot was sore a lot during the summer, and people were saying I wasn’t that good. I knew I wasn’t playing as well as I could last summer, but I wanted to fight through all that this season.”

KU coach Self fired up Aldrich during a phone call late last spring when the big man was struggling.

“I told him, ‘Hey you were ranked very high going into your junior year and rightfully so, and your ranking dropped some because you haven’t performed as well as you can. There’s only one person who can change that if it means a lot to you, and it’s you,” Self said of Aldrich, the No. 30-rated player by Rivals.com.

“He had a bad spring partly because of his health, also part of it was he lost a little bit of the hunger he needed to have to keep improving on a regular basis. A lot of it was anticlimactic to him,” Self added. “‘I’m going to Kansas. I got my scholarship at Kansas.’ Maybe he lost a little zest for the game. He certainly got it back.”

Self said in college, “Cole will be a great sealer, a defensive presence. He has touch and feel around the basket. I see him being a good scorer, a five man with skill. He runs the floor better than just about anybody his size and he is a big guy.”

¢Self in Mississippi: KU coach Self was in Meredian, Miss., on Wednesday visiting blue-chip recruit Romero Osby, a 6-8, 230-pound junior forward who is considering KU, Florida, Mississippi, Texas, Memphis, Texas A&M, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi State and Georgia Tech.

Osby, who averaged 25 points and 11 rebounds his junior year for Northeast Lauderdale High, will play for Southeast Elite AAU out of Alabama this spring and summer.

Osby told Rivals.com he will visit KU this summer or fall.

“I am very high on coach Bill Self and Kansas,” Osby said. “I know they lost to UCLA in the tournament, but that doesn’t change how I feel about them one bit. When you get that far in the NCAA Tournament, anything can happen. My feelings about Kansas haven’t changed at all, and I will take an official visit to Kansas before I make my final decision.”

¢He’s KU’s coach: Self is growing weary at rumors he’s in line for the vacancy at Arkansas. Arkansas newspapers and ESPN.com reported Wednesday that Self is a prime target of outgoing Arkansas athletic director Frank Broyles.

“I haven’t talked to anybody, and I’m not going to talk to anyone. I don’t know what I have to say. It’s like I said before, any rumors about me are false. I am excited about the program. I’m totally content at Kansas, and we’re looking forward to having a great team next year,” Self said Wednesday.

Earlier in the week Self indicated his job at KU was better than the one at Arkansas.

“And we’ve got a great team coming back,” he exclaimed.

KU athletic director Lew Perkins scoffed at rumors of Self possibly leaving on Wednesday.

“I have not been contacted by anybody,” Perkins said, not wanting to dignify any rumors specifically.

¢Rush honored: KU sophomore Brandon Rush on Wednesday was named to the 10-player Wooden Award All-America team. The five finalists for the Wooden Award are: Kevin Durant (Texas), Tyler Hansbrough (North Carolina), Acie Law (Texas A&M), Greg Oden (Ohio State), and Alando Tucker (Wisconsin). The other five members of the team are: Rush, Arron Afflalo (UCLA), Aaron Brooks (Oregon), Nick Fazekas (Nevada) and Joakim Noah (Florida).

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