Kansas University basketball guard Jeremy Case, who has earned a degree in communications studies in four years, offered some words of wisdom to incoming freshmen student-athletes who have similar aspirations:
¢ “A suggestion I would give to anyone is the first day of class, introduce yourself to your teachers, let them know you will be taking their class and are excited about it.
“You form a relationship that way. When the time is right, inform them you are an athlete and (because of travel) you will have to miss a few days. I never had any teacher say ‘no’ (to working around the hoops schedule). Some were pretty strict and might say, ‘You’ve got one extra day,’ but they work with you.
“They don’t have to (work with you). If they don’t, you still have to get the work done.”
¢ “Tutors are important. I met with tutors for two hours each Tuesday, Thursday. They kind of made me do the work just by me being there. If I was sitting home, I’d be watching TV. The last thing you want to do after practicing hard a couple hours is homework. I’d bring my work there (to tutoring in Parrott Athletic Center). If I had a question. I’d ask them. If I had no questions, they’d just sit there.”
¢ “Take classes in the summer if you can. Then you can take 15 hours a semester (during fall and spring), and if a class doesn’t work out, you can drop it.”
¢ “You need some easy classes. You can’t take all hard classes. You will get overwhelmed if you take all hard classes. Papers are due every two weeks. If you have five or six to write, you get stressed out. You definitely need some easy ones (to go with difficult ones).”
¢ “You have to take it seriously. If you go through the motions, you will not get through.”
