Associated PressKansas center Udoka Azubuike is pretty sure how he would have responded if, two years ago, you had told him he would still be in Lawrence for his senior season with the Jayhawks in 2019.
“I would probably have cussed at you,” Azubuike recently told the Journal-World. “I didn’t expect it. But it’s life, you know? A lot of stuff happens. A lot of situations happen. And you just have to live with it. I’m still excited to be here.”
Off to arguably the best start of his injury-plagued KU career, the veteran version of Azubuike has been unlike any the Jayhawks have seen.
For a man who has been so loud with his play on the court and seemingly so quiet everywhere else, Azubuike has become more vocal on the floor and more intentional with his words.
His teammates have talked for years about the 7-footer’s electric personality. They claim that Azubuike is anything but shy when they’re hanging out together and that he has one-liners for days, a laugh that can bring down a building and a smile made for family gatherings.
Nick KrugThat’s inside his circle. To those outside of it, Azubuike has appeared stoic, quiet and calm as a part of the team instead of the face of it.
And while that laid-back approach is still the one Azubuike defaults to and prefers, it’s subtly starting to change. That’s because Azubuike wants it to.
“He’s been told for three years about what leadership looks like,” KU coach Bill Self said recently. “And he’s trying. I mean, he’s growing up. He’s done great. His effort in practice, which is a great way to be a leader, has just been incredible. The other thing that he has done is, when things don’t go well, he speaks his mind. Before, he always held his cards close to the vest. So I’m proud of him for that. He has improved.”
Azubuike’s transformation began in the preseason during his last session of media training with ESPN sideline reporter Holly Rowe.
As a senior saddled with preseason Big 12 player of the year expectations and already on the short list for All-American and national player of the year honors, Azubuike no longer had the luxury of lounging in the shadows of big personalities like Devonte’ Graham, Josh Jackson and Frank Mason III.
Nick KrugRowe knew that going in and she gave the big fella no room to choose when he took his turn in the mock interviews.
“I just said, ‘Let’s go Dok. You’re going to get interviewed a lot this year. Let’s go. Get up here,'” Rowe said during a recent telephone interview with the Journal-World.
With that, he was off and running.
According to Rowe, Azubuike’s progress is less about a conscious decision and more about personal maturity. Despite his status as one of KU’s lone veterans, the native Nigerian only turned 20 in September and is just now getting comfortable with the idea of taking ownership of the team.
“I would say he’s coming out of his shell,” Rowe noted. “Those are funny sessions. We do interviews in front of the whole team and some people are really shy and they don’t want people to make fun of them and the last few years Udoka has been pretty shy. This was the first time that I really felt him take this huge step forward of, ‘I’m ready for this, I’m going to accept this,’ and he was great. He was one of our best ones.”
Associated PressAzubuike’s path is not unlike Mason’s from a couple of years ago.
Although the two are different players with different roles who shoulder different responsibilities, both spent the first few years of their KU careers as quiet as could be.
Rowe recalls the moment it all clicked for Mason and believes there are parallels between his path and Azubuike’s.
“Frank’s senior year, I said, ‘All right, who’s going first?’ And he said, ‘I’m going first. I’m going to get good at this,'” she recalled. “That season, Frank was the best in the media. Everybody interviewed Frank. And I really believe it played a small role in him winning player of the year. Because the media has to like you. The media votes on all these awards and they have to feel like they know something about you. And Frank, by his senior year, was willing to share who he is and his journey. These kids just have to be comfortable being themselves.”
After Mason’s KU career was over, Rowe said she received a text message from him that simply read, “Thank you so much, Holly.”
Nick KrugAzubuike also has great appreciation for Rowe’s assistance in inspiring him to fully embrace everything that goes into being the face of the Jayhawks.
“She helped me out a lot,” he said. “And it’s not as bad as I thought. Now that it’s here for me, I actually think it’s fun and exciting. I smile about it now.”
Azubuike insists his quiet demeanor is not rooted in shyness or a lack of confidence. Instead, it came to him organically from his upbringing, which shaped the way he saw the world, himself and his hobbies.
“That’s just who I am,” Azubuike said. “I’m not shy. I’m really confident in myself. It’s just that I’m really laid back. Apart from basketball and being in the gym, I’m always in my room laying down and just watching TV and being by myself.”
He’s not exactly sure where or when he became so comfortable being alone. But he thinks it had something to do with being the youngest child in his family and his Christian beliefs, which taught him the value of humility.
Nick Krug“Even as a kid, I’ve always been that way,” he said.
When Azubuike first arrived in Lawrence, he very much was still a kid. At age 16, fresh out of Potter’s House Prep in Jacksonville, Fla., it took some time for his mind to catch up to his body.
Luckily for him, he had teammates and coaches well-versed in showing others the way.
“There were some times when Devonte’ and Frank just did it and I didn’t really know how much went into the leadership role,” Azubuike recalled.
Although that helped him maintain his low-key existence, it did little to push him “outside of his comfort zone,” a phrase current KU point guard Devon Dotson recently used to describe the biggest difference between what he saw from Azubuike a year ago and what he sees from him today.
“He’s been great,” Dotson said. “He’s talking a little more. That’s not really in his nature, but he’s doing a better job of that, stepping outside of his comfort zone.”
Added Self: “He’s matured so much and you can tell he feels so much more comfortable. Before he was nervous, and now he’s actually at home. I think confidence goes a long way toward performance, and he’s got so much more confidence.”
One of the main areas of his psyche that Azubuike has worked on during the past year is acceptance.
If it were up to him, he would be long gone from Lawrence, playing with his former KU teammates in the NBA and making a name — and a living — for himself on basketball’s biggest stage.
But three significant injuries, including two separate wrist injuries that cost him nearly all of his freshman and junior seasons, forced Azubuike to walk the path of the four-year Jayhawk instead of the short timer.
And while Azubuike admitted that such a reality used to be difficult to accept, he has a completely different perspective these days.
“I’ve got to a point in my life where I don’t really look at the negative parts of it,” he said. “I just kind of look at the positive side. By being here for four years, I’m getting my degree, I get to play basketball, the sport I love, and I get to be at Kansas, in front of the fans, broadening my skills. I look at it as a blessing.”
Even the disappointment about the past injuries and the questions of “Why me?” have become easier for Azubuike to accept and answer.
“It’s human nature to think about stuff like that,” he said. “But at the same time I just tell myself that’s in the past and I just try and worry about where we’re going and getting better.”
There was a time when Azubuike worried as much about where he was going as where the team was going. So the use of that word — we — is significant. It also underscores the full scope of Azubuike’s personal development and the recent ride that took him from head down, hanging in the shadows to best foot forward and eyes wide open.
“As athletes, a lot of people look up to us and I know I’m going to be in a position where I’m talking to a group of kids and in front of the media,” Azubuike acknowledged. “I know that’s part of playing basketball and I’ve been working on it and I really think I’m getting better at it. It’s really important for me. I know I’m always going to be in the position where I’m playing basketball and the media and the spotlight and everything is always going to be there, and I want to make sure I’m ready for that.”
