Arizona State transfer Remy Martin commits to Kansas

By Matt Tait     May 17, 2021

AP Photo/Darryl Webb
In this Feb. 22, 2020, file photo, Arizona State's Remy Martin (1) shows his feelings after a run by his Sun Devils against Oregon State during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Tempe, Ariz.

Shortly after announcing his commitment to Kansas for the 2021-22 college basketball season, Arizona State transfer Remy Martin said picking KU was a no-brainer.

“It was pretty easy, man,” Martin said in a Monday night phone interview. “Playing for a guy like coach (Bill) Self and at a historic program like KU, it’s just an amazing deal for me, man, and I couldn’t turn that down.”

CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein and Stadium’s Jeff Goodman were the first to report the commitment.

After entering the transfer portal last week, Martin, a two-time all-Pac-12 guard, almost immediately was regarded as one of the nation’s top available players. He told the Journal-World on Monday night that he still will move forward with his original plan of testing his NBA draft stock ahead of this summer’s NBA draft in July.

But it was clear that Martin is very comfortable with his plans no matter how they turn out.

“I’m definitely going to see how this process plays out and as soon as that happens I’ll kind of know more,” he said. “It’s kind of weird to say hopefully I don’t make it to the league so I can play (at KU), but I’m really excited for what the future holds.”

The 6-foot, 175-pound senior from Chatsworth, Calif., averaged 19.1 points per game in 34 minutes per outing for the Sun Devils in each of the past two seasons.

His name was known throughout college basketball long before that, though. The former four-star prospect averaged 12.9 points per game as a sophomore during the 2018-19 season and that came after he averaged 10 points per game and shot 37% from 3-point range as a true freshman.

That season, which included a breakout, 21-point performance in a win over Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse, Martin was named Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year.

Kansas was among the schools with the best shot at Martin during his high school recruitment. Although he never officially listed his finalists, reports from the time he committed to ASU noted that he chose the Sun Devils after “seriously considering” Marquette, UConn, Kansas and San Diego State. Martin also reportedly had offers from UCLA and USC.

KU assistant Kurtis Townsend was the lead recruiter for Martin at the time.

Martin on Monday called the chance to join Townsend at KU a “full circle” moment.

“It was amazing,” he said. “It was an honor to feel wanted by them. Ever since I played at KU as a freshman, I’ve always loved Kansas and wanted to go there.”

His addition to this Kansas roster would fill two major needs for the Jayhawks. First, as a proven lead guard with 118 games of college basketball experience, Martin could handle whatever role KU coach Bill Self asked him to play.

Beyond that, as a career 34% 3-point shooter who made 43 or more 3-pointers in each of the past three seasons, Martin also addresses KU’s desire to plug additional 3-point shooting into its lineup.

For his career, the versatile guard with deep range also owns averages of 3.0 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game.

Martin, who was named after his grandfather and considers himself to be a Chris Paul type of player who mixes a lot of different skills into his game, grabs KU’s last available scholarship this offseason and becomes the ninth newcomer to pledge his services to the Jayhawks during a wild offseason.

Like Jayhawks Ochai Agbaji and Jalen Wilson, who also are testing their NBA draft status this summer, Martin will have until early-July to make a decision about whether to stay in the draft or play out his final season of eligibility at Kansas.

If he chooses to come to Lawrence, his track record and experience peg him as an instant impact player who figures to inherit a huge role on Day 1.

Martin said he and the KU coaching staff had brief conversations about how he would fit and what his role would be. But the one thing they all shared was the belief that he would help the program’s bottom line of wanting to win as many games as possible.

“I’m all about wins,” he said. “That’s all I want to do. I don’t really care too much about anything else. I’m not high maintenance or anything, I just want to go out there and play and just have fun.”

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.