During our live-game blogs on the site (you should check them out!), I’ve noticed that two questions seem to pop up more than any others:
1. Is there a live stream of this game somewhere on the Internet?
2. Who is that player in street clothes at the end of the bench that I don’t recognize?
Though I’m not able to help much with question No. 1 (www.espn3.com is probably your best bet), this Sideline Report should hopefully help with No. 2.
That player at the end of the bench is Justin Wesley. He is a walk-on transfer from Lamar that has to sit out this season because of NCAA rules. He’s a 6-foot-8 forward, and he’s also Keith Langford’s younger brother.
Here’s a bit more about Wesley in today’s Sideline Report, which took place back at media day in October.
**Jesse Newell:** I want to talk about your brother first off. What did he tell you about KU before you got here?
**Justin Wesley:** He told me it’s a lot of tradition. It’s a great basketball atmosphere. And he told me that the time I spend here, I’m going to really enjoy. It’s going to be some of the best years of my life.
**JN:** What was your earliest memory of KU?
**JW:** I came to a lot of games when I was young, sitting in the student section, getting thrown up during the games and going back into the locker room right after the games. I have a lot of childhood memories here at KU.
**JN:** How old were you when you were getting thrown up in the stands?
**JW:** About fourth grade was Keith’s freshman year. So through those years — fourth, fifth, sixth grade.
**JN:** So did everybody know that you were Keith’s little brother?
**JW:** Uh huh. Even sometimes when he would sign autographs after the game, I would sign autographs, too.
**JN:** Really? How often did that happen?
**JW:** I can only remember once or twice. Not that many times.
**JN:** So you said they threw you up?
**JW:** I don’t know if they still do it, but they would throw me up. It was nothing dangerous or anything like that.
**JN:** So you said you went to the locker room. What was that like? What do you remember about that?
**JW:** Being around Wayne (Simien) and Aaron (Miles) and Nick Collison, Kirk Hinrich when they were here, just being around them, just watching everything they do was just overall a great experience.
**JN:** Who’d you like most out of those guys?
**JW:** My brother, of course. (laughs)
**JN:** After that, who did you kind of stick to?
**JW:** Wayne. They were roommates at the time, so next to my brother, I was close to Wayne.
**JN:** What would he do with you?
**JW:** I would come in, and he would just joke around with me whenever I came into town or whatever. If I wasn’t with Keith, I was with him. It was pretty fun.
**JN:** Those guys have a nickname for you? What did they call you?
**JW:** They just called me, ‘Little Justin.’
**JN:** Did you know you wanted to go to KU at that point? Did you think about it at that point?
**JW:** As a matter of fact, I did. When Keith came on his visit and committed to Roy Williams, I also committed. (laughs) I think back in fourth grade, I knew I wanted to come here.
**JN:** Tell me more about that. He committed, and you told Roy you were committing the same day?
**JW:** Yeah, I told Roy I was coming.
**JN:** What did he say?
**JW:** He said, ‘Well, we’ll be glad to have you.’
**JN:** So you actually committed in fourth grade, just nobody held you to it.
**JW:** It wasn’t scripted. It wasn’t scripted. But if you call up Roy, he’ll tell you I committed in fourth grade.
**JN:** How close were you to going to Oklahoma State out of high school?
**JW:** I was actually going to commit to them my junior year, but they got a new coaching staff. After that, I lost contact with them. Senior year didn’t go how I wanted it to, so my recruiting went downhill. I went through a lot of adversity, but I’m glad to be here now.
**JN:** I saw that maybe … are you going to study journalism here?
**JW:** No, communications. I changed to communications.
**JN:** I was going to say, because your brother kind of had a reputation as a columnist here for the student newspaper. I didn’t know if that was something you were going to be interested in or not.
**JW:** No. I’m more communication. I’m more a business man.
**JN:** Gotcha. Did you hear any stories about his columns in the Kansan back in the day?
**JW:** No I haven’t. I need to ask him about that.
**JN:** Does everybody tell you that you look like him?
**JW:** Some people. They say they see it a little bit. I don’t see it. When people say I look like him, I don’t really see it. They say in basketball pictures when I’m playing, we make the same faces.
**JN:** What is that face?
**JW:** I mean, I can’t do it. (laughs) You’ve just got to catch me in action.
*[Ed. note — Any resemblance?]*
**JN:** What area of basketball are you better than Keith?
**JW:** Jumper.
**JN:** Jumper? Would he say that, too?
**JW:** I think I’m a better athlete.
**JN:** Oh, OK. Would he say that?
**JW:** I mean, I don’t know. I think his pride would get in the way a little bit. But deep down, he knows.
**JN:** All right, some crazy ones here. What would I find in your refrigerator? Anything good?
**JW:** Probably nothing good. Probably just a carton of milk and some pickles.
**JN:** You like pickles?
**JW:** Yeah. (laughs)
**JN:** What makes you the most angry on the court?
**JW:** I’m not really much of a trash-talker, but when somebody starts talking trash, it kind of gets me revved up.
**JN:** What’s the very first memory you have of KU?
**JW:** It’s probably when we came on Keith’s visit, and they took us to the football stadium, and they had a picture of him on the Jumbotron in the Kansas jersey, basically saying, ‘We want you, Keith,’ and stuff like that. He was so elated. I was so elated. It was just an overall good experience for the whole family at that time.
