Billy Preston’s mom opens up on situation involving her son

By Matt Tait     Jan 3, 2018

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Newcomer Silvio DeSousa, left, sits next to teammate Billy Preston, who remains inactive, Friday, Dec. 29, 2017 at Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas.

When it comes to updates on the status of withheld Kansas basketball freshman Billy Preston, Jayhawk fans will take absolutely anything they can get their hands on.

That’s what made a series of late-night Tweets from Preston’s mom on Tuesday more than a little interesting.

It’s unclear what prompted the string of Tweets, though message board nonsense and Twitter trolls seem like a fairly likely answer.

But regardless of where the inspiration came from, Preston’s mom broke her silence on the matter and shared a few of her thoughts on just how hard the past seven weeks have been on Preston and his family.

https://twitter.com/BartenderChic78/status/948433922400161792

While that Tweet certainly did not shed a ton of light on exactly what has been happening with Preston and the deep look at a vehicle he was driving during a single-car, non-injury accident back in early November, Preston’s mom hinted both at the fact that she believed Preston still will play this season and at more input to come from her in the future.

https://twitter.com/BartenderChic78/status/948435853583507456

What’s more, she praised her son for his attitude and loyalty to KU and his teammates and coaches and also said that she was tired of hearing people attack her character and that of her son’s.

https://twitter.com/BartenderChic78/status/948436972934254593

https://twitter.com/BartenderChic78/status/948440607873216514

It remains to be seen how much longer Preston will be held out of competition or if he will return to the floor at all this season.

KU coach Bill Self and a handful of Preston’s teammates have said they, too, have been impressed by his attitude throughout the entire ordeal, but Self said recently that he was unsure how quickly Preston would be able to help the team on the floor if he is cleared because his frustrations over the situation have allowed his focus to slip.

The most recent update provided by Self indicated that KU had finished its review of the case and passed the information along to the NCAA.

Now, KU is merely waiting on the NCAA to make a ruling, which could come any day now that the NCAA offices are back up and running following the holiday break.

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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.