Why Friday?

“Drew thought about doing it late in the week. I chose Friday because I’m out of town recruiting until then,” Kansas University basketball coach Roy Williams said, explaining the reason junior forward Drew Gooden will announce his future plans at a 4 p.m. Friday news conference.

Gooden, who thought he’d be a lottery pick in the upcoming draft, found out for sure when Williams presented him with draft reports from 10 NBA teams on Sunday and Monday.

So Gooden now will further consider the information and reveal a decision Friday.

“One thing I ask you folks is to leave him alone,” Williams said Monday to media members. “Don’t call his house. Don’t call his mama. Don’t call his daddy. He has gotten all the information. Now let somebody have time to make a decision.

“Don’t be a pain in the rear because if you call him he’s not going to tell you. It’s a waste of time try(ing) to prove to somebody you are earning your money. The fact of the matter is we’re telling you you’ll know Friday at 4 o’clock.

“A couple years ago I asked you to give me some time. Don’t go running around and looking stupid like some other newspaper people ended up looking silly. Give the kid some time and leave him alone. It is irritating him a great deal. He gets up and reads comments from family members that are being called.”

Family members have told the Journal-World the past couple weeks they’d love for Drew to return, but will back him 100 percent if he leaves, realizing the money might be too good to pass up.

Too bad this isn’t baseball: In college baseball, all players are open to the draft. Once drafted by the pros, they then decide whether or not to return.

“I would like that a lot better,” Williams said. “I could have done a lot more things the last two weeks rather than talk to all those NBA people. One difference is there are only two rounds in basketball. In baseball, 20, 30, 40 rounds. They have so many more getting drafted.”

What about the other juniors?: Williams has also gathered information from NBA officials regarding the draft position of juniors Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich.

Both have said they are likely to return to KU. Both, however, will look at the information before making official decisions.

“I’ve gathered some information and not given it to them yet,” Williams said. “That’s a slower process than Drew’s scenario.”

Why slower?

“I’m not pointing fingers, but you guys (media) are pressuring Drew. He didn’t do the best job of handling it at all times (talking about NBA this past season). We said at the start of the year we’d like to concentrate on basketball and the season. Nobody would allow him to do that.

“Everybody and aunt Mary’s sister would say, ‘Son, great game last night; great rebounding; great defending, now what do you think about going to the NBA?’

“Nobody would leave him alone. It’s what precipitated us trying to move faster on his. The nature of it … it’s more pressing trying to get that information. Hopefully we’ll give Kirk and Nick some information by this afternoon and tomorrow.”

Just like with Jacque: Williams will ask Gooden to inform him his final decision by phone. Let the coach explain:

“The proudest I’ve been … I’m not often very proud of myself … Jacque (Vaughn) was shocked. I told him when he made his decision to call me. he said, ‘Call you? Don’t you want to talk about it together?’ I said, ‘Call because if you decide to leave it’ll be easier to tell me on the phone.’ I was proud of that. I’ll tell Drew the same thing. I want it to be easy for him to tell me. I don’t want it to be hard.”

Vaughn, of course, elected to stay at KU rather than bolt for the pros his senior year.

“I can very easily live with myself saying, ‘This is the information. Here are the pros and cons. Now do what you want to do,”’ Williams said. “I can live very happily like that knowing I’ve not tried to force anybody.”

Insurance: NCAA institutions are allowed to purchase insurance policies for draftable players. As such, Gooden and Collison had policies this past season.

How big is the premium? “Probably what all your salaries are,” Williams said of the media. “That’s personal. It’s different for different players. You get evaluation from the NBA. They tell you what you can qualify for. You can get up to a certain amount? You have to be approved. I’ve had some guys turned down before some good players turned down. The NCAA has been doing it back to the mid 1980s.”

Arm-chair quarterbacks: Gooden apparently isn’t comfortable with folks giving their opinions on what he should do.

“He was irritated to see some things in the paper cause it’s his decision, not some guy who runs the filling station at Slippery Rock. It’s his decision, his life,” Williams said.

Recruiting: Devin Smith, a 6-foot-6 freshman guard from Coffeyville Community College, said he had a great time on his weekend recruiting visit to Kansas.

His coach Jay Herkelman reiterated that fact on Monday, telling analyst Jon Kirby, “He liked just about everything about the program. I had a chance to talk to him when he got back yesterday. Then I spoke with him again today. He had a chance to let everything sink in. When I talked to him today he felt the same way as he did yesterday.”

Smith will visit Iowa Friday through Sunday and Virginia Sunday until Tuesday.