Kansas’ Final Four led to these fine four
Fresh off last year’s Final Four appearance, Kansas University’s men’s basketball program on Wednesday will corral one of the top recruiting classes in the country.
Coincidence, or not?
“Immediate prior success helps you in recruiting. There’s so much focus and attention on the Final Four particularly, it just helps,” KU coach Roy Williams said.
Kansas next week will sign high school seniors David Padgett, 6-foot-11 from Reno, Nev.; J.R. Giddens, 6-5, Oklahoma City; Omar Wilkes, 6-4, Los Angeles; and Jeremy Case, 6-foot, McAlester, Okla.
Padgett is ranked the country’s 12th best prep player by prepstars.com, 15th best by ESPN.com and 21st best by rivals.com.
Giddens is ranked 17th by ESPN.com, 19th by prepstars.com and 37th by rivals.com.
Wilkes is 73rd by prepstars.com and 94th by ESPN.com.
Case is not listed in anybody’s top 100 rankings.
After cutting down the net when his Kansas University men's basketball team beat Oregon to go to last March's Final Four, coach Roy Williams might have helped himself in recruiting. On Wednesday, KU will announce the signing of a ballyhooed recruiting class, and he acknowledges last year's success helped him succeed in recruiting.
Obviously the Final Four berth isn’t the only reason the hard-working Williams will be landing a top class. KU’s head coach did not take a day off from Dec. 27 until the last day of the 2001-02 season, traveling to pursue recruits on virtually every off day.
Still, the Final Four provided a major spark.
“I think every year kids remember the previous season. They don’t go back much before that,” Williams said. “Danny Manning spoke at our camp (last summer). He’s the No. 1 player in college in 1988 and the No. 1 player in the (NBA) draft. The kids politely applauded.
“Drew (Gooden) spoke afterward, and they are frickin’ hanging from the rafters. Their memory is not long. One of the kids at my camp asked me, ‘Coach how did it feel to coach Wilt Chamberlain?’ I said, ‘How old are you, son?’ He said, ‘8.’ I said, ‘That’s how old I was when Wilt Chamberlain played here.”’
College basketball’s Final Four receives attention all over the U.S. and overseas.
“I had a visiting coach from Italy spend a week here. I said, ‘Why did you choose us?”’ Williams said. “He said, ‘I looked at the list and you had more wins and fewer losses (than any active college coach). He said, ‘The Final Four is like going in the casino, what you call a crapshoot.’
“I do think the Final Four, the national championship, has gotten to be so big, the attention it brings to a coach, whether we like it or not, it’s there. I will not let that dictate who I am or what we’ve done.”
Williams, who has directed KU to three Final Fours, has an overall winning mark of .807 ” by far the tops of all coaches with at least six years experience. Bob Huggins is second at .744 and is followed by Rick Majerus (.740), Jim Boeheim (.738), Mike Krzyzewski (.737), Lute Olson (.736), Rick Pitino (.730), John Chaney (.727), Bob Knight (.725) and Tom Izzo (.720).
“I think I am more interested in what Bobby Knight thinks of Roy Williams than somebody who does not have Bobby Knight’s knowledge, I’ll put it that way,” Williams said. “I think in a sort of way it’s sick. This is college athletics. Some say, ‘I don’t watch the NBA until the playoffs.’ That’s the way some view college now. It’s sad because it’s college athletics. I’m proud of what we do over a 16-game (conference) season.”
KU went unbeaten in league play last year, then reached the Final Four for the first time since 1993. The Jayhawks lost to Maryland in the semifinals.
“From friends it was a feeling of relief. They were tired of (Williams) having to take the junk of us not getting to the Final Four as a No. 1 seed,” Williams said.
“The aftermath, there was the euphoria, the thrill, the pageantry, the love. Yet we didn’t play very well against Maryland (in 97-88 loss). In a seven-day period we had a 18-0 lead over Stanford and I thought the game was over (86-63 win). We were up 13-2 versus Maryland and I told the staff, ‘I don’t like this.’ We were taking bad shots, but they were going in.
“(Losing) gives the kids more resolve, incentive. Losing Drew (Gooden to NBA) may have given ’em even more. The thrill we had last year does give them more incentive.”
KU senior Kirk Hinrich agreed.
“Any time you get so close to one of your goals it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. You want to work harder,” he said.
“We’ve been there now. We want to go a couple of steps farther to win the whole thing,” senior Nick Collison added.
KU will conclude the exhibition season with a game against Washburn at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Allen Fieldhouse.
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