To the editor:

The NBA draft last week was very disappointing to our national champion Kansas University basketball team players and fans. We had all assumed that those professional teams would see the great value of our heroes and quickly snap them up.

As Darrell Arthur and Mario Chalmers, along with their extended families and fans, waited through round after round of embarrassing rejections, we were all stunned at how far our heroes had fallen. This was to be the defining moment in the lives of these two young men, their lifelong dreams of being famous and wealthy athletes were slowly becoming less certain.

Hadn’t they just recently received fame and national recognition from their brilliant victory over Memphis? Everyone loved them. Now, our darlings were being disrespected on national TV. We were infuriated. How could this happen to our wonderful kids?

What had happened was bad advice and hopeful wishing from those closest to these young men. It is now obvious in hindsight that they both would have greatly benefited from completing their college careers. More experience, coaching and conditioning would have greatly improved their value to the pros.

Even the man who had recruited them gave them advice to the effect that if you are sure that you’ll be drafted in the first round, then go for it. Coach Self was in many ways advising against his and KU’s interests, but he, as always, was considering his “boys” best interests along with their career choices. A good lesson for the future!

Richard M. Hassur,
Lawrence