Cedric Hunter was one of the most underrated and best point guards in KU history

In this three-part series on former KU standout point guard Cedric Hunter, I reflect on his high school, college and pro career and his life after professional basketball.

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Cedric Hunter was a high school star out of Omaha South who led the state in scoring his junior and senior years, including 27.3 points per game as a senior. He was named all-metro and all-state, while honored as a Converse All-American. However, he played center in high school and was lightly recruited due to his small stature at just 6-foot.

Despite manning the center position in high school, Hunter’s prep coach Bob Whitehouse had no doubts Hunter could become a great point guard in college.

“There won’t be any trouble with him making the transition to point guard,” Whitehouse said in the KU Media Guide before Hunter’s freshman season in 1983-84.

In one of the smartest decisions of then-KU coach Larry Brown’s coaching career, he offered Ced a scholarship after a track and field meet in Omaha, without ever seeing him play basketball in person. Brown was impressed with Hunter’s supreme athleticism, and thought he could impact the KU program. Hunter was part of Brown's first recruiting class, along with Mark Turgeon and Chris Piper.

Boy, was Brown right about Hunter! All he did in four years at KU (1983-87) was become the school’s all-time and Big Eight assist leader with 684 dimes, a record that stood for 10 years until KU’s Jacque Vaughn broke it in 1997.

Hunter averaged 5.8 assists per game for his career with an impressive 2.14 assist-to-turnover ratio. He also averaged 1.3 steals and 8.5 points per game (career-high 11.6 ppg his senior year in 1986-87) and recorded 1,022 career points in 118 games while averaging 30.2 minutes per contest.

For many people who said he couldn’t shoot, including KU coach Bill Self, who was a graduate assistant during Hunter’s sophomore year, Ced shot a scorching 53.5 field goal percentage for his career, including an eye-popping career-best 56.2 field goal percentage his sophomore season in 1985-86, where the unsung hero helped lead KU to the Final Four and most wins at the time in school history (35-4). That team remains one of the best in KU annals with Hunter at point guard, Ron Kellogg and Calvin Thompson at the wings, Danny Manning at power forward, and Greg Dreiling at center. The team went eight deep with Archie Marshall, Mark Turgeon and Chris Piper serving as instrumental reserves.

Self told the Kansas City Star in January 2019 that Hunter “couldn’t shoot a lick.” No offense to Self and many other detractors who felt the same way, but just look at the stats. No, Cedric didn’t have very good range (1-7 from three-point range his senior year), but he could simply knock down the wide-open 15-to-17 foot jumper. Opponents dared him to shoot, and Ced made them pay. Time and time again. I saw virtually all of Ced’s home games in Allen Fieldhouse in person and watched whenever KU was on TV, and he could shoot it from medium distance. So Self and others were completely wrong.

Hunter actually set a Big Eight record in 1986 by shooting an incredible 73.1 percent from the field in league games and was 8-of-8 from the field against Oklahoma that year, when he scored a season-high 19 points. He also shot 7-of-7 from the field versus Missouri in 1985. Beginning with his senior year, Hunter remarkably shot better than 70 percent from the field in 20 different games during his career.

His only weakness, besides his lack of perimeter range, was his free throw shooting. Hunter shot just 52.1 percent for his career, a very poor percentage, especially for a point guard. Brown said that Hunter looked at the ball while he shot, a no-no for a shooter. However, Brown believed in Hunter so much that he often had him shoot technicals to boost his confidence. More often than not, as I recall, Hunter made his free throws then. What a joy it must have been for Hunter to play for a coach who believed in him to shoot technicals, despite his poor free throw shooting.

Despite Self’s remarks about Ced’s shooting, he had tremendous respect for Hunter’s game. Hunter guarded Self during the KU coach’s career at Oklahoma State.

“I loved Cedric,” Self told the Kansas City Star on Dec. 23, 2019. “Coach (Larry) Brown did as well. He could guard anybody, had unbelievable length (39-inch arms), was explosive. He was not a great shooter, but maybe as good a point guard this place has seen, as good a point guard who doesn’t score the ball. Talk about a pure defender and setup guy, he was as good as anybody. You did not want him guarding you. You’d rather have anybody guard you than Cedric. He could lock you up.”

Self then further gushed about Hunter to the Omaha World Herald:

"Cedric probably was the best non-shooting player I've ever been around."

Self added to the Star on Jan. 28, 2019:

“Gosh was he great. Long arms, best on the ball defender, guys loved playing with him.”

Indeed, Hunter’s teammates deeply “loved playing with him.” 

Just ask Piper.

“Cedric Hunter was probably one of the most underrated point guards, I think, that KU has ever had. He was phenomenal and could really break everything down,” Piper told Mark Stallard in his 2005 book, Tales from the Jayhawks Hardwood.

Hunter drew great respect and admiration from his coaches, teammates and opponents alike. Brown talked on his Hawk Talk radio show during the 1985-86 season about Hunter’s defense against Duke All-American guard Johnny Dawkins in the preseason Big Apple NIT on Dec. 1, 1985.

“He got 20 I believe against us,” Brown said. “He came up to me after the game and said Cedric did the best job as any guard he’s played against since he’s been at Duke, and I thought that was a heck of a testimony. He got a lot on the break against us, and he’s just a tremendous athlete.”

Hunter improved each year, averaging 4.2 points his freshman season (he was declared academically ineligible after semester break), 6.7 points his sophomore year, 9.1 points as a junior, then 11.6 points his senior season. He also averaged a career-high 5.1 rebounds per game as a senior, pretty good numbers for a 6-foot point guard.

The KU Basketball Media Guide wrote in 1985-86 that “Brown feels Hunter is one of the most improved players he has ever coached.”

Hunter, who had a career-high 16 assists versus Oklahoma in the Big Eight postseason tournament in 1986, was the consummate point guard who ran the break as well as any guard in the country. My dad, who played hockey growing up in Toronto, was a huge fan of Ced’s, and said he reminded him of a hockey player on skates with the way he ran and orchestrated the break. Hunter always got the ball in the scorers’ best shooting position, and made the game so much easier for all his teammates.

Indeed, Piper was right. I’ve always thought “Electric” Cedric Hunter was one of the most underrated and best point guards KU has ever seen. He deserves all credit that is due for his remarkable career playing under the shadows of such stars as Manning, Kellogg, Dreiling and Thompson.

The KU basketball legacy of Calvin Thompson, Greg Dreiling and Ron Kellogg and the unfair business of professional sports

As Calvin Thompson, Ron Kellogg and Greg Dreiling were making their mark during their senior year at KU in 1985-86, KU coach Larry Brown spoke about their lasting accomplishments to the Topeka Capital-Journal.

“They’ve made a contribution to this program that will carry over for a long time,” Brown said. “They’ve helped us learn how to win again, and hopefully that will carry over. I feel special about these kids for what they’ve helped us accomplish. I don’t think you can replace them, but I hope we don’t have to. I just hope we can continue to build on what they’ve done.”

The super senior trio, who were recruited by Ted Owens, helped put KU basketball on the map again during their careers after two straight losing seasons by Owens cost him his job. Thompson, Kellogg and Dreiling helped lead KU to the 1986 Final Four under Brown, their first national semifinal appearance since 1974. In their swan song against Duke in the Final Four at Reunion Arena in Dallas, where KU lost 71-67, Kellogg led Kansas with 22 points on 11 of 15 field goal shooting. Thompson added 13 points, five rebounds and three assists, while Dreiling recorded six points and six rebounds.

These seniors helped lead KU to the winningest season at the time in school history at 35-4.

During the previous game in the Elite Eight versus North Carolina State at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Dreiling dominated inside with 19 points and 12 boards. Then, in the Sweet 16 against Michigan State, Thompson was the hero in his hometown with 26 points, four rebounds and four assists.

Brown, who spent the majority of his coaching career in the NBA and ABA, spoke about the three seniors’ chances of making the NBA during the 1985-86 season on his Hawk Talk radio show.

“I think Greg is a definite. I think he’s going to go first round and I think he’ll probably go in the top 15 picks. He’s just made so much progress and they need big guys, and he’s a very very conscientious hard working kid,” Brown said.

“Ronnie and Calvin, it’s a little tougher. At their size, that’s probably a position that has the most gifted kids all over playing and trying for spots. They both I think have the ability. They both have the desire. They’re going to have to improve their ballhandling tremendously. I think they shoot the ball well enough and they’re good kids. They have to get with the right team, a team that needs their particular play. If they can work hard and improve their ball-handling skills, their chances will go up considerably.

“I hope they’ll all make it,” Brown added. “I think they’ve made tremendous improvement. Ronnie and Calvin, most people look at them as big guards. I think in order for them to make it as pros, they’re going to have to work on their overall game, but they’ve shown so much improvement in the last two or three years that I’m confident that they both will make it. Greg, everybody feels he has a chance to be a center in the NBA. I certainly do. He works hard. He’s got great character. He’s getting better all the time. I don’t know if they’ll step in and start. I doubt that will happen their rookie year, but I think they all have a chance to be pros for a long time.”

Thompson finished his illustrious career as KU’s fourth all-time leading scorer with 1,555 points, while Kellogg completed his magical career as the school’s fifth all-time leading scorer with 1,508 points. Playing just before the three-point line was implemented (the shot went into effect in 1986-87), both are regarded as two of the best outside shooters in KU annals with Thompson shooting a career 53.4 field goal percentage, including a scorching 56.6 percent his senior year. Kellogg, who never saw a shot he didn’t like, blistered the nets with a career 53.2 field goal percentage, including 55.2 percent his senior season and an even more eye-popping 57.6 percent his junior year.

Dreiling, who played three years at KU after transferring from Wichita State, improved tremendously throughout his career and completed his Jayhawk days as the 10th all-time leading scorer with 1,209 points and sixth all-time rebounder with 650 boards. Dreiling currently ranks No. 7 all time at KU in career field goal percentage (57.2).

With such impressive talent and NBA aspirations, their pro careers were met with major obstacles and adversity after leaving KU. Brown’s agent, Joe Glass, wanted the three seniors to sign with him. Instead, Kellogg, Thompson and Dreiling inked with different agents.

“We got a bad rap,” Thompson said. “The Glasses (Joe and son Keith) told me and Ronnie and Greg that if we didn’t sign with him, that we wouldn’t play in the league.”

Thompson said they were “blackballed” and rumors spread that they had bad attitudes.

“People don’t know but it was a good run,” said Thompson, who had a very successful career in the CBA and overseas.

Thompson was selected in the fourth round by the New York Knicks (No. 71 overall pick, first selection in fourth round), while Dreiling was a second-round pick by the Indiana Pacers (No. 26 overall and second pick in second round). Kellogg was also drafted in the second round by the Atlanta Hawks (No. 42 overall and No. 18 pick in second round) but was traded on draft night to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Thompson said he was at first excited to be headed to the Big Apple and reunited with former KU assistant coach and then-Knicks aide Bob Hill.

“I thought New York was the perfect fit for me because they needed some shooters,” Thompson said in an exclusive 90-minute Where Are They Now? interview at his home in 1999.

However, his time in New York didn’t end happily. Mysteriously, Thompson was placed on injured reserve and the only player in camp not to play in any games despite wowing everyone in practice with his skills. 

“(I) kicked everyone’s butt,” Thompson said.

Thompson said that Hill “told me the truth” ... and “came into my hotel room after they had made a decision to get rid of me and told me, ‘Hubie thought that you were Larry’s (Brown) boy, and he doesn’t like Larry. He was drafting you to screw Larry.’  

“It was always rumored that Larry was going to take Hubie Brown’s job in New York and become coach, and so he figured he would draft his boy to screw him over. I said (to Hill), ‘Did he know that I’m not Larry’s boy?’”

That didn’t matter. Hubie Brown, now a TV pro basketball analyst, was making his own statement by cutting Thompson. 

“He drafted me to get back at coach Brown,” Thompson said.

That put Hill and Thompson in a tough spot.

“’He (Hubie Brown) told me if I (Hill) said anything to you, he would fire me,’” Thompson said Hill told him.

Despite not making the Knicks, Thompson learned from the experience and became even hungrier about the game.

“The New York camp is probably the best thing that could have happened to me,” Thompson told the Lawrence Journal-World on Sept. 6, 1986 after signing with the CBA’s Topeka Sizzlers.

“It opened my eyes and made me see what was going on. I’ve been through it now, and it’s made me grow as a player and as a person.”

Thompson, who was the first rookie selected to play in the CBA All-Star game, wound up having a 

very successful career as an explosive scorer for two seasons in the CBA and seven years in Europe, including two seasons in France and five years in Israel. 

He said playing in Israel was a remarkable experience. Thompson, who was having marriage problems at the time, lived his first year in the Nazareth Mountains.

“I loved it,” Thompson said. “The first thing I did when I got to Israel was swim in the sea of Galilee. I figured if Jesus could walk across the water, I could swim in it. It gave me a sense of peace in my life to be up in the mountains and see all the history that we learned about in Sunday school and in the Bible. That allowed me to breathe and live again, to appreciate life and not dwell on the negative that was happening.”

Kellogg didn’t have nearly the same success as Thompson after leaving KU. After acquiring Kellogg in a trade on draft night, Lakers general manager Jerry West said this: "Simply, he may be the best shooter I've ever seen shoot a basketball."

Despite such high praise, Kellogg didn’t make the Lakers and never played in the NBA. He played in the CBA and overseas, although never came close to matching the successful career he had at Kansas. Kellogg was a poor ballhandler, and according to a former teammate, had to “start all over” once his college career ended.

“(Kellogg) thought he had it made,” the teammate said. “He wasn’t prepared. Kellogg didn’t have the mentality. Ronnie would break plays (at KU) if his number wasn’t called.”

Despite being “blackballed” by Brown’s agent, Dreiling wound up with a 10-year NBA career with the Indiana Pacers (seven years), Dallas Mavericks and Cleveland Cavaliers, where he was a solid role player and enforcer.

Dreiling posted career averages of 2.1 points and 2.1 rebounds in 8.9 minutes per game while starting 94 of 474 games. He shot 46.7 percent from the field and 64.9 percent at the free throw line. His best season came in 1990-91 with Indiana when his former KU assistant Bob Hill served as head coach. Dreiling averaged career highs in points (3.5), rebounds (3.5), games (73), starts (42) and minutes (14.1).

The former McDonald’s All-American (he was regarded as one of the top three centers in his high school class with Patrick Ewing and Stuart Gray) totaled 1,014 career points, 1,018 rebounds and 137 blocks.

Dreiling, whose last year came in 1996-97 with Dallas, played in four playoffs, where he started five of nine games (all five starts in five games came with Indiana in 1991) while averaging 1.9 points and 2.2 rebounds per game.

According to Baskeballreference.com, Dreiling made $2,627,500 during his career with his most earnings coming in 1992-93 with Indiana, when the former KU star made $650,000.

In the 1994-95 Rick Barry’s Pro Basketball Bible, here’s how Barry graded Dreiling’s performance and also how he evaluated him. He was an unrestricted free agent and unsigned at press time.

First, the grades.

Scoring D

Shooting B

Free-Throw Shooting C

Defense B

Defensive Rebounding B

Offensive Rebounding C

Passing C

Ball Handling C

Intangibles A

Overall C-

From Barry: “You want scoring? Dreiling will not give you scoring. Eight-year vet’s highest scoring average was 3.5, the only time he’s chalked up over 3 a night...If he’s going to score, it will be on a rare 15-footer, the occasional putback (thought he’s not a particularly effective offensive rebounder), or off the pick-and-roll...What Dreiling brings to the table are his six fouls. Not reluctant to hit guys coming down the lane. Yup, he’s foul prone. He’s a banger, though not a shot blocker...He won’t get you beat with his passing, nor will he beat you with his passing; indeed, he rarely touches the ball on offense. Sets good screens for jump shooters. Can catch the ball...Character, work ethic and attitude all are first-rate.”

“In Sum.”

“Give the man credit. He has lasted eight years with marginal ability on both ends of the court. Knows his role and knows his limitations. Makes for a solid third-string (not a back-up, mind you) center.”

In Barry’s 1995-96 Pro Basketball Bible, when Dreiling was with the Cavs, here’s his grades and report. 

Scoring D

Shooting D

Free-throw Shooting D

Defense C

Defensive Rebounding B

Offensive Rebounding D+

Shot Blocking C

Passing D

Ballhandling D

Intangibles B+

Overall D+

“A good season for Dreiling is when he has more points than personal fouls. Guess that makes last season a good one. He scored 110 points and and committed 108 hacks in 483 minutes of 58 games...Scout: “He’s not much more than a big stiff whose greatest asset is that he takes up space.” ...He’ll battle people in the post and block an occasional shot, but he’s a big-time hatchet man. In nine seasons, he has 934 points and 858 personal fouls. Zero speed...Get serious...What floor game? For a veteran of nearly 10 seasons, he too often panics when he gets the ball. “The only thing worse,” said one coach, “is if he tries dribbling once he’s got it.”...There are a couple of plusses here (intangibles). He’ll set a decent pick, but forget getting him the ball if the action calls for a pick-and-roll. And he’s a decent practice player.” 

“In Sum”

“A few years ago, when he played with the Pacers, Dreiling squawked about not getting enough playing time. He’ll be 32 in November and the squawking has ceased. He may be able to squeeze out another year or two in the NBA. If not, Europe beckons.”

Despite these critical comments by Barry, I was always a fan of Dreiling and thought he was a very hard worker and extremely conscientious. He worked with a dance instructor at KU to improve his footwork. How many college athletes would ever do that? He made great strides at Kansas after a sensational high school career in Wichita, where he was larger than life and dominated due to his sheer size.

I rooted for him in the NBA and saw three of his games, including an exhibition game in Topeka with the Pacers and two regular-season Pacer games at Market Square Arena, including one contest during 1991 Final Four weekend, where Dreiling and Indiana battled against Golden State and Paul Mokeski.

I believe Dreiling should be lauded and praised for having a 10-year NBA career with such marginal talent. And it also certainly didn’t hurt that he was white. During his Hawk Talk radio show in 1988, here is what Larry Brown said about Dreiling and white privilege:

“When you’re 7-foot and white, the chances of you playing in the NBA for a long time is really highly probable, and I think he’ll play for a long time.”

Emotional team meeting propelled KU to the 1986 Final Four

I'd like to thank Calvin Thompson, one of the best players and shooters in KU history, for this extremely candid interview in 1999 at his home. We talked for 90 minutes in one of the most candid interviews I've done in my 23-year writing career. This is a look back at how KU's run to the 1986 Final Four was all possible after an emotional team meeting in the spring of 1985, when head coach Larry Brown apologized to his players for the way he mistreated them during the 1984-85 season.

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Kansas basketball's road to the 1986 Final Four 32 years ago all began when Calvin Thompson walked by Danny Manning on campus shortly after the Jayhawks lost to Auburn in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 1985.

“We started crying at the same time,” Thompson told me during an exclusive 90-minute interview in 1999 for Jayhawk Insider.

These were tears of frustration and heartache from handling coach Larry Brown’s verbal abuse during the season. Brown, who blamed a few losses on Thompson, Manning and Ron Kellogg, was so overcome with emotion that he actually told his three star players “not to come back — to transfer.” 

The team leader, Thompson knew something had to change that day he saw Manning on campus. After immediately holding a players’ meeting in the locker room, Thompson called the basketball office and asked Brown to come down. 

“He said he wasn’t coming,” recalled Thompson, “and I told him we weren’t leaving.”

So Brown reluctantly walked down to the locker room. Thompson described what transpired.

“’We’re here for you,’” he told his coach, who had been experiencing marital problems and taking “it out on us.”

“’We want you to be here for us. We need to get on the same page.’ We didn’t leave the locker room until he apologized to everybody.”

Brown did so and the Jayhawks got “on the same page.”

“He realized he needed to make some adjustment. You see the results in ‘86,” Thompson said about the 35-4 Final Four squad. “We’re one of the better teams in Kansas history.”

Indeed, they were.

Kansas won the most games in school annals at the time and still holds KU’s single-season field goal percentage record (55.6) while advancing to the national semifinals for the first time in 12 years. With Greg Dreiling (11.6 ppg) at center, Manning (16.7 ppg) and Kellogg (15.9 ppg) at forward, and Thompson (13.4 ppg) and point guard Cedric Hunter (9.1 ppg) in the backcourt, this was an extremely potent offensive team that shared the ball very well.

The Jayhawks, who boasted four career 1,000-plus point scorers (Manning, Dreiling, Kellogg and Thompson) for the first time in school history, went eight deep with post player and defensive presence Chris Piper, sweet shooter/swingman Archie Marshall, and fiery point guard Mark Turgeon coming off the bench.

And each player knew their role, including the last man on the team.

“Jeff Johnson (sophomore walk-on) or whoever was the last one on the bench ... but they were so important to our team because they made us practice,” Thompson said. “People don’t realize that. It’s not an individual game. Practice players and bench players are just as important. We wouldn’t have had the great success we had if we weren’t a team.” 

This was, indeed, a close-knit family who endured some rough times the first few years when Brown took over the head-coaching job in 1983 from the fired Ted Owens.

”I didn’t like the way he treated us when he first came,” Thompson said. “He said we were his stepkids and were going to be really good when his kids came in. So how does that look on us. Not going to sit back and agree with him. I was still a little smart-mouth kid ... It was just like a marriage; you already got a family established and here comes a new daddy. ‘Why should I do what you say when you’re not my daddy, you’re not my kid?’ It was the same thing. There were some growing pains initially.”

After a “year and a half, two years, team meeting after team meeting, things clicked.”

“The adversity we had to get through just to get adjusted to coach Brown, it brought a lot of us closer together,” Thompson said. “It helped us to grow. When we became close -- (we’d go to) movies, study hall (together). We could depend on each other on the court.”

That was certainly the case during the 1985-86 season. KU stormed to a 12-1 start with its only loss to Duke in the Big Apple NIT in Madison Square Garden on Dec. 1, 1985. After losing a heartbreaking 83-80 overtime game at Memphis on Jan. 4, the Jayhawks took their play to a higher gear, winning 23 of 24 games and capturing the Big Eight Championship and conference tournament title before advancing to the program’s first Final Four since 1974.

While the Final Four seemed KU’s destiny since the season kicked off with Late Night with Larry Brown in October, the players weren’t just satisfied with being one of the last four teams standing at Reunion Arena in Dallas.

“We’ve wanted to win it all from day one,” Marshall told the Lawrence Journal-World at the time.

Standing in KU’s way of a date in the national title game was No. 1 Duke, the team which had given the Jayhawks just one of their three losses during this magical season. Plagued with foul trouble (Manning, who scored a career-low four points, fouled out, along with Hunter and Dreiling), KU still found itself tied with the Blue Devils 67-all when Duke forward Mark Alarie missed a shot in the final minute. However, Kansas missed a box out and Danny Ferry grabbed the offensive rebound and scored a layup to give Duke a 69-67 lead with 22 seconds left.

Kansas had a final chance to tie the game with four seconds left when Kellogg pulled up from 25 feet and released a jumper that all Jayhawks prayed would hit nothing but net.

The shot bounced harmlessly off the rim, and KU’s national championship dreams were over.

Thompson called the setback a “devastating loss.” And he still can picture Ferry grab that critical offensive rebound and putback.

“How many times have I seen that over and over?” Thompson lamented.

Louisville went on to beat Duke in the national championship game. KU had beaten the Cardinals earlier that season, 71-69, on Jan. 25 in Allen Fieldhouse.

“We knew we were the best, but the best team really seldom wins it,” Thompson said of falling short of a national title.

While Thompson and the Jayhawks were devastated, Turgeon took the loss especially hard. A diehard KU fan growing up in Topeka, the 5-10 point guard was the only KU player seen crying in the locker room afterwards.

“I’ve been a KU fan all my life,” Turgeon told the Wichita Eagle at the time. “I guess I took it like a fan would.”

The Jayhawks’ spirits would be lifted soon afterwards as fans turned out to fete the team during a parade on campus along Jayhawk Boulevard. KU could also be consoled knowing it was one of the best teams in school history.

Brown, who led UCLA to the national title game in 1980 and guided Kansas to a national championship in 1988, has said time and again that 1985-86 team was the best squad he ever coached in college.

“From top to bottom, it was as talented as any team I’ve ever been around,” Brown told ESPN Regional Television’s “Kansas Basketball: A Century Of Tradition” in 1998. “Night in and night out, I think that team played up to its potential as much as any team I’ve ever been associated with.

               

“I think if any team deserved to win a national championship, that team probably deserved it as much as any.”

                

While the ‘Hawks fell short at Reunion Arena, that dream team put Kansas back on the national map to stay. KU’s continued to build off that squad’s success and reached eight more Final Fours since then, including winning the 1988 and 2008 national championships.

                

The 1985-86 team’s legacy lives on over 30 years later.

               

 “That’s where we are where we are now,” Thompson said.

But to get to that Final Four in ‘86, the Jayhawks and Brown first had to resolve their issues after that turbulent 1984-85 season. Kellogg cried when Brown told him, Thompson and Manning to transfer. 

“’This is my home, (Brown) will leave before me. Danny’s not going anywhere,’” Thompson told Kellogg. "(Kellogg asked), ‘But what about me?’"

Although Thompson said “we’d laugh about it,” the Jayhawks were hurting inside. Thompson stressed that he wasn’t going to sit back and let Brown “walk over us and treat us like crap.”

The KU players weren’t the only ones upset with Brown. Some alumni told Thompson that “until he apologizes, they wouldn’t be affiliated with the school anymore.” 

Thompson said Brown “got caught up in his emotions. ... Maybe that was his way to get the fire lit under us.”

In any event, Brown apologized to his players during that emotional team meeting in the spring of 1985. That was, indeed, the defining moment which made the journey to Dallas and the Final Four all possible.

“You can ask anyone who played for Larry, and everybody thanks him for that,” said Thompson, who has since become good friends with Brown and laugh with each other about their old conflicts.

“We all learned from it and grew. Larry grew from it, and not only made us better players, but better people. We were blessed to have him.”