Danny Manning's Lawrence High team make magical run to the state title game 30 years ago

Thirty years ago on March 10, 1984, Danny Manning and his Lawrence High Lions lost a heartbreaking 50-49 game to Wyandotte in the 6A state championship in Allen Fieldhouse. On this same night, Manning’s future team -- the Kansas Jayhawks -- won a thrilling 79-78 game over Oklahoma in the Big Eight Tournament championship.

KU basketball was now in the Big Dance for the first time in three years, and a new era of Jayhawk hoops had begun with Larry Brown as head coach. Manning would become a dominant figure in KU’s rise back to national prominence, but on this day in March, he was like the rest of his LHS teammates — despondent after losing the state championship.

I was a Lawrence High classmate of Danny our senior year in 1983-84 and wrote this story on him in Jayhawk Illustrated in 2009 as part of the 25-year anniversary of Manning and the Lions’ magical season.

Five years later, with March Madness upon us and the 30-year anniversary of the Manning-led Lions run to the state title, let’s look back on how it all started for Danny three decades ago in his first year in Lawrence in this two-part updated story. 

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While Tulsa head coach Danny Manning has resurrected the program and brings his Golden Hurricane into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2003, I can't help but flash back to over 30 years ago in August of 1983 when my former high school classmate arrived in Lawrence to attend LHS his senior year after a standout career at Page High in Greensboro, North Carolina., where he teamed with future NFL star Haywood Jeffires and led the Pirates to a state championship and undefeated season his junior year, one of the best prep seasons in North Carolina history.

Of course, we all know the story how KU coach Larry Brown hired Manning’s father, Ed, as assistant coach in the summer of ‘83. The Manning family moved to Lawrence, and Danny shortly committed to Kansas and inked with the Jayhawks in the November early signing period. 

Ted Juneau, Manning’s basketball coach at LHS, close friend, and now director of basketball services at Tulsa, was in disbelief when he first heard a high school star from North Carolina might be joining his team. Juneau was going about his business preparing for a new school year and basketball season after winning the Class 6A state championship the previous March with my former T-Ball teammate Chris Piper leading the way.

Juneau said Jayhawk assistant John Calipari and the KU coaches kept calling his office.

“(Calipari) said, ‘Ted, there’s a chance that the best high school player in America is going to move to Lawrence.’” Juneau recalled in a 90-minute interview in 1998. “I said, ‘Right.’ He said, ‘Yeah, really.’ Lo and behold, they called (again) and said they’re going to hire Ed as an assistant coach and their son, Danny, is going to be here, (that they were) pretty sure he’s coming.

“From that point on, what I thought would have been a good season, that we’d be competitive, suddenly the pressure was on.”

Juneau and senior co-captain Jeff Johnson went to meet Manning at the Holidome when Danny and his family first arrived in Lawrence. 

“Ed answered and we introduced ourselves,” Juneau said. “Danny was lying on the bed watching TV. He got up, and it was just like seeing all legs come up. He didn’t weigh a lot. He was pretty skinny, but boy, you looked up and said, ‘Oh my God, this is for real.’

“So the ride began.”

Both Juneau and Johnson recall Manning being very genuine and classy during that first meeting.

“My first reaction was ‘Holy (cow), this is a big kid,’” Johnson said. “My absolute number one first impression, other than man he’s tall, is what a nice guy. He was very polite. His mom would say ‘Danny,’ and he would say, ‘Yes mam.’ He was just a sincere guy and somebody at that time I didn’t know at all but was looking forward to getting to know and play with obviously.” 

With the arrival of Manning at LHS, the fortunes of Lawrence High hoops and KU basketball would eventually undergo a dramatic transformation. Long known as a tradition-rich football school, suddenly fans were arriving early for the LHS Junior Varsity games to get prime seats to see the new miracle worker in action.

The gym was packed and rocking every game night, and Ed Manning and Brown were regular visitors. They’d sit in the balcony by themselves, and politely clap every time Manning scored a bucket or made a good play. 

There would have been more powerhouse coaches in the stands had Manning not already signed with Kansas. In fact, then-North Carolina coach Dean Smith visited Lawrence High School before Manning committed to KU to give one last recruiting pitch to woo him to Chapel Hill.

The likes of Smith and former Georgetown coach John Thompson and N.C. State coach Jim Valvano sure missed a show that season. There’s one particular home game that stands out in my mind. It was Lawrence High’s battle against Wyandotte on Dec. 13, 1983, the Lions’ second contest of the season. Wyandotte was an extremely talented team featuring future Oklahoma forward William Davis and future KU football star receiver Willie Vaughn.

On the game’s first possession, Manning dribbled upcourt, stopped on a dime above the free-throw line, and swished a jumper. The crowd went off. On Lawrence High’s next trip down the floor, the 6-10 Manning again dribbled upcourt and pulled up at the same spot. 

Swish.

The fans stomped their feet on the bleachers and roared. It was the loudest I had ever heard that gym; the cheers still echo in my mind 30 years later.

Manning finished with a game-high 27 points, but Wyandotte prevailed, 66-57.

While Manning could take over games at will, he always felt more comfortable passing to his teammates. Johnson remembers times “smacking him on the butt and saying, ‘Just shoot that.’”

Like Brown would cajole Manning at KU, Juneau urged Manning to be more assertive. Juneau and Manning now laugh about old times, but the former LHS coach had to “pull teeth” (in Johnson’s words) at times to get Manning to shoot the ball.

“I can remember telling him, because he was being so unselfish, sharing the ball, making the passes, not taking an eight-foot shot to get someone a two-foot shot, and the ball bouncing off someone’s nose because they weren’t expecting it, in some respects, he was being selfish trying to be so unselfish,” Juneau said.

“He tried so hard not to dominate the game,” Juneau added. “He just wanted to be one of the guys.”

Juneau, though, said he genuinely appreciated Manning’s selfless nature and respected him for being such a team player. He called Manning a true joy to coach. 

“That made that season a lot easier for me as a coach because of his attitude," Juneau said. “If he had come in and said, ‘I don’t need to listen to you, I can do what I want,’ it could have been a struggle.”

While there were some games when Manning scored just 12 or 14 points, make no mistake, he could light up the nets. The next game after the loss to Wyandotte, Manning exploded for a season-high 36 points in the Lions’ 67-59 victory at Shawnee Mission West on Dec. 16, 1983.

Being a star player, opposing teams loved to heckle him. And they occasionally went over the line. Take the game at hostile Leavenworth on Jan. 13, 1984.

“There was a sign up saying, ‘Danny can’t read,’” Juneau recalled. “Danny looked at me and said, ‘We’ll see what they can read after this game’s over.’”

Manning was on a mission that night and scored 27 points to lead LHS to a resounding 73-54 victory.

Ten days earlier on Jan. 3, Manning and the Lions had a hostile awakening in K-State country at Manhattan High School. Students threw a banana at him when he was introduced in the starting lineups. They even lit firecrackers underneath the bleachers as the lights went out.

Juneau and Howard Fulton, a starting guard on the LHS team and my former basketball teammate at South Junior High, remember that night quite well.

“I think we (he and Manning) joked about it,” Fulton said. “He couldn’t believe they threw a banana. Danny said, ‘C’mon man, let’s just go out there and play.’ I think he was real pumped up after that.”

Manning scored 10 points in the first quarter and a game-high 20 to lead LHS to a 60-38 victory.

“The kids were so angry, and they went out with a real purpose,” Juneau said. “We buried Manhattan that night.”

Johnson said Manning always rose above the opposing fans’ rude behavior.

“Not to be a cliche,” Johnson said, “but he let his basketball do the talking.”

Manning’s ability to dribble and pass the ball like a point guard and shoot as well as any high school big man in the country had his fellow students, fans, and even NBA scouts talking a lot that memorable season.

LeBron James talks KU's Andrew Wiggins

Andrew Wiggins has been called the best player to come out of high school since LeBron James. While James has not talked to Wiggins, the Miami Heat superstar forward has some sage advice for the KU freshman phenom.

“Just try to be the best student and the best teammate and the best player you can be every day,” James told a few reporters before his Heat played the Charlotte Bobcats in an exhibition game Friday night at Sprint Center in Kansas City.

“Don’t try to prove anything to no one. Obviously, his future is bright, but you can’t live today and worry about the future. You got to live in the present. The only thing he should concentrate on is being a great student and being a great basketball player for his team and everything else will take care of itself.”

That’s what KU coach Bill Self is counting on. Self is thrilled to have Wiggins on his team, yet cautions he’s not a star just yet, despite his many preseason accolades. Wiggins has been named CBSSports.com Preseason Player of the Year, the Big 12 Preseason Freshman of the Year, and a member of the 2013-14 Preseason All-Big 12 Team – a first in conference history that a freshman has appeared on the list. The 6-8 guard also graced the cover of Sports Illustrated’s Oct. 14th issue and was called a “once-in-a-generation” talent by SI.

“He’s very talented and has a ton of potential, but he’s just a freshman,” Self said at KU Media Day in late September. “He’s going to find his way like everybody else. The expectation that have been put on him by outside factors or media members comparing him to this person or that person are really not fair at all. He has a chance to become a great player. I would not say he’s a great player yet; he’s a great prospect. Hopefully he will develop in a way where he can become a great player quickly.”

Self stressed Wiggins needs to play with maximum effort consistently.

“I thing with Andrew is, he showed flashed of dominance (in high school) but he didn’t do it on a consistent basis,” Self said. “He’s a guy that relies on athletic ability and turning it on when it needs to be turned on. But when you get to this level and even at a very high level of high quality ball you have a lot of guys who play that way and you will never get it turned on. And so he has to become a consistent guy that tries to impact every possession in whatever way shape or form he can. 

“He could be our best defender, he could be our best shot blocker, he could be our best lane runner, he could be our best offensive rebounder, he can be a lot of things. But if he doesn’t do it every possession, he won’t be any of those things. He’s got to learn to compete in order to win every possession in the game.”

Self rates Wiggins and the other young players’ coachability as a “10.” Wiggins knows he can improve.

“I need to work on off-ball defending,” Wiggins said. “I’m working on my shooting and ball-handling because nothing is perfect. It’s just all (in getting) repetition.”

KU sophomore forward Perry Ellis loves Wiggins’ work ethic and attitude.

“He knows there’s going to be a lot of attention, but he’s working hard,” Ellis said. “A humble kid. I think he’s going to be fine as long as he keeps working.”

Wiggins is just having fun now bonding with the team and not thinking about his rising fame.

“(I’m) close with all of them,” Wiggins said. “When I took my visit everyone rolled like a unit, even now there are no favorites on the team. Everybody talks to everybody.”

KU's Ben McLemore must come up big in Sweet 16 for Jayhawks to advance

It will be quite difficult for KU to get past Michigan tonight in the Sweet 16 if  Ben McLemore doesn’t have a big game. After struggling the first two games of the NCAA Tournament (he also only had five points against K-State in the Big 12 Championship game), McLemore seems due for a breakout performance. He's definitely a key Jayhawk to watch in tonight's battle at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. If he hits his first couple of shots, that will be a great sign for McLemore and Kansas.

KU coach Bill Self believes McLemore will have a huge game.

“He's going to play great,” Self said Thursday. “I really believe that. And I think he believes that. ... When he's really good, he's as good as there is.”

This is a story I wrote on McLemore before the Jayhawks met with the media on Thursday at Cowboys Stadium. I got the quotes from McLemore after the North Carolina game last Sunday in the KU locker room at Sprint Center in Kansas City. While he only scored two points and played just six minutes the second half during the UNC game, McLemore was as happy as can be that KU won and now advancing to the Sweet 16. This just shows that he's a star player who's also the consummate teammate.

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Ben McLemore has been the talk of Kansas basketball and college hoops nation all season. The Jayhawks’ best player since Paul Pierce, McLemore has had a record-setting year and dazzled fans with his three-point bombs and high-flying dunks.

He is KU’s leading scorer at 15.8 points per game, the highest scoring average by any Kansas freshman in school history. McLemore’s name is also all over the KU freshmen record books in multiple other categories.

Accolades have already come his way for this rising phenom. The 6-5 guard is an All-Big 12 First-Team selection, a USBWA All-America Second-Team honoree, and a Third-Team All-American by the Sporting News.

Heck, McLemore even recently graced the cover of Sports Illustrated.

But as good as McLemore is, he’s struggled during the NCAA Tournament thus far. In KU’s two wins over Western Kentucky and North Carolina at Sprint Center in Kansas City, McLemore shot just 2-of-14 from the field, including 0-of-8 from beyond the arc. He also committed six turnovers in those two games and played just six minutes the second half in KU’s 70-58 victory over North Carolina on Sunday.

Ask him about sitting on the pine, and the selfless McLemore just smiles and praises the efforts of players like Naadir Tharpe, Jeff Withey and Kevin Young.

“It was great,” he said. “I felt like a fan. I was still supporting my teammates even though I wasn’t out there. I still have a great attitude. They fought the second half and pulled through and we came out with a win, which was great.”

And now McLemore and the No. 1 seeded Jayhawks are headed to the Sweet 16 with a matchup against No. 4 seeded Michigan at 6:37 p.m. (CT) on Friday in Arlington, Texas, at Cowboys Stadium with a seating capacity of 42,000 fans.

“It’s a great feeling,” McLemore said. “I don’t know how to express it.”

While McLemore labored during the opening two games of the tournament, he said he didn’t feel much nerves with his first time in the Big Dance. Still, he couldn’t find the basket, especially against UNC, when he shot 0-9 from the field, including 0-of-6 from three-point range.

“The last couple of games, I’ve been loose and I got the feel for it (NCAA Tournament),” McLemore said. “They really haven’t been my game. I’m still trying to play my game, I’m still trying to help my teammates out and still bring a lot of energy to the team.

“... It’s just a bigger stage for the first time, being a freshman and sitting out last year and just watching, and now to be on the stage, it’s just a different feeling. I really haven’t changed. I still play my game. I try to stay focused and calm.”

McLemore, whose shot has been compared by some experts to one of the best shooters in NBA history in Miami Heat’s Ray Allen, isn’t too worried that this jumper hasn’t found the net quite yet.

He’s still going to keep shooting.

“(Just) don’t rush things, go out there and give my all like I’ve always been doing,” he said. “I just got to be ready, be back in the gym and shoot and stuff like that.”

While KU advanced to the Sweet 16 without much production from McLemore, as the stakes and competition now get bigger on Friday, Kansas dearly needs this super frosh to find his groove.

KU coach Bill Self, for one, believes McLemore will rise to the occasion after seeing limited second-half minutes against the Tar Heels.

“Ben labored this weekend. He’s still our leading scorer. We’re going to go right back to him,” Self said after the North Carolina game.

“There’s not going to be a situation with that. ... It wasn’t hard not to play him because he’s the best teammate on the team. These guys will tell you he’s just happy to win. We’ll get him right heading into Arlington. I’m talking about getting his confidence back. He had some pretty good looks today, but it wasn’t his day.

“... The great thing about Ben, he cares about winning,” Self continued. “He put that ahead of everything else. He’s happy for these guys. For us to be good, to have a chance to advance, we need all our players playing much closer to their ceiling. I think with Ben, it’s just through repetition. He just needs to see the ball go through the hole this week in practice.”

If that indeed happens, he could shoot lights out against Michigan.

And McLemore will again be the talk of KU hoops and college basketball nation.

Once a Jayhawk, Kirk Hinrich now a Bull...Again

Kirk Hinrich was one of the top players in KU history. And as so with the great ones, he was always surrounded by media during his four years at Kansas. I interviewed him countless times, asking him questions usually in-between other reporters’ queries after games or in breakout sessions before games. He wasn’t known as the best interview, but he was always direct and candid, and I appreciated that. A relentless player who knew the game as a coach’s son, I couldn’t help admire how hard he played.

I finally got the chance to do an extended one-on-one interview with Kirk when he came back to Allen Fieldhouse in October 2006 as a member of the Chicago Bulls. His Bulls were playing an exhibition game with the Seattle SuperSonics, who featured Kirk’s good buddy and former Jayhawk Nick Collison.

About 90 minutes before tipoff, when the players were first made available to the media, I hurried into the Bulls’ locker room where I saw Kirk sitting alone. Seizing my opportunity, I asked him several questions, including how he felt about returning to Allen Fieldhouse, his thoughts on the current KU basketball team, realizing his dream of playing in the NBA, and others.

Soon, I got to ask him the question I truly wanted. I remembered Kirk’s and Nick’s final home game against Oklahoma State in 2003, and how coach Roy Williams offered his memories of his two favorite players in the postgame press conference. He recalled a story about Kirk’s freshman year after a game against Saint Louis in Kemper Arena. Kirk struggled that night, going scoreless with five turnovers in 13 minutes. He was feeling extremely down, so as he and Williams walked back to the bus after the game, Roy put his arm around Kirk and said, ”You’re the guard I wanted."

I had always wanted to ask Kirk about that moment, and now I did. The Bulls’ point guard said he was really struggling in school and on the court early in his freshman season while trying to adjust to major college basketball, and feeling at his lowest point after the Saint Louis game, the 12th contest of the year.

So when Williams put his arm around him like a father and told Kirk he was “the guard I wanted,” it was like a huge burden had been lifted from his shoulders. Kirk called it a defining moment and turning point in his career.

“To have a coach behind you 100 percent like that and show that much confidence in you, it meant a lot,” Kirk told me.

Kirk rebounded from adversity, earned a starting spot later that freshman year and blossomed into one of the best guards in school history. He left his career ranked No. 8 all time at KU in scoring, No. 5 in free throw percentage, No. 3 in three-point field goals made and three-point field goal percentage, No. 3 in assists and steals, and No. 2 in minutes played behind Jayhawk legend Danny Manning.

He was drafted with the seventh overall pick by the Bulls in 2003, and quickly made his name in Chicago. After three seasons, Captain Kirk was seen as the face of the franchise, something I mentioned to him in Allen Fieldhouse during our interview in 2006.

“I’m not the face of the franchise,” Kirk responded.

K.C. Johnson, the Bulls’ beat writer who had joined me by that that time in the locker room, just laughed.

The humble Hinrich had some very good years in Chicago, and was an extremely popular player among fans with his gritty work ethic and desire. While he was the subject of trade talk during his latter years in Chicago, it never seemed to affect his play too much. Kirk was all business, and this showed with the media and on the hardwood.

Finally, in the summer of 2010, Chicago traded Kirk to the woeful Washington Wizards to free up salary cap space in their pursuit of free agents Dwayne Wade and LeBron James. Well, the Bulls got neither of them. As for Kirk, he played in obscurity in Washington while grooming rookie John Wall as the Wizards’ point guard of the future.

The Wizards traded Kirk to the Atlanta Hawks for the stretch run in 2011. While Kirk showcased his defensive prowess, he wasn’t counted on too much offensively. I thought his talents weren’t used properly with all the Hawks’ isolation plays and teaming with ball stoppers like Joe Johnson. Kirk ended up getting injured in the first round of the playoffs, and never got the chance to play in the following series against the Bulls.

Kirk underwent shoulder surgery in the offseason and missed the beginning of last season with the Hawks. He never seemed to find his groove, averaging a career-low 6.6 points per game. Now a free agent, Hinrich looked for a new start with a new team this past summer.

He found it in his old home of Chicago, signing a deal worth about $8 million for two years. With All-Star and former MVP Derrick Rose sidelined for most of next season recovering from a torn ACL, Hinrich will likely step right in and start at point guard just like old times in the Windy City. When Rose returns, Kirk should still see plenty of minutes as backup point guard and at shooting guard.

Kirk told the Chicago Tribune that he knew in his heart and gut that Chicago was the best place for him. He actually chose the Bulls after reportedly turning down more money from the Milwaukee Bucks, where he would have been reunited with former Bulls’ coach Scott Skiles.

"The stars kind of had to be aligned," Hinrich said of returning to the Bulls. "I didn't have any preconceived notions coming into free agency that this would be my decision. It just worked out that way, and I'm happy it did."

I’m happy it did, too, for this former Jayhawk standout. While there’s been plenty of speculation that his skills have declined and he’s not the same player, I still believe the 31-year-old Hinrich (NBA broadcaster Steve Kerr once said he had a chance to become the “next Steve Nash”) has plenty of game and that a return to the Windy City could indeed revitalize his career and bring crowds to their feet at the United Center once more.

Looking back on Sherron Collins

Life after KU hasn’t been easy for Sherron Collins. After being snubbed in the 2010 NBA Draft, Collins made the Charlotte Bobcats as a rookie free agent. But his stay in Charlotte didn’t last long, and even gained national attention when, after being released, Collins missed two flights out of Chicago to return to Charlotte.

“That was kind of it,” then-Charlotte head coach Paul Silas said about withdrawing the offer.

Collins, who played in 20 games with Charlotte and averaged just 0.8 points in 3.3 minutes per contest, has never found his way back to the NBA. He has bounced around since leaving KU, playing also for the Maine Red Claws in the NBDL and last seen competing professionally in Turkey in 2011. Now, he’s reportedly living in Chicago with hopes of returning to the NBA someday appear quite slim as this undersized point guard (5-11) constantly fights weight issues and the stigma of what happened with Charlotte.

It all seemed like yesterday when Collins was the toast of the college basketball world. He left KU as the winningest player in school history (now Tyrel Reed holds that honor) and was a consensus first-team All-American his senior season. While he lost some explosiveness he had in high school, not many guards in college had Collins’ skills, a fearless competitor who could take it to the hole at will or rain three-pointers on you all night.

KU coach Bill Self simply called him the best guard he’s ever coached at Kansas — “by far.”

Back during the good times at KU, before he played his final home game at K-State, I wrote this piece on Sherron on how he had found true success, peace and happiness in Lawrence after overcoming so much adversity growing up in the West Side of Chicago.

At this time two years ago, Sherron Collins was living the basketball dream, loved by all and everybody’s All-American. He seemed destined for success after KU with a future so bright with endless possibilities.

Senior Class 

By David Garfield

Phog.net Senior Writer

Posted Mar 3, 2010

Sherron Collins doesn’t really want to let go. Not after the best four years of his life at Kansas, not after becoming the winningest player in Jayhawk history, not after maturing as much off the court as any player who’s ever donned the crimson and blue.

But on Senior Night against K-State this evening, one of the greatest players in KU annals will say goodbye in his final home game at Allen Fieldhouse.

Sherron Collins knows he can’t fight back the tears.

"I try not to think about it, but it is hard not to,” he said. “I wish I could run from it, but I can't. I wish I had more time to play here. I am trying to figure out if I am going to cry like a baby after the game, but I try to joke a lot and to stay happy."

There will be roses and cheers, tears and enduring memories. And there will be love. 

Lots of love.

“You can go anywhere and everyone treats you well and everyone shows so much support for KU basketball (regardless) if we win or lose,” the 5-11 senior guard said of his experience at KU. “Lawrence is my second home and I don't get homesick at all. 

“I love being here."

The fans, his teammates, and the KU coaching staff have loved having Collins here the last four years.

KU coach Bill Self said Collins has made a lasting impact on his life.

“He’s meant as much to me as any player I’ve ever coached,” Self said. “I think that’s a pretty bold statement because I’ve had some pretty good ones. I don’t know if you can say he means more than (Kirk) Hinrich or (Nick) Collison or Raef (LaFrentz) or Paul (Pierce) or Jacque (Vaughn). But to me personally, I can say that without any hesitation.”

From the mean streets of Chicago’s West Side, where he grew up in the gang and crime infested neighborhood, Collins came to Kansas nearly four years ago and found a new home, a salvation of sorts, an inner peace he longed for his entire life.

He was a guarded individual when he arrived in Lawrence in 2006, but evolved into a personable, trusting person who’s embraced the community and been a role model to children back home in Chicago and throughout the Jayhawk Nation.

Just listen to him speak. Just look at his smile.

“I have broken out of my shell and opened up by being around town and on campus,” Collins said. “Now, it just comes natural to me. At home in Chicago you have to keep to yourself in certain places and I think that stuck with me when I came here, but I realized I had to break that."

Growing up in Chicago with great adversity and seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Collins could have bowed to the peer pressure as a youth and turned the wrong way and mixed with the wrong crowd.

But he didn’t.

“I had good people in my corner like my mother and my big brother,” Collins said. “My uncle was my father figure and they all helped keep me out of trouble.”

Self has great admiration for his senior leader. He calls Collins’ rise out of Chicago and maturation at Kansas a “pretty remarkable story.”

“I think all coaches have a soft spot in their heart for kids that do it against all odds,” Self said. “He came into this situation really needing a place to change his thought process and to mold him into what he could potentially become. And he embraced that.”

But like many young men, Collins fought that adjustment for a while when first coming to KU.

Self points at a breakthrough in their relationship.

“The first time I ever had Sherron over to my house,” Self said, “it was such a big deal to him because he had never been in an environment like that. And that won me and my wife over immediately. For him to to feel that something so trivial was so important to him, that was something I realized right then that we had something special if he could just stay the course.”

While the road has been bumpy at times fighting weight issues and injuries, Collins has stayed the course and flourished both on and off the court. He’ll graduate after this semester and become the first male in his family to receive a college degree, silencing some doubters back home in Chicago who told him, “you weren't going to make it or that you weren't good enough.”

Donning graduation cap and gown, Collins will walk down the Hill in May with great pride. And Self will be beaming with joy as well.

“I’ll be just as proud of him on that day as I will be if we were to play great Wednesday night and for him to have the most memorable night of his life,” Self said.

Collins said he’s learned many lessons at KU that will last him a lifetime. He “takes things more seriously now and knows how to take care of my responsibilities.” Becoming a father has made the most profound impact on his life.

“I think that’s what really woke me up,” Collins said.

Collins has a son Sherr’mari, who will be 3 in April. And his daughter Sharee’ was born in February.

Soon after his first son was born, Collins and Self had a heart-to-heart talk.

“Coach Self told me that everything you do for yourself doesn't matter anymore; it is for your mom and your son now,” Collins said. “I really took that to heart. My mother had a tough life working two jobs to support my brother and me. She wanted us to have everything all the other kids had. I owe everything to her. I think it is time for her to rest and I want to be there for my son because my dad wasn't there for me. I talk to my dad a lot now, but he always reminds me to do everything I can to be there for my son and not to make mistakes like he did."

Being a father, student, and basketball player has been a huge balancing act for Collins. He’s done all this while being under the microscope at powerhouse Kansas, where Collins faced pressure to live up to his press clippings and hype coming out of Crane High School. Self has constantly pushed him to be the true leader,  player, and student he envisioned when Collins was a high school standout and one of the two best point guards (along with Ty Lawson) in his Class of 2006.

Self and Collins clashed at times. But through their trials has come a mutual respect and love. Self points to one situation where he rode Collins particularly hard.

“I realized then, dear gosh, this kid does care because I was on his butt and I thought there was a chance he may go home and not come back,” Self said. “Just to see how he responded to that. I said, ‘hey, we got him because he cares so much more than what we ever dreamed he would care. He’s a fighter and he likes it when it’s the most challenging. I always respect that about guys. I think all coaches do.”

Self said Collins has “been an absolute joy to coach.”

“I love everything about him,” Self said. “I love the stubbornness. I love the competitive spirit. We’ve definitely had our moments, but I definitely know at the end of the day, he’s going to fight as hard as he can. He’s certainly matured himself into quite a young man that will be very successful, regardless if basketball takes him there or not.”

He has certainly been a great success on the hardwood. Collins is one of only three Jayhawks (along with Hinrich and Darnell Valentine) to have recorded 1,700 career points and 500 career assists. He ranks as the school’s No. 7 all-time leading scorer, just 26 points shy of 1,800  points. Collins is also fourth on KU’s career three-point field goals list, seventh in assists, and 20th in steals.

But beyond all the statistics, Collins is the winningest player in school history who does all the intangibles, a true extension of Self on the floor.

“He’s the best guard by far that I’ve coached since I’ve been here,” Self said.

Collins’ teammates are also true believers. Just listen to junior center Cole Aldrich.

“He’s everything for us,” Aldrich said. “He’s the pulse of our team, the kind of general that runs everybody. He’s just the guy that you want to be that because he’s so competitive. He’s got a great head on his shoulders. He’s a humble kid, but he loves competing.”

And Wednesday night, Collins will be competing in Allen Fieldhouse for the final time in his storied career. 

You can bet one thing. Just as he’s played with great heart the last four years, his senior speech after the game will be straight from the heart.

Collins could do it no other way.

He knows how he’d like the fans to remember him.

“Just winning,” Collins said. “A player that tried to win every game, a player that was a fan favorite (who) interacted with the fans, let them know we appreciate them. 

“A winning player that left it all out there.”

Rick Suttle: My First KU Basketball Hero

                                                                  

                 

Rick Suttle was my first KU basketball hero, the first player to give me chills and truly capture my imagination. My first memories of him center around the 1972-73 team or the 1973-74 Final Four team. To this day, I cannot completely remember the exact moment he entered my consciousness as wonder-eyed 6 or 7-year-old growing up in Lawrence about five minutes from Allen Fieldhouse.

But make no mistake, he left an impression on me that has lasted a lifetime.

Suttle, a 6-10 high school All-American from East St. Louis, Ill., made an immediate mark on the freshman team in 1971-72, averaging 22.3 points and 12.5 rebounds per game while shooting a scorching 54.5 percent from the field.

Then, in his first year of eligibility as a sophomore, he led KU with 16.3 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. He was one of the bright spots on that team, which struggled mightily with an 8-18 record. Suttle scored a career-high 28 points against Iowa, tying Dale Greenlee’s 28 against Oklahoma State for the best single-game mark for KU that season. He also grabbed a career-high 19 boards against Notre Dame.

Suttle was awarded for his accomplishments by being named Second-Team All-Big Eight by the Associated Press.

The following year in 1973-74, Suttle was relegated to sixth man as he became one of the top Super Subs in KU history and helped lead KU to the Final Four. If I remembered Suttle from the previous season, there’s no doubt he truly emerged on my radar this year, the Final Four dream team which gave me pure joy and excitement seeing my heroes like Suttle, Danny Knight, Roger Morningstar, Norm Cook, Dale Greenlee and Tom Kivisto displaying their magic in Allen Fieldhouse.

With their remarkable turnaround from the previous season en route to the Final Four, and just how they made a dramatic comeback in the final minutes against Oral Roberts in the Midwest Regional Final, that team made me believe in miracles, that anything in life was possible.

Above all, they made my childhood a whole lot sweeter and brighter.

While all those Jayhawks were my heroes, Suttle stood out the most. At 6-10 with a huge 70s style afro, Suttle was hard to miss. He was regal looking, like a Greek God on the basketball court, long, lean, agile and sinewy, one of the best big man shooters (along with Cook) in the country. I fondly recall watching him swish jumpers from the free-throw line, or just inside the charity stripe.

It was one of the prettiest sights I had ever seen to that point, and I wanted to hold on to Suttle and that Final Four team forever.

As I learned over the years interviewing his former teammates, Suttle was also a very unselfish player. While he came off the bench in 1973-74 and his scoring average dipped from 16.3 points to 11.3 (KU had five players average in double figures that season with Knight top scorer at 12.4 ppg), that didn’t matter to Suttle.

KU was winning games, and he was enjoying the ride.

“Rick Suttle might have been our best player, but he came off the bench,” Morningstar once told me. “He did that willingly. He just said, ‘Hey, if I’m more effective coming off the bench, that’s what we’ll do.’ It was that kind of (unselfish) attitude that everybody had.”

Despite coming off the pine, Suttle still played plenty of minutes.

“Danny Knight would start, but Rick would actually play more minutes during the game, and sometimes, coach (Ted Owens) would play both at the same time,” Greenlee said in a 2000 interview. “We’d run our double low post. Back in the 70s, it was a pretty nice luxury to have two 6-10, 6-11 people in at the same time.”

On and off the court, Suttle kept everybody loose with his joking and eccentric nature.

“I roomed with Rick. He was funny,” Greenlee said. “I can still see Rick. He was late for a practice. To punish him, we had a pre-game meal and Rick was supposed to sing his school song as the punishment. He didn’t know his school song. I remember him going, ‘I don’t know it.’ We said, ‘So pick a song.’ He leaves the room and came in singing “Hello Dolly.” Here’s Rick, 6-11. He actually left the room, came in waving a handkerchief like Louis Armstrong. He had us roaring. Probably every one in the room remembers that. Things like that, he was always good for something. He always kept you loose.” 

Morningstar agrees. He loved being around Suttle.

“Rick was goofy, real eccentric,” Morningstar recalled. “In those days, we had a dress code. We had the same ties, the same shirts, the same coats, same pants, all that stuff that everyone wore. As a team, you walked around. I think it was on our way to Oral Roberts, Rick comes down. We had the option of wearing a tie or wearing those blue turtlenecks with a Jayhawk on them. We all chose for that game and that trip to wear the turtlenecks. Rick comes out with his turtleneck, one of those clip-on bow ties that you slit a spot and put it in.  He was always doing goofy stuff like that.  

“Our last couple of games, I believe it was our senior year, in the introductions, everybody was on the bench and you just ran out from the bench all by yourself and the crowd was going crazy.  Rick stopped and did this goofy dance, he stopped about half way out and put his hands in the air, running in place and spinning around. The crowd went nuts. Coach was just rolling his eyes, shaking his head, ‘What are you doing Rick?’” 

Maybe that dance was something Suttle learned in his fraternity.

“Him and Tommie Smith and a couple of other guys were all in this fraternity (Kappa Alpha Psi),” Morningstar said. “They had all kind of trinkets around their room. Tommy actually was one of my other roommates. He had more (Kappa Alpha Psi) paraphernalia in our room, and Rick had a table full of it.

“... (Suttle) was a legendary Illinois basketball player,” Morningstar added of his former teammate who averaged 26.6 points and 15 rebounds his senior year at Assumption High School. “He was down just across the river from St. Louis. Those players, northern Illinois and southern Illinois were two different worlds from a basketball standpoint. They’d usually meet somewhere for a state tournament. I knew of Rick, how great he was, but I hadn’t watched him play.”

Morningstar was elated to play with Suttle for two years at KU. In their last year together in 1974-75, that team suffered some growing pains early dealing with the loss of their floor general and leader, Kivisto. Still, KU went 19-8 and won the Big Eight championship before falling to Notre Dame in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Suttle became a starter again that season, pacing the squad with 14.6 points per game and earning All-Big Eight honors. He currently ranks No. 37 in school history in career points (1,166), and is tied with Greg Ostertag for fourth all time on the single-game blocked shots chart (eight against K-State in 1975). Suttle is also tied for No. 20 on the school’s all-time double-doubles chart with 11.

After concluding his KU career, he was drafted in the seventh round of the NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Lakers before embarking on an extremely long and successful pro basketball career in Argentina. 

It was 2005 I believe when Suttle came back for the 1974 Final Four team’s 30-year reunion. After the team was introduced at halftime, I walked over to the south end zone behind the goal where Suttle stood (I saw him taking video during the game) and introduced myself to him.

“Hi Rick, I’m David Garfield. You were my childhood hero.”

“Thank you,” he said politely with a deep voice.

I then asked him what he was doing these days, and he said he was coaching ball in Argentina.

It was a very brief conversation, but a very fulfilling one for me. He was gracious, and I know he was reveling in his first time back in the Fieldhouse since he left KU and catching up with his former teammates so I didn’t want to overstay my welcome. But I felt at peace talking to him and knowing I had introduced myself to my first KU basketball hero, someone who meant so much to me during childhood.

I walked back to my seat on press row, smiled and took a deep breath.

And whenever I want to see Rick Suttle swishing buckets, grabbing rebounds, or blocking shots like he did in the 1970s, I can pop in the DVD. my friend and childhood hero Dale Greenlee (as classy and positive a guy as you’ll ever meet) sent me a few years ago on KU’s 1974 and ‘75 teams and relive part of my childhood, when I was innocent and young and believed everything was attainable.

It was a simpler and carefree time then as I could forget about any problems in school, and cheer for Suttle and his teammates and get lost in the moment in my own KU hoop dreams.

For that, Rick Suttle and the entire 1974 Final Four team, I thank you for those magical memories. You are in my heart, spirit and soul forever.

KU Flashback: Jayhawks post first-ever win over Kentucky in 1973

With Kentucky’s victory over Kansas in the national championship game on April 2, the Wildcats now hold a 21-6 all-time series lead. However, before UK's last two wins over KU (the Wildcats also beat KU early this season in November), Kansas had won three straight with five of its six wins coming in the last eight meetings.

In the aftermath of the national title game, I began thinking of KU’s six wins over Kentucky, the players that made the plays and the specifics of each game. In this blog entry, I travel back in time to Dec. 3, 1973 when KU beat the mighty Wildcats for the first time in school history.

***

With KU still winless in the overall series to Kentucky (0-5), the Jayhawks looked to get their first victory over the Wildcats in Allen Fieldhouse on Dec. 3, 1973, three days after crushing Murray State, 103-79, in the season opener. KU hit its first 12 shots after halftime in that game and finished the contest with 49 field goals, a school and fieldhouse record.

Now, KU was looking to keep the hot shooting cooking against the Wildcats, who won their opening game against Miami of Ohio, 81-68.

Even though it was just the second game this season, after going just 8-18 last year, this was a game KU needed to win to get its confidence boosted for the long season ahead.

And they did.

Behind 20 points from junior college transfer Roger Morningstar and strong inside play (KU’s frontline scored 62 points), the Jayhawks notched their first-ever win against UK, 72-61. Kentucky forward Kevin Grevey was game-high scorer with 23 points, though the Lawrence Journal-World reported that Morningstar “did a sticky first-half defensive job” on the Wildcats’ star player.

KU led just 31-28 at halftime, but hit 19 of 31 shots in the second half to build its lead. Meanwhile, the Jayhawks held the Wildcats to just 39 percent shooting for the game.

Morningstar was the star — “This is the biggest game I’ve ever played in my life,” he told the Lawrence Journal-World — but he had help this night from post players Danny Knight (17 points) and Rick Suttle (12 points), who hit shots and also put the clamps on Kentucky’s 6-8 big man Bob Guyotte (1 of 7 shots for just four points), UK’s sixth man last year who was pressed into pivot duty this season.

Coach Ted Owens’ game plan was to get the ball inside to test Guyotte.

“Inside was the place we felt we could hurt them,” Owens said.

KU was now 2-0 and riding high after beating the nationally ranked and defending SEC champs.

"I think we beat a good team Saturday in Murray State, but I think it was important for us to beat a ranked basketball team,” Owens said. “I’m very pleased. We were doing the things necessary to win. This team is more and more beginning to understand the things necessary to succeed. Some of the guys have had all the losing they need. We don’t have to lose anymore to learn lessons. They’ve worked awfully hard to become a team so they don’t want to let it slip away.”

KU marched to the Final Four that season with a 23-7 record, the best turnaround in school history and one of the best comebacks in NCAA history after finishing just 8-18 in 1972-73.