Slight change in plans: KU’s Boot Camp ends Tuesday, practice starts Wednesday
Kansas basketball Boot Camp, which ran Monday through Friday last week, then reconvened at 6 a.m. Monday in the Jayhawks’ practice facility, will conclude Tuesday morning with official preseason practice to start on Wednesday, coach Bill Self said Monday night.
“The guys are doing well. We’re in pretty good shape,” Self said of the 2018-19 Jayhawks, who are allowed to start practicing 42 days before the official Nov. 6 start of the season in accordance with NCAA rules.
The Wednesday start means the Marines’ two-day “Program,” which had been scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, will be postponed until a yet-to-be-determined date.
“We thought it’d put off practice too long,” Self said. “We’ll find time over Christmas break (for the “Program”). When they come in, they’ll change what they do — more leadership in a class setting (rather than physical setting).”
Self said Wednesday’s season-opening practice, “will not be a competitive practice. It will be going through different drills we do early in the season to allow us to have better practices beginning Thursday. We don’t want to wear them out,” Self stated, adding, “today was a hard day. Tomorrow (Tuesday) will be a hard day. Wednesday will not be a hard day. We’ll go Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, take Saturday off. That’s enough days (this week).”
The Jayhawks’ men’s and women’s teams will participate in the 34th-annual Late Night in the Phog at 6:30 p.m., Friday, at Allen Fieldhouse.
KU one of eight on Cockburn’s list
Kofi Cockburn, a 6-foot-10, 280-pound senior center from Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., has cut his list to colleges of eight, recruiting writer Andrew Slater reported Monday on Twitter.
Cockburn, who is ranked No. 30 in the recruiting class of 2019 by Rivals.com, has a final eight of Kansas, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Illinois, UConn, LSU, Florida State and St. John’s.
He eliminated Kentucky, Cincinnati, South Carolina and Oregon and is in the process of setting up some campus visits.
Cockburn, who is originally from Jamaica, attended Christ The King High School in Middle Village, N.Y. last year. He averaged 16.3 points and 10.3 rebounds for New York Renaissance on the Nike EYBL travel circuit this past spring and summer AAU season.
“I always play physical. I have no choice to play physical. I always played against my older brothers and they were always physical with me,” Cockburn told 247Sports.com. “I’m rebounding, I’m being physical down low, boosting my teammates and finishing above the rim.”
Kevin Young to return to G League
Former KU forward Kevin Young will be reporting to Santa Cruz (Calif.) Warriors NBA G League training camp in the coming weeks, he said Monday. Former KU guard Aaron Miles is the team’s head coach and former KU guard Michael Lee an assistant coach for the G League team.
The 6-foot-8 Young, 28, averaged 11.5 points and 9.0 rebounds in four games for Santa Cruz at the end of last season.
“This past season, last year, I played for the KC Tornadoes team (of The Basketball League) out here in Kansas City. Toward the end of the season, Aaron Miles called me and asked if I wanted to come play for the Golden State Warriors G League team, the Santa Cruz Warriors. I was like, ‘I might as well. It should be fun,’’’ Young told The Star on Monday.
“There was only like a week left. I got to play a lot in the last week. I really enjoyed my time there. The community was amazing. The fanbase was also more than I expected, which was really fun. Did a couple community service events and enjoyed my time there. I talked to Aaron Miles about coming back this year, and so they’ll have me for training camp coming up next month.”
Graham enters camp healthy
Former KU guard Devonté Graham’s knees are completely healthy entering Charlotte Hornets training camp, Graham said Monday in a media day interview with Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer.
A condylar lesion in the right knee forced NBA rookie Graham to miss some time in the Las Vegas Summer League in July.
“He’s a winner. He’s a pro,” Hornets coach James Borrego told the Observer on Monday.
“The coaching staff is high on him. He looks pretty good in practice but I want to see him in a game. A lot of guys are kings of practice,” veteran guard Tony Parker said of Graham in an interview with Will Kunkel of Charlotte’s FOX46 News.
“It’s been great playing with Tony Parker. He’s a great guy. (I’m) definitely excited to be able to learn from him,” Graham said as quoted on the Hornets’ Twitter account. Parker is in his first season in Charlotte after 17 seasons in San Antonio.
Typo on Svi’s jersey
Svi Mykhailiuk’s name was misspelled on the No. 10 Los Angeles Lakers jersey he wore Monday at Lakers media day. The spelling Mykhailluk was used. A picture can be seen at https://twitter.com/justinenriquez_/status/1044327732903964672
Aldrich misses Media Day in Atlanta
Former KU center Cole Aldrich did not attend Atlanta Hawks media day on Monday, according to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Aldrich had an excused absence and is to report for the team’s first practice Tuesday, Vivlamore wrote on Twitter. Former KU forward Thomas Robinson, who, like Aldrich, is hoping to make the team as a free agent, was at Hawks media day.
Dwight Coleby in Belgium
Former KU forward Dwight Coleby, who finished his college career at Western Kentucky, has signed a contract with Liége Basket of the Pro Basketball League in Belgium.
Coleby, a 6-foot-9 native of the Bahamas, averaged 11.1 points (off 59.8 percent shooting) and 8.0 rebounds a game his senior year at WKU. He arrived as a graduate transfer after playing one season (2016-17) at KU in which he averaged 1.7 points and 1.8 rebounds per game.
Coleby — he started his career at Mississippi — tore the ACL in his left knee in September of 2015 and could not practice at all during his 2015-16 NCAA red-shirt campaign. He played sparingly for the New Orleans Pelicans in the Vegas Summer League and recently competed for the Bahamas in FIBA World Cup qualifying.
Liége, which opens the season Thursday, plays its home games in 5,600-seat Country Hall Ethias Liége.
CBS looks at possible Self successors
CBSsports.com listed five “top candidates” to replace Bill Self as coach (in the event he decides to leave KU before the end of his coaching career) in its series on possible successors to Hall of Fame college coaches.
The No. 1 candidate as identified by Kyle Boone?
Wichita State’s Gregg Marshall. He’s followed by Fred Hoiberg, Chicago Bulls (formerly of Iowa State); Danny Manning, Wake Forest; Jerod Haase, Stanford and Mike White, Florida.
“Where Kansas will turn when Self retires is largely dependent upon when it happens,” writes Boone. “ If he retired next week, you’d have to think Kansas would consider all the aforementioned options. Or perhaps they’d skim the top of the coaching ranks now and consider snagging a coach like Tony Bennett or Sean Miller. Or maybe they’d look within and give Kurtis Townsend, Norm Roberts or Jerrance Howard a shot.
“But what if KU wanted to keep it semi-in-house, but not among the current coaching crop? Mark Turgeon or Tad Boyle, two former KU assistants who are head coaches at Maryland and Colorado currently, for instance. All of those could be names to keep in mind given their ties to the program,” Boone added.
Walters’ son, daughter play hoops at Stetson
Former KU guard Rex Walters’ son, Rex, Jr., and daughter, Addi, will both be playing basketball at Stetson this season. Rex, Jr., is a 2017 graduate of Spanish River High School in Boca Raton, Fla., and a freshman at Stetson.
Addi Walters is a 5-foot-9 junior transfer from Cal State Bakersfield. She is a graduate of Saint Ignatius College Prep in San Francisco.
Rex Walters is working as special assistant to head coach Eric Musselman at University of Nevada this season.
2 Chainz to be in the house?
Last year, rapper Lil Yachty performed at Late Night in the Phog.
The year before, it was Tech N9ne.
Who will be rapping at Late Night this year?
KU football coach David Beaty said on Monday’s Hawk Talk radio show that he thought 2 Chainz would be the musical guest.
2 Chainz has 4.14 million followers on Twitter. He has had two No. 1 hits (Billboard) and 15 top ten hits.
A KU official said Monday night that the athletic department was still in the process of finalizing the entertainment portion of Late Night.
Gary Bedore
Gary Bedore covers University of Kansas athletics for The Star.
This story was originally published September 24, 2018 at 8:06 PM.