KU basketball signee Bryce Thompson’s bid for second straight state title put on hold
Tulsa Booker T. Washington High School basketball standout Bryce Thompson learned Thursday that the Oklahoma Class 6A state tournament had been postponed indefinitely about the same time the Kansas Jayhawks were told the NCAA Tournament was called off.
“It feels super weird to do all of that work during the season and to prepare for this,” Thompson, a 6-foot-5 senior combo guard who has signed to play in college at Kansas, told the Tulsa World on Thursday.
“The whole team was ready. We were hungry. It was breathtaking to find out we weren’t going to play.”
He was informed by Washington High teammate Trey Phipps that there’d be no chance, at least right now, to try to repeat as state champs.
Phipps, the son of Booker T. Washington head coach Conley Phipps, who is headed to Oklahoma on scholarship, was informed by his dad the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association elected to postpone the boys and girls championships (set for Thursday through Saturday) out of nationwide concern over the coronavirus.
Of course there’s a good chance the state tourney will be canceled, considering Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum announced Saturday that there would be a ban, effective through April 15, on all gatherings of at least 250 people at Tulsa city properties and facilities.
The state tourney was to be played in Mabee Center, which is owned and operated by Oral Roberts University, not the city.
“We are the 1 seed in the tournament,” Thompson’s dad, Rod Thompson, told The Star in an instant message on Twitter on Sunday. “They are trying to do it at a later date. We don’t know if they will be able to do it, though.”
Bryce Thompson, who is ranked No. 19 in the recruiting Class of 2020 by Rivals.com, has had a stellar senior season.
He’s averaged 25.1 points a game after averaging 19.8 points a year ago for the 2019 Class 6A state champs.
“I had jitters thinking about it, the road we’ve been on, that feeling. I’ve been so excited (about state),” Bryce Thompson told KJRH-TV in Tulsa.
Phipps, a 6-2 guard who like Thompson is known as an accurate shooter from long range, told KJRH he’s thoroughly enjoyed teaming with Thompson at guard.
“It’s been a lot of fun, Bryce is my favorite player and person to be able to go out and compete with,” Phipps told the TV station. “To go out and be able to try to win games together … it’s been a fun run. He is the best scorer I’ve seen, the best scorer in the country. I was hoping he was going to go to OU, but I’m glad he went to another Big 12 school. We can go at ‘em a couple times a year.”
Thompson faced a second huge disappointment Thursday when the McDonald’s All-American game, set for April 1 in Houston, was called off with no chance of rescheduling.
“I kind of expected it (the McDonald’s cancellation) because every other thing was being canceled,” Thompson told the Tulsa World.
Thompson is just the third player from Booker T. Washington High and 10th from the state of Oklahoma to be chosen to play in the McDonald’s game. The others from Washington: Ryan Humphrey in 1997 and Wayman Tisdale in 1982.
“I think what this exemplifies for Bryce, it represents hard work,” Rod Thompson told the Tulsa World on the day Bryce learned he’d be in the game. “It only comes through hard work and dedication.
“I told him the only reason he got it this year was they snubbed me back in 1994.”
Rod Thompson is a former Tulsa University player who played college ball for current KU coach Bill Self.
Former KU players from Oklahoma to play in the McDonald’s game include Mike Maddox of Putnam North in 1987; J.R. Giddens of Oklahoma City John Marshall in 2003 and Xavier Henry of Putnam City in 2009.
Trae Young, who chose OU over KU, was a McDonald’s All-American in 2017.
“You are still a Burger Boy in my eyes and your peers as well,” Young of the Atlanta Hawks wrote to Thompson on Twitter. “Not too many (are) from OKLAHOMA like us. I’m sorry the game was taken away from you like this, but you will forever be a part of the family.”
The Jordan Classic High School all-star game, set for March 27 in Chicago has been canceled as well as the GEICO High School Nationals in early April in New York City.
What’s more, the Nike EYBL and Adidas circuit have canceled their April AAU events. College recruiting has been suspended by the NCAA for all Division I sports through April 15. All because of coronavirus.
There will be no unofficial visits to campus through at least April 15 with a recruiting dead period (no coaches going on the road to evaluate players) lasting until at least April 15. At that time, “the Council Coordination Committee will re-evaluate the status of the situation,” Zagsblog.com reports.
Rivals.com’s Eric Bossi says college basketball recruiting will be affected “in many ways. The biggest issue is for new coaching staffs who are looking to complete rosters. Nobody can really do visits or go out and see players right now, so it makes things extremely tough to evaluate and complete a roster. Taking transfers, at least, there should be some good film available to go off of. But, this a new world we are living in for the time being and coaches will adjust.”
KU coach Self has said he’s pleased that Thompson is part of KU’s incoming recruiting class.
“The signing of Bryce is one of our most important signees in recent memory,” Self said back in November. “Landing at top 20 player is a positive statement for our program on and off the court. We’ve recruited Bryce for probably three or four years and certainly knew he was always going to be a target, but his development has really taken off the last couple years. He’s grown to 6-5. He’s a lead guard and scoring guard. We’ve had some of our best success with these type of combo guards. He’s going to bring energy to our program and he’s going to bring talent. We anticipate him being an impact player for us.”
