Terry Nooner returning to KU for second stint as women’s assistant basketball coach
Former Kansas men’s basketball guard Terry Nooner, who worked as an assistant coach at his alma mater on Bonnie Henrickson’s women’s hoops staff in 2012-13, is returning to KU to work in a similar capacity for coach Brandon Schneider.
Nooner — he was an assistant women’s coach at the University of Texas last season — played at KU from 1997 to 2000. The Raytown High graduate’s KU teams won two Big 12 regular-season titles and two conference postseason tourney crowns.
“I’m pumped up,” Nooner said Thursday night in a Facebook message to The Star.
“I think we can be good (in 2020-21),” he said, noting the Jayhawks “played their best ball in February (during 2019-20 season, in which KU went 15-14).”
in a news release, Nooner further stated: “My family and I are extremely excited about the opportunity to come back home and be a part of the Kansas women’s basketball family. Coach Brandon and I have always had a great relationship and I am excited to be a part of his staff. It’s been a full circle kind of thing. It’s going to be a fun opportunity coming back to Lawrence.
“I’ve always kept an eye on the team, especially coming back to the league and having to scout them,” he added of his work at UT last season. “Seeing the growth of the team from where they were last year and how they battled this year has me excited for the future.”
Nooner in 2018-19 was player development coach for the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers. He’s also worked as an assistant college women’s coach at Maryland, Alabama and Southern Illinois.
“I’ve told Terry on several occasions that we’d like to bring him back to KU,” Schneider said Thursday. “This time, the timing is perfect for him, his family, and Kansas women’s basketball. Terry is an elite recruiter, a terrific teacher, and an outstanding coach on the floor. He has been extremely successful at every stop in his basketball journey, and I’m excited about the positive impact he’s going to have in every phase of our program.”
Before becoming a college coach, Nooner coached high school and AAU basketball for seven years in the Kansas City area. He served as president of KC Pro Am Inc., a nonprofit organization that provides basketball instruction, from 2007-11, and also worked at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City as a personal basketball instructor from 2006-11.
He worked with former NBA players Billy Thomas of KU, Chauncey Billups (Colorado) and Raytown product Tyronn Lue (Nebraska and then an NBA assistant coach with the Cavaliers, Celtics and now the L.A. Clippers).
Hunter Sallis on KU’s radar
Hunter Sallis, a 6-foot-4 junior point guard from Millard North High in Omaha, is emerging as one of the most sought after recruits in the country entering his final season of high school hoops
Sallis, the No. 20-ranked player in the recruiting Class of 2021 by Rivals.com, has received scholarship offers from Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri and many other schools. He held virtual recruiting visits with Arkansas and Louisville this week and UConn last week.
A virtual visit usually involves the player and a school’s coaches connecting via Zoom or other means of video-conferencing. The coaches can talk to the player then show him or her videos regarding academics, facilities and campus life.
Sallis — he averaged 22.2 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game for Millard North in his junior season — is considering the above-mentioned schools, plus Nebraska, Creighton, UCLA, Oregon, Ohio State, Georgia, Oklahoma State, Memphis, Florida, Alabama, Cal, Iowa, Iowa State, Ole Miss, Marquette, Gonzaga and others.
“He can handle the ball. He can shoot the ball. He’s got skill,” Rivals.com analyst Eric Bossi tells Omaha.com. “He has a really surprising explosiveness but doesn’t rely just on athleticism.”
Sallis tells Rivals.com he considers himself “a combo guard. Whatever a college needs me to play I’m good with it. If they need me to be on ball that’s fine, if they need me off that’s fine too. I feel like I’m versatile enough to play both positions.
“We are really taking everything slow,” Sallis added of recruiting. ”We are really weighing out the pros and cons of every school. (My family) always tells me that it’s my decision and to take as much time as I want with it and really pick a school that I feel like I can go to and be comfortable.”
Bossi said that Sallis would have been one of the most-watched players on the AAU circuit this spring had the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic not delayed the season (there still could be some events in July).
“Already a five-star, I’m sure Sallis would have backed up the hype and by the end of this coming weekend he would have been in the conversation as one of the best 2-3 guards in the class. He would have seen his already-active recruitment turn into a free-for-all,” Bossi wrote Thursday at Rivals.com.
KU, Creighton haven’t played since 1974
As reported Wednesday, KU and Creighton will meet in the Big 12-Big East Challenge in December in Allen Fieldhouse.
KU is 9-6 all-time against Creighton, with all 15 meetings taking place between 1923 and 1974. The two teams last met on March 14, 1974. KU won that game 55-54, in an NCAA Midwest Regional contest in Tulsa, Oklahoma. KU went on to reach the Final Four that postseason.
