Jayhawk fans. Brace yourselves. this news may come as a shock to you.
Ben McLemore is going to the NBA next year.
No, McLemore?s Kansas career isn?t going to have an M. Night Shyamalan twist ending. It?s going to be predictable, like the denouement of a Nicholas Sparks novel. The two star-crossed love interests are going to end up together. And, barring an injury, Ben McLemore is going to be a top-five pick come June.
Although his Kansas career will end soon the pressure for McLemore to perform for Bill Self?s program will continue as his NBA career progresses. Kansas is looking for a player to fill Paul Pierce?s shoes as a young NBA star. Having a former player who is currently succeeding wildly in the NBA just makes recruiting less arduous. If McLemore properly fills those shoes, then Self will find it easier to recruit the next generation of Kansas ball players.
In the last seven years, the traditional powers all have fresh faces that their former college coaches can utilize to sell the program to current recruits. Duke has Kyrie Irving while UCLA has Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook. Kentucky has a cavalcade of stars that John Calipari seems to spawn using a combination of magic beans and hair gel. Big 12 teams such as Texas and Oklahoma have Kevin Durant and Blake Griffin respectively. Self will be competing with all these schools for recruits, and you can be certain those coaches are namedropping their professional stars.
In those same seven years Kansas has produced a multitude of NBA players. Some are role players, some are disappointments, some are on winning teams, and some are on losing teams. But none are bona fide stars. Josh Selby has more trouble getting off the bench than Wayne Knight in Space Jam. Xavier Henry couldn?t get playing time for the New Orleans Hornets despite Eric Gordon?s persistent injuries. Both these players were top-ten recruits, and were supposed to be destined for NBA stardom.
If you think that Calipari won?t bring up those names, when he and a high profile recruit are enjoying a dinner of lobster with a side of hundred dollar bills (I?m only sort of kidding), you are grievously mistaken.
In addition to Selby and Henry, Cole Aldrich, Sherron Collins, and Julian Wright, among others, have also not panned out professionally. The Morris twins, Mario Chalmers, and Brandon Rush are solid role players, but haven?t yet achieved their high NBA potential, although they still have much time to improve.
Granted, Self?s coaching strategy mainly involves developing players through their junior and senior years rather than bringing in one-and-dones. He gets players to buy into a system, preferring a team approach rather than focus on the individual. But every now and then a coach needs to find a star that can take over games when the offense is stagnant. McLemore?s future in the NBA could go a long way to helping, or hurting, Self in that endeavor.
Source: http://kansan.com/sports/2013/01/30/jayhawks-need-to-perform-in-nba-to-help-recruiting/
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