NEW WALK ON AT KU
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In the last of the article it says Young would work with the Bigs?
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If he learns to get more verticality out of his jump shot he could develop into a player that might see some minutes. There always comes a time when we have to go deep on our bench. I like how he uses his body and backboard to create scoring space in the paint, and sometimes he went underneath the defense to put the ball in the hole.
Walk-ons can be a big asset, more than most fans know.
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@Statmachine that can’t be right?
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Nice job, Clay.
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Pass! as much as this kid is a great guy and hard worker, he’s never going to sniff the court. its almost as if self brings on white kids to help balance the diversity of the team roster.
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@elpoyo Why pass on a walk on and who the hell cares what his skin color is? He gives KU another body for practice and a full 3rd team for garbage time minutes.
This is a kid who’s likely passing up an opportunity to be on scholarship at a much smaller school and actually get meaningful minutes to pay his own way and maybe play 50 minutes over 3 years at KU.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 right on, and 6 hours a day dedicated to helping teammates get better.
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He’s a walk on, and a local Kansas kid at that (from Lansing, less than a 20 minute drive to campus). He’s not being brought in to start, or be in the rotation, or even push for minutes. He is a walk on. He will play maybe 30 minutes a season if things go very well for him.
He was a very good high school player and a solid juco player before his injury. It’s not like he has no skills whatsoever. No, he isn’t a major D1 starter caliber player, but he already knows that. He’s coming to KU because he wants to, and that shouldn’t be criticized.
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Teams always need walk-ons. They are allowed 2 extra places on the bench (for away games) to bump from 13 scholarships (max) to 15. Walk-ons play a key part in practices, helping the scholarship players individually, and sometimes walk-ons are needed in games. Obviously, the better the walk-on player is, chances are he can better help his team. These players are vital, and Self just mentioned how important they are.
Video clips can be misleading… but Clay looks like he is every bit as good as players Self and Manning. My guess… much better.
It is not uncommon for walk-ons to step into larger roles… just look a couple hundred miles south at WSU. Ron Baker was a walk-on. Wasn’t Brady Morningstar a walk-on?
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Moody was a walk on.
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Conner Teahan was a walk on.
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Nooner was a walk on and was given a scholarship his senior year.
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Not uncommon, but also not without problems. All of the guys listed below your comment (Teahan, Morningstar, Moody, Nooner) were in much the same spot as Young is now - very good high school players, but not really skilled enough to be rotation level players.
If a guy is a walk on, chances are it is because he has some limits on his game. Young’s limits are that while he is skilled around the bucket with some ability to step away from the basket, he is, in a lot of ways, a 6-5 Perry Ellis with a little bit less overall polish.
That’s not a knock, but if Perry is an undersized 4, what does that make Young. He is a very useful player at the juco level and could potentially have been a good player at the low major or D2 level.
He just doesn’t have the size to be that at KU, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be a great contributor as a walk on, and that shouldn’t diminish his experience as a KU player. He gets to live the dream of putting that Kansas across his chest and running into a packed Fieldhouse. Very few people have the basketball skills to come anywhere close to that, and for that alone, he should be commended.
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Yeah… I’m definitely not giddy thinking he is starting material. But for God’s sake… he’s just a walk-on! I can’t believe people criticize walk-ons. The kid will be paying for his own education and basketball will add one more challenge to his educational experience.
I will never understand why people blasted players like Morningstar and Teahan… like they were supposed to dominate the game. They were friggin’ walk-ons and the fact that they both saw key action is the result of them both overachieving, while maybe our coaches underachieved in recruiting scholarship players.
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I was never personally mad at either Morningstar or Teahan. Both of them overachieved relative to their skills. I was, however, upset with Coach Self for overplaying them and allowing other teams to unfairly exploit their weaknesses. That’s not on them. That’s on Self.
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@drgnslayr I was typing an response and saw @justanotherfan’s response. His summary is what I was wanting to convey. In fact, the only issue I had with Teahan was that we had to play him – McLemore being ruled ineligible contributed to that. But I’m sure no one forgets Teahan’s huge 3 late against Purdue.
However, the magical run in 2012 and the chemistry could have been derailed by any change in the dynamic. You never know.
My issues with Morningstar are over-documented. Self had other options there. Ugh.
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@justanotherfan @HighEliteMajor
I am not throwing either of you guys under the bus. I understand your issues were with Self. There have been others that were critical directly on Teahan and Morningstar. Self did have other options… and I definitely don’t have a problem questioning his choices for PT.
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@drgnslayr No worries. I know your comments were directed generally, of course. But you can feel free to throw me under the bus from time to time if you’d like …
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I figured your comments were not meant to throw me under the bus. You have always kept the discourse respectful here. I just wanted to make sure it was understood that while I am supportive of Clay Young, KU walk on, I am not currently in support of Clay Young, KU rotation player. If, at some point Young develops into something more than a solid walk on, I am all for it, but right now I am glad to have him as a walk on.
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A couple of observations from watching the video…which we all know can be very deceiving. Just about every single plays shows him stealing the ball, driving, passing or taking a shot; I did not see any rebounding or a single dunk…which in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing, but clearly indicates limited leaping ability. He seems to favor driving to the basket in traffic and laying the ball or shooting a floater which might well work in HS and JuCo but at the higher level would likely get blocked. He seems to be reasonably fast and handles the ball well.
I see his position as being a SG and I am not sure why the article indicates he would practice with the bigs, unless Coach Self wants a quick player to force the bigs to learn to protect the ball against shorter, faster players…again, not necessarily a bad thing.
There is no question that the team can use a walk or or two. If you have ever since the practices, most of it is done in separate groups practicing specific setups and drills and 12 or 13 players is not enough; oftentimes the coaches and managers have to get in to have enough able bodies to complete the different drills. If you recall the student assistant that played a couple of minutes in one game last season and if you see practice videos you will see that he was often on the court helping with the drills. I just don’t see the harm in bringing him in…who knows, he might turn out be the next Ron Baker.
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@HighEliteMajor said:
My issues with Morningstar are over-documented. Self had other options there. Ugh.
You seem to forget Self’s brilliant use of Morningstar in 2008: he had him redshirt.
