PAGE 10
TUESDAY, MARCH 11, 2014
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
ELLIS FROM PAGE 12
A prospect and a promise
Before Ellis played a game for Wichita Heights, Joe Auer found himself in Ellis' living room trying to jump-start a relationship that at a minimum would span the next four years.
Ellis had already been featured in Sports Illustrated for Kids while in middle school, and the hype would only build as he transitioned to the Wichita City League.
It was a welcomed addition for Auer, whose team had fallen two seconds shy of reaching the State Championship that year. If Ellis was going to jump into the starting lineup, he wanted to prepare him for what came with it.
Yet before Auer had a chance to lay out a plan, the eighth grader announced his.
A straight-faced Ellis rattled off four goals he had for high school, although the way he said them you might think they were demands.
He told Auer he was going to be a great student. That he was going to play Division 1 college basketball and enter the NCAA as a McDonald's All-American. And before that happened, he was going to win four Kansas state championships.
"Without hesitation," Auer said. "He didn't say one. He said four."
As a parent, Auer immediately worried that this young teenager would get wrapped up in winning. That Ellis would miss out on the ride and the lessons he would learn along the way.
As a coach who had just missed on a state title, he couldn't taper his excitement "Let's go for it," Auer told him.
For the rest of the meeting, Ellis spoke in short sentences. He didn't seem like he had the energy to match the mindset. Auer didn't even start to believe until he got him in the gym.
Ellis won every drill, every sprint and dominated every scrimmage. He wouldn't allow himself to lose. The fact that he was quiet didn't really matter.
Evan Wessel — now a member of the undefeated Wichita State Shockers — was the de facto leader of the
Heights team anyway, and provided more of a voice in the locker room.
It was OK for Ellis to stay silent because Wessel was a year older, and Ellis' leadership was best exposed on the court, where he was putting up a double-double nearly every night.
Yet when senior year rolled around and the likes of Bill Self, John Calipari and Mike Krzyzewski lined bleachers inside a capacity Wichita Heights' gym. Auer asked Ellis to change his approach.
"They're not going to see your work ethic; they are going to judge you on appearance," Auer told him. "Sometimes it might be easier for you if you be a little more demonstrative."
It was the same sentiment Auer relayed when Ellis was in eighth grade. The same treatment that Ellis experienced under every coach he's played for.
He understood the request. He just didn't agree with the reasoning.
"Some of it has to come naturally," Ellis said. "Some of it comes with learning how to get out of your comfort zone. That's the key."
So Auer looked for ways to take Ellis out of his element. Every weekday during his freshman year at Heights, Ellis would sneak away to room B209 and eat lunch with Auer.
Mostly, Ellis wanted to talk basketball. Auer wanted to take his mind off it. Running out of ideas, Auer took out a chessboard and asked Ellis if he'd ever played. When Ellis said no, Auer began reading off the rules.
"We would split wins," Ellis said. "It got competitive."
After Ellis' sophomore year Auer never won another game.
"It was a game that involved anticipating your opponent's movement," Auer said. "He figures things out pretty quickly and I think the game matched his personality."
A season of setbacks
Perry Ellis arrived in Lawrence with many of the same expectations levied on him as when he entered high school.
Kansas fans and coaches knew all about the four straight state titles he won
at Heights. They knew he held the Wichita City League scoring record. They knew he was a McDonald's All-American and had finished high school as a valedictorian.
If anyone could transition right to the college game, it would be Ellis, the homegrown stud coveted by college basketball's best programs. And the confidence Ellis exuded seemed to suggest the same.
"I had been coming up here for so long and just felt so comfortable around everybody," Ellis said. "I felt like I was a part of it before I was even here."
Bill Self decided to start Ellis right away.
"He plays Michigan State and just realizes, wow, there are some big, strong guys out here and this is very difficult at this level," Auer said.
In his first game against Southeast Missouri State, Ellis scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds in 23 minutes.
The lessons Ellis learned from the Michigan State game echoed what happened to him during a state semifinal game his senior year at Heights. That game was in Topeka, and Ellis hardly resembled the kid who would suit up for the Jayhawks in the fall.
Auer watched his star player get beat in the paint too many times to let it go. So instead of addressing the team at halftime, Auer burst into the locker room, grabbed Ellis and dragged him outside of the arena and into the middle
"I needed to grow up mentally," Ellis said.
Fourth and final
"He's one of those kids that as soon as you say 'run,' he'll run faster. As soon as you say 'jump,' he'll jump higher."
BILL SELF Kansas coach
setting up a breakout season just shortly after it started.
That feeling faded just as quick.
"I told him the pressure is going to be a little different than what you've ever felt," Self said. "He felt it."
As Ellis prepared for his second game, a Champions Classic matchup with Michigan State in Atlanta's Georgia Dome, Self tried to warn the freshman about the exposure he would soon receive.
Self's words fueled Ellis' nerves. He was hesitant on the floor, trying more not to mess up than to make plays. In turn, Ellis was pushed around the paint, rendered useless with the ball and couldn't find his place on defense.
Ellis scored four points and grabbed three rebounds in the loss, playing just 17 minutes. Self wouldn't give Ellis another start until late in the Big 12 season — a crushing loss at TCU.
"He was definitely shook," Self said.
Ellis' level of play matched his emotion for the first time in his career.
"Do you want this to be your last game?" Auer shouted at Ellis. "Do you want this to be the end?"
The two stood out there battling each other for one of the last times. The coach hadn't forgotten Ellis' first words to him four years ago, and a chance to play for a final championship was just one 16-minute half away.
"It was a pretty intense conversation." Ellis said.
So much so that after enough time had passed both had run out of things to say. As the screaming match came to an end, they each took a second to comprehend the situation.
of a snowstorm.
Here stood the three-time state champions in sub-freezing temperatures, covered in snow and neither of them knew why. This wasn't fun, this was forced, and if it stayed that way, title number four wasn't coming back to Wichita.
"We both realized we're sitting out here in a blizzard," Auer said. "We came back in and didn't have to say anything. The team looked at us and knew."
Exactly one year ago, as the Jayhawks looked to build momentum heading into the NCAA Tournament, Perry Ellis re-emerged as the cornerstone forward Kansas fans imagined.
When the Big 12 tournament began, a season of slow adjustments came to fruition.
Big 12 Turnaround
In the quarterfinals against Texas Tech, Ellis figured out how to get in position, notching eight points and seven rebounds in 14 minutes off the bench.
In the semis against Iowa State, the footwork that made Ellis a coveted power forward came to prominence as he danced his way to the rim for 23 points in 28 minutes.
Ellis didn't have to play loud. The pro-Kansas crowd at the Sprint Center did that for him, chanting his name over and over as the freshman's confidence came back one game at a time during the season's final weekend.
By the championship game against Kansas State, Ellis found a way to put it all together, coming up with 12 points, six rebounds and two assists.
It was around that time, too, that Self learned what each of Ellis' previous coaches accepted. Instead of begging Ellis to get louder, Self challenged him to play more aggressive.
"He's one of those kids that as soon as you say 'run', he'll run faster." Self said after Ellis helped put away Iowa State in the Big 12 Championship. "As soon as you say 'jump', he'll jump higher."
As Wichita Heights transitions to its new athletic complex — funded by a $370 million school district bond — most of the banners that graced the 1056-capacity gym remain in storage, waiting to move into the new 2,400-seat stadium.
On to new Heights
The only one not in hiding, a pennant highlighting Ellis' Wichita City League scoring record, remains covered up behind a mobile television unit in the back of Auer's room. Outside of B209 you won't find many other signs of Ellis' presence. His legacy remains as quiet as he is.
The state titles are just being
Instead he's at the forefront of another institution. One that has watched him grow over the last five years as closely as anyone.
Even with the uber-hyped Andrew Wiggins, future lottery pick Joel Embibid, junior Naadir Tharpe and the rest of the No. 2 recruiting class in the nation preparing to start a new era of Kansas basketball, it was Perry Ellis who was clearly handed the reins to the team.
The cover of the 2013-14 season media guide — and all subsequent posters — featured the current Jayhawks showing off different poses. All of them smiling, or screaming. Exhibiting any bit of excitement. Looming over them all is Perry Ellis, a ball in his hands, and a stern look on his face. Surrounded by humor and energy, Ellis' broad shoulders and seriousness make it known that he's in charge. That there's something burning on his mind.
Maybe he's still thinking about his goals.
Maybe it's another Big 12 title or a national championship. Maybe he's thinking about a life in the NBA or maybe he's concerned with walking down the hill in four years.
Or maybe he's thinking about what got him here. The focus it took and the ride it took him on.
"He has an inner confidence inside of him," Self said. "I'm hoping his next goal is doing something similar here because he is capable of doing it."
More than likely, he's thinking about the season to come. The sophomore year that's changed him from overwhelmed rookie to clubhouse leader.
Maybe he's thinking of what to say next. Then again, maybe he's not.
"I actually realized, you can be a quiet player as long as you're being aggressive every play," Ellis said. "If you're assertive, there's really nothing to say."
Edited by Paige Lytle
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