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KANSAN.COM
RULES OF BASKETBALL
3B
For equipment manager, overseeing uniforms is an exercise in observation and expiramentation
SCOTT CHASEN
@SChasenKU
Following the soon-to-be No.1 Kansas Jayhawks this season is one thing. The team has already locked up at least a share of a 12th consecutive Big 12 Championship, with two games left to play in conference play.
But following the styles and trends of the players on the team is a completely different animal.
Through mid-game uniform and shoe changes to the 11 different jerseys the team has worn this year, the look for Kansas has been anything but constant.
But make no mistake. While the subject matter may center on jerseys and shoes, it's absolutely of a scientific nature.
If you were to walk by the office of Larry Hare, equipment manager for most of the sports at the University, you'd likely overhear some conversations that sound casual enough, with regards to shoes and iersees.
But from the office of the 2014 Glenn Sharp 'Equipment Manager of the Year' award winner, you'd also hear the types of things you'd expect to hear inside a laboratory of some type, as was the case this last year, when the trend of high-top shoes and mids shifted more to a low style.
"There was a lot of homework done there," Hare said. "It takes myself, our sports medicine staff and our athletics trainers a lot of time to look at that and go, 'Really? That [shoe is] as supportive?"
For Hare, it's one thing to make sure all the gear that comes in meets the standards of the team; keeping up with the trends is something completely different.
Getting everything ordered requires the pinpoint precision and decision-making ability of a pilot.
Sayings like "look good, play good" have long provided an oversimplification of what it means to clothe a professional athlete. What Hare does is every bit as methodical as the systems employed by some of college basketball's greatest coaches.
Really, it can even be trickier on occasion.
While Kansas coach Bill Self might have his coaches scout potential opponents in, say, the NCAA Tournament, there's often film to watch; there are people to talk to, and there's a basis for the scouting.
Hare is often asked to do the impossible: predict the future with regard to the trends of 18-20-year-olds.
To manage the task,
Hare pays attention to the
players. He sees what types
of things they're gravitating
toward, such as wearing tighter jerseys, which he said he started noticing around the time the Morris Twins — Markieff and Marcus Morris — played at Kansas.
From then on, he's noticed other trends, like the leggings that more and more players have begun to sport.
He's also noticed a move some players are a bit more hesitant with: sleeves. Hare said he doesn't think sleeves will be coming to the University, at least in the near-future. He added that it's about finding gear the players trust and feel comfortable in.
For that, within these trends, Hare has to cater to the individual personalities on the team. And year after year he's found that some guys are more particular with their preferences than others.
Hare provided former guard Brady Morningstar as an example of a player who was very particular about his shoes.
Anytime we do a throwback, I always like it [...] Because of the history of the program, to be able to wear some throwback jerseys is cool."
Landen Lucas
Junior forward
He noted that one time, when Adidas was out of the particular shoe that Morningstar wanted to wear, he actually tracked the shoe down to a department store so he could wear it.
“[Junior guard Wayne Selden Jr.] right now is wearing a shoe he knows I can't get more of. It's one of the last ones from a style we wore last year,” Hare said. “When those go in size 14.5, I don't have any more for him.”
But it wasn't just a one-time deal. Hare gave a couple additional examples of players on the current team who have become "married to shoes," or at the very least wear a style religiously.
However, he said he preferred to have the players in shoes specifically made for the rigor of college basketball, given that department standards might vary some.
"[Junior forward Landen Lucas is] in a shoe that he really loves, and I have one more pair of those for him," Hare said. "That hopefully will carry us through the postseason."
Selden isn't the only athlete who's particular about his look.
For Lucas and the oth
er players on the team, the look doesn't stop with the shoe. A big part of playing for Kansas is putting on the Kansas jersey, which as of late has had a slightly different feel.
The Jayhawks suited up for their last two games — one road and one home — in throwbacks, commemorating Black History Month. For Lucas, that style is exactly what he's looking for.
**Missjy Mineur/KANSAN**
junior guard Frank Mason III sports a pair of Adidas Crazylight Boost "Rookie of the Year" shoes in the game against Holy Cross.
Meanwhile, senior forward Jamari Traylor said the jerseys caused him to do some reflecting and inquiring into the history of Kansas around the period in which the jerseys were worn, even if they weren't necessarily his favorite jerseys of the year.
"I like those all-white ones," Traylor said. "Those are kind of my favorite ones."
Missy Minear/KANSAN
"Anytime we do a throwback, I always like it," Lucas said. "Because of the history of the program, to be able to wear some throwback jerseys is cool."
Self agrees to a certain extent. To him, the team look isn't as important as perhaps the looks the team generates within its offense. However, even he noted there's something different about getting to play in a jersey that stands for something more than would be normal.
With a program like Kansas, it makes sense that Adidas would look to be on the cutting edge with shoe and jersey trends, always with an eye toward the future. but that isn't the case.
"The look of the uniform and stuff like that, that doesn't really register with me," Self said. "But to do something for those reasons [like Black History Month], I think is very positive."
Jim Marchiony, Kansas associate athletics director, said one of the things that makes the relationship between the brand and the University so beneficial is that it isn't always about jumping to that next thing.
The idea of shouting out the roots of the program seems to be something that Self and Adidas are on the same page with.
One example of this is how the team has stopped wearing red alternate jerseys in recent years, instead opting for a more classic look with the alternates. While it may be disappointing to those that enjoyed the variety of colors, there's almost a unanimous sentiment on the team about which is truly the best.
After the last game, junior guard Frank Mason III said it's almost inspiring to wear jerseys with a historical significance. He said it makes it easy to play with pride and want to go out and get the job done.
“[Adidas] understands
and appreciates history," Marchiony said. "Obviously they appreciate the current trends involved in uniforms, but they also appreciate the history and are very forward thinking in terms of honoring that history."
As a partner, Adidas not only allows Kansas access to designs for shoes sometimes up to six-to-eight months before they hit the market, they also provide what Hare refers to as "Kansas exclusives," which he says are identified by three colors: white, royal and red.
From there, Hare asks the players to be pretty flexible. When a new style comes in, he asks the student-athletes to try on a
new pair of shoes and go to practice. He asks them to see how comfortable they feel with an updated look, so they aren't in a shoe that there can't be more of.
Hare doesn't run from the trends. He tries to understand them as best he can. Then he analyzes them and moves on. He's constantly working, given the sheer volume of changes the University has seen with regards to gear in the period of over a decade since he's been there.
Just walking in his office, you can see some of the many different shoes the team has worn in his time.
So the next time you go to drop $60 or $70 on a new Kansas jersey, realize a lot more goes into the process than just some person sitting at a desk and thinking, "This might be fun to try."
After all, by the end of the year, Kansas will have worn nearly 15 different jerseys, many of which were worn on a day six-to-eight months in the making.
Kansas may have 12-straight Big 12 Championships, but Hare's decade of dominance is nothing to sell short either.
After all, 12-straight may be great, but he's gotten the team in 13 jerseys this year alone.
Edited by Matthew Clough
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