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KANSAN.COM
LATE NIGHT IN THE PHOG
Ben McLemore committed to Kansas after attending Late Night in the Phog in 2010.
FILE PHOTO/KANSAN
The pitch: Breaking down the way KU basketball sells its program to recruits
Late Night in the Phog presents a prime opportunity for the coaches and staff to get students and fans excited for the season, but it's also prime recruiting season as well.
SCOTT CHASEN, DEREK SKILLETT AND MATT HOFFMANN @KansanSports
The Kansan broke down the various areas in which Kansas basketball is most well known, describing the ways in which the University markets its men's basketball program.
The Tradition
One of the biggest selling points for University is in the tradition that goes along with the program. If you made a college visit to campus, you definitely heard the stories about what happens at the different sporting events and all the ways that the University is unique.
But with athletics, this extends past the typical ideas of those traditions as Sure enough, there are things like the Rock Chalk chant and the students waving the wheat, but there's also a winning culture that has been established. The last time the Kansas men's basketball team had a losing season was back in 1983. Since then, Kansas has won two national championships. The last time the Jayhaws won fewer than 23 games in a season was in 1989.
But with athletics, this extends past the "typical" ideas of what those traditions are
That tradition has carried on Right now there are 19 NBA players who attended Kansas. At the moment, there aren't really any superstars, as Paul Pierce is toward the end of his career and Andrew Wiggins is just getting started with his, but that still is a big part of why players come to Kansas.
"We say all the time, that faces change, expectations don't," Self said in a news release toward the end of last season. "I expect whoever is out there to play well ... They came here because they're good players."
However, when it comes to the recruiting pitch, Kansas has more to offer than the history of the program, which has more than 2,100 wins all time and 14 Final Four appearances.
Allen Fieldhouse
As far as recruiting is concerned, the University is incredibly fortunate to have the student base of support that it does. While there are outliers, typically every game features a packed Allen Fieldhouse, where there have been more than 225 straight sellouts since the 2001-02 season, according to the University.
“[Attendance] has always been good. We had a problem two years ago when [Andrew Wiggins] was a freshman. We turned away about 5,000, so they kind of changed how they handled things, and I think that scared people from coming last year," Self said. "We had bad weather and an accident I believe on K-10 [too]. They kind of slowed some things down."
Those strong attendance numbers have carried over into Late Night in the Phog, looking at the last decade, although last year's turnout was far from ideal. Because of a multitude of reasons, including a Royals playoff game, there were plenty of open seats left in the building.
Self said he believes the issues will sort themselves out, which bodes well for Kansas. Numerous recruits have come to Late Night and then committed to Kansas, including Kelly Oubre Jr., Joel Embiid and Ben McLemore.
Current players Carlton Bragg Jr., Wayne Selden Jr., Landen Lucas, Jamari Traylor, Brannen Greene and Perry Ellis all attend Late Night in the Phog as well, an event which should be considered one of the biggest for Kansas recruiting.
The facilities at Allen Fieldhouse are a big part of the recruiting draw on both the men's and women's side. On Wednesday, Kansas women's basketball coach Brandon Schneider spoke to the media about how effective the facilities are for the women's team; the same is true on the men's side.
The Facilities
McCarthy Hall is the new apartment building on campus that will hold student athletes, single nontraditional and upper-class students. McCarthy Hall features study rooms and lounges, like other on-campus housing, but also has a basketball court.
Additionally, the DeBruce Center, which will house the original rules for basketball written by James Naismith, is scheduled to open in 2016.
"It's been debatable that [Allen Fieldhouse] is the best home court in college basketball," Self said in a news release. "It will not be debatable any longer once this structure is erected."
For any University, being able to sell student facilities is a big part of recruiting. With a couple of new projects finishing up at the University of Kansas, these next few years should be absolutely crucial; it will be important for the coaching staff to capitalize.
Miscellaneous
The University of Kansas jumped on the opportunity to be featured in this year's NBA 2K video game. There are nine playable college teams in the MyCareer mode including Kansas.
EA Sports no longer produces an NCAA basketball video game, but this year there's another way to play as the Jayhawks on your desired gaming platform.
"Once we found out we sent it out to our recruits right away and we got great feedback from some of the guys," said Kansas assistant coach Jerrance Howard. "A lot of these kids play a lot of [video] games. To get [Kansas] on 2K, that's really cool."
It isn't exactly a perfect replica. While the jersey and court were designed well by the NBA 2K crew, the stadium looks nothing like Allen Fieldhouse, and there's only one player on the team. Oubre, who isn't just a randomly generated avatar.
Regardless, both players and coaches are excited about being in the game
"I saw that [KU was in the game]. That's pretty cool that we're one of those schools," senior forward Perry Ellis said. "It's just an honor to be in there."
Another opportunity to market the program showed itself over the summer, as the Jayhawks participated in — and won — the 2015 World University Games in Gwangju, South Korea. The Jayhawks got the added boost of having their summer games broadcast on the ESPN family of networks, which included highlights of the championship game shown on ESPN's SportsCenter.
- Edited bv Abbv Stuke
Wayne Selden Jr. committed to Kansas after attending Late Night in the Phog in 2012.
FILE PHOTO/KANSAN
Recruiting is not only one of the most important parts of establishing a successful basketball program, but also a huge part of Late Night in the Phog.
Letter from the Editor
The theme of this year's special section is how the basketball programs use Late Night in the Phog to both create excitement for KU students and entice recruits. Throughout the section you'll see stories highlighting some of the things and people that make Late Night — and the program — what it is.
Year after year, some recruits who make the trip to Late Night commit right away; others keep looking, attend other games and even other editions of Midnight Madness — yet still end up at Kansas.
With that, welcome to the 2015 Late Night in the Phog special section.
- Scott Chasen
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