16
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN WWW.KANSAN.COM News WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2008
Dreams of
Spencer Research Library/CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Rex Walters, who last played at Kansas in 1993, was selected in the first round of the 1993 NBA Draft by the New Jersey Nets. Walters is now the men's basketball coach at the University of San Francisco.
As three former Jayhawks hope to become first round picks in Thursday night's NBA Draft, former Kansas first rounders look back at their draft night experience.
BY JESSE TEMPLE
jtemple@kansan.com
Another sluggish, sultry summer day was wrapping up in San Jose. It had been the kind of weather that steamed pavement and made clothes stick to skin — the temperature hit 91 degrees that day — trying its best to lull the third largest city in California to sleep.
Rex Walters couldn't sleep, though. The most important evening of his
life was rapidly approaching, and the sun couldn't set fast enough.
The 23-year-old University graduate with the smooth basketball stroke waited in his parents' house, and he was antsy. Walters knew that night — the last night in June of 1993 — had something special in store for him.
The National Basketball Association's annual draft was taking place, 2,500 miles away in Auburn Hills, Mich. There, the top American amateurs and European players would be picked by one of the
Mindy Ricketts/KANSAN
league's teams. Walters, a two-time All-Big Eight first team selection at Kansas, expected to be chosen in the first round. He just didn't know when it would happen.
Former Kansas guard Brandon Rush drives down the lane past North Carolina guard Marcus Ginyard during the first half of the Final Four game against North Carolina. Rush, who scored 25 points against North Carolina, is hoping his strong junior season translates to a first round selection.
The same blueprint of uncertainty awaits three more Jayhawk first round hopefuls tomorrow night. At that time, the NBA draft commences once more — this time in New York City — and it will contain all the pressure of a buzzer-beating, game-tying three-point attempt in the national championship game.
Kansas underclassmen Darrell Arthur, Brandon Rush and Mario Chalmers have signed and sealed away their status as amateurs by hiring agents and staying in the draft. Now, they are waiting anxiously to be delivered to a team just like Walters was 15 years ago.
For Walters, trying to keep his routine ordinary on draft day was a necessity. Wake up, shower, work out at the local gymnasium and eat. But clearly, this was no ordinary day.
"It was going to determine where I was going to live and the people I was going to meet," said Walters, now 38 and men's basketball coach at the University of San Francisco.
He came home early to help clean his parents' house, where nearly 30 friends and family members were coming to support him.
Home, surrounded by the people who loved him, provided a sense of comfort. He could've hopped on an airplane to sweat out the evening in an expensive suit, sitting with other first round hopefuls in the draft night green room. Things just wouldn't have been the same, though.
"I'm a pretty simple guy," Walters said. "I didn't need all that."
Still, not even the cozy confines could drown out his apprehension and churning stomach. Walters' demeanor became more serious in the hours leading up to the draft.
As the minutes droned on and friends tried keeping him relaxed,