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/ NEWS / WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2011 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
THEN & NOW How the stories of three players have changed from their arrivals to their imminent departures
Mario Little
IMPRESSIONS UPON ARRIVAL
BY CASE KEEFER Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Just as one Mario departed from the Kansas basketball team, another one arrived.
Mario Little played in the intrasquad game just 13 hours after moving to Lawrence - and he made the most of it.
Little was given the intimidating task of guarding current NBA player Julian Wright. The incoming junior guard held Wright to 16 points and three rebounds. Wright spoke highly of Little's performance.
"He's coming here and expecting to produce," Wright said. "I think that's the thing he is going to do"
All the players in the incoming freshman class said they weren't worried about losing Chalmers to the NBA Draft. They are ready to create their own legacy.
create their own legacies.
"That's what I've been doing all my life," Little said. "Stepping up in big games at crunch time. We're all going to step up."
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Mario Little has had his ups and downs since arriving at Kansas in 2008. A highly sought-after recruit, Little has started in just three games during his career as a Jayhawk.
IMPRESSIONS UPON DEPARTURE A redshirt with a passion and a lost chance
BY TIM DWYER
tdwyer@kape
tdwyer@kansan.com
Mario Little is kind of the forgotten man in this senior class. It's a role he's reprised from last year, when he redshirted through his first senior season, consequently letting Sherron Collins own the Senior Night spotlight.
Senior Night spotlight. This year, Little is overshadowed by two native Kansans, the heart and hustle guys, Brady Morningstar and Tyrel Reed. Little doesn't fit. He's started just three games in his career, none this season, while Reed and Morningstar have been intermittent starters for most of their careers.
Little alienated a huge part of the fan base when he was suspended for six games after being arrested for assault and battery.
Morningstar and Reed are the selfless guys, while Little loves to shoot. Coach Bill Self has often joked that if shots per minute were a recorded stat, Little would by far lead the team.
Morningstar and Reed didn't get a lot of high-profile offers out of high school. Little was a highly sought-after recruit who, because of an injury and a redshirt and Kansas' insane depth, never got the chance to live up to the hype.
chance to live up to it." "It could've been better," Little said about his career at Kansas. "But, you know, things happen. I had a couple bumps in the road that I had to overcome, but I'm here. I'm still standing."
here. I still stand-
Little, who will graduate in May,
is the odd man out this year, just
like he was last year, but he has
never stopped caring.
As Northern Iowa celebrated its historic upset of Kansas in the NCAA Tournament last year, there were several indelible images. There was Marcus Morris, crumpled in the corner of the court with his jersey pulled over his head to hide the tears. There was Reed, eyes rimmed with red as he talked about giving Ali Farokmanesh enough room to shoot a dagger three. There was Morningstar embracing Collins, both sobbing.
And there was Little, who could do nothing that day because of the redshirt. He knelt, wracked with sobs, with his head on the floor and tears streaming down his face.
and tears in through
Because, through it all, Mario
Little was desperately passionate
about being a Jayhawk.
Edited By Dave Boyd
Howard Ting/ KANSAN
Senior guard Mario Little takes the ball from Oklahoma State on Feb. 22.
Brady Morningstar
IMPRESSIONS UPON ARRIVAL
Brady Morningstar in his first year at the University. Morningstar joined the team in 2005.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
BY MIRANDA LENNING Tuesday. Sept. 27, 2005
Brady Morningstar, the son of former Kansas basketball star Roger Morningstar, will play basketball for the Jayhawks next season.
Morningstar told rivals.com that he decided to commit after a visit with Kansas basketball coach Bill Self and his staff.
The 6-foot-3 inch shooting guard is spending this year at The New Hampton School, a prep school in New Hampshire.
IMPRESSIONS UPON DEPARTURE A rocky, late start and a glorious, late ending
"Coach Bill Self and coach Joe Dooley came to my school on Saturday," Morningstar told rivals. com. "I gave them a tour of the offices, campus and my room. It was really great to see a couple of faces from my hometown. After the coaches and I talked for a couple of hours, I decided that I was going to attend Kansas."
Morningstar was also being recruited by Tennessee, Northern Illinois, Texas Christian and West Virginia.
BY MIKE LAVIERI
mlavieri@kansan.com
twitter.com/kansnball
"I'll miss Brady a ton because
Let's just get this out of the way early. Brady Morningstar is old. He's a 25-year-old senior, but he has a good reason. Instead of coming to Kansas right away, he went to prep school to hone his skills.
Coach Bill Self is going to miss all three of his seniors, but especially Morningstar.
The wait paid off. Morningstar was definitely in a slump. It might have been from one missed free throw at Texas that was played over and on SportsCenter or it might be another reason. That's in the past, and right now Morningstar has been phenomenal. He has 56 assists to 10 turnovers. He's not only taking care of the ball, he is shooting lights out: 51.1 percent from three.
he's as much the personality of the team as anyone is," Self said.
He's been here for five years,
but that's not the only reason. He
plays the role of a sixth man, even
with his boy.
But those days of getting after it in Allen Fieldhouse will come to a
been a three-year starter. Even when the shots weren't falling late last season and early this season, that didn't stop Morningstar
culmination tonight when Morningstar throws on the white No. 12 jersey.
from shooting. Fans in the Fieldhouse were upset with his play. But Morningstar has been a hustle player since the very beginning. He made the players that didn't always show up in the stat sheet: defending 'til the final buzzer, getting to the floor to get the ball and taking charges.
12 jersey.
Morningstar is excited for the night; he's been waiting for
"I'm not making it a huge deal; it's Senior Night."
BRADY MORNINGSTAR senior guard
a while, but
knows that
all things
must come
to an end.
'I 'v e t h o u g t about it. I'm not making it a huge
deal; it's Senior Night," Morningstar said. "I know it's coming when you sign up to play at Kansas."
Growing up in Lawrence, he always wanted to play for Kansas. Tonight is the last time he will do it in front of the home-crowd fans.
— Edited by Sarah Gregory
Mike Gunnoe/KANSAN
Mike Gulloh/Amazon
Senior guard Brady Morningstar jays the ball up for two points in the second half Friday against North Texas. The Jayhawks won the game 93-60.
IMPRESSIONS UPON ARRIVAL
BY RUSTIN DODD Friday, Nov. 2, 2007
Tyrel Reed's talent wasn't a secret coming out of Burlington — Roy Williams recruited him to North Carolina — but some people had doubts about how much Reed could contribute right away to a Kansas team stacked with talented guards.
And then there were those pesky Kirk Hinrich comparisons. Whether it's the hair or the height, Reed just can't get away from comparisons with the former Kansas star.
team skittles was, "We have such great guards, I am just going to do what Coach Self tells me," Reed said.
"Whenever my name is mentioned with Kirk Hinrichs it kind of sends chills through your body," Reed said.
"I've got Tyrel a little screwed up right now because I've got him thinking instead of just playing" coach Self said.
He still has a way to go before he gets words of praise from his coach.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Tyrel Reed was sought by Roy Williams and Bill Self.
Tyrel Reed IMPRESSIONS UPON DEPARTURE Anxious freshman, assured senior
BY MIKE LAVIERI
mlavieri@kansan.com
twitter.com/kansanbball
Tyrel Reed was nervous when he first arrived at Kansas as a freshman in the fall of 2007, but even back then, he had a solid foundation.
Coach Bill Self thought Reed was too good to be true as a person and a player when he recruited him. Self said that the only other player like Reed who's been at Kansas is Wayne Simien.
"Certainly he's a remarkable young man," Self said about Reed, who's now a senior.
Self said that Reed was the face of the program for at least half of this season because of his leadership, his character and how he handles himself on and off the court.
"As we've gone forward and the
twins have played well and done some things, obviously people will talk about them first." Self said. "But in the coach's mind he's been the rock behind everything we do."
Reed has always been a perfectionist. Self said that Reed could make seven of eight free throws, but would dwell on the one he missed the most.
"He takes responsibility for somebody else screwing up. He's just one of those guys." Self said. "I think he probably gets that from having the background that he does. He definitely is a coach's kid, you can tell by watching him play."
Because Reed grew up as a coach's son, he was used to being yelled at. Reed said that the yelling never affected him and he was always used to it, but when he came to Kansas, he just didn't know how to handle it, with the instruction
coming from Self and not his dad.
coming from Self and not his dad:
"I couldn't take it with a grain of salt; I held on to things." Reed said.
That's the perfectionist coming out. But Reed thinks he has gotten better at coming to terms with his mistakes.
And after four years at Kansas, Self said Reed had grown up.
"I think in freshman, sophomore, junior years I would dwell on that miss and it would affect me and I would be bothered by it." Reed said. "But now I know you can't make everything. There is no such thing as a perfect basketball player."
Self said he lives in as a nervous kid. "Tyrel came in as a nervous kid. Really nervous around me and didn't get me at all for awhile." Self said. "As he's matured and developed, I think he's one of the most fun kids to be around. Period."
Howard Ting/KANSAN
Bill Self thinks Reed has grown up since he arrived in 2007.
Edited by Amanda Sorell