Finally, some good news for Jayhawk fans: Thomas Robinson and Tyshawn Taylor are both coming back for more unpaid basketballing.
The University of Kansas made the announcement Wednesday afternoon. Really, the only surprise here is Robinson, whose potential and size made him look like a first-round pick. Taylor would have had to have a really good draft camp to get drafted. Both can really improve their stock by returning to school.
"This was the most trying year of my life," Robinson said in a statement.
"I want to thank everybody, and I can't wait to run up and down the
court in a packed Allen Fieldhouse next year. I plan on busting my butt
this summer to improve my game. I want to take more of a leadership role
in us moving forward and winning another league championship and
getting to the Final Four."
Taylor added: "We had a great year. But since the season ended disappointingly, there has been a lot speculation with fans and on the Internet on what we were going to do. The bottom line is, we're going to work very hard this offseason and put ourselves in a position to play in that game again and come out with a different result."
Of course, this makes Kansas coach Bill Self a very, very happy man.
"I'm real excited about these two commitments to putting us in a
situation to having great success again," Self said in the statement. But he wasn't all sunshine, rainbows and puppy dogs.
"To be quite candid, we're still smarting over the fact that we lost in the Elite Eight and were so close to putting ourselves in a position to win another (national) championship," Self said. "We're disappointed, but one thing about it, the season is officially over for everybody. Even if we played in the championship and even if we played in the Final Four, the season would be over now. With that, it's a new team, a new season and a fresh start."
Self also told the Lawrence Journal-World that juniors Marcus and Markieff Morris are "close" to making a decision, but that decision "has not been made yet." He added that they were back in class now.
Yahoo! Sports' Marc
Spears reported
last week that the twins were close to signing with
agent Jason Martin after a meeting in Beverly
Hills, California.
Finally, there have been reports that KU freshman guard Josh Selby has been working out in Las Vegas. Self released a statement earlier this week saying:
"Josh went to Las Vegas with our permission to work out a few days toSelby really should return for his sophomore year. He went from a surefire first-round pick to a second rounder.get a feel for where he'd potentially be (in draft). It's something we
did not discourage. We are fine with it. He has not declared (for draft)
nor is he committed to an agent. We said he could have a few days to
get a better feel for where he is by working out with some folks in
Vegas.
"As far as schoolwork, he is OK there. He has put himself in a position he could afford to miss a few days. He will need to get back by next week."
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