I found out via cell phone. Everyone already knows about it, but I suppose I must post away to keep the man happy. We will be losing nearly all of our scoring from last year and all starters except for Moody. It will be an eventful year, I think. We at the Phog Blog certainly do wish the best for JR and his family, and wish him a speedy recovery. I have no doubt that he will have learned some rather hard lessons in the past month and half or so, and a fresh start will likely give him a chance to apply those lessons to his life without the jeers of our Big 12 competitors, and outside of the unclosing eye of the Jayhawk fan folk.

It is a rather sad way to see it end, if indeed this is the end.

I wonder if Alex Galindo is second-guessing himself now…

Good luck JR.

I should add a special note that any comments with flaming intent will be summarily deleted. You can send me angry emails if you like about how I think I’m God or the President or something and how I have this huge power trip, but the bottom line is that you should listen to what your mom said when you were a kid - if you can’t say something nice, don’t say it.

Bill Self has a noon press conference today to announce some information about the JR situation. Schools have to give their students scholarships for next year by tomorrow, so it has created a sort of deadline for Bill Self on the JR situation.

He could continue to hedge, I suppose, by offering JR a scholarship right now irrespective of whether he plays, but that might have other deleterious consequences of which I am not aware. In any case, T-minus 50 minutes until we get more definitive word than we’ve had in weeks.

UPDATE:

It looks as if KU can decline to renew JR’s scholarship today, only to renew it upon further investigation. From page 187 of the NCAA bylaws:

15.3.5 Renewals and Nonrenewals

15.3.5.1 Institutional Obligation. The renewal of institutional financial aid based in any degree on
athletics ability shall be made on or before July 1 prior to the academic year in which it is to be effective. The institution shall promptly notify in writing each student-athlete who received an award the previous academic year and who has eligibility remaining in the sport in which financial aid was awarded the previous academic year (under Bylaw 14.2) whether the grant has been renewed or not renewed for the ensuing academic year. Notification of financial aid renewals and nonrenewals must come from the institution’s regular financial aid authority and not from the institution’s athletics d e p a r t m e n t . (Revised: 1/10/95)

15.3.5.1.1 Hearing Opportunity Required. If the institution decides not to renew or decides to
reduce financial aid for the ensuing academic year, the institution shall inform the student-athlete in writing that he or she, upon request, shall be provided a hearing before the institutional agency making the award. The institution shall have established reasonable procedures for promptly hearing such a request and shall not delegate the responsibility for conducting a nonrenewal hearing to the university’s athletics department or its faculty athletics committee. The decision to renew or not renew the financial aid is left to the discretion of the institution, to be determined in
accordance with its normal practices for students generally.

15.3.5.2 Reconsideration of Nonrenewal. It is permissible for an institution that has notified a student-athlete that he or she will not be provided institutional financial aid for the next academic year subsequently to award financial aid to that student-athlete.

From the Palm Beach Post, just up the coast from Miami. Its author, Chris Rickins, seems to think that Simien is a good fit with Miami, and that he’ll do well playing opposite Shaq. I tend to agree.

Regular Phog Blog readers know that I normally cover things related specifically to KU. Long time Phog Blog readers may have noticed that I make a special exception for the Giant Baby stories which appear from time to time in the national news. I’m not talking your average ten or twelve pound brats that have to be cut from their mothers’ wombs, I’m talking toddler sized infants appearing from the womb looking ready to don a pair of Hush Puppies and trot off to Kindergarten to steal other kids’ food.

The latest of these giants is Delaney Jessica Buzzell, aka “The Big Enchilada”. Hopefully for her sake, she is not like her namesake, filled with greasy cheese and beancurd. At least not yet!

You know you have a big baby when the nurse says something like this:

“It was ready for a steak, it had quite an appetite.”

You’d think that the nurse would realize that when talking about enchiladas, as when talking about ships, one uses the feminine, i.e. “She was a very nice enchilada, dripping with cheesy goodnes, gentle but firm as she tickled her way down my esophagus into the open arms of my greedy belly.”

I know this is going to upset some people and will of course bring about the inevitable “KU bought a player” recriminations, but the bottom line is that the Chalmers family was going to move to Lawrence anyway, and he’s qualified for the job. When the Chalmers thought they’d be moving to North Carolina, they purchased a home in Charlotte which is still on the market.

For this scenario to play out as the conspiracists among you would have you believe, KU would have had to furtively helped Ronnie Chalmers buy a home in Charlotte before Mario ever visited KU, then kept the home on the market by hiring incompetent realtors, all after they arranged to keep a job open for 18 months specifically for him, only to get Mario’s commitment and then, 11 months later, offer the job to Ronnie publicly.

I’m gonna have to pull out Occam’s razor here today. The simplest explanation - that it was a good fit - is the best.

Miami got Wayne. I’ve had had Will “Bienvenido a Miami” Smith pumping in my head now for what seems like hours. I wonder what San Antonio was thinking when they made the pass. I wonder what Portland was smoking, correction, I confirmed that the Portland management also smokes the fat buddha in the off-season when they selected Linas Kleiza ahead of Wayne.

But I’m happy that Wayne will be joining a good team and will have a chance to start from day one.

Congrats Wayne, on earning some guaranteed money. Please don’t use it to buy a hunned thousand dolla car, even though everybody’s got’em.

UPDATE: Stephen Duncan Jr., who isn’t, I gather related to Tim Duncan, but who is a big Spurs and Jayhawks fans offers some reasons why San Antonio passed on Wayne here and here. RD Baker notes that with the departure of Udonis Haslem (and the gentrification of Christian Laettner), Wayne could be looking at a starting roll playing forward opposite Shaquille O’Neal. If he could only shoot freethrows on Shaq’s behalf, the Heat would be unbeatablee.

This may be old news, but I noticed it a while ago and am just getting around to posting it. This has to be the worst off season in KU history.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/11239891.htm

ryno