Xavier Henry gets his first taste of KU hoops
 

Don't know if it's a repost or not. I don't think it is.

Xavier Henry gets his first taste of KU hoops
By J. BRADY McCOLLOUGH
The Kansas City Star

LAWRENCE | C.J. Henry looked at his little brother and knew. There was Xavier, the 6-foot-6 man-child with the broad shoulders, watching the video board from underneath the tunnel at Allen Fieldhouse with his hands pressed together below his chin, waiting for his name to be called.

“He was just looking real nervous,” C.J. said. “I could tell. I’m his brother.”

During the last few years, Xavier had played in venues bigger than Allen, in high school all-star games with just as much talent as what surrounded him on Friday night at KU’s annual “Late Night in the Phog.” So what was there to be nervous about? Well, it was his first time playing in front of a fan base that had been awaiting his arrival basically since he was born to former KU basketball players Barbara and Carl Henry in 1991. Yes, 18-year-old Xavier was a bit nervous.

C.J., his senior by five years but also a member of KU’s freshman class, just told him to be himself — the supremely gifted, confident No. 3 overall player in the class of 2009 who is expected to be a first-round pick in the 2010 NBA draft.

“I kind of tried to settle him down,” C.J. said, “just told him to have fun.”

C.J. did the best he could, but it didn’t exactly work. In the Blue-White scrimmage, Xavier played like a freshman trying too hard to please. He made one of four shot attempts and finished with six points. He added three steals. More than his play, it was important just to get his highly anticipated unveiling over with.

“I played here one time but not with a crowd like that,” Xavier said. “It was special with 16,300. It’s a lot different than playing a high school game. Next time, I’m sure I’ll be more calm and go out and play and relax. Tonight, whew, it was just adrenaline.”

For the Jayhawks’ fans, it had to be nice to see Xavier and C.J. with the name ‘KANSAS’ stamped across their chests, their well-publicized recruiting saga far in the past. When Xavier’s name was finally called, he received one of the loudest player ovations.

“I’ve been feeling like a college student for the past six or seven weeks,” Xavier said. “It’s fun. I’m ready to take these recruits out, have fun, have a good night. Practice starts tomorrow morning.”

The recruits Xavier will be entertaining are five-star talents Harrison Barnes, a small forward from Ames, Iowa; Josh Selby, a point guard from Baltimore, Md.; and Doron Lamb, a shooting guard from Mouth of Wilson, Va.

It was just last year that Xavier was sitting where they were, watching a slew of recruiting-based videos and trying to make his college decision. A year later, after signing with Memphis and then choosing KU after John Calipari’s departure for Kentucky, Xavier was a part of the action.

In his freshman skit, Xavier was forced to wear an afro and butt-hugger KU game shorts from the 1980s and dance to rapper Lil’ Flip’s “The way we ball.” Xavier had been nervous about that, too, of course.

“They made us do some goofy stuff tonight,” Xavier said. “We stressed over it the whole week. We practiced earlier (Friday), made sure we got it down. It was good. I enjoyed it while we were out there.”

•TAYLOR PLAYS: KU guard Tyshawn Taylor, who dislocated a finger during a fight between KU football and basketball players, played 9 minutes during the scrimmage and dished out five assists.

The stars of the game were Markieff Morris and Travis Releford, who each had 15 points.


http://www.kansascity.com/842/story/1513230.html#

I get goosebumps anticipating the upcoming basketball season!!!

From the title I thought he was in a fight with a football player.

Makes me nervous. We won't sneak up on anybody.

It's not often that we do in basketball, especially when we've got this much talent and depth.

The twins looked enormous by the way. They definitely put on a lot of muscle over the summer.

I hope that Self just runs waves at people this year rather than settle into a 8 man rotation.

For a second i thought this was about how he got a DUI or fought a football player

Repost.

I beg to differ Skip. KU players can be very sneaky!!

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k1...pcTxccgKzJ.jpgIn all seriousness KU is going to be a monster this year. With Aldrich, Collins, The Moron Twins, Tyshawn, X, and the rest of the 4 and 5 stars kids anything but the National Title would be disappointing. I think Bill Self is right when he says this team isn't as good as the 07-08 team right now, but if things go well by the time they get to the Tournament they could end up being even better. I'm a huge Burrito Bill fan and root for you guys except for those two times a year we play each other. Go get ya some more hardware..................bitches (sorry couldn't help myself) :D

Thanks......I think.

Theres too much talent there to run just an 8 man roatation. Of course Morningstar won't play til Jan.

S Collins
B Morningstar
T Taylor
E Johnson
X Henry
CJ Henry
T Robinson
MC Morris
MK Morris
C Aldrich
J Withey

God this team is ****ing loaded.

Isn't Whithey ineligible till the 2nd semester?

This.


ROFL


Agreed. This is like a fricken all star type team talent wise. Not necessarily household name wise with the exception of Collins, Aldrich, and now X. Henry. Anybody who's a fan of College BBall knows who those three are.

They will learn about EJ rather quick, I think. This is the kid I'm most excited about. I haven't been this excited since JuJu.

both whithey and morningstar are out until semester iirc

btw self just said the other day that he didn't want to play more than 10 ... preferably 8/9

Red-shirt EJ