Xavier Henry on to Memphis
by Denverjhawk
on Nov 18, 2008 7:49 AM CST
in Basketball
The recruiting saga of much heralded Kansas basketball legacy Xavier Henry has drawn to a close. After several changes in plans the top ranked Henry chose Memphis in a announcement this morning on ESPN. The recruiting battle has been going back and forth between Kansas and Memphis for quite sometime now with sources at both schools claiming they had the inside track. Turns out Coach Calipari was the one with the edge and CJ Henry's recent enrollment at the University of Memphis was the final straw in making this decision. Xavier in fact said his deciding factor was one last chance to play with his brother CJ at Memphis.
When asked about his history with Kansas and the call to Coach Self Henry said it was a very hard decision but it boiled down to what was most important to him and that was playing at Memphis. Henry followed that up with a call to stay tuned it's going to be a big year at Memphis next year.
Looks like the 2009 Kansas class will probably end up being just Thomas Robinson and Elijah Johnson. A great class but this could have been a historic one if we hadn't whiffed on Snaer and Henry. There is still the slim prospect of either Dominic Cheek or John Wall but I'm not nearly as hopeful in regards to these two as I was with Snaer and Henry.
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Thats disapointing, but there is still hope in cheek(prolly going to villanova) and Wall is who knows..
I trust in Coach Self though, he’ll get what we need/lacking. We may have what we need already, just need to mature and grow. Plus Thomas Robinson is a heck of a catch, Elijah will be solid as well.
"I can resist everything but temptation." - oscar wylde
by cfizzle on
Nov 18, 2008 8:01 AM CST
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I too trust in the coach...
Some people are like Slinkies...not really good for anything but they make you smile when pushed down the stairs.
by Denverjhawk on
Nov 18, 2008 5:44 PM CST
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What a bunch of Crap.
Calipari is so frickin slimy. I’m sure Henry is going to feel great about this decision when Coach John is off to Arizona for more money. But hey, at least you get to go to a program you know can’t beat KU when it counts.
I’m sure playing those scrubs from East Carolina will do wonders to get you ready for the NBA.
by KennyGregoryRockThaCradle on
Nov 18, 2008 3:48 PM CST
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better get your facts in order before you write your impressive (not) post. better check Derrick Roses numbers in the NBA, especially compared to Darrell Arthur (6.8 ppg). Yeah, East Carolina really does wonders. Maybe you ought to play em more often, lol.
by memphisfan on
Nov 18, 2008 4:07 PM CST
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Nice logic. You realize your argument assumes that the two were essentially the same player going into college, right? Because otherwise, it proves nothing. Rose could have been playing better than he is now if he went to Kansas, and vice versa. And this doesn’t even begin to factor in their NBA training or their roles on their current teams.
But since you’re just a sad little internet troll, I don’t expect you to understand any of this.
So instead, I’ll just say this: enjoy deluding yourself into believing Calipari intends to spend the rest of his career at some program with no competition, limited resources, and no tradition. Because he’s shown so much loyalty to programs in the past.
by KennyGregoryRockThaCradle on
Nov 18, 2008 5:31 PM CST
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deal with it!
sorry KU fans, he is comin to Memphis and we can only hope to meet up again against you guys. the results WILL be different next time!
by memphisfan on
Nov 18, 2008 4:03 PM CST
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You’re 12 years old, aren’t you.
by KennyGregoryRockThaCradle on
Nov 18, 2008 5:32 PM CST
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scoreboard
Some people are like Slinkies...not really good for anything but they make you smile when pushed down the stairs.
by Denverjhawk on
Nov 18, 2008 5:53 PM CST
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Sure, it sucks that we lost out on Xavier Henry.
We’ve been after him since he was like four.
But it is becoming more obvious that these recruiting battles mean a helluva lot more to Memphis than Kansas. Memphis’ offensive system, and just in general under Coach Calipari, are built around stars. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it just requires you to recruit incredibly well, particularly among the nation’s top recruits.
Kansas, on the other hand, under Bill Self is built more around a team full of awesome players, as opposed to one single superstar.
by rockchalk on
Nov 19, 2008 12:29 AM CST
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Last years group defined the word team...
and I personally loved being able to watch that group of a 3 and 4 year span, made it that much more enjoyable and easeir to swallow when they were all gone.
Some people are like Slinkies...not really good for anything but they make you smile when pushed down the stairs.
by Denverjhawk on
Nov 19, 2008 7:21 AM CST
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Xavier isn't coming to Kansas what is the big deal?
Question, when was the last time K.U. recruited a top 5 recruit in the country? Answer…..Not recently enough to matter! When Self took helm as coach, things looked to be a disaster, lost to Bucknell and Bradley, the high low offense was horribly painful for a fan to watch executed, and recruits were fleeing like the plague. But what happened? Self’s recruits bought into his system and coaching, the recruits who were raising a stink at KU continued to just plain stink elsewhere i.e. Downs, Giles, Giddens, and Padgett( a note while the arguement is made, “well they started didn’t they?” it is safe to say their potential has barely been actualize), and Self brough a title back to Lawrence. So my response is, why not trust Self to begin with!
My questions is would Self had recruited Xavier if he was a coach somewhere or else, or X’s parents didn’t play basketball at K.U.? That is a good question, because I am not sure he is the type of player that fits into his system. Look, the bottom line is X-Henry is a primadonna! The guy has is own website! He not only held a press conference to announce where he would attend, but he kept issuing statement after statement about his intent, his change in mind, he descion to make an annoucement or retract an annoucement!!!!
I am not going to sit here and spout of how X-Henry sucks, because he doesn’t and will probably be a pretty successful pro-player, but I truly don’t think one and done’s play into Self’s style of play. USC had one great player and it got them to the tournament, K-State had two and it got them to the second round, Memphis had one great player and it got them to the National Championship Game, but in the end, the team that was composed of guys who had played countless games together won!
Calipari can have him, and we can expect for the entire offense to run around the play of X-Henry good for X! But Calipari proves on a consistent basis that this style wont win championships, and in the end Calipari isn’t as good of a coach as Bill Self i.e. Calipari’s horrible descision making during the championship game.
Don’t listen to memphisfan this “supposed” recruiting battle victory is the only thing Memphis fans can hang their hats on. You have X but we have the banner at Allen Fieldhouse declaring us National Champs! Which would you rather have seriously?
by theruckus33 on
Nov 19, 2008 1:46 PM CST
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Welcome and great post, look forward to having you around Rock Chalk Talk...
I would argue that Self will always recruit top talent regardless of one and done or not…the difference here compared to most places is you will still have to earn your playing time and your not about to be given anything. To your point when you come to Kansas you have to be prepared to play on a deep and talented team. Look at Aldrich and Sherron for example…either of those guys could have started elsewhere much sooner, but tell me Cole won’t be thanking himself everyday when he begins his NBA career for the opportunity to have learned and practiced everyday from the likes of Jackson, Kaun and Arthur. In short Self will always go after the best of the best but the ones that fit the system and understand the team concept will identify themselves in the process much like we have seen this year with landing Robinson and Johnson vs. losing out on a couple of guys in Snaer and Henry.
Some people are like Slinkies...not really good for anything but they make you smile when pushed down the stairs.
by Denverjhawk on
Nov 19, 2008 1:58 PM CST
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