It's official, Julian Wright is leaving Lawrence for good. He 'selected' an agent today, one he will sign with next week signaling the end of his time at Kansas. From the day he announced his intentions to leave, it was clear that he wasn't coming back and was just waiting to sign an agent. Brandon still could return, but Wright is officially gone.
For next season, the 3-point line is moving back from 19'9" to 20'9". The chairman of the committee Larry Keating, also the senior associate athletic director at Kansas University, had this to say about the change:
That extra scholarship that Brandon left might be harder to fill than originally thought. According to the Rivals Top 150 players in this 2007 class, only 3 players are still without a team. Two of those, Patrick Patterson and Jai Lucas, both attended the McDonald's All-American game and would be quite a coup at this late stage in the game, but both are seemingly uninterested in Kansas and could come as a package, making us impossible. The one player who we could have a chance at grabbing is 6'5" foward D.J. Kennedy out of Pittsburgh. His list doesn't include Kansas, but no one is on the coveted 'High' section so we have a chance. Still, I don't think it's likely, which sends me looking yet some more...
One guy who just might fit the billing is 6'0" G Rotnei Clarke of Oklahoma. He scored 34.2 points a game last season and is being recruited by plenty of schools, including Florida, Kentucky and Duke along with Kansas. He would be my personal choice, in Self's quest to bring in as many 6'5" and under white guards (Morningstar, Reed, Teahan and now Clarke not to mention walk-ons Bechard and Witherspoon) as possible.
ROCK CHALK!