Cliff Alexander’s one-and-done plan goes awry at Kansas
BY RUSTIN DODDTHE WICHITA EAGLE
03/11/2015 9:43 PM 03/11/2015 9:43 PM
KU's Cliff Alexander dunks over UNLV's Goodluck Okonoboh on Jan. 24 at Allen Fieldhouse. Alexander’s future at Kansas remains in doubt as the NCAA investigates potential impermissible benefits received by his family through a third party. RICH SUGG KANSAS CITY STAR
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On a chilly early morning in the North Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago, a high school basketball player stood near the sidewalk and waited for his coach.
Cliff Alexander waited here most days amid the heartbreak that had enveloped this strip of hollowed out streets on the west side of Chicago. He was 6 feet 8, with broad shoulders that could barely be confined by his favorite T-shirts, and in the right angle and lighting, Alexander could pass for a 30-year-old man. But on this morning he was still just a teenager who required a ride to school.
A few minutes later, Mike Oliver, the basketball coach at Curie High, steered his car toward the curb. Together, they made the commute 25 minutes south to the school, located in the Archer Heights neighborhood near Midway Airport.
Oliver, a staple in the Chicago basketball scene, had driven Alexander to high school for most of his four years, and he had also overseen a remarkable transformation. Four years earlier, Alexander had never played a minute of organized basketball. By spring 2014, he was headed to a blue blood college program at Kansas, and then, if everything went right, the NBA.
“One and done,” Alexander said, on the day he picked a KU hat off a table and signed with the Jayhawks. “Then (I’ll) come back and get my degree.”
By most any definition, Alexander earning a college scholarship was a success story. His father, also a former Chicago prep standout, had spent part of Alexander’s childhood behind bars. His mother, Latillia Alexander, has scrapped to support a household full of children. The oldest child in a family of seven kids, Alexander was headed to an idyllic college campus to play for a future Hall of Fame coach.
“I can’t wait to get to Kansas,” Alexander said last spring, standing in a practice gym in Chicago.
Nearly one year later, that optimism has all but faded away in a frustrating freshman year. Alexander sits in limbo, sidelined as the NCAA investigates potential impermissible benefits received by his family through a third party. His NBA stock has taken a sharp decline. His play has been defined by uneven performances, inconsistent effort and an awkward transition to the physicality of the college game.
“He just caught it and mauled people in high school,” KU coach Bill Self says, “and you can’t do that obviously at this level.”
As the days pass, the likelihood increases that Alexander will never play for Kansas again. The NCAA investigation has slowed to a crawl as the Alexander family remains quiet. Alexander has yet to be interviewed by NCAA investigators. Alexander may be presented with limited options.
Last year, those close to Alexander envisioned a one-year stop at Kansas and a place on the stage at the NBA Draft. Now Alexander could be forced to head to NBA just as his stock has dipped, a decision that, based on the NBA’s strict rookie salary scale, could cost him millions.
If the Alexander family is concerned about the future, they have given no public indication. When reached on Tuesday afternoon, an attorney representing the family in the NCAA investigation declined to comment on the status of the case.
“I don’t have any update for you,” said Arthur McAfee, a Washington D.C.-based attorney. “Our side is doing just fine.”
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On an afternoon in January, Clifton Terry leaned back against a bleacher inside Allen Fieldhouse and smiled.
It was Jan. 31, just a few minutes after Kansas’ 68-57 victory over Kansas State. It was a good day, Terry said, but he couldn’t help but be a little discouraged. Alexander had gone scoreless while playing 19 minutes, and after averaging 14 points in two games just two weeks earlier, his up-and-down season had continued.
“You always want your kid to play better,” Terry said.
As Terry said this, he stood at his normal perch, wearing his usual pair of yellow-tinted sunglasses while sitting the top row of the family section above the visitor’s bench. During Alexander’s freshman season, Terry had become a constant at Kansas games — both at home and on the road.
“You only get one chance to watch your son play college basketball,” he said in January.
A former standout at John Robeson High in Chicago, the 6-foot-7 Terry had a brief career at Kennedy-King Community College before declaring for the NBA Draft in 2001. He went undrafted, and spent part of Alexander’s childhood in an Illinois prison, according to public records. But he returned as Alexander finished up at Curie.
This year, Terry been there for all the flashes of promise and moments of consistency. Before he was sidelined by the NCAA investigation, Alexander was averaging 7.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. He had moments where he appeared poised for a breakout, including a 15-point, nine-bound performance at Texas. But he scored in double figures just once in nine games before being forced to the sideline.
“This is all different for high school kids,” said KU assistant coach Norm Roberts, who works with the Jayhawks’ big men in practice. “People scout you. They’re going to take away what you do well. If they know that you are a right-hand jump hook guy, that would mean teams will take that away.
“Now you’ve got to come up with a counter move, or you’re not going to score.”
Both Roberts and Self say Alexander’s development was stunted by a foot injury last summer that kept him out for most of the offseason. He came to Kansas raw, an unfinished product that needed to refine his low-post game and learn how to use angles and footwork to score against tall players. The injury slowed the process.
“These are all things he’s learning,” Roberts said. “Because he didn’t have to go against the big bodies.”
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On Wednesday afternoon inside the Sprint Center, Self stood outside the Kansas locker room and provided his latest update on Alexander’s status: “No new news, whatsoever.”
It’s become a common refrain.
The details in the case remain elusive. A Uniform Commercial Code filing in the state of Illinois, filed last August, has connected Alexander’s mother, Latillia, to a Ludus Capital, a Florida financial firm that offers loans to professional athletes and agents — a connection first reported by Yahoo! Sports. But for now, it remains unclear whether the filing involved a loan based on Alexander’s future earning potential.
For now, the NCAA has yet to interview Alexander — though sources familiar with investigation told The Star on Wednesday that there was no reluctance on the Kansas side for Alexander to speak.
“Whatever happens, we’ll deal with it,” Self said last Saturday while expressing in the lack of cooperation from all sides in the investigation.
If Alexander winds up in the NBA Draft, multiple NBA scouts interviewed for this story said Alexander would still have a chance to be drafted in the first round. But one scout suggested that Alexander would have a chance to be drafted significantly higher if he returned.
For now, Kansas waits, Alexander sits, and Self prepares for a postseason without a key big man. In the end, Alexander may just meet his goal: He may be one and done.
Reach Rustin Dodd at rdodd@wichitaeagle.com. Follow him on Twitter: @rustindodd.
TCU VS. NO. 9 KANSAS
When: about 2 p.m. Thursday
Where: Sprint Center, Kansas City, Mo.
Records: TCU 18-14, KU 24-7
Radio: KFH, 1240-AM, 98.7-FM
Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/sports/college/big-12/university-of-kansas/article13667912.html#storylink=cpy ↗