The Kansas basketball program has not taken long to reload after the losses of senior All American guard/Wooden Award winner Frank Mason and 6-8 freshman forward Josh Jackson, who declared for the NBA draft and should be a Top 3 pick. The Jayhawks, who have won 13 consecutive Big 12 titles and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight last month, continued to pick up blue chip talent, adding Dedric and K.J. Lawson, who will transfer to the storied Big 12 program from Memphis after a 19-13 season.
The brothers committed to Memphis after Josh Pastner hired their father Keelon Lawson as an assistant coach in the summer of 2014. When Pastner left for Georgia Tech last spring, new coach Tubby Smith demoted the father to team director of player development. Keelon Lawson, who coached both boys’ and girls’ teams at Memphis Hamilton High before joining the Tigers’ staff, is expected to leave Memphis shortly but is unlikely to be placed on staff at Lawrence.
Dedric Lawson, a first team all-American Athletic Conference selection, was considered the most coveted transfer available after the 6-9, 240-pound sophomore forward averaged 19.2 points, 9.9 rebounds and 3.3 assists this past season while blocking 68 shots in 34.8 minutes per game. K.J. Lawson played only 10 games as a freshman because of an Achilles injury, earning a red shirt year. The 6-7 wing averaged 12.3 points and 8.1 rebounds in 33.7 minutes and was selected the conference’s Newcomer of the Year. Dedric Lawson will have two years remaining after sitting out the 2016-17 season, while K.J. will have three if he can get an NCAA waiver for a sixth year of eligibility.
Kansas was the first school to contact the family after they announced they were leaving.
Memphis, like American rival Connecticut, is experiencing a mass exodus. Red shirt junior point guard Markel Crawford, who averaged 12.8 points, is also leaving and will reportedly resurface as a fifth year graduate transfer at Michigan.
This has been a good week for Naismith Hall of Fame inductee Bill Self, who got some good news when starting junior guard Devonte Graham announced he would return to school for his senior season. The Jayhawks will also have red shirt sophomore guard Malik Newman, a transfer from Mississippi State; junior guard Lagerald Vick; 7-0 red shirt freshman Udoka Azubuike and 6-8 senior wing Svi Mykhailiuk, 6-8 freshman forward Billy Preston, a McDonald’s All American from Oak Hill, Va. Academy; and 6-5 point guard Marcus Garnett of Dallas, Tex. Skyline, the Texas Player of the Year.
