Former KU forward Lawson says NCAA title was ‘fate.’

Lawrence

Dedrick Lawson rolls out of bed at his apartment in Istanbul, Turkey, on April 5th at 4am and is a live stream of the 2022 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship game between his alma mater Kansas and the North Carolina Tarheels. I wanted to see.

“I was tracking the entire NCAA run. The game was played at different times (due to the 8 hour difference), but I was watching,” said Besictus SJ of the Turkish Super League. Lawson, a third-year professional at 6 feet 9, 235 pounds, said. J-Hawk (2018-19) led the Big 12 Conference with scoring and rebounds.

Lawson, 24, played in the NBA G-League in 2019-20, South Korea in 2020-21 and Turkey in 21-22, but wasn’t surprised that Jay Hawks won the 6-0 tournament run. I’m talking about it. 72-69 victory over UNC at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.

“Honestly, I call it fate. It was fate. After years there, it was quite late,” Lawson said. He was talking to a star at the Rock Chalk Roundball Classic Bowling Tournament on Saturday at Lawrence’s Royal Crest Lane. Dedrick and his brother, former KU Guard KJ Lawson, have been two of the approximately 40 former J-Hawks players in town since Thursday, helping to raise money for a local family fighting cancer. rice field.

“Even the team I belonged to in 2018 … we were right there. This year we clicked for the coach (Bill Self) and everyone. Everyone agreed. We definitely I was late, “Lawson pointed out.

Dedric Lawson started with the 2018-19 KU team and has reached 26-10 overall. The team finished third in the Big 12 and lost to Auburn in the second round of the NCAA tournament. During the 2017-18 redshirt season after he and KJ moved from Memphis, KU (31-8) won big 12 regular and postseason tournament titles, reached the final four and reached the national semifinals. I lost to Villanova.

Lawson, who averaged 19.1 points and a 10.3 board as J-Hawk after leaving KU with a year of college qualifications, was not elected in the 2019 NBA Draft. San Antonio Spurs signed him to play in the G League Austin Spurs. Lawson averaged 14.0 points and 8.0 rebounds in the 2019-20 season, scoring 33 points (10 rebounds) in a single match.

“The Spurs loved him very much,” KU assistant coach Kurtis Townsend said at a roundball classic bowling event on Saturday. “Dedrick can really score and rebound. He’s a very good player. I talk to someone today who said he might be in New Zealand this season where you can make a lot of money. “His future is bright,” Townsend added.

Dedrick is not opposed to returning to Turkey with an average of 13.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game during the 2021-22 campaign.

“I had a pretty good year,” Lawson said. “I will probably go abroad. I enjoy the process. I am learning a lot from different players and coaches. You go abroad, experience different cultures, different You can see the place. I’m sure you’re blessed. “

Perhaps one day playing in the NBA, he said: You want the right opportunity. Continue the game as usual. “

Meanwhile, the KJ Lawson brothers, who left KU a season later to finish their college career at Tulane, played for the British team in 2020-21. He coached at a high school in Memphis last year.

“He and KJ are great kids. They come from the Memphis basketball family,” Townsend said. “Returning this weekend to support such a good reason really shows their character,” he added.

When Dedrick first returned to play KU basketball and soccer radio with play announcer Brian Hani’s Roundball Classic, he said, “I wanted to go back to Lawrence, show my face and feel the atmosphere of Jayhawks. “. That’s exactly it. Many of the teammates I played here are back this weekend and I wanted to interact with them. Brian called me last year and I was in the Summer League. Nothing was happening this year. It was a good opportunity for me and KJ to come back.

“It was fun to meet lots of people. Fans here don’t care how long you are here as long as you are devoting everything when you are here. Then they will We will always support you, “Lawson added.

KU Alumni Team May Enter TBT in 2022

According to Lawson, he may play for the KU Alumni team in the upcoming Basketball Tournament (TBT).

Former KU Guard Thai Sean Taylor needs to join the 64 teams’ single elimination event to star at the Roundball Classic Dinner at Barge Union on Friday, with members of the winning team distributing $ 1 million in prizes. Said there was.

The KU team participated in the 2019 TBT and lost the only match in Wichita. Former KU forward Perry Ellis suffered a serious knee injury in the match.

If KU joins the team this summer, he will also be assigned to the Wichita Regional (July 22-28, Koch Arena).

Taylor first contacted former KU players Dedric Lawson, Devon Dotson, Mario Little, Frank Mason, Thomas Robinson, Cliff Alexander, LaGerald Vick, Marcus Garrett and more on the TBT. He said he asked if he was interested in playing for the KU team.

“It’s a really good competition,” Taylor said.

Morningstar rolls 200 games

KU Men’s Basketball Video Coordinator Brady Morningstar defeats former KU guard Cheron Collins and former KU forward Travis Lerford in the finals of an individual rock choke roundball classic bowling tournament on Saturday at Royal Crest Lane. I did.

Morningstar bowled 224 and Collins 180 before the final, a three-frame tournament. Morningstar went on strike and knocked down nine pins in the third frame, beating second-place Collins and third-place Leleford.

“Downtown” Terry Brown returns to town

Former KU Guard “Downtown” Terry Brown, who played for Jay Hawks in the 1989-90 and ’90 -91 seasons, returned to Lawrence on the Roundball Classic weekend.

Brown holds a record of most three pointers created by KU players in the game (11). Lagerald Vick, Billy Thomas and Mario Chalmers each made eight hits in the game and tied in two-thirds of what was done in the KU game.

“It was against Kentucky, which was upset because game coach Pitino (Rick, Kentucky) continued to press and we continued to score,” Brown recalled at Friday’s Roundball Classic Dinner. did.

In fact, Brown scored 31 out of three in KU’s 150-95 victory over Pitino’s Kentucky Wildcats at Allenfield House on December 9, 1989.

Eleven of his 17 attempts, Three defeated North Carolina 105-94 in Allen on January 5, 1991. He scored 42 points in the game.

Originally from Clyde, NY, Brown transferred from A & M Junior College in northeastern Oklahoma to KU. Brown was inducted into the NEO Hall of Fame in 2018. He played for two seasons at KU and had enough time to rank eighth in Lawrence’s previous three-point field goal list (200).

He hit 111 threes in 1990-91 and was second in the single season full-time KU list after Svi Mykhailiuk’s 115 threes created in 2017-18.

During his successful business career, Brown ran his own freelance graphic arts business and worked for a sports jewelery company. A seasoned painter, he told the star on Friday that he also designed uniforms for the youth basketball team.