Sam Cunliffe to Leave Kansas
By JACOB POLACHECK Junior guard Sam Cunliffe will
By ADAM ZAGORIA
ST. CATHARINES, ONTARIO — From Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski to Kentucky’s John Calipari to Texas’ Shaka Smart, the men who have coached with USA Basketball have often been said to have a huge recruiting advantage over their competitors.
By virtue of coaching either the U.S. National Team (Coach K) — or a youth team such as the U19 or U18 side (Calipari and Smart) — these coaches get unprecedented access to some of the top high school players in the nation during the summer. Often these coaches are recruiting several of the players they coach in USA Basketball.
As a result, USA Basketball changed the rules two years ago to allow college coaches to attend international events such as the FIBA Americas U18 Championship here this week and next month’s FIBA U17 World Championship in Argentina — as well as the recent tryouts in Colorado Springs, CO — even though they don’t coincide with NCAA live periods.
Kansas coach Bill Self is now coaching the USA U18 team and is once again in a position to both win a gold medal — and coach both one of his future players and two players he’s recruiting in the Class of 2019.
It’s not lost on many of the other coaches here that Self’s starting five for the first three pool play games includes Kansas signee Quentin Grimes plus Matthew Hurt and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, two elite players Kansas is heavily recruiting.
By MIKE McCURRY 2018’s first edition of the
TORREY PINES, CA – Quentin Grimes, the 6-foot-5 combo guard from The Woodlands College Park (TX) High School, finished with 44 points and nine rebounds in a 64-77 loss to St. Edwards (OH) at the Torrey Pines Holiday Classic.
“I felt like I played well, but it wasn’t enough to get the win,” Grimes told ZAGSBLOG Wednesday following the game. “I feel like we were lacking a bit on the defensive end, with our rebounding. I think next game. I think that’s something we’ll work on in the next game for sure.”
According to 247Sports, Grimes is ranked as the No. 12 overall player in the Class of 2018 and the No. 2 combo guard in the class. After signing with Kansas in November, Grimes spoke about the type of play he will bring to Lawrence.
“I’m a bigger guard that can play and guard the one, two or three positions,” he said. “I can handle the ball and I feel like I have pretty good vision out there on the court. I can shoot the ball, attack the ball, and make plays for my teammates.”
With Silvio De Sousa reclassifying to the 2017 class and joining the Jayhawks for the second half of the season, Kansas currently has a three-man 2018 recruiting class with Grimes, Devon Dotson, and David McCormack. Grimes spoke about his role at Kansas.
“They talk about how I play on the ball a lot, off the ball a lot,” said Grimes on how the coaches at Kansas plan to use him. “I’m gonna have to be the primary leader next year because there will be a lot of guards leaving. Hopefully, I can lead the team to a final four and championship.”
Despite his 44 point outing on Wednesday, Grimes still sees room for improvement in his game, as he said, “I’m trying to get more consistent shooting the ball. In the summertime, I didn’t shoot the ball very well, so I stayed in the gym making my three-ball consisted and working on my free throw shooting.”
With his senior season in full swing, Grimes also spoke about what excites him most about joining Kansas’ team next year.
“Just to play for a Hall of Fame coach like Coach [Bill] Self,” said Grimes. “He’s gotten into the hall of fame. He’s had a lot of good guards like Mario Chalmers. I’m excited to pick his brain about work ethic and everything. I think it will help me tremendously.”
By: MIKE McCURRY Don’t expect Bill Self to
