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Prized recruit watches Jayhawks
Dallas Forward also ponders Indiana, Baylor
By JASON KING
The Kansas City Star

DALLAS — After two years on the job, Kansas basketball coach Bill Self has grown accustomed to Jayhawks fans critiquing his every move.

Here in Dallas, though, there’s a 17-year-old whose opinion actually matters.

“Whenever I get time, I watch (Kansas) really closely,” said Darrell Arthur, a senior at South Oak Cliff High School. “I’m watching to see how they play, what kind of team they have, how they use their freshmen — all that kind of stuff.”

It’s not just Kansas. Arthur is scrutinizing Baylor and Indiana the same way.

A 6-foot-9 forward, Arthur will eventually sign a letter of intent with one of the three schools. Still — as coaches, fans and family wait in anticipation — the country’s top unsigned player hardly appears to be in a rush as he gathers the information necessary to plan his future.

“Everyone is really proud of him because he’s handling it very maturely,” South Oak Cliff coach James Mays said after a game last week. “He’s just taking his time. He doesn’t want to make an impulse decision.”

Arthur nearly did that a few months ago. After visiting the three schools on his list — as well as North Carolina and SMU — Arthur considered following the path of most high school players and choosing a college during the early signing period.

At the last minute, though, he decided to wait until the spring.

Arthur’s mother, Sandra, said her son wanted to research his options more closely. He returned to Indiana for the Hoosiers’ game against Duke earlier this month. A second visit to Kansas will take place Saturday when the Jayhawks play host to Kentucky.

“He wants to make his decision based on visiting the colleges and watching some of the games,” Sandra Arthur said. “He wants to watch the teams in action and get a feel for how the coaches handle their teams while they’re playing during the season.”

For most high school seniors, having to select a college could become overwhelming during a period that’s already filled with stress. Exams, homecoming, prom and, of course, basketball.

Here’s Arthur attempting to lead South Oak Cliff to its second straight state title, and recruiting services are pestering him each and every night about his looming decision.

“The phone calls are the toughest part, but that’s their job, I guess,” Arthur said. “For the most part, it hasn’t been that bad. Something like this may get to a lot of people, but I’m pretty laid back about it.”

Sandra Arthur said she’s amazed at how well her son has handled the attention.

“Everyone is coming at him,” Sandra Arthur said. “Even the guy at the barber shop has an opinion. I’m standing back and leaving him alone. I asked him if he wanted help, and he said no, that he wanted to make the decision on his own.”

One thing’s for sure: Arthur is doing a good job of leaving everyone guessing. He attended a Baylor practice a few weeks ago, but he showed up wearing an Indiana shirt.

“I think it’s between Kansas and Indiana, but he won’t even let on to me which way he’s leaning between those two,” said Sandra Arthur, adding that SMU was out of the mix.

Arthur said he couldn’t have enjoyed himself more during his second trip to Indiana last month. Along with being fond of Hoosiers coach Mike Davis, Arthur said he got along well with Indiana’s players.

Of course, Arthur said the same thing about Kansas, where he attended Late Night in the Phog on Oct. 14.

“All the guys are fun to be around,” Arthur said. “I hung around with Mario Chalmers and C.J. Giles. They were fun to be with. The atmosphere there is great. It’s hard because they’re all good schools. Having to pick one is going to be tough. It’s frustrating sometimes.”

Arthur also contends that Baylor remains in the mix. Kevin Rogers, his former high school and AAU teammate, is a Bears freshman.

“But that’s not the only reason I’m looking at them,” Arthur said. “They’ve got a lot of good players with guys like Aaron Bruce and (Curtis) Jerrells and Henry Dugat. They’re getting a lot better.”

Waco is also just a 90-minute drive from Dallas.

“He’s looking at Baylor only because it’s close to home and because his grandmother really wants him to be close so they can go to the games,” Sandra Arthur said. “I personally don’t care. I just want him to be comfortable.

“He doesn’t know whether he wants to stay close to home or venture out far. A lot of times he probably feels like Kansas would be far enough for him. I know he likes Indiana, but he probably doesn’t care for the distance.”

KU forward Julian Wright played against Arthur on the AAU circuit. He said he’d to call him a teammate someday.

“He’s great,” Wright said. “He runs like a guard and he plays strong around the basket. He’s a real versatile player. That’s what it takes nowadays. You need to be able to do more than one thing.”

Granted, schools such as Indiana, Kansas and Baylor are probably thankful Arthur is in a position to consider them in the first place. The initial thought was that Arthur would jump straight from high school to the professional ranks. The NBA’s new age rule, though, prevented that from happening.

“I was probably going to go to college anyway,” said Arthur, who averaged 16 points and 10 rebounds as a junior. “But I do think that if a player is good enough to go out of high school, he should be able to do that.”

Take one look at the 220-pound Arthur on the court, and it certainly appears he’ll have that chance. Arthur’s athleticism is freakish for a player of his size. He runs the court like a guard and, although he can bang, he has a soft shooter’s touch around the basket.

In one game last week, Arthur concluded a drive toward the basket with a jump-stop. Problem was, he ended up behind the backboard, almost surprised that his own athleticism had carried him that far. In other words, Arthur may not know his own strength.

Still, advanced as he appears on the court, Arthur’s coaches said he still has plenty of room to get better. They want to see his ball-handling and his outside shooting improve, along with his leadership.

During last week’s blowout victory against Sunset High School, Arthur sometimes appeared bored and disinterested on the court. Even during heated competition during summer AAU games, Arthur has been known to be too passive.

Mays said Arthur’s laid-back persona shouldn’t be mistaken for a lack of fire.

“That’s just how he is,” Mays said. “It’s hard for him to focus like he should sometimes. The competition level is a little below him. I’m trying to teach him to stay up.”

Mays doesn’t think Arthur will have that problem in college — wherever he ends up.

“He’s trying to be mature about all of this,” Mays said. “He’s looking at the different situations on each team with the players and the coaches. He’s looking at the environment of the school, and he’s continuing to nurture a relationship with each coaching staff to see how he feels about them.

“In the end, I’m sure he’ll do the right thing.”

On a random note, the guy that wrote that is a Baylor Grad. He went to high school with me at Hillcrest.

That could explain the mentioning of BU alot

“He’s looking at Baylor only because it’s close to home and because his grandmother really wants him to be close so they can go to the games,” Sandra Arthur said.

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Anyone else think he's missing an option if this is important to him?

I hope not, but it looks like Tubbs is still batting O-fer in Dallas.

I will have to admit I got excited about the possibility Tubbs would attract a guy like this, but let's be realistic. Why would anybody choose SMU over programs like Indiana and Kansas? SMU has been mediocre in hoops since the death penalty era and it's going to be a struggle for anyone to rebuild this program and to generate enough interest to fill Moody again.

Even with the advantage of paying for players, it took Dave Bliss 3 years to build a winning program going after Dallas area kids. I still remember his 1st area signee was Regie Pink, not exactly a program "savior", but clearly Regie was a better athlete than we had on the floor in the years immediately preceeding his signing.

Let's just hope this team can finish in the top 5 in CUSA and post a winning record. We all know we lose our best player after this year and it remains to be seen whether Tubbs can find a way to improve year after year despite that loss. I'm afraid that's what it's going to take before any local talent is really going to get interested in SMU.

until SMU at least announces a significant renovation of Moody its gonna be very difficult to get blue chips. Its really baffling that we cant do something to the place to at least give the appearance that we are not stuck in 1954.

Do we have a chance? Doesn't look promising, I hope we have a shot.

I think we were lied to by alot of DISD coaches who claimed to send players to Tubbs if hired.

They can't make a kid sign with a particular college or coach -- that's up to the player and his family. They can ask him to talk to Coach Tubbs, and hopefully, they have. Keep doing that, and one of them will sign here. Then hopefully another, and another ....

Fact is in todays recruiting environment the AAU coaches may have as much or more imput as the high school coaches. That said, how many years was Tubbs here before we signed Hopkins? There are two things at play here. These kids have to understand that we aren't in the WAC anymore and that CUSA with a top 4 team and a decent television contract will give them as plenty of exposure. CUSA has two former National championship calibre programs (UH and UTEP). It has Tulsa and UAB which have made big runs in the NCAA tournament. So, these kids will get to play in a solid hoops conference with a pedigree. Secondly, we need to convey that they will get plenty of press in Dallas as our star player. Hopkins does and they will as well.

The fact is SMU's administration has done absolutely nothing to indicate it wants to win in Division 1-A athletics. Granted, Ford Stadium was a great start but if you handcuff yourself with recruiting and admission standards you cannot get the quality athletes. The Moody renovation has been talked about for years now. Less talk and more action is needed from the administration. Ask Copeland questions and he gives you more questions. It is time for a change.