Xavier Henry: Come and gone?
Kentucky freshman point guard John Wall already is penciled in as the No. 1 pick in next June’s NBA Draft. Kansas freshman guard and former Putnam City High School standout Xavier Henry could get nabbed shortly thereafter.
There appears to be no doubt Wall will declare for the NBA Draft after this season. Henry said he has yet to make that decision, however.
Kansas coach Bill Self frequently has said if Henry is ready to leave after his freshman season, he should do so. If Henry is not ready, Self said he should remain at Kansas until the time is right.
“That’s the exact same way I look at it,” Henry said. “There’s no need to rush things. There’s no need to hold me back, either.”
The 18-year-old Henry initially chose to attend Memphis, where he could have joined 23-year-old brother, C.J., who redshirted last season due to a foot injury. Xavier (ZAH-vee-ay) and C.J. then switched to Kansas when coach John Calipari left Memphis for Kentucky.
“It was fun at first,” Xavier Henry said of the recruiting process, “but then it became just another thing to worry about. I wouldn’t say it was tiring, but I always had to think about it. It was definitely a long process.”
On Monday, Henry won his second straight Big 12 rookie-of-the-week award after scoring a career-high 31 against La Salle last Saturday. Henry leads the Jayhawks in scoring average (18.0), free-throw percentage (.824) and steals (16).
If Henry leaves after this season, Self will have spent more time recruiting Henry than coaching him. No Kansas player has entered the NBA Draft after his freshman season.
How many times a week does Henry get asked if he’s one-and-done with the Jayhawks? “Um, too many,” Henry said with a chuckle. “I get asked a whole lot.”
Henry won the Class 6A state championship last March with the Pirates and could win the NCAA championship this April with the Jayhawks.
“I know we’re not nearly where we want to be (as a team),” Henry said. “We’ve still got a lot of work to do. As long as we keep progressing every day, we’ll be fine throughout the season.”
Kansas was the overwhelming preseason pick at No. 1 and remains there with a 9-0 record and an average victory margin of 32.7 points.
Home games against Michigan and California are up next for KU. Games at Temple and Tennessee await in early January, followed by a Big 12 slate that includes a Feb. 8 contest at No. 2-ranked Texas. Henry said the prospect of Kansas potentially going unbeaten this season (40-0) has yet to be discussed among the KU players.
“That’s a good goal for us,” Henry said. “We really haven’t thought about it much, being in such a tough conference, but with the team we have, that’s a reasonable goal to be accomplished if we all work hard enough. Everybody on this team is good — top to bottom.”
C.J. Henry, a first-round draft choice of the New York Yankees in 2005, hadn’t played competitive basketball since his senior year at Putnam City.
After a slow start and not being able to practice due to various nagging injuries, C.J. is now averaging 5.2 points per game, highlighted by an 11-point effort against Radford.
“It’s hard to imagine taking four years off (to play baseball) and then coming back and not being healthy and not having any reps or any confidence,” Self said. “but C.J. certainly is starting to come around. He’ll help our team.”
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Hopefully he gets a lot better to where he’s mention in the same breath as D.Wade.