I like that last bit. Sounds like Mario Little has good character and is already a KU fan. Gotta love it...

who was overlooking this kid? Has he been sitting at the end of our bench not playing all season and we just didn't notice him? I think most KU followers haven't overlooked him at all? How's this for an intro, "At first glance, Mario Little doesn't have the stats and pedigree that his fellow Kansas signees have, and his name might make him sound like nothing more than a smaller version of KU's current Messiah of Basketball, Mario Chalmers, but you don't have to do much more than scratch the surface of this 6'3 Juco.....bla, bla, bla...."

Excellent article. I haven't heard much about Mario Little, so it's good to hear that he's got a little Brandon in him. We can only hope he's as good a shooter and defender. It seems we will be just as deep and solid next year as we were this year. we just might not have as much experience.

If I remember correctly he WAS Juco player of the year as a freshman was he not? Why would anyone overlook him. I've kinda imagined him in our starting 5 next season taking on Rush's role defensively.

Other than that, is it necessary to bash Arthur like that?

"But with the good comes the bad. There were occasions on offense where he showed flashes of Darrell Arthur...." Arthur was one of our most important pieces this year, and he still could come back and help us to another championship.

To be fair, Rush and Arthur and Russell all three had their own shares of the good and the bad this year.

he was not juco player of the year as a freshman, infact, he didn't even start for his juco team as a freshman...

It was the media who overlooked him. Am I right? Mr. Elmquist Jason? More accurately, it was WJL.

You guys are right - you all are WAY to psychotic to overlook anybody who has anything to do with KU hoops. Congratulations.

WalkingMizzou'sDog: Your post makes absolutely no sense what-so-ever, typical ranting and ravings of a hateful Antler (666's) lunatic.

Not to be redundant with the other posters, but I'm not sure too many were overlooking the #1 JUCO player.

Otherwise, interesting article. It's nice to hear some opinions from someone who has actually seen him play, and nice to hear he has the defensive intensity. And that leads into my next point: the fouls. While that could be a problem, right now it suggests to me that he is aggressive on the defensive end. Arthur's biggest problem with respect to that was dumb fouls out of position.

And Plastic, I have to agree with you here. That part of the article in its phrasing seemed unnecessarily negative toward Arthur. Perhaps it was just poorly written, but Mr. Elmquist, perhaps you forgot Darrel posted 20 and 10 in the national championship versus the number 1 team in the country? The outcome of that game would have been significantly different without his excellent effort.

I thought Appleton was the #1 Juco guy and Little was rated as #3.

Either way, I was excited about him coming here. Something in his eyes tell me that he just doesn't like to lose and he doesn't expect winning to fall in his lap.

I don't think the Arthur comments were that far off base. I think everybody understands that as talented as Arthur has been for us, he's also one of the most frustrating players to watch. He did great in some games, but you would think he would learn how not to get frustrated and reach in. It's as simple as standing straight up and making somebody shoot over you. You don't have to stop every single score on the defensive end, you just have to lower the other team's percentage enough that you win the game. Arthur plays like every bucket the other team tries to score is going to lose the game for us. Playing smart means picking your battles and taking advantage of opportunties when they present themselves.

Still a great player though. He's been really fun to watch when he's on his game. I doubt he'll be back for next year, but I think age has a lot to do with how he plays. He's talented enough that it's easy to forget that he was only a sophomore. Wherever he plays next, he'll come together nicely.

JBurt-

We weren't arguing that Arthur doesn't have areas he needs to improve, and I agree with you that he certainly could be frustrating. The point was the way the statement is phrased, it makes it seem as though he did not have any upside at all. Just not a well written point. He is a fantastic athlete who did some wonderful things, and has several areas that need some improvement. But without him, we wouldn't have done what we did.

And I'm almost positive Little was number 1 and Appleton was #3, but I'm too lazy to look it up.

Hey, I liked the article. I haven't heard nearly enough about the new guys yet. Keep it comin'!

After turning the corner at the end of the walkway, the future Jayhawk poked his head back around to yell out the rest of his response about traits he shares with current KU players: “And I’ve got the toughness of Russell Robinson! ... Make sure you put that down!”

This was a good ending to Jason's column, wouldn't you all agree?

To the ill-informed, Mr. Elmquist has been with the LJW for at least 2 years. Maybe you so-called mens b-ball fanatics should read ALL the stories posted.

plasticJHawk: "But with the good comes the bad. There were occasions on offense where he showed flashes of Darrell Arthur...." Arthur was one of our most important pieces this year, and he still could come back and help us to another championship. To be fair, Rush and Arthur and Russell all three had their own shares of the good and the bad this year."
I completely agree that Arthur was important to the team and that all players own shares of good and bad this (and every) year. I was giving the readers an idea of what to anticipate with Little, via comparison to current players. I wasn't singling Arthur out as having nothing but bad attributes. I was just using him as a legitimate example. "But with the good comes the bad. There were occasions on offense where he showed flashes of Darrell Arthur, too often shooting fadeaway jumpers." - I was simply stating a clear observation about both Arthur and Little. There is no denying that Arthur, at times, was spending a lot of time shooting mid-range jumpshots (and not always converting on them). In fact, Bill Self stated after the USC game “I think what happens is he sometimes takes harder shots to begin a game,” Self said of Arthur. “Therefore, he doesn’t have confidence. I wish he’d attack the rim in that situation.” <http://www2.kusports...> Yes, I know "that was then, this is now" but he still showed tendencies over the season, though he began to limit those "harder shots."

tomike: "It was the media who overlooked him. Am I right? Mr. Elmquist Jason? More accurately, it was WJL."
The LJW didn't overlook him. More accurately, we (specifically, myself) went out to Hutchinson to cover Little in the NJCAA national tournament - as was stated in the column - and articles written over each of his games. There were other media outlets there as well. And remember, this was when the NCAA tournament was going on as well so media was still wanting to get Little covered when all the "hub" was about KU in March Madness.
If you re-read the lede, it says "most everyone." So, it may not have been yourself or the others that seem to have taken offense to it, that overlooked him. However, when reading posts on kusports.com, the Morris Twins, Releford and Appleton are normally the first newcomers that are mentioned with few references to Little. Thus, leading me to that lede.

LAJayhawk: "Arthur's biggest problem with respect to that was dumb fouls out of position."
That too was Little's problem with fouls. Though he wasn't out of position all that often, most of his fouls were "dumb fouls." Several of them were fastbreak fouls where he should have just allowed the opponent to score and not put himself into more foul trouble.

"perhaps you forgot Darrel posted 20 and 10 in the national championship versus the number 1 team in the country? The outcome of that game would have been significantly different without his excellent effort."
I didn't base my offensive comparison solely on the championship game. Matter of fact, I had written the column prior to the Final Four -- following my time in Hutch.

In all, Little (whether you "overlooked" or not) is more than a great talent. After having been around him four or five days, he's a great person as well - and that's not something I throw around lightly. Even after a first-round loss in the tournament, he swallowed his pride and wasn't a sore loser or give up hope. That showed by how he responded in the following games. Even with the knowledge that they weren't going to win the championship, he still dug in and did work. Despite his upbringing (growing up in what he said was "the wrong side" of Chicago, at times using milk cartons as basketball hoops), he seems like a great person with a solid head on his shoulders. He's the type of "older" and mature guy that Self will need with the hit in leadership that will be lost from this year's squad. And that can been seen in the final paragraph. The fact that he wanted to make sure that it be known he has "the toughness of Russell Robinson" shows he's not worried only about offense, or defense, but the Bill Self style of basketball.

Jason-
Thanks for the replies. Very interesting reading them. I responded to Gary Bedore on another post that I very much enjoy the writers getting involved in the comment boards as it makes it far more interesting. Almost an interactive sports page, if you will. I also want to thank you for covering the "new" Mario. It is absolutely fantastic to have LJW reporters researching incoming players. Overall, this was a very good article (I actually meant to say that from the beginning).

I will say that I, personally, completely understood where you were coming from in regards to Arthur and the point you were making. I just thought the phrasing could have been more clear. But no need to rehash that.

"I didn't base my offensive comparison solely on the championship game. Matter of fact, I had written the column prior to the Final Four -- following my time in Hutch." I completely understand that reason. I do hope you assume, however, that I don't quantify Darrell's positives simply by the championship game either. Even with his areas of needed improvement, he played an enormous part to this teams success. The negatives you stated, though, I completely agree with.

All in all, I am very glad with your coverage here. And the feeling you have about this kid certainly makes me feel much more positive about the outlook next year. I took no offense from you saying some "overlooked" this kid (good work with the use of comment board quotes, btw) -- especially considering I have not seen him play -- and I hope you have not taken offense from my follow up comments.

Look forward to more of your work.

I thought it was a pretty solid article.

I also thought this was a well written article. No need to be overly sensitive. Thanks for telling us a little more about an incoming player that I'd venture to say not many of us knew much about.

Thanks for being active in responding to posts also. It adds a little to the regular chat. Good ending to the article, too!

Hey, I have an idea: Let's always bash the hell out of the opinion article.

Seriously, people nitpick on this site more than anywhere else. I understand you can have disagreements, but have a little respect. It was good info that, without an in-depth site like rivals, I would never know about. Take the info for what it's worth: Stuff you would never otherwise know about.

Wow - props to Mr. Elmquist for participating. That HAS to raise the level of respect from the readers - agree or disagree.

I have a hard time with this article which bashes Arthur, who in some Mock Drafts is going as high as 8th? At the worst Arthur will go in the 1st round, and they have the gaul to treat Arthur this way. I don't want to see him leave either, but more articles like this one will surely run him off!

I saw a KU flag posted outside a house in Manhattan Beach, CA yesterday - made my day!

Darrel Arthur going as high as #8 in the draft is kind of like Josh Freeman having higher NFL potential than Todd Reesing. Drafts aren't really a very good indicator of how well somebody plays.

I don't agree with the mentality, but it seems to be the way it is. That's why I don't watch the NBA or NFL any more. Both leagues are full of garbage players that just happened to be the right size.

You can't honestly tell me that Julian Wright was or Darrel Arthur is even close to being NBA ready. The teams just want to snatch up the potential before somebody else does.

In the case of Arthur, I think that by Senior year he would be scoring 30+ points a game, and no longer making bad fouls. He'd probably win player of the year as well. I have my doubts as to whether the NBA will ever develop his skills the way that staying in school would. They snatch up players like him, then waste their talents by simply not having them play defense.

I don't blame Arthur in any way shape or form for leaving. He's simply doing what makes the most sense considering how the world works, and he's already accomplished what he came here to do. It just pisses me off that the NBA used to have enough respect for the players to allow them to develop in a league where fundamentals were the key. Snatching up the potential now weakens the college game by never seeing the fantastic seniors that you used to, and it drastically weakens the entertainment value of the NBA.

There's a reason that the Dream Team a few years ago dominated everybody by 40 points in international competition. Only a few of those players came out of college early, and when they did, it was because they had earned it. Every one of those players was a complete player that knew how to function as part of a team.

Nowdays, the same level of international competition is beating an NBA "all star" team by 20 points. It's really gotten pathetic.

Who is this Elmquist?

I don't like change.......

Who died, left, got fired in the LJW Sports Room?

Someone that knows a lot more about Kansas basketball then you do...

Thanks for the interaction Gary & Jason.

It will be great to have Mario teaming up with Sherron for all the more Chi-town action. Maybe there could be a piece about their HS/playground history, and the different paths taken to KU.