Kansas' Josh Selby to Enter 2011 NBA Draft
April 14, 2011
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas coach Bill Self confirmed Thursday that freshman guard Josh Selby will enter the 2011 NBA Draft.
“When the season was over, Josh, his family and I spoke quite candidly about what he wanted to do,” Self said. “He made it very clear that he wanted to go to Las Vegas and work out to see if he could get more information of his NBA Draft status. He did exactly what we agreed for him to do and handled it well and has come to the conclusion that it’s best for him to go ahead and enter into the 2011 NBA Draft. We, as a staff, totally support Josh’s decision and we also hope our fans support it as well.”
Coming to KU as the 2010 No. 1-ranked player by Rivals.com, Selby scored in double figures in nine of 26 games played in 2010-11. The Baltimore, Md., native averaged 7.9 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists per contest for the season. He was a two-time Phillips 66 Big 12 Rookie of the Week (Jan. 31 and Dec. 20).
His best outing of the year came in his first game where he made the go-ahead basket with 26 seconds remaining in KU’s 70-68 win against USC in Allen Fieldhouse on Dec. 18. He scored a season-high 21 points against USC.
In his first 13 games of the 2010-11 season, Selby averaged 12 points, 2.1 three-pointers and 3.2 assists. Selby injured his foot on Feb. 1 at Texas Tech and missed the next three games and was not the same for the rest of the season.
“I never coached a kid that went through as much stuff his freshman year as Josh has – everything from a broken hand to a nine-game suspension to missing 20 practices and a stress reaction in his foot later in the season that limited his movement for the remainder of the season,” Self said. “He fought through it and certainly played through injury and did everything within his power to give our team the best chance to succeed.”
“Right now, from reports we are getting, Josh is playing at a very high level,” Self said. “I wish Josh would not have had to deal with all those things, like most players don’t have to deal with them, but I do think through this he’s become better prepared for real life. Up until his foot injury Josh was a guy who averaged 12 points a game and was just getting very comfortable for us. For him to deal with the injury was tough on him but he feels good now and should be 100 percent and back to the explosive guy that he is as he works out for NBA teams.”
“Josh made above a 3.0 (grade point average) his first semester and worked with his professors to complete his work second semester,” Self added. “I feel good about Josh leaving here knowing he took care of his business the way that he should have taken care of it.” I
