Former KU forward Dwight Coleby remains on lockdown in Italy: ‘I just want to leave’
Former Kansas basketball forward Dwight Coleby, who spoke to The Star on March 19 about being on government-mandated lockdown in his apartment in Sassari, Italy for eight days and counting, has now been confined an additional 29 days ... with no end in sight.
The 6-foot-9, 240-pound, 26-year old Coleby— he had a redshirt year at KU then played in 24 games in 2016-17 before transferring to Western Kentucky — is allowed to go to the grocery store once a week.
Aside from that, he’s been cooped up because of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. He’s been unable to leave the country even though the remainder of the Italian League season has been canceled.
“No, I haven’t gotten used to it,” Coleby, who plays for Dinamo Sassari, said in a direct Facebook message to The Star. “I just want to leave as soon as I can. If I could just get back to the States that would be good.”
His fiancee lives in Atlanta.
“It’s not that they are not letting people in — all of my American teammates left to go back home — but because I’m Bahamian, America won’t let me in,” Coleby, a native of Nassau, explained. “(They are) only allowing their citizens in the country (USA).”
Coleby said he’s spoken to Dinamo Sassari teammates Jaime Smith and Dwayne Evans, who were able to return to their native USA recently, “but no luck (in helping Coleby get out).”
Also, Coleby said teammate Dyshawn Pierre was able to return to Pierre’s home country of Canada.
Asked if he envisions a way to depart Italy with airports in The Bahamas closed, Coleby said via instant message: “Probably if someone in higher power could make a call, lol, or I’ll just have to wait until they open up the borders.”
Coleby’s Dinamo Sassari team is paying for Coleby’s apartment while he remains in limbo in Italy. The current government plan is to end the national lockdown, which started on March 9, on May 3. Perhaps at that time Coleby can find a way to the Bahamas or USA.
“Stay safe,” Coleby said, concluding the Facebook conversation.
Moss signs with Edge
Kansas senior graduate transfer Isaiah Moss, who averaged 7.9 points and 2.3 rebounds a game his one season as a Jayhawk, has signed with Edge Sports International Agency, the company announced Thursday.
Edge Sports is based in Northbrook, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.
Moss, who played three seasons at Iowa, hit 49 of 141 three-pointers for 34.8% in his one season for the 28-3 Jayhawks. Moss, who hit 38.7% of his shots overall and went 91.2% from the line, started nine of 30 games and averaged 24.6 minutes a game in 2019-20.
“I feel great about it,” Chicago native Moss said recently about his year at Kansas. “This is a winning program. It’s always been a winning program. It’s what I came here for. I wanted to win.
It went pretty fast. I enjoyed my time. It’s the best experience I had in college on and off the court,” he added, noting, “when I first got here people said I was just a shooter. I tried to do other things to make the team better.”
KU coach Bill Self said Moss, “is a terrific young man who sacrificed for the betterment of us. He’s playing a different way than he probably was asked to play at Iowa. He became a much better defender while still being our best shooter. He did more than make shots. We’re very thankful he’s here. If not here our team would have looked totally different especially with injuries we had. He’s been a real blessing.”
Oubre rehabbing in Phoenix
Former KU guard/forward Kelly Oubre of the Phoenix Suns, who had surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee in early March, thinks he might be able to play again this season if and when the 2019-20 NBA campaign resumes.
“I’ve just been staying on top of myself and pushing myself and doing everything they’re telling me to do to the best of my abilities,” Oubre told Mike Mazzeo of Yahoo!Sports. “So I’ve been having to be my own trainer throughout this whole thing, but that’s how it goes.”
Oubre has been spending the pandemic working out in the backyard of his Phoenix home and also working in his office in his house on his “Dope Soul” clothing line.
““I want to be one of the biggest artists in the world,” Oubre told Yahoo!Sports. “You see how a guy like Virgil (Abloh of Louis Vuitton) has come onto the scene and put his own blueprint on what fashion is, creating his own lanes, being an influential voice, and that’s what I want to be.
“I just want to create timeless, classic pieces that will be around 100 years from now, and that people will be happy they got their hands on. I just see myself being in that crazy, Kanye genius conversation.”
Oubre, 24, averages 18.7 points and 6.4 rebounds a game. He’s made 35.2 percent of his threes for (26-39) Phoenix. He signed a two-year $30 million deal prior to the start of the season.
He plans on making big bucks with his clothing line someday.
““That’s the plan, definitely, setting myself up to be my own boss outside of basketball and doing it in the fields that I love,” Oubre told Yahoo!Sports.
Mashack offered by Arizona
Jahmai Mashack, a 6-4, 180-pound junior shooting guard from Etiwanda (California) High School, on Wednesday was offered a scholarship by Arizona, according to Zagsblog.com.
Mashack, the No. 78-rated player in the recruiting Class of 2021 according to Rivals.com, is being recruited by KU, Arizona, Oklahoma, Colorado, Utah, Stanford, Texas, Texas Tech, UCLA, Gonzaga, Florida State and others.
Mashacks’s older brother, Kwesi Mashack, played defensive back for Arizona’s football team from 2014-17.
This story was originally published April 17, 2020 at 9:23 AM with the headline "Former KU forward Dwight Coleby remains on lockdown in Italy: ‘I just want to leave’."
