Bob Lutz: Seniors steal OU-KU spotlight in the one-and-done era

College basketball needed a PR boost and it was two seniors who played their high school basketball in Wichita who gave it one Monday night.

Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield and Kansas’ Perry Ellis, once summer AAU teammates, helped put on the show of shows during KU’s 109-106 triple-overtime win at Allen Fieldhouse amidst a roar that could have awoken James Naismith.

Too often, the best players treat college as a rest stop on the way to, they hope and dream, the riches of the NBA. But Hield (Sunrise Christian) and Ellis (Heights) stayed for the long haul. They’re four-year players in an age in which being a four-year player carries with it a negative connotation.

Add Wichita State’s Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet to the senior mix locally and be proud that Wichita basketball is being represented with such outstanding players and people.

It’s difficult for college basketball fans to wrap their arms around the players they’re supposed to adore. The players frequently don’t stick around long enough to leave much of an impression.

It’s happened frequently at Kansas over the past several years, starting with Josh Selby and Xavier Henry and continuing with Ben McLemore, Andrew Wiggins, Joel Embiid, Cliff Alexander and Kelly Oubre.

They were Jayhawks — but not really.

Ellis has roots in Lawrence. He may have wanted to bolt for the NBA before now, but grew to recognize that his development as a player and as a student was the most important thing. He’ll get a shot professionally and with a college education, to boot.

Same for Hield, who turned down Kansas to sign with Oklahoma out of Sunrise. He was heavily recruited, but did anyone imagine this?

“We recruited him but we probably didn’t recruit him as hard as we should have,” KU coach Bill Self said of Hield. “Back then we had (McLemore) and we didn’t know at the time that he would be a one-and-done. But I don’t think even (Oklahoma coach) Lon (Kruger) would have predicted Buddy would be the best player in the country by the time he was a senior.”

It’s because Hield is a senior that he’s being heralded as such. He was a gawky, if talented, kid coming out of Sunrise and he made only 24 percent of his three-point attempts as an OU freshman. The talent was undeniable, but so was the basketball immaturity.

Hield never showed up on those mock NBA Draft lists that can be the ruin of young players. Instead, he worked on his craft, perhaps motivated by the lack of national acclaim.

Now he’s showing in the glory.

After Monday’s game, in which he scored 46 points while playing 54 of 55 minutes, Hield was given a standing ovation by the Allen Fieldhouse crowd. He was hooked up for a segment on “SportsCenter” and Dick Vitale, who did commentary on the game for ESPN, heaped praise upon him.

So did Ellis, who led Kansas with 27 points and 13 rebounds.

“When we shook hands after the game I just said to him, ‘Man, keep going, you’re going to do great things,’ Ellis said. “It was a great effort.”

Ellis played all but two minutes in his finest game as a Jayhawk. And, he said, the most memorable game in which he has played.

“I’ll definitely remember this one forever,” he said. “Our whole team will, for sure. It’s all about making memories and this is definitely going to be a great memory.”

Self said he started realizing how special Monday’s game was at about the two- or three-minute mark in regulation, when neither team was giving an inch.

“I’m thinking there are some kids out there playing their tails off,” he said. “And making play after play.

“I thought we actually did a really good job holding Buddy to 46. Frank (Mason) did a great job on him in the second half because he could have had 60. It was an epic game.”

Self said the only game he’s coached in that was comparable was KU’s 87-86 overtime win over Missouri at Allen Fieldhouse in 2012. That was a battle between No. 3 (Missouri) and No. 4 (Kansas) and the last time the teams met before Mizzou’s departure for the SEC.

“This game against OU was more of a respect game,” Self said. “I thought both teams handled it so well down the stretch. Both teams were so exhausted but there was nothing but respect for one another.

“I told our guys that if we had lost the game, I would have walked into the locker room and told them it was a game they would never forget.”

Nobody will. It became an instant classic with a decided Wichita flavor thanks to Hield and Ellis, senior standouts.

The more of those who populate college basketball, the better off the sport.

This story was originally published January 5, 2016 at 4:17 PM with the headline "Bob Lutz: Seniors steal OU-KU spotlight in the one-and-done era."