T-Rob’s Time

 

LAWRENCE, KAN — Coming into the 2009-2010 basketball season, Xavier Henry was the talk of the Lawrence campus (and not always for the best reasons). Returning Kansas stars Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich, with the addition of Xavier Henry, made Kansas the team to beat that season.

There were two other members of the 2009 recruiting class for Kansas and both of them finally have a chance to make an impact in the 2011-2012 season. One of them is Thomas Robinson.

That’s not to say that Robinson wasn’t very highly touted coming out of high school. After all he was rated No. 24 overall by Scout.com, No. 31 by Rivals.com and No. 40 by ESPNU 100.

“Thomas Robinson is one of our big key players coming back,” said junior guard Travis Releford. “He’s going to be the center of team. We’re going to expect a lot out of him next year.”

As the sixth man for Kansas in the 2010-2011 season, Robinson was a scoring and rebounding machine in limited action. Despite averaging 14.6 minutes per game behind the Morris twins, he still managed to put up 7.6 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.

What makes Robinson special is his ability to bounce back from adversity. James Ellis, one of Thomas Robinson’s youth coaches told the Kansas City Star: “the best part about him was his heart.”

Robinson missed five games in his sophomore campaign. Three of those games were because of knee surgery to repair torn cartilage in February. That obstacle didn’t seem so difficult after having to miss two games earlier in the season due to his attendance at two funerals: one for his grandmother on January 5th and the second for his mother on January 25th.

In his four games following his mother’s funeral, he averaged 12.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per game, including back-to-back 17-point and 9-rebound performances vs. Kansas State and Texas Tech.

Robinson’s effort was recognized as one of 10 finalists for the V Foundation Comeback Award.

The Brewster Connection

Thomas Robinson will see a familiar face on campus this year as freshman point guard Naadir Tharpe of Brewster Academy signed with the Jayhawks back in November. Tharpe was Robinson’s teammate his sophomore year of high school at the prep school in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire.

“Naadir gets a chance to play with Thomas again. Both are excited about it,” Brewster coach Jason Smith told the Lawrence Journal-World. “Thomas, like most of our alums, said he would be coming back for a visit to our school this spring (where he and Tharpe can work out).”

Tharpe told the Lawrence Journal-World that Robinson is “one of my good friends. When I committed, he texted me and said, ‘Welcome to the Jayhawks.’ I have a friend at KU in Thomas. We are real close and talk a lot.”

The connection between alumni with current players is apparent to Smith, which is something he enjoys watching occur when alumni come back to visit.

“We always talk about family at Brewster,” said Smith. “It was really good to see when [Robinson] came back to Brewster this spring to spend time with guys he never played with that were maybe a year or two older than him or behind him, but also the current guys. At one point, Thomas and Will Barton (of Memphis) were back on campus and they both pulled Mitch McGary aside and told him how crazy things were going to become with his recruiting. They weren’t trying to recruit Mitch to their respective schools but just trying to give him an idea of what recruiting was going to be like these next few months.”

With more than 30 Brewster alumni at the collegiate level, Smith’s players are never short on advice about the recruiting process.

Smith has not been surprised by the amount of praise Robinson has received this summer.

“It’s definitely what we expected out of him. We were fortunate to have Thomas at Brewster and there would be days in practice where he would do something that as coaches, we would look at each other and go ‘oh my word.’ His potential has always been very high and through the roof. I think the Kansas coaches have done a great job continuing to develop that.”

Smith has enjoyed seeing Robinson develop into the player he has become and attributes that to a certain coach at KU.

“I think that his footwork that is one thing we noticed that has really improved. From which I’m sure came from his work with Coach [Danny] Manning and the other coaches at Kansas. That’s the biggest noticeable improvement we saw when he came back to visit this spring.

“I think the one trait Thomas possesses that makes him a tremendous prospect at the collegiate level and beyond is his motor and how hard he really plays. He’s a true competitor. When he was a Brewster, he was about 6’ 8” and change but he played so hard. He has the mentality that every time the ball came off the rim, he needed to get the rebound. I think that’s what he’s continued to prove at Kansas and more recently at these camps this summer.”

Time to Shine

The Morris twins both declared for the draft last season, which now gives Robinson the chance to shine. Self believes that because of his opportunities, there isn’t as much hype about Robinson coming into the season as some of the other big men he’s coached in the past.

“I think going into his junior year, he hasn’t had the same opportunities or he hasn’t had the same recognition that a Cole, a Marcus, a Markieff, a Sasha or a Darnell would have because he’s been a back-up,” said Self. “He’s only been a complementary guy. But I will say this, I think his upside is such where he can be a guy that can average 18 points and 10 boards a game.”

But he doesn’t think that Robinson is under the radar whatsoever.

“I don’t think in anybody’s mind out there, in any NBA people’s mind or whoever, I haven’t heard anything that says he is under the radar,” said Self. “He may be under the radar as far as people will project us because of his stats and how many points he averaged last year but not from a talent standpoint, I don’t think he’s under the radar at all.”

Self has heard a lot of praise about Robinson from the national media, NBA coaches and players, and Kansas’ own athletic trainers.

“I would say that Thomas has had as good of a summer as anyone has had, based on what everyone has told me,” said Self. “I’ve been told that he’s been a monster in the weight room, he’s in pretty good shape based on what the strength coach says. He’s committed to work hard. He’s in here all the time working on his game on his own. He’s certainly gotten favorable reviews at the camps he’s gone to. I think he’s really looking forward to having a role in which he will be a more focal point.”

“I think Thomas has to improve just as much as anybody, because when he plays well, he’s terrific. He can be very inconsistent. He needs to take a step like Markieff (Morris) took this [past season],” Self told the Lawrence Journal-World. “His skill set is going to continue to improve. It’s amazing to me the type of year he had considering all of the stuff he went through, just amazing. Hopefully he can play with a free mind and be able to just play as opposed to think and have so many different things going on in his head. He had a great year and will continue to get better.”

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Summer Camps

Robinson went to a few camps this offseason, including LeBron James’ Skills Academy in Akron, Ohio and Amar’e Stoudemire’s camp in Chicago.

The Stoudemire camp featured some of the nation’s best forwards including Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger, Kentucky’s Anthony Davis, North Carolina’s James McAdoo, UConn’s Alex Oriakhi and Villanova’s Mouphtaou Yarou.

Robinson was the talk of the Stoudemire camp according to multiple websites.

“The Jayhawk flew down the court, challenged shots at the rim, finished inside rebounds and low-post moves with strength and athleticism,” said ESPN’s Eamonn Brennan.

However, it was a dunk that captured everyone’s attention:

Robinson “threw down the indisputable dunk of the day — a cocked one-handed fast break alley-oop that caused plenty of stone-faced NBA scouts in attendance to cast each other knowingly excited glances.”

Robinson told the Lawrence-Journal World that “the whole gym went crazy after the dunk” and admitted it was similar to his dunk against Arizona last season (which happens to be his Twitter background).

Robinson got a lot of praise after the LeBron James camp as well.

ESPN commentator Fran Fraschilla sent multiple tweets to Robinson.

“UK’s Anthony Davis and Buckeyes’ Jared Sullinger are lotto picks right now (in 2012 NBA Draft) but you BETTER put KU’s Thomas Robinson in there also. A BEAST!!!”

“@TRobinson0 Been bragging on you after that LeBron Camp performance! Keep working hard this summer and enjoy going home to DC!”

Jay Bilas, also of ESPN, had this to say: “Thomas Robinson was among the hardest working and most productive in the camp and has the chance for a really big year for Bill Self.”

But perhaps the words that impacted Robinson the most came from LeBron James himself.

“He said himself I was strong, so that was a compliment,” Robinson told the Lawrence Journal-World. “He was cool, way down-to-earth, even more than I thought. I really respect him. He’s tweeted me and told me to keep working. I told him I will. I told him to talk for me. I’m trying to make some noises here. He said he will, so I mean hopefully he will.”

Draft Potential

Thomas Robinson will most likely leave for the NBA Draft following his junior campaign. It was rumored Robinson would leave for the NBA last season but with the lockout looming and a chance to be the Jayhawks’ first inside scoring choice on the offensive end, Robinson’s choice to return was logical.

“Robinson has a great deal of NBA potential, but right now it is really just that – potential,” said Ed Isaacson of NBADraftBlog.com. “His biggest strength last season, and what made everyone take notice, was his ability to come into the game and give an instant jolt of energy to the team.”

According to Isaacson, Robinson has a few adjustments to make to impress NBA scouts.

“This season he is going to need to make a lot of adjustments to his game to start to fulfill his potential,” said Isaacson. “First, he is going to need to adjust to his offensive game. Robinson will have to become a much more versatile offensive player, becoming more of a legitimate post player with a full complement of moves. He will also need to develop a reliable short-to-mid range jumper to go along with his post skills. Next, he will need to show that he can play at the same high level while most likely doubling his minutes this season. The loss of the Morris twins makes Robinson the only experienced post player, and he will need to learn to deal with the attention this will now bring from opposing defenses. Lastly, he will need to make adjustments on the defensive end, knowing he can’t afford silly fouls this season. If he can begin to show improvement in these areas this season, he will be attractive to a lot of NBA teams.”

“He has already shown he can come off the bench and make a difference in limited minutes,” continued Isaacson. “If he can show he can do it consistently over longer stretches of time, he can get significant minutes in the NBA. Without significant improvement, I still think teams would be interested in him during the late lottery – mid first round range. If he does improve the areas I outlined above, he can find himself edging into the Top 10, even in an incredibly strong draft.”

Physically, Robinson understands what he needs to do.

“I don’t know how much bigger I can get, but I’m going to try in the offseason to get bigger. I wouldn’t call it perfect,” he said of his frame to the Lawrence Journal-World. “LeBron (James) is my height, and he’s, like, 250 so I can add some more weight.”

Despite taking in advice from plenty of people last summer about his draft prospects for the 2011 draft, he has not stated that he won’t be returning for his senior campaign either.

“I am not thinking about the NBA,” he told the Lawrence Journal-World. “I am worrying about winning the Big 12 championship and making our run in the tournament. The NBA is out of the question right now. I am still a junior. I have two more years left in school.”

Right now, Robinson is content on working on his collegiate goals which includes getting All-American accolades as well as team goals.

“This was the most trying year of my life,” said Robinson after deciding to come back to Kansas for his junior season. “I want to thank everybody, and I can’t wait to run up and down the court in a packed Allen Fieldhouse next year. I plan on busting my butt this summer to improve my game. I want to take more of a leadership role in us moving forward and winning another league championship and getting to the Final Four.”

Bio: Joe Davis is a 2011 graduate of the University of Kansas and has covered Kansas Athletics for the Associated Press and Basketball Times. Joe also blogs about the Jayhawks on his website: JoeDavisMedia.com/RCJB and tweets on @KansasSports.