Editors note: I do not hate Julian Wright. At all. I was gonna call this post '10 things I hate about Julian leaving', but could you pass up the title I ended up using? Me neither. 1) He is my second favorite Jayhawk of all time, after Hinrich.
2) He is also probably the most fun to watch Jayhawk of my time, in his own way. Not like a "whatever bad things may happen, it's OK, because Kirk will make it all better" but a "Julian's on a fast break...there's an equal chance he will cross over this point guard, spin, and dunk over their center...or he will dribble it off his knee" kind of way. To put it another way, watching Kirk made you feel like you were wrapped up in a warm blanket, with a glass of milk and some fresh cookies. Watching Julian was like riding on a roller coaster without the safety bar down. Both ways were fun.
3) I never got to see him play in person, due to unavailability of tickets his freshman year, and me not being able to make time to get down there this year. I figured next year I would be seeing him play multiple times. Now I can only wish.
4) This was a complete and total 180. All year long he said he was staying. He even used the phrase "100% sure." Maybe I should've learned after Roy that there are no sure things, but still. He said he recently saw how high his draft status was. What?!? He's been a top-10 pick all year, and at the 4 spot the last half year. He didn't know that? Plus, since the Final 4, he has actually been passed by Horford, Hibbert, Brewer, Green, and Yao Ming Part 2, and is back down in the 10ish range.
5) With Afflalo going pro, we were probably preseason #1 next year. And if Brandan Wright goes pro, we probably would've been a unanimous #1.
6) I think this results in Brandon Rush going pro now too. We could handle the loss of one of them and still be in title contention. Not both. I believe one thing in Rush's head was "if I do come back, at least everyone else will be there and we will have a shot to win a title again..." Now I don't know.
7) I'm not very used to players leaving early. In my era, only Drew Gooden and Paul Pierce have left. With Gooden, you knew it was coming. You were prepared for it. Same with Pierce, to a slightly lesser extent. Not with Julian.
8) The wounds from the UCLA game were beginning to scar over a bit. I was starting to check preseason rankings, reading about the new recruits coming in, getting excited about how pissed and motivated everyone (except Rush) was, and then BAM.
9) How, if for just one season, it was cool to shave your name in your head again. Even if it was just the JU. I was aboutthisclose to putting a JI on my dome.
10) I really, really, really don't need another reminder about how it ain't easy being a Jayhawk fan. The scary thing is I don't even live there yet. Vegas has the odds at 3-2 that I suffer multiple heart attacks next year.
