Andrew White III finally announced his transfer, and for the first time ever, I'm simultaneously bummed out for myself as a fan, and happy for the player to go to a better situation for himself. Normally, when a Jayhawk transfers, my reaction falls into one of the following categories:
Yeah, you were never gonna get to play, you should probably go somewhere else. This decision probably works out as good for you as it does for us. Hey, no hard feelings, big guy.
You had a decent chance to play when you were a Junior or Senior, but you didn't have that kind of patience, and then you were kind of an idiot on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook/other social media. This decision works out better for us than it does for you, but maybe next time don't be a dick. However, your end-of-the-bench antics were hilarious, so I will miss you for that.
Oh, you wanna transfer back home because you miss your girlfriend? Fine, just go, you pussy. This decision works out better for you than it does for us, so whatever, bro. We had too many McDonald's All-Americans, anyway. Say hello to LUMBERGH for me!
Dude. DUDE. Dude. You jumped a guy at a bar and got stabbed. It doesn't matter who the decision works out for. You got fucking stabbed. See ya.
But with White III, he doesn't fall into any of those categories, and I'm siding with the player and blaming Coach Self for the first time ever. He was a sweet-shooting top-60 recruit in the class of 2012 who showed promise his freshman year. Then Self recruited over his head for some reason (obviously getting Wiggins at the last minute was defensible; Brannen Greene, however, was not.) Even still, Self said coming into last season that nobody worked harder than AWIII over the summer, and he would be the first guy off the bench. That lasted about three games, then AWIII suffered a small injury to miss a couple games, and that was that. Buried.
I had been waiting for the transfer announcement since December, and it finally came yesterday. I think AWIII has a chance to go somewhere and play a major role for a good team, not like one of those transfers who ends up going to a tiny school, or a mid-major. I don't see any reason why he couldn't go to a Virginia, or a Maryland, or even an Ohio St. or something. After the season he just went through, he deserves to go somewhere and get some run. And he'll always have a special place in my heart and an honorary spot on my Wall of Fame, so he's got that going for him. So long Andrew.
(Seriously, Micah Downs, I hope your girlfriend from small-town Washington that you probably broke up with within 2 months of moving back was worth it. We hung a banner without you. If you ended up marrying that girl, well then, I'm not so much of a dick that I can't offer a congratulations. Bitch.)
