Advertisement

KU transfer Remy Martin arrives in Lawrence: ‘We’re all excited that Remy is here’

Kansas senior point guard Remy Martin, who removed his name from the NBA Draft pool on July 6, has arrived on campus for the remainder of the summer school session and has started working out with his KU teammates.

Martin, a 6-foot-0, 175-pound native of Burbank, California, had been training with other college players at Impact Basketball in Las Vegas the past few months while deciding whether to play at KU during a Super Senior season or remain in the draft.

“We’re all excited that Remy is here,” KU coach Bill Self told The Star on Friday in a text message. “He’ll be here probably until the end of school (July 30, when the players will leave town until the 2021-22 school year starts on Aug. 23). He’s been taking a class online,” Self added of Martin, who played the last four seasons at Arizona State.

Martin is a two-time first-team all-Pac 12 player with a 40-inch vertical jump. He was not invited to either the NBA G League Elite camp or NBA Combine, thus decided to play one final season at KU.

“Every time you think of Kansas you think of the best. I’m just happy to be a part of it,” Martin said after moving into his McCarthy Hall apartment room on Thursday.

Martin averaged 19.1 points and 3.7 assists per game last season for 11-14 Arizona State. He helped ASU to a pair of wins against KU his freshman and sophomore seasons.

“Not a lot of times in life you get a chance to do something over. Like I wonder, ’What would have happened if I had done this, this and this.’ Remy always wanted to come here when he was recruited as a freshman. Now for it to come full circle, to be able to come back here and finish here you get to answer those questions,” Martin’s dad, Sam Martin, said in the KU video posted on Twitter.

“In life you never get that opportunity,” Sam Martin added. ”You always say, ‘I wonder what would have happened if I went right instead of left.’ Now you come to Kansas you get the opportunity to answer those questions.”

Martin likely will help his chances of playing in the NBA if he has a big year at KU.

“Coming from Kansas … it’s not going to hurt him. It’s only going to help him,” Sam Martin told The Star in a recent interview. “Obviously Remy has to do his part, play well, make good decisions, get guys going. He’s got to win.

“Point guards are judged by their wins and losses. He has to win. He can’t turn the ball over. I look for Coach Self to help him with those things, help him improve his stock. You’ve got KU, the grandfather of basketball. You are going to get invited to something,” Sam Martin added.

Remy Martin after removing his name from the draft said: “I was blessed with the opportunity to put my name in the draft. The main objective was to learn what I needed to do to get better and try to be the best player I can be. It was pretty easy when it came to Kansas, playing for such a historic program and a Hall of Fame coach. I want to be a part of it. I want to be part of the brotherhood and help the team win as much as I can.”

Date of KU-St. John’s game changed: The Kansas-St. John’s men’s basketball game, which is part of the 2021 Big East-Big 12 Battle, has been moved to Friday, Dec. 3 at newly built UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, the conferences announced on Friday.

The time of the game and TV information will be announced at a later date. The game was originally scheduled for Dec. 2.

The game will be the first college basketball game held at UBS Arena. The $1.1 billion multi-purpose venue will open this fall and is located next to the Belmont Park racetrack. UBS Arena will be the new home to the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League.