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Not sure, may have been academic / transfer related
Posted on: September 1, 2016 at 09:29:36 CT
FIJItiger MU
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Denmon didn’t get involved in organized basketball until he was in middle school. In fact, the first time he joined an athletic team, it was for football. But he always played hoops around the neighborhood, whether it was at the court outside or one of the local community centers.
“Everybody played sports,” he said. “Either you played sports or people go into stuff they didn’t need to be doing, so I figured I’d just go the sports way.”
Denmon first followed in his uncle’s footsteps at Lincoln Prep, where he immediately earned a place on the varsity squad. But in two seasons at the school, his academic performance didn’t always match what he did on the court.
He was ruled ineligible late in his sophomore season and eventually transfered.
“As much as my grandma pushed me on grades and tried to get me in the best academic environment, I was always slacking,” Denmon said. “Even knowing I could do better, I was slacking, and I didn’t meet the academic requirements to stay at Lincoln.”
By then, Bertha and her grandson had moved south to the house that Martinez, a vice president at the publishing company Prentice Hall, had bought for her. The closest school to the home was Hogan Prep Academy, so that’s where Denmon landed.
In the summer before he enrolled at Hogan Prep for his junior year, Denmon joined KC Pump ’N Run, the AAU program run by L.J. Goolsby. He quickly began to shine on a team that included fellow MU freshman Steve Moore and Kansas freshman Travis Releford.
Hogan Prep Coach Steve Stitzer remembers having a conversation with Goolsby that fall before the basketball season.
“He asked me if I knew who I had and what he was capable of doing,” Stitzer said.
At the time, the coach was completely in the dark about Denmon’s abilities.
“We’d had some open gyms and stuff like that, but I still didn’t really see him play until the first game he played for us,” Stitzer said. “Then I was like, ‘Wow.’
There might have been even more recruiting interest but some schools seemed concerned about Denmon’s ability to qualify academically. With his grandmother and Stitzer, whom he calls “Pop,” pushing him, Denmon got more serious about school in his senior year and made himself eligible to play at the Division I level.
He also added to his on-court credentials by averaging 28.5 points and 5.8 rebounds and leading Hogan Prep to a third-place finish in MSHSAA Class 3 Championships. For his efforts, Denmon received the prestigious DiRenna Award, given to the best prep player in the Kansas City Area. It was the same award his uncle won in 1969.
http://www.columbiatribune.com/sports/mu_basketball/he-s-his-grandma-s-son/article_831da537-7f42-5e32-9bb7-e56fcdae5991.html
“Everybody played sports,” he said. “Either you played sports or people go into stuff they didn’t need to be doing, so I figured I’d just go the sports way.”
Denmon first followed in his uncle’s footsteps at Lincoln Prep, where he immediately earned a place on the varsity squad. But in two seasons at the school, his academic performance didn’t always match what he did on the court.
He was ruled ineligible late in his sophomore season and eventually transfered.
“As much as my grandma pushed me on grades and tried to get me in the best academic environment, I was always slacking,” Denmon said. “Even knowing I could do better, I was slacking, and I didn’t meet the academic requirements to stay at Lincoln.”
By then, Bertha and her grandson had moved south to the house that Martinez, a vice president at the publishing company Prentice Hall, had bought for her. The closest school to the home was Hogan Prep Academy, so that’s where Denmon landed.
In the summer before he enrolled at Hogan Prep for his junior year, Denmon joined KC Pump ’N Run, the AAU program run by L.J. Goolsby. He quickly began to shine on a team that included fellow MU freshman Steve Moore and Kansas freshman Travis Releford.
Hogan Prep Coach Steve Stitzer remembers having a conversation with Goolsby that fall before the basketball season.
“He asked me if I knew who I had and what he was capable of doing,” Stitzer said.
At the time, the coach was completely in the dark about Denmon’s abilities.
“We’d had some open gyms and stuff like that, but I still didn’t really see him play until the first game he played for us,” Stitzer said. “Then I was like, ‘Wow.’
There might have been even more recruiting interest but some schools seemed concerned about Denmon’s ability to qualify academically. With his grandmother and Stitzer, whom he calls “Pop,” pushing him, Denmon got more serious about school in his senior year and made himself eligible to play at the Division I level.
He also added to his on-court credentials by averaging 28.5 points and 5.8 rebounds and leading Hogan Prep to a third-place finish in MSHSAA Class 3 Championships. For his efforts, Denmon received the prestigious DiRenna Award, given to the best prep player in the Kansas City Area. It was the same award his uncle won in 1969.
http://www.columbiatribune.com/sports/mu_basketball/he-s-his-grandma-s-son/article_831da537-7f42-5e32-9bb7-e56fcdae5991.html
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Not sure, may have been academic / transfer related - FIJItiger MU - 9/1 09:29:36