KC Confidential.com

“All of that is false. I had a friend of mine in Kansas City read me a lot of what was printed and it’s false.”
Carl Henry, TheShiver.com
GH: Matt Scott posted Carl Henry’s response to J. Brady McCollough’s story on Xavier and C.J. Henry in Sunday’s Star on the ESPN-sponsored TheShiver.com. Just what “all of that” includes is up for debate. Is Carl saying McCollough made up his story? Fabricated the quotes? The Kansas City Star doesn’t work that way. Read on.  

“We had lunch. The tape recorder was sitting right in front of (Carl Henry) the entire time. He knew it was on. He knew he was being quoted. I was a little taken aback by some of the things he said, but they were said with a recorder there and never did he say, ‘You shouldn’t put that in there.’ There was nothing like that. So to me, I felt that I had full reign to use everything he said.”
L. Brady McCollough, 610 AM
GH: McCollough has covered the Jayhawk beat for The Star for two years. He is not a sensationalistic reporter who would want to burn an incoming basketball star like Xavier Henry and his brother, C.J. It makes no sense to believe his story is anything but valid.

“It’s almost like they don’t want us up there, and right now, my kids don’t want to go because of that article.”
Carl Henry, TheShiver.com
GH: Who is the ‘they” Carl is referring to? J. Brady McCollough and his tape recorder? His sons no longer want to play at Kansas because of a newspaper article? Yeah, these two are ready for the NBA. Or maybe Carl Senior is trying to talk his way out of the hole he’s dug for his kids.  

“I have been totally shocked by the Kansas fans’ reaction to the story. I didn’t go down there to write a negative story. I still don’t feel like I wrote a negative story. I just felt like it was a real story. For anybody who read it in perspective, it is not a negative story.”
L. Brady McCollough, 610 AM
GH: Hold on, JBM. Please. This story shed a negative light on the Henrys from almost any perspective. Which part surprised JBM that his readers would take as negative? That Carl Senior ignored an incoming call from Bill Self? That Carl Senior said C.J. was as good as Sherron Collins and Tyshawn Taylor? That Coach Self needed to be “on board?” That Xavier has no interest in attending class or joining his future teammates for summer workouts? JBM cannot be that naïve to think his story wouldn’t shake some rocks loose from their chalks.

“I was impressed with the kids. They work their butts off! They didn’t take any shortcuts in their workouts while I was down there. People say they came off as prima donnas in the story but I wasn’t trying to do that.”
L. Brady McCollough, 610 AM
GH: Chris and Cowboy scored big in getting McCollough on the air to discuss his side of this tale. But they allowed him to get away unchallenged with comments like this that simply should have been pressed. JBM painted these incoming freshman as driving a Range Rover, a Hummer – “Xavier needs the leg room,” and living in a plush condo with NBA-like amenities that C.J. paid for in cash. Where, oh where, would anyone get the idea from this story that these two are prima donnas?

“I apologize to anyone who is tuning in to hear our interview with Carl Henry. We called his cell phone several times and he didn’t answer. Now he’s turned his cell phone off because it’s going directly to voicemail. That’s not cool. We can’t control what people do but I apologize. It looks like Carl Henry is going to stand us up.”
Cowboy Cory Anderson, 610 AM
GH: This happens in live radio and was one of the reasons I hoped the interview was already in the can when the station started promoting it on 610 during Nick Wright’s morning show.

“My first thought is that as soon as we started promoting this interview, you know KU monitors our show, that Bill Self called Carl Henry and said, ‘Don’t do it. You’ve already caused enough damage.’ ”
Chris Hamblin, 610 AM
GH: This out-of-the-crimson-and-blue comment floored me. How can Hamblin make a reach this far with no evidence of proof over the public air waves? He even made up a conversation that Self apparently had with Carl Senior. When 610 is wondering why people continue to refuse to take their station seriously, they need look no further than comments like this – which I heard Cowboy repeat during the five-o’clock hour.

“There is more separation between Kansas and the other schools this year than there was last year between North Carolina and everybody else. Kansas will be everybody’s pick to win the national championship.”
Mike DeCoursey, college basketball writer, on his expectations for KU basketball, 810 AM
GH: The Henrys arrival in Lawrence is one of the reasons so many pollsters are picking them as the runaway favorites. Let’s hope all this Carl Senior rhetoric is long forgotten come November…but I doubt that will be the case.  

“Marcus Morris has made tremendous improvements since last year. There were times when he was the best player on the court.”
Jason King, of yahoosports.com, on what he observed while watching KU scrimmage their alumni recently, 610 AM
GH: If Marcus improves that much, KU may need to schedule the Lakers.

“It doesn’t affect me. It doesn’t affect our players. Our job is to coach and to play and that’s what we do.”
Frank Martin, on KSU’s recent scandals, KSHB TV 41

“I think Bill Snyder has more integrity than most people in his little finger. And I like Frank Martin a lot.”
Kevin Kietzman, 810 AM

“Will a nine-win season make this go away for Bill Snyder?”
Soren Petro, 81o AM
GH: Yes.

“I think one of Ron Prince’s greatest weaknesses was that he didn’t know how to evaluate talent.”
Kevin Kietzman, on the former K-State football coach, 810 AM
GH: But he obviously knew how to negotiate a buyout.

“We’re gonna see Missouri football take a giant step back. K-State football is in complete and utter disarray — complete and utter disarray. K-State basketball is mediocre at best with a coach who is mediocre at best. It just furthers KU’s stranglehold on athletic dominance of the local schools. …If you’re a Kansas fan, I don’t know if you could feel better about your position athletically in regard to the local schools.”
Nick Wright, 610 AM

“A lot of people think I’m anti-Jayhawk and that I hate KU. There’s probably a smidgen of truth to that. I grew up on the Missouri side and I can’t really be a Jayhawk fan.”
Nick Wright, 610 AM

“It pretty much came down to Northwest (Missouri State) and the Air Force Academy. But then I found out that at Air Force you pretty much gotta get up at 6:00 or 6:30 every morning. I really didn’t want to do that.”
LaRon Counsel, former running back at KC’s Center High School who scored 36 TDs for the NWMS Bearcats in 2008, 810 AM
GH: Let’s just say it’s probably a good thing for everyone that LaRon chose Maryville, MO over defending our country.

greghall24@yahoo.com or www.Twitter.com @ greghall24