What is the driving force behind the most improved player in college basketball? Kansas' KJ Adams has found his place as a son, a student and a Jayhawk thanks to his mother, Yvonne. More:
LAWRENCE, Kan. — When KJ Adams moved into McCarthy Hall back in August 2021, his mom, Yvonne, approachedcoach Bill Self with one request: “I’m bringing you a great kid,” she said, “but I need you to make him an a—hole.”
Adams opened the season scoring in single figures in seven straight games, just trying to blend in. This marks his third consecutive game in double figures, a streak he’d extend to 11 games. “KJ was the Pied Piper,” she says. “People are just drawn to him. It wasn’t so much that I helped him; I just encouraged him. He’s so capable, but I think at times he doubted himself academically. And so it was just building up that confidence and making him see the successes he’s making.”
When Adams and his mom walked in, the secretary immediately told them that they didn’t accept transfers. Yvonne asked to see a supervisor, who delivered the same message. Yvonne pulled out her driver’s license, showing their address. After getting that cleared up, she spoke with a special education coordinator who walked in to enroll him in that program.
They knew it was going to take time for KJ to process the news, but once he discussed it with his mom, he had taken on his dad’s positivity.“That’s the hope, K.” Adams immediately earned Self’s respect by the way he practiced. He roomed with Christian Braun and followed his lead. “Him just seeing how hard I went in practice, he went just as hard,” Braun says. “We’d play no fouls, and he’s running into the wall, diving on the floor.”Most of his minutes were at center, primarily defense, where he thrived. Offensively, he struggled to memorize the playbook.
Before returning for the fall semester in August, the Adams family went to the beach in Padre Island. KJ’s oldest sister Brittany noticed a change in him. “It was the first time I saw him kind of excited to be home for so long,” she says. “Before when he came home it was very much like, ‘Oh, let me see all my friends. Let me go to my favorite spots.’ This time, he was so happy to be home. He just wanted to hang out with us.
Still, it wasn’t until that mid-December trip to Missouri when Adams figured out this was different. He didn’t realize she might need a wheelchair for long walks. For the first time, he could really see the struggle. In the final moments of that Mizzou game, when Self came down to ask if she was glad she came, the pride bubbled up for Yvonne. It took everything she had not to just break out in tears.
“It was the pinnacle, because he knew it was an important moment,” Yvonne says. “It was like everything clicked for him athletically and with the family. Like he knew his role and how important it was for me and he knew what my struggles were.” “I would love it when he was sick ,” Yvonne says. “Because that was the only time he would cuddle, right? He knows that I need those moments now. So he’ll come and hug in ways that he hadn’t before. He’ll come and lay in my lap — 6-7, big ass — in ways he hadn’t before. That to me has really meant a lot.”
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