Great story on Agbaji from back in Feb 2022

porthawk brought this article to my attention. It is a great read.

theathletic.com - CJ Moore: Tearful conversations, ‘hauling ass’ and Damian Lillard: How Kansas’ Ochai Agbaji became an All-American/2022-02-24

The Athletic is a pay site, so you can't read it without a subscription.

MY PERSONAL RECOMMENDATION (not to be construed as a Rock Chalk Zone endorsement) --
If you are paying for any other sports publication (e.g., SI or The Sporting News) and can't afford or just don't want another sports subscription, I highly recommend moving from those to The Athletic.com. Impressive work there, especially from CJ Moore and his coverage of KANSAS.

Here is a summary of the article porthawk recommended. Portions in italics are verbatim quotes from the article.
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Postseason 2021 and Ochai Agbaji was about to walk out of the gym on Phil Beckner, the NBA trainer tasked with preparing him for the 2021 draft process. Instead he stayed and listened to Beckner. "Beckner asked why he was there. Agbaji told him: Because this was the training he wanted, but Beckner was being too hard on him. Beckner explained why he’d been so hard. He believed Agbaji could be an NBA first-round pick — either that summer or next. “He wouldn’t believe me,” Beckner says."
They talked for an hour and a half straight, OA pouring it all out.

February 2020 - Nine months later and Agbaji was projected to be an All-American and late lottery pick. He’s made plays this season he never dreamed of making before.

In his high school days he spent three straight years failing to make MOKAN (the Nike-sponsored KC team), and he wasn't a star when he finally made it the summer before his high school senior year. A mid-major recruit before his senior season, even Missouri State and Northern Iowa weren't that interested in him.

Driving down I-70 on the day that Self offered him a scholarship (2018-02-03, after a rare AFH loss -- to OKSt, no less), Ochai turned to his father, Olofu, and, like a little kid who’d just met his hero, told him, “Dad, that was Coach Self! He just offered me a scholarship to play at Kansas.”

Olofu got text messages after the offer came from other coaches who were recruiting Ochai. They said his son would never get any playing time. They were right, at first — Agbaji initially planned to redshirt as a freshman before joining the rotation in January. But then came the ascent.


After the time spent with Beckner, and later that summer with NBA star Damian Lillard, whom Beckner also coaches, Ochai returned to KANSAS a different young man. Explaining his hopes and dreams to freshman guard Bobby Pettiford, Ochai tells him
“You know what, Bobby?” he remembers saying. “I’m gonna be in the best shape that I can be this season. I’m just gonna keep working out, whether that be before practice, after practice, I’m going to push my body, just so I can put myself in the best position for the season to be good. For us to do something this year. I’m gonna lead this team. I’m telling you right now, this is what I’m going to do, and I’m going to do it. And if I don’t do it and you see me not doing it, then hold me accountable. Tell me.”

Agbaji has lived up to his word. It’s the extra work that he’s convinced makes all the difference.

Here's the last few paragraphs of the article verbatim...

Any tentativeness he had in his game is gone. Every move is made with force and conviction. In an open floor, he’s one of the most feared players in the country.

“He hauls ass in transition, and he can stop on a dime and be on balance,” Self says. “He’s a very graceful player. He’s athletic obviously, but he’s almost added an element of a balance and gracefulness to his game.”

Anyone can see that, but here’s where Self really gets excited. Watch what happens when Agbaji doesn’t get the ball in transition. He still, as Self puts it, hauls ass. Against Oklahoma State, he ran from one side of the floor to the other and took two defenders with him, leaving Braun wide open in front of KU’s bench.

In the next huddle, Self told Agbaji he made that Braun 3 possible.

The respect level in the Big 12 has reached such a high level that teams have started to face-guard Agbaji. His response?

Coach, if they’re going to play me like that, I need to be our best screener.

“He’s thinking the game,” Self says, “and how Kansas is better without thinking about him scoring points.”

Self, of course, does not care about the points, but he does want the productivity to continue so Agbaji will have a chance to be an All-American. If nothing else, he wants him to win Big 12 Player of the Year.

“Because then he gets his number in the rafters,” Self says, “and that would mean something to him.”

Agbaji is not content, because the job is not finished. When he’s asked if he sees himself as an All-American and lottery pick now, he says there’s still work to be done. He’ll only allow himself to evaluate what has already happened. So he’s asked what his senior season would look like to date if he had never changed his ways.

“I would have had a better year than my junior year, but it wouldn’t be anywhere near close to what I’ve done already,” he says. “If I wouldn’t have had that awakening over the summer, then I don’t even think we are in contention to win the Big 12 this year. I don’t think we’re even top 10. I wouldn’t have prepared myself for those moments, to win those (close games) like I did this year.”

Before Agbaji left Phoenix, Beckner asked him if he’d seen anyone at Kansas work like he’d worked in the preceding months.

His response: no one.

“When you do things others don’t do,” Beckner tells him, “you get things others don’t get.”

So he works. The boring stuff, right? What you do when no one is watching, that’s what matters. On Tuesday, game day, he shows up at 12:30 p.m. for an individual workout for 45 minutes. He goes from there to recharge his legs in Normatec boots, then to shootaround, then a meal and nap, then back to Allen Fieldhouse. He used to take the floor 65 minutes early with everyone else. Now he goes out 90 minutes before tip-off. He does his own work.

Day, after day, after day.

“That,” he explains, “is just how it is now.”