”I’m leaving” kyle cuffe jr. explains why he wants to sign out with Syracuse Orange
Kyle Cuffe Jr., a guard for the Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team, decided to medically redshirt
LAWRENCE — Kyle Cuffe Jr. reiterated this week he has no regrets reclassifying and making the jump to college basketball a year early, last year, at Kansas.
Cuffe, speaking Tuesday on the latest edition of “Hawk Talk with Bill Self,” said it was the best option for his development. He was able to learn under Bill Self, the Jayhawks’ head coach, as he redshirted during Kansas’ run to a national championship. And Cuffe could begin to lay the foundation for his own legacy at this level, like his father did at St. John’s.
But early this season, Cuffe suffered a knee injury in practice that assistant coach Norm Roberts described then as Cuffe tearing his MCL and PCL. The redshirt freshman guard’s second season with the Jayhawks would see him play in just two games, contests in November against Omaha and North Dakota State.
Because, as it was revealed this week, the decision was ultimately made for Cuffe to medically redshirt.
“You cannot play a man and then decide to give him a redshirt after he has fully recovered from injury. The main question was if he could recover, and the response was that he wasn’t quite there yet, Self told reporters on Thursday. Therefore, it was a simple choice to medically redshirt him since, for the most part, he isn’t well enough to give us his all.
Cuffe, who will have four years of eligibility left after this season — not three — because of this decision, explained that over the past few months he’s tried not to dwell on his unfortunate circumstance. He’s tried to view it as a blessing in disguise. In a way, it’s been an avenue through which he’s changed his approach toward eating, workouts and more.
Although Cuffe never used to watch film before he arrived at Kansas, that’s changed dramatically. Roberts and assistant coach Kurtis Townsend are among those he highlighted with helping him there. Cuffe said he’s studied his own game, as well as that of others.
