Player Profile: Senior Forward David McCormack
Who: David McCormack
Height: 6-foot-10
Weight: 250
Position: Forward
Class: 2018 (Senior)
Ranking: No. 35
Hometown: Norfolk, Va
High School: Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.)
Why Kansas: Bill Self and his staff invested a ton of time recruiting David McCormack, the 6-foot-10, 250-pound power forward from Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va. Originally from Norfolk, Va., McCormack was at the top of Self's wishlist, but signing the McDonald's All-American was no easy task. In all, McCormack, a four-star prospect, signed with Kansas over serious interest from Auburn, Baylor, California, Duke, Florida State, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, LSU, Maryland, Miami (FL), North Carolina State, Oklahoma State, Old Dominion, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Seton Hall, South Carolina, Texas A&M, UCLA, Virginia, VCU, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Xavier, Kentucky, North Carolina, and others. With his mother by his side, and a live audience watching, McCormack, on August 24, 2017, verbally committed to Kansas.
The Skinny: McCormack, while playing for Coach Steve Smith, led Oak Hill to the 9A state title his senior season. Oak Hill posted a 30-4 record in 2017-18 under head coach Steve Smith. McCormack averaged 13.4 points and led the team with 9.6 rebounds per contest his senior season.
That same season, McCormack shot 62 percent from the field and had 14 double-doubles. He set the Oak Hill single-season rebound record with 308 boards in 2017-18.
McCormack was ranked No. 25 by ESPN100, No. 33 by Rivals.com, and No. 34 by 247Sports.com. He recorded one of two double-doubles at the McDonald’s All-American game with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
As a junior, McCormack averaged 10.6 points and 8.6 rebounds a game at Oak Hill and averaged 14.8 points (on 60 percent shooting) and 9.8 rebounds for Team Loaded AAU in the 2017 spring and summer.
Before making the move to Oak Hill Academy, McCormack played for Norfolk (Va.) Academy his sophomore year of high school. In the summer of 2018, McCormack competed for a college all-star team for Global Sports Academy that went 6-0 while touring Belgium. He averaged 10.5 points and 8.8 rebounds in the six victories and was coached by Kerry Keating.
Awards:
Academic All-Big 12 First Team [2021]
USBWA All-District VI
Big 12 Most Improved Player
All-Big 12 Second Team
Academic All-Big 12 First Team [2020]
David McCormack at Kansas: Two-time Academic All-Big 12 First Team honoree who has twice been nominated for Academic All-America in 2020 and 2021. McCormack earned his undergraduate degree in communications studies from KU in May 2021. He was selected by Kansas Chancellor Douglas Girod to participate in the 2020 University’s Campus Task Force on Community-Responsive Public Safety (1 of 25).
McCormack has played in 92 games while at KU with 59 starts. He enters his senior season with 721 career points and 402 career rebounds. A big body who showed a lot of discipline in losing more than 50 pounds during high school. McCormack was a McDonald’s All-America his senior year in high school.
Bill Self on David McCormack: "David is a guy who caught our eye early on," Self said of McCormack, who was a teammate of current Jayhawk Billy Preston at Oak Hill last year. "There are many things that impressed us about him and the more we watched, the more we liked. As he got older, we fell in love with his effort, his attitude, and his discipline. David is a guy, on his own, that has lost 50 pounds by eating right, changing his diet, and doing proper exercise.
"He's transformed his game and his body into something that I feel like will be one of the more prepared bodies that anyone can recruit in college basketball," he added. "He's 6-10 and can play both big spots, the power forward or center type position. He's got good skills and we think the sky is the limit on what he can become as well. When you look at big bodies that we've had, David has a body like Thomas (Robinson) but he reminds me of a Darnell Jackson early in his career in that he can definitely shoot, he can pass but he'll do most of his work near the basket. Jerrance (Howard) did a wonderful job with David and his family."
What to expect: In 92 career games, David McCormack has averaged 7.8 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. Additionally, he's connected on 53.7 percent of his field goals, 33.3 percent of his shots from behind the arc, and 76.3 percent of his free throws. Last season, in 29 games, McCormack averaged 13.4 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game. Offensively, he shot 51.5 percent from the field, was 1-of-1 from behind the arc, and converted 79.6 percent of his free throws. A returning starter, McCormack, unless something unexpected happens, will find himself back in the starting rotation for Kansas when the 2021-22 season kicks off. At the conclusion of last season, McCormack had surgery to repair a broken bone in his foot but is back on the court and is poised to have a monster season for Kansas. McCormack, without question, will be a major focus of KU's offense and will see a lot of touches in the paint, but don't be surprised if the talented big man expands his game this season and looks to score more from the free-throw line and beyond. McCormack is poised to have a monster senior season, which will likely be his last in Lawrence. The expectations couldn't be any higher for McCormack.