White looking forward to facing Richmond
Being that freshman Andrew White is from Chesterfield, Va., he's very much looking forward to Tuesday's match-up against the Richmond Spiders.
"I know a lot about them (Richmond)," White said. "I've been watching Richmond for two years and I was real close with the coaching staff. They have a lot of good players, and they run that Princeton offense and on defense they switch just about everything.
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"We're really going to have our feet moving and be ready for back cuts if we're going to defend this team well," he added. "What they do in practice is just perfecting that offense and moving as quickly as they can to get the ball moving, so we really got to be on our toes for this game."
White, who was ranked No. 51 in the class of 2012 coming out of The Miller School, took time to become familiar with each of the schools he seriously considered during his recruitment.
Every step of the way, White, along with his father, Andrew White, Sr., took the necessary steps to break down each school.
One of the most heavily recruited players in the class, White ultimately signed with Kansas over scholarship offers from Alabama, Cincinnati, Florida State, George Mason, Georgetown, Louisville, Maryland, N.C. State, Oklahoma State, Richmond, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, West Virginia and others.
However, of all the programs that recruited White, none were as close to the native of Chesterfield, Va., more than the coaching staff and players at Richmond. Furthermore, White might have ended up at Kansas, but the Jayhawks didn't necessarily invest the most time recruiting the talented guard.
"Yea, it's going to be a little strange (playing against those guys)," said White. "A couple of those guys hosted me around on visits, and this staff has recruited me hard probably harder than anybody else had. I had a great relationship with the staff, so it's going to be kind of interesting.
"The unfortunate part of recruiting is calling a school you're close with and telling them you're not going there," he added. "I'm looking forward to the game."
Thankfully for Bill Self and his staff, Kansas emerged as the team to beat for White, and never lost its grip on the No. 12-ranked small forward in the class. After somewhat of a slow start to his freshman season, White appears to have turned a corner for Self and the Jayhawks.
When Kansas played host to Colorado on Dec. 8, White scored eight points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field and was 2-of-3 from behind the arc. White, against the Buffaloes, scored eight points in eight minutes of action.
On Dec. 15, White scored a career-high 15 points against Belmont. In just 10 minutes of action, he connected on 6-of-8 field goals and was 3-of-5 from behind the arc. With Richmond coming to Lawrence on Tuesday night, White is playing with a ton of confidence.
"Yes, I have a lot of confidence going into this game," he said. "I always try to be confident, so just because I had a good shooting game doesn't change a whole lot for me. You know, if I get in (the game) I'm going to go with the same approach.
"I'm going to play as hard as I can and try contribute on both ends of the court," he added.
How, if at all, does White's preparation for the game change knowing he could very well see time at the four spot?
"Playing that four spot, it's not too hard the way I'm playing it," he said. "Since I'm not a forward, I just screen all of the guards and I can pop to the wing. When you don't have to roll to the basket or do anything involving the post, it's just like a guard-guard action.
"The main emphasis for that play is to get Jeff Withey by himself in the paint," he added. "That's the best part about the offense. If we go to that (set is called "one game") tomorrow, we'll look to get Jeff over-the-top and get him an angle to the basket, because it's more important for Jeff to score than it is me. We'll see how it goes."