Kansas Coach Makes Most of Commutes

When Eric Pauley of Cypress College agreed to enroll at Kansas to continue his college basketball career, it made all the commuting work worthwhile for Jayhawk Coach Roy Williams.

Three times, Williams flew in from Kansas in the afternoon, watched Pauley and the Chargers play at night, then caught midnight return flights so he could be at work the next morning.

Besides fatigue, Williams also endured a melee after Cypress’s playoff victory at Antelope Valley.

Moments after the Chargers’ 75-60 upset Feb. 27, some Antelope Valley fans got into a fight among themselves. Williams was still in the stands, waiting for Pauley to come out of the locker room.

“It was really just a scuffle,” Williams said. “I waited until the security people took care of it. The funny part was I never got to talk to Eric. I thought they would be coming back out, but they went right to the bus and left.”

Pauley, who averaged 21 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots, made an oral commitment to Kansas on Monday and signed his letter of intent Wednesday.

Pauley, 6 feet 10 and 210 pounds, had narrowed his choices to Kansas, Kentucky, Washington, UCLA, Clemson and Utah.

“We are very pleased,” Williams said. “His game fits in so easily with what we do. He will give us some maturity, and he has a good shooting touch.”

Pauley shot 64% from the floor and 74% from the free-throw line. He scored a single-season school record 744 points as Cypress advanced to the State semifinals before losing to Long Beach.

But one thing Williams said Pauley needs to work on is his strength.

“You rarely get perfect players,” Williams said. “We have a good strength program and would like Eric to take advantage of it.”

Brett Pagett of Rancho Santiago will play at Washington next season. Pagett became the third player from the State champion Dons to move on to a four-year school.

Corie Blount and Erik Martin, the co-most valuable players of the Orange Empire Conference, will play at Cincinnati. Both signed during November’s early signing period.

Pagett, a guard, was also an all-conference selection and a member of the all-State tournament team. He averaged 12 points and five assists and was 94 for 217 (43%) on three-pointers.

Pagett came out of Los Alamitos High School in 1988 and signed with UC Irvine.