Adonis Jordan - College Career

College Career

While at Cleveland High, Jordan was heavily recruited by collegiate basketball programs, including the University of Kansas. At the time, Kansas was suffering from NCAA sanctions that stemmed from recruiting violations under former coach Larry Brown. Though the scandal dissuaded other potential high school prospects from attending Kansas, Jordan nonetheless decided to take a chance with the school after he was impressed by the university's friendly and personal atmosphere. In the 1989-90 season, freshman Jordan came off the bench to back up starting Jayhawks point guard Kevin Pritchard. Together they helped lead Kansas to a surprising record of 30–5 under second-year coach Roy Williams. With Pritchard's graduation, Jordan became the starting point guard for the 1990-91 season, leading the 27-8 Kansas Jayhawks to the Final Four during his sophomore year. Jordan averaged 12.5 points and recorded 151 assists that season while the team managed three upset victories in the 1991 NCAA Tournament against Indiana (Sweet Sixteen), the Southeast Regional number one seed Arkansas (Elite Eight) and Eastern Regional number one seed North Carolina (National Semifinals) before finishing as National Runnerup to Duke in the National Championship game.

I'll tell you why I chose Kansas...t was more of a family-type thing there than a business...In Kansas, the people there welcomed me with open arms. Even now, we go to the coach's house, watch TV, his wife cooks dinner. Some teams, once practice is over, everybody goes their own way. At Kansas we do things as a team.

Two years later, senior Jordan and teammate Rex Walters helped lead the Jayhawks to further success when they captured the 1993 Big Eight Regular Season Championship and the second seed in the Midwest Region of the 1993 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament with a 25-6 record. Jordan and Walters' stellar backcourt performance earned them a reputation as one of the NCAA's best guard combinations. Kansas marched through the NCAA tournament, beating Midwest Region number one seed Indiana in the Regional Final to advance to the Final Four for the second time in three years. Though Kansas eventually finished at 29-7 with a loss to North Carolina in the Final Four, the team's outstanding performance that year earned the squad a top ten nationwide ranking during the regular season, including a brief time spent at number one. Jordan's legacy with Kansas is also recognized in holding the Jayhawks' number six spot for most assists in the school's history and is 22nd on the school's all-time scoring list.