After spending a year at Vanderbilt University and Rice University, Noah Shelby believes he has found his home at the University of Kansas.
“I know this is the last stop. It's exciting to play for Coach (Bill) Self and be on one of the most talented teams in the country,” said the 6-foot-3, weight said Shelby, a 180-pound junior-to-be men's basketball point guard and shooting guard. From Dallas.
Shelby announced his college commitment on social media Sunday afternoon. She joins a Jayhawk program with a wealth of Kansas basketball knowledge. His father, Derrick, was a former standout athlete at Osawatomie (Kansas) High School and later played at UT. Arlington. Shelby's mother Fannie was a volleyball player at UT Arlington.
“I have family in Kansas, so I used to go to games and Late Night when I was younger,” Shelby said in a phone interview with The Star Sunday night. “I was able to visit there before (as a freshman in the Class of 2022). I know the team well and Coach Self. We can get better, win games and win a national championship. I wanted to go somewhere.”
Shelby, a native of McKinney, Texas, averaged 3.7 points in 14 games as a freshman at Vanderbilt University and will average 3.9 points and 1.0 rebounds per game for the Rice Owls (11-21) in 2023-24. Recorded.
As a reserve player at Rice University, he shot 39-of-111 for a 35.1% success rate. He shot 23-of-69 from three, 33.3%. He shot 17 of 20 free throws for 85.0%. He averaged 11.9 minutes per game in 30 games (one start) and had 24 assists against 19 turnovers.
Shelby — He entered the transfer portal on April 9 and recorded seven points and two steals in a Nov. 15 game against Texas. He made his only career start on November 22 against New Mexico, scoring five points and grabbing a career-high four rebounds. He scored 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting against UTSA. He had six points against No. 22 Florida Atlantic and finished with 10 points on three threes against Tulsa.
Shelby is still developing as a player, but he will redshirt at KU in 2024-25 and has two years of eligibility remaining.
“I was going to redshirt no matter where I went,” Shelby said. He has received some interest in recent weeks from schools in the ACC, Big 12 and other conferences. The No. 82 player in the class of 2022 out of Greenhill School in Addison, Texas, he has Arizona State, Arizona State, Arkansas, Baylor, California, Georgetown, Memphis, Minnesota, Mississippi State and Oklahoma. State, SMU, TCU, Texas, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt and more.
“I get to practice with Dajuan Harris and other great players every day, so that's going to help. I'm going to do whatever I can to help them and help the team,” Shelby said. “I want to help the team as much as I can next year.”
His personal goals during his redshirt season, when he practices but does not play in games, are to “get stronger, faster, better and learn what Kansas is like.”
He said his strengths are probably “a good shooter, (off the pick-and-roll) and defense.”
Shelby will attend college alongside Rylan Griffen, a 6-5 freshman from Dallas who played at Alabama the past two years.
“I've known him (Griffen) really well since he was 3 or 4 years old. I talk to him basically every day. He's my best friend,” Shelby said. “The last time we played together was in the last (AAU) tournament (playing for Team Trae Young).”
Shelby is also an acquaintance of Texans Zach Clemens and KJ Adams, and played against rookie AJ Storr in high school.
“I'm ready to go to work. Coach (himself) said he's going to use this past year to get better. I think it's going to be fun. Kansas is one of the most talented teams in the nation and one of the most It's one of the deep teams.”
The Star has been told by sources that Shelby will begin his college career as a walk-on. His signature does not count towards KU's scholarship total.
KU now has 12 scholarship students on its roster for the 2024-25 season, adding portal transfers Griffen, Storr (Wisconsin State) and Zeke Mayo (South Dakota State), and freshmen Florrie Vidunga and LaKeith Passmore. It has players.
Per NCAA rules, each team is allowed 13 scholarship players. KU must acquire one scholarship player below the scholarship cap either this year or in 2025-2026 to complete the NCAA's voluntary sanctions.
Players currently listed as returnees are KJ Adams, Zach Clemens, Hunter Dickinson, Harris, Johnny Furphy, Jamari McDowell and Elmarco Jackson.
Furphy declared for the 2024 NBA Draft with the option of returning to school. If he wants to play another season at Kansas, he must remove his name from the draft by May 29th.
