It’s an odd sight to see Kansas on the floor without Perry Ellis
Some of you might remember the Jayhawks’ elder statesman Perry Ellis from what seemed like about 50 years in Lawrence, KS. As a senior, Ellis became the butt of nearly everyone in the college basketball world’s jokes because not only had he actually been around forever, but he sort of looked like it. Ellis was the old guy in a sport increasingly populated by young ones.
Well, for Kansas’s first game of the 2017 NCAA Tournament against No. 16 seed UC Davis, CBS Sports made sure to point out the fact that Ellis was missing in action:
Ellis thought it was pretty weird, too:
The best part about this — other than the fact that Ellis has enough self-awareness to acknowledge how good the jokes about his age are — is that his response sounds like something an old man would actually say! That really just confirms what we thought all along. Perry Ellis is about 75-years old.
RELATED: Updated 2017 NCAA Tournament Bracket
As a reminder, Ellis was excellent during his four seasons at Kansas. In his senior season, he averaged 16.9 points and 5.8 rebounds per game en route to earning honors as a consensus All-American.
He went undrafted in the 2016 NBA Draft, but signed a contract with the Charlotte Hornets during free agency. He was later waived. Ellis currently plays for the Greensboro Swarm in the D-League. He’s averaging 9.1 points and 4.4 rebounds in 20.1 minutes per game for the team.
Next: Tyler Self nailed a 3 against UC Davis
His Kansas Jayhawks moved on with a dominating win over UC Davis on Friday night. They’ll play the winner of Miami-Michigan State on Sunday.