Lourawls Nairn Jr. , a 5-foot-10, 165-pound point guard from Wichita (KS) Sunrise Christian Academy, is the latest playmaker to land a Minnesota scholarship offer.
Lourawls Nairn Jr. , a 5-foot-10, 165-pound point guard from Wichita (KS) Sunrise Christian Academy, is the latest playmaker to land a Minnesota scholarship offer.
Nairn, who is known as “Tum-Tum”, played for the Gold medal-winning USA West team in the Global Challenge in Washington DC in July.
Nairn led the MoKan Elite to an 11-7 mark in the EYBL and a 2-3 record in the Peach Jam.
Gopher Hole caught up Nairn to learn the latest on his recruitment.
Gopher Hole: Who has offered you a scholarship so far?
Lourawls Nairn: I have offers from Indiana, Minnesota, SMU, Creighton, Oklahoma, Memphis, Seton Hall, Kansas, Kansas State, Ole Miss and Southern Miss. I can’t remember them all. I think that Kansas State has a point guard and I had offers from Arkansas and Iowa, but they have gotten point guards.
Gopher Hole: That has to make you feel very proud that all your hard work has paid off?
Lourawls Nairn: Yes. I am okay with the way that everything is going.
Gopher Hole: What other schools are you hearing from? Has anyone else expressed interested, but not offered yet?
Lourawls Nairn: No, sir. Just the schools that have offered me.
Gopher Hole: Have you thought about when you might try to narrow down your list a little?
Lourawls Nairn: I have been talking about it, but I don’t know for sure. I know that I am going to take visits soon. At the end of the month, I am thinking about taking them then.
Gopher Hole: Are you going to take any visits before the school year ends or will you wait and take official visits?
Lourawls Nairn: I think that my school starts on the 15th of this month, so I am thinking the week after that. I was talking to my coach about that, but I am not sure about who and when yet.
Gopher Hole: Have you thought about what schools you definitely want to take visits to?
Lourawls Nairn: I don’t know yet for sure. Obviously, I have got to start to talk about the schools that have offered me and visit them. Me and my coach haven’t decided where yet.
Gopher Hole: What are you hearing from Minnesota now?
Lourawls Nairn: I talk to Coach Pitino about every day and Coach Johnson about every day. They tell me how I am a perfect piece for them offensively and defensively.
Gopher Hole: Is Minnesota a school that you think that you definitely want to visit?
Lourawls Nairn: I am thinking about taking a visit to Minnesota.
Gopher Hole: Had you ever been up to Minnesota before you played up here in the EYBL event?
Lourawls Nairn: No, sir.
Gopher Hole: Did you have much of a chance to see anything when you were up here since you were so busy with basketball?
Lourawls Nairn: No. We didn’t have a chance to see much.
Gopher Hole: You played well in the EYBL season and advanced to the Peach Jam as one of the top 24 teams on the Nike circuit. How pleased are you with how well your team has played in the spring, including playing in Minnesota over Memorial Day weekend?
Lourawls Nairn: We are just thankful. It is a blessing. We just want to thank God for the opportunity to make the Peach Jam, but we knew that we were not done yet. We knew what we want to do and what we wanted to accomplish and that is to just play Mo-Kan basketball and play as hard as we can every possession, every second of the game and don’t take anything for granted.
Gopher Hole: You had a busy summer as you made it to the Peach Jam. You also played in the Global Challenge and won the gold medal and finished the summer in a local tournament. How pleased were you with the way things went this summer?
Lourawls Nairn: I did a lot of stuff that I always dreamed about this summer, like first experiences, like going to the Point guard camp and going to the Lebron Camp. It was the first time that I ever did anything like that in my whole life. That was a blessing for me and just being able to play in the Global Challenge made me realize how many good players there are out there and how much hard you have to work and compete to continue to get better. With Mo-Kan, we did a lot of good things this summer, but obviously we didn’t finish out the way that we wanted to finish, but we can’t shake our heads and say that it was bad. It was our last summer to play AAU together. There were a lot of great relationships that were built. We had great coaches and a great support staff. Our fans and parents were always supporting us. Overall, for the whole year, I am happy.
Gopher Hole: Do you even have a Top Five or Top Ten?
Lourawls Nairn: I think that it will be a Top Five or I don’t know, a Top Three. I am not sure yet. My and my coach talk about it a little every day. We haven’t scheduled any visits.
Gopher Hole: Do you like the recruiting process or is it getting old?
Lourawls Nairn: I can’t lie to you. It is a blessing to be recruited by so many schools. You get to see who really wants you and who just likes you. You can also see who really needs you and really needs you to be part of the program, so it is fun, but then you see that it is a business and that there are people that just want to win. They want to make their program better. It has been good for me to be recruited by high level Division I schools, high major Division I schools. It is a blessing to me. I don’t look at it a lot as being stressful. It can be stressful if you are on the phone a lot. I don’t really be on the phone a lot. Most of the coaches just text me. Most of the time, I am in the gym or doing something, so I don’t really get on the phone that much, but it has been a blessing and I am happy with the way it is going so far.
Gopher Hole: What things have you really been working on to continue to improve yourself as a player?
Lourawls Nairn: Everything. I am never satisfied as a player because I know that I have got to continue to get better because on the next level, it is going to be more tougher, more physical. I have to get better. I have to get stronger. I have to continue to work on my quickness and most importantly, continue to work on my jump shot and continue to be a leader. I think being a leader is a big thing for me, because it helps me to motivate my teammates.
Gopher Hole: You were 30-1 at Sunrise Christian Academy this past season. You lost to Prime Prep in February, but beat them in March. How pleased were you with how well you did this past season?
Lourawls Nairn: Yes, sir. It was a great year for us, because we went in every day and had a physical practice. People bleeding every day, blood, sweat and tears. When Prime Prep beat us the first time, they got us by 27 points and they hit us and we weren’t ready for it. We had a whole month to prepare for them, so we came back and worked every day and when we got a chance to play them, we were fortunate enough to get the win.
Gopher Hole: You have a couple of AAU teammates, Nathan Bain Jr, Travis Munnings and Marvin Clark Jr., who are also high school teammates. How much do you think that helps you in terms of team chemistry and getting to know each other better on and off the court?
Lourawls Nairn: We are comfortable with each other. We know each other. We know our likes and dislikes of each other, so coming into Mo-Kan brings that chemistry and I think Mo Kan is the best organization in AAU basketball. They want to continue to help young men become better men and no, it is not just about basketball for Mo Kan. It is about life.
Gopher Hole: What is going to be the main thing that makes you pick School A over School B or C?
Lourawls Nairn: I have prayed about it all ready. I told God that it is in his hands, so wherever he wants me to go, there is where I’ll end up, but for me, I just want to play someplace where I can see myself living for four years. I want to play someplace that plays up-tempo basketball and up-tempo defense. I want to play for a coach who lets me make mistakes, but also lets me play through my mistakes. I think that I will just know the right place for me. I want to be a pro. I want to play professional basketball, so however they produce those. Do the players get better? How many point guards do they have? It is not so much about starting for me, but I want to come in and help a program. Just being around good people, you become a better person as well as a better basketball player. I already prayed about it and I think that God will give me that feeling of what school is the right place, beyond just the school. There is not just one thing that I am looking for. I think that I will just know what is the right place for me.