Editor’s note: This is part of the Star’s ongoing “Big 12 Blitz” series, where we introduce U of A fans to the on- and off-field need-to-know details surrounding each member of the new 16-team Big 12. Today: college hoops mecca the University of Kansas, in Lawrence, Kansas.
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Arizona’s transition into the Big 12 means Evan Manning gets to go home to Lawrence, Kansas, most every season now. But he already had reason to feel at home after becoming UA’s director of basketball operations last summer.
That’s because Tucson and Lawrence share a unique passion over their college basketball teams.
“Biggest shows in town,” Manning says. “Everything kind of revolves around that. Both basketball towns. Everyone loves their school. And it’s high-level hoops. It’s one thing Tucson takes a lot of pride in and Lawrence does, as well.”
Arizona men’s basketball director of basketball operations Evan Manning cheers on the Wildcats as they take a timeout during their Nov. 13, 2023, win over Southern at McKale Center.
Since arriving at UA in August 2023 after spending a year as an assistant coach at Army, Manning has played a role mostly behind the scenes in the production that is Arizona men’s basketball. As the “DBO,” Manning can assist with scheduling, travel or other logistics while also carrying some scouting and coaching roles as needed.
“It changes every day,” he says.
Manning developed the skills to handle the role while growing up largely in Lawrence, the son of Kansas basketball legend Danny Manning, and becoming a walk-on player for the Jayhawks. His coaching career included a stop at Gonzaga working with UA coach Tommy Lloyd at Gonzaga, and he rejoined Lloyd before last season after leaving Army.
“Evan’s a really talented guy who’s obviously been around basketball his whole life and been at really high levels,” Lloyd said after Manning was hired last year. “He’s a great asset to the program.”
In a conversation with the Star this past summer, Manning discussed life on and off the court in Lawrence, and what the Wildcats and their fans can expect from it in the seasons ahead. Here’s a lightly edited and condensed version of the interview:
Kansas’ Evan Manning (5) and Tyler Self (11) try to keep Northern Colorado’s Miles Seward away from the ball during a November 2015 game between the Jayhawks and Bears. Manning was hired in August 2023 as director of basketball operations for the Arizona men’s basketball program.
Tell us about Phog Allen Fieldhouse from both a players’ perspective and somebody who spent some of your upbringing in Lawrence.
A: Really cool place to play basketball. The fans do it right. They understand the game. They’re gonna cheer on their team. They’re gonna cheer against the opponents. But it never seems like it’s in a very disrespectful way. Our guys are gonna go in there, they’re gonna feel it. It’s a raucous environment. You’re gonna have students section on both sides of the court and they’re gonna let you hear it.
“They do a great job of picking up their team. Say we go on run, a 10-0 run. Their fans are gonna pick it up and try to get their guys back into it.
“It gets loud, especially late in shot clock, late in the half, late in a big possession. They really do a good job of kind of amplifying that and taking pride in that. Those are things we’ve got to be prepared for.”
Fans in Tucson and Lawrence, Kansas, can’t get enough of Tommy Lloyd or Bill Self — or their teams. Current UA men’s hoops director of basketball operations Evan Manning knows first-hand what it’s like in both cities. In addition to his current role on Lloyd’s UA staff, he also spent a big part of his upbringing in Lawrence, and walked on to Self’s Jayhawks squad.
How do the coaching styles of Tommy Lloyd and (Kansas coach) Bill Self intersect and what might it be like when they’re on opposite ends of the court?
A: They’re both killers. They want to win at any cost, and they’re very creative in how they do that. Coach Self’s whole offensive scheme is really good. After timeouts, he wants to go get a lob, he wants to get the crowd into it.
“Coach Lloyd wants to pick you apart offensively. We see a lot of different ball-screen coverages and we work on manipulating that all year. So both coaches are very tactical, and personally, they are two guys who can go in any room and talk to anybody, especially with the brands they have on their chest, Kansas and Arizona.
“(They’re both) very unbelievable people, and both of them are mentors for me so I’m really lucky in that aspect.”
Kansas’s Danny Manning hugs his coach, Larry Brown, as the clock runs down on their 71-58 Midwest Regional Final victory over Kansas State at the Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac, Michigan, on March 27, 1988. KU would go on to win that year’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship. Once his NBA career would down, Manning and his family moved back to Lawrence, Kansas. Today, he’s an assistant basketball coach at Colorado.
You were in Phoenix when your dad played for the Suns, and you spent summers in Lawrence. Did you go to many games as a kid or ever live there year-round?
A: We always had a house in Lawrence. My dad would do his offseasons in Lawrence and work out at KU with Coach (Roy) Williams’ teams.
“Then once he retired when I was in fourth grade, he started coaching there. Being in the fieldhouse for the majority of home games from fourth grade on, I got to see some really good ones.”
What stands out to you about Lawrence other than the basketball and basketball tradition?
A: It’s a small Midwestern-style downtown. There’s some really cool restaurants and shops. Any Arizona fans that go down there, you always check out Mass Street. Fun little bars there to check out. It’s kind of a quaint town. It’s got about 100,000 people.
“When the students are there, it’s fun. People are all over the place and then in the summers, it kind of winds down, a little similar to Tucson, where people are getting out of town from the heat.”
Kansas City is only about 45 minutes away. How does that benefit?
A: If you want to go see a professional sports team, you’re gonna go to Kansas City, you’re gonna go watch the Chiefs, you’re gonna watch the Royals. Same thing here, if we want to go check out a D-Backs game we drive up drive up north. But … (Kansas City) was foreign to me growing up until I was in high school, college. I never really needed anything in Kansas City.
“Lawrence had a lot to offer. But if you want that big city feel, you can drive over to Kansas City and get the get some good barbecue out there.”
What other sports stand out there? Which ones did you find yourself aligning with?
A: I grew up a massive KU football fan. They struggled for a long time. They got good when I was a freshman in high school, and I’ve followed them ever since.
“The fans always wanted football to be good. They understood the value of it. They always thought it was a sleeping monster, that it could do something special. So that was always fun. They always did a good job early in the season of getting people in seats and making sure those events were the talk of the town.
“But another thing they’ve really done a good job with is soccer. They have a women’s soccer team at KU and there’s unbelievable new track. There’s the Kansas Relays. They do a lot of major track and field events out there. The community is really behind those events. And baseball is obviously important. Their stadium is right next to Allen Fieldhouse, and those are always fun games to go to in the spring.”
Was it a different experience playing in the program after watching it and hearing stories from your dad?
A: It’s similar to here where you can go in the gym and see guys like Wilt Chamberlain’s name up in the rafters. That’s always really cool. And here, we have unbelievable players whose names are up in the rafters like Steve Kerr, who you see on TV coaching USA. At KU, it was cool for me to see my father up there. My grandpa even coached there. It was really cool for me to play on the court where they coached and where they played. When you first step foot on the fieldhouse floor, you realize it’s a special place to play.”
Q: Was it disappointing Kansas won’t come here next season, and is Tommy going to let you kind of drive the bus a little bit when you guys (play) there in your hometown?
A: I’m sure I’ll give a lot of restaurant recommendations to everyone around. But the craziest thing is, the Big 12 is stacked basketball-wise, so no one’s gonna have an easy draw, regardless of who you have home-and-home or one time. You got Baylor in there, Iowa State, Houston, there’s so many good programs that it doesn’t really matter.
“It’s going to be a battle regardless, but it’s gonna be fun going to Lawrence. It’s gonna be a new environment. It’s gonna be similar to how Cameron was last year with Duke. It’s going to be absolutely jumping.
“It’s unlike any place we played, to be honest. So, so we’re going to have to be really ready to go. I think our guys will be fired up for it.”
