By the Kansas City Star
Lawrence, KS - Last year, during his senior season at Petersburg High in Petersburg, Va., Mason committed to play at Towson, just a 3½-hour drive up north to Baltimore County.
But academic issues arose and Mason, the 131st-ranked player in Rivals’ 2013 rankings, enrolled in a post-grad year at Massanutten to work on his test scores and focus on academics. Around the same time, Kansas and coach Bill Self began to take notice.
“Once I knew that I was going to prep school,” Mason said, “I knew that I would give myself a chance for better and bigger programs to see what my talent was like.
“And I knew that I could play at a higher level than Towson.”
Mason, who led Petersburg to two state championship appearances during his high school career, made noise last summer on the AAU scene and in a 50-point performance in a local All-Star Game. He’s also a former AAU teammate of current KU freshman guard Andrew White.
