Geoff Calkins

USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

Dedric and K.J. Lawson are headed to Kansas, according to their own twitter accounts, and to Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com. So much for the idea that the Memphis program will be better off without those two kids dragging it down, eh? That was always ridiculous.

Beyond that Keelon Lawson — Dedric and K.J.’s father — was interviewed on 92.9ESPN. Here are the 10 most interesting things he said.

1. Dedric and K.J. ultimately decided between Duke, Kansas, Ole Miss and Iowa State. Lawson said the players were also contacted by Notre Dame, Arizona, UCLA and North Carolina State.

2. What was be the deciding factor? Lawson: “It’s going to be prestige, where you can get a chance to win a national championship.”

3. Lawson said he wasn’t mistreated by Memphis coach Tubby Smith and, indeed, has great respect for Smith. “It has nothing to do with Tubby, Tubby has been great to us,” Lawson said. Lawson did acknowledge he was not pleased to be left at the hotel in Philadelphia when the team bus left for Temple. “I was upset at the miscommunication,” he said. “How come I didn’t get a courtesy call, when the bus was going to leave?”

4. Lawson — who was demoted to director of player personnel under Smith — said Memphis athletic director Tom Bowen had told him he would keep his assistant coaching job and, indeed, would be elevated to the spot vacated by departing assistant Damon Stoudamire. “I met with Bowen,” Lawson said. “`He said 'Regardless of who we bring in, we’re going to keep you in Damon’s spot.’”

5. So why are Dedric and K.J. leaving? “The reason we are leaving, I don’t think there’s anything Dedric can do, as far as the University of Memphis, as far as achieving his personal goals,” Lawson said. “Now, imagine, you go to a Power 5 conference somewhere, where they won’t double-team you, you have guys on the team that are just as better as you, if you go there and do half the things you did at Memphis, it would be great.”

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6. Indeed, Lawson said his kids expected to be surrounded by better players when they first committed to Memphis. But then a parade of transfers left Josh Pastner’s team. “We didn’t know that those guys were going to leave,” Lawson said. “When all those guys got up and left, it was like all the pressure was put on them to make things happen.”

7. Lawson said he wasn’t looking for another assistant job. “I’m just going to cheer man, I’m not trying to get nothing out of this,” he said. “There’s been plenty of schools that offered. When they offer, they offer a whole lot more money than Memphis gave.”

8. K.J. Lawson doesn’t regret tweeting the lyric about exiting with two middle fingers, but he wasn’t directing it at Smith or every Memphis fan. Keelon Lawson said certain Memphis fans were ugly to the family. “It was to the part of Tiger Nation that didn’t like him,” Lawson said.

9. The younger two Lawsons still might consider playing at the University of Memphis. “Yes, sir, always, you’re always going to look for the hometown team," Lawson said. "You call Chandler right now, he’ll tell you Memphis is one of my top schools regardless of whether my dad is there or not. . . . I don’t want to burn any bridges like that. The boys will always consider the University of Memphis.

10. If the Lawsons had to do it all over, they’d still pick Memphis. “Still would have came to Memphis, man,” Lawson said. “Memphis born, Memphis bred, when I die, I’ll be Memphis dead. There’s just something about Memphis. We were trying to be the hometown hero and now we’re the hometown villain.”