Blue Wings Rising Q&A: Landen Lucas, Part 2
The continuation of our Q&A interview with Landen Lucas dives into some of his non-basketball interests, including traveling, poker, and his new podcast, as well as Kansas guards he would have loved to play with.
Make sure to check out part one of our conversation here.
Editor’s note: The interview took place on Sunday, February 6, the day after Kansas’ win over Baylor. Some questions and responses were condensed for space.
KD: Speaking of being abroad, growing up and spending a lot of time in Japan. Is there a go-to Japanese food for you? Maybe one that reminds you of your childhood?
LL: Well, there was a food that I got all the time when I played there for a year after Kansas. And my friend came out there, and he lived with me out there and there's this thing called shabu-shabu and it's, I don't know, have you ever gone to a steakhouse and they have the wagyu beef on the menu that is usually like extreme prices, way more than the normal steaks? And that over there is, I guess, more common and so we would go and you could do, like, all you can eat for like $30 of this really thinly cut wagyu beef and then you would dip it in hot water—like really hot water—to cook it and then you would eat it with some rice or some sides and stuff and we would go, I mean like three four times a week.
So, yeah, that was probably my favorite food over there and then the ramen over there, they have good ramen spots that we used to go to a lot. I’ll definitely remember both those things.
KD: Not only can we check out your basketball stats, but you also have stats on the poker databases. How did you get into poker and is there anything you took with you from your basketball days that you try to apply when sitting at a poker table?
LL: Yeah, so I got involved, because, when I was a kid I would always watch ESPN and back before there was all these streaming networks and stuff, whatever was on was what you watched. That was my favorite channel as a kid and when I was like 9,10, or 11, there was a world series (of poker) going on, and that was the moneymaker year.
I was watching Phil Ivey play, who's probably known as one of the better, if not the best, poker players. And he's a black guy who had a basketball Jersey on playing this card game, and I was like ‘hey i'm interested, what is this?’ And I started watching more and kind of fell in love, because what I love to do, what I did with basketball, what I do with a lot of things is put pieces together, analyze things, and come to the best way to do something. Whether it's in basketball thinking of ‘hey if I just get to this spot earlier, if I head this way it will do this and this.’ You know, I like to think through things like that and that's why I love golf and that’s also why I love poker because it gives you like the purest form of that where you have so many different pieces that are given to you that's not full bits of information, but just small pieces and you have to put them together to come up with your own conclusion and play.
And so I got into it like that. I was playing as soon as I turned 21. The first poker tournament my dad took me through, I won and he finished second. I won and it was like 150 people or something and then I just was hooked after that. I played some when I was at Kansas over at a Hollywood Casino there at the racetrack and then I got more into tournaments after meeting my girlfriend and son's mother as she's a professional poker player.
And we met, she was playing some tournaments and I tagged along for them and then realized that tournaments add a whole new dynamic to things where there's ever-changing blind situations. And fell in love with that, so I started playing tournaments and it's been fun. It's something that I can continue to learn, challenge my mind with, and make some money, which is always nice.
KD: So what’s harder, reaching a Final Four or the final table at a WSOP?
LL: Oh Final Four. The Final Four, it's so tough and, unfortunately, you know, I was on two teams that 100% should have made the Final Four and won the championship. And you just, you have one of those nights and the other team, you know, has one of those nights in a positive way and next thing you know you're out.
If I could go back, it would be nice to get another chance at it, but unfortunately, you know, it's one and done and it's not always a better team that's going to make it to the Final Four and so, for my experience, I would say final table just because i've made a few.
Now, if you're talking like main event final table, then the Final Four is probably easier because that thing is, I just played in this last one and you're talking thousands of thousands of people and landmines on different ends that you have to walk through to try to make it to a final table. So that would be a lot harder.
KD: I also want to ask you about your new podcast, The Glue Guys, on The Field of 68. How did this come about? Is it something you’ve been interested in a while?
LL: Yeah, I actually had no plans of doing anything like this. I got approached—during my time at Kansas I'd spoken a few times with Jeff Goodman. He’s a good reporter, and he was like reaching out on behalf of them saying, ‘Hey this Field of 68, they have this KU show, would you be interested in doing it?’ And you know, I wasn't sure at first, but after talking to some of my family, they were like ‘Hey, just give it a shot.’
And then I knew for sure I wanted a co-host. I wanted a co-host that would lead the show a little bit more and be like the person pushing things forward so I could just sit back and answer questions. I got my dad and he said, he suggested, he was like ‘Hey, why don't you bring me on?’ And he's done some stuff for Oregon, Talking Ducks out in Portland before, and so he suggested it and I brought him on board and it's been fun. You know it gives a cool dynamic.
I talked to my dad about sports all the time, and so, to be able to talk about it and get some of the guys that we've had on the podcast to talk to. You know, Ochai after making some game winners, some of the coaches after tough games, you know that's always fun to get that insight and you know, be able to chat with them with my dad has been cool.
So I've enjoyed it. Whether it's something I continue to do or not I'm not 100% sure, but someday I want to at least give it a try. And it's been fun.
KD: The last question I’m going to ask I’ve asked this to everyone else so far. You played with some great guards during your time, but if you could team up on the court with any KU guard that came after you, who would you pick?
LL: After me? So I’m choosing between, we got Dotson, Ochai…
KD: And you know what, since it hasn't been that long, if you want to go either right before—so someone like Tyshawn (Taylor)—we could do someone either right before you got here or right after.
LL: You know, I will go with two guys. I’ll go Tyshawn because he was actually one of the first people that I connected with before on recruiting visits and stuff. Great guy, fun guy. And would be fun to play with for sure. And then, the other actually is actually a guy on this team and it's Christian Braun because he just looks like he is fun to play with. He brings a lot of energy.
You know I had a few guys like that on my teams and having him on a team with like Devonte’ and you know Josh Jackson, so that would have been so fun to to be a part of. And he brings a lot of energy to the games and stuff so that that's who I would say.
But I will say this, the two guards I played with (Mason and Graham) I wouldn’t have replaced them with anybody—it’s hard for me to say anybody but Frank and Devonte’ because that was probably the best guards we could ask for.
KD: I was gonna say, you already started from a really high level. So if you're playing with Christian two-on-two, are you letting him do the trash talking, or are you getting in there, too?
LL: You know, and this is something that Coach Self used to always say. I wasn't a big trash talker but what I would do was just small things to get under people's skin that wasn't noticed. I would smile as I would say something a little small on the side. A little side note. Or do something that would get under people’s skin. But I would let him do the trash talking and I would just try to get under my guy’s skin so that he could finish them off.
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