Recruiting Roundup: 9/23

For a blue blood basketball program like Kansas, recruiting top talent never stops. This week was no different for head coach Bill Self and his staff. Here’s where, and who the staff saw, along with a visit update.

Guard Targets

Kansas will likely have to replace its entire starting backcourt for the 2017-18 season, so the staff is targeting several top guards. Even with four star combo guard Marcus Garrett committed and Mississippi transfer Malik Newman becoming eligible, the Jayhawks need more depth and star power at the guard position. Tuesday, Self and assistant Norm Roberts traveled to Atlanta to visit the second ranked point guard in the 247 Sports Composite, Collin Sexton. This comes on the heels of the staff conducting an in-home with Sexton’s family last week, as well as seeing Collin at his high school. He is also visiting Lawrence officially for Late Night in the Phog on September 30th. Sexton’s recruitment appears to be a two horse race, between longtime favorite Alabama and Kansas. He has already officially visited Alabama, North Carolina State, and Oklahoma State. He is supposedly targeting a November decision.

On Thursday, the Kansas staff stayed in the South, as Norm Roberts visited top guard target, and consensus top-25 player Trae Young in Young’s hometown of Norman, Oklahoma. Roberts’s visit to Norman comes on the heels of the staff visiting Young and his family on September 9th. Young would be a terrific fit in Kansas’s two point guard offense, as he is a phenomenal shooter, very good ball handler, and compliment to bigger guards Malik Newman and Marcus Garrett. Young’s recruitment is progressing quickly, as he has four official visits completed or scheduled. He has already visited Oklahoma, and has scheduled visits to Texas Tech next weekend, Kentucky for Big Blue Madness on October 14th, and Kansas for October 21st. There is an outside chance he’ll also visit Washington, if he still wants to play with MoKan Elite teammate and Washington commit Michael Porter Jr. The race for Young’s services still appears to be a three team contest, between Kansas, Oklahoma, and Kentucky, with OU and UK ahead of KU, but I fully expect Young to take every visit, where KU can make up significant ground.

Big Men

Last week, we told you about forward target Billy Preston’s updated list, which currently includes Kansas, Maryland, USC, Indiana, and N.C. State. In wake of that news, the KU staff traveled to Oak Hill Academy in Virginia to visit the skilled Preston. After missing on top target DeAndre Ayton, the staff is attempting to make up ground with other big men targets, including Preston. Earlier this week, Preston announced he would officially visit Kansas for Late Night in the Phog. Kansas still seems to be behind USC in Preston’s recruitment, though questions about whether Preston will qualify academically to play college basketball linger.

On Wednesday, the Kansas staff visited multi-purpose combo forward Jarred Vanderbilt in Texas. Kansas has long been in the mix for Vanderbilt, but never perceived as a leader to land him. Last summer, Kansas made Vanderbilt’s final nine, along with Arizona, Baylor, Houston, Kentucky, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, and TCU. Vanderbilt’s recruitment took a twist last May, when TCU hired his first cousin, Corey Barker, as an assistant to new head coach Jamie Dixon. To date, Vanderbilt’s only official visit has been to TCU. Kansas is a longshot to land Vanderbilt.