Anything on the 2012 Class Yet?

A few days or so before the McDonald's game he pushed his announcement back. We will know about Parker, Shabazz and everyone else very soon though. I'd look for it to be announced in a week or so.

If im not mistaken, didnt Shabadd a.zz take us of his list?


Our next years class is looking to be filled with a lot of potential. Plenty of players who could step in and play a role or contribute well right away, About our returning starters, I really like Elijah Johnson a lot don't get me wrong I love the kid but I wonder  how he will do as the man next year. I mean, Whithey is going to be great for us on defense but our offense is not going to be great with him. I believe we will have to rely much on EJ for our production and I hope the kid turns it up another notch as he did for us during the tournaments. I have not been able to follow the recruit descriptions much as far as what exactly we can expect meaning, can Perry Ellis come in and should we expect 10 points 8 rebounds from the guy right away and is Zach Peters going to ride the bench all season or is he undervalued. I would appreciate a more technical and definitive expectation list from anyone with better insight. Also, the kid that was ineligible this season, Mclemore.. is he going to be our starter unless something unforeseen happens or he he another 4 year starter that will ride the bench for the majority of the year. We need impact players.. Game changers. We are solid with Whitey, Eli, and Releford but we need that stud that can change the game. I know Elijah will provide that in many games this year but I think we need one more Great player to take the next step and be a favorite .

Sounds like Shabazz has shortened his list and we are not on it.  Who knows, We might have pulled our offer as well!

Dont forget Mcclemore, Traylor who have practiced this last semester against TT and TRob.  That is also when our  team turnaround happened as well.  ANy coincidence?  Our level of practices went way up in competition.  Gurley is high on Traylor.  He said that this guy is better than Darnel and Darrel when they arrived on campus already.  So if he is remotely close to that him and Ellis will be big time players next year.

I would love to see us add another scoring threat to the list.  Preferably a outside scoring threat.  Pure shooter type.

TP set to announce this week. Looks like it's down to UCLA and KU from all reports I've heard. He really likes the opportunity to play will Bazz at UCLA BUT he looks our strength coach and says he really wants to develop his low block game. My thinking is that he is going to take a couple years to develop into an NBA talent so if he is thinking about the future and winning, I would imagine him coming to KU. But from all I've read it is a lean towards UCLA. Hoping it will turn though!
 
IN other news Andrew White signs his LOI today.  

Tony Parker loves Self and Hudy but I really do not expect him to choose Kansas. As you said most of the buzz is UCLA and that may very well end up being his destination however I keep hearing that Georgia is a player in this.

In other news a scholarship has opened with the transfer of Merv Lindsay. Self spoke glowingly of him and he has been a nice representative of KU, I wish him the best. How about Tulsa Merv?

From the reports I read, Parker is going to choose between UCLA & Georgia...I read an article that basically had him berating one of his candidates (Duke) for their lakk of developing many of their big men. 

So what do you guys think...just to spin our discussion in a different direction?  Can Duke devlop the Big Guys as well as say...Georgetown, UCLA or even Kansas? I don't think they can, as the only shining example has been Boozer in the last couple decades. Other than that...as he said...Duke has been a guard factory.

"From the reports I read, Parker is going to choose between UCLA & Georgia..."

And from the reports I read, it is between Duke and Kansas. Shows what "reports" are worth when it comes to college basketball recruiting. Bottom line, I have no idea, nor does anyone else. I am fine whatever the result. We have more than enough players to be a great team next year. Honestly, I don't even know if Parker would start at Kansas next year. He would have to beat out Perry Ellis, no slouch, for starting PF minutes.

It's fun when a great players comes to Kansas, but it is certainly not NEEDED. We are fine without him.

Im hearing all UCLA but we shall see. Im with twocoach in the fact that Parker would be great but certainly not a necessity.   He is a bit raw and his level of fitness leaves something to be desired.  If he was to come to Kansas and work with our staff for 2-3 years he could be a lottery pick but my guess is he will go UCLA, have a pretty underwhelming season and leave far too early and sweat out the NBA draft a year from now.

What's with all the fuss over a 6-8 CENTER?!?!?!

"What's with all the fuss over a 6-8 CENTER?!?!?!"

He obviously won't be a center in college. Like I said, I am perfectly fine with not getting him. I see him the same was as I saw Deandre Daniels; if you are such a flake about constantly setting dates and changing your mind and wavering all over the place, I doubt you are going to be worth the hassle. Daniels was a JOKE last year at UConn.

I would rather Kansas move forward with Perry Eliis as the primary PF. I am very excited to see what he develops into. He has the smarts to really apply what he learns from the coaching staff and the training staff. I think he is going to be a solid contributor next year and a absolute monster in his sophomore and junior seasons.

So Mark Lyons from Xavier has Ku on his list. He is a Pg although Holloway played that last yr for Xavier. He averaged 14 a game I heard the last two years and since he graduated would be immediately available. I know Xavier had that fight which I am almost sure he was involved so I dont know I heard he was good and maybe a good get if he is truly a pg since Self stated he is still looking for one. He has Arizona and kentucky also on his list.

Mark Lyons has links to both (Kansas, Arizona) of our programs in a way...

Sean Miller (Zona's current HC) was the former head coach at Xavier (probably recruited or at least communicated with Lyons bakk then)..and Lyons went to Brewster Academy in New Hampshire..Alumnus home to two of our more recent recruits, Thomas Robinson & Naadir Tharpe. 

I think the edge would be to Arizona in that instance, just based off the familiarity.

I finally see that Parker has made his announcment and is going to UCLA.  Does anyone want to make odds as to when or how long before Howland and the Bruins are on probation for illegal recruiting acts? 

Thinking that our recruiting for the upcoming year is now mostly completed so we can move forward with what is signed already.  I read the report on Parker and his announcement and he too held court for  57 minutes before saying where he was playing.  This is a joke.  I think its time that ESPN and other media outlets put a kabash on this stuff.  Give these kids 3 minutes to put a hat or do what ever, but not an entire hour.  Give them a commericial time slot.  Silly.

"I finally see that Parker has made his announcment and is going to UCLA.  Does anyone want to make odds as to when or how long before Howland and the Bruins are on probation for illegal recruiting acts? "

Come on. Why do you think it would take illegal recruiting to get great players to go to UCLA? Hot women, great weather, fun city, other great players already committed, a traditional power, a coach that went to multiple Final Fours. $100+ million renovation to their arena. Etc...

It gets really old reading the same old crap from fans of programs alleging recruiting cheating. If Kansas signed Muhammad and Parker, there would be tons of fans from other places crowing about viloations. It would be annoying to have to constantly defend the FACTS about Kansas and Coach Self and his staff. WE know why players would come here.

Let's not be THOSE FANS that accuse others of violations based on NOTHING. It's old and tired and just makes us look petty and jealous. And frankly, Kansas has committed more recruiting violations in the last few decades than most everyone else, so who are we to accuse?

"I think its time that ESPN and other media outlets put a kabash on this stuff.  Give these kids 3 minutes to put a hat or do what ever, but not an entire hour.  Give them a commericial time slot.  Silly."

Why? People watched it and ESPN sold ads during the spot and made money, so why would they shoot themselves in their own foot? Their job is to produce content that people will watch. Mission accomplished. If you don't like it, do what I did and do a google search a few hours after his announcement to see where he's going. 2 seconds out of my day. Sufre the kid looks like an idiot for carrying on for so long but guess what? HIGH SCHOOL KIDS ARE IDIOTS, even the smart ones. I can guarantee that ESPN told him to fill the spot and was worked with to come up with 57 minutes of content to fill the spot. He didn't just pull an hour of material out of his butt on the spot.

HIGH SCHOOL KIDS ARE IDIOTS

Hey!  Teaching/Coaching these buggers for the last 10 years and experiencing it firsthand somewhere in my past, I have to say....YOU ARE CORRECT!!  Ha

And to the other commentary on violations, I agree with you twocoach, I have NEVER said anything about alleged recruiting mistakes, I wait for the slow, pale horse to envelop a program and then I usually let others convey my feelings.

I hope Mr. Parker's team falls flat on its face, but we have a nice basis for next season, and reaching for anything else won't make a difference to me, like adding Lyons, its fine if we do, if we don't I like our prospects.

2coach, I usually am on the same side as most of your thoughts and do agree with most of what you say.  It odd however that some kids already have shoe deals with companies while in an AAU program.  I find that mighty unusual that shoe companies are making the calls on alot of these so called big decisions for HS players.  Not saying Parker was influenced,  but Shabazz was influenced by his AAU coach and shoe money.  Might not  be able to be proven, but the scoop is out there and where there is smoke, there is some fire.  I didn't watch the Parker announcement, I read about it on CBS sportsline.  I don't watch that stuff.  I have never and can say I won't ever watch that stuff. 

I will however say that this is somewhat an age old thing.  We didn't get Manning without Brown hiring ED has his assistant coach more than likely.  We didn't get Mario Chalmers without hiring Dad.  So its not all that uncommon for other things to help in the recruitment of players.  Shoe deals are what makes the AAU circuit go.  As long as Under Armor, Nike, Adidas and others keeping paying for camps and summer leagues, there will be some bias on who goes where and why. 

Yes, I don't care if your UCLA, UK, Duke, UNC or KU things that seem shady are often magnified 10 times.  The thing is like I stated, where there is smoke there is fire.  It the so called gray areas.  Each coach and program knows how to skirt around the shady areas and get recruits or what ever.  We all I think realize that and know deep down, that almost every coach flirts with in the gray areas and might bend some rules in order to keep or get the upper hand on a kid. 

I guess this time of year the news is pretty much based on speculation and not really based on concrete facts.  Recruiting wars and things are more exposed.  I dont really care who plays where as long as things are kept as close to on the up and up as they can be.  I do understand that things r bent and twisted sometimes in order to land a kid.  Thats been part of the landscape of college sports now for generations.  

But if we did land Shabazz and others, you know we would be targetted on every message board as doing something wrong or illegal.  I think we all know that.  The worst thing that happened was this shoe thing being mentioned when he signed with UCLA.  THat really puts a black eye on things when UCLA now is in on someone.  Same thing for UK in the last 3 years.  WE all have wondered or questioned there ways as well.  Its interesting in someways and in other ways if it doesn't matter to KU, its no big thing.  I get that. 

Not saying Parker was influenced,  but Shabazz was influenced by his AAU coach and shoe money.

EVERY PLAYER is influenced by his AAU coach. And show me one ounce of proff that Shabazz had anything in place in regards to show money. There is the whole crap about his SISTER being an Adidas kid in tennis, but so what? His parents are from LA and he's from Vegas. Is it so crazy to think he just mught like UCLA better than Kentucky? Have you ever been to LExington, KY? Yuck.
But if we did land Shabazz and others, you know we would be targetted on every message board as doing something wrong or illegal.  I think we all know that. 

Then don't be guilty of the same thing.

"The worst thing that happened was this shoe thing being mentioned when he signed with UCLA.  THat really puts a black eye on things when UCLA now is in on someone. "

Just because some dope wrote a story about it doesn't mean its true. Every guy with a byline wants to make a name for himself off these kids and wants to get hits on their articles. A Gsry Parrish article about Adidas and Muhammad is just as much speculation as if I wrote it. Just don't assume that what you read is true unless there is a set of quotes directly attributed to a named, relevant source. Even then, the motivation should be considered.

 will however say that this is somewhat an age old thing.  We didn't get Manning without Brown hiring ED has his assistant coach more than likely.  We didn't get Mario Chalmers without hiring Dad

I have been reading Beyond the Phog, I thought you said you were too but maybe it was someone else. But I just got to the Chalmers section today and in it he explained many think that I went to Ku b/c of my dad but he said he committed to Ku "many many months" before he got the job. Take how you want it and think that it was a lie but I am going to go ahead and believe him partly b/c I wasnt a big follower of recruiting when we was being recruited so i am not sure. 

Just wanted to throw this out there.

But also I am looking forward to this year and wonder what will happen to Wesley and if he becomes a mop up guy. I want to see how Young has developed a year into the system it should all be very interesting. 

Beyond the Phog is awesome reading!  I have only just begun starting to read it.  At least if your a Jayhawk fan its awesome reading!

Young has been in the system for longer than one year since he transferred here from LMU.  So I don't know if another year will develop him any further along.  Since we don't have MAnning now to really push him, he will have to work even harder than before.  The thing I think we all saw his ability in flashes and wonder where that is all the time.  He could be a good player in a rotation, but only if he works hard.  Wesly is kind of a hard thing to look at.  On one hand you want to root for him to get better, and on the other hand whats the point.  He will improve some more.  But he just isn't a good offensive player and every time he breaths on someone he gets called for a foul. 

I think Tharpe is the one player to see how much he improves between last year and the upcoming year to me.  I think we saw some flashes against Purdue of what he can do, and we saw alot of glimpes of what he needed to improve on thru out.  He could be a very good player and a needed outside threat from long range.  He is the one who I think will improve the most from now until October. 

I am more excited about our recruiting class this year than I have been in most years.  I think we will have a really solid front line and some very good guard play next season.  I think our mixture of experience and youth is a very balanced one.  I dont think at any point we will be leaning on a freshmen to do more than most freshmen should be able to do.  I think that Mclemore and Ellis will come in and be very solid players from the start and adding that to Withey, Releford, and EJ we are looking very solid.  Young, THarpe on the bench and the rest of our recruits will look very good coming into the season.  White will be an instant impact player if he can shoot like its said he can.

HAs anyone heard whether Anrio Adams is eligible for next season?

Kansas had a visitor today.  He is FIU decommit Milton Doyle, a long and lanky 6'4 shooting guard from Chicago.  Doyle decided to open up his recruitment with the departure of Isaiah Thomas and is coming off an injury year I believe.   If you go to a recruiting site you won't be encouraged since he is unranked but I have read a couple of articles that say he is undervalued and an absolute sleeper.  Some of speculated this is bad news on the Anrio Adams front but I really can't imagine their is any connection considering the difference in position.   So whether Doyle will be a pleasant surprise or the next guy to get recruited over and transfer out remains to be seen in the event he does choose KU.    I expect that will be the case.

Speaking of Anrio, he seems confident that his ACT score will be high enough as he just tweeted today...

"I will be wearing #2 for Kansas! This year #RCJH"