KU Hoops Recruiting 2009

[teedubya]

Point Guard:

John Wall (http://kansas.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=68235): Regarded by many as the top point guard in the 2009 class, Wall has expressed interest in Kansas, and ranks them among his top six choices. Stay tuned for how his AAU circuit turns out.

Elijah Johnson (http://kansas.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=57537): Johnson visited KU earlier this year during the KSU game and was very impressed with his visit. He sites high interest in KU, buts till wants to check out UNLV (his hometown school) and Arizona before he trims his list.

Peyton Siva (http://kansas.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=48581): Siva has a decent collection of offers and shows high interest in KU, but he may be too small of a guard to receive an offer.

Michael Dixon (http://kansas.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=55045): Dixon is a Kansas City product who has alot of offers from "Mid-High-Major" programs such as Kansas State, Oklahoma, and Oregon. It remains to be seen if KU will offer him, but as of now he has only expressed interest in KU.

Shooting Guard:

Xavier Henry (http://kansas.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=41773): Henry is clearly KU's #1 recruiting target for the class of 2009. Earlier in the year Henry trimmed his list to UNC, KU, and Memphis, but has since expressed some interest in UCLA. KU will go balls to the wall for Henry's services, count on it.

Lance Stephenson (http://kansas.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=41972): My early prediction is that Stephenson will have a wild recruitment process. He has expressed interest in visiting Kansas unofficially this summer.

Small Forward:

Jordan Hamilton (http://kansas.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=51441): Hamilton lists Texas, Kansas, Syracuse, Connecticut, and California as his top five choices, although he has believed to have been a Texas lean for quite some time now.

Shawn Williams (http://kansas.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=42398): Williams is showing very high interest in Kansas, Kentucky, and Texas at this point in time. Chances are one of the aforementioned team will get the services of this dominant small forward.

Power Forward:

Reynardo Sidney (http://kansas.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=41967): My advice: Don't hold your breathe. Sidney briefly mentioned a potential unofficial visit to Kansas in an interview conducted a few months ago, so stay tuned.

Stephan Van Treese (http://kansas.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=52308): Van Treese comes from a top notch basketball school in Lawrence North, in Indianapolis. The same school that produced Mike Conley and Greg Oden two years ago. KU joins a host of Big Ten offers for Van Treese.

Center:

DaShonte Riley (http://kansas.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=54691): Riley is an intriguing 6'10" prospect from Michigan, with a similar mold to Darrell Arthur. Riley claims KU as one of his top schools and hopes to visit soon.

Daniel Orton (http://kansas.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=51353): The Oklahoma City kid has offers from all of the Who's Who's of college basketball powers, including Kansas. However, he seems to be showing the most interest in Florida, and Ohio State, and KU might be easing off the gas in Orton's recruitment.

Final Comments: Keep in mind people, this is still very early in the recruiting process. The way recruiting goes, you can imagine KU might sign maybe one or two of these guys and end up picking up kids that aren't even on the radar right now. I will try to give updates from time to time on the kid's status and what is going on in the world of recruiting in regards to KU. I have to work at 4, so I probably won't be able to answer alot of questions right now, but leave them on here and I will get to them later. I also may add a few prospects soon.

[teedubya]

List of all kids that have KU on their wishlist.

http://kansas.scout.com/a.z?s=172&p=9&cfg=bb&c=4&yr=2009

[DJay23]

I was looking at the list you posted last night. Thanks for collecting everything here. We should definitely keep tabs on this thread in the future.

[BWillie]

We need a high profile recruit in Xavier Henry. I can't ever remember us getting a Beasley, Durant, or a Mayo. We can nab those Top 25 guys like Rush, Chalmers and Collins. Would be nice if we could get someone like him.

[DJay23]

We need a high profile recruit in Xavier Henry. I can't ever remember us getting a Beasley, Durant, or a Mayo. We can nab those Top 25 guys like Rush, Chalmers and Collins. Would be nice if we could get someone like him.

I disagree. We won a National Championship with Top 25 guys. Self has a clear vision of what players best fit his style of coaching. Having seen one recruiting class reach the NCAA Final (Illinois) and another win the whole thing, I honestly don't know if his style requires the one and done types. I'm sure they would be nice, but would a Xavier Henry detract from the whole team defense concept, as these types of recruits (who would go pro if still allowed) tend not to care too much about D. Just watch the McDonald's All American game.

A guy like Releford, who I'm sure the locals can attest more to than I, but I've read he's a great scorer but a little shaky on the D. How many of those guys can we stand on a team? But then again, if Henry wants to come to KU and WORK, then far be it from me to stop him!

[DJay23]

By the way, where do you all see the starting lineup for next year right now?

I predict Shady and Rush will go pro. I think Chalmers stays. Collins, I'm not sure it's an option for him anyway, even though it seems like it would really help his situation.

I have:
PG - Collins
SG - Chalmers
G/F - Releford
F - Marcus Morris
C - Cole Aldrich

Reserves in the rotation:
Tyrel Reed
Little/Appleton (don't know a ton about either)
Markieff Morris
Quintrell Thomas

Seems we'll have a nice little rotation of bigs once again, young as they may be.

[Chiefmanwillcatch]

Chalmers was like top sg the year he came out. I think he will leave if he's a first.

Sherron was like 2nd best pg. 5 stars.

It's all in your pov.

[teedubya]

By the way, where do you all see the starting lineup for next year right now?

I predict Shady and Rush will go pro. I think Chalmers stays. Collins, I'm not sure it's an option for him anyway, even though it seems like it would really help his situation.

I have:
PG - Collins
SG - Chalmers
G/F - Releford
F - Marcus Morris
C - Cole Aldrich

Reserves in the rotation:
Tyrel Reed
Little/Appleton (don't know a ton about either)
Markieff Morris
Quintrell Thomas

Seems we'll have a nice little rotation of bigs once again, young as they may be.

I predict that we will be decent enough to make the tournament.

But, I think Connor Teahan will get a bit more playing time, especially if he can shoot the new 3.

Next year will be a big strange, as it will take teams awhile to get used to the 20'6 distance for the 3. I predict more high low offenses next year.

Im holding out on guessing teh starting five until I know who is going to be on the team.

[KevB]

I saw quotes from Wall yesterday that said Memphis is his leader. I watched a video done by some station in Oklahoma of Henry, and it's clearly down to Memphis and KU. I think both teams reap the benefits of their tourney runs with really good recruiting classes in 2009.

[Mr. Laz]

i hope we get a really good pop from the NC

[DeezNutz]

I predict that we will be decent enough to make the tournament.


Dude, KU will be better than decent. Self has said he thinks the team will be good, potentially very good, and the guys on 810 (Petro, for example) were predicting a 2-3 seed for next year's team, assuming Chalmers stays.

KU will contend for the Big XII next year, and this will probably always be the case as long as Self is the coach. Some years they'll contend for the whole thing.

[ArrowheadHawk]

Dude, KU will be better than decent. Self has said he thinks the team will be good, potentially very good, and the guys on 810 (Petro, for example) were predicting a 2-3 seed for next year's team, assuming Chalmers stays.

KU will contend for the Big XII next year, and this will probably always be the case as long as Self is the coach. Some years they'll contend for the whole thing.
Aint it grand. I just hope the Self grooms Danny Manning to be his replacement.

[Ceej]

This thread rules! Yes, lets all keep tabs!

You guys with the inside info, continue to post information.

This may be dumb, but, what about Brady Morningstar getting some PT next year?

[Ultra Peanut]

I saw quotes from Wall yesterday that said Memphis is his leader. I watched a video done by some station in Oklahoma of Henry, and it's clearly down to Memphis and KU. I think both teams reap the benefits of their tourney runs with really good recruiting classes in 2009.Indeed. Karron Johnson also said we're his #1 and that he's good friends with Taggart. Any time two top 10 players say you're leading, and you're clearly in the mix for another top 10 guy in Henry, is pretty sweet.

This '09 class has the chance to be completely ****ing insane.

[DeezNutz]

Aint it grand. I just hope the Self grooms Danny Manning to be his replacement.

Yep. It's pretty cool when a "bad" year means competing for a conference title, and a "good" year means competing for a national title. I'll pass on Manning, however, since I'm hoping Self sticks around for long, long time.

[cmh6476]

I just hope we're good enough to end up at the Sprint Center int he 1st and 2nd, since I already have my tix lined up...

[cmh6476]

also I'd have to guess we'd have a decent shot at landing this dude from Australia now that he's seen we just wont he whole damn thing, right?

http://kansas.scout.com/a.z?s=172&p=9&cfg=bb&c=4&yr=2008

[Mr. Laz]

Dude, KU will be better than decent. Self has said he thinks the team will be good, potentially very good, and the guys on 810 (Petro, for example) were predicting a 2-3 seed for next year's team, assuming Chalmers stays.

KU will contend for the Big XII next year, and this will probably always be the case as long as Self is the coach. Some years they'll contend for the whole thing.
what else is he gonna say?

[DeezNutz]

what else is he gonna say?

Let me qualify. It wasn't so much the words as it was his tone. Also, as Petro noted after playing the tape of the comment, Self isn't much of a BS guy. If he thought the team would take a step back and struggle some, he would have phrased his response differently. Coach-speak for "We're going to suck" usually starts with, "We're going to be really young" and incorporates, "I really like this team's competitiveness." You know, the stuff we hear from the Chiefs, not the Hawks.