Late Nite to be BIG Night for Hoops Recruiting
Mark your calendars - October 14 could be a VERY BIG night for Jayhawk hoops recruiting. In fact, the entire future of the program could be solidified if all goes well.
There will be at least 11 top-flight recruits on campus for this year’s festivities. The headliners are (all rankings from Scout.com, except where noted):
2006:
Serron Collins - #9 overall player, and the #2 PG - this guy is the REAL DEAL!
Darrell Arthur - #12 overall, and the #3 PF
Obi Muonelo (verbally committed to Okie State) - #32 overall, and the #6 SG, but rated much higher by Rivals.com.
2007:
Cole Aldrich - #8 overall, and the #1 C prospect - he’s never been out of the top 10 of any rating service!
2008:
Travis Releford - #4 overall, and the #2 SG
Add in three other stud recruits: Jeremy Price, Alex Legion, and Lance Storrs, and you’ve got the makings of a program loaded with talent for years to come.
Will Self get any commitments from this group of highly-touted visitors? KU is rumored to lead for Collins and Muonelo, and the Jayhawks have been high on Arthur’s list for a long time now. Any one of those three could announce a commitment following the trip to Lawrence. Aldrich, who may be the prize of the lot, has already visited several times, including a prior Late Night “experience.” He is not expected to make an early announcement, however. Travis Releford will be courted by every major program in America before it’s all said and done, but he has already been playing pick up games with the Jayhawk team. What if he doesn’t want to have to deal with the pressures of major college recruiting? What if he just wants to solidify his place in the Jayhawk’s future? What if . . .
One thing’s for sure - the Jayhawk faithful need to go crazy for these recruits on October 14. Signs! Banners! Chants and Cheers! A simple “Hi” when you see them (they’re going to be rather conspicuous)! Let them know that we want them to be part of the KU family.
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14 Responses to “Late Nite to be BIG Night for Hoops Recruiting”
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September 26th, 2005 at 11:11 pm
Late Night in the Phog, set for Oct. 14, 2005 at Allen Fieldhouse High School Basketball Recruiting Guest List
• Cole Aldrich, a 6-foot-10 junior from Bloomington, Minn
• Obi Muonelo, a 6-4 senior from Edmond, Okla
• Darrell Arthur, 6-9, Sr., Dallas
• Jeremy Price, 6-9, Jr., Decatur, Ga
• Lance Storrs, 6-5, Jr., Decatur, Ga
• Alex Legion, 6-3, Jr., Detroit
• Sherron Collins, 5-11, Sr., Chicago, Illinois
• Travis Releford, 6-3, So., Kansas City, MO
• Brady Morningstar, 6-3, Sr., New Hampton, NH/Lawrence, KS
…with these guys as a possibility as well:
Alex Legion
DeAndre Jordan
Tyrel Reed
George Goode
Blake Griffin
Kansas Jayawks
Name Pos HT/WT Year Signing Status Home (Schools)
Jeremy Case PG 6-1/170 SO Scholarship Oklahoma City, OK (McAlester)
Mario Chalmers PG 6-1/180 FR Scholarship Anchorage, AK (Bartlett)
Micah Downs SF 6-8/180 FR Scholarship Kirkland, WA (Bothell/Juanita)
C.J. Giles C 6-10/235 SO Scholarship Seattle, WA (Rainier Beach)
Jeff Hawkins PG 5-11/180 SR Scholarship Kansas City, KS (Sumner Academy)
Darnell Jackson PF 6-8/240 SO Scholarship Oklahoma City, OK (Northwest Classen)
Alexander Kaun C 6-11/245 SO Scholarship Siberia, Russia (Florida Air Academy)
Matt Kleinmann C 6-10/235 FR Walk-On Overland Park, KS (Blue Valley West)
Christian Moody PF 6-8/220 SR Scholarship Asheville, NC (T.C. Roberson)
Russell Robinson PG 6-1/195 SO Scholarship New York, NY (Rice)
Brandon Rush SG 6-7/190 FR Scholarship Kansas City, MO (Westport/Mt. Zion Academy)
Rodrick Stewart SG 6-4/200 SO Scholarship Seattle, WA (Rainier Beach/Southern California)
Stephen Vinson SG 6-2/195 SR Scholarship Lawrence, KS (Lawrence)
September 27th, 2005 at 7:12 am
If George Goode is on the list, that’s another STUD recruit. Go get ‘em Bill!
September 27th, 2005 at 11:02 am
With all these stars showing up for late night, how happy are we that Morningstar has one of the available scholarships? I honestly don’t know a thing about him, but he does sound passionate about KU basketball, and that’s NEVER a bad thing.
September 27th, 2005 at 12:21 pm
Jeff, that seems to be the sentiment on all the chat boards I monitor - Why’d we move on Morningstar before October 14? Wouldn’t it have been better to wait and see who would give us a commitment? To see what relationships formed between these recruits that made them want to play together on the KU team? Nevertheless, I trust Self and his staff implicitly to evaluate players and make the right recruiting decisions for KU’s future. They may have found a diamond in the rough!
September 27th, 2005 at 3:34 pm
About Morningstar, unless I am mistaken, just because he has given us a committment to play for us doesn’t mean we have to give him a scholarship. He could just be a preferred walk on like Moody and Matt K. were.
September 27th, 2005 at 3:44 pm
Adam, you’re right. Actually, I’ve not seen any confirmation about his scholarship status. I’m sure that’s because Self and company aren’t allowed to comment on Morningstar until he signs on the dotted line. In an earlier posting on PHOGBLOG.COM, I made this exact point about whether or not Morningstar will receive a scholarship. My guess is that he will be on scholarship, based on no information other than my gut feeling and the fact that he had scholarship offers at several mid-major programs, including Wichita State. I don’t think he would throw that away to pay his own way to play at KU, no matter how passionate he is about the program. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
September 27th, 2005 at 11:06 pm
When is Morningstar coming to campus? Is he in the class of 2006? If thats the case, Self would be crazy to give up 1 of his 3 scholarships to someone that isn’t even ranked on any database. It would hurt us in the running for Muonelo, because they play the same position. I think this is a situation very similar to Nick Bahe, he had a full ride to play at Nebraska and turned that down to walk on here. Plus, did anyone even know that we were recruiting this kid? I mean no offense to him, but he hasn’t been on the radar at all. Can’t a player give an oral committment to a program that really doesn’t want him or want to give him a scholarship?
September 28th, 2005 at 11:56 am
Based on the LJW article, I’m thinking he has accepted a full scholarship. The article:
http://www.kusports.com/news/mens_basketball/story/115438
The quote from the article:
“I’ve got to get bigger, quicker,” said Morningstar, who said he had accepted a full scholarship offer.
Sorry Muonelo.
He sounds like he would make a PERFECT walk-on though. I’m wondering if his dad playing at KU had a big part in this…
September 28th, 2005 at 11:57 am
Are we banking on someone going pro after this year? I guess it’s likely that Rush will at least put his name in the pool…
September 28th, 2005 at 12:08 pm
Wow! I hadn’t noticed that in the LJW. Thanks for pointing that out, Jeff.
Adam, I agree with you that it was a mistake to move on Morningstar at this stage of his development, especially given the proven, quality talent that is seriously considering KU. Morningstar would have waited, and KU should have waited, to see how KU’s top prospects pan out.
Again, I hope that Brady IS the second coming of Roger Morningstar. I hope that the coaching staff has found a diamond in the rough.
September 28th, 2005 at 8:54 pm
I guess another option would be for someone to transfer after this year or next to open up additional scholarships, which seems to be a blossoming trend…
September 29th, 2005 at 7:35 am
The problem with banking on someone leaving, however, is that the recruits looking at our program aren’t going to take that chance. They all have bona fide scholarship offers from other top-flight programs. Once we’re full, we’re full. The fact that a late scholarship might open up becuase of an early departure won’t help us land the types of recruits that Self and company seem to be attracting. They will all be committed long before then - Brandon Rush is the exception, not the rule.
September 29th, 2005 at 7:37 am
Brady Morningstar is expected to be a scholarship athlete for the Jayhawks during the 2006-2007 season, according to rivals.com.
September 30th, 2005 at 8:35 am
We might have more recruits than players at Early Evening with Bill Self!
Actually, I was wondering if anyone thought we have TOO many recruits. I mean, Jeremy Price already committed to Georgia; I could see his teammate Lance Storrs following him there. Muonelo has reportedly cooled on us, and George Goode doesn’t seem interested in staying local with us. We might see some recruits flake on us, but does it seem like alot to anyone else?
Oh well, at least most of our “targets” are coming this year. If we snag Arthur, Collins, and later Legion/Rose, Aldrich, Releford and CJ’s brother Xavier Henry over the next few classes, I’ll reserve Final Four tix for the forseeable future!