Columbia’s Dajuan Harris joins KU basketball team, will redshirt this season
Dajuan Harris, a 6-foot-1, 170-pound point guard out of Columbia Rock Bridge High School who committed to play basketball at Kansas on July 16, successfully completed summer coursework and has qualified for admission to KU for the 2019-20 school year, he told The Star in a text message late Wednesday night.
Harris, who played spring and summer basketball for Kansas City-based MOKAN Elite AAU, will sit out the upcoming season as a redshirt but said he will start classes Friday.
KU coach Bill Self confirmed Harris’ addition to the team Thursday afternoon.
“Dajuan is a true point guard,” Self said in a release. “His understanding and feel for the game would rival some of the better point guards we’ve had since we’ve been here.
“He’s going to be in a limited capacity and this will give him the opportunities to focus on books, focus on getting stronger and put himself in the position to be a contributor right off the bat next year.”
Harris — he chose KU over Missouri, Tulsa and Nebraska — will begin playing in games for the Jayhawks in 2020-21.
He said he would have attended Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire, Kansas, for a prep school year had he not been able to complete the summer coursework successfully and gain admission to college.
He originally committed to Missouri State on Aug. 10, 2018.
At the time he was a member of the recruiting Class of 2019. After signing with the Bears in November of 2018, he asked out of his letter this past May 10. At that time he indicated plans to attend Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire for the 2019-20 campaign.
However, he committed to KU five weeks later, indicating he’d play for KU in 2019-20 if he could gain eligibility by passing some summer online classes. If not, he’d attend Sunrise a year and join the Jayhawks for his freshman campaign in 2020-21.
Harris — he is ranked No. 83 in the recruiting Class of 2020 by Rivals.com (he now is in the Class of 2019) — agreed to redshirt this season when he accepted KU’s scholarship offer, Lisa Sandbothe-Braun, mother of KU freshman Christian Braun, said at the time of the commitment. Harris has lived with the Sandbothe-Braun family during the spring/summer AAU season of MOKAN Elite the past several years.
Harris helped lead Columbia Rock Bridge to its first-ever Missouri Class 5 state title last March and MOKAN to the Peach Jam Championship. He scored 17 points in Rock Bridge’s 63-59 state-title victory over Christian Brothers on March 16 in Springfield.
He was offered a scholarship by KU prior to the Peach Jam tournament in South Carolina. Harris scored 13 points, dished 10 assists and grabbed nine rebounds in MOKAN Elite’s 71-70 loss to AOT Running Rebels (of Georgia). The game was contested in front of several college coaches, including KU assistant Kurtis Townsend.
MOKAN went on to win the tournament.
“It was a sensational performance on the biggest stage in grassroots,” Evan Daniels of 247sports.com wrote after the game. “The wiry lead guard impressed with his passing ability, vision and creativity off the dribble. He also excelled on the defensive end, where he made things difficult on Sharife Cooper, one of the best point guards in the country.
“His pinpoint passes off the live dribble and his decision-making when he drove particularly stood out,” Daniels added.
Harris also contributed three steals and two blocks and took three charges on defense in the narrow defeat.
In the finals, an 85-84 overtime win over California Team WhyNot, he had eight points, six assists, four steals, three rebounds and a block.
“Playing this summer with MOKAN Elite and is a tough as nails floor general and a winner,” Rivals.com’s Eric Bossi wrote of Harris.
This story was originally published August 28, 2019 at 10:57 PM.