Kansas Jayhawks coach Bill Self likes what he’s seen from his freshman class so far
Kansas’ three McDonald’s All-Americans in the recruiting Class of 2022 have made a solid first impression on their new coach, Bill Self.
“From the little bit I’ve seen, they all look good,” Self, KU’s 20th-year men’s basketball coach said Monday, speaking to the media at his summer camp for youths.
He was referring to freshman combo guard MJ Rice, guard/forward Gradey Dick and center Ernest Udeh, who have completed their first week of summer workouts on KU’s campus. First-year power forward Zuby Ejiofor arrived in town over the weekend and is set to begin drills this week with the rest of the Jayhawks. KU’s players can practice with coaches up to eight hours a week from June 7 until the end of summer school on July 29.
“Gradey and MJ are going to be really good scorers and good big wings. Ernest has shown flashes in the short time I’ve seen him. I haven’t seen Zuby yet and Kevin (McCullar, Texas Tech transfer with sore foot) is not full speed,” Self said, adding, “It’s a good recruiting class. I don’t know if I’d rank it with Julian (Wright), Brandon (Rush) and Mario (Chalmers, in Class of 2005) but it’s a good class in that all have a chance to be impact players here.”
Self stressed that entering the summer months, “the positions are open. I mean they are wide open. I don’t think there’s any doubt that MJ and Gradey are going to fight for a starting position here, no doubt.”
Dick, 6-7, 200 out of Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire, Kansas, enters as ESPN.com’s No. 14-ranked player in the recruiting Class of 2022. Rice, 6-5, 225, out of Prolific Prep in California is ranked No. 30. Udeh, 6-10, 220 out of Dr. Phillips High in Orlando, Florida, is ranked No. 23 and Ejiofor, 6-7, 215, from Garland (Texas) High, No. 75.
Asked about Udeh and Ejiofor arriving on campus with well-sculpted bodies, Self said smiling: “I would say that they’re both athletic and they both seem to be in pretty good shape. And I believe they’ve done their push-ups and sit-ups on a regular basis it looks like over time. But they’re both going to need to get stronger. Let’s just call it like it is. They both need to get stronger and they will. They are just young.”
Self most recently added a player to the roster from the transfer portal in McCullar, a 6-6 senior guard/forward who played three seasons and redshirted one at Texas Tech.
“To me he’s the perfect fit if you want to play interchangeable parts on the perimeter,” Self said. “If you have some point guard skill and are big enough to play the 2, 3, 4 type deal you may have something special going on. We thought he fit us as well as anybody possibly could that was in the portal from a (playing) style standpoint.”
Self is pleased McCullar is here for summer drills.
“That’s one thing Remy missed out on last year,” Self said of Remy Martin, who did not practice with the Jayhawks last summer, arriving for the start of the school year in August. “We’re not going to win any games in July but we do need to have a little bit of a foundation or base going into the fall and that’s what the summer will do from a team standpoint.”
Self stressed that even though Arizona State transfer Martin did miss summer drills at KU, he wound up contributing heavily to KU winning the national title.
“It could have been scripted better throughout the year but there’s nobody and I mean nobody that has had a better last four weeks than what Remy had since I’ve been here. It was pretty good,” Self said.
Self indicated that junior wing Jalen Wilson would be the last of the Jayhawks to arrive for summer school, likely on Wednesday. Wilson has already had a big offseason, working out for NBA teams the past several weeks before removing his name from the draft.
Sophomore point guard Bobby Pettiford is not yet 100% healthy following surgery in late February to repair a core muscle in Pettiford’s pelvic area.
“I think he feels better than he has in a long time,” Self said of Pettiford. “I don’t want to say we’re going slow but he hasn’t been turned loose yet.
“He had a bunch of scar tissue that broke up, which is somewhat natural they tell me but with that it created a little bit of a setback for him from a soreness standpoint, but I can’t imagine him not being full go here immediately. I do know it hasn’t happened yet.”
Self spoke highly of returning sophomore forward Zach Clemence on Monday.
“I think Zach is arguably as good a prospect as we have returning period and that includes Jalen (Wilson),” Self said. “You talk about prospects, he is 6-10 almost, he can really shoot. He’s going to get stronger. He’s tough. He’s got the right attitude. His best basketball is well down the road but to me he’s one of those guys that you can look up and a year from now you’ll be saying, ‘Wow, he’s an all league type talent.’ I do think he has that in him. I do.”
Of Jalen Wilson’s chances of being named Big 12 preseason player of the year, Self said: “I do think he should have great consideration for that. If J-Wil has a good year and shoots the ball decently he can be an All-American. I’m not predicting it yet. I’ll wait and study it. He obviously has to get better and all that. He can’t shoot 26% from three. Even this past year, if he shot 36% from three he wouldn’t be back in school (instead in NBA Draft). I mean he’s more than capable of doing that,” Self added of Wilson, who hit 30 of 114 threes his sophomore season for 26.3%.
