Bill Self on this year’s Kansas Jayhawks: ‘Our newcomers are good. They are just young’
Kansas’ men’s basketball players have been allowed to practice up to eight hours a week with Jayhawks coaches, in accordance with NCAA rules, since the June 7 start of summer school on KU’s campus.
KU coach Bill Self has been able to form some first impressions the past two weeks, ones shared in a Q&A session with golfers at the Otto Schnellbacher Classic on Monday afternoon at Shawnee Country Club.
“I’m excited. We have a good team coming back after losing five of our top seven and really, six of our top eight (players),” said Self, entering his 20th season with the Jayhawks.
“I like our guys. Our newcomers are good. They are just young. With Jalen (Wilson, fourth-year junior forward) coming back, we feel good. Jalen could mess around and have an All-American type year,” Self added of the 6-foot-8, 225-pound Denton, Texas native.
“If he can shoot 38% (from three) instead of 26% he could be an All-American, folks. We’ve been on sort of a roll having our best player having a real good senior year — Frank (Mason), Devonté (Graham), of course Och (Agbaji) this past year,” Self noted.
Self was asked specifically about freshmen scholarship players Gradey Dick, Zuby Ejiofor, MJ Rice and Ernest Udeh.
“I really think the two big guys, Ernest and Zuby, aren’t ready, but we’ve had a lot of big guys that were not ready when they first got here but by the end of their freshman year they were pretty darn good,” Self said. “These guys both have a chance to be that. One is 6-10 (Udeh) and the other a legitimate 6-8 (Ejiofor).
“Both have bounce. Both have decent hands. Both can run. Both are very competitive. If they realize what their role would be this year,” Self added primarily referring to rebounding and playing defense, “they could both be really good players as freshmen. I don’t predict them starting but I think they could be in the mix for a lot of playing time.”
Udeh is a 6-10, 235-pound graduate of Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, Florida ranked No. 32 in the recruiting Class of 2022 by Rivals.com; Ejiofor a 6-8, 220-pound graduate of Garland (Texas) High, who is ranked No. 44 nationally by Rivals.com.
“MJ and Gradey … they are good. They are good,” Self repeated. Dick, Gatorade’s national player of the year, is 6-7, 195 pounds out of Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire, Kansas. He enters college ranked No. 27 in the Class of 2022 by Rivals.com. Rice is 6-5, 200 from Prolific Prep in Napa, California, originally from Durham, North Carolina, ranked No. 28 in the class by Rivals.com.
“That’s like us recruiting (Wayne) Selden and (Kelly) Oubre or somebody like that. They are legitimate good players that both have a chance to play all they want right off the bat if they continue to work hard,” Self said.
Self was asked by a golfer Monday about newcomer Kevin McCullar, 6-6, 210 out of San Antonio. He redshirted one year and played three for the Red Raiders.
“My personal opinion after coaching against him (is) he can play 1 through 4 and guard 1 through 5. He is not a point guard, but has point guard skills,” Self said. “He is not a great shooter but has gotten better. We won’t replace Och from a production standpoint but he allows us to replace C.B. (Christian Braun) from a production standpoint. That will be huge for us. He’s tough, well coached, knows how to guard. I think he’ll be a huge addition.”
Finally, Self was asked Monday about Cam Martin, a 6-9, 230-pound senior forward out of Missouri Southern who redshirted at KU last season.
“Cam is a good player. He is a legitimate 6-8 1/2. He can shoot it. He has pretty good bounce. His athleticism has improved a ton,” Self said. “The question I have with him is can he actually defend and protect the rim? That’s not something he’s ever done. He’s been a scorer. He’ll definitely play a ton for us. He’s really good. For him to become really, really good he will have to take steps on that end. He has game. He has good skills (but) it’s nice to have a big guy down there when you screw up he can take over for you defensively. He’s not one of those guys. He will have to get where he rebounds better, defends his position better to be terrific.”
