KU basketball notebook: 2014 prospect Pope cuts list

By Gary Bedore     Jul 2, 2013

Pope trims list: Malik Pope, a 6-foot-8, 205-pound senior small forward from Laguna Creek High in Elk Grove, Calif., who is ranked No. 14 in the recruiting Class of 2014 by Rivals.com, on Tuesday narrowed his large list of schools to nine.

The list consists of Kansas University, Arizona, Washington, UCLA, USC, San Diego State, Oregon, Gonzaga and California.

Of Pope, Rivals.com assessed: “Pope is a long, versatile wing player who can create off the dribble, get into the lane, shoot the rock and get his teammates the ball.”

Pope fractured his tibia in February and missed the end of his junior season.

“The injury has not slowed down my recruitment,” Pope told Rivals.com. “The injury is doing pretty well. I’m not really sure what the percentage is as far when I’ll come back and be back to full strength.”

Summer session: The dates for the 2013 summer recruiting evaluation period will be July 10-14, July 17-21 and July 24-28.

Of KU, ESPN’s Adam Finkelstein wrote: “Coming off the best recruiting class of his career in 2013, Bill Self has a ton of momentum on his side. That said, he can’t afford to rest on his laurels now since the price of recruiting such a talented incoming class is the potential to lose more than one of them (Andrew Wiggins is a virtual given) after just one season. That’s why Self and his staff have come out swinging for the fences in the Class of 2014, targeting seven of the top 15 players in the ESPN 100. With the Jayhawks after three of the country’s best big men in No. 1 recruit Jahlil Okafor (6-10, Chicago Whitney Young), No. 2 Cliff Alexander (6-8, Chicago Curie) and No. 10 Myles Turner (6-11, Trinity High, Euless, Texas), Self’s whereabouts in July are going to be very revealing.” KU is also after No. 3 Tyus Jones (6-1, Apple Valley (Minn.) High; No. 5 Emmanuel Mudiay (6-5, Prime Prep Academy, Arlington, Texas); No. 11 Rashad Vaughn (6-6, Robbinsdale Cooper High, Minneapolis, Minn.) and No. 15 Justise Winslow (6-5, Saint John’s, Houston).

Large list for Turner: Turner will soon cut his list from about 50 schools to 25, according to Zagsblog.com. He hopes to slice the list to 10 by the end of July.

“His mom and I would love him to stay local,” his dad, David, told Zagsblog.com. “High school is one thing, college is another, and the NBA is a whole other level. I see Myles as going to a school that’s going to offer him the best opportunity.”

This, that: KU will likely have between two and five scholarships to give next recruiting season. Memphis transfer Tarik Black, a senior, and freshman Wiggins are locks to leave. Other possibilities for early entries in the NBA Draft could include freshmen Wayne Selden and Joel Embiid and soph Perry Ellis. … KU will not have any of its current players working this weekend’s LeBron James camp in Ohio. Jeff Withey worked the camp a year ago.

Winless for Wiggins: There’s been post-NBA draft talk that the Boston Celtics — and maybe some other teams like the Toronto Raptors — will be trying to “tank” next season in order to get a good shot at Wiggins in the draft lottery.

“The draft is already being touted as the best in a decade, with standouts including Andrew Wiggins, whose talent has drawn raves from Kevin Durant; Jabari Parker, perhaps the most fundamentally sound and skilled player to come out in five years; and Marcus Smart, the standout swingman from Oklahoma State who stunned NBA executives by returning for his sophomore year,” writes Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe.

“Any of those three would look lovely in green and immediately become the central figure in (GM) Danny Ainge’s rebuilding plan, but there is no guarantee that even if the Celtics were to “develop” this season that they would land a precious top-five pick (because of luck involved in lottery).”

“Tanking, I think, is ridiculous,” Ainge told the Boston Globe.

Huskers hire Owens: Teddy Owens, the son of former KU coach Ted Owens, has been named administrative coordinator for the University of Nebraska basketball program. He will assist in daily operations, on-campus recruiting and student-athlete outreach on campus. Owens spent the last two years working as a graduate assistant for Lon Kruger at Oklahoma.

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