Jayhawks make strong impression on 2017 PG Trae Young during weekend visit

By Matt Tait     Oct 23, 2016

Kansas University basketball recruiting

The Kansas men’s basketball program knew heading into the weekend that it had a golden opportunity to roll out the red carpet and wow Class of 2017 point guard Trae Young on his official visit to Lawrence.

From the sound of things, that’s exactly what Bill Self and company did.

Young, the No. 14-ranked player in the 2017 class, according to Rivals.com, arrived Friday, shared the stage only with forward Deng Gak (Rivals’ No. 91 player in 2017) and went back home to Norman, Oklahoma, early Sunday morning following a 5-a.m.-sendoff by the entire KU coaching staff.

“It was crazy. I loved it,” Young told Matt Scott of TheShiver.com after arriving back home Sunday. “It was a great visit.

Added his father, Rayford Young, who played his college ball at Texas Tech: “It was ridiculous.”

Although the meaning of the word the elder Young used to describe the visit often carries two meanings, it sounded as if only the positive form came into play this weekend. In fact, Young told Scott that the KU staff pulled out all of the stops during various portions of the weekend, the most memorable being video highlights of his father’s 41-point night in a 1999 upset of Kansas, complete with a clip of his mother, Candice, rushing the floor in celebration.

“That was awesome,” Rayford told Scott. “That was really cool of them to do.”

While recruiting an athlete’s parents always plays at least some kind of role in these things, the bulk of the weekend was spent trying to help Young visualize being a Jayhawk. He toured the campus, met with strength coach Andrea Hudy, spent time with the current KU players, and, of course, talked plenty to Self and his assistants.

“He said I could come in and make an impact right away and that I would play just as many minutes at KU as I would anywhere else in the country as a freshman,” said Young when asked about Self’s main message.

Young also loved what he saw from the practice he and his father watched while in town.

“Practice was really good,” he said. “It was really intense. They ran a lot of stuff and ran a lot of ball screens, but coach Self really lets them go in transition. It they couldn’t score in transition they would set up and run offense. It was really cool to see them go over different plays.”

With his official visits now behind him, Young plans to take a little more time before making his decision. He always has planned to wait until the spring signing period to make his things official and, according to Scott, that hasn’t changed. But just because he won’t sign until the spring does not mean he won’t reveal his final decision sooner.

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.