Kansas coach Bill Self far from panicked about current recruiting challenges: ‘Oh, we’re going to get some guys’

By Matt Tait     Apr 17, 2019

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Kansas head coach Bill Self flashes a smile as the Jayhawks pull away during overtime on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018 at Allen Fieldhouse.

With just two players signed in the 2019 recruiting class and neither one ranked higher than 94th in the national rankings per Rivals.com, the outsider’s view of the current state of Kansas basketball recruiting is that things have hit a rough patch.

The man on the inside, however, sees things a little differently, and Tuesday night, [after KU’s season-ending banquet,][1] Bill Self talked in general terms about where things sat with KU’s current recruiting efforts.

“Oh, I think we’re going to get some guys,” Self said. “I think we’re going to better ourselves, without question.”

Although no definition of “some guys” was given, Self projected the image of a coach in complete control of the situation, one that even seemed to border on optimism for the immediate future.

Top targets Matt Hurt (No. 7 overall per Rivals.com) and Cassius Stanley (No. 33) will announce their decisions in the next five days. And Kansas remains in the running for both players, even if the Jayhawks currently look like they’re running second to Duke in both cases.

Even if KU strikes out on both Hurt, who will reveal his choice Friday and Stanley, who will announce his pick Monday, Self said he felt good about where things sat with his overall roster and emphasized that he and his staff would have a much clearer picture of its needs and challenges “in the next 10 days.”

-> **9:03 p.m. Update:** Cassius Stanley on Wednesday night Teeeted that he now will announce his college choice next Monday (April 22), backing the big reveal up for a second time.

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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.