All is expected to be quiet on the Kansas basketball recruiting front today — the first day of the month-long spring signing period.
Travon Bryant, a 6-foot-8 senior forward from Long Beach, Calif.’s Jordan High, says he is not yet ready to sign a men’s scholarship agreement with Missouri, Cal-Berkeley or Kansas.
As far as other possible seniors or junior college players … if any are ready to ink with Kansas, coach Roy Williams has succeeded in keeping the information out of the newspapers and off the Internet.
“If Roy Williams can keep a recruit in the United States a secret, Roy Williams should receive some sort of FBI award,” recruiting analyst Mike Sullivan said. “Kansas’ coaches have made contact with a lot of players since last summer. It is possible they are still after some players.
“I’m not sure it’s worth giving a scholarship to a player at this point. There is very little to choose from right now,” Sullivan added.
KU signed DeShawn Stevenson, 6-6 from Fresno, Calif., in November.
“If DeShawn Stevenson qualifies (academically), Kansas is very solid,” Sullivan said. “I think the way they (Jayhawks) played in the NCAA Tournament alleviated some concerns. Some of the players they may have thought were questionable played very well at the end of the year.
“The confidence level of that team will be high starting next year. The more scholarships he has next year … Kansas will be involved with many of the top kids.”
The Jayhawks have two scholarships to give this spring, three if Luke Axtell does not return for his senior year because of his undisclosed medical condition.
The Jayhawks are involved with several juniors, including Kansans Wayne Simien (6-7, Leavenworth) and Dennis Latimore (6-8, Halstead). California juniors Josh Childress (6-6, Lakewood ), Jamal Sampson (6-10, Santa Ana), Chuck Hayes (6-7, Modesto) and Cedric Bozeman (6-4, Los Angleles) have KU on their lists.
Jason Carter, 6-8 of Las Vegas, says KU and UCLA are his early leaders over Texas, USC, Arizona and Syracuse. Aaron Miles, a 6-0 point guard from Portland, Ore., also likes KU as does Eddy Curry, 6-11 from South Holland, Ill and Rick Rickert, 6-11, Duluth, Minn.
KU seniors Nick Bradford and Ashante Johnson are teammates again, this time with the Dodge City Legend of the United States Basketball League.
Dodge City selected Bradford in the third round of Tuesday’s USBL Draft. Johnson went in Round Seven.
The Kansas Cagerz did not select any KU players. Ex-Jayhawks Billy Thomas and B.J. Williams are on the current roster.
It is believed Bradford and Johnson will not play USBL ball this season because of class conflicts. Both are planning on attending summer school.
The Cagerz chose Wichita State’s Jason Perez and Kansas State’s Tony Kitt Tuesday.
Ricardo Patton has been named coach of a Big 12 men’s basketball all-star team that will play six games in Austraia and Slovakia from Aug. 7-18. The roster, to be released at a later date, will include one player from each Big 12 team. KU’s Eric Chenowith was KU’s pick to play on the team in August of 1998.
— Gary Bedore’s phone number is 832-7186. His e-mail address is gbedore@ljworld.com