Jayhawks pursuing 4 Kansans

By Gary Bedore     Aug 8, 2000

Not one, not two, not three, but at least four Kansans figure to make basketball recruiting visits to Mt. Oread this semester.

Wayne Simien, a 6-foot-8 Leavenworth High forward, who has orally committed to KU, will make an official campus visit on Sept. 16 in conjunction with the Jayhawks’ football game with Alabama-Birmingham.

Dennis Latimore, a 6-9 forward from Halstead, who has made several unofficial visits to KU, is expected to visit KU, Arizona and Florida officially. He might visit UCLA, Kentucky and Texas.

Meanwhile, two lesser known Kansas prep seniors 5-11 Kansas City Sumner point guard Jeff Hawkins, and 6-5 Shawnee Mission Miege shooting guard Jamar Howard are slated to visit for the KU-Kansas State football game on Oct. 7.

Hawkins, a three-year starter who has led KC Sumner to state titles in two of the past three years, has received recruiting interest from KU, St. Louis, Wyoming, Indiana State, Wichita State and Long Beach State.

Howard has also heard from Wichita State, Indiana State, Iowa State, UCLA and Bradley.

“They (KU coaches) told me they are recruiting one other point guard just two point guards,” said Hawkins, who averaged 17 points and six assists a game a year ago.

“I’ve always liked watching them play. I watch and wish I could be out there,” Hawkins added.

He made no secret of the fact he’d love to be a Jayhawk.

“If they asked right now, I’d take the offer probably and commit right now,” Hawkins said with a laugh. “I think I owe AAU basketball a lot in that I’ve been seen by a lot of coaches and have found out I can play against the best in the country. I have learned a lot by going against the best guards in the country.”

Hawkins, Howard and Simien all play for the Kansas City 76ers AAU team, which last summer won the 16 and under AAU national title and last week wrapped up a sixth-place finish at 18-under nationals.

“Wayne is about the best big man I’ve seen all summer,” Hawkins said. “Jamar doesn’t even have to practice. He’s so athletic he just goes out there and takes over. It’d be a dream to play in college with Wayne and Jamar.”

Another Kansan shooting guard Jay Reid of Brewster made an unofficial recruiting trip to KU last year, his junior season.

Knight likes KU: Erroll Knight, a 6-6 shooting guard from Seattle, said Monday night his top three schools are Syracuse, Kansas and Washington.

Knight said he’ll visit all three schools this fall he’s yet to set a date for the KU visit then sign with a school in November.

“Location,” Knight said, asked what may wind up being a major factor in his decision. “Kansas and Syracuse are a long way from Washington. I have to visit the schools and decide which is the right place for me. I like the coaches at Kansas. They’re great. The program is great.”

KU’s interest in Knight is sincere.

“They said if I commit to them, they’ll commit to me,” Knight said.

Knight averaged 16 points, eight rebounds and three assists as a junior at Chief Stealth High in Seattle. He blossomed as a big-time recruit after the ABCD camp in Teaneck, N.J.

“That’s when Kansas started recruiting me,” he noted. “I was pretty surprised. I heard in April they were looking at me.”

He also has had Kentucky, Texas, UCLA, USC, UConn, Oregon and Oregon State on his list.

Aaron Miles, a 6-1, 165-pound senior point guard from Jefferson High in Portland, Ore., has eliminated Duke from his list of prospective colleges.

That leaves Miles with three finalists Kansas, Arizona and UCLA.

“I like the Pac-10, but Kansas is a very nice school too,” Miles told recruiting analyst Tracy Pierson of Pac West Hoops.

Miles says he’ll make an official visit to all three finalists then pick a school during the Nov. 8-15 signing period.

He’s decided to visit Arizona for Midnight Madness and has yet to finalize dates for trips to KU and UCLA.

Miles, who was slowed a bit by a strained left Achilles tendon, flourished during a busy summer AAU season.

Playing for the Portland Legends, he competed in Colorado Springs, Washington, D.C., Augusta, Ga., Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

“Yes, things have gone exactly the way I prayed they would,” Miles told Frank Burlison of Fox sports. He was referring to emerging as one of the top three point guards in the country.

KU is still in the running for point guard Cedric Bozeman, a tall 6-4 point guard from Santa Ana, Calif., who lists UCLA, Arizona, Kansas, Kentucky, Florida and Syracuse.

There’s been some talk that Bozeman, Miles, Josh Childress (shooting guard, Lakewood, Calif.) and Jamal Sampson (pivot, Santa Ana, Calif.) would like to attend the same college. Bozeman and Sampson, in fact, both play for Mater Dei High in Santa Ana.

David Lee, 6-9 from St. Louis, isn’t burned out on recruiting yet, but …

“Now the novelty of it has kind of worn off. And things are calming down now,” Lee told Fox’s Burlison.

Lee is hoping to trim his list in the near future. He’s still considering Duke, Florida, Missouri, KU, Illinois, Kentucky and North Carolina.

“I came home one day in late June, and there were 47 messages from college coaches over a six-hour period on my telephone voice mail,” Lee told Burlison.

There has been one time change on the 2000-01 Kansas men’s basketball schedule. Kansas’ first exhibition game on Nov. 1 against the California All-Stars has been changed from 8:05 p.m. to 7 p.m.

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