Ever wonder what happens on a men’s basketball recruiting visit to Kansas?
Well, last Friday and Saturday. …
High school basketball players Alan Anderson of Minneapolis and Wayne Simien of Leavenworth toured KU’s campus, played pick-up basketball at Allen Fieldhouse and attended KU’s football game with Alabama-Birmingham.
They topped it all off with Sunday breakfast at the home of Jayhawk coach Roy Williams and his wife, Wanda.
Incidentally, both Simien and Anderson rate Wanda Williams’ breakfast the highlight of their official visit to KU.
“Belgian waffles, bacon, eggs, anything we wanted to eat she made it for us to eat,” the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Anderson said Sunday night. “Man … it was good,” added Anderson, who did not commit to Kansas on his visit. He still has KU, Minnesota and Michigan State on his list.
“Mrs. Williams can cook. Waffles, ham and eggs, bacon. Going over there for breakfast has made my decision more firm,” joked the 6-foot-8, 245-pound Simien, who last April verbally committed to KU.
“We played some pool. Coach Williams beat Jerod Haase, C.B. (McGrath), Alan he beat everybody,” Simien added.
Anderson admits KU’s coach beat him in pool.
“He was good but I could have taken him. He wanted to play 9-ball. You have to hit them in order. He won by one or two balls. He got lucky,” Anderson said with a laugh.
As far as the pick-up basketball, Anderson and Simien held their own.
“(Jeff) Boschee was the toughest to guard. He’s fast and shoots it quick,” Anderson said of KU’s junior guard. “They are good players. I like them all a lot.”
Simien has played pick-up basketball with the Jayhawks before. This time, however, had a new twist.
“One thing I enjoyed is Danny Manning picked me to be on his team,” Simien said of the ex-Jayhawk. “He was out there coaching, doing some Xs and Os.”
Simien, by the way, was 5-years-old when Manning led the Jayhawks to the 1988 national title.
“We also got to hear Darnell Valentine speak,” Simien said of the ex-Jayhawk guard, now an official with the NBA Players Assn. “He played for coach Norwood (Lafayette, former Wichita Heights coach) who was my AAU coach. Every example coach Norwood would give, he’d mention Darnell Valentine. It was a pleasure to get to meet him and play in a game with him.”
Anderson is slated to visit Minnesota Sept. 29 and Michigan State sometime in October. He said MSU and KU “both lead Minnesota.”
Jamal Sampson, 6-10 from Santa Ana, Calif., made an official visit to UConn last weekend. He told Mike Sullivan of Insider’s Report he’s also planning visits to St. Louis (Sept. 30), California (Oct. 6), Kansas (Oct. 13) and UCLA (Oct. 21).
Sampson told Connecticut media Cal has entered the picture because his Mater Dei High teammate, Ricky Porter, is headed there.
