Prep analyst sold on three Jayhawk recruits

By Gary Bedore     Nov 14, 2003

Kansas University’s three men’s basketball signees have college — not the NBA — on their minds.

“KU isn’t in danger of losing anybody,” said rivals.com and Sporting News recruiting analyst Mike Sullivan, who believes Alexander “Sasha” Kaun, Russell Robinson and Darnell Jackson, who signed national letters of intent Wednesday with KU, will stay in school a minimum of three years. “Some schools, like North Carolina, Indiana, Texas, Louisville … they all could lose some kids.”

Several prep players reportedly are pondering an immediate jump to the pros, including North Carolina signee Marvin Williams, Texas signee LaMarcus Aldridge, Indiana signee Josh Smith and Louisville signee Sebastian Telfair.

“Obviously, some of those classes won’t be as good if they lose a player,” said Sullivan, who believes KU could have a top-three recruiting class.

As of today, USA Today ranks Texas’ class No. 1, followed by Indiana, Louisville, North Carolina, Arkansas, Duke, UConn, Memphis, KU and UCLA.

Sullivan believes KU’s crop is better than that.

“Kaun someday will play in the NBA. He has great skills,” Sullivan said of the 6-foot-11, 250-pounder from Russia. “I’ve always liked Darnell Jackson (6-8, 240, Midwest City, Okla.). He is a big tough kid, a wide body who moves well. He’ll get better and better.

“In Russell Robinson,” Sullivan said of the 6-1, 180-pound shooting sensation from New York, “Kansas gets an in-your-face guard they’ve desperately wanted for several years, but they have only been able to do it when Bill Self and Norm Roberts got on board.”

KU coach Self and associate head coach Roberts decided to expand KU’s recruiting horizon to New York — a city former coach Roy Williams conceded to schools in the ACC and Big East.

“It could be a difference in philosophy,” Sullivan said. “Maybe coach Williams felt he had no assistants with East-Coast ties. Coach Self has Norm Roberts, who is known and respected by everybody on the East Coast.”

Roberts, who was born and raised in Queens, N.Y., said there was no reason for KU to concede players from the East.

“There’s a lot of talent there,” Roberts said. “It could be a tough place to recruit, but I think Chicago is a tough place to recruit; L.A. is a tough place to recruit. Any inner city will be a tough place to recruit. They all have universities around them.

“In New York, the big university is St. John’s,” Roberts said. “But after that, it’s a lot smaller. Even if a kid picks Villanova, he’ll be two hours from home. If he picks UConn, he’s still an hour and 50 minutes away. He’ll be away from home no matter what.”

Roberts said a key was discovering early whether a high schooler was serious about leaving the New York area.

“You’ll know it early in the process after speaking with parents and kids, after getting a feel for what they are looking for, what is important to them,” Roberts said.

“A lot of times, city kids do want to get away. They grow up in the city all their lives and want to leave. With Russell, just looking at some of the schools he was considering — Kentucky and Georgia Tech — you knew he was open to the possibility of leaving New York.”

It helps to have a recruiter like Roberts, who coached four years at Queens College.

“You need to have contacts to get in the door and have people feel comfortable with you. That’s anywhere, but especially in New York,” Roberts said. “I enjoy recruiting back there. I see a lot of people I know when I go back. I also think New York players have an attitude about them, a toughness about them. Russell will bring some of that here.”

KU coach Self credits Roberts for landing Robinson.

“Coach Roberts did a phenomenal job with Russell’s recruitment,” Self said. “I think Kansas the name allows you to get with most of the high-profile guys regardless of where they are from. You still have to get them out of their respective areas, wherever they are from.

“Kansas has done a good job in the past recruiting the guys other people want. We will continue to try to do so.”

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