Future Kansas University basketball center Cole Aldrich will compete in the Boost Mobile Elite 24 Hoops Classic at 7 p.m. on Sept. 1 at New York’s Rucker Park.
The 6-foot-11 Aldrich is one of 24 players selected for the game, a regional matchup of East versus West. O.J. Mayo (Ohio), Kevin Love (Oregon) and Lance Stevenson (New York) also have accepted invitations. No complete list of participants has been released.
“Never before have the premier high schoolers regardless of class from across the nation all been involved in one elite showcase,” said Kris Stone, associate publisher of RISE Magazine. “Bringing them all together on the storied Rucker Court, we hope to make the Boost Mobile Elite 24 an annual must-see event for many years to come.”
Aldrich, a senior at Jefferson High in Bloomington, Minn., has committed orally to KU. He will make his official campus visit for the Oct. 13 Late Night in the Phog and will sign a letter of intent in November.
¢ More on Singler: Kyle Singler, a 6-8 senior from South Medford (Ore.) High, tells Rivals.com his visit to Arizona will be the second week of September, with a visit to Duke the end of September.
“I believe my visit to Kansas is going to happen during the weekend of Late Night,” Singler said. “I don’t know if both of my parents will make the trip to Kansas, but one of them will be going on the visit with me.”
He is also considering UCLA and Washington, but will not make official visits to those schools.
¢ Gordon still Illini-bound?: The recruiting saga of Indianapolis prep forward Eric Gordon continues.
Gordon is a 6-3 senior guard from North Central High who committed to the University of Illinois in December, but is still being recruited by Indiana. Gordon was on Indiana’s campus last weekend to watch IU’s “elite camp.”
Gordon’s dad told the Indianapolis Star it was not an an official or even an unofficial visit to IU.
“We went down there to watch, and we were in the gym watching the camp for about an hour and a half,” Gordon, Sr., told the Indianapolis Star. “He’s been on campus several times. He has friends there. He talked to everybody, but it’s no different than what’s happened over the past three or four months.”
Gordon told the Indy paper he’s still bound for Illinois, but one can bet U of I coaches and fans probably won’t rest on this recruiting battle until the week-long signing period in November.
¢ Kaun back from Russia: Sasha Kaun is back in the United States and will be on campus in a day or so. Kaun, KU’s 6-11 center from Tomsk, Russia, returned to Russia in June to visit relatives and also update his passport.
“There were no problems,” KU coach Bill Self said. “It went as we thought it would go, we just couldn’t expedite it as quickly as we thought we could (delaying his return). He got everything taken care of and was able to visit his relatives.”
¢ Jankovich mentioned: KU assistant coach Tim Jankovich’s name surfaced in the El Paso Times on Wednesday as a possible candidate for the UTEP head coaching opening.
“UTEP had good luck picking from Bill Self’s staff, getting one of the college-coaching fraternity’s rising stars in Billy Gillispie. Tim Jankovich is a highly regarded assistant under Self at Kansas,” wrote the El Paso Times.
Others mentioned: current UTEP assistants Randall Dickey and Tony Benford, LSU assistant Butch Pierre, Oral Roberts head coach Scott Sutton, Sam Houston State coach Bob Marlin and former Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson.
