“After this finals week I’ll have my degree,” said fifth-year senior forward Traylor, who along with Ben McLemore, could only practice one semester his freshman year before being deemed eligible to play in games in 2012-13.

“I’ve never had a graduation ceremony. This will be my first one in the spring,” added proud Liberal Arts and Sciences major Traylor, who attended three high schools — Fenger and Julian in Chicago and IMG Academy in Florida.

“I’ve got to talk to Dr. Scott (Ward, KU associate AD, academic and career counseling) about my classes (second semester), seeing what he thinks would be good (postgraduate) classes for me, because I’ve got my degree. I don’t really know what I want to do now, (but) I have my degree.”

KU coach Bill Self back in 2011 disagreed with the NCAA’s ruling on Traylor and McLemore as well as former KU signee Braeden Anderson, who was not cleared for admittance to KU in 2011 and now is playing basketball at Seton Hall, while in Law School.

“To think that he (Traylor) came in a situation where the NCAA obviously didn’t let him play because of a rule, and basically to see him stay after it and finish up I think speaks volumes of his character and his want-to. He’s a terrific kid, or young man,” Self said Thursday.

Traylor was homeless one school year in Chicago, living on the streets.

“There’s a lot of success stories, but the ones that you probably hold truest to your heart are the ones that the deck is stacked against them a little bit, and this deck was stacked against him,” Self said.

“You know, the first time that we saw Jamari was by accident. We go down to IMG to look at somebody else, and Kurtis (Townsend, KU assistant) says, ‘Hey, check him out, he looks pretty athletic,’ but he wasn’t a highly-recruited kid by any means.

“Texas Tech (recruited him) for a bit and there was a few other schools, but he really didn’t have much of a résumé because he really didn’t play in high school. I think he played one semester maybe or one year in high school because he was never really eligible because of his home situations with him being homeless for a while.

“Certainly that put him behind the 8-ball. But to see how he just kind of fought through it. He went down there and did everything he was asked to do to get eligible, and come to find out what he was asked to do did not meet NCAA qualifications, not because he got bad information, I just think the person that helped him had no idea that everything he did wouldn’t count (toward core courses) because they couldn’t give him those extra two semesters because he was homeless for a year, and I think everybody assumed that that would probably be the case.

“We lost the appeal for him to be eligible, and he’s hung in there, and he’s been great since. He’s not the most skilled player that we’ve ever had, and certainly not the biggest. He’s kind of at an in-between size, 6-7, and having to play against big guys, but he always gives us great effort, and he’s very, very bright, and he understands how to play, and other guys really enjoy playing with him, so he makes the game easier for others.”

On the court, Traylor takes a 4.0 scoring, 4.3 rebound average into Saturday’s 1 p.m., home game against Montana. He’s played two minutes in the last two games as he recovers from an ankle injury.

“I’m getting up and down the court better. I feel more active, being able to do the things I’m good at doing I guess,” Traylor said. “It’s never good to sit on the sidelines because I always want to get out there. As far as being physically ready, I feel it was good to get a little rest in, get better. I’m ready to get out there next game.”

Self is still looking for a forward to play the majority of minutes next to Perry Ellis. In the last game, Carlton Bragg was the only big man substitute the second half as KU erased an 11-point second half deficit to beat Oregon State, 82-67. Hunter Mickelson started that game next to Ellis.

“We always go at it in practice. Those guys were rolling in the game,” the 6-foot-8 Traylor said. “I just wanted to cheer ’em on. Coach always does stuff like that. When a group is on a run, he just leaves them in. They were making plays. We came back. I was on the sideline cheering for them. Everybody is competing to get playing time.”

Self thus is not sure of Traylor’s role in his final season at KU.

“He has to be a great leader to our younger guys, without question. He’s a better player than he was two years ago, but we also have more players in our program than we did a couple years ago when he was playing quite a bit of minutes off the bench. I think it still remains to be seen on a couple of the guys on what their role will be as the season moves forward. But certainly he’s been a great leader and a great mentor to those young kids. He pulls for them as hard as anybody does,” Self said.

Self is seeking more from the 6-foot-8 Ellis.

“Activity, going after the ball,” Self said of the Wichita native who averages 14.3 points and 5.9 boards. “He’s more than capable of playing at an All-American type level. If that’s too much pressure, then that’s too much pressure. That’s why he came back to school. So to downplay that we don’t want him to be that I don’t think is speaking truthfully at all because we want him to be that. We need him to be that.”

Pollard on TV: Former KU and NBA forward Scot Pollard will compete on the 32nd season of CBS’ reality-TV program Survivor. This edition is titled: “Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty.” According to SI.com, contestants will compete against each other based on “their intelligence, athleticism and attractiveness.” The 6-11 Pollard is on the ‘Brawn’ tribe. The show was filmed in Cambodia and will air on Feb. 17. Pollard has agreed to write about topics of interest periodically for the Journal-World with his first installment to appear later next week.