The jet setting continued for Kansas basketball coach Bill Self and his staff on Thursday. And it looks as if it will continue through the rest of the week.
After nearly going coast to coast — Las Vegas to New Jersey — earlier in the week, Self made the cross country trip worth it by sticking around the New England area to visit with a pair of Top 40 Class of 2017 guards.
According to Matt Scott, of TheShiver.com, Self was set to visit point guard Tremont Waters and shooting guard Hamidou Diallo on Thursday in Connecticut.
Waters, ranked No. 36 overall by Rivals.com, is a 5-foot-11, 160-pound, four-star point guard from Notre Dame Prep in West Haven, who impressed recruiting analysts this summer with his ability to add true point guard skills to his already polished scoring ability.
Waters, along with nearly a dozen others, is scheduled to visit Kansas for Late Night in the Phog on Oct. 1.
Diallo, from Putnam Science Academy, is a 6-4, 180-pound shooting guard, whom Scott said “might be the most explosive player in the class.” Not known as a terrific shooter, Diallo utilizes his size and explosiveness to get to the rim on offense and lock players up on defense.
Entering Thursday, Diallo had yet to set an official visit with Kansas.
Heading south
After taking care of business in New England, Self and company are slated for a couple of key visits in the southeast on Friday, both with Class of 2017 players.
According to Scott, KU will visit small forward Billy Preston at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia and follow that up with a trip to Orlando to check in on shooting guard Chaundee Brown.
Preston, 6-9, 220, ranked No. 8 in his class by Rivals.com, recently trimmed his list to five schools: Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, NC State and USC.
Brown, meanwhile, is down to Kansas, Wake Forest and Florida and also is fresh off of an official visit to KU’s campus a couple of weeks ago.
Brown recently cancelled visits to Maryland and Indiana and moved up his official campus visit to Wake Forest to the weekend of Sept. 30. Some believe the battle for Brown is a two-horse race between Kansas and Wake, which is coached by former KU great and Self assistant Danny Manning.
The distant future
Self’s recent travels, though primarily designed to check in with some of KU’s top targets in the 2017 class, also have included visits with players in the classes of 2018, 2019 and even 2020.
On Wednesday, Self watched 2019 point guard Grant Sherfield in Texas while also checking in with current 2017 commitment Marcus Garrett. Sherfield and Garrett both are planning unofficial visits to KU for Late Night.
While in The Lone Star State, Self and company also decided to check in on 2020 prospect Greg Brown, a 6-7 small forward from Austin.
On the way back to Lawrence, Scott said KU assistant Jerrance Howard was expected to stop in St. Louis for a visit with 2018 power forward Carte’Are Gordon, a 6-8, 240,-pound five-star prospect ranked No. 16 in the Rivals 150 for the Class of 2018.
