Late Night’s lack of official visitors by design, Kansas coach Bill Self says

By Matt Tait     Oct 17, 2022

Nick Krug
Kansas head coach Bill Self pumps up the fans during Late Night in the Phog on Friday, Oct. 14, 2022 at Allen Fieldhouse.

This year’s Late Night in the Phog was missing one of the things that has been pretty prominent at Late Nights in the past — high-profile recruits on official visits.

KU welcomed just a handful of unofficial visitors on Friday night for the season tipoff event — nearly all of them underclassmen — and had no official visitors in the building.

Four-star point guard Elmarko Jackson, who last Thursday night became the third player in the 2023 recruiting class to commit to KU, was in town to take in Late Night with his mother, Ellen.

But there were no undecided five-star big name players like in the past. And Kansas coach Bill Self said after the event that that was by design.

“The reason why we didn’t have (official visitors) here is because we’ve just basically got our guys committed,” Self said Friday. “We made a conscious effort this year to bring in the ones that we really wanted early and not wait for this because there’s no guarantee they’ll last.”

Self is not allowed to talk about specific prospects or their commitments until they officially sign with the Jayhawks. Jackson, along with four-star wing Chris Johnson and four-star shooting guard Jamari McDowell, are all expected to sign next month during the early signing period.

It remains to be seen how many more players KU will add in the 2023 class, but a lot of the answer likely has to do with what happens after the season with early departures or possible transfers.

The unknown around that merely added to the reason for KU not feeling like it needed to bring any official visitors to town for Late Night, and Self believes it will likely stay that way in future classes.

“I think that’s something we’ll probably do moving forward,” he said. “Even though Late Night’s great, Late Night may be a better deal for young kids than it is for veterans. If we move the date back like this, we’ll have unofficials in and no officials.”

According to Jacob Polacheck, of Zagsblog.com, the following underclassmen were expected to attend Late Night:

• 7-2 center John Bol of Sunrise Christian (Class of 2024, 5 stars)

• 5-10 guard Mikel Brown Jr. of Sunrise Christian (2025, 5 stars)

• 6-1 guard David Castillo of Bartlesville, Oklahoma (2024, 4 stars)

• 6-10 center Francis Chukwudebelu of Plan, Texas (2025, 5 stars)

• 7-foot center Thokbor David Athorbei of Nairobi (2025)

• 6-5 guard BJ Davis-Ray of Dallas (2025, 4 stars)

• 6-4 guard Nate Guerengomba of Link Academy (2025)

• 6-5 guard Chuck Love Jr. of Lincon, Nebraska (2025)

• 7-foot center JT Rock of Sioux Falls, South Dakota (2024, 4 stars)

• 6-foot guard Avian Webb of North Kansas City High (2025)

• 6-4 guard Carlsheon Young of Newcastle, Oklahoma (2025)

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.