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Kansas Jayhawks Recruiting Rumors: Bill Self To Visit 5-Star Cheick Diallo

By Joel Wagler

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The season must be over. The Kansas Jayhawks recruiting rumors are heating up. Five-star recruit Cheick Diallo may be getting a visit from Kansas Jayhawks Head Coach Bill Self and assistant Norm Roberts, just days after Kansas lost to the Wichita State Shockers.

According to Andrew Slater of 247 Sports, via Twitter, the trip is set for Wednesday.

Jayhawk Slant also tweeted the same rumor on Tuesday.

ESPN has the 6-foot, 9-inch, 225 pounder ranked 11th on the Top 100 2015 Recruits. ESPN had this scouting report:

"Diallo has a terrific motor. He competes at a high level on both ends of the floor. He rebounds on both ends with two hands at rim level. He runs the floor with extra long strides where he finishes with power."

Evidently, Self and Kansas aren’t the only interested parties this week. According to Slater, Iowa State and St. John’s will also be checking on on Cheick Diallo.

The Kansas Jayhawks, at this moment, have two scholarships to hand out. Though they have no scholarship seniors on the roster, they have one left over from last season, and they lost Conner Frankamp (also to Wichita State) at semester. 

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One of those scholarships will go to 21st ranked recruit, Carlton Bragg. The power forward verbally committed to Kansas several weeks ago. Diallo could possibly take the other.

Of course, a couple of players on the Kansas roster have unclear futures with the Jayhawks. Cliff Alexander is under NCAA investigation, and Kelly Oubre Jr may be considering making himself eligible for the 2015 NBA Draft.

In November, Rob Harrington of Scout Hoops offered this evaluation of Cheick Diallo.

"He’s also tremendously quick and flexible. Forced to choose, I’d rate flexibility as his No. 1 athletic quality followed closely by his reflexes, then followed by speed and leaping ability.Diallo combines exceptional physical gifts for offensive rebounding with indefatigable stamina, making him a constant weapon cleaning up his teammates’ misses. He’s likely to loom as a threat in that capacity for the remainder of his career."

The Jayhawks lacked a consistent physical presence in the paint on both ends of the court this past season. Perry Ellis is a skilled offensive player, but he he seems to rely more on smooth fundamentals on the offense, and isn’t a physical defender.

Landen Lucas, Jamari Traylor, and Hunter Mickelson all offer some different positives for the Jayhawks, but none are really the total star package.

Cliff Alexander, who has quite a bit of unrealized upside, has a cloudy future and makes it necessary for Self to recruit more size inside.

If Oubre leaves, Self will also be on the look-out for an athletic wing player. In a perfect world, Oubre will return to school for a second season to improve on some things.

If Cheick Diallo decides join Carlton Bragg in Lawrence next season, the Jayhawks would have some incredible depth on the interior, no matter what happens with Alexander.

It would great for Bill Self to lock down another strong player during this Kansas Jayhawks recruiting push. Diallo and Bragg could be the foundation for a strong inside game next season. Teamed with the returning players like Perry Ellis, the Kansas Jayhawks will be well on the way toward building up their interior presence.

From Courtside Films on Youtube, enjoy these highlights of Cheick Diallo.

Next: What Now For The Jayhawks

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