KU Basketball Recruiting: Jayhawks Make Two Offers for 2017-18 Season
KU basketball recruiting efforts never wane. Bill Self is not only trying to fill openings for next year, but he is looking ahead to 2017-2018.
The Kansas basketball coaching staff has been racking up their airline points as of lately scouting players as of lately. Two players were offered scholarships – Kevin Knox, a five-star out of Tampa, Florida, and Deng Gak, a four-star from Blairstow, New Jersey. Assistant coaches Norm Roberts and Jerrance Howard were responsible for the offers, according to The Shiver.
Kevin Knox is a 6’8 small forward out of Tampa Catholic High School with physique much like NBA star Kevin Durant in my opinion. Knox’s recruitment is still on the rise still getting big time offers from school, like Kansas. Jonathan Givony of
Knox’s recruitment is still on the rise still getting big time offers from school, like Kansas. Jonathan Givony of Draft Express says that he moves laterally very quickly up and down the court with a huge motor.
He for sure has not grown to his full potential in his high school career only being a junior as his ceiling is so high. So far Knox has been heavily recruited by Duke, North Carolina, and Florida State, visiting Duke and UNC this past weekend.
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Draft Express offers this early scouting report on Knox from last fall:
"Strengths-One of the best defenders at this camp. Guarded every position on the floor over the course of the weekend, and generally shut down whoever he was matched up with-Has tremendous footwork and lateral quickness. Plays with an extremely high motor. Takes a huge amount of pride in his ability on the defensive end-Career 2 steals and 1.5 blocks per-40 at the EYBL and U16 FIBA Americas level.-Very aggressive looking for scoring opportunities.-Displays some nice passing ability at times-Jump-shot isn’t broke. Should be able to develop into a decent shooter in time-Has huge feet, which indicates he may not be done growing yet, especially when considering he’s only 16 years old.Weaknesses-Undersized for a power forward, the position he looks best suited for offensively at the moment, standing somewhere between 6’7 and 6’8. Does not have great length to compensate for that-Offensive skill-level is a work in progress. Takes a lot of outside shots, but did not find very much success with it at this camp.-Ball-handling skills are rudimentary"
His crystal ball on 247 sports has Florida State as the leader at 62%, where his father played football. It is still way too soon to even give a prediction on where he could commit with schools coming in and offering very soon.
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His teammate Thomas Dziagwa is committed to Oklahoma State so there could be a familiar matchup if he were to play for the Jayhawks come 2018. In the top ten list of recruits in 2017, Knox is not the best but he by far has the most room to grow and develop into something special his senior year in high school.
The other highly ranked recruit KU offered this past week was 7’0 center Deng Gak. Gak was a native of Australia before he came to the states to play for Blair Academy in New Jersey.
Gak is ranked 84th overall on 247 sports as he does not have any crystal ball picks so far. He has offers from Kansas, Minnesota, Rutgers, Seton Hall, and SMU.
Gak is not so much known for his high school or soon to be college talent, but for the impact he could make in the NBA. Draft express says he is an excellent offensive player and has an excellent frame that could fill out over time.
ESPN has this to say about Deng Gak:
"Gak is loaded with upside and natural talent. He’s athletic and agile for his size, quick off his feet and able to cover the court effortlessly. He has excellent size for the four-spot, runs the floor well and has very large hands."
Givony said, “he has made major strides from last year”, which will most likely happen every year. Gak, like Knox, has not reached his full ceiling yet and will have many more big time offers coming in his recruitment soon.
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Bill Self and the Kansas coaching staff have done very well with trying to improve their future program in the 2017 class as of lately. KU basketball recruiting never ends as the Jayhawks contineue to add to the consecutive titles’ streak.
If they can add land Kevin Knox or Deng Gak, it will be big for the future of the Kansas basketball program.