Kansas Basketball: Recruit Silvio De Sousa might help Jayhawks this year

There might be some help on the way for the Kansas basketball team. High school senior Silvio De Sousa may try to join the Jayhawks for the second semester.

The Kansas basketball team has just eight scholarship players available for the next few weeks, with a ninth becoming eligible once finals for this semester are over. Only three of these players are big men.

Silvio De Sousa, currently a high school senior, is looking to re-classify so he can join the Kansas Jayhawks for the second semester, according to Matt Galloway of the Topeka Capital-Journal.

De Sousa is currently ranked as the 28th best prospect in the country for the 2018-19 class in the ESPN Top 100. They have him listed as the 10th best power forward in the recruiting class. He verbally committed to Kansas in August.

According to the Topeka Capital-Journal, there is a process here, and De Sousa has some important steps to go yet.

"The No. 25-ranked prospect at Rivals.com, De Sousa faces at least two hurdles he must clear before becoming eligible to play college basketball in 2017-18.First he must perform well on a standardized test he is scheduled to take Saturday.Then, the Angola native must receive NCAA approval for core credit coursework completed back home."

Even if he is cleared to play, and the Jayhawks have a need along the front line, it is no guarantee he can contribute much this season.

He will be months behind in learning the system, and will not have participated in the strengthening program.

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Last season, Hamidou Diallo did this same thing, re-classified and joined the Kentucky Wildcats for the second semester.

Despite his five-star talent, Diallo never saw the court for Kentucky last year. It is hard to start that far behind and make much of an impact. Diallo ended up returning to play for the Wildcats this season.

If De Sousa is cleared to join the Jayhawks this season, and he is too far behind to see much playing time, he can be a big help as a body in practice.

According to KUSports.com, head coach Bill Self isn’t looking to add more walk-ons but hinted he could use another big man in practices.

"“You’d rather have some big bodies in practice. There’s no question about that. But I’m not going to take a guy just to take a guy. But if there’s somebody that falls in our lap, whether it be from the walk-on tryouts that we just had or if somebody were to get hurt, we’ve got guys that we could call. But I’m not interested in doing that. … We don’t need another guard. He’d have to be another big guy.”"

With only Udoka Azubuike, Billy Preston, and Mitch Lightfoot as the only big men eligible to play, having another big body available in emergencies would be good insurance. Joining the team early would give De Sousa a leg up going into next season if he chose to return.

This sort of thing is more common in football when recruits will join a school after their seasons are over by re-classifying. This helps them get into the system quicker, allows them to participate in spring practices, and gets them going on their strength and conditioning program sooner.

It is much rarer in basketball, but if De Sousa has success, it might become more common in the future.

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Hopefully, this matter will be decided in the next few weeks. There would be an advantage for Silvio De Sousa to join the Kansas basketball team this year, but it is more likely to show up next season than this one.

On Friday, the Kansas Jayhawks start their season with a home game against the Tennessee State Tigers.

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