One of the benefits of signing a basketball letter of intent with Kansas is the Jayhawks play a lot of games on national TV.

So Moulaye Niang, KU’s incoming 6-foot-9, 210-pound center from Senegal via El Cajon Christian High School in California, had no problem keeping tabs on his future college team this past season.

Niang liked what he saw when watching the Jayhawks, who averaged 90.9 points per game and scored 100 or more points in 12 games.

“They get the ball inside to the big men. They run the floor,” said the svelte Niang, who averaged 16.2 points off 53 percent shooting and 9.8 rebounds for 20-9 Christian High.

“That is a big part of my game. I run all day long.”

Niang viewed all of KU’s NCAA Tournament games wins over Holy Cross, Stanford, Illinois and Oregon and a Final Four loss to Maryland.

“They played well. I like the way they played,” Niang said. “I especially like (Nick) Collison, (Aaron) Miles, (Wayne) Simien, (Drew) Gooden … wait, I like (Jeff) Boschee shooting the three. Just say I liked the whole team. They were really fun to watch.”

As far as Niang’s game … the first-team all county selection showed a nice touch both inside off a jump hook and outside off a conventional jumper.

“Moulaye didn’t shoot a lot of threes, but shot and made a significant number of shots from 15 or so feet,” Christian High coach Curtis Hofmeister said.

“He’s still ahead defensively of where he is offensively. He is improving offensively, but has a lot of work to do before he is a Final Four-type player. He’s a terrific defensive player. He must improve his strength. He is competitive and quick enough, one of the quickest kids in the country at his size.”

Niang he’s played basketball for eight years realizes he’s come a long way yet still has a way to go.

“I think I played better than last year,” he said. “I am a little bit stronger and more patient. We played against really good teams and that has helped me a lot. I still need to get bigger. Right now I’m working on my body. I have worked with a personal trainer for two weeks and have put on five pounds.

“I have not talked with coach (Roy Williams) yet, but I am really thinking about red-shirting to get used to the program and get my body where it needs to be. I think that would be good for me and would make me a better player for the next (four) years.”

Niang said this past season was frustrating at times because everybody in the San Diego area knew he’d signed with national power Kansas.

“I didn’t get any calls,” he said of officiating. “The referees maybe knowing I was going to Kansas, they made it tough for me. One game they kept fouling me and no calls. I said, ‘What’s going on here?’ The official said, ‘We’ve got to get you ready for Kansas.’ I said, ‘Excuse me?’ He said, ‘We’ve got to keep it tough for you.’ I said, ‘Call the fouls. I have a coach getting me ready for Kansas, not you guys.’

“I only fouled out twice.”

He also did well in the classroom. Niang, who will major in business, had a near-perfect 3.92 grade point average and was named captain of the San Diego Union-Tribune’s all-academic team.

“The coaches and teachers told me, ‘If you do your homework here (in U.S.) you will at least get a B,'” Niang said. “I kept doing my homework every night. When you do homework and well on tests, you can always get a low A or at least a B,” he said.

Niang said he will take advantage of a second-year NCAA rule that lets incoming freshmen attend summer school. So he’ll take a class or two at KU, then take a trip back to his home country of Senegal.

“I have not seen my mother in two years,” Niang said. “I want to go back home for a month.”

Go home? What if he likes it back in Senegal and can’t find his way back?

“It’s just a visit. Of course I will come back. I just want to see my mom,” he said with a laugh.

Of his easy-going personality, Niang said: “It’s the way I’ve been educated. I got that from my parents. I don’t ever want to hurt people’s feelings. But on the court it’s business. You handle your business. I handle mine. The toughest will win on the court.”

Hofmeister said he’ll never forget working with a player like Niang.

“He’s a great kid who does work very hard,” he said. “He’ll probably put on 10 to 15 pounds between now and when he gets to Kansas. I think he has a chance to be very good. I don’t want to put any pressure on him.

“Some people look at Moulaye non-basketball players and say, ‘He’s so big, why didn’t he score 30 a game?’ He’s just not there yet. With the work ethic and athleticism he has, surround him with good players he will get there.”

Recruiting update: KU signee Jeff Graves, a 6-9, 260-pounder from Iowa Western Community College, averaged 16.6 points and 8.2 boards a game his sophomore season. He hit an uncanny 66 percent of his shots, bouncing back from arthroscopic knee surgery that shelved him for seven games at the start of the season.

“Because of the injury, Jeff put a lot of weight back on,” Iowa Western coach Jim Morris told Russ Blake of rivalshoops.com. “He is going to have to shed that weight in order to be effective at Kansas next year. He has excellent touch, great hands and seals well on the boards.”

Meanwhile, Coffeyville Community College recruit Devin Smith tells analyst Shay Wildeboor of rivalshoops.com he’ll be making his official KU visit to coincide with next weekend’s Jayhawk Invitational AAU Tournament. He’ll also visit Illinois, Iowa and Virginia.