Kansas University is off to a quick start in men’s basketball recruiting for the 2002-03 school year.

The Jayhawks, who will have five scholarships available next year, on Friday gained a nonbinding oral commitment from Jeremy Case, a 6-foot-1, 160-pound junior shooting guard from McAlester High in Oklahoma.

Case, a three-year starter and McAlester High’s all-time leading scorer, averaged 26.0 points a game this past season after logging 22.4 points per game as a sophomore.

He hit 58 percent of his shots, 84 percent of his free throws and 45 percent of his three-pointers for McAlester High which went 22-5, but lost in the semifinals of Oklahoma’s Class 5A state tournament.

“I like everything about it,” Case said of Kansas, a school he visited for the first time just two weeks ago. “I know how good Kansas is and how good a coach (KU) coach (Roy) Williams is.

“I look forward to coming there and playing for a championship.”

Case, it seems, likes everything about his future school.

“I was impressed at the coaches, the players, just how nice they were. They were real cool. They took me in and welcomed me in. I fell in love with it on my visit,” he said.

“Getting to know all the guys and coach Williams was probably the highlight (of the visit). They are all nice guys and I get along with them well. My parents aren’t too far away. I like Kansas a lot.”

Case his dad, Win, played basketball at Oklahoma State and is head coach at Oklahoma City University and mother, Rita Kemp, played basketball at Seminole (Okla.) Junior College put an end to the recruiting process before it had a chance to heat up.

“I think Jeremy realized he will not get much better than that. He’s had a goal since he was young to play Div. I basketball. These doors opened so there’s no point of waiting,” Kemp said of the early commitment.

“After our visit to Kansas we visited with OU and shortly thereafter he decided KU was the place for him. I think this is so exciting,” she added. “I think it’s the best decision Jeremy could have made.”

Case, who received mail from 28 schools, has heard the most from KU, Oklahoma, Southern California, Texas Tech, Kansas State and OSU.

“Coach (Kelvin) Sampson came down a couple days ago and presented OU’s side,” Win Case said of the Sooners. “He did a really good job. It was a tough decision, but Jeremy and his mom were both so impressed with coach Williams. When Jeremy came back from his visit to KU, I could see in his eyes he wanted to be a Jayhawk.”

The Jayhawks will benefit from Case’s scoring ability, his prep coach said.

“Offensively he does it all,” McAlester High coach Jimmy Williams said. “He is great off the dribble, a good jump-shooter off the dribble. You guard him or he shoots in the three. I know this sounds like the typical high school coach talking about his player but he has no weaknesses.

“He’s the hardest worker on our team. He has an unbelievable attitude. He is prepared, focused,” Williams added.

Case projects as a combo guard in college.

“Most of my shots are three-pointers,” Case explained. “I’d say I can do both, take it to the hole and pull up and also go around screens.”

His coach agrees.

“I project he’ll play some point,” Jimmy Williams said. “It’ll be a natural position for him. He plays the point for his AAU team. We put him on the wing here. We need his scoring. He definitely can get it in the hole.”

Former KU assistant coach Neil Dougherty watched Case score 39 points at the Norman (Okla.) Invitational last winter. KU coach Roy Williams viewed a 25-point effort at Durant (Okla.) High, then returned to see Case hit for 27 points in a first-round state playoff win over Oklahoma City Grant.

Sold, Williams invited Case for a campus visit and offered the player a scholarship on the trip.

“It was more than what I expected,” said Kemp, who also made the trip to KU. “I’d never been on a recruiting trip. We were just awed, tremendously awed at how family oriented coach Williams’ program appeared. It was all about Jeremy (on the visit), not just the player but the person. They hit all corners there were to hit.

“We were impressed with the close family ties that seemed to be there at KU. We are very family oriented here and feel this is like going from one family to another.”

Case’s commitment reminds some experts of Wayne Simien’s early commitment to KU two springs ago. Simien gave up recruiting trips during his senior year at Leavenworth High to gobble up an early offer and get KU off to a strong start in recruiting in a year the Jayhawks corralled five recruits Simien, Aaron Miles, Michael Lee, Keith Langford and Jeff Hawkins.

KU has four more scholarships to give in Case’s recruiting class.

“He wanted the pressure taken off him to concentrate on school and basketball,” McAlester coach Williams said. “He looked at it that Kansas is one of the top programs in the country and it is the place he wants to be.”

Added Case, “I wanted to get it off my shoulders and not worry this summer who was in the stands watching me play. I was honored a school like Kansas wanted me and it’s one of the top places in the country to go to school and play basketball.”

As a junior, Case is not eligible to sign his national letter-of-intent until next November.