The times are changing in men’s college basketball recruiting.

In response to an era in which NBA teams are more than ever raiding colleges’ top players after one, two or three years and swiping signees right out of high school, proactive college coaches have incorporated new policies concerning player personnel.

First-year Kansas University coach Bill Self said he, in theory, would not be against “oversigning” — accumulating more than the 14 allotted scholarship players — if he was positive one or more of his underclassmen would be turning pro after the season.

“It would be something we’d think about if we were in danger of losing somebody,” Self said, speaking in generalities, not about this season. “It might not look as appropriate (at the time of oversigning), but times have changed so much.

“With scholarship limitations the way they are, the pool of players available late is not very large. You may need to cover yourself for the best interest of the program. If I was very confident somebody would be leaving, I could see that (oversigning).”

He also would consider signing a high school phenom even if Self thought the player might stay in college just one school year.

In the past, it was considered questionable to bring in players who had no intention of achieving a college degree. Today, Self and other coaches consider recruiting players like Charlie Villanueva, the forward from Brooklyn, N.Y., who chose Connecticut over Kansas in recruiting last spring — never hiding the fact he’s headed to the NBA as soon as possible.

“If you went out and had the top 20 high school players in America and polled them and asked them, ‘If you are going to be a lottery pick would you go (pro)?’ What number of the 20 would you think would say, ‘Yes?’ It would be a high number,” Self said.

“So you recruit the best players possible because it can always change. When (Drew) Gooden, (Nick) Collison and (Kirk) Hinrich came here were they all lottery picks?”

No indeed. Those three players were not sure NBA bets coming out of high school and all landed in the lottery, Gooden after three years, Collison and Hinrich after four.

“Other kids you project as lottery picks or first-rounders … they stay all four years,” Self said. “You recruit the best players. I mean, we could recruit a freshman who is not on anybody’s radar screen, then 12 months later people could be saying, ‘Will he stay or go?’

“Look at Ike Diogu of Arizona State. He’s not a McDonald’s All American (in high school), but is a first-team All-American (as freshman). You get the best guys possible because it can always change.”

Lots of names on KU list

Self appears to be off to a strong start in recruiting several players — none of whom appear to have early entry to the NBA on their minds.

KU this summer received a verbal commitment from Darnell Jackson, a still developing 6-foot-9, 236-pound power forward from Midwest City, Okla.

The Jayhawks have set up official campus visits so far with seven players, giving KU several candidates to fill the last two recruiting spots in the class of 2004.

Those players committed to visiting are:

• Alexander Kaun, 6-11, from Melbourne, Fla., and A.J. Price, 6-0 from Amityville, N.Y., who will visit for the UNLV football game the weekend of Sept. 5-6.
• Quentin Thomas, 6-4, from Oakland, Calif.; Chester Giles, 6-10 from Seattle; and Russell Robinson, 6-1 from New York, who will visit on Missouri football weekend Sept. 26-27.
• Shane Foster, 6-6, from Kenner, La., and Al Horford, 6-8 from Grand Ledge, Mich., who will visit Oct. 17-18 for Late Night With Bill Self.

Other players considering KU include Malik Hairston, 6-6, Detroit; A.J. Ratliff, 6-2, Indianapolis; Kyle Lowry, 5-11, Philadelphia among others.

To land so many campus visits in itself is a moral victory for Self and his assistants, who made up a lot of ground against other schools during the 20-day July recruiting period in which coaches hit the road to assess prospects.

Of the above mentioned players, only Giles, Jackson and Thomas had KU on their radar screens before Self took over as Jayhawk coach.

“Our staff did a great job being visible this summer, which is important,” said Self, who cannot comment on specific recruits in accordance with NCAA rules. “We will be (visible) all the time. We’ll be out there the maximum number of days.”

Hard work on summer trail

This summer, KU assistants Norm Roberts, Tim Jankovich and Ben Miller joined Self on the recruiting trail with Joe Dooley a late hire.

Recruiting will be in Dooley’s job description in the future with Miller assuming the role of director of basketball operations.

Roberts and Jankovich said they had no problem shifting gears recruiting last year for Illinois; this year for KU.

“I think we’ve been received very well, people knowing us through Illinois and Tulsa,” Roberts said. “I think we got a lot accomplished. We wanted to get out there, hit it hard and be visible, be around and be seen. That happened.”

The coaches weren’t able to talk with recruits, their parents or coaches at Nike and adidas camps, the Las Vegas Big Time Tournament and other venues because it was only an evaluation period in recruiting.

But they have been able to talk with recruits at various junctures in the recruiting calendar.

“I thought we were very well-received as we hoped at the beginning of the summer,” Jankovich said. “We found ourselves way behind in a lot of situations. When you recruit at this level, starting to recruit guys in April is six, seven, eight months later than some others.

“We made up a lot of ground (evidenced) by the fact we are making it down to two, three, four five schools (on prospects’ lists). We feel good about people we are on. Time will tell.”

It seems there is no substitute for hard work in recruiting.

“We think there is only one way to do it — put in 15-, 16-hour days, getting on the phones with coaches and players, those things,” Roberts said. “That’s the only way to do it.”

Miller, who was part of Roy Williams’ staff and now Self’s, agreed.

“I think the new staff worked extremely hard,” Miller said. “Coach Self and the other guys made up a lot of ground quickly. … They worked extremely hard and are continuing to do so every day.”

Frequent Flier Miles

The July evaluation period required KU’s coaches to be seemingly all over the map in a 20-day span. Tourneys were held in Nevada, California, New Jersey, Florida, New York and other spots in between.

“All over the place is a little too strong,” Jankovich said of his travels, “but it was very busy, very hectic.

“I don’t personally think the hardest part is flying or travel. The grueling part is being in the gym at 8:30 in the morning and leaving at 11:30 at night. You do that 18 to 20 days you are putting a person to the test. It’s a little bit of an endurance contest. … The last four to five days you see a lot of glazed-over coaches walking through the airport.”

Roberts said the July evaluation period was a grueling month, but exciting, too.

“When you first go out, you are excited. Reading the Internet is what gets you charged up. They (analysts) tell you who is getting better and better and you get excited seeing players for yourself. Some you have seen the year before and now you get to see them play.

“Five to six days in you start to say, ‘Everything is starting to look the same.’ You’ve seen a kid play 10 times. I like the fact after 10 days they give you a break (three-day weekend break in mid-July before the final 10 days of contact period). You get to re-evaluate, see who moved up or down on the radar, where to point the emphasis to. Then you go out the second 10 days.”

Once the July recruiting period ended, KU’s coaches began to set up in-home visits and campus visits. Now it’ll be a matter of bringing several players in until KU lands its final two commitments.

So how will KU fare? Self will land Jackson, but who else?

“On paper if you get a big guy and great perimeter player it’d be the direction you’d go,” Self said. “Nothing is making us go that way for sure, but on paper it’d be what you’d think we’d do.”

“KU has been well-represented. We are involved with a lot of good players and hopefully will get guys we need to get,” Roberts said.

“Recruiting is an inexact science,” Self declared. “You never really know.”

Nothing’s certain until the players verbally commit and sign on the dotted line during the weeklong signing periods in November and April.