New Kansas University men’s basketball coach Bill Self plans to cover — and make up — a lot of ground during the July high-school recruiting evaluation period.

“The camps are important,” Self said of national camps such as this week’s Nike and ABCD basketball camps, which coaches are allowed to scout as part of the 18-day summer evaluation period.

“We are in a situation we are behind in recruiting because of the timing of the situation. We’ve been recruiting potential student-athletes to Kansas for two months now. Other guys have been recruiting them for 18 months or 24 months. We’re a little behind, but we’re catching up. We are working at it. We need this to be a big July for us.”

Self, the former University of Illinois coach who took over at Kansas in late April, and his assistants will be living out of their suitcases pretty much the rest of this month, visiting the Nike camp in Indianapolis, ABCD camp in Teaneck, N.J., Big Time Tournament (July 22-26 in Las Vegas), the Peach Jam (July 12-17 in North Augusta, S.C.) and AAU nationals (July 25-31 in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.).

There also are showcase events in Kentucky, Texas, Pennsylvania, Mississippi and other states available for assessing talent during the NCAA-mandated evaluation periods, July 8-17 and 22-31.

Self and his assistants will be looking at seniors-to-be and some underclassmen during summer events. KU has three scholarships to give next school year.

The Jayhawks, Self said, are interested in perhaps picking up a point guard, a wing player who can shoot and a big man.

Self does not have to play catch-up in the pursuit of one blue-chip big man.

Kalen Grimes, a 6-foot-9, 260-pound forward from Florissant, Mo., has said for several weeks that KU leads Missouri and Illinois, though Grimes, who is in Indianapolis for Nike camp, plans to visit all three schools before announcing a decision.

There are several guards on KU’s radar screen, all pursued by other schools for quite some time.

• A.J. Price, 6-1 from Amityville, N.Y., who is attending Nike camp, has a list of KU, Syracuse, UConn, St. John’s and Kentucky.
• Russell Robinson, 6-2 from New York City, lists UConn, Georgia Tech, KU, St. John’s, Florida and Kentucky.
• Josh Wright, 6-1 from Utica, N.Y., is considering KU, Syracuse, Seton Hall, Boston College, Kentucky, UConn and others.
• Kyle Lowry, 5-11 from Philadelphia, is down to KU, UConn, Pitt, Syracuse and Xavier.
• Jason Horton, 6-1 from Cedar Hill, Texas, still is favoring Missouri over Florida, KU and others.
• Dupree Fletcher, 5-11 from Milwaukee, will attend ABCD camp, and has a list of Ohio State, Virginia, KU, Marquette and Seton Hall.

On the combo guard/forward front, KU reportedly has had its eyes on Malik Hairston and Jason Rich, among others.

Hairston, 6-6, 175 from Detroit, has said Ohio State leads KU, UCLA, Michigan State, Indiana, Missouri, Arizona and Purdue.

Rich, 6-4 from Orlando, Fla., has a list of Florida, UConn, Indiana, Kentucky, KU, USC and Georgia Tech.

Big man Alexander Kaun, 6-11 from Melbourne, Fla., out of Serbia, has a list of Florida, KU, Florida State, Michigan, Michigan State, Georgetown and Duke.

Marty Leunen, 6-9 from Redmond, Ore., lists Oregon, Oregon State, KU, Cal, Gonzaga, Arizona, Duke and UCLA.

Some other players who have expressed interest in KU:

Marcus Monk, 6-6, Lepanto, Ark., who is said to be favoring Arkansas over Oklahoma, KU and others; Jeremis Smith, 6-8 from Fort Worth, Texas, who has a list of Arizona, Oklahoma, KU, TCU, Florida and Georgia Tech; Darnell Jackson, 6-8 from Oklahoma City, who likes KU, OU, Purdue and Oklahoma State; Kevin Langford, the 6-8 brother of Keith Langford, who likes Stanford, Georgia Tech, Georgetown, Kentucky, Virginia and Notre Dame; Shane Foster, 6-6 from Kenner, La., who has a list of KU, Marquette, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, LSU and others.

There could be many others on KU’s wish list; coaches cannot comment on recruiting in accordance with NCAA rules.

“There are a lot of kids Kansas started recruiting after coach Self took over — kids like Price, Lowry, Robinson, Rich and Hairston — so, yes, they are behind,” rivals.com analyst Shay Wildeboor said.

“Many of those recruits are East Coast players — ones being recruited by St. John’s, Connecticut, Florida and others. If they (KU coaches) are serious about those guys, they will need to make their presence known, and I’m sure they will make their presence known this month,” Wildeboor said.

“There are a lot of kids who were not interested at KU at one time who are interested now. Coach Self and his staff can make up a lot of ground in a hurry. Remember, he re-recruited four kids (David Padgett, Omar Wilkes, J.R. Giddens, Jeremy Case) who committed to KU and will be a big part of the program for years to come.”

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Giddens shines: Giddens, an incoming KU freshman, won the slam-dunk contest and was named co-MVP of last week’s Global Games in Dallas. Giddens shared the award with Deron Williams of Team USA, which handed Giddens’ Select Team its only two losses of the tournament. Giddens had 19 points off 7-of-11 shooting in Saturday’s 104-80 title game loss to Team USA. Giddens had 18 in a semifinal win over Yugoslavia, 25 against Puerto Rico, 11 versus Brazil and six in a loss to Team USA.