Joe Dooley welcomed several unannounced visitors into his University of Wyoming assistant men’s basketball coach’s office Friday.

Several Cowboy players came by to offer words of congratulations to the 37-year-old Dooley, who Friday was named a full-time assistant at Kansas University after working one season for Steve McClain at the Laramie, Wyo., school.

“Marcus Bailey (senior guard) just walked in and said, ‘Congratulations, coach. It’s a great opportunity for you, too good to pass up,'” Dooley said in a phone interview. “Dante Richardson came in. Several have stopped by. These kids are great. They are terrific.

“In the 15 years I’ve coached, this has been one of the best years I’ve had personally and professionally,” added Dooley, who, while happy at Wyoming, said he was eager to join one of the most tradition-rich programs in the country.

“I think in this business you look and say there are a couple of schools you always dream of going to. Kansas is one of them. Great tradition, great fans, great everything,” said Dooley, who has been in Allen Fieldhouse twice — as a George Washington University guard in December of 1985, when the Colonials fell to KU, 94-71; and last season when Wyoming was annihilated, 98-70.

“I’ve played at ‘The Phog,'” said Dooley. “It was big-time. They had Danny Manning, Cedric Hunter, (Mark) Turgeon. Last year … we were better than we played, but nobody was going to beat them that night. They hit us so quickly.”

Dooley is the final piece of the puzzle for KU’s full-time coaching staff that includes head coach Bill Self, plus assistants Norm Roberts and Tim Jankovich.

Former Roy Williams aide Ben Miller will remain at KU as director of basketball operations, while former Illinois player Sean Harrington is on board as an administrative assistant.

It’s possible a former Jayhawk — Danny Manning or Rex Walters, for example — could be added later in a graduate-assistant position.

¢ 6Sports video: Self names new assistant coach

“I’m very excited to add Joe Dooley to our staff,” Self said.

“I got to know him when we had a position open at Illinois, but the timing never worked out. I’m extremely pleased with the addition of Joe to an already great staff of Norm Roberts, Tim Jankovich and Ben Miller. I’m confident that we have as high a quality of staff as anyone in America.”

Self met Dooley on the recruiting trail when Self was head coach at Tulsa.

“Joe has been a Division One head coach (at East Carolina from 1995-99) and assistant coach (at East Carolina, South Carolina and New Mexico) and he’s recruited both coasts and the junior college ranks. His contacts will really enhance our recruiting efforts,” Self said.

Self also said Friday that Miller will continue to recruit throughout the summer, then will assume new duties in the fall. Self indicated that Dooley, who has a newborn child who is healthy now, but originally experienced some complications, will begin his work at Kansas immediately but will not recruit this summer to spend time with his family.

“It’s a privilege to be at the University of Kansas,” said Dooley, who hails from West Orange, N.J. “Coach Self is a great person who has been successful everywhere he’s been and it’s an honor to join his staff. The past couple of years I’ve just essentially watched from afar, the great job he did at Tulsa and Illinois. He’ll do a great job at Kansas, also.”

Miller was not available for comment Friday. He was spending time with his family after running KU’s hoops camp the past two weeks.

• Self watches draft on TV: Self watched some of the NBA draft on TV Thursday night.

“It’s always a crapshoot when you get past the top five picks,” Self said. “At eight or nine, it becomes need or the best player on the board. You’ve got kids like Dahntay Jones or Troy Bell (Nos. 20 and 16 picks of Boston). Nobody had them going that high. The NBA draft is always interesting to me. I talk to NBA teams and they all say, ‘If he is available we’ll take him,’ and it never plays out like that.”

• Ditto for Williams: Former KU coach Williams decided to watch the draft on TV in Carolina country rather than sit in the Madison Square Garden green room as guests of Kirk Hinrich and Nick Collison, who were tapped seventh and 12th respectively.

“Both kids asked if I wanted to go. I spoke to Nick yesterday and he said, ‘Are you sure you don’t want to come?'” Williams said Thursday. “I’ve never gone to the draft before. I’ve always thought it’s a place for the players and their families.

“It was a big-time night for us watching it, though. I can tell you that,” Williams said.

In the past two years, Williams watched three Jayhawks from the same recruiting class be tapped in the lottery. Drew Gooden was picked fourth overall last year, with Hinrich and Collison hitting the jackpot Thursday.

“It makes us feel good as coaches to know in some way we may have helped,” Williams said. “Two of those kids were not two of the top 25 players in America in high school (Gooden and Hinrich) and ended up top 10 picks in the draft.”

• Day after: Collison left New York for Las Vegas with some buddies Friday, to celebrate the day after the draft. Hinrich returned to Lawrence, and will travel to Chicago for a news conference Tuesday. Collison will head to Seattle Monday or Tuesday for his press conference.

Collison attended LeBron James’ post draft party Thursday night in New York.

• Rules changes on hold: Some proposed changes to college basketball’s free-throw and three-point line were put on hold this week. An NCAA committee did not vote on whether to implement a new trapezoid lane and a longer three-point line after the basketball rules committees withdrew the proposal.

It is expected to be resubmitted for a vote in September.

“It pretty much came down to that there’s still a lot of questions,” Jean Lenti Ponsetto, chairwoman of the championships/competition cabinet said. “It was probably good judgment.”

Earlier this year, the men’s and women’s rules committees approved a proposal that would adopt international standards — a trapezoid lane and a three-point line of 20 feet, 6 inches. That is nine inches longer than the current three-point line.

Three weeks ago, however, the rules committees backed off a plan that would have altered the lines this year. Instead, they delayed it to 2004-05 — and that still could happen.

Ponsetto said part of the reason for the yearlong delay was financial since most budgets are made in the fall and some schools would have needed an additional $15,000 to $20,000 to repaint floors.

With a few more months, Ponsetto believes there will be enough answers to assure a vote at the cabinet’s next meeting Sept. 16-18.

Self said recently he was in favor of moving back the three-point line but was not a fan of the trapezoid.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.