Now is the time for college coaches, like Kansas University’s Bill Self, to make their pitches to prep recruits.

And so, Monday, during the spring recruiting evaluation period, the first-year KU coach made his way to East Orange, N.J., to visit with Brandon Costner, a 6-foot-9, 230-pound junior forward out of Seton Hall Prep School.

“Kansas is one school I will officially visit,” Costner told Shay Wildeboor of rivals.com after what he deemed an impressive meeting with Self. “Coach Self and I are still working on a date, but the visit will happen in the fall.”

Costner has a list of KU, North Carolina State, Florida, Connecticut, Michigan, Indiana and Villanova, among others.

Today, Self will meet with Tyler Smith, 6-7, 210 from Pulaski, Tenn. Thursday, he’ll visit Micah Downs, 6-8 from Bothell, Wash. Friday, he’s scheduled to meet with Mario Chalmers, 6-1, 165 from Anchorage, Ala. Those players also are all juniors.

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Galindo visits Pitt: Alex Galindo, a 6-7 guard/forward from Newark, N.J., visited Pitt last weekend. He’ll visit Rutgers this weekend, then KU on May 7. A native of Puerto Rico, Galindo was awed at a Pittsburgh Pirates game when he saw a statue of Puerto Rican baseball great Roberto Clemente. “That meant a lot to me,” he said. Of his decision, he said, “Those are the only three schools right now. I just want to compare all three schools first before I make a decision.”

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Malik update: The Malik Hairston saga apparently has entered the home stretch. The 6-5 guard from Detroit, who, according to his dad, had a “good trip” to the University of Oregon last weekend, will visit Oklahoma this weekend. Hairston plans to pick either KU, OU, Ohio State, UCLA, Michigan or Oregon next week.