Micah Downs orally committed to play basketball at Kansas University on May 17.

“It seems like a really long time ago,” said Downs, a 6-foot-8 senior shooting guard from Juanita High School in Kirkland, Wash.

It was a long time ago — six months before today’s start of the weeklong early national letter-of-intent signing period.

“I am glad it’s here,” Downs said of the day he and fellow blue-chippers Mario Chalmers and Julian Wright will become official members of KU’s recruiting class of 2005.

“I’m glad I committed early. It took all the pressure off,” Downs added. “If I hadn’t, I’d probably still be dealing with the other schools.”

As rivalshoops.com’s No. 14th-rated player, Downs — who chose KU over Duke and Gonzaga — could have attended any school in the country.

Same goes for today’s other two signees.

Wright, a 6-8 forward from Homewood-Flossmoor High in the greater Chicagoland area, committed to KU on Sept. 9, choosing the Jayhawks over DePaul, Arizona and Illinois. Chalmers, a 6-1 point guard from Anchorage, Alaska, tapped the Jayhawks over Wake Forest, Arizona and Georgia Tech on May 21.

Wright is the country’s No. 10-rated player and Chalmers No. 12, giving KU three of the top-14-ranked preps in the land.

“I don’t think you can get a whole lot better than three guys like that,” said Downs, who was to sign his letter at a signing ceremony at his high school.

Chalmers also planned to sign before friends and family at his high school, while Wright planned to sign in the privacy of his own Chicago Heights home.

It’s a good thing KU coach Bill Self is reloading with blue-chippers because the Jayhawks will lose seniors Keith Langford, Michael Lee, Aaron Miles and Wayne Simien to graduation and quite possibly sophomore J.R. Giddens to the NBA.

“I think they can win a title this year, and we can come in. With KU losing four guys and, who knows? J.R. might go in the draft. Hopefully we can come in and with the returning players and help keep up that tradition,” Downs said.

Many analysts think so.

KU’s class, which could grow by one player in the spring period, may wind up No. 1 or 2 in the country.

“I think it’s a real good class. It has the potential to be a great group coming in,” Wright said. “I know we’ll all be working hard this season because next year will be a difficult year adjusting to the way college players play.

“I don’t see it as pressure, but responsibility. It’ll be a good situation for all of us our first year at Kansas. It’ll be a learning process to go through, but at the same time we have to do what we can to help keep the team on top.”

Chalmers is looking forward to joining two other top preps at KU.

“I like them both. They are very good kids,” Chalmers said. “Micah is a shooter and slasher; Julian is a rebounder. I’m excited to be with both of them at Kansas.”

He’s excited about something else, too.

“I am very excited the day has finally arrived,” Chalmers said. “I like coach Self’s style. He’s very emotional and a good motivator. I liked all the players I’ve met and enjoyed hanging out with them.”

Downs this season will play shooting guard and small forward and Chalmers point guard. Wright, who played point guard last year in leading his team to a 31-3 record and state runner-up finish, isn’t sure where he’ll line up on the court.

“I will have some ballhandling responsibilities,” Wright said. “I’ll still be utilized in breaking presses and taking the ball out and giving it back to a guard. I’ll be on the post some, basically inside and out. I think it’s going to be a good year.”

Then it’s on to Kansas. None of the three players are entertaining plans of heading to the NBA right out of school.

“That’s all everyone else’s speculation,” Chalmers’ dad and high school coach, Ronnie, said of NBA chatter. “We’ve not brought that up once in our house. It’s something brought up from the outside. We both chuckled when we heard that.”

“Of course,” Wright said, asked if he was planning on more than one year at KU. “The NBA is something that I am not thinking about right now. I’m really looking forward to playing at Kansas.”