Bill Self’s in-home visit with Chicago-area high school basketball player Julian Wright went well Thursday night.

So well, in fact, that Wright orally committed to Self’s Kansas University basketball program.

The 6-foot-8, 220-pound blue-chip senior prospect out of Homewood-Flossmoor High chose the Jayhawks over Arizona and Illinois — two schools he had visited — plus DePaul, a school he was supposed to visit next weekend.

Wright, who is rivals.com’s No. 10-rated player, and theinsider.com’s No. 5 rated player, committed without even visiting KU’s campus.

He has been in the area, however, having played in an AAU tournament in Shawnee the past two years.

“I felt this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” said Wright, who beckoned Self back to his Chicago Heights, Ill., home 15 minutes after Self left Thursday night to give the coach the good news.

“It’s a sense of feeling comfortable with coach and the school,” added Wright, who figures to make a triumphant appearance at Late Night in the Phog as part of an official campus visit Oct. 15.

“Coach Self has always been honest, cool, laid-back, speaking his mind. He’s a great coach and person. He’s great inside and outside the lines. I knew him from when he was at Illinois. This might be a shock to some, but I always liked coach Self and Kansas.”

Wright averaged 10.4 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.9 assists a game his junior season. He is known as a guy who can do it all on the court.

“I can’t be tagged with one position,” Wright said. “I may have a big game at the 3 and OK game at the 1. Then I may have a good game at the 1 and a great game at the 4 or 5. I think it’s hard to put a label on me. Growing up, I didn’t need to have the ball, but if the coach needs me to have the ball, I’ll take it.”

Wright

Wright — known as a player equally adept at shooting from both the perimeter and inside as well as a player with a nose for the ball on the boards — explained how he could commit to KU without the benefit of a campus visit.

“Just knowing it’s the place,” he said. “I go to high school and didn’t want to be in a situation where I was gone every weekend. It felt right. I’ve known about the prestige and tradition of the school and decided to make the commitment.”

His mom, Gina, was quite comfortable with her son’s decision.

“I was surprised as first, but once I was sure he was sure and made the decision for the right reasons, I was 100 percent behind him. There were a lot of hugs,” she said of the scene between she, her son and Self on Thursday.

“We had already been interested in Kansas (before Self’s visit). I had done quite a bit of research and gathered as much information as I could on my own over the last year or so. So we’re familiar with the program and already know the coach from when he was at Illinois.”

She never has been to Lawrence, either.

“You can gather all the facts and look at everything on paper and everything that’s printed and verbiage everybody has to say,” Gina Wright said. “You have to feel it’s right, a lot is a faith walk. This feels right.”

She said the coaches of all the runners up accepted the news with class.

“They were surprised of course, as everyone is,” she said. “They were all respectful of our decision and wished Julian well.”

So what kind of player is future Jayhawk Julian Wright?

“Wright is a quick and athletic defender with a 7-1 wing span,” Jerry Meyer of rivals.com said. “On the offensive end, he excels at slashing to the basket and passing the ball, which he can do effectively with either hand.”

Added Larry Butler, Wright’s AAU coach for the Illinois Warriors, “Julian has a chance to be one of the all-time elite players in the range of Darius Miles, Quentin Richardson, Dwayne Wade. I love him, he is so multi-skilled.”

KU has filled three available scholarships with four available this recruiting year.

The Jayhawks also have received oral commitments from Mario Chalmers, 6-1 from Anchorage, Alaska; and Micah Downs, 6-8 from Bothell, Wash. It is believed KU’s final target is C.J. Miles, 6-5 from Dallas.

Wright’s commitment likely takes KU out of the running for Kevin Rogers, 6-8 from Dallas.