Bill Self finally was able to catch his breath Sunday evening after a long – but satisfying – weekend.

At a dizzying pace, his Kansas University basketball team participated in the always-electric Late Night in the Phog on Friday night at nearly full Allen Fieldhouse, then ran through a pair of 2-hour, 20-minute practices on Saturday and Sunday.

Self spent his free time in the three-day span entertaining recruits – prep seniors Darrell Arthur and Sherron Collins were on official visits, and eight others made unofficial trips to campus.

“I think when you throw in Late Night, the attendance for Late Night, especially considering there were high school football games going on and it was fall break, the newness of the building, how the team performed, recruits being in town, perfect weather : I don’t think it could have gone much better,” Self said Sunday.

“Now we get a good night’s sleep and get after it again (today).”

Self gives thumbs up to Late Night, which actually for the first time was held during prime time. An estimated 15,750 fans attended, just shy of capacity of 16,300.

“I thought it was excellent,” Self said. “I thought our marketing (department) did a good job keeping things moving quickly. The guys did fine playing, considering how nervous some were.”

As far the first official practices Saturday and Sunday :

“We worked on basic fundamental stuff,” Self said. “The first one was pretty good. The one (Sunday) was very good, guys doing well. It’s just going to take some time.”

Self can’t comment on specific recruits – most of the prospects remained to watch Saturday afternoon’s practice but not Sunday’s – in accordance with NCAA rules.

¢ Visitors galore: Arthur, 6-foot-9, 220 pounds from Dallas South Oak Cliff High, and Collins, 5-11 form Chicago Crane, did not orally commit on their visits.

“I had a great time on my visit,” Arthur told rivals.com, indicating he most enjoyed hanging out with the current players.

He has visited North Carolina and Indiana and is to visit SMU this weekend and Baylor after that. Texas also has been included on his list of schools.

“I need to talk to my family and see what I should do next. There is a chance that I might take the rest of my visits, but I just do not know if that is going to happen or not. I will talk to my family this week and see what to do,” Arthur said.

Arthur’s high school coach, James Mays, said his pupil, “really enjoyed himself. It was a good trip. I’ll try to talk to him more in the next couple of days.”

Collins has scheduled a visit to Illinois this weekend. Iowa is his third finalist.

Juniors who visited over the weekend: Cole Aldrich (6-10, Bloomington, Minn., Jefferson High); Lance Storrs (6-4, Decatur, Ga., Columbia); Gani Lawal (6-8, Norcross, Ga.); George Goode (6-8, Raytown, Mo., South); Tyrel Reed (6-2, Burlington). Sophomores Travis Releford (6-4, Kansas City Central) and Verdell Jones, Jr., (6-2, Champaign, Ill.) were on hand as well as freshman Xavier Henry (6-5, Putnam City, Okla.).

Aldrich, who is considering Minnesota, North Carolina and KU, made his fifth unofficial trip to KU.

His dad, said: “We had fun again, a good time,” adding that nothing had changed in his son’s recruitment.

Self has two scholarships remaining for the Class of 2006 after landing Brady Morningstar, a 6-3 guard out of Free State High, now at prep school in New Hampshire.