The first thing I noticed about Brandon Rush as he took a seat beside me on the beige-and-navy, overstuffed couch was how much longer and leaner he looks in person than pictures.

The next thing I noticed – and maybe this speaks to a generation gap as much as anything – were the tattoos. I counted, while trying to hide that I was counting, five on the right arm, four on the left.

The next thing that became apparent to me was how easy this kid was to talk to, yet how difficult he must be to sway. He knows how to say no, and with all the hangers-on who will try to weasel their way into his life in coming years, that skill will come in handy.

His brother Kareem is in the midst of a successful NBA career, so when Kareem talks, Brandon hears him out. Plus, kid brothers are supposed to listen to their big brothers. Still, Brandon was able to say no.

“Kareem really wanted me to go to Missouri,” Brandon said, cap on backwards. “I told him, ‘I don’t want to follow in your footsteps.'”

He wants to carve his own identity.

“The day after my visit I told him I wanted to go to Kansas,” Brandon said. “He was like, ‘No man, don’t go! Don’t go! They’ve got those three McDonald’s All-Americans.’ I told him if I can come here and play as hard as I can, I’ll do fine.”

Asked if he would have come to KU if former starter J.R. Giddens never left, Rush said: “I wouldn’t have come.”

Rush didn’t let the presence of Julian Wright, Mario Chalmers and Micah Downs scare him away from saying yes to coach Bill Self, an indication of Rush’s confidence and Self’s persuasiveness.

The truly consumed college basketball fans, the ones who post on their schools’ message boards (I confess, I used to do that daily, even after spending $800 to watch my school lose by 33 points in a Final Four semi), stress out over recruiting battles more than they do over games decided by last-second shots.

Consider Self your personal anti-anxiety pill, your deep-breathing relaxation tool, your nightcap. Self’s Southern smile and easy manner translate to recruits who just can’t find it in them to say no to the man.

Think Sherron Collins will be scared into signing elsewhere because KU already has a Mario Chalmers at the point? No. Collins, from Chicago Crane, knows his Illinois hoops. Self recruited Deron Williams and Dee Brown in the same class, one year after getting Luther Head. That trio of guards made it all the way to the NCAA title game under Self’s successor, Bruce Weber. Collins could do for Chalmers what Williams did for Brown and Head. Obi Muonelo, who at 6-foot-4 could play the role of Head, was all but on his way to Oklahoma State until Self came along. Muonelo, from Self’s hometown of Edmond, Okla., will be at Late Night in the Phog.

So will Collins, 6-9 Darrell Arthur of Dallas and a slew of highly rated players from the Class of 2007. As long as Self is at KU, the recruiting hits won’t stop. Self wouldn’t have left Illinois, which in Chicago has a deeper nearby talent pool than KU, if he didn’t think it was easier to achieve greatness. He’s on his way, and Rush is just the latest example of why.

Like the Illinois guards, Self’s elite KU guards know how to share. Unlike at Illinois, the tall targets are as elite as the guards.