Darnell Jackson was thrilled to see his mom, Shawn, pull into the Allen Fieldhouse parking lot Friday afternoon.

She’d made the drive from Oklahoma City to see her son participate in his third Late Night in the Phog.

“She hopped out of the car with a cast on her leg. She was smiling, looked just great,” Jackson said of his mom, who has had two surgeries and needs several more before her leg, ankle, arm, rib and hands are completely healed from a car wreck suffered in Las Vegas a couple years ago.

“It’s always great to see her.”

Another one of Jackson’s loved ones was not slated to be in the fieldhouse Friday.

That would be Don Davis, a KU graduate living just outside of Jackson’s hometown of Oklahoma City, who provided Darnell with $5,000 worth of improper benefits that in part caused the NCAA on Thursday to strip KU of a scholarship in each of the next two seasons.

“I’ve not talked to him in a while,” Jackson said. “The love is still strong. The love is there.”

Jackson considers Davis a father-type figure and has a hard time understanding what either party did wrong.

“He was a friend, not a (KU) booster to me,” Jackson said. “When my grandmother died (following the car wreck that seriously injured Shawn) he said a speech that made me cry. I always think about him (Davis) and his family when I go to sleep.”

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Probation aftermath: Coach Bill Self said he’d already spoken to some high school prospects about NCAA probation, handed down Thursday.

KU lost eight official on-campus visits the next two seasons and will be limited to 12 scholarship players on the roster instead of the usual 13.

“This is a pretty big recruiting weekend. The timing is not great with a lot of this stuff,” Self said with a smile.

“I think I’m satisfied it was explained properly (to recruits) and understood, but (I’m) not satisfied that it was not a factor. It is a factor. We are on probation. It’s something we’ll talk about to our prospects the next couple years. The recruits and families will have to trust us.”

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Youth served: Brandon Rush on KU’s freshman class of Darrell Arthur, Sherron Collins and Brady Morningstar:

“They came in more built, more strong than we did last year,” Rush said. “Shady (Arthur) can bench 275. I benched 175 coming in. Sherron is strong. He came in at 255. They know the game better than we did.”

Rush, by the way, now can bench 235.

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Recruiting runaround: Self on possibly losing one or more players to the NBA after this year:

“We don’t anticipate everyone coming back next year. Returning all 12 would be very difficult to do based on some of their talent levels and what people believe their talent to be. I think with the majority of our team back, you could make a strong case next year’s team could be more talented than this year’s.”

He realizes it may be tough to recruit not knowing who will be back.

“We may be in limbo recruiting to be honest with you,” he said, noting he’d like to add a wing player (like Kyle Singler of Oregon, who attended Late Night) to go with center Cole Aldrich, who has committed.

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Self on the team’s style of play: “Kansas fans will love this … I think we’ll be able to run more although I thought we ran pretty well last year. My definition of running and Kansas fans’ definition may not be exactly the same thing, but we should play fast and pressure a lot more. I see it being much more up-tempo than it has been.”

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Leader Russell Robinson on team unity: “The team chemistry is great. Coach Self did a great job recruiting. He found the pieces that fit perfectly into what we try to do. Personality-wise, they fit in great, and playing-wise, they are awesome.”

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Sasha Kaun on his future: “I will want to play in the NBA. The question is out there. It’s a matter of me working hard enough to get to the next level. I definitely want to be here all four years.”

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Mario Chalmers on his offseason: “Coach wanted me to improve my defense and shooting and getting stronger. I think I did that.”

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Tuna’s tutelage: Self borrowed a line from Dallas Cowboys coach Bill Parcells regarding players buying into preseason hype.

“He said, ‘Don’t eat the cheese,'” Self said. “If you listen to the outward circle, you will not accomplish what you need to accomplish. I think our guys are unselfish and will share (the ball).”