Kansas University junior Brandon Rush continues to make steady progress from June 1 surgery on the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.

Rush, a 6-foot-6 guard from Kansas City, Mo., was cleared to begin jogging Wednesday, two days earlier than originally planned.

“He’s running in the pool and running straight lines,” KU coach Bill Self said Friday. “He’s starting out very slow, but doing very, very well.

“They (medical staff members) have been very patient with him, not doing too much too fast. Brandon is at the point he can really get after it, and hopefully by the end of next week start to do some light jumping and continually progress from there.”

There has been no change in the timetable – one that Rush has said has him back on the basketball court “by Dec. 1 or a month ahead or behind either way.”

Sophomore Darrell Arthur, who was cleared to practice Monday after six weeks of rest and rehab designed to heal a stress fracture in his left leg, looked “great” during individual workouts this week, Self indicated.

¢

Recruiting: Self and his staff will be making a batch of in-home visits to recruits in the month of September.

So far, campus visits have been set up with Phillip McDonald, 6-5 from Cypress Springs (Texas) High School (Sept. 14); Quintrell Thomas, 6-8 forward, St. Patrick High, Elizabeth City, N.J. (Sept. 28); and Terrance Henry, 6-9, forward, Monroe, La. (Oct. 12).

Self spoke in general terms about recruiting Friday. He can’t comment about specific recruits in accordance with NCAA rules.

“Although there is a lot going on now, there’s not a lot of action in terms of kids making decisions,” he said. “I still feel good about the guys we have hopefully lined up to go in-home with. It’s obviously a very important year (losing five scholarship seniors and possibly one to four players to NBA). I think things are lining up as well as we expected. Hopefully, it’ll mean positive things in the next six to eight weeks.”

Rivals.com reported Friday that Michael Dixon, a 6-foot junior from Lee’s Summit (Mo.) West High, will make an unofficial visit to KU soon.

¢

Releford shines: Slam Magazine was impressed with the performance of future KU guard Travis Releford at the recent Adidas Basketball Experience in New Orleans.

“Releford was one of the most fundamentally-sound players at the event,” Slam wrote of the 6-5 senior from Roeland Park Miege. “Content to be a glue guy, his smooth game, focus on ‘D’ and eagerness to mix it up made him effective, even without being a big scorer.”