Newark, N.J., native Quintrell Thomas didn’t quite know what to expect last weekend in making his first trip to Kansas University.

“I thought it would be a school in the middle of a farm. It’s not like that at all. There’s a lot going on there. I loved it,” said Thomas, a 6-foot-8, 225-pound senior forward from St. Patrick High in Elizabeth, N.J.

Thomas, who has visited three of his four finalists – KU, Maryland and Rutgers with a trip to UNLV set for Oct. 12-13 – said the entire weekend was enjoyable, but he particularly liked playing pick-up basketball with the current Jayhawk players.

“They are really good. They never get tired,” Thomas said. “I wasn’t nervous, but I made a lot of mistakes. Everybody said they did the same thing when they were on their visits.”

Thomas said as of Sunday night he still planned to make the trip to UNLV and choose a college in “mid October.”

“A great chance,” Thomas said, asked to assess KU’s chances of landing him. “KU is basically one of the best choices.”

Thomas’ AAU coach, Derrick Bobbitt, told Adam Zagoria of the Herald News in West Paterson, N.J., that Thomas enjoyed the visit to KU.

“Kansas has all the bells and whistles that a Top Five program has,” Bobbitt said. “It’s one of the Top Five programs in college basketball history. It’s a great place, but all the other programs have their own special things, too. All of the four programs that are recruiting him have something to offer. He just has to choose what he wants out of those schools.”

¢ Little likes Illinois: Mario Little, a 6-6 sophomore guard from Chipola (Fla.) Community College, said he had a good visit to Illinois over the weekend. He has now made official campus visits to all three finalists -KU, Kansas State and Illinois.

“Every school I went to is good,” Little said. “Everybody tells you the good things. Now I have to sit down and talk to friends and family and get advice.”

Little said he hoped to choose a school by the end of this week.