Senior Jackson chooses agency

Kansas University senior basketball power forward Darnell Jackson has chosen Montgomery Sports Group of San Antonio as his representation.

The group, which is headed by Roger Montgomery, also represents pro players Desmond Mason, Maurice Evans and Stephen and Joey Graham, as well as Arkansas senior Sonny Weems.

It was announced last week KU junior Brandon Rush will be represented by Priority Sports and Entertainment of Chicago. To check out Jackson’s blog, visit montgomerysportsgroup.com.

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Stephenson coming to town: Add Lance Stephenson, Rivals.com’s No. 4-rated player in the Class of 2009, to the list of players attending this weekend’s Jayhawk Invitational, Friday through Sunday at Allen Fieldhouse and Horejsi Center. Stephenson, a 6-5 junior from Lincoln High in Brooklyn, N.Y., will play for the Atlanta Celtics.

The Celtics also boast No. 3-ranked Derrick Favors, 6-9, from Atlanta. Stephenson is considering KU, Indiana, Memphis, North Carolina and others. Favors is considering KU, Memphis, Kentucky, Georgia, Georgia Tech and others.

KU target Elijah Johnson, 6-2, from Las Vegas, will be playing for L.A. Pump N Run, while Stephan Van Treese, 6-9, from Indianapolis, will be playing for Indiana Elite. A schedule of games will be available later this week at the Web site Jayhawkinvitational.com.

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Majok chooses Connecticut: Ater Majok, a 6-10 center from Sudan, has committed orally to Connecticut. He told Rivals.com he chose the Huskies over Kansas, Kentucky and Baylor.

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Morris twins making strides: KU signees Markieff and Marcus Morris, 6-10 and 6-9, respectively, from Apex Academy in Pennsauken, N.J., made great strides during their one season of prep-school basketball, Apex vice president Rich Marcucci told Adam Zagoria of Zagsblog.

“The goal was to get him (Markieff) away from the basket and make him more of a shooting ‘four’ (power forward),” Marcucci said. “We prohibited him in many games from putting his back to the basket. We forced him to put the ball on the floor.

“Our role with Marcus was to get him on the perimeter and make him a swing player and handle the ball a lot.”

Marcucci said the twins currently are awaiting their SAT scores.

“They should be fine. They’re very close, (to qualifying academically),” Marcucci told Zagsblog. “As far as conditioning goes, they made tremendous strides (this year).”

Markieff averaged 27.2 points and 12.0 rebounds and Marcus 24.8 points and 8.0 boards this past season. Markieff was named the team’s MVP.

KU signee Quintrell Thomas, of St. Patrick High in Elizabeth, N.J., averaged 14.7 points.

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Self, Summitt honored: KU men’s coach Bill Self and Tennessee women’s coach Pat Summitt each will receive the 13th Winged Foot Award, presented annually by the New York Athletic Club at its mid-town Manhattan headquarters.

The award goes to coaches of the NCAA men’s and women’s national champions. The date of the 2008 awards banquet has not been announced yet.