Self in Dallas

Kansas University basketball coach Bill Self was in Dallas on Thursday night watching blue-chip high school senior guard Lance Stephenson play in the Old Spice Classic.

Stephenson, 6-5, 195 pounds from Lincoln High in Brooklyn, N.Y., scored a game-high 32 points in Lincoln’s 77-57 loss to Duncanville (Texas) High.

Stephenson, who is averaging 34.3 points a game according to Zagsblog.net, hit 13 of 21 shots.

Stephenson, who has talked about playing in Europe one year before heading to the NBA, told ESPN he was planning on attending college a year. He’s considering KU, St. John’s, Memphis, Indiana, Pitt, Seton Hall, USC, UCLA and others.

Julian Washburn, a 6-foot-7 junior, plays for Duncanville High and is the No. 70-rated player in the Class of 2010.

Zagsblog: Looks like Cheek to Villanova

Dominic Cheek, a 6-5 senior guard from St. Anthony High in Jersey City, N.J., is expected to announce for Villanova over runnerup Kansas today, according to Zagsblog.net. Cheek will hold a news conference after practice today, likely at 4:30 p.m. ESPN apparently will be on hand but not be televising the announcement live. Zagsblog reports multiple sources close to the situation as saying Cheek will play at ‘Nova.

Johnson back from injury

KU signee Elijah Johnson, who suffered minor injuries to both knees in a game last week, scored 12 points in Las Vegas Cheyenne High’s 59-48 victory over Silverado on Tuesday.

Johnson, who had foul problems and missed most of the second half, scored the game’s first eight points including the first two on an alley oop dunk.

“Both of my knees were bad, but I’m all right,” Johnson told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Beal update

Bradley Beal, a 6-3 sophomore from Chaminade High in St. Louis, may announce his college choice sometime in January, his high school coach told Rivals.com. Beal is averaging 29 points a game. KU, Florida, North Carolina, Illinois, Missouri and Purdue are in the running for Beal, who attended Late Night in the Phog on an unofficial visit.