One of the best rebounders in the high school Class of 2009 will be playing basketball at Kansas University next season.

He’s Thomas Robinson, a 6-foot-8, 225-pound senior forward from Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H., who signed a national letter of intent and faxed it to Bill Self’s office at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, the first day of the week-long early signing period.

“This guy is a rebounder first – rebounder, defender, runner, jumper,” Self said late Wednesday afternoon.

“It’s hard to say anybody is athletic as ‘Shady’ (Darrell Arthur), but his motor, his quickness is kind of in that class of ‘Shady’ and Darnell (Jackson),” Self added.

Self spoke in glowing terms about Robinson, Rivals.com’s No. 18-ranked player who chose KU over Memphis and others.

“He goes after every ball. He probably has as good a motor as anybody we’ve had since we’ve been here. He maybe has a chance to be about as good a rebounder as there is in this senior class,” Self said of Robinson, who averaged 16 points and 13 boards his junior year at Riverdale Baptist High in Marlboro, Md.

“His skill set is improving all the time. He’s a good passer, good ball-handler. His shot is improving. He’s a prototypical athletic four-man.”

Self was asked if Robinson compared to say, Dennis Rodman, who made a living grabbing every available rebound during a long NBA career.

“If there’s ever been a human being that had a motor better than Dennis, I don’t know who it is,” Self said. “Thomas has a motor … if you are going to make comparisons, that is one you could probably make.”

Also … “I’m not saying he’s Tyler Hansbrough, but he goes after the ball like Tyler does,” Self said, comparing Robinson to the North Carolina standout.

Robinson – he orally committed to KU on Oct. 10 – has heard he reminds some of the NBA’s Tyson Chandler and Dwight Howard.

“Forwards who are versatile and can step out and hit the 15-footer and are also good down low,” said Robinson, who said he brings “energy and hard work on defense, rebounding.”

Self said he and his assistant coaches took note of Robinson’s work ethic at last July’s Reebok Underclass Camp.

“Some coaches want to do away with summer recruiting and there’s some valid reasoning to that. This is one of the times if we didn’t have summer recruiting we might not have known enough about Thomas to get him,” Self said.

Robinson attended KU’s national championship ring ceremony Sept. 19 in Allen Fieldhouse and was an easy sell after that weekend visit.

“I explained what we were thinking about doing in recruiting and one of his responses was, ‘I don’t have to commit before Sunday (on visit), do I?’ He was ready to go,” Self said. “His mom slowed the process down. She wanted him to be sure. I didn’t disagree with her on that. That’s when he took another visit to Memphis that confirmed everything he felt in the first place. He fell in love with this place when he visited.”

Robinson said he liked Memphis a lot, but “I didn’t have the sense of ‘home’ like I did (at KU).”

Robinson and his mom, Lisa, already feel a bond with KU, Self said.

“I talked to Lisa about sending in the letter-of-intent and she said, ‘How did we do last night?”’ Self said, impressed she used the word ‘we’ in asking about the Jayhawks’ game against Emporia State. “Thomas always says ‘we’ whenever he talks to us.”

Self on Monday will receive a signed letter-of-intent from Elijah Johnson, a 6-2 guard from Las Vegas’ Cheyenne High. Self has two scholarships to give, but would like to corral either three or four players because of the likelihood of losing players to the pros.

“We hope to get two more in the fall, but I don’t know if that will happen. There would have to be something unforeseen,” Self said. “I positively anticipate signing two. We’re hopeful for a third.”

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Snaer to announce Friday: Michael Snaer, a 6-4 senior shooting guard from Rancho Verde High in Moreno Valley, Calif., will reveal his college choice Friday on ESPNU, network officials reported.

Snaer will be featured on ESPNU’s College Basketball Signing Day Special to be broadcast from 3 to 5 p.m. Central time Friday. One of the show’s publicists said the Snaer portion of the show would likely start about 4 p.m.

Snaer said earlier this week he’s considering KU, Florida State and Marquette.

ESPNU says additional guests will include Xavier Henry, the 6-6 guard from Putnam City (Okla.) High, who will choose between KU and Memphis in the spring, as well as John Henson (North Carolina) and Abdul Gaddy (Washington).

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Get Motivated: Self was one of the speakers at the Get Motivated Seminar Wednesday at Sprint Center.

“There were 21,000 people there. It was different than speaking to a lot of civic groups at lunchtime,” Self said. “I did tell them, ‘Only in America can you have such an underdog and a historic feat this month.’

“Somebody yelled: ‘Go Obama!’ I said, ‘No, no, no, not about a measley presidential election, (just) the fact of the matter I would actually be asked to speak at a Get Motivated Seminar with these other headliners,”’ he joked.

Speakers included Rudy Giuliani, Colin Powell, Robert Schuller, Zig Ziglar and Tony Gonzalez.

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Injury update: KU junior Mario Little, who remains on crutches as he keeps all weight off a stress fracture in his lower left leg, likely will not appear in a game until mid-December, Self said.

“Even if everything goes well, he will not be on the court three more weeks,” Self said. “He is getting better, but not enough to move the target date back.”

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Big men: Self explained he no longer was in the market for a big man when Robinson committed. Thus, Oklahoma City McGuiness senior center Daniel Orton committed to Kentucky. Orton is out until February or March following recent knee surgery.

“We told them both we’d take one inside guy. When Thomas committed then we quit recruiting all other big guys,” Self said. “That (injury) is unfortunate but it certainly would not have factored into recruiting him in any way, shape or form. I hope he gets back healthy to finish his high school career and have a great career playing for Billy (Gillispie) at Kentucky.”