Kansas players Josh Selby, left, Niko Roberts, and Jordan Juenemann celebrate a dunk by teammate Markieff Morris during the second half, Saturday, Dec. 11, 2010 at the Sprint Center in Kansas City.

Josh Selby said he never considered dropping out of school — and perhaps heading overseas to play professional basketball — as he waited month after month for the NCAA to rule on his eligibility.

“(Kansas University officials) put so much work into this situation. They never gave up on me, so I was never thinking about giving up on them,” Selby, KU’s 6-foot-2 freshman guard from Baltimore, said Monday on a national teleconference.

Selby received word on Nov. 20 that he’d sit a total of nine games for accepting benefits from a family friend. KU’s coaches and administrators worked diligently with the NCAA for a resolution to the case.

“To be honest, I never would have done anything differently because I don’t feel I really technically did anything wrong (in accepting $4,607.50 worth of benefits from Robert Frazier), but there’s some rules you have to apply to,” Selby said. “For people in my situation, what I would tell them is, ‘Just think twice before you do things.’ That’s the biggest thing I would say.”

Selby reiterated his position of a few weeks ago — that he’s thankful his penalty involved just the nine games.

“I do think I’m lucky,” Selby said, “because when I saw the Enes Kanter situation (suspended from Kentucky for entire season) and he couldn’t play ever in college, it had me wondering, ‘Will they do the same thing for me?’

“God does things for a reason. I’m just thankful God gave me an opportunity to play a game in college.”

Pressed about his situation, Selby added: “I didn’t just know any better. To be honest, I don’t know if I really made any mistakes in my opinion or anybody in my situation’s opinion. It’s just the NCAA has certain rules where you have to know people before you reach the high school level (if those individuals provide things like clothing and transportation), and that’s what it was.

“I’m actually blessed and happy the NCAA is giving me a chance to play along with my teammates and play in college.”

He said the happiest duo in the stands for his college debut Saturday versus USC (11 a.m., Allen Fieldhouse) will be his mom and grandmother.

“My mom was thinking I wasn’t going to be able to play. There was so much pressure on her. On Saturday, my grandmom and my mom … I won’t see, but I’ll know they are shedding tears because they never thought I would have a chance to play college ball,” Selby said.

Tough grader: KU coach Bill Self on Monday gave his 9-0 team a grade of “C-plus (or) B-minus” for its first-semester work.

“There are nights we look real good, some nights we don’t look as good,” Self said.

They’re OK: Marcus Morris (ankle sprain) and Elijah Johnson (shoulder separation), who were injured in Saturday’s victory over Colorado State, both practiced on Monday.

Recruiting: DeAndre Daniels, a 6-foot-8 senior forward from IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., visited Kentucky last weekend. He’s expected to visit Texas and North Carolina State in the near future.

“The teams that have the best chance of getting him right now are Kansas, Texas and maybe Kentucky,” Daniels’ AAU coach, Dinos Trigonis, told Zagsblog.net.

Daniels has also visited KU and Oregon officially, UCLA and Florida unofficially. Rivals.com’s No. 9-rated player plans to enroll at a college in January, attending classes and practicing with his new team, but not playing in games until the 2011-12 season.