Team Doo Be Doo's Udoka Azubuike #00 in action against Team EZ Pass in the Under Armour Elite 24 game on Saturday, August 22, 2015 in Brooklyn, NY. (AP Photo/Gregory Payan)

Kansas University basketball coach Bill Self, for the first time in three seasons, will have a 7-footer on his roster during the 2016-17 campaign.

Self on Friday announced the signing of 7-foot, 275-pound McDonald’s All-American Udoka Azubuike. The 16-year-old native of Lagos, Nigeria averaged 16.9 points and 9.7 rebounds a game his senior season at Potter’s House Christian in Jacksonville, Fla.

Azubuike is KU’s first 7-foot pivot since Cameroon’s Joel Embiid, a one-and-done to the NBA who played for the Jayhawks in 2013-14.

“We feel Udoka is as good as a big-man prospect as there is in the country,” Self said of the player ranked No. 22 overall by ESPN.com and No. 27 by Rivals.com. “He’s got size, strength, explosiveness and is so young. Being only 16 years old, his best ball is well ahead of him.

“One fortunate thing about Udoka’s age is, we know he has to be in school for at least two years due to the NBA minimum-age requirements. We see him as an impact guy right off the bat with a high ceiling.”

Azubuike, who orally committed to KU on Jan. 28, chose the Jayhawks over North Carolina and Florida State. Earlier, he had Duke, N.C. State, Wake Forest, Cal, Auburn, Florida and others on his list.

“Norm (Roberts, KU assistant) was the point man in his recruitment,” Self said. “It has been an absolute pleasure in getting to know Udoka and also his guardians, Harry and Donna Coxsome. Being in the United States for a short period, we have seen so much development in his comfort level, not only with us but with the surroundings and everything that goes along with basketball in the States.”

Roberts said Azubuike stood out on the AAU circuit when he was 14.

“What he would do is rebound, block shots and dunk it,” Roberts said of the “power player who knows how to seal. He’s a much better athlete than you’d think he is. He’s just getting better and better.

“Being raw (after coming to the U.S. four years ago), he has to improve his footwork, has to improve his first jump, second jump quickly, his touch around the basket. He is a kid that will work at it. He improved his jump hook already. He is a dunker and can dunk, but he also can shoot the right-hand jump hook. He’ll work on his touch, both hands, all that stuff.”

As far as landing Azubuike in recruiting, Roberts said: “I think it helped the way we play through our bigs, the way we try to play inside/out basketball, the way we try to develop our big guys. I think we were a perfect fit for him.

“He comes from a terrific family. His host family … they are great people. They all have goals. He cares about school, about being educated.”

Thornton completes visit: Derryck Thornton, a 6-2 freshman who recently announced plans to leave Duke after one season, completed his campus visit to KU on Friday. He reportedly did not commit on his visit. He has said he will visit Washington on Sunday and Miami on May 15. He already has visited USC.

Thornton’s uncle, Mark Edwards, wrote on Twitter: “I’m hearing great things about his visit to Kansas.”

Washington to hire dad of elite recruit: Michael Porter Sr., the father of Michael Porter Jr., a 6-8 junior standout from Tolton Catholic in Columbia, Mo., tells Rivals.com he’s resigning his position as women’s basketball assistant at Missouri to join Lorenzo Romar’s men’s staff at Washington.

This obviously makes Washington the overwhelming leader in the recruitment of the younger Porter, who is ranked No. 2 in the Class of 2017 by Rivals.com. Michael Porter Jr. also has KU, Duke, Oklahoma , Kentucky and others on his list of schools. His brother, Jontay Porter, who is a high school junior, has already orally committed to Washington. Jontay Porter told the Columbia Missourian that the entire family, with the exception of his sisters — Missouri women’s basketball players Bri Porter and Cierra Porter — will move to Washington in August.