Kansas University basketball recruiting

Kansas basketball coach Bill Self has talked often about the importance of the KU football program, both for the overall health of the university and for his basketball program.

Because so many key recruiting weekends take place during football season, Self has expressed his desire for Memorial Stadium to be rocking when he and his staff bring visitors to town, many of them elite, high-profile, top-tier talent.

One such player will be in town this weekend, and, thanks to the celebration of the 10-year reunion of the 2008 Orange Bowl championship that is slated for Saturday’s game, he figures to see a better football atmosphere than most basketball recruits have during the past six or seven seasons.

Whether that, combined with what he sees and learns about the KU hoops program, will be enough to entice five-star guard Immanuel Quickley to pick Kansas or not remains to be seen. But it certainly cannot hurt and the scene at Memorial Stadium on Saturday night figures to be as good as any we’ve seen since the men who are being honored that night were lighting up scoreboards and opponents on a regular basis.

As for Quickley, his KU visit kicks off a stretch of three consecutive weeks in which he will visit his three remaining finalists. After visiting Lawrence this weekend, the 6-foot-4, 180-pound point guard from John Carroll High in Bel Air, Md., will travel to Miami (Fla.) next week and visit Kentucky the week after.

Quickley currently is ranked in the No. 9 overall slot in the 247 Sports composite rankings and No. 10 in the 2018 class by Rivals.com.

The 247 Sports crystal ball prediction lists Kentucky as the 100 percent favorite at the moment. But it’s worth noting here that Maryland was a 100 percent crystal ball pick for 2018 big man Silvio De Sousa less than a week ago and, as you all surely know by now, De Sousa committed to Kansas earlier this week.

So you never really know how these things are going to play out. Is Kentucky the favorite? Probably. Is KU a long shot? Perhaps. But as one of Quickley’s three finalists and with a shot to sell him on the Kansas campus, you have to think KU is at least genuinely in the mix until otherwise noted.

Kansas wassup?!!!

Matt Scott, of 247 Sports site TheShiver.com, recently wrote that it’s his belief that Quickley will make a decision shortly after his visit to Kentucky.

In early August, about three weeks before Quickley named KU, Kentucky and Miami as his final three, Scott provided this detailed look at the Jayhawks’ pursuit of the point guard.

“Quickley is a lethal guard that is explosive with the ball and great at setting up his teammates,” Scott wrote. “He has a good pull up game, can hit shots from behind the arc and is strong with both hands. And, yes, he’s quick too…. KU’s chances are low here. They could improve with his visit to Kansas, but with two visits immediately following his trip to Lawrence it seems that KU is on the outside looking in.”

Add to that tidbit the fact that Quickley, himself, once called Kentucky the leader for his services, and it seems like it’s going to take a heck of a weekend for the Jayhawks to pull Quickley all the way into their corner.

Still, he will be on campus and the KU coaches and players — along with the football team and Memorial Stadium crowd — will have a couple of days to put their best foot forward and show Quickley why Kansas is the place for him.