Blue Valley West senior center Matt Kleinmann, who this week finalized plans to walk on to Kansas University’s men’s basketball team, declined a similar offer to join North Carolina’s hoops squad.

“Early in the recruiting process, I’d talk to Jerod Haase every once in a while. He called after he got the (assistant-coaching ) job at North Carolina and asked if I’d like to walk on there,” the 6-foot-10 Kleinmann said.

“I thought about it a couple of days and thought to myself, ‘I don’t ever want to walk on at North Carolina, but if Kansas ever offered, that’d be tough to turn down.’ I talked to them (new KU coaches), got to know them well, and it ended up being an option.”

The 230-pound Kleinmann, who hopes to be 250 by the start of his freshman season, was contacted by Pacific, South Florida, Valparaiso and others.

“They recruited me at Illinois,” Kleinmann said of KU coach Bill Self’s staff two years ago. “I got a letter from coach Self and coach (Norm) Roberts.

“Coach Roberts saw me at the Big Time Tournament in Las Vegas. He knew I was a Kansas City kid, and he talked to coach Campbell (Donnie, BV West) about me.

“Later coach (Tim) Jankovich and Self said they were interested, and it was the first time I thought hard about it, in the fall.”

• Tough coach: Self has been on the road recruiting less than two weeks after having abdominal surgery.

“Coach Self just got done with his surgery and is on the recruiting trail. It’s crazy,” Kleinmann marveled at the energy of KU’s 41-year-old mentor.

• No red-shirt season planned: Kleinmann, who has been accepted to KU’s School of Architecture, doesn’t foresee taking a red-shirt.

“I’d just as soon get into it right away. I’ve never heard of a walk-on red-shirting unless there’s an unexplained reason,” said Kleinmann, who averaged 14 points and nine boards last year at BV West. “If I had a five-year degree, it’d give me another year. That’s the only reason I could see doing it.”

• More on Malik: Malik Hairston, a 6-5 prep senior from Detroit, tells the Detroit News he has not eliminated Michigan from his list of prospective schools after all. He still has a final group of KU, Ohio State, UCLA, Michigan, Oklahoma and Oregon.
• Giles not necessarily UW bound: C.J. Giles, a 6-11 prep senior from Seattle, is no longer “99 percent” intent on choosing Washington if he receives his release from Miami, his high school coach told the Seattle Times.

“He hasn’t pinned down one school,” Rainier Beach coach Mike Bethea said.

Giles would want to visit KU and perhaps Arizona, Duke and Georgia Tech.