All of the speculation might have been for nothing — at least that’s the case if you’re a Kansas Jayhawks fan. After months of conjecture, delayed announcements and reports that Bill Self’s squad was among the finalists for the services of highly rated recruit DeAndre Daniels, a source close to Daniels is now saying that KU is on the ‘backburner’ while other schools like Texas remain in the mix.
Adam Zagoria, who hosts the recruiting site known as ZagsBlog, reports that Daniels has been tracked down by Jim Calhoun of UConn and that it’s a possible fit given the open scholarship, the program’s reputation and the system Calhoun runs.
Zagoria’s source places KU as a fringe possibility because of a perception that Self doesn’t feature or develop wing players like the 6-8 Daniels. Apparently, those rumors pay no attention to recent lottery selections like Julian Wright, Brandon Rush or Xavier Henry. Still perception is everything, so if Daniels feels that way, then there’s nothing Self can do about that except try to explain himself.
At this point, the question is: would he want to? After all, it’s clear Daniels is most interested in his NBA career given the posturing toward a school that would feature him. It’s natural for a player to want to do so, but KU is Thomas Robinson’s for the taking next season, so perhaps Daniels isn’t a good fit after all.