Deng Gak was initially hoping to make a college decision today (Monday), but after tripping to Florida and Kansas in recent days he decided to hold off.
“I’m still deciding whether I’m going to decide early or late,” he said Monday by phone. “My timetable to decide was today [Monday] but I don’t think I’m going to. I think I’m going to wait a little bit.”
The 6-foot-10 big man from Blair (N.J.) Academy and the PSA Cardinals took his official visit to Kansas over the weekend along with Norman (OK) North point guard Trae Young. Freshman big man Udoka Azubuike was Gak’s host.
“Kansas was great,” Gak said. “All the players were real cool. The community there is great. I had fun.”
Kansas has produced a ton of talented bigs over the years, and Gak could follow in their footsteps.
“Coach [Bill Self] said I would definitely be a part of the rotation the first year, but my impact might not be that big my first year; it might be my second year because of players ahead of me,” he said.
Meantime, Young was coming off a recent visit to Kentucky for “Big Blue Madness,” and is considering Oklahoma, among others.
“Trae was cool,” Gak said. “He didn’t really talk about where he was thinking of going that much, but he looked like he enjoyed it.”
Kansas remains high on Gak’s list, along with Florida and Miami.
“It’s probably just the three schools I’ve visited right now,” he said. “Kansas is definitely up there, I’m really considering them.”
The Florida visit was also a good one. Gak’s older, Gorjok Gak, is a 6-11 freshman.
“The Florida visit was awesome,” he said. “The campus was huge. I think I could play if I go to Florida. My brother is there, obviously. We’ve talked about playing together, but we’ve also talked about playing against each other so I’m still thinking about it.”
Gak visited Miami in September on his first official.
Asked what he liked, he said, “Besides the fact that it’s Miami?”
“Coach L [Jim Larranaga] I know he’s a great coach, but he’s a great guy,” he said. “He really cares about his players, like the whole team is really close. I could see myself really fitting in and playing a lot my first year.”
A decision could come at any time.
“I’ll probably have a date,” he said.
