NEWARK, N.J. — Kansas head coach Bill Self and assistant Joe Dooley made the most of their time in New Jersey.
Self spoke to a capacity crowd at the Garden State Coaches Clinic Friday afternoon at St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark. Other guest speakers included West Virginia coach Bob Huggins, Texas coach Rick Barnes and the human basketball brain that is Hubie Brown.
“We were fortunate enough to get one player from St. Patrick (Quintrell Thomas) and one from St. Anthony (Tyshawn Taylor),” Self told a crowd of some 500 or 600 coaches, referring to two of his talented freshmen. “They’ve both turned out to be pretty good. Hopefully, we’ll get one from St. Benedict’s and Coach (Dan) Hurley will help us out.”
Yet it is not a St. Ben’s player Self currently wants. He and Dooley, a St. Benedict’s alum, were scheduled to head over to Jersey City for a 4:45 workout to watch St. Anthony star Dominic Cheek, a 6-foot-5 wing ranked among the best in the nation.
Defending NCAA champion Kansas has three scholarships remaining and is involved with numerous elite players, including John Wall, Xavier Henry, Daniel Orton and Thomas Robinson.
The Kansas coaches recently had an in-home visit with Cheek, his uncle, Omari Knight, and St. Anthony head coach Bob Hurley.
Cheek is expected to take an official visit to Kansas Oct. 17 for “Late Night in the Phog.”
“I thought about it,” he said. “I might go out there.”
Cheek said he will finish up his in-home visits before finalizing his five officials. Hurley previously said Kansas, Villanova and Wake Forest would get officials.
“Those are the schools that have been with me since Day One,” Cheek said.
“After my home visits are done, then I’m going to pick five schools that I had good home visits with (for officials),” he added.
Indiana, Kansas, Seton Hall, Rutgers and Villanova have so far had in-homes, with Memphis Sept. 28 and Pittsburgh up Sept. 30.
UConn, Wake Forest and Tennessee are also in line for in-homes.
“Wake Forest and Tennessee, we’re scheduling that right now,” Cheek said. “I’m not sure when they’re going to come.”
“Wake Forest, they have been there with me from Day One, too. But they’ve been trying to set up visits, but I guess other schools already had set up their visits. Wake Forest might come next week.”
Cheek added that he considered taking an official last week to Tennessee for the Florida football game, but stayed in New Jersey to participate in a showcase event instead.
“I was but then I thought about it,” he said of the visit. “I don’t want to go out there and just rush that. That’s why I wanted them to come for a home visit first. It hasn’t been set up yet.”
MUNIRU TO INDIANA
With the commitment of 6-11-, 255-pound center big man Bawa Muniru to Indiana, it appears the Hoosiers are now out of the race for Cheek. Coach Tom Crean now reportedly has six commitments and five scholarships remaining.
