Bill Self has done some great things during his tenure with Kansas basketball. These are his five best recruiting jobs since he arrived in Lawrence.
Bill Self is undoubtedly one of the greatest coaches in college basketball. Self has won two national championships, has 12 Sweet 16 appearances, nine Elite 8 appearances, and 15 Big 12 regular season titles.
While he is a fantastic coach on the court, he also has proven himself on the recruiting trail. Self has the ability to find a diamond in the rough and turn him into a Kansas Jayhawks superstar.
KU might not consistently get the top-10 recruits that Duke and Kentucky acquire — excluding new Jayhawk Hunter Dickinson — but Coach K and Calipari were never able to develop players like Self does.
These are the five most impressive high school recruiting jobs by the Jayhawks during the Bill Self era.
5. Landen Lucas (Ranked No. 239 in Class of 2012)
Landen Lucas was your typical bruiser-type big man. He came into KU not expecting to be a prime-time player on the roster. Lucas was a low-end three-star who eventually became a consistent starter for the Jayhawks.
During his 125 games played at Kansas, he finished with 702 rebounds. He also won a Big 12 regular season title in all five years of his career at the school. During his five years at school, the Jayhawks went 147-35, including a 75-3 record in Allen Fieldhouse.
Lucas was well respected by his teammates and is still involved in the Jayhawk community today. Landen Lucas is a prime example of a player that Bill Self developed, as it is unlikely he would have played professional ball if not for the Hall of Fame head coach.
As a senior, he averaged 8.1 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. Nobody expected him to become as vital to the Jayhawks as he was. Lucas was the anchor of the defense and the X-factor of the mid 2010s Jayhawks squads.
4. Marcus Morris (Ranked No. 113 in Class of 2008)
Marcus Morris was as tough as anyone in the country, and he and his brother Markieff created an environment that won basketball games at an exceptional rate. Although he wasn’t a top-rated recruit, he sure played like one. He thrived in the Allen Fieldhouse atmosphere.
Morris played on multiple teams that were the best in the country. It’s a bummer that he was never fully capable of winning a title with Kansas basketball.
On top of his high level of play, he dealt with numerous amounts of off-court struggles during his time at Kansas. He wasn’t always in a suitable mental space, and if it wasn’t for Bill Self, it might have gotten the best of him. Self himself even said that the Morris twins drove him crazy, but he was the only one who would keep them calm (via The Athletic, subscription required).
Morris, like all players on this list, was a true leader. Self set great examples of developing young players into elite talent with Morris, especially Thomas Robinson, who also went on to do great things at the university.
He could also shoot the three-ball, which gave him the upper advantage of comparing him with the other bigs that came after his time at the cathedral of college hoops.
Kansas beat out Villanova in his recruitment. Morris was in a stacked KU class that included Tyshawn Taylor, Markieff, Mario Little, and Travis Releford, but he was arguably the best to come out of the Class of 2008.
3. Andrew Wiggins (Ranked No. 1 in Class of 2013)
You might wonder why Wiggins is here. Self did not need to develop the kid who came into college proclaimed as “Maple Jordan.” However, nobody expected him to go to Kansas. Self’s coaching staff beat out the best programs in the country and got the best recruit in KU basketball history.
Wiggins came into Kansas with high expectations, but the caliber he played at during his lone year at Kansas was off the charts. As a freshman, he was a part of the All-America Second Team, the Big 12 Freshman of the Year, and was a member of the All-Big 12 first team. Although his college career ended in a disappointing fashion, he was a terrific player with the Jayhawks.
Wiggins was so productive offensively that he broke the KU freshman single-scoring record with 597 points, averaging 17.1 points per game. Wiggins will go down as one of the best one-and-done players Kansas has ever had.
Kansas is always included in talks for top recruits, but it is rare for someone as highly coveted as Wiggins was to come to Lawrence.
On top of all his success at the university, he is also now an NBA Finals champion, as he won with the Golden State Warriors in 2022.
2. Ochai Agbaji (Ranked No. 139 in Class of 2018)
Ochai Agbaji did something that only a few Jayhawks get the opportunity to do: be the leader of a national championship-winning team. Ochai’s offensive abilities led toward a banner year for his team, averaging 18.8 points per game as a senior. The Kansas City native was heavily recruited by Self, and it paid off in the long run.
He entered his collegiate career as a redshirt but eventually became a key contributor after Lagerald Vick disappeared. Due to an abundance of injuries from his fellow teammates during his early years as a Jayhawk, he got the opportunity to grow into an NBA-level player.
Agbaji will go down as an underdog. Nobody thought he was going to be a first-round draft pick after he graduated, and nobody ever thought he would lead a Bill Self roster to cut the nets down in New Orleans.
The current Jazz guard is an example of what grit is. Without Ochai as a member of the Jayhawks, they wouldn’t have had a sixth national championship. His natural competitiveness and maturing as a college basketball player were one of the best stories in sports in 2022. He inspired fellow high schoolers all over the country to be as motivated as he was to accomplish a lifelong dream. It is one of Self’s greatest recruiting jobs ever.
1. Frank Mason (Ranked No. 116 in Class of 2013)
Mason was included in a recruiting class with three five-stars and the No. 1 player in the country. Who would have thought that a three-star guard who was less than 6-feet tall would be the best player there?
All the attention went to Andrew Wiggins, and the four others rated higher than him. Bill Self took him because he needed somebody else to take a scholarship.
That underestimate became a Wooden Award winner, and he will forever be considered a Jayhawk legend.
He gave Bill Self a new way to play basketball in Kansas, and he has been considered an inspiration for undersized point guards like himself. He has influenced many after his playing time to commit to Kansas and develop under Self’s hands. A year after Mason came Devonte’ Graham, who was also a consideration for this list.
Bobby Pettiford, Devon Dotson, Dajuan Harris Jr., and many more wouldn’t have even thought about being a Kansas Jayhawk if they never saw what Frank Mason did at the university, hence why he’s one of the guys that made it on this list. He created an environment for players like himself to strive in a successful basketball program.
The recruitment of Frank Mason III is unquestionably Bill Self’s best during his time at Kansas.