You just had a feeling this was coming. On Thursday, Duke was able to win a major recruiting battle, capturing the commitment of 5-star shooting guard Dame Sarr. For a little while, all signs were pointing to the Kansas Jayhawks signing the Italian sensation.
Sarr made his way to Lawrence for an official visit, but before he left town, he decided to wait on making a final decision. Duke stepped in and quickly changed his mind, which was a bummer. According to 247Sports' Travis Branham, Kansas was in the final stages of getting things done with Sarr and adding him to the 2025-26 roster. Instead, Jon Scheyer stepped in and changed everything:
Kansas basketball missing out on 5-star SG Dame Sarr is going to sting for a while
You're not alone if you're feeling a bit disappointed with how things went down here. The Jayhawks had Corbin Allen pledge to the Jayhawks recently, but a lot of fans had their eyes on Sarr at the position. Seeing him remove the pictures from his KU official visit from his social media was one thing, but now seeing him announce he's Durham-bound feels like a gut punch.
It's not all rain and gloom for the Jayhawks, however, as the team remains the favorite when it comes to 5-star power forward Darrion Williams. The former Texas Tech standout took his name out of the NBA Draft process and he's reportedly focused on three schools: Kansas, NC State and Ohio State.
He just took his official visit to meet with Bill Self and his staff too, but he is yet to shut things down. Both the Wolfpack and Buckeyes will look to get him on campus as soon as possible. Should Williams end up choosing the Jayhawks, it will soften the blow of Kansas losing out on Sarr.
Knowing Jacque Vaughn is on board as an assistant coach is also something that plenty of people are going to be talking about for a little while, as the legendary Jayhawk is back home. With all of that said, losing out on Sarr in the way Kansas and Self did is disappointing on so many different levels.