Kansas loses six key players from last season’s 35-3 team, four of whom were starters. The last thing Bill Self needs is for any of his six incoming recruits to miss out on playing time or potentially not be eligible to play this season.
That makes the new few weeks a little nerve-racking.
Freshmen Ben McLemore and Jamari Traylor attended classes for the first time on Thursday, but still haven’t been cleared by the NCAA to play this season. Freshman Braedon Anderson is waiting the OK to go to class and practice.
“I think it’s a situation we don’t like dealing with and know the NCAA doesn’t like, either, but they’ve got a job to do,” Self told the Lawrence Journal-World. “We did not anticipate having to go through this with these kids at all, but they (NCAA) brought up some points they wanted to look into. The process does take a little time.”
Anderson’s status might be known as early as today. McLemore and Traylor may take a bit. All three could play key role, though McLemore, a 6-4 wing, is particularly important because he’s a potential scorer on the wing, which in one thing the Jayhawks sorely lack for 2011-12.
Freshmen guards Naadir Tharpe and Mervyn Lindsay have been cleared, along with transfer Kevin Young.
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