While eyes across the country continue to be fixed on Michigan big man Hunter Dickinson and where he will wind up playing next season, hundreds of other college basketball players and programs continue to make moves outside of that bubble.
Two of the most recent pieces of new involving KU’s efforts in the transfer portal have come from a pair of guards who played back east last season.
Towson guard Nicolas Timberlake, who visited KU a couple of weeks ago and was at UConn over the weekend, posted to social media on Sunday that it was “decision week.”
The 6-foot-4 combo guard, who shot 41.6% from 3-point range last season, recently took visits to KU, UConn and North Carolina.
Timberlake did not clarify which day he would announce his decision, but it appears as if he has made up his mind and he likely will tease the date and official time before sharing his final choice.
Meanwhile, multiple reports on Sunday indicated that Georgetown point guard Primo Spears will visit KU early next week.
The Spears visit is slated to start on Tuesday, April 25. The 6-3, 185-pound guard who originally hails from Hartford, Connecticut, averaged 16 points, 5.3 assists and 3 rebounds in 32 games for the Hoyas last season.
Spears, who took a prep school year during the 2020-21 season, will be playing at his third college next season after starting his career at Duquesne in 2021-22 and moving to Georgetown last season.
As a result, he would either have to get a waiver to be eligible immediately or sit out the 2023-24 season after transferring for a second time.
Spears’ top choices appear to be KU, Florida, Arkansas and TCU.
Another potentially key target for Kansas, Stanford wing Harrison Ingram, who was expected to be in Lawrence this week, has moved his official visit to KU’s campus to April 27, according to JayhawkSlant.com.
Ingram, a 6-foot-7, 230-pound forward from the Dallas area, appeared in 33 games for the Cardinal this year, averaging 10.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game in 28 minutes per outing.
The 2022 Pac-12 freshman of the year who also was a member of the Pac-12’s all-freshman team and honorable mention all-Pac-12 overall, just finished his sophomore season at Stanford. As a consensus five-star recruit out of high school, Ingram was ranked No. 12 by Rivals, No. 16 by 247 Sports and No. 20 by ESPN as a high school senior.
After landing Ingram, Stanford coach Jerod Haase, a former KU guard, had this to say: “Harrison is extremely skilled and savvy. At 6-7, Harrison has the tools that should translate to the college game. His ball handling and playmaking skills for someone his size is a rarity. He can score from the perimeter, mid-range, and at the rim, and his versatility on the defensive end is what we look for in the recruiting process. He is an elite competitor and has seemingly won on every team he has been a part of.”
Joining Ingram in making a visit to Kansas this week is Texas freshman Arterio Morris, according to JayhawkSlant.com. The former 5-star prospect who also hails from the Dallas area, grew up in Memphis until moving to Dallas at age 13.
The 6-3, 190-pound guard appeared in 38 games for the Longhorns last season, averaging 11.7 minutes per game and scoring 175 points, with 25 steals and 20 assists.
Morris is ultra-athletic and plays with a high motor. After combining for just 14 minutes in two games against Kansas in the regular season, the UT freshman played 16 minutes against the Jayhawks in the Big 12 title game, scoring 8 points on 3-of-5 shooting, including two steals and one 3-pointer. For the season, he shot 33.3% from 3-point range.
In other portal news on Sunday, Syracuse big man Jesse Edwards revealed that he was headed to West Virginia next season.
The 6-10 center who averaged 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Orange last season, visited Morgantown over the weekend and announced Sunday evening that he was joining Bob Huggins’ squad for his final season of college ball.
Edwards had identified WVU, Kansas and Gonzaga as his three finalists, but most people paying attention seemed to think the Mountaineers were the pick all along.
Given KU’s interest in and hard pursuit of Dickinson, Edwards’ decision to go elsewhere does not exactly register as a big blow to KU’s plans.
