Top basketball recruit Tyran Stokes commits to Bill Self and Kansas over fellow blueblood Kentucky
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Tyran Stokes, the consensus No. 1 men’s basketball recruit for next season, announced his commitment to Kansas on Tuesday, ending a long, drawn-out recruitment that hinged on everything from who his coach would be to what sneaker he would be wearing.
Stokes made the announcement during “Inside the NBA” on ESPN. The 6-foot-7 forward from Ranier Beach High School in Seattle has long been consider the top prospect in his class. With an uncanny ability to drive to the basket, Stokes scored 63 points in a game against West Seattle this past season, and he was one of the stars of the McDonald’s All-American, putting up 12 points and nine boards in leading the West team to victory.
“Honestly it’s been a long process, ever since I got my first offer, I think going into high school,” he said. “Ever since then it’s been having like, college coaches talking to me, having good relationships with different coaches. It takes a lot.
” Stokes had trimmed his list to Oregon, Kansas and Kentucky, but the Ducks recently dropped out of the running, leaving the race for the likely one-and-done prospect a showdown between two of college basketball’s bluebloods. “Rock chalk, man. Rock Chalk,” Stokes said.
The Jayhawks, who landed the nation’s top-ranked recruit a year ago in Darryn Peterson, had been considered the favorite ever since Stokes visited campus about a year ago. But one of the questions was whether Stokes, who signed a multi-year NIL deal with Nike last year, would play for one of the flagship schools of its biggest rival, adidas. There also was the question of whether Jayhawks coach Bill Self would return for another season amid several health issues in recent years.