Ken Davis

DETROIT - Kansas coach Bill Self celebrated the one-year anniversary of his team’s national championship by leaving the Final Four and returning home to Lawrence. After accepting numerous national coach of the year awards this season, Self didn’t stick around Motown to watch Michigan State and North Carolina battle for the 2009 championship.

Like so many other Division I coaches, Self has already turned his thoughts toward the 2009-10 season.

And the Jayhawks certainly expect to be among the contenders for next year’s championship, depending on the outcome of some important decisions that will be made in the coming weeks.

Self will talk to NBA sources regarding the future of junior guard Sherron Collins and sophomore center Cole Aldrich. Kansas was eliminated by Michigan State in the round of 16, but through the regional finals, Collins was the tournament’s second-leading scorer (25.7 ppg) and Aldrich was the top rebounder (15.7).

“I’m going to gather information from Tuesday through Friday and hopefully we can visit soon after that,” Self said. “Then they can have information that is somewhat more factual than what they have now.

“Right now, it’s just a lot of people saying a lot of stuff. I told them before they think or lean one way, they should know. They both are having the time of their lives. But if it’s best for them to go now, then they need to go. If it’s time to exercise a little patience, then they need to do that. But we won’t know that for a few days.”

There have been reports that top 10 recruit Xavier Henry, who signed a letter of intent with Memphis, now wants to attend Kansas after coach John Calipari’s decision to move to Kentucky. Henry’s brother, C.J., may consider transferring from Memphis to Kansas. The Jayhawks are also involved with top recruits Lance Stephenson and John Wall.

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“We’ve added two good players [recruits Thomas Robinson and Elijah Johnson] to a team that, if we don’t lose anybody, could be pretty good,” Self said. “There’s a lot of unknown with us with Cole, Sherron and recruiting.”

The Jayhawks are not alone. Many programs are awaiting decisions from players still evaluating their NBA draft status. And the recruiting picture may not become clear until the coaching carousel stops spinning. It’s difficult to offer an accurate forecast for college basketball until those decisions are made, but until more information is available NBCSports.com will go with Kansas as its preseason No. 1 pick.

Here’s who we see joining Kansas in the 2010 Final Four:

Syracuse
Coach Jim Boeheim has encouraged point guard Jonny Flynn to test the NBA waters. That’s OK as long as Flynn decides to come back. Flynn has developed into a star for college hoops. The game needs him back.

With Andy Rautins, Rick Jackson, Paul Harris, Arinze Onuaku and Eric Devendorf back, the Orange will have something special if Flynn returns.

Kentucky
With all that money Calipari is getting to coach the Wildcats, he really needs to produce. No honeymoon for Coach Cal. The last coach in Lexington missed the tournament and got fired after two years.

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With Jodie Meeks, Patrick Patterson and undetermined players who will follow him from Memphis or sign letters of intent, Calipari should win it all. But he’s never done that, has he?

Meeks stated Tuesday that he will declare for the NBA draft but not sign with an agent, meaning he could still change his mind and stay in school.

Wake Forest
Call this a wild hunch.

James Johnson may be leaving for the NBA, but the Demon Deacons are loaded with athletes and have so much potential. After a great start this season, Wake played like an immature team. The Demon Deacons will have all off-season to think about that. They will return highly motivated.

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