Why Bill Self was happy to see 3 Kansas basketball signees named McDonald’s All-Americans

LAWRENCE — While it's unclear at this point exactly what Kansas men's basketball's roster will look like next season, at least three of the Jayhawks’ newcomers will arrive with a notable honor in tow.

An announcement Tuesday revealed Gradey Dick, Ernest Udeh Jr. and MJ Rice have all been named 2022 McDonald’s All-Americans. The trio of high school prospects make up the majority of the signees in Kansas’ four-man, 2022 recruiting class.

“Well, I thought it was great,” said Jayhawks head coach Bill Self, reacting Friday to the news. “I thought it was well deserved. When you’re in college, and you play college basketball, the goal is each year, is, the Final Four. Because that’s what is publicized, road to the Final Four. This is a Final Four team, all that. That’s how it’s sold. Well, when you’re a high school player, everything is sold on — can you make the McDonald’s game? I mean, that’s the end result that you want to try to get to.

“So, to have three of our four recruits all make the game is exciting and certainly I’m happy for them. And I’m also hoping that they think that, ‘Even though I’m proud and glad I made it, it doesn’t mean much.’ Because once you get to college, what happened in your previous high school career isn’t going to help you compete at the next level. And what you do here — once you get to the pros, you’ve got to kind of do it all over again.”

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Self went on to add that Dick, Udeh and Rice will all understand that the work isn’t over. Self praised them again for their accomplishment, and highlighted the efforts their families have made over the years as well so the three of them were able to be in this position.

Kansas now has 49 signees who have earned this honor, dating back to Darnell Valentine in 1977. Current Jayhawks senior David McCormack was a McDonald’s All-American as well back in 2018, in a recruiting class that featured two others in Devon Dotson and Quentin Grimes.

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Dick, listed by Kansas as a 6-foot-7 guard, currently competes for Sunrise Christian Academy in Kansas. Udeh, a 6-foot-10 center, plays for Dr. Phillips High School in Florida. Rice, a 6-foot-5 guard, competes for Prolific Prep in California.

“BURGER BOYYYY,” Dick posted Tuesday on Twitter, in part.

“I need a happy meal,” Udeh posted Tuesday on Twitter, in part.

“God1st!” Rice tweeted Tuesday. “BLESSED BEYOND MEASURES! Kid from Henderson NC with a dream!”

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Of course, this wasn’t the only positive news to come this week for the program. Kansas also learned that two of its former players who are now in the NBA, Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid and Golden State’s Andrew Wiggins, will make up two of the 10 starters in the league’s all-star game. And to Self, that’s special and something to be even more proud of.

“(Wiggins)’s been … pretty monotone, very consistent, not highs, not lows, and that consistency has now paid off because he’s the exact same player now as he was when he’s playing with a team that didn’t win as much,” Self said. “And so, it’s great to see him being honored that way. And then (Embiid) is playing at a level that, maybe, he didn’t even play at last year when he was second in the league in MVP, whatever. So, I don’t know if he can win it this year, but he’s right in there in the mix. So, that’s awesome for those two guys.”

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Bill Self happy to see Kansas signees named McDonald’s All-Americans