Kansas Basketball 2013-2014: Jayhawk Recruiting Class Moves Up the Rankings

Rivals.com released its final recruiting rankings for the 2013 basketball class and Kansas was on the receiving end of some pretty good news. Heading into yesterday the Jayhawks had a very good class, but Bill Self has said he felt it was a little underrated. It would be interesting to see what Self things now.

Two future Jayhawks moved into the top 25 as five star rated recruits. Wayne Selden leads the class moving all the way up to no. 12 from the no. 26 spot after an impressive showing throughout the Spring all star circuit. Joel Embiid continues his meteoric rise from a relative unknown the 25th ranked overall prospect and a five star recruit. Embiid turned a lot of heads last week at the Jordan Brand Classic and earned an invite to the Nike Hoops Summit with several scouts and recruiting services calling him a future NBA lottery pick. I think many expected he had that potential, but some are making it sound as if that future could be sooner rather than later.

Brannen Greene dropped just a few spots from no. 24 to no. 29 but the 6th ranked small forward in the class has a tremendous upside with his length and what seems to be an unlimited shooting range. Conner Frankamp also dropped a few spots from no. 31 down to no. 34 but again I don't think you'll see any Kansas fans too concerned with that move based on what we've seen and what we think he can become for the Jayhawks. Both Greene and Frankamp have the ability to light it up from the outside and having that type of player at the Jayhawks disposal will be fun to watch.

Another big riser in the class has been Frank Mason. Mason is a point guard that fits the mold of tough, gritty point guards that have been a Bill Self preference for years. Mason jumped from no. 134 all the way up to no. 76 in the most recent rankings and he, like Embiid, continues to impress people for a variety of reasons. With the struggles at point this year, bringing in a player like Mason for the future is a good thing and there has been a lot of praise coming his way lately and a lot of it revolves around his toughness and his ability to get after it on the defensive end. Those are two things that will earn minutes with Bill Self.

So is this class still underrated in Bill Self's mind? Can another key piece or two still fall into place as Self has suggested? It's one of the most complete classes at Kansas in awhile and has a chance to kick off the next wave of Jayhawk success, now we get to wait until October to see.