Huge Additions for Kansas Basketball Programs during the Early Signing Period

While the majority of college sports fans are familiar with the football recruiting calendar (early signing period in December, "normal" signing period in February), the rest of the college athletics world looks at the beginning of November. That's when the early signing period for nearly every other sport is held, and multiple sports were able to take advantage to sign what is expected to be an impactful recruiting class.

To help navigate this early signing period, we have put together a summary for each of the sports at Kansas that have secured commitments during this period. So take a look for your sport of choice, and see who the newest members of the Jayhawk family are. Today, we'll start with both the men's and women's basketball teams, and then we'll wrap up with the rest of the sports tomorrow.

Men's Basketball

Bill Self and his staff have put together a class of three highly-rated recruits that together make up the 10th rated recruiting class on 247sports.com. He shared his excitement about these three players together, talking about the trio as a potential unit that would rival some of the greatest recent trios, like Frank Mason, Wayne Selden and Brannen Greene; or Mario Chalmers, Brandon Rush and Micah Downs. Which of these players most closely resemble which is those lineups is up for debate, but here is a quick bio for each player.

Elmarko Jackson - 6'3", 185lb guard from Marlton, NJ

As we noted back when Jackson committed to Kansas, his addition give the Jayhawks a strong combo guard with some solid ball-handling skills. He fits right into the mold of recent lead point guards under Bill Self, team-first guys who are just as content creating for others as he is for himself. He is ranked as the #18 recruit according to 247Sports and committed to Kansas over Texas, Miami, Notre Dame, Villanova and multiple other schools.

Chris Johnson - 6'4", 180lb guard from Fort Bend, TX

Known as a deep threat that can create his own scoring opportunities, Johnson transferred to Montverde Academy in Florida this season and has continued to grow on both sides of the floor. And while his offense is explosive, there is more hype around his defensive abilities. He is ranked #24 by ESPN100 and chose the Jayhawks over Arkansas, Auburs, Houston, Texas, Texas A&M, TCU and others.

Jamari McDowell - 6'4", 180lb guard from Manvel, TX

McDowell is a versatile perimeter player, able to be effective at any of the three perimeter positions. It has been said that he will remind fans of Christian Braun and Ochai Agbaji, and his high energy will be a huge asset. He is ranked #42 by 247Sports and picked Kansas over Texas A&M, Wake Forest and Xavier among other.

Women's Basketball

While Bill Self might have a higher rated recruiting class overall, but Brandon Schneider was able to use the recent success to get arguably his best class at Kansas. On Wednesday, he signed a five-star athlete in local guard S'Mya Nichols and one of the best European guards in Laia Conesa out of Spain. 

Laia Conesa - 5'10" guard from Barcelona, Spain

The Jayhawks continue to pull from around the world as they bring in a player with experience in international competition. She helped Spain to a silver medal finish in the 2022 FIBA U17 Women's Basketball World Cup, and she was the second leading scorer overall in the FIBA 3x3 U17 Europe Cup.

Schneider raved about her competitive nature and the versatility she has around the court, with a great passing ability and very active hands on defense. She chose Ohio State, Georgia Tech, Washington State and others.

S'Mya Nichols - 6'0" guard from Overland Park, KS

The 5th-ranked prospect at her position and 22nd-ranked overall, Nichols has been actively recruited by the Jayhawks since the seventh grade. She can guard all five positions and play four of them offensively. She is a versatile player with size, strength and athleticism that shows up all over the floor.

She has plenty of connections to Kansas, having played on the Missouri Phenom, an AAU program started by KU Associate Head Coach Terry Nooner. Her stepfather played football for Kansas from 1982-85. She chose Kansas over Tennessee, Arizona, Oklahoma, Missouri and ton of other schools.