ESPN Men's Basketball

So, you think recruiting is easy for the big boys in college basketball?

Not quite.

Want pressure? In the midst of preparing for another Final Four run, Kansas coach Bill Self needs to also haul in an impact recruiting class this year.

Seriously.

The Jayhawks lose four seniors, including starters Wayne Simien, Aaron Miles, Keith Langford and reserve Michael Lee. They're also planning as if sophomore J.R. Giddens is going to declare for the NBA draft. That's four starters and five of their top eight players.

Do you think the Jayhawks needed help?

"It was imperative that we had a good class to keep the program from taking a step backward from a talent standpoint," Self said in advance of the early-signing period that begins on Wednesday and runs for one week.

The Jayhawks are expected to sign five-star talents (according to Dave Telep's Scouthoops.com) power/wing forward Julian Wright (Flossmoor, Ill.), small forward Micah Downs (Bothell, Wash.) and point guard Mario Chalmers (Anchorage, Alaska).

"This is as important a class as [we've] had in Kansas in recent memory," Self said. "We basically have no experienced upperclassmen coming back (assuming Giddens leaves)."

Those are some weighted words from Self. Surely there have been more important classes in Kansas under Roy Williams, like the one that included Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich. But the Jayhawks haven't faced then potential "clean house" effect that could hit the program next season.

Sure, the Jayhawks have a solid core of players returning with 2005-06 sophomores Russell Robinson, C.J. Giles, Darnell Jackson, Sasha Kaun and Alex Galindo anchoring the team, but Wright is a potential freshman star. Downs and Chalmers will have a role, but not nearly as pronounced.

Kansas sold these three players on playing right away. They didn't have to tell the aforementioned current freshmen, save Robinson, that they would get significant minutes. Robinson apparently is a lock for at least 15 minutes a game this season as Miles' backup. But the rest of the freshmen crew on this squad understands they'll be playing subordinate roles. Giles, Jackson and Kaun could share a starting role next to Simien, but they're not expected to score -- defending and rebounding are their chores.

"We had to sign immediate help in this class," Self said.

The beauty of the class of 2005 is that there aren't as many NBA players in the group. There might only be a few that even entertain the thought of declaring for the draft. Kansas, like a number of other schools, could find impact players without the fear of fighting off the NBA.

While other schools also picked off a few of the major players in the class like North Carolina (Tyler Hansbrough), Duke (Josh McRoberts), Georgia (Louis Williams), Mississippi State (Monta Ellis) and Alabama (Richard Hendrix), there are five other schools besides Kansas that had intriguing recruiting seasons worth noting as the signing period draws closer.

The Huskies are coming off a national title and putting two juniors at Nos. 2 and 3 in the NBA draft. So, how did the Huskies do? They landed all three players they sought: center Andrew Bynum (Metuchen, N.J.), small forward Marcus Johnson (Los Angeles) and power forward Jeff Adrien (Wolfeboro, N.H.).

"The three kids we settled on in July are the three we got," said Connecticut assistant coach Tom Moore. "Coach (Jim) Calhoun is the best from July 1 to Nov. 1 of locking into who he wants."

Moore said Calhoun likes to have a larger pool of players to choose from at each position before he makes his play and likes to whittle down from the initial five or six players he is shown at each position. Being selective isn't always a luxury for most schools but when you're coming off a national title, it makes it a lot easier to lure talent.

"We're pretty comfortable going against anyone head-to-head in the country," Moore said.

The Huskies have no seniors but expect at least one of their three potential NBA talents -- sophomores Charlie Villanueva and Josh Boone and freshman Rudy Gay -- to declare for the NBA draft after this season.

The Cowboys were in an interesting predicament. They were, like Kansas, in desperate need of impact players. They were also recruiting, for the first time, knowing that Sean Sutton would take over for his father, Eddie Sutton, even though a set date hasn't been determined.

They didn't miss a beat. The Cowboys will sign, according to Sean Sutton, their best class in Eddie Sutton's 14-year tenure in Stillwater. The Cowboys nabbed five-star players in point guard Byron Eaton (Dallas) and small forward Gerald Green (Houston), as well as shooting guard Terrel Harris (Garland, Texas) and small forward Roderick Flemings (DeSoto, Texas).

Oklahoma State loses seven seniors off this season's team.

"The only returning perimeter players will be JamesOn Curry and Marcus Dove (next season)," Sean Sutton said. "We had to get really good perimeter players. Point guard was the biggest emphasis."

Sutton said opposing schools were using the uncertainty of a successor to his father against them in recruiting. Having that cleared up in this offseason, coupled with the Big 12 titles, Final Four berth and Tony Allen's first-round draft spot, made the Cowboys' pitch sing to recruits.

"We feel really good about the guys we got," Sutton said. "This could be the best class in terms of overall talent for us here."

The Longhorns had a tough chore -- to follow up one of the best recruiting classes in the country -- with another top-ranked one in 2005. But Texas has done a masterful job of late of securing top in-state talent.

"We needed a big-time perimeter player in this class," Texas assistant Rodney Terry said.

The Longhorns got their man in five-star small forward C.J. Miles (Dallas), beating out Georgia Tech, Kansas, North Carolina and Arizona. They also got shooting guard A.J. Abrams out of Austin. The Longhorns had a verbal commitment from center Theo Davis (Bayside, N.Y.) but he has since re-opened his recruitment.

The Longhorns lose scoring wings Kenny Taylor and Sydmill Harris off this season's team. Getting Miles ensures that the Longhorns will have a potential Final Four team next season with Miles joining point guard Daniel Gibson, P.J. Tucker, Mike Williams/Brad Buckman and LaMarcus Aldridge in a potential starting lineup.

The Huskies got the kind of recruiting class that elevates the program into Top 25 and elite Pac-10 status for the next few seasons. The Huskies are expected to sign, perhaps, their best class ever next week.

Washington got the two best local players to stay home in Seattle, landing five-star talents in small forward Martell Webster and power forward Jon Brockman. Webster could be a one-and-done player while Brockman likely will be a celebrated four-year player at Washington. The Huskies also nabbed a solid supporting four: point guard Justin Dentmon (Winchendon, Mass.), shooting guard Harvey Perry (Wolfeboro, N.H.), shooting guard Roburt Sallie (Laurinburg, N.C.) and power forward Artem Wallace (Toledo, Wash.).

The Cardinals are expected to sign seven players next week, but they only believe two are locks to make it to campus in the fall of 2005 -- small forward Terrence Williams (Seattle) and point guard Andre McGee (Moreno Valley, Calif.). The rest of the solid class could have its share of attrition, including the possibility the star of the group, five-star center Amir Johnson (Los Angeles), will declare for the NBA Draft.

The Cardinals are hoping that shooting guards Bryan Harvey (Compton, Calif.), Chad Millard (Wolfeboro, N.H.), center Jonathan Huffman (Birmingham, Ala.), and center Clarence Holloway (Chicago) are all eligible. But if that occurs and Johnson doesn't leave for the NBA, they will be one over the 13-scholarship maximum. The Cardinals are already banking on junior Francisco Garcia leaving for the NBA.

The approach of potentially oversigning isn't new. But it hadn't been done as much under the five-eight scholarship limitation that allowed a maximum of five newcomers to matriculate every fall, with no more than eight in two seasons. That rule was rescinded last spring, making it open season on oversigning to ensure against players not making it academically, transferring or leaving for the League. Kansas transfer David Padgett will be a part of the newcomer class in 2005 as well after sitting out this season as a redshirt.

The Cardinals know that if everyone comes, they can't keep each one happy. But the intention is to sign mix of a point, wings and frontcourt players to ensure the Cardinals are well-stocked going into the Big East in 2005.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com. His Weekly Word on college basketball is updated Fridays throughout the year.