KU basketball included on list of 6 schools for top-20 prospect in class of 2025

Top 20-ranked high school basketball player Tounde Yessoufou has narrowed his list of schools to Kansas and five other schools, he revealed on social media site X.

Yessoufou, a 6-foot-5, 215-pound guard/small forward from St. Joseph High School in Santa Maria, California, will attend either KU, Arizona State, Baylor, Kentucky, UConn or USC.

On Thursday he sliced Arizona, UCLA, Tennessee and Washington from his list of schools.

Yessoufou — who has visited Baylor and USC and is on an official visit to Arizona State this weekend — is scheduled to visit KU on Oct. 4-6. He will visit UConn (Sept. 20-22) and Kentucky (Oct. 11-13).

Yessoufou is ranked No. 17 in the recruiting class of 2025 by Rivals,com, No. 18 by ESPN.com and No. 27 by 247sports.com.

He averaged 32.3 points, 10.2 rebounds, 2.6 steals and 2.1 assists per game last season at St. Joseph High. He hit 57.5% of his shots. He averaged 21.8 points per game at the summer season-ending Peach Jam AAU Tournament.

“I’ve been talking a lot with coach (Kurtis) Townsend. He’s a great guy, one of the guys who has really recruited me the most honestly,” Yessoufou told on3.com. “Seeing Bill Self coming to my Section 7 games, twice, I had never seen him in person, so it meant a lot for me to see the head coach take the time to come and watch me. Obviously, he is one of the great coaches in basketball, too and the atmosphere is great there. So I am excited to get to the campus and see what the relationship is like with the team.”

Of his ultimate decision, he told Kentucky.rivals.com: “For me, it is more about personality, and how I fit in. All of this recruiting process is fun, but at the end of the day it is more about where you feel at comfortable and you fit in as a family. For me really there is no favorite, because they all have a style of playing.”

Yessoufou commented on his interest in KU to Zagsblog.com, saying: “Everybody loves the Jayhawks out there. I hear it’s a great campus and great atmosphere to be in. I’m looking forward to doing the visit with them.”

Of Yessoufou, Rob Cassidy of Rivals.com wrote: “Few players get downhill like the explosive and muscled-up Yessoufou who is a certified weapon in transition and coming off screens. So while he has work left to do on his long-range jumper, he’s become a dominant force in most other aspects of the game.”

Yessoufou is new to the game of basketball. A native of Nigeria, he came to the USA three years ago.

“Nobody in my family ever played basketball,” he told Zagsblog.com. “I just saw it and then I loved it and decided to put my heart into it.”

He flew his mother out to watch him play at Peach Jam, the first time she’s ever seen her son play basketball.

Of his game, he told Zagsblog.com: “I can attack the basket and bring power on offense and defense,” he said. “Basically anything the coaches want me to do, I’ll do it. I can shoot it a little bit, but my main thing is getting other teams in foul trouble.”

KU will entertain one prospect this weekend. He’s AJ Dybantsa, a 6-9 forward from Utah Prep Academy in Manti, Utah. Dybantsa, who visited K-State last weekend, is the consensus No. 1 player in the class of 2025.

The Brockton, Massachusetts, native also will travel to North Carolina on Sept. 20-22, Alabama on Sept. 27-29, Baylor on Oct. 4-6 and BYU on Oct. 11-13. He also is considering Auburn.

Others in addition to Yessoufou to visit KU in coming weeks/months: Sebastian Williams-Adams, 6-7, 235 small forward, Saint John’s High School, Houston (Sept. 13-15) and Hudson Greer, 6-7, 190 small forward, Montverde (Florida) Academy (Nov. 1-3).

The country’s consensus No. 3 prospect, Darryn Peterson has already visited KU. The 6-5, 195 senior combo guard from Prolific Prep in Napa, California, this week cut his list to KU, Kansas State, USC and Ohio State.

KU also is planning on setting up a visit date for Niko Bundalo, 6-10, 215 senior formerly of Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, Ohio also at Prolific Prep in California.

A week ago, the Jayhawks entertained prospects Eric Reibe and London Jemison. Reibe is a 7-foot-0, 230-pound senior forward from Bullis School in Potomac, Maryland. Jemison is a 6-8, 170 senior small forward from St. Thomas More in West Hartford, Connecticut