Top 25-rated HS senior adds Kansas Jayhawks to hoops list after summer overseas

Niko Bundalo, a 6-foot-11, 215-pound high school senior power forward out of Prolific Prep in Napa, California, has included the Kansas Jayhawks on his list of nine potential destinations for playing college basketball.

Bundalo — he attended Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, Ohio last school year — earlier this month revealed a final eight of Kentucky, UConn, Michigan State, North Carolina, Ohio State, Pitt, Texas and Xavier.

On Tuesday, KU was added, upping his final list of prospective colleges to nine.

He’s set up campus visits to UConn (Aug. 31), MSU (Sept. 6), OSU (Sept. 21) and UNC (Oct. 4). He told 247sports.com he’s in the process of setting up a campus visit to KU, as well as Kentucky.

“I think the opportunity at Kansas is really unique and I think that my playing style fits them well,” Bundalo told 247sports.com. “I hadn’t really had the opportunity to talk to the coaching staff in depth when I was in Serbia this summer because of time differences.

“I didn’t really know they (KU) wanted me as much as they did so now, after some conversation with me and my parents, I feel like they have a lot of genuine interest and I could really thrive there as a basketball player and a young man so that’s why I chose to add them.”

Bundalo, whose dad is from Serbia and mother is from Bosnia (Niko was born and raised in Ohio), is ranked No. 24 in the high school recruiting class of 2025 by ESPN.com and 247sports.com and No. 37 by Rivals.com.

This summer he accepted an invitation to play for his father’s home country in the FIBA Under 18 Eurobasket 2024 tournament. He spent the summer back home training with Serbia’s under-18 national team.

Earler, he had Alabama, UCLA, Virginia Tech, Virginia, Notre Dame, Texas Tech, Louisville, Nebraska and others on his list.

Of heading to Prolific Prep for his final year of high school basketball, he told Eric Bossi of 247sports.com: “I think being challenged every single day as a basketball player is something that I want to be a standard for me. I want to experience the oven is soon as I can. I want to get in there and play against the best players in the country and show that I can compete with these guys.”

At Prolific Prep Bundalo will be a teammate of consensus No. 3-ranked Darryn Peterson, who has a final list of KU, Kansas State, Ohio State, Kentucky, Louisville, USC, Washington and Arizona State.

“We are from the same area and I’ve known him for a while. I grew up playing against him so me and Darryn, that’s my guy. I think it could be a match made in heaven if you are talking about dynamic duos,” Bundalo told 247sports.com.

ESPN.com’s Paul Biancardi wrote of Bundalo: “He is a skilled and mobile forward who can score by finishing, shooting, and playing in the post. A lefty who can pass in tight spaces and out of the low post with vision, he has demonstrated the ability to rebound and push in transition. A multi-talented prospect.”