Gary Parrish

LAWRENCE, Kan. -- "How sloppy was that," Bill Self asked just moments after putting his top-ranked Kansas Jayhawks through their first official practice.

My answer: Pretty sloppy.

But the talent level was still hard to miss.

No, the Jayhawks didn't spend Saturday morning looking like a team ready to beat everybody by 20 points; they seemed more likely to turn it over 20 times. That bothered Self, and he made it clear. But in time that stuff will get worked out, I'm certain, and what will remain is an awesome roster that's as deep as it is talented.

Seriously, the biggest problem facing Self isn't going to be sloppiness.

It's going to be trying to figure out a way to keep all of his players happy.

Remember, Kansas returns seven guys who played at least 15 minutes per game last season and adds two freshmen (Xavier Henry and Thomas Robinson) who are expected to contribute immediately. That means there are at least nine players who think they're getting major minutes, and I'm not even counting senior Mario Little or freshmen Elijah Johnson or Jeff Withey. So clearly, something has to give. And that's why Brady Morningstar's first-semester suspension might actually be a good thing for the Jayhawks, because what it basically did was free minutes for somebody else, among them the aforementioned Henry who seems on track to endure a growing pain or two.

"You do the same thing every time you get the ball," Self yelled during one drill after Henry turned it over. Right then, I was reminded that though the 6-foot-6 guard has a chance to be a one-and-done player based on his physical gifts, he's far from a lock for the 2010 NBA Draft despite what you might've heard elsewhere. Honestly, Henry has a ways to go, and I'm not even sure he's one of KU's top five players, at the moment. But the good news for Kansas fans is that Henry appears to be in great shape and the proper frame of mind, and to a man the staff raves about his character and willingness to learn.

If you thought he might be a prima donna, think again.

There's no evidence that such is or will be a problem with Henry.

"He's so coachable," said Kansas assistant Joe Dooley. "He's a 10 [on a scale of one to 10]. Just a great kid."

The Big 12 released its official preseason honors Thursday, and the first thing I noticed was that Texas' Avery Bradley won Freshman of the Year instead of Kansas' Xavier Henry. Truth be told, that's how I'd vote, too (as my All-America teams show). But I wasn't sure if the league's coaches would see things similarly. So I found that interesting.

Anyway, that's the first thing I noticed.

But the next thing I noticed was insane: Cole Aldrich and Willie Warren were not consensus All-Big 12.

Is it as silly as the Tim Tebow snub by Steve Spurrier?

Probably not.

But I'd love to hear somebody explain how Aldrich and Warren -- both of whom are CBSSports.com First Team All-Americans -- don't belong on the All-Big 12 team, because there is at least one coach who voted that way. Meantime, Sherron Collins and Craig Brackins were unanimous selections, and I'm OK with that. But not voting for Aldrich and Warren is inexplicable, I think.

Here's how the All-Big 12 team should look:

• G: Sherron Collins (Kansas)
• G: Avery Bradley (Texas)
• G: Willie Warren (Oklahoma)
• F: Craig Brackins (Iowa State)
• F: Cole Aldrich (Kansas)

Just to recap ...

The week started with Carl Henry telling the Kansas City Star that his older son, C.J. Henry, is just as good as future Kansas teammate Sherron Collins even though C.J. hasn't played organized basketball in four years and despite the fact that he has never been considered an elite prospect. Carl added that both his sons plan to be one-and-done prospects and hinted that the reason Xavier isn't already at Kansas is because he doesn't want to go to class. Then the proud papa told a Kansas City radio station Tuesday that both his sons -- C.J. Henry and McDonald's All-American Xavier Henry -- might actually choose to enroll at Kentucky instead of Kansas because that's what Xavier wanted to do all along. But by late Tuesdya Xavier was text-messaging folks that he really is going to enroll at Kansas, cross his heart and hope to die.

Unreal, right?

In fairness, there's still a decent chance this all ends well for the Henry family.

But it sure as hell isn't off to a great start.

(Either way, I'm back to vacation .)

Lance Stephenson is committed to Cincinnati .

Xavier Henry might go to Kentucky (instead of Kansas).

I'm still on vacation ... but it doesn't really feel like it today.

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Xavier and C.J. Henry both plan to enroll at Kansas, sources involved in the recruitment have confirmed to CBSSports.com.

Barring a late change of plans, a formal announcement is expected in the next 24 hours.

C.J. was a walk-on at Memphis last season, and Xavier, a high school senior, committed to play there under John Calipari. But when Calipari left for Kentucky, the recruitment re-opened, and now it appears to have ended with the Jayhawks landing, in Xavier, a consensus top five prospect who will strengthen their hold on the top spot in the preseason Top 25 (and one) . As for C.J., it's unclear whether he'll be granted a waiver to play next season at Kansas. But sources said he will request one and deal with the result, either way.

Xavier Henry's signed national letter of intent with Memphis features a clause that grants the McDonald's All-American a full release if John Calipari is not the school's coach when he is scheduled to enroll, a source familiar with the wording told CBSSports.com on Monday.

The source said Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans had similar clauses in their letters of intent.

What does this mean for Memphis?

It means Henry would be released without conditions if Calipari leaves for Kentucky, and there would be nothing preventing Henry from following Calipari to the SEC.

Beyond UAB's huge opportunity tonight when it plays Oklahoma at Madison Square Garden, there are other reasons for C-USA fans to be excited about the future of their league because things do seem to be trending upward. To be clear, it'll never be what it was, because that's not possible with Louisville, Marquette and Cincinnati gone. But what it can be is much better, and it seems it will be based on the way recruiting has gone and is going.

Consider: Two of the nation's top six prospects -- Xavier Henry and DeMarcus Cousins -- have committed to play in C-USA next season (at Memphis and at UAB), and no other league has two of the top 10. Does that mean C-USA is on the verge of leapfrogging the ACC? Of course not. But it's a start, and when you combine that with Marshall's signing of Hassan Whiteside (13th-ranked center), Rice's signing of Arsalan Kazemi (30th-ranked power forward) and UCF's signing of Keith Clanton (MVP of last summer's AAU National Tournament) it's pretty clear C-USA is in for a talent upgrade over the next year.

But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.

Tonight, the focus will be on UAB and Robert Vaden and a match-up with OU's Blake Griffin.

"Griffin is one of the best players in the country," said UAB coach Mike Davis. "But we think (Vaden) is one of the best in the country, too."

John Calipari became Memphis' all-time winningest coach early Tuesday.

Few hours after that, he won again.

"Next year I'm going to take my game to Memphis," Xavier Henry said at a morning press conference that was broadcast live on national television.

Henry is the nation's top-ranked shooting guard, a 6-foot-6 specimen who chose Memphis over Kansas to end a lengthy recruiting battle between the two schools that played for the national title last season. His pledge gives the Tigers a centerpiece to what is now a four-man recruiting class, and it'll allow Calipari to turn all of his attention towards John Wall (nation's top-ranked point guard) and Dominic Cheek (nation's third-ranked small forward), both of whom visited Memphis this past weekend and left many close to the program with the feeling that the Tigers might be on the verge of securing a class that could rank as the nation's best.

Here's an updated look at Scout.com's top 20 from the Class of 2009:

1. Derrick Favors (uncommitted)

2. John Wall (uncommitted)

3. John Henson (committed to North Carolina)

4. Xavier Henry (committed to Memphis)

5. Renardo Sidney (uncommitted)

6. DeMarcus Cousins (committed to UAB)

7. Lance Stephenson (uncommitted)

8. Kenny Boynton (committed to Florida)

9. Abdul Gaddy (committed to Washington)

10. Avery Bradley (committed to Texas)

11. Ryan Kelly (committed to Duke)

12. Daniel Orton (committed to Kentucky)

13. Jordan Hamilton (committed to Texas)

14. Alex Oriakhi (committed to Connecticut)

15. Dominic Cheek (uncommitted)

16. Wally Judge (committed to Kansas State)

17. Dante Taylor (committed to Pittsburgh)

18. Dexter Strickland (committed to North Carolina)

19. Mason Plumlee (committed to Duke)

20. Thomas Robinson (committed to Kansas)

Xavier Henry, a top five national prospect  in the Class of 2009, was involved in a car accident Wednesday and will remain hospitalized overnight, his father Carl Henry told CBSSports.com by phone.

Carl said his son "was feeling OK" but added that the 6-foot-6 shooting guard from Oklahoma City did suffer a fractured cheek bone that will keep him sidelined for at least two weeks. According to Carl, Xavier -- who is expected to sign with either Kansas or Memphis -- will have surgery on his face when the swelling goes down and then be fitted for a protective mask.

"He will have to play with the face mask," Carl said.

Meantime, Dan Wolken of The Commercial Appeal is reporting that Xavier's brother, Memphis freshman C.J. Henry, left practice "in a hurry" Wednesday and is now headed back to Oklahoma City. C.J. has been sidelined the past couple of weeks with a broken foot.

I've got a few emails about the C.J. Henry-to-Memphis story and wanted to clarify the situation as best I can.

The one thing people keep mentioning is how quickly this all happened, that it came out of nowhere. But I can honestly tell you this scenario was being bounced around more than a year ago. In other words, the first time I ever heard about the possibility of C.J. Henry and Xavier Henry both playing at Memphis was in July 2007. So while this might've all been finalized in the past week don't think for a second that it wasn't presented to the Henry family in some form for more than a year.

Anyway, the next question is about whether this guarantees Xavier Henry will sign with Memphis.

Guarantee?

Probably not.

Kansas will always be a viable option because Bill Self is one of the best recruiters in the business. But it has forever been assumed by industry sources that Xavier Henry would play for the Tigers, and I can't imagine the fact that his brother is now expected to be in school at the UofM will hurt in any way. So again, guarantee is a strong word. But if you've got to bet a paycheck on it, bet on it happening.

No wonder the Memphis staff has always seemed quietly confident about its chances of landing Xavier Henry.

The Oklahoman reported Tuesday that Xavier's older brother, C.J. Henry, will enroll at Memphis this week and immediately join John Calipari's basketball program. Consequently, it's difficult to imagine the Tigers not adding Xavier -- ranked fourth in the Class of 2009 by Scout.com -- in the coming months.

For those unfamiliar, the connection dates back two decades.

Calipari was an assistant at Kansas when Carl Henry -- C.J.'s and Xavier's father -- played for the Jayhawks and the Memphis coach has apparently used that connection to help lure C.J. from minor league baseball, where he spent the past four summers bouncing between the farm systems of the Yankees and Phillies after being a first-round draft pick in 2005.

As for his Xavier's future, C.J. insisted he and his brother will make independent decisions.

But this is obviously a sign that Memphis is in great shape with Xavier.

And the presumption is that he'll sign with the Tigers in November.

Nine high school basketball players left the United States today for Brazil, where they will compete against some of the top teams from South America on a Nike-sponsored trip. The Americans will visit three cities and play four games before returning next Saturday.

Here's a list of the participants:

(College situation is in parenthesis)

• Avery Bradley (uncommitted)
• Jamal Coombs-McDaniel (committed to Connecticut)
• Keith Gallon (uncommitted)
• Xavier Henry (uncommitted)
• Milton Jennings (committed to Clemson)
• Tommy Mason-Griffin (committed to Oklahoma)
• Alex Oriakhi (committed to Connecticut)
• Daniel Orton (uncommitted)
• Phil Pressey (uncommitted)

Two of those players -- Jennings and Pressey -- were subjects of columns at CBSSports.com this week.

You can read those here and here.

Pressey is the only Class of 2010 prospect competing.

Everybody else is from the Class of 2009.

Also worth noting is that the group will be joined on the trip by Brazilian Anderson Varejao of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Here's Wednesday's Dear Gary ...

Dear Gary: I just want to know where those five uncommitted guys (mentioned in Tuesday's Dear Gary) are favoring going. Can we get each's top five list in descending order? And the top five pizza toppings (also mentioned yesterday) is always fun.

-- UNCPhoenix

I'm not a big fan of top five school lists because there are almost never five schools really competing for a prospect at this point in the recruitment, regardless of what a prospect insists. Most of it is just posturing and there are usually only two or three schools still seriously involved and with a reasonable chance to secure a commitment. So rather than supply a list that you can get anywhere I'll give you my best guess on where those five players will land, and we'll look back on this someday and see how I did, whether I'm really as smart as I think I am or really as dumb as some of you think I am.

Without further ado, here you go ...

1. John Wall
My guess: Baylor
My reason: Package deals usually go as planned.

2. Derrick Favors
My guess: Georgia Tech
My reason: He wants to stay in the state, and Georgia Tech is the best in-state program.

3. Xavier Henry
My guess: Memphis
My reason: Most figured this would be done last month, and it would've been if not for Kansas doing a great job dragging it out. Either way, the thought here is that John Calipari will ultimately succeed (despite what happened last time Memphis let the Jayhawks hang around too long).

4. Kenny Boynton
My guess: Florida
My reason: Boynton is very familiar with the Florida program and was even on campus last week. Duke, Texas, Georgia Tech and Memphis remain in the picture. But my money is on the in-state school to land the in-state star.

5. John Henson
My guess: North Carolina
My reason: He committed months ago.

Anyway, now let's move on to the important stuff: Pizza toppings!

Here's a useless fact about yours truly: I delivered pizzas all through college, first for Pizza Hut and then for Papa John's. I was pretty amazing at it, could get a pie somewhere in 30-minutes-or-less in my sleep. In the process, I ate pretty much every kind of pizza you can imagine, even a pizza with anchovies on it. Honestly, they weren't bad. But they weren't good either and there's no way in hell they're making GP's Top 5 Things to Put on a Pizza.

As promised, here's the list ...

-- GP's Top 5 Things to Put on a Pizza --

1. Cheese

Don't ever forget the obvious. Cheese is crucial to a good pie.

2. Barbeque

I know this is unconventional, but the stuff is really good. Just trust me. Try it.

3. Onions

Onions are awesome.

4. Jalapenos

Great to eat, terrible to put on your eyeball. So try to avoid that. I put a jalapeno on my eyeball once. It burned just as you might imagine.

5. Garlic Sauce

Have you tried this stuff? You can get it pretty much anywhere now, and it really is heaven. I have to order extra garlic sauces every time because I'll just pour that stuff all over the place. I'm considering using it to replace milk in my morning cereal, it's so good. So next time you order, make sure to order garlic sauce. And, of course, don't forget to tip your drivers well. They're working hard, you know.

Here's Tuesday's Dear Gary ...

Dear Gary: I know it's the slow period for college basketball, and I really do enjoy (most) of your articles. But could you do something on another player besides John Wall? Yeah, he's the No. 1 unsigned prospect. Yeah, he's been involved in some alleged shady dealings. But come on. Can you do a top 10 list?  Or a top 5 list?  I'm very pro-list.  I think most other readers would be too. Keep on keepin' on.

-- Gregg

Jeez.

I've written exactly one column about Wall in my entire life-- plus posted about him in the blog here and there -- and now I'm getting ridiculed, and the request is for lists. Tough crowd, I guess, particularly when you consider Wall is not only the "No. 1 unsigned prospect" but the best high school prospect in the country and, like you said, in the middle of "some alleged shady dealings" -- some of which were uncovered by CBSSports.com last week.

He's kind of a big deal, you know?

(Especially in August when everything else is pretty quiet.)

But fine. You want a list? I'll give you a list because, long as we're being honest, I like lists too ... mostly because their simple (to put together) and quick. So how about a list of, say, the top five prospects in the Class of 2009?

We'll call it GP's Top 5 in 2009 (because I can't think of a better name right now).

(You'll never guess who is No. 1.)

1. John Wall (uncommitted)
2. Derrick Favors (uncommitted)
3. Xavier Henry (uncommitted)
4. Kenny Boynton (uncommitted)
5. John Henson (committed to North Carolina)

Feel free to discuss.

And if you want another list in Wednesday's Dear Gary, just let me know.

I'm leaning towards GP's Top 5 Things to Put on a Pizza, but I'll do whatever.

AKRON, Ohio -- The word in recruiting circles was that Xavier Henry planned to announce his college destination this week at the LeBron James Skills Academy, and I'm here to report that the word was indeed true. Henry absolutely planned to announce his decision. But those plans have since changed and Henry has actually expanded his list of possible schools.

"I was going to make an announcement this week about where I'm going to college, but then I found out I'm still not sure," Henry, the best player at this camp, told me Sunday in between games. "I talked it over with my mom and dad and now I'm not really sure where I want to go."

Henry was down to Kansas and Memphis, and he's visited both schools. He said the new plan is to finish the summer circuit and then visit Texas and UCLA before making a decision between those four programs, though sources still insist it'll likely come down to Kansas and Memphis -- just like last season's national title game -- which is why Bill Self and assistant Joe Dooley were in the stands watching Henry on Sunday right beside John Calipari and assistant Josh Pastner. The four coaches actually sat together and talked throughout, all while hoping they can edge their counterparts for a 6-foot-6 guard capable of leading either school to the 2010 Final Four.