Kansas basketball coach Bill Self reiterated Tuesday afternoon that he's hopeful big men Billy Preston and Silvio De Sousa will be available for duty during the Big 12 portion of the 2017-18 season.
Yes, he's hopeful the two will take the court for KU, but again, as of Tuesday, there's nothing's official yet regarding the status of either player.
"I would say we are (hoping they can play in conference games)," Self told The Star Tuesday afternoon. "Hopefully we can start preparing that way the 26th. We'll know about Silvio for sure by then. Billy I hope so (by then). Silvio ... I think we'll know in a couple days for sure."
De Sousa, a 6-foot-9 senior forward from IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., said Tuesday he had one test to take this week prior to graduation from IMG on Friday.
Self said after Monday's game against Omaha, "we feel really good," about De Sousa's performance on a recent standardized test. De Sousa's test score must be matched against his performance in core courses with a certain test score needed for him to be eligible for NCAA competition second semester. There's a chance he could arrive at KU shortly after graduation, certainly in time for KU's game against Texas on Dec. 29 in Austin.
"It's coming to a head. We should know something by the end of the week for sure," Self said. "It's all organized (for NCAA clearinghouse to examine materials)."
What needs to happen is De Sousa's semester grades at IMG need to be turned in to the clearinghouse and the eligibility center will ultimately make a determination on eligibility as they do with all student-athletes _ KU's hope sooner rather than later.
As far as Preston ... the 6-10 freshman has not played in a game this season as the NCAA looks into the financial picture surrounding a car he's been driving on campus this school year.
"Hopefully it (information on the case) is in the proper people's hands," Self said, not specifically saying the NCAA. "That is coming to a point we will know pretty soon as far as what the next move is because our people have worked hard on it (looking into the situation). Certainly I think it's close to being ... I don't know if a decision is close to being made but everybody having the information needed to make a decision."
After Monday's game, Self said Preston and De Sousa would not be available for Thursday's game against Stanford in Sacramento, Calif.
"Hopefully this is the last game we have to play this small," he said of the Stanford contest.
On Tuesday, Self told Jon Rothstein of FanRag Sports: "Billy's situation is going to sort itself out sooner rather than later. I'm preparing with the idea that we're going to have both of those guys for the Big 12 and if we have both of those guys for the league then I really like our team because we're going to be able to be big. Right now, we're always playing small and if we take Udoka (Azubuike) out of the game, then we're really small. But yes, I'm preparing with the idea that we're going to have both of those guys. Even if we have one, we're bigger than we are now."
