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Cliff Alexander commits to Kansas

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Kansas missed out on Jalil Okafor and Tyus Jones on Friday afternoon, but the Jayhawks landed themselves a pretty solid consolation prize: Cliff Alexander.

Alexander is the No. 4 player in the Class of 2014. A 6-foot-8 power forward, Alexander is athletic, a strong and powerful kid with long arms that physically abuses the rim when he dunks and attacks the glass unlike anyone else in class.

Alexander is a Chicago native and picked the Jayhawks over both DePaul and Illinois. Memphis was still on Alexander’s list when he made his decision, but there wasn’t much momentum for the Tigers in the final weeks of his recruitment.

And, in this video making the rounds, Illinois fans got a tease when Alexander reached for an Illini hat at first, before realizing he actually hadn’t grabbed a KU hat.

Alexander will join 6-foot-7 Kelly Oubre, a Houston native, in the Jayhawk’s 2014 recruiting haul, which should be enough to keep Kansas in the national title discussion heading into the 2014-2015 season, particularly is they get two of Wayne Selden, Perry Ellis and Joel Embiid back.

Ironically enough, Bill Self probably shouldn’t get all of the credit for landing Alexander. Neither should any of his assistants. You see, Alexander’s girlfriend is Caelynn Manning-Allen. Manning-Allen is a freshman on the Kansas women’s team this season. I wonder just how much of a role that played in Alexander’s decision, but it certainly couldn’t have hurt the Jayhawk’s chances.

Here Eric Bossi, a Rivals recruiting analyst, with a breakdown of Alexander: “Alexander is a physically intimidating power player. He uses his strength, long arms and attacking nature to go right at the rim. He can make jump hooks and is developing touch to eight feet. Perhaps his biggest strength is his rebounding. Alexander grabs rebound above the rim and often snatches them away from opponents.”