(photo. Kelly Kline)

Harrison Barnes is the best high school ballplayer in the country. As the 6-6 wing from Ames, Iowa, navigates through the hectic recruiting process such a title entails, he agreed to chronicle his thoughts for us during each of his five official visits. First up was UNC, then Oklahoma; now Barnes recaps his trip to Kansas for “Late Night in the Phog” during the weekend of Oct. 16. Here’s an excerpt:

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After seeing them practice and play, I can see why people say that they’re No. 1 in the country. They have a great point guard in Sherron (Collins), and I think Cole Aldrich is one of the best big men in the country. Then they’ve got a lot of great players and the Morris twins (Markieff and Marcus). I think they’ll get a lot of good production from Xavier (Henry) and Thomas Robinson, and I think Tyshawn Taylor is gonna surprise a lot of people this year too.

So Saturday night I had a chance to go over Coach (Bill) Self’s house for dinner, and it is by far the greatest house that I’ve ever seen in my life. I think that “MTV Cribs” needs to definitely go over there and shoot his house, because I truly got lost in it a few times. It’s hard to put into words how massive this house is.

When you walk through the gates — yes, there are gates — there’s a pool off to the side and there’s a little gazebo area with a little bar and a TV. Walk into the house and there’s a huge living room with a huge kitchen area. Off to the left is a dining room and then to the left of that is another big living room. Then when you walk downstairs there’s a lounge area with another bar and TV. Then you walk on the other side of the room and there’s another lounge area with a pool table, and then there’s another lounge area with a ton of recliners and another TV. Then if you go straight you’ll walk into a huge movie theatre area. I didn’t even get to see the upstairs.

Needless to say, this house was unbelievable! The food was great too… One of the coaches cooked some real good barbecue. That night the players took me out again. We had a great time just seeing the social atmosphere at KU.

You can read Harrison’s entire diary at HighSchoolHoop.com, where he talks about the Late Night event, the KU campus, and his thoughts going into his visit with Duke this weekend.