When Tre White and Melvin Council Jr. made their late return to Kansas, the ripple effects went beyond the rotation. It also sent two freshmen back to the jersey rack.
KU had already handed out Nos. 3 and 14 for the season, which made sense at the time. The Jayhawks had spent most of the offseason thinking White and Council were gone for good, so freshmen Atticus Richmond and Luke Barnett stepped into those numbers without much drama.
That changed once White and Council came back to Lawrence weeks before the season.
Richmond, a 6-foot-8 developmental forward Bill Self has compared to Mitch Lightfoot, had to give up No. 3.
Barnett, who had been set to wear No. 14, got bumped as well. Both had worn those numbers before - Richmond at Adlai E.
Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois, and Barnett at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California - but the Jayhawks’ veteran duo wanted their old digits back.
“I obviously wasn’t looking forward to doing that,” Richmond said, “but you got to do what you got to do with a guy like Tre White coming back.”
Richmond’s reaction was practical more than emotional. He said the No. 3 switch didn’t carry a ton of personal weight for him, especially compared with what it meant to White. “Kind of that seniority comes in to where it’s like, ‘OK, I’m a freshman, you got to give it to him, I got to figure it out,'” Richmond said.
So he moved on to No. 6, a number he said felt right after weighing his options. “I like the single-digit numbers,” Richmond said, “so once I couldn’t go three I could either go one, six or nine, and I just felt like six felt right out of those.”
Barnett ended up with No. 1, a clean solution after Richmond’s change took No. 6 out of play. He didn’t sound bothered by the adjustment, calling it “a good switch.”
“He wore it last year,” Barnett said. “it’s his number at Kansas, so I just understood that him coming back, that’s the number he’s already played here with, and I mean, I’ve never played here with 14, so I feel like I just understood that it was kind of his number coming back.”
The backstory on the numbers is a little tangled. KU had no real reason to leave 3 and 14 unassigned, and both had been used plenty before.
A dozen Jayhawks had worn No. 3 before White, and another dozen had worn No. 14 before Council. Richmond had worn No. 3 before, and Barnett had worn No. 14 before, so there was no obvious obstacle until the veterans returned.
White’s path back was tied to Monroe County, Indiana, while Council’s return traced to Monroe County, New York, and those rulings effectively reopened the door for both players to reclaim their old numbers. Richmond joked that he had to give way because of the situation surrounding White, and the chain reaction left Barnett with fewer choices.
“Because Tre came before Melvin,” Richmond said, “I had a week before Luke to decide, so then that took six off the board for Luke and he just went one.”
Council, who had worn No. 1 at Monroe College and No. 11 at Wagner and St. Bonaventure, acknowledged that he felt a little bad about taking No. 14 back from Barnett. Still, he said the freshman understood.
“Oh, see, I didn’t want to get No. 14 back, because Luke, he’s a great guy,” Council said. “Great guy, and that’s my boy, and I was talking to Coach about it. And me and Luke, we talked about it, but Luke understands, and I’m just thankful that he let me get my number back.”
There’s one other number worth noting on this roster: Kohl Rosario’s No. 7. It’s the rarest jersey in the group, making Rosario just the fourth Jayhawk to wear it.
In Other News...
Kansas Faces A Costly Lance Leipold Question It Can't Ignore
Since Lance Leipold arrived in 2021, Kansas football has at least looked like a program with direction again. He delivered back-to-back bowl trips, snapped several losing streaks and gave the Jayhawks the kind of stability they had not found through five head coaches since 2010. Even so, the broader picture has remained uneven, with the team still searching for a way to turn brief progress into a more consistent winning run.
The problem for Kansas is that the question around Leipold is not just about football. Stadium construction costs and contract buyouts make any coaching decision more complicated, and that financial reality hangs over every discussion about the future. For a program that has already spent years trying to find the right fit, the margin for another expensive misstep is awfully thin. [Read more 🡒]
Kansas Just Added A Purdue Veteran Bill Self Can Actually Use
Trey Kaufman-Renn is bringing a rare blend of experience to Lawrence after five seasons at Purdue, and the timing could not be better for a Kansas roster that can use more proven production up front. A court ruling has granted him an additional year of college eligibility while his case against the NCAA continues, giving Bill Self another veteran forward with a rsum built in the Big Ten and on the NCAA Tournament stage.
For Kansas, the appeal is obvious: Kaufman-Renn arrives with the kind of scoring touch and rebounding presence that can help stabilize a frontcourt and ease some pressure on the rotation. His path to campus is still tied to an unresolved legal fight, but the Jayhawks have added a player who has already logged meaningful high-level minutes and should be able to contribute right away. [Read more 🡒]
Bill Self Is Pushing Kansas Deeper Into A Risky New Reality
The first exhibition in Allen Fieldhouse came with a visible change underfoot, as new Monster Energy logos appeared on the Kansas court and offered another reminder of how quickly the mens basketball program is adapting to a shifting college sports landscape. Just before the season opener, the Jayhawks also added former Purdue forward and Minnesota Timberwolves draft pick Trey Kaufman-Renn, giving Bill Self another veteran piece as Kansas continues to piece together a roster built in part through unusual and highly specific circumstances.
What stands out now is how much of that roster exists under court-ordered eligibility, with Trey Kaufman-Renn joining Tre White and Melvin Council Jr. in that category. Each case carries its own legal wrinkle, and together they underscore how Kansas is operating in a reality that would have seemed hard to imagine even a few seasons ago. The talent is there, but so is the uncertainty, and the Jayhawks are finding themselves deeper into that mix as the season begins. [Read more 🡒]