Kansas is staring at a Big 12 race that suddenly looks a lot more open than it should.
The Jayhawks are bringing back just 98 points from last season’s leading scorer, now-sophomore guard Kohl Rosario, after losing their top seven scorers. Bill Self’s roster reset is built around four 4-star transfers - Leroy Blyden Jr. at combo guard, Keanu Dawes at power forward, Christian Reeves at center and Dennis Parker Jr. at small forward - plus a wave of high-end newcomers headlined by the nation’s No. 1 player, small forward Tyran Stokes.
Kansas also has 5-star point guard Taylen Kinney, 4-star forward/center Davion Adkins, 4-star small forward Trent Perry, 4-star shooting guard Luke Barnett and depth pieces Grant Mordini and Atticus Richmond in the mix. There are rumors of more additions coming, but those are the only names that can be officially counted for now. It’s the group Kansas is hoping can get the program back to the top of the Big 12 regular-season standings for the first time since the 2022-23 campaign.
The bigger story, though, is that Kansas is not dealing with this kind of overhaul alone. The Jayhawks are returning only 5% of their roster production from last season, which ranks 12th in the conference. TCU, at 53.3%, is the only Big 12 team bringing back more than half of its points from a year ago.
That kind of turnover has changed the entire shape of the league. On Jon Rothstein’s “Inside College Basketball Now” podcast, Rothstein pointed out that only four of the Big 12’s top 30 scorers from last season are back this year.
That list includes JT Toppin, Rob Wright, Barrington Hargress and Jordan Burks.
For Kansas, that leaves the door cracked open, even if the Jayhawks are not being treated as the preseason favorite. The biggest question is simple: how fast can this group become a team?
There’s precedent for a slow start. Last season, Kansas opened 1-2 in conference play before a players-only meeting helped spark an eight-game winning streak. That path is there again if the pieces take time to settle.
But if the Jayhawks can get moving early, they have a real shot to hang around in the title picture. The key is avoiding the kind of losses that cost them last season, when they fell to UCF, West Virginia, Cincinnati and Arizona State - all games that looked like wins before tipoff.
Clean those up, and the math gets a lot friendlier.
The road schedule is where the challenge gets steeper. Kansas will have to go to Arizona, BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, TCU and Utah.
Arizona, led by Tommy Lloyd, has become one of the country’s dominant programs. BYU is adding 4-star Kentucky transfer guard Collin Chandler, 5-star freshman small forward Bruce Branch III and 4-star freshman small forward Dean Rueckert. Cincinnati is on the rise under new head coach Jerrod Calhoun, and Houston remains Houston as long as Kelvin Sampson is in charge.
That’s the landscape Kansas has to navigate if it wants to turn this roster reset into a conference run.
In Other News...
Tyshawn Taylor Just Took A Meaningful Next Step Beyond Kansas
Tyshawn Taylor has stayed close to the game in a way that feels very much in step with the way Kansas fans remember him, and this summer has only widened that path. The former Jayhawk is wearing a few hats with the Kansas alumni team in The Basketball Tournament, helping run things from the front office side while also coaching and still suiting up himself, a reminder that his connection to the program has moved well beyond his playing days.
Taylor has also been talking through the next phase of his career with Bill Self, which says plenty about how seriously he is being viewed as a rising coach. Self has been supportive as Taylor takes on more responsibility, and the new opportunity gives him a chance to work daily with top young players while building the kind of relationships that can matter in college basketball for years to come. [Read more 🡒]
Melvin Council Just Put Kansas Back In A Roster Squeeze
Kansas has spent much of the offseason trying to sort out the edges of its roster, and Melvin Council has become part of that puzzle. The guard had reportedly sought an NCAA waiver for an extra year of eligibility so he could return to Lawrence, a move that would have given the Jayhawks another experienced piece as they continue to shape the backcourt and frontcourt around the remaining open spots.
Now the path gets murkier, with Council still weighing his next step and Kansas still interested in finding a way to make the reunion happen. The Jayhawks are also juggling other possibilities, including whether Javon Bardwell might reclassify and how to handle the big man spot if Serbian center Mihailo Musikic is not cleared, which leaves the roster picture unsettled in a way Kansas would rather avoid this late in the process. [Read more 🡒]
Kansas Faces A Massive Challenge Before It Even Reaches London
Lance Leipolds visit to Wembley Stadium was part of the early groundwork for a trip that will ask Kansas football to think well beyond the field. The Jayhawks are headed to London for the Union Jack Classic in Week 3 against Arizona State, and even before the matchup arrives, the staff is working through the kind of details that can shape an international week: passports, accommodations and all the other moving parts that come with taking a college team overseas.
Michael Painter has been doing much of the heavy lifting on the logistics side, helping coordinate a trip that is still months away but already requires careful planning. Kansas expects to leave for London on Tuesday before the game, and the international stage will be followed by a bye week, giving the Jayhawks a little breathing room after what should be one of the most unusual road trips in program history. [Read more 🡒]