Tyshawn Taylor is hearing it from Kansas fans, and Sherron Collins knows exactly why.
The former Jayhawks guard, now the general manager for KU’s JHX team in The Basketball Tournament, said Wednesday night that the reaction to the roster has spilled into his social media inbox. The complaints usually sound the same: why isn’t this former Jayhawk on the team, and why not that one?
“Why don’t you go get ‘Doke? Why don’t you go get this guy?” Taylor said after KU’s 84-80 win over the Kansas State Purple Reign team at Washburn’s Lee Arena.
By “Doke,” Taylor meant former KU and NBA center Udoka Azubuike, who would likely be the most accomplished big man in the 16-team, $2 million winner-take-all event if he were on the roster.
Collins, who serves as head coach and also handles some GM responsibilities, said the frustration from fans misses the grind behind putting a TBT team together. Stephanie Temple is the official team GM alongside Taylor, with Jackson Kruse and Braden Griffiths serving as assistant coaches.
“You don’t understand how hard it is to put this thing together, to get these guys here,” Collins said.
He said the team is constantly fielding messages from fans who question why certain players are not on the roster.
“We go out there and we’ve got to answer questions from fans because they DM (direct message) us like, ‘Oh, he’s not a KU guy. Why is he on the team?’’’ Collins said.
Collins said the staff pursues the biggest names available, but the process is messy and full of dead ends.
“Trust me, we go after all those guys (former Jayhawks still playing professionally). I finally responded to one (DM) that got to me a little bit, and I told him, ‘We go after every guy on the list you asked for.’
“We go after all our top guys, and respectfully, some of them just don’t want to risk the injury. Some just don’t come play.
But we go after the top guys. We go after Devon Dotson.
We go after the Wayne Seldens. We go after Doke.
We go after Jeff Withey. We go after Malik Newman.
We go after Devonte Graham. We go after everybody, and these guys (give) their time for this,” Collins added.
He also laid out how quickly things can unravel once a commitment seems close.
“We want the right guys to come play for us, obviously, but we can’t get those guys. This is so hard to get … it’s calls happening on game day.
It’s so hard to do this. So I tip my hat off to them (Taylor and Temple) because I’m coaching AAU half this summer and they are dealing with this (forming a roster).
“But I watch them and I’m in conversations and it’s so hard because you get five guys to commit, and then when it’s time to commit and actually do it, those five guys say, ‘I can’t do it.’ So now you’ve got to go chase another five guys. It’s hard.”
Collins asked KU fans to give the group some patience and, in the meantime, turn the pressure back on the former players.
“be patient with us. We are going after those guys, trust me.
How about we win it this year, everybody flood their (former players’) DM’s make em play. Flood their DMs.”
The KU roster does include plenty of familiar names. Frank Mason III, Zeke Mayo, Mario Chalmers, Jamari Traylor, Kevin Young, Billy Preston, Carlton Bragg and Marcus Garrett are on the team, though Garrett played Tuesday but not Wednesday after banging knees with a KSU player late in the previous game.
The Jayhawks’ win at Lee Arena evened the best-of-three opening series at one game apiece. Game 3 is set for 6 p.m. Friday at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan.
Among the non-KU players, Washburn guard Jacob Hanna once again made his presence felt. He scored 12 points with six rebounds, two steals and two assists in Wednesday’s win after putting up 10 points and six rebounds in Monday’s loss in Manhattan.
Andrew Orr, another Washburn player, had a rebound and a steal in seven minutes during Tuesday’s loss. He also posted five points and two rebounds while spending 18 minutes guarding Kansas State standout Michael Beasley.
Collins praised Hanna’s energy and impact, calling the 6-foot-3 guard from Maize High “everything for us.”
“He’s relentless in transition. We want to give him the ball.
We want to pitch it ahead. Let him go.
“He makes winning plays. It’s not always going to show up right here (in stat sheet).
He’s going to go get rebounds. He’s going to get his hands on the ball.
He’s going to get deflections. He’s going to get up and guard.
He’s so in shape. I love him, and I tell him, I pump him up and say, ‘go, go go.’
I don’t want him to be passive. We want him to do what he does, and he’s showing it, dunking on people.
He’s big for us and he’s a big part of this, and we are glad we’ve got him.”
He was just as upbeat about Orr, a 6-8 player from Blue Valley North who went 2 of 3 from the field and 1 of 4 from the line in Wednesday’s win. Orr played in Denmark in 2025-26.
“We knew that’s what he can do, and that’s why we picked him up,” Collins said. “We knew he’s a banger.
He’s going to get down there (in paint). He’s not scared of anything.
He’s going to take the challenge.
“Tonight we were kind trying to put Billy Preston on (Beasley, who scored 16 points on 4-of-10 shooting). Andrew was like, ‘Nope, I got him,’ and we love that about him.
So we love the two hometown boys, man. They really served us and Washburn well tonight.”
In Other News...
Jalen Wilson Just Got Another NBA Chance With Real Pressure Attached
Jalen Wilson is getting another crack at carving out a steady NBA role, and this one comes with a little extra urgency. The former Kansas standout has moved on after three years with Brooklyn, landing a two-way deal that keeps him in the mix for the Hawks while still leaving him room to bounce between the league and the G-League, the same path he has already traveled since going 51st overall in the 2023 draft.
For Kansas fans, the wrinkle is that Atlantas interest in Jayhawks talent did not stop there. The Hawks also used a first-round pick on former KU forward Zuby Ejiofor, giving the franchise another familiar name from Lawrence to track as camp approaches and Wilson tries to turn this latest opportunity into something more permanent. [Read more 🡒]
Kansas Puts 11 On National Radar As Leipold Rebuild Turns Heads
Kansas footballs rebuild under Lance Leipold keeps showing up in places that matter beyond the Big 12 standings. Ahead of the 2026 season, the program landed 11 players on the Shrine Bowl 1000 watch list, a broad early look for NFL scouts that tends to reward both proven production and upside. The group spans both sides of the ball, with returning names like Tre Lathan, Blake Herold and Jalen Todd joined by offensive pieces such as Dylan Edwards, Amir Herring, Calvin Clements, Cam Pickett and Nik McMillan.
What stands out for Kansas is how much of that recognition is attached to new faces as much as familiar ones. Tre'Von McAlpine, Bam Crouch and Corey Gordon made the cut before even playing a game for the Jayhawks, a reminder that the transfer portal has become a major part of the talent pipeline in Lawrence. The Shrine Bowl 1000 is only an initial evaluation step in the lead-up to the 2027 NFL Draft process, but it still says plenty about how quickly Kansas has started to stock players who are drawing national notice. [Read more 🡒]