Trey Kaufman-Renn’s commitment to Kansas this week has only made an already crowded roster puzzle even trickier for Bill Self.
Kaufman-Renn joined the Jayhawks after receiving a court injunction that ruled him eligible to play college basketball for now. He’s enrolled in classes at Kansas and practicing with the team, which means Self now has another piece to fit into a lineup that was already full of uncertainty.
That uncertainty has been building all offseason. Kansas brought back Tre White and Melvin Council Jr. and added Kaufman-Renn over the course of four weeks, and that kind of turnover has forced the staff to keep reworking the projected starting five.
In the Jayhawks’ first exhibition, White and Council came off the bench because they had just rejoined the team, while Taylen Kinney and Leroy Blyden Jr. handled the backcourt minutes in their place. That was a tough spot for Kinney and Blyden Jr. to be in, since many fans had viewed White and Council as locks for the first unit.
The new wrinkle with Kaufman-Renn is that he gives Kansas another forward option, and one that changes the shape of the lineup. At 6-foot-9 and 240 pounds, he pairs with Keanu Dawes, who checks in at 6-foot-9 and 225 pounds, to give Self enough size and rebounding to avoid leaning on a small-ball center look as often as some had expected. There had been plenty of talk about Dawes filling that role in short bursts, but Kaufman-Renn’s presence may make that less necessary.
Even so, the fit is not perfectly clean. Self has made it clear he likes the idea of using four perimeter players together, and Dawes plus Kaufman-Renn both capable of stepping out to the 3-point line only go so far in easing the spacing questions.
Council’s 29.1% lifetime mark from beyond the arc doesn’t exactly solve that issue, either. Because of that, Kinney or Blyden Jr. could still work their way into the mix if Kansas wants more perimeter scoring, though that would likely mean pushing Council out of the opening group - something that feels unlikely after he started every game and averaged 34.8 minutes per contest last season.
For now, the best guess is that Kansas could roll out a starting five that looks different from night to night until everyone settles in. It’s also worth remembering that these lineup projections may not fully lock in until the roster gets up to speed, and two or three of these players may not be in the first unit when the regular season opens Nov. 2 against Fordham.
However Self sorts it out, the upside is obvious: Kansas has more than one viable five-man combination, and that gives the coach the chance to stagger lineups and use the bench in ways that can create different looks throughout the game.
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Kansas State Still Has A Key Preseason Question To Sort Out
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The biggest wrinkle is Timo Malovec, whose preseason injury makes him unlikely to be available for the opener and adds another variable to a roster still under evaluation. Alexander said the starting five has not been finalized, which leaves Kansas State with a little more to learn in the next stretch, especially with health and performance both weighing on how the rotation comes together. [Read more 🡒]