Kansas limped to a 10-8 mark in Big 12 play last season, marking its worst league winning percentage (55.6%) since Roy Williams’ first season as coach in 1988-89. Beset by poor depth amid late-season injuries, the Jayhawks flamed out in the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in their past five Big Dance appearances.
Sandwiched around that series of first-weekend exits is the 2022 national title, and 22nd-year coach Bill Self has assembled a roster that appears capable of returning the Jayhawks to a championship trajectory. While second-round NBA Draft picks Kevin McCullar and Johnny Furphy have departed, KU returns a high-end “big three” and welcomes the nation’s No. 3 transfer class to bolster its formidable veteran core.
When a knee injury hampered McCullar during the season’s second half, KU struggled offensively due to a lack of offensive playmakers. The absence of McCullar’s perimeter defense also hampered a cast of players that was ill-equipped to handle such an ill-timed injury.
The injury bug has already bitten the Jayhawks’ 2024-25 roster as sophomore guard Elmarko Jackson will miss the season with a torn patella tendon. But with a convoy of perimeter players arriving via the transfer portal, there should be several more levers that Self can pull this season to ensure his team is positioned to compete come March.
With the offseason player movement cycle finally complete it’s time to start breaking down the rosters of the sport’s top programs. For this installment, we’re taking a look at the Jayhawks and trying to decipher what their lineup could look like when the season begins.
Projected starting lineup
1. Dajuan Harris Jr.
6-2 | 175 | Gr.
If it feels like Harris has been around forever, it’s because he has. This is his sixth season with the Jayhawks, which includes a traditional redshirt in 2019-20 and the COVID-19 season of 2020-21. He became an indispensable…
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