KU Roster for 25-26
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If I coached this team I would probably redshirt Corbin Allen and Samis Calderon
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It’s a long season. Once we start play we get an early gauge, then it becomes the real test as the season progresses and we find out if they can continue to improve at a rate equal or better than the pack. This is where the joy came into focus with our last championship team as they stepped up big time towards the end. Other teams fall off often from injuries or players showing too much wear. I haven’t had much of a view of our new team but my early impression is positive on physicality and overall depth, holding promise of not wearing down as long as we avoid injuries.
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@dylans said in KU Roster for 25-26:
When laid bare like that, I’m not overly encouraged about next season.
On paper Arizona’s roster is head and shoulders better than KU. Texas tech is as well.
KU returning stud is Flory at 5.9ppg. Yikes even AJ Storr scored more last year. It’s not encouraging, hopefully this KU team will be a joy to watch as they aren’t winning anything of importance - the Big12 is Arizona, Texas Tech, and probably Houston’s to lose. The national title - …not KU that much I would wager my house on. It’s unusual to be able to tell before the games start that KU has zero chance to win a title of any kind. If I knew the players would be here next year I would be encouraged, but most will be gone and it’ll be another rebuild. This era sucks.
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I don’t see anything in that article that should have you this down on next year. If you are talking about on paper, Barttorvik preseason rankings has Arizona slightly higher than KU and TT significantly lower. I do agree Houston is likely to be better, but they still have to replace some major contributors in Cryer and Roberts. These are also all preseason rankings and don’t mean that much at the end of the day. It is wild to already be punting on the season before even seeing this team play a game together. IDK if you are just down on the NIL era in general or trying to neg the season so you don’t get hurt again, but you can let yourself hope a little man.
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@MR11 This is KU, if you can’t compete for a national title, it is a bad year. Next year looks like a bad year. I would take anyone’s money that wants to wager on KU even making the final four. That roster is mid and most are one year rentals. Pass on next year. Maybe the next year more players will stick around and KU will be decent. This year is a loss already.
…about those bets, cash only.
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What kind of odds are you offering? I’m not big on betting but I wouldn’t be able to pass up if you are giving out 100/1 championship odds if you really think KU has no chance for a title. I’m seeing most KU Vegas odds sitting at 20/1. Florida and Uconn from 2022-2023 season both won it going in to the season at 60/1 odds, 20/1 hardly seems hopeless.
Really, I’m just not seeing your reasons to completely give up on the season. Have you been at summer workouts and the team is a mess or something? Have you scouted the incoming transfers and see something that makes you think they are going to flop? I wouldn’t even push back much if you were just saying you don’t have high expectations for the team, that’s reasonable. But seems like you are saying there is no hope for next year based on vibes and ppg numbers.
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I’m expecting an NCAA berth; it’s not guaranteed but should be the baseline. The conference is brutally tough and that will actually help. But team has to be greater than the sum of the parts. It has to be.
Sweet 16 would be great. A bit of an aspirational goal.
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Bill has taken a similarly talented group to a natty appearance so just my view, but it’s too early to say.
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This is a good conversation but I would like to hear some other perspectives? @Texas-Hawk-10 @kuballin10 @paakdnmb43 @SlimShaddy54 What do you guys make of our squad heading into next season?
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@Jhawk69 I think it’s worth giving the team a shot, we largely have new players.
I would take KU’s roster over Arizona. I believe a lot of Dylans being down on the situation is not believing in Flory in general. I know him and Approx went at it on this subject before. I am somewhere in the middle with him but I think it’s very much within the realm of possibility that he proves to be a better all around player for the team than Hunter was. Defense can be hard to measure. I know last year’s team graded out well on that end but I believe that is largely due to Bill’s genius. That team was not getting a stop when they needed it. I suspect this team will be better on both ends if things play out right. This roster has quite a bit of positional length and should be getting after teams, attacking the ball to generate turnovers and thriving in transition. This team should actually play fast again, which was impossible to do with Hunter. As far as the offense in general, I know the KJ/Juan horse is long dead, but the impact of not playing a complete non-shooter and an unwilling shooter will open things up tremendously. That’s the thing some people (not saying anyone here) don’t understand about this topic in general. Jalen Wilson in the title year shot 26% from three. The important thing is that he was a willing shooter that had to at least be guarded out there.
TL;DR I’m going to believe in this team until they give me a reason not to.
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@BShark Hopefully the defense is better - that would be a welcome relief. I believe the team will be more fun to watch, faster paced. I don’t believe they will win anything of consequence. They just don’t have the horses.
On paper KU has flory at 5.9ppg returning. Elmarko who didn’t inspire in his first year - hopefully he’s way better after his recovery, but that’s just wishful thinking at this point. Two mid-major players for wings - saw how that worked out with Zeke last year. Tiller? The only thing I’m excited about is Peterson - an athletic PG that can score will be nice - how’s his defense?
This team will be an also ran. A team that 6 years from now no one remembers much about. Oh yeah do you remember Peterson played for KU? look at what he’s doing in the NBA! I don’t care about the NBA though that’s likely where his best years will be. Not the one he plays for KU.
Now if there were no transfers and all freshmen were the newcomers I’d be excited as all get out about watching the team develop as they will be very good in 2-3 years. This squad won’t ever develop into anything more than what we get this year. Which I predict is a big nothing burger.
Is this the future of KU basketball? A bunch of one year rentals? The NIL era is garbage.
I think KU will field a good team. KU should field a great team ever year or have the pipeline full of young talent. There is at least one elite player on the team which is a definite improvement over the last two seasons, but the pipeline is not full.
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@FarmerJayhawk said in KU Roster for 25-26:
Bill has taken a similarly talented group to a natty appearance so just my view, but it’s too early to say.
Robinson was a three year stud. Tyshawn was a revelation his senior year. This team doesn’t have a national player of the year candidate big that can carry them. The talent level is not really comparable. Hired gun Flory will never hold a candle to FOE Thomas Robinson.
But I like your optimism! I do think the team will be more entertaining to watch than the last couple plodding HD years.
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@dylans I think unless we see some kind of major change this is the future of college athletics.
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I’m now actually cautiously optimistic about the roster and think the team can over perform the very modest expectations. Still not clear where the scoring is going to come from unless DP can average 20ppg and we can get around 10ppg from 4-5 others. But I think this team has a chance to be elite defensively, especially if HCBS exploits the perimeter depth and pressures the ball up the court and on the perimeter. DP, EJ, Dawson, Council and McDowell, perhaps even Rosario, can rotate 1-3. We now have some rim protection with Flory and Mbiya. White has enough size to play the 4 against most line-ups and guard the perimeter. Still not sure what Tiller can bring. But those 9-10 certainly have more speed and athleticism, even if not elite level, than the past two rosters. If DP is as advertised and can break down a defense and either finish, drop-off, or kick-out, and we have a couple of guys that can hit at 35% or better from the arc, we can be more than competitive…
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@BShark gross
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@BShark I agree for the most part. I will also note that KU’s defense last year was a paper tiger. Sure, they could completely stiffle Cincinatti and Arizona State to inflate their numbers, but any above-average offense absolutely carved them up at will. They allowed Baylor to score 60 points in one half! They gave up an open three in pretty much every “must stop” situation too.
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I’m always a preseason optimist so I think we have a good year coming up. I especially expect to see a greatly improved Elmarko. Things didn’t click for him as we expected two years ago, but having taught undergrads for 30+ years I know the kinds of maturation that can occur between Freshman and Junior years. Playing beside Peterson should allow him to shine. I also think that Jamari will provide some solid minutes off the bench. Lots of folks complain how students don’t stick around any more, but here are two that took a redshirt year so are 3rd year athletes in some respects. I’m expecting good things from their perseverance.
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@Jhawk69 said in KU Roster for 25-26:
@BShark I agree for the most part. I will also note that KU’s defense last year was a paper tiger. Sure, they could completely stiffle Cincinatti and Arizona State to inflate their numbers, but any above-average offense absolutely carved them up at will. They allowed Baylor to score 60 points in one half! They gave up an open three in pretty much every “must stop” situation too.
As bad as the BYU game was the Utah game was absolutely horrific as well. Just many cases of them being horrific defensively.
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Last years team was atrocious, on that I think most of us can agree. They still beat Duke and UNC.
Will this years squad be good enough to win a couple marquee games? UNC, Duke, UConn are on the schedule. These three games could represent the peak opportunity for the team on the year. Unless KU gets unexpectedly hot in March these regular season games might be the pinnacle of the season. Ugg
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@BShark said in KU Roster for 25-26:
@Jhawk69 said in KU Roster for 25-26:
@BShark I agree for the most part. I will also note that KU’s defense last year was a paper tiger. Sure, they could completely stiffle Cincinatti and Arizona State to inflate their numbers, but any above-average offense absolutely carved them up at will. They allowed Baylor to score 60 points in one half! They gave up an open three in pretty much every “must stop” situation too.
As bad as the BYU game was the Utah game was absolutely horrific as well. Just many cases of them being horrific defensively.
Last year they didn’t buy in and it was a disaster down the stretch. Maybe this year the guys will have more fun, gel, and play above their talent level. But if Bill is pushing up daisies the season will implode so fast. Jacque…are you ready?!?
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Heard Coach Self talking on a podcast the other day I think it was CBS anyways they were talking to Coach and they were asking him about if he had any thoughts he might suggest to follow him. He said ya he had a couple of guys form his current staff that he could suggest.
One he mentioned was or is pretty well known and that was Jacque- - the other he mentioned from the staff was a complete surprise for me and that Name was Jeremy Case - – WOW had no idea
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@dylans Yes. Last years team had the roster to be good (as evidenced by a strong November, preseason number 1 ranking, outplaying Houston) but suffered from lack of effort, lack of leadership, lack of cohesion etc.
To clarify for those who don’t know how to read, I am not saying last years roster should have been ranked number 1 or that it didn’t have shortcomings, just that it had the pieces for our team to be much better than it was.
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I admit i have absolutely no clue how good or bad we’ll be. Never seen anybody play except Flory and Elmarko, who wasn’t much at the time.
So, fingers crossed we are a cohesive unit. Guessing team chemistry can’t be as bad as last year’s cluster F.
On paper, I do think we have some deficiencies…shooting (my usual complaint), size at the two big spots.
It will be exciting to see DP though. I sure hope he’s truly the second coming.
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@Jhawk69 said in KU Roster for 25-26:
@dylans Yes. Last years team had the roster to be good (as evidenced by a strong November, preseason number 1 ranking, outplaying Houston) but suffered from lack of effort, lack of leadership, lack of cohesion etc.
To clarify for those who don’t know how to read, I am not saying last years roster should have been ranked number 1 or that it didn’t have shortcomings, just that it had the pieces for our team to be much better than it was.
It appeared the locker room was deeply fractured. The loss in March seemed more like a mercy.
Hopefully this team will be more of a unified group. That alone will make for more enjoyable play to watch. - That’s my only real hope for the season, that KU basketball is fun to watch again. If the players are having fun, maybe the results will surprise. It would be nice to want the season to continue this go around.
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@Jhawk69 I really like this team on paper. The last 2 years, I warned multiple times that the season could be a disaster because the rosters weren’t well constructed and the transfers Self brought in didn’t compliment who was already here.
The biggest concern for me this season on paper is the offense. This isn’t necessarily a bad shooting team, but nobody that’s expected to play big minutes is elite either. Rosario is probably the best shooter on the team, but it remains to be seen how well his shooting will adapt to the college game. Outside of him, we have a bunch of wings and guards who all in the 32%-35% range which isn’t elite, but not bad enough to where you can ignore them either
I know some are concerned that Self didn’t hit on a high scoring wing in the portal and there is some validity to that, but I’m not too concerned about KU’s ability to score. Peterson is going to be big time and there’s very little evidence to suggest he won’t be as good as advertised at KU. If KU has 4 or 5 other players in 9-13 ppg range, they’ll be in good shape. Flory is still pretty raw offensively so I don’t see this season being a breakout year for him, but I still think he’ll average a double-double or be very near it. The man is a rebounding machine with good instincts so I think he’ll be fine.
Defense is where we’ll all see drastic improvements and I think this will be Self’s best defensive team post-Covid. Everyone expected to be in the is above average to elite defensively and everybody is good enough to switch. Rosario is the I don’t know much about his defensive abilities, but if the effort isn’t there, he’s gonna be sitting his butt on the bench. I think Flory and Council will be in the mix for B12 DPOY and potentially NDPOY.
We’ve got a good schedule and should know pretty quickly what this team is capable of. I like that most have KU in the 15-20 range because the weight of preseason expectations won’t be there. Obviously, Darryn Peterson is tge most important player and NPOY candidate, but as far as determining how deep KU can go this year, I think the two most important players are Elmarko Jackson and Bryson Tiller. We all know Elmarko was considered a OAD candidate out of high school, he hung around and stay through adversity both adversity both on and off the court which speaks volumes to his character (same with Jamari McDowell) and if Elmarko can play anywhere near that level, that’s going to make KU an incredibly dangerous team to have a backcourt of Peterson and Jackson tearing teams apart.
The other player that’s key to me is Bryson Tiller. He’s healthy and he’s another guy already on NBA radars so if he can be a serviceable back up to Flory and develop enough range to play the 4, then KU would move into legit national title contender territory.
As of right now, I’d say the Elite 8 is tge ceiling for this team, but if Elmarko and Tiller can play near their ability levels consistently, then I’ll call KU a title contender.
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For me the question is whether Bill Self can work the ol Bill Self magic on this group. Historically he is good at getting the most out of his teams but that sure as hell didn’t happen these past couple seasons.
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@Jhawk69 said in KU Roster for 25-26:
For me the question is whether Bill Self can work the ol Bill Self magic on this group. Historically he is good at getting the most out of his teams but that sure as hell didn’t happen these past couple seasons.
The last two years did have quite a bit in common. The hope is that it was just a rotten core. I still think bringing in Hunter was ultimately a mistake but alas.
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@BShark In hindsight Hunter was a disaster, but who would’ve though Zuby and Udeh both would shirk from competition so hard?!? Knowing that I’d still rather have had the two, maybe. Eh why not? the alternative stunk.
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2 yrs ago a healthy Kevin would’ve made a big difference! After knee surgery this past season, he looked really good in summer league. He didn’t even play the whole time. They cut him off.
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@dylans After seeing Zuby at St Johns its a no brainer to pick him over Hunter. Hindsight is 20 20 though.
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@Jhawk69 said in KU Roster for 25-26:
@dylans After seeing Zuby at St Johns its a no brainer to pick him over Hunter. Hindsight is 20 20 though.
Close, but Hunter only averaged 18 and 10!
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@rockchalkjayhawk But Zuby gives you stats that are almost as good, plus is a better defender, plus would have cost us less NIL money that we could have spent elsewhere.
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So apparently we weren’t done recruiting for this year?
class of 2025 small forward, Billy White III committed to Southern Methodist University.
Last week, we reported White’s announcement of Kansas inside his final few schools, with the news first being broken by Joe Tipton, yet White chose elsewhere
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@Jhawk69 said in KU Roster for 25-26:
@rockchalkjayhawk But Zuby gives you stats that are almost as good, plus is a better defender, plus would have cost us less NIL money that we could have spent elsewhere.
During the 2023-24 season, Zuby averaged 4 and 3 while oy playing 11 minutes per game. Udeh averaged 4 and 5 while playing 17 mpg his first year at TCU in 2023-24. Neither player was ready to step up and contribute that year. KU still needed an impact big for that season. Even if those 2 stayed and KU never lands Hunter, it doesn’t do anything to address KU’s biggest offensive issue the last two years, KJ Adams and the 4 spot. Neither Zuby, nor Udeh are 3 point threats so they don’t do anything to address the spacing issues KJ created at the 4 spot.
The arguing about Hunter vs. Zuby/Udeh doesn’t really matter to KU’s success those two years because of the 4 spot. On the court, Hunter was never the biggest issue the past 2 years. His offensive game was tailor made for Self’s system. Self unfortunately couldn’t put a group on the court around Hunter that complimented his skill set. Hunter needed guys that could move without the ball to create driving lanes and open 3’s, but the only two players that could do that were McCullar and Harris. We also know Harris didn’t have a quick shot to take those open looks from 3 he consistently had which was frustrating as Harris was a 37% 3 point shooter for his career.
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@Jhawk69 Danny & the miracles
Carmelo and Jerry who???
Yeah DP 100% as Kobe 2.0 can lead us to a title
We have the athleticism
We have the length
We have the buy-in from the guys
The dudes like each other and all seem humble
I’m 100% on board with this squad. Gotta see them their first few games and I may 180 my tune but for now I’m gonna hope DP is the greatest recruit we’ve ever had (because honestly he is)
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I don’t remember a single soul in here predicting a natty just ahead of the 2022 season. Play the game and enjoy the show! RCJH!
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6th ranked Big12 team seems about right. I hope this squad can end the year ranked. Tough road ahead; hopefully they over achieve. 7 potentially ranked teams on the schedule gives the Jayhawks plenty of opportunity to prove themselves!
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I don’t blame people for being a little low on this team given the history of the last 2 seasons. But this is a totally new team built around a great NBA prospect with athletes all across the board. As you said, we’ll get an idea of whether or not they should be ranked higher earlier with the non conference schedule
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@rcjhdraft said in KU Roster for 25-26:
I don’t blame people for being a little low on this team given the history of the last 2 seasons. But this is a totally new team built around a great NBA prospect with athletes all across the board. As you said, we’ll get an idea of whether or not they should be ranked higher earlier with the non conference schedule
Unfortunately that describes 1/2 the schedule. This Kansas roster is a bit weak - looks like a middle of the pack to top 1/3 of the Big12 team. Definitely won’t out talent many teams.
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@dylans Flory is going to have a Joel Embiid year.
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I am hopeful for a team very improved over last year’s team. First, we will immediately experience a team with a lot more athleticism. That doesn’t always translate into victories, but I look back on last year’s team and how Harris and Dickinson looked anemic (along with defensive anemia from Storr, Mayo, and Griffen). I think DP will be the key and it is my opinion he is figuring out how to make other players better. Flory will be a beast, especially since his minutes won’t just be an afterthought. Part of our offense will be building offense around Flory. All his attention will just light him on fire with enthusiasm. My only worries are foul trouble, though he will have more weakside and on-ball defense support this year.
We are due for a good “chip year!” No more lofty, silly preseason #1 ranking!
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@approxinfinity said in KU Roster for 25-26:
@dylans Flory is going to have a Joel Embiid year.
Ugg show flashes and then get hurt before March madness? I wish he had Embiid’s potential, but he doesn’t. Too small and not skilled enough. He could be a very good college player if he puts in the work, but will never be an NBA MVP due to genetics.
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@drgnslayr said in KU Roster for 25-26:
I am hopeful for a team very improved over last year’s team. First, we will immediately experience a team with a lot more athleticism. That doesn’t always translate into victories, but I look back on last year’s team and how Harris and Dickinson looked anemic (along with defensive anemia from Storr, Mayo, and Griffen). I think DP will be the key and it is my opinion he is figuring out how to make other players better. Flory will be a beast, especially since his minutes won’t just be an afterthought. Part of our offense will be building offense around Flory. All his attention will just light him on fire with enthusiasm. My only worries are foul trouble, though he will have more weakside and on-ball defense support this year.
We are due for a good “chip year!” No more lofty, silly preseason #1 ranking!
I just hope they are entertaining/fun to watch. Last year sucked. At least be entertaining and act like you care/want to be there and that’ll be a big improvement. - this team isn’t sniffing winning the league, hopefully they will be fun to watch before they all leave and it’s a mostly new roster next year.
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I don’t know how good we will be next year but I can all but guarantee we will be better than last year. Let’s break it down by position.
PG- This is a battle between Melvin and Elmarko. I think Melvin takes the cake. I don’t know if Melvin will be better than DaJuan. Melvin is as weak at outside shooting as DaJuan was, is more athletic and can create better penetration but probably not as good a floor general. Overall I could see us either being slightly better or slightly worse at PG than we were last year.
2G: Darryn will be better than Mayo.
3G: Dawson, Rosario, or even Jamari could start here. Any of these three would be an upgrade over Rylan. Something that was not talked about often enough was how bad Rylan was last year. Horrific on-ball defender, out of position constantly on both offense and defense, could barely dribble a basketball, and wasn’t even that good a shooter. He might be the worst starter in KU history and it is likely we never start a player as bad as him again.
PF: Tre White will start here. Last year it was KJ. Tre White gives us everything KJ gave us (hustle, glue, good defense) plus is a better rebounder and shooter. This is an upgrade.
C: Flory will stary here. He won’t be the scorer Hunter was but will be a better player overall. He won’t cause all the turnovers Hunter caused and he won’t be toasted by every decent opposing center we play. He will be at least a small upgrade and has the potential to be a massive upgrade.
Bench: Elmarko, Dawson/Rosario, Jamari, Mbiya, Tiller is a much better group than Coit, Storr, and last years Flory was.
So, in conclusion, we will be getting an upgrade everywhere except for maybe at the 1.
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@Jhawk69 Good assessment! I have to add… which Juan? I thought last year’s Juan was bad. I didn’t like the way he ran the offense. He rarely actually created offense himself like he used to by having plays with one other teammate to score. He was recognized for his defense in past years but he wasn’t outstanding at D last year and was often a liability. I’m complaining… but I still liked Juan tremendously.
The biggest problem with last year’s team on offense… every player (except Mayo) we had was one-dimensional. KJ, the year before last year, started to nail down midrange shots and floaters. That was gone and teams dared him to shoot those last year. Hunter was the closest thing to a 2-dimensional threat with his long ball, but failed and then teams learned to just get a hand up from trey. Rylan… only required a little outside D to shut him down. Juan… refused to attack.
I think we will have a lot more multiple-dimensionality. Just having a guy like DP to carve up defenses is a huge start.
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The team, including Juan, but to a man, felt broken at a certain point without a way to fix. Agree Juan wasnt good by the end of the season, but I’m not faulting him for it.
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Last year’s team was not lacking athletes or ability. But they performed/executed well below their abilities. For a Bill Self team, this was anomalous. We are used to Bill Self teams performing at or beyond their individual ceilings.
So, I’m going to posit that the players this year are, collectively, more or less similar in ability to previous years’. What will need to be different is how they perform throughout the season.
That leads me to the question: is the 2025 Bill Self and staff greater than the 2024 Bill Self and staff?
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@drgnslayr Juan struggled at times last year but much of that was because he shouldered such a heavy load. Overall I think he did fine, not great, but fine considering that he was tasked with creating every look on offense and defending the other teams best player on defense.
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The last 2 years were a struggle because Self went for big names in the portal instead of the best fits. I know Hunter catches a lot of grief, but he absolutely was a perfect Bill Self 5. The only reason his poor defense is held against him so mich is because he was usually surrounded by at least 2 other bad defenders on the floor as well. Dejuan and KJ were the only players that played consistently that we’re considered good defenders.
AJ Storr is an extremely talented offensive player, but he needed to be in a system where he could be on the ball more with a coach that likes to run iso because that’s his strength. Rylan Griffen had never played in an offensive system with structure to it and he never picked up the nuances of Self’s motion offense and was frequently out of position because of that.
On paper, I love the roster composition this season so much more than the last 2 years and I think as long as Self’s health holds up, I believe this team has a legitimate chance at making a Final Four this year. On paper, this could become one of the best defensive teams Self has ever had. Every player brought in that’s expected to play big minutes has a reputation of being above average to elite on defense.
There are some valid concerns about the offense this year, but I think that’s being a little it overhyped. Nobody on KU is an elite shooter, except maybe Rosario, but I believe the only one I would consider a bad shooter is Council. Tre White has gotten about 3% better each year from 3, all 3 years at P5 schools, so I don’t see a reason to believe he can’t shoot close to 35% this season.
By no means do I believe KU is going to lead the Big 12 in 3 point shooting, but I believe they’ll be good enough that teams have to guard them on the perimeter opening up driving lanes for them as well.
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I agree with the general sentiment of your post but I do not agree that Hunter was the perfect Bill Self 5. Bill Self usually expects and gets physical and scrappy play from his bigs. Hunter was the furthest thing you could get from physical or scrappy.
