Kansas basketball: Joseph Yesufu enters his name into transfer portal

The transfers are beginning to pile up for Kansas basketball. They are down to just six returning scholarship players for 2023-24. 

A day after Bobby Pettiford and Zach Clemence decided to enter the portal, KU’s sixth man this year has decided to leave as well. The loss of Joseph Yesufu thins the Jayhawks’ guard depth for next season.

Yesufu’s decision was unknown after Pettiford transferred, as he would have had substantially more playing time with the team. Instead, the national champion opted to spend his last year in college basketball at a different school.

His 4.1 points per game off the bench were the highest of any Kansas player. He also averaged 1.2 rebounds, 0.4 assists, and shot 36.7% from three.

He never lived up to his full potential with the Jayhawks after transferring from Drake in 2021. Yesufu garnered national recognition after putting on a show in the First Four and Round of 64 matchups for the Bulldogs. His 38.4% three-point percentage offered tons of promise for KU, but he did not eclipse 30% in his two years here.

Perhaps Bill Self wants to void all the bench pieces he had this season. After all, Kansas had the lowest-scoring bench in the Big 12 and one of the worst in the nation.

This news could open up more playing time for five-star recruit Elmarko Jackson, who has received lots of hype since committing to Kansas. The 6′ 3″ point guard out of Connecticut is great at getting to the rim and can score at will.

Expect Kansas to be very active in the transfer portal this off-season. A potential reason that all these players are leaving could be because Self wants to run with an entirely new second unit next year. We rarely see a Kansas team lose so many players in one season, but fans should be confident that our Hall of Fame coach will find a way to make it work.