Kansas basketball: Strengths and weaknesses of the rebuilt Jayhawks roster
By Kyle Jones
Weakness — Cohesion
If you’ve made it this far in the article, this one should come as no surprise. With just three scholarship players returning from last year’s team (granted, it is three starters), the ability of this group to gel and play as a team will be one of the biggest factors in determining how successful they are.
Let’s be honest — if success were based solely on talent, Kentucky and Duke would play each other in the national championship nearly every year. Clearly, that doesn’t happen, and a lot of that has to do with how well the talent plays as a team (along with the complete unknown that is March Madness). Those teams often have just a few returning players mixed in with a handful of highly-ranked freshmen. While that looks great on paper, there is more to the game than pure talent.
That may very well be the biggest question for this KU team. Harris, Adams, and McCullar will be vital in bringing some continuity to this team while allowing the rest of the group to come together as a whole. Both of KU’s National Championships under Self have come from teams that played together for a long time. In 2008, five of the top seven players were juniors and seniors who spent their whole careers at Kansas. In 2022, Remy Martin was the only player in the top seven of the rotation that wasn’t a career Jayhawk, and Jalen Wilson was the only non-upperclassman. Needless to say, the team’s success will rely heavily on their ability to come together and play as a cohesive unit.
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