Kansas basketball: Jayhawks land 2024 5-star center Flory Bidunga over Duke, Auburn

Flory Bidunga, the top-ranked 2024 center and highest recruiting priority for Kansas basketball, committed to the Jayhawks at the Under Armour Elite 24 game.

Yes, you’re reading that right — Flory Bidunga is a Jayhawk.

It was a strange recruitment process to say the very least, but that didn’t stop Bill Self from landing his most wanted man in the 2024 recruiting class. Bidunga announced his commitment to the Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday during the UA All-American game, which was played outdoors in Atlanta, Georgia. Other schools he was considering were Auburn, Duke, and Michigan.

Bidunga is a 6-foot-8 center from the Congo who relocated to play high school basketball in Kokomo, Indiana. He is rated as the No. 5 player and No. 1 center in the 2024 recruiting class according to the 247 Sports Composite rankings.

Following Bidunga’s recruitment was a rollercoaster with multiple twists and turns along the way. Kansas was chasing after Bidunga hard for the better part of the last three months, and it took all of their hard work to fend off major programs such as Duke and Auburn. Bidunga has a great motor but is an extremely raw prospect who has only been playing basketball since 2019.

For the last week, it seemed like a done deal that Bidunga would go ahead and give his verbal commitment to Jon Scheyer and the Duke Blue Devils with multiple crystal balls coming in for Duke. However, smoke for the Auburn Tigers began to arise on Saturday afternoon, and it led to them becoming the perceived leader with the same insiders who placed crystal balls for Duke. Four analysts put in crystal balls for Bidunga to AU.

Kansas basketball didn’t have all of the buildup that Auburn and Duke had leading up to his commitment on Saturday, but you can never count out Bill Self in the pursuit of any player. It would be reasonable to suggest there might have been a NIL bidding war going on in this recruitment.

Getting Bidunga in the 2024 class is a great start, and now Coach Self can focus on getting a wing or guard on board to go along with the highly touted center.

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