The Kansas basketball team could be without Arterio Morris this season after he was suspended indefinitely. These are our initial thoughts on the situation.
According to The Kansas City Star, there are rape allegations surrounding Kansas Jayhawks transfer guard Arterio Morris. The incident is said to have occurred in McCarthy Hall, and he has been suspended from the program as a result.
His freshman season at Texas was underwhelming. The former top-ranked point guard out of high school played all 38 games for the Longhorns, averaging 4.6 points and 1.4 rebounds. He was highly coveted after entering the transfer portal and committed to Kansas in April. But with the recent allegations, it’s possible that he doesn’t play a regular season game donning the crimson and blue.
Losing Morris would be a sizeable blow to a Kansas basketball team expected to open the preseason as the consensus No. 1 in the country. He was part of a transfer class that included Hunter Dickinson, one of the nation’s top big men. Kansas is also bringing in top-40 high school recruits in Elmarko Jackson and Johnny Furphy.
Although returning three starters from last year’s team that secured a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament is promising, we’d be lying if we said this doesn’t impact the upcoming season. Morris was one of the team’s better players during its week-long excursion to Puerto Rico, and he is familiar with Big 12 basketball after playing in the conference a year prior.
These are our three initial thoughts about the suspension of Arterio Morris and what it means for Kansas basketball moving forward.
1. Kansas still has depth at both guard spots
The good thing about the way KU’s roster is assembled right now is that it is guard-heavy. One of the nation’s best playmakers in Dajuan Harris returns, who is the set-in-stone point guard option for Kansas. Alongside him will be either Morris, Elmarko Jackson, or Nick Timberlake, all of whom make compelling arguments to crack the starting lineup.
Jackson is a 5-star incoming freshman with a similar skill set to Morris. He is a tremendous athlete with plenty of potential on the defensive end, which should bode well for him in Bill Self’s system.
Timberlake is the other option to those two, a knockdown outside shooter with far more experience. The Towson transfer is entering his sixth and final year of college ball and holds a 37.9% lifetime 3-point percentage, including 41.6% on 6.7 attempts per game in 2022-23. He should be able to come in and make an instant impact on the offensive end.
Morris seemed to be the favorite to start heading into the season, but there are still two terrific alternatives. Most teams would not even consider using someone like Jackson off the bench. It should remind Kansas basketball fans just how spoiled we are with weapons.
Additionally, 4-star guard Jamari McDowell was a redshirt candidate this season, but it seems that the Jayhawks might need him to play some valuable minutes down the stretch.
2. Johnny Furphy might see an increased role in his absence
Australian phenom Johnny Furphy wowed scouts at the NBA Academy Games this summer. After garnering attention from several blue-blood programs, he decided to reclass up to 2023 and commit to Kansas. With the recent news of Morris being suspended, some playing time might have just opened up for him.
He is a 6-foot-8 forward, so why would he benefit from the absence of another player? Well, minutes have to go somewhere, and Bill Self will need to experiment with new lineups if Morris does indeed wind up departing from the program.
Self himself said that Furphy is a versatile talent who can play anywhere from the two-guard to power forward. While it might not be his natural position, it wouldn’t be the first time the Hall of Famer rolled out a skinny 6-foot-8 freshman as a shooting guard. Gradey Dick was one of the best freshmen in the conference serving that role.
Furphy is an NBA hopeful who will need to prove he is capable of many things on the hardwood. Being able to change positions would be a perfect way to display that.
3. If the Jayhawks were to lose Morris for the season, it would not affect the team’s title hopes
A school can put together a roster of strictly 5-star recruits, but there’s one thing only the Kansas Jayhawks can boast — the best coach in the sport.
Not much needs to be worried about when Bill Self is in the picture. Year in and year out, he proves the doubters wrong. Whenever the college basketball world thinks Kansas will have a down year, they wind up finishing a top-10 team. We’ve seen this storyline play out several times, and until it comes to fruition, I’m not buying it. Losing one player will not affect KU’s championship hopes.
The starting lineup is still the best in the country without Morris. Dajuan Harris, Elmarko Jackson, Kevin McCullar, KJ Adams, and Hunter Dickinson could beat just about anyone at full strength. While it would be nice to have some more depth at the guard position, every team goes through hardships, and no coach handles them better than Self does.