Kansas had a clear weakness last season on the hardwood, or off the hardwood, one could say. Head coach Bill Self simply had no depth on his team off the bench, which meant starters were putting in a lot of time, but Self isn't allowing that weakness to carry over to this season.
Early in the offseason, it was looking like bench play could be another problem for the Jayhawks, especially with a thinner roster. However, Self was able to add some key pieces using the temporary injunction to allow Melvin Council Jr., Tre White, and Trey Kaufman-Renn to join the team for one final season. With those additions, Self knows a strong rotation is needed off the bench.
"We’d like to be able to play at least 10," Self said before the season began. "There will be some games we use 11, but the guys who play the 11th spot or more than that are going to get limited minutes no matter who that is. So I think 10 is a fair number, at least initially."
A rotation of potentially 10 to 11 guys is huge for Kansas, which barely had seven to eight in the rotation last season. This is where taking advantage of the court rulings was key for Self when building his final roster, bringing experience both in his starting lineup and off the bench.
Bill Self has to stay up to date with the world of college basketball, especially this late in his career
The bench was clearly the Jayhawks' biggest weakness last season, especially when the rotation got smaller with the unreliability of Darryn Peterson playing a full game or not. So, Self clearly knows it was a point of emphasis in the offseason, and with the way college sports is moving, he was able to take advantage of all the five-in-five chaos.
Some may think, or already do think, that Self is "disrupting" college sports by bringing back not just Council and White, but Kaufman-Renn, who was drafted in the 2026 NBA Draft and played in the NBA Summer League. Self, on the other hand, sees this as simply playing the cards that were dealt to him.
"Disruptor? If we don't play with them, we're gonna play against them," Self said at Big 12 Media Days. "All I want to do, within the guidelines of what's been set: how do we get our best team together? That's it. There's no disruption."
Self is simply keeping up with the times in college sports, and he makes an excellent point: if he doesn't play with these guys, he is most likely playing against them. Even if they end up on the bench, which I doubt they will, these guys will be key contributors to Kansas and a big part of the rotation.
The good news with Self bringing in this experience is that Self got a lot of young talent in the transfer portal in the offseason. Leroy Blyden Jr. is a sophomore; this is Keanu Dawes fourth season, so he could return for a fifth, and Taylen Kinney is a freshman who could benefit from staying another season, so with these fifth-year guys returning, it puts the younger guys probably on the bench, but still in the rotation.
By being in this 10-to-11 man rotation, those younger guys are still getting good minutes, because Self has at least eight guys against Fordham who got 13 minutes or more. It gives the younger guys time to get comfortable in this system and ready for next season when they are most likely the starters.
Having a better rotation this season is good not just for the present, but for the future as well for the Jayhawks. Self made it clear that he is playing chess, not checkers, when it comes to building this roster.
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