Bill Self named his starters for Louisville game and one player was a shock

The Kansas basketball team opens the season with an exhibition game at Louisville on Friday, October 24. On Wednesday, head coach Bill Self announced the starting lineup for the game, and one surprising name was included. 

During the Big 12 media day festivities at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Self said the starting lineup, at that moment, would be Darryn Peterson, Flory Bidunga, Tre White, Melvin Council Jr, and… Kohl Rosario. Self also noted that this lineup could change, either before the clash with Louisville or sometime in the future.

The Kansas basketball starting lineup has one surprise player

Historically, Self isn’t known for playing his freshmen significant minutes. There have been plenty of exceptions, but those are usually top-of-the-class recruits, like Peterson. Others on this list include Andrew Wiggins, Kelly Oubre, Gradey Dick, Josh Jackson, and Wayne Seldon. Even Perry Ellis saw only three starts in his first season. 

It seemed likely that either Elmarko Jackson or Jayden Dawson would be the probable fifth starter. Dawson is a senior transfer who has hit 36.7 percent of his three-point attempts. Kansas will need that shooting ability this season. Jackson started 17 games in 2023, but struggled most of the year before missing last season with a knee injury. 

Rosario is not only a freshman, but one who reclassified into this class over the summer. He was a late addition to the roster. Usually, a player like this needs time to acclimate to the college game and to Self’s system. 

Rosario brings athleticism to the roster, but fans haven’t had the chance to see him much outside of last week’s brief Late Night at the Phog scrimmage. For Self to place someone with a relatively unknown skill set in the starting lineup means Rosario has impressed the coaching staff mightily. 

A few weeks ago, ESPN college basketball analyst Fran Fraschilla watched a couple of practices and had some great things to say about several of the KU players. He called the freshman class “outstanding.” While he mentioned a couple of Kansas first-year players by name, Rosario wasn’t one of them. 

CBS Sports college basketball writer John Rothstein viewed a KU practice last weekend, and he predicted Rosario would start. At the time, that seemed a stretch, but he obviously saw something or had inside information to back up his prediction. Either way, he was right. 

Rosario’s name has come up. In his news conference early last week, Self noted that he’s been surprised by Rosario’s work ethic.

“I didn’t probably really appreciate his maturity and his commitment to trying to be good. I mean, he tries ridiculously hard every day, ridiculously hard. And you can tell him what he needs to do to get better that day or that week, whatever it is, and he’ll put a conscious effort to work on that so hard until he masters that, or at least gets close.”

Those comments show the young player's willingness to do whatever it takes to improve and contribute sooner rather than later, and Self is rewarding that. 

Of course, Self tends to experiment early in the season with his starting lineups, or at least he has in recent seasons. He may be looking for the right combination of players who work the best together. Self hedged his bets during the media day interviews, but it was still a surprise that Rosario got the first opportunity at that starting spot. 

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