Objective No. 1 for Bill Self this offseason, once he decided to return to Kansas, of course, was to land Tyran Stokes, the No. 1 recruit in the country. On Tuesday night, he made that likelihood into a reality, officially locking in Stokes’s commitment after months of what Stokes has described as “trolling” Kentucky with a visit to Lexington.
Self has built his roster around Stokes, a playmaking wing with great size at 6-foot-7 who projects as a preseason All-American and one of the best players in the country next season. He’ll have the Jayhawks in the national spotlight, but may not immediately vault them to the top of the heap in the country, or even the Big 12.
The offseason roster churn cost Self Flory Bidunga and Bryson Tiller in the Transfer Portal. Despite the additions of Leroy Blyden Jr. from Toledo, Keanu Dawes from Utah, and Christian Reaves from Charleston and the impending arrivals of Stokes and fellow five-star Taylen Kinney, Self still has a glaring need to address before his team is ready to compete for another title, now four years removed from the 2022 national championship.
Kansas’s undersized backcourt will be a major problem without another move
It’s no secret that college basketball is supersizing. Bigs came at a premium in the Transfer Portal this offseason, because coaches want to raise their floor with a team that dominates the boards and controls the paint, securing easy baskets at one end and preventing them at the other. Elite guards still often set the ceiling, but as more bigs and wings are able to shoot and handle, small guards can get picked on defensively.
It’s hard enough to produce a quality defense with one small guard. Kansas, at least as it currently stands, intends to play two of them. Kinney stands just 6-foot-1 and 185 pounds, and also at 6-foot-1, Blyden is even slighter, listed at 175 pounds. The duo provides enough shooting and playmaking to co-exist offensively. However, they’ll be impossible to hide on the defensive end of the floor, especially without Bidunga to anchor the Jayhawks.
Kinney and Stokes are part of a five-player freshman class, so maybe Luke Barnett or Trent Perry are the answer to bring more size to the wing and in the backcourt. Betting on a four-star freshman, though, is risky, so Self should scour the portal and international prospect pool for a third guard to be his primary point of attack defender and allow him to stagger Kinney and Blyden’s minutes.
Whether it comes in the form of a true guard or another wing to allow Stokes to slide into a point forward role in a big lineup, Stokes cannot be Self’s last addition to the roster. As currently constructed, the Jayhawks look good enough to get past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022, but the expectations in Lawrence are much higher than the Sweet 16.
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