While the Kansas men's basketball team might be trending in the wrong direction ahead of the 2025-26 season, the Jayhawk women and head coach Brandon Schneider are putting in a lot of good work to ensure their future success.
Most recently, Schneider and his staff have focused a lot on the No. 9 prospect in the class of 2026, power forward Ashlyn Koupal. On Wednesday, May 21, Koupal included the Jayhawks in her final five schools under consideration.
Alongside Kansas, the top-10 prospect also listed the Nebraska Cornhuskers, TCU Horned Frogs, Michigan State Spartans, and Duke Blue Devils.
Koupal has only taken one official visit to Michigan State, but currently has OVs scheduled with the other four programs, including the Jayhawks.
Koupal is a four-star prospect and is the No. 5 power forward in the class, as well as being ranked as the No. 1 recruit out of the state of South Dakota. As of now, none of the five schools that she listed on her final list have earned commitments from the class of 2026.
During her junior season (2024-25), Koupal was named the MaxPreps South Dakota Player of the Year. Throughout the season, she averaged 22.2 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game for her team, Wagner High School.
Despite earning the title of South Dakota Player of the Year, Koupal was only named to the site's third-team roster, but was the only junior to be included on the list of elite-level players..
As soon as the announcement of Koupal narrowing her search was released, Jayhawk fans flooded social media to ensure that the young power forward knew that they wanted her to be a part of their program.