Things have gone quiet on the Kansas basketball front as of late.
The team is quietly wrapping up the regular season with a post on X earlier today detailing the end of their 2026 Boot Camp, signaling business as usual.
Built for it 🔒
— Kansas Men’s Basketball (@KUHoops) September 17, 2026
Boot Camp 2026 ✔ pic.twitter.com/AoXZYIkA24
That being said, that doesn’t mean their 2026 roster is finished yet. All offseason, KU has been linked with several different possible additions to their roster. However, today, center Emmanuel Ogbole saw a breakthrough in his case.
Update on former Rutgers center Emmanuel Ogbole:
— Henry Greenstein (@HenryGreenstein) September 17, 2026
After oral arguments today in New York, he has been granted a temporary restraining order to become eligible. His injunction hearing is now on Sept. 30.
As a reminder, KU previously filed NCAA eligibility waivers on his behalf.
Ogbole is a different situation than what you may expect
Unlike many other players looking for eligibility now, Ogbole never set foot on an NBA court.
Ogbole entered the transfer portal and filed an eligibility waiver before the new age-based eligibility ruling fully took effect, as he is seeking a fifth and final season of collegiate basketball.
The hardship waiver was filed by Kansas on behalf of Ogbole thanks to an ACL injury sustained in his first year of college basketball at Monroe College, a JUCO in New York where Melvin Council Jr. also played. Ogbole played three years at Big Ten side Rutgers after one year at Monroe.
What would Ogbole bring to Kansas?
Let’s make one thing clear: Ogbole still needs to win his injunction to be able to play; landing a TRO is just a good first step. Also, Kansas won't put itself in a corner by committing to Ogbole until he wins his injunction.
Ogbole stands at 6-foot-10, weighing in at 260 pounds. Ogbole made 67 appearances during his time with the Scarlett Knights and 45 starts. During the 2025-26 campaign, Ogbole tallied 4.7 points, 6 rebounds, 1.2 blocks and 1.1 assists per game, registering a 59.8% field goal rate.
Last season, Ogbole finished with a 5.2 average game score. According to John Hollinger’s metric. Here what a game score tells you “A measure created to give a rough measure of a player's productivity for a single game. The scale is similar to that of points scored (40 is an outstanding performance, 10 is an average performance, etc.)”
Not a standout number by any means. However, it is worth noting the game score metric appears to be skewed heavily by points so it can make sense that someone like Ogbole, who averaged 19 minutes per game and attempted 3.3 shots per game, finished with that score.
Ogbole compiled two double-doubles last season against Lehigh (16 points, 10 rebounds) and against UNLV (21 points, 13 rebounds).
If everything were to come to fruition and Ogbole were to end up a Jayhawk, his role in the team would be interesting, his stature makes him the team’s smallest center behind 7-foot-0 Paul Mbiya and 7-foot-2 Christian Reeves, but Ogbole is also probably to tall to factor as a power forward. At this point though, with most feeling like KU needs an extra addition to the roster, he would provide a solid depth piece who has seen consistent high-major basketball. Something that can’t be said for a lot of this roster.
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