The biggest question marks surrounding the Kansas Jayhawks’ basketball program have been over the roster rebuild ahead of the 2026-27 season. Most thought that the Jayhawks had a strong amount of depth, but that depth was unproven in Big 12 play.
After all, the Jayhawks are only reeling in one player with Big 12 experience in Keanu Dawes. Everyone else is either new to the program or had bit-part minutes last season.
However, all that changed earlier Friday, when the Jayhawks announced that Tre White will be returning to the program.
He’s back. pic.twitter.com/YkDMttEc3S
— Kansas Men’s Basketball (@KUHoops) September 25, 2026
247Sports’ Michael Swain does a fantastic job of breaking down the case; specifics can be found here. But with the temporary restraining order that White was granted, he is eligible to play until his trial, which doesn’t have a start date yet.
Bill Self reveals thoughts about White’s re-addition
"Tre received a TRO and is eligible to come to campus and practice, and hopefully play in games. He's had a great offseason and performed well with the Heat and had a very successful summer league,” opened the legendary head coach.
White made four appearances in the NBA Summer League where he tallied an average of 17.3 points per game, 5.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.8 steals per game. White did all this on a 43.8% field goal rate across 29 minutes per outing.
“When the opportunity presented itself to go back to college, he wanted to come back to KU, and we welcomed that. He pursued this on his own, which shows he wants to be here. You're talking about a guy that averaged 14 points and seven rebounds last year in a really good league,”
Last season, White tallied 13.5 points per game, 6.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists, going 45% per game from the field and a strong 40.3% rate from beyond the arc. White finished with five games of at least 20 points. While White faded towards the tail-end of the season, he was by far the team’s second-most reliable scorer behind just Darryn Peterson, which is a hard player to overtake.
“He brings experience, but he also brings talent, leadership, depth, and competition in practice every day.”
What does Kansas’ lineup look like now?
This is an interesting question. All offseason, we were leaning towards the idea that the Jayhawks were opting for a combo guard lineup. That starting five would mean
PG: Taylen Kinney
SG: Leroy Blyden Jr.
SF: Tyran Stokes
PF: Keanu Dawes
C: Paul Mbiya/Christian Reeves
Now with a 6-foot-7 White, things have changed. You know Kinney and Stokes have to be locks for a starting spot, and that either Mbiya or Reeves will be in at the center spot.
But perhaps with White now involved, it may look something like
PG: Taylen Kinney
SG: Tre White
SF: Tyran Stokes
PF: Keanu Dawes
C: Paul Mbiya/Christian Reeves.
While White may not have the playmaking gene that Blyden does, he is a stellar defender and an elite scorer. You also simply can not throw White at the power forward. Last season, Kansas got bodied down low towards the end of the campaign, and White was sometimes culpable for that.
Either way, this is a good problem for Bill Self, as the Jayhawks have some much-needed experience for what is going to be a road-heavy schedule.
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