National analyst calls Kansas an 'offseason loser' despite landing Tyran Stokes

The Kansas basketball team has had an up-and-down offseason so far. After watching almost every player with eligibility leave the program after the season ended in the second round of March Madness, head coach Bill Self recovered nicely.

Evidently, others aren't impressed with Self's offseason efforts to rebuild the KU roster. Respected basketball analyst Jeff Goodman, from The Field of 68 podcast, deemed Kansas one of the biggest losers this offseason. It is a ridiculous statement.

Goodman usually offers well-thought-out opinions and has good knowledge of the college game. In this case, he is obviously wrong, and it is difficult to understand why he is categorizing KU as being unsuccessful.

Why does Jeff Goodman think Kansas is a loser this offseason?

One can only assume that Goodman formed this opinion based solely on retention. In his comments in the YouTube video, the schools he listed as winners seemed to have retained most of their key players. Obviously, Kansas did not do that.

Only Kohl Rosario and Paul Mbiya from last season's roster decided to stay. The two biggest defections were Flory Bidunga and Bryson Tiller. While it hurt the program to lose both players, Self quickly upgraded the four spot with Keanu Dawes. The transfer from Utah is more experienced and physical than Tiller. The latter's eventual potential may be higher, but Dawes is clearly ready to step in and produce more now than Tiller.

A player with Bidunga's defensive skill level will sorely be missed, but he was limited offensively, except for lobs, dunks, and shots near the basket. He has little range to speak of, and his usually high motor seemed to peter out toward the end of the season. Self added Christian Reeves to replace him. Between Reeves and a sure-to-improve Mbiya, plus incoming freshman Javion Adkins, KU should be able to at least match Bidunga's production.

While Reeves and Dawes will certainly help fill the gaps left by Bidunga and Tiller, Self also added guard Leroy Blyden Jr., a transfer guard from Toledo. Rob Dauster, Goodman's partner on The Field of 68, said that Blyden was a “baller” and that other coaches in the Big 12 think Blyden will be a "problem" for them. That sounds like a win for Self and Kansas.

On top of everything else, Self added Tyran Stokes last week, the number one prospect in the country. Adding someone of Stokes' talent should immediately remove Kansas from the loser list. Even if you don't think Dawes, Reeves, Blyden, and Stokes are enough to make the winners' list, it is easily enough to keep them off the list of losers.

Goodman's inclusion of Kansas on his list of offseason losers is confusing at best. If it was basically based on retention, then okay, but KU only lost two key players to the portal and a couple more depth pieces. Those players have been replaced by incoming players and transfers. Stokes alone gives the Jayhawks' offseason gravitas. Goodman was way off-base on this one.

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