When Bryson Tiller first entered the transfer portal, Kansas basketball fans thought maybe the sophomore power forward was just looking at his market value and would eventually return to KU.
Now that the door is closed, as Tiller is going to suit up for the Jayhawks' biggest rival, the Missouri Tigers. It is almost unbelievable. Tiller may very well have just been testing the market, but it quickly didn't appear as if he had any intention to return to KU, for whatever reason.
The NIL era, for all the good aspects of it and the not-so-great, the fact that Tiller would leave Kansas for Mizzou is something fans have a hard time fathoming. With the constant fluidity that is such a massive part of the college game today, the importance of rivalries like Kansas and Missouri is fading.
Players who are only at a school for a year or two do not appreciate the importance of such rivalries for fans. It is difficult to make them understand just how much the two fanbases loathe each other.
BREAKING: Kansas transfer forward Bryson Tiller has committed to Missouri🐯
— Transfer Portal (@TransferPortal) April 16, 2026
Read: https://t.co/WEM0Ffwjtg pic.twitter.com/QmOmhPW0yb
Kansas fans will have a hard time wishing Bryson Tiller good luck after the Mizzou announcement
Tiller becomes the first player ever to transfer from Kansas to Missouri, according to James Madden from ZagsBlog. No one has transferred from Missouri to Kansas either. That is how heated rivalries work.
Kansas is slated to play Mizzou in the T-Mobile Center next season, and it is difficult to imagine that Kansas fans will be kind and welcoming to their former player. Tiller should be fully prepared for plenty of harassment from the Jayhawk faithful. Let's just hope the fans voice their displeasure with a modicum of class, without crossing any lines as to be hateful or beyond.
It is hard to believe Tiller would consider Missouri as a possible destination. Now, ancient rivalries probably don't come into play with today's players or their families and agents.
The “Once a Jayhawk always a Jayhawk” maxim is over if guys are really going to go from KU to our biggest and most hated 135-year-old rival.
— Jayhawk Talk (@JayhawkTalk) April 16, 2026
It would have been fun to watch Tiller develop. He has tremendous upside and could have been an incredible Jayhawk in a different era. Unfortunately, he will not be a player fans will remember fondly. He will forever be a footnote in the rivalry as the first player (and hopefully, last) to cross over to the fiercest of Kansas' rivals.
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