When the Kansas basketball team hosted Kansas State in Allen Fieldhouse yesterday for the second Sunflower Showdown of the regular season, the Jayhawks had their senior day for Dajuan Harris,Kevin McCullar, Parker Braun, Patrick Cassidy, Nick Timberlake, and Michael Jankovich. However, that does not necessarily mean fans will see the last of them once the campaign concludes.
McCullar, Braun, Timberlake, and the walk-ons all run out of eligibility after the year ends. McCullar had his senior night last year and gave a speech but decided to return to school to boost his draft stock. Braun and Timberlake committed to KU this past year and were rentals for the team.
Bill Self confirmed once again that Harris, KU's point guard and leader, will return for the 2024-25 season. He will exercise his additional year of eligibility granted to him during the COVID-19 season, meaning his entire collegiate career will have been spent with the Jayhawks.
There is more uncertainty surrounding the status of Hunter Dickinson, who has another year of eligibility to spare but also has NBA aspirations. However, he hinted at a potential return to Lawrence next season on a podcast, and Self confirmed those suspicions during senior night when he said he hopes the program has him back in 2024-25.
Jayhawk fans can expect Harris back and probably Dickinson unless he does something extraordinary to garner additional NBA attention. So even though the point guard-center duo was honored on senior night, don't expect to see the last of them.
With KJ Adams entering his senior year a year from now, there will be turnover after next season. Furthermore, it is likely Kansas loses Australian phenom Johnny Furphy to the NBA Draft and one of their freshman guards to the transfer portal this spring, but there should still be some roster retention from the group they have this year.