How many scholarships will open for the Kansas Jayhawks during the offseason?

The Kansas Jayhawks have already brought in two highly touted transfers from the portal since the season ended. Bill Self currently has 12 players on scholarship heading into the 2023-24 campaign. Here is the list of players holding a spot on the roster:

• Hunter Dickinson
• Dajuan Harris
• Zeke Mayo
• Johnny Furphy
• KJ Adams
• Riley Kugel
• Elmarko Jackson
• Flory Bidunga
• Jamari McDowell
• Labaron Philon
• Rakease Passmore
• Zach Clemence

Kansas basketball can add one transfer unless a current Jayhawk leaves

Kansas self-imposed a scholarship infraction on itself for three years to alleviate the eventual NCAA penalties it received. The program decided to reduce the total scholarship number from 39 to 36. After using just 11 this past season, KU is only down one scholarship for the next two campaigns.

Therefore, Coach Self has a decision to make in the coming months. He can fill either 12 or 13 scholarships this year and plan accordingly for the following season. This is where it gets tricky.

During KU's annual banquet dinner, Self mentioned that Kansas would likely make three or four portal additions. Given that the Jayhawks have already made two in Mayo and Kugel, that leaves the door open to one or two more players — but there is only one spot available on the roster.

The most likely departure is Johnny Furphy, who is viewed as a first-round pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. Potential transfer portal entries include McDowell, Jackson, and Clemence if they believe they cannot play a major role on the team. Hunter Dickinson has not revealed whether he will return to school yet, either.

Kansas is still interested in transfers such as Rylan Griffen, Colby Rogers, and AJ Storr, but only one player can join the team if nobody leaves. However, it is very uncommon for blue bloods to lose no players to the portal or NBA in an offseason.

There is plenty of time remaining in the offseason. The likelihood is that one or two current players will transfer out of the program and Furphy will go to the NBA. Time will tell how everything plays out.