The Kansas basketball team will be extremely young this season with only Keanu Dawes, Christian Reeves, and Dennis Parker Jr. as seniors. Kohl Rosario, Paul Mbiya, and Leroy Blyden Jr. are the only other players with any college experience. They are all sophomores, and only Blyden played many minutes. Everyone else on the roster is a freshman.
There will be plenty of competition for the 200 minutes of court time in each game. Head coach Bill Self notoriously likes to play his starters plenty of minutes, but there is enough talent and depth on this roster for him to spread out the minutes more than he has in the past. This may be a pipe dream, however.
There are probably two certainties on this team when it comes to minutes. Barring injuries, Dawes and top-ranked freshman Tyran Stokes will both play a good chunk of minutes. Dawes has a lot of experience against top-notch competition and brings a toughness to the lineup. Stokes is the most talented player on the roster, and KU did make him their priority if they didn't want to play him.
How many Kansas basketball players will get significant minutes this season?
If you figure Self won't totally depart from his historical tendencies, it won't be shocking if Stokes and Dawes play around 30 minutes a game. Last year, three players averaged over 30 minutes. Melvin Council Jr. led the way with 34.8 minutes, followed by Flory Bidunga with 31.5 and Tre White with 31.3 minutes.
From there, much depends on how Self uses Blyden and freshman Tylen Kinney. Both are point guards, a luxury Self hasn't had for a while. How much will he play them together? Both can score and facilitate and are paired with other guys who can effectively run the court like Dawes and Stokes; you can imagine a sleek, fast offense.
It's easy to imagine Self playing Blyden and Kinney together for large chunks of time. However, Blyden is a transfer from Toledo and Kinney is a freshman, so there will be some questions about how rapidly they adjust to elite competition. While it is hoped they will figure things out quickly, there is no guarantee how quickly this will happen.
The next question is how the minutes will be divided at the five spot. Christian Reeves has the experience, and Mbiya the untapped potential. This is a situation where Reeves might play a bulk of the minutes early, if totally healthy, but Mbiya could earn more and more playing time as the season progresses and he takes bigger steps in his development.
Three other players seem primed to fill out Self's rotation in some capacity. Parker seems the most likely to crack the starting lineup if Blyden and Kinney don't both start. He is a seasoned scorer who could provide a big boost as a scorer off the bench, but it wouldn't shock anyone if Parker earned a starting spot as a more proven shot maker.
Rosario is an interesting player. He showed flashes of talent and athleticism last season but was horribly inconsistent. Look for him to make significant improvement this season. He is supposed to be a good three-point shooter, but for most of the season, that was not evident. He did, however, make his last four attempts at the end of the year, giving hope that he truly is a good shooter.
Parker and Rosario will probably split most of the bench minutes for the two guard spots and as Stokes' backups at small forward. This gives Self five strong perimeter players he can use in numerous combinations.
Savion Adkins will probably see time as both a backup for Dawes and as a third option behind Reeves and Mbiya in the case of injuries or foul trouble. He should be able to play inside and on the perimeter, like Bryson Tiller did last season. Adkins' minutes may vary from game to game, but he should see plenty of action.
Two freshmen who probably won't see a lot of playing time this year but have terrific situational skill sets that might help them get into games occasionally. Trent Perry is a high-energy, hustle player, and Self could use him if the team is flat and needs some energy. Luke Barnett could be the sharpshooter Self has needed over the last few seasons. If he can hit threes consistently, he will get some minutes.
That leaves developmental players Grant Mordini and Atticus Richmond, who probably won't play much outside of the games against low-to-mid-major schools or in mop-up duties.
Here's how minutes dispersment might look:
- Tyran Stokes and Keanu Dawes - 30 minutes each
- Leroy Blyden Jr. and Tylan Kinney - 26 minutes each
- Christian Reeves - 23 minutes
- Dennis Parker Jr. - 20 minutes
- Paul Mbiya - 15 minutes
- Kohl Rosario - 14 minutes
- Davion Adkins - 12 minutes
- Trent Perry and Luke Barnett - 2 minutes each
This does figure any minutes at the end of blowouts for Mordini and Richmond, but it is a decent breakdown of a normal game. There might be several games when Perry and Barnett won't play, and those minutes will go to Rosario and Parker.
It also isn't difficult to see one of the point guards playing fewer minutes with Parker and Rosario picking up a few more regularly. If Parker is a starter, you can swap his minutes with either of the point guards.
Self will have plenty of flexibility and versatility with how he rotates his players. Situational matchups, injuries, and foul trouble may dictate different minute outcomes from game to game. This roster looks deep on paper, with more talent in the middle and bottom than any team since the 2021-22 national championship team.
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