No, you shouldn’t expect the Kansas Jayhawks to reel in another gamebreaker ahead of next season.
There are a few reasons why. The biggest being that there aren’t many left. Just one player, according to 247Sports’ transfer portal top-100, has yet to find a new home, and even Hamad Mousa looks favored to join the defending national title winners, the Michigan Wolverines.
Even if there were, when speaking to the media earlier this week, Kansas head coach Bill Self mentioned that the Jayhawks went “in” for the nation’s No. 1 player Tyran Stokes as a reason why there was so much rotation between last year’s roster and next season's, likely inferring there isn’t much left in the budget to bring in another big-time player, later when asked about roster construction Self stated that the Jayhawks would have to look for a “steal.”
Why this could be a cause for concern for one position group
Next season, the Jayhawks will have to figure out how to work without center Flory Bidunga, who departed to the Louisville Cardinals after flirting with the NBA. Set to replace him are sophomore center Paul Mbiya and transfer Christian Reeves.
Both have big question marks over their productivity in a conference as strong as the Big 12. To make matters worse, according to Self, Reeves played with a “hurt shoulder all season long” last year.
Reeves then underwent shoulder surgery and has since been in recovery. However, when speaking with the media earlier this week, Self was asked about Reeves’ recovery, saying, “I think he’ll be in a sling for another week, maybe, or a half a week, and then it may come out on Thursday, so they'll start doing a lot more range of motion and rehab.”
“But the reality is, it's not gonna be contact with him until the 1st of October, something like that…But he won’t be able to get hit in this area [points to back of the shoulder] until probably early, mid-October.”
This leaves Mbiya with what Self described as having a position that is “there for Paul to take, at least initially.”
With Reeves not back to full health and Mbiya still developing, this leaves a hole that Kansas may look to fill with a last-minute pickup but there have been no rumors, or confirmed visits meaning there is a good chance that those two will largely have to take the brunt of the minutes as Self will rely on some strong offseason development from the pair in order for the Jayhawks to begin to replace what Bidunga leaves.
Mbiya played a bit-part role in his freshman season, often looking raw during his time on the court. Reeves, on the other hand, has seen stops at both Duke and Clemson before one season at the College of Charleston, where Reeves notched 11.1 points and 7.8 rebounds on a strong 65.4% field goal rate, good enough for spots on the All-CAA Third Team and the CAA All-Defensive Team.
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