One of the most intriguing players on the Kansas basketball roster is redshirt sophomore Jamari McDowell. It’s challenging to predict how significant his role might be this year, but it will be his third in the program.
The more time players spend under head coach Bill Self’s tutelage, the more they tend to improve. Sometimes, those improvements manifest slowly, like Travis Relaford, Tyrel Reed, and many others who put in their time as role players off the bench before contributing significantly as starters later in their careers at KU.
It’s going to be a crowded backcourt this season, with just about everyone on the roster vying for minutes, so McDowell will need to impress in practice and earn his opportunities.
What might Jamari McDowell bring to this Kansas basketball team?
It’s not like McDowell doesn’t have plenty of talent. While he wasn’t a blue chip recruit, 247Sports ranked him 112th in his 2023 recruiting class. There are skills present that can be developed and molded.
His freshman season wasn’t impressive. He averaged 1.8 points and 1.2 rebounds per game in his first season. He didn’t shoot well at all, either, connecting on just 30.8 percent of all of his shots and just 28.1 percent from beyond the arc. He did, however, make 84.2 percent of his 19 free throw attempts.
He played in 31 games as a freshman, averaging 7.2 minutes per game. While he offered glimpses occasionally of why he was well-ranked as a recruit, just as often, he more often seemed lost on the court. Self had him on a very short leash and obviously didn’t trust him enough to give him more minutes.
What he did bring was a scrappiness and energy, even when he was making mistakes. Those are two traits coaches love, and it could be his path toward more playing time this season. If he can become a top-notch defender and significantly improve his shooting touch, it becomes easier to project more minutes.
Self obviously sees something in McDowell, who chose to redshirt last season rather than defect through the transfer portal like so many recent youngsters in the program. He stayed again this year, even though Self brought in several more perimeter players.
This indicates McDowell is comfortable with his position on the roster. Either he thinks this will be another season of learning the game that will lead to a much bigger role as a junior or senior, or that he’s in a position to contribute more immediately.
Either way, it will be fun to watch McDowell, and he is kind of an X-factor with this team. He could very well be someone who brings energy and intensity off the bench, and that can be something that helps the Jayhawks in tight games.
Let’s hope he remains patient with his career and takes a significant leap forward in his development this year. His time will come.