The Kansas basketball team is being overlooked by some national college basketball pundits, despite having the top freshman in the class in Tyran Stokes and another top prospect in Taylen Kinney.
The roster is filled with numerous other freshmen, including Luke Barnett, Trent Perry, Davion Adkins, Grant Mordini, and Atticus Richmond. Only two scholarship players from last year's roster returned: Kohl Rosario and Paul Mbyia, plus walk-on Will Thengvall.
Head coach Bill Self added several veteran transfers from the portal as well. Players like Leroy Burden Jr., Keanu Dawes, Christian Reeves, and Dennis Parker Jr. All four of these transfers should make key contributions to this year's forthcoming success.
If the Jayhawks are going to prove their naysayers wrong, KU will need a player or two to perform better than expected. One of these players hasn't received much spotlight, and he might just surprise everyone.
Dennis Parker Jr. just might be the most underrated player on the current Kansas basketball roster
Parker played two seasons for North Carolina State, but he didn't make much of an impact with the Wolfpack. He averaged 13.9 minutes per game but only 3.8 points and 2.8 rebounds over 56 games.
He didn't shoot very well either. He made just 28 percent of his 75 three-point attempts and shot 49.2 percent from the free throw line.
He transferred to Radford and became a star. He averaged 18.3 points and 5.9 rebounds per outing in 29.3 minutes a game. More significantly, his shooting improved drastically. He made 37.7 percent of his 159 shots behind the arc and shot 65.7 percent from the line while starting all 32 games for Radford.
While it is true that some of the competition might not have been as good as what he will see at Kansas, he did score 23 points against North Carolina early in the season.
He failed to get to double-digit scoring just once, when he recorded just nine points against St. Francis, but he followed that up with an incredible 53-point performance against Coppin State.
He scored fewer than 14 points just seven times, while getting to 20 or more points 11 times. He had one three-game stretch where he averaged 35 points and another three-game stretch where he averaged 23.3 points.
Parker isn't just a scorer either. He pulled down double-digit rebounds four times and recorded 46 steals on the season.
Whether Parker starts or comes off the bench, he brings the ability to score. While neither Blyden nor Kinney are big guards, Parker is six-foot-six, 205 lbs. He offers a different look for defenses. He also has more experience than Kinney and Blyden, which Self tends to favor.
There appears to be a solid four-man rotation for the two guard spots. Rosario will have Self's trust because of his experience in the system, and Kinney, Blyden, and Parker will get plenty of minutes. Parker could be someone who spells Stokes at the small forward spot as well. Freshmen Barnett and Perry will look to gain minutes there as well.
No one is talking much about Parker, but he has some skills that Kansas will need to make a run this season. His overall stat line from last year indicates he is a scrappy player and could be the most underrated player on the roster.
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