The Kansas Jayhawks’ seven new scholarship men’s basketball players, five healthy returnees and six non scholarship walk-ons impressed coach Bill Self during practices that took place during the summer-school session.
“I like our roster. I do,” Self said Wednesday in a guest appearance on Seth Davis’ Bleacher Report podcast .
Self, who is entering his 22nd year at KU, was asked by the host which of the first-year Jayhawks (transfers AJ Storr, Shakeel Moore, Rylan Griffen, Zeke Mayo and David Coit, as well as freshmen Rakease Passmore and Flory Bidunga) had “jumped out” in terms of ability and opportunity to contribute immediately.
“The one player that doesn’t get talked about that’s probably been our best player so far is Zeke Mayo of South Dakota State, a local kid from here in town,” Self said of the 6-foot-4 senior combo guard out of Lawrence High. “He can shoot the ball, can handle, can play the point. He’s good.
“We’ve got two freshmen. I’ve lost count on all the transfers,” Self added with a smile, noting, “Rakease Passmore is one of the sleepers of the group. He’s kind of an Ochai Agbaji-type kid. He will develop into a terrific player.”
Passmore is a 6-5 freshman wing out of Combine Academy in North Carolina.
“Flory Bidunga is as athletic and explosive as anybody. He’s going to be really good. He’s one of the best prospects we’ve had here in a while,” Self said of the 6-9, 220-pound freshman from Kokomo (Indiana) High who originally hails from Congo.
Back to the transfers …
“There’s AJ Storr (6-7 junior guard),” Self said. “He can score the ball. If you average 17 (ppg) in the Big Ten playing at Wisconsin you can probably score a little bit. He can do that. Of course, we’ve got Rylan Griffen (6-6 junior guard) from Alabama, a starter on their Final Four team. He can shoot the ball. He’s a good player.
“We signed Shakeel Moore (6-1 senior guard) from Mississippi State. He will be a really nice player. Of course we just got a little guy nicknamed ‘Diggy’ from Northern Illinois,” Self noted of newcomer David Coit.
“He’s 5-foot-9. I like standing next to him. He makes me feel tall. He’s little but can score the ball. Noah Shelby (6-3 junior), he’s a walk-on (who will redshirt),” the coach noted.
KU has scholarship returnees in starters Hunter Dickinson, Dajuan Harris and KJ Adams, as well as Zach Clemence and Jamari McDowell. Returnee Elmarko Jackson is out for the season following early summer knee surgery.
Self said the Jayhawks could redshirt one scholarship player to go with Shelby but didn’t mention any names as candidates.
Self said he’d probably go with a 9-man playing rotation.
“I don’t know if we’ll go 10. I’ve never played 10,” Self said. “There will be one or two guys probably not as happy as they should be (because of minutes), but competition is good.
“Our guys like each other. They are excited about it. Everybody came here with the knowledge of other guys that were here. It’s not like David Coit came here not knowing Juan was back and Shakeel was here. It’s not like Zeke came here not knowing that we return three starters.
“It’s a good roster. I’ve said all along I’d like to have eight starters, starters good enough (that) in a major college game they could play 20 to 25 minutes. I think they can.” he said.
Self built his roster to the limit of 13 scholarship players this season. Injuries, Clemence’s redshirt status and Arterio Morris’ dismissal from the squad in the preseason left KU basically with a rotation of seven players for the NCAA Tournament.
KU went 1-1 in the 2024 NCAAs during a 23-11 campaign.
“I learned (last season) that too much is better than not enough,” Self said of having players available for practice and games. “We were asking guys to play substantial minutes. Hunter’s minutes need to be 28, not 36.
“I don’t know if you have to fill 13 (scholarship slots), but you have to give yourself enough depth (knowing) that something bad can happen. It was our (coaches’) fault, not the kids’ fault. They all tried hard. I think it was our fault and (in building this year’s roster) I didn’t want to make that mistake (again).”
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