Kansas is losing no time reshaping its roster after a disappointing finish to the 2023-24 males’s school basketball season. And it obtained some large information on a returning participant too.
Invoice Self’s Jayhawks obtained a switch dedication from Alabama’s Rylan Griffen on Friday morning. Griffen is the fourth main switch Kansas has landed because the Jayhawks have been eradicated within the second spherical of the NCAA event this March.
Friday afternoon, the college introduced that star middle Hunter Dickinson would return for a second season in Lawrence.
Griffen performed a key position in Alabama’s run to the Remaining 4 earlier this spring. He scored 19 factors within the Crimson Tide’s Candy 16 win over No. 1 seed North Carolina and had 13 in Alabama’s Elite Eight win over Clemson. Griffen scored eight factors in 26 minutes within the Tide’s Remaining 4 loss to UConn.
Griffen averaged simply over 11 factors per recreation and shot over 39% from behind the 3-point line final season. Kansas shot simply 33% from behind the arc as a staff a season in the past and ranked exterior the highest 200 within the nation.
Earlier than including Griffen, Kansas secured commitments from former South Dakota State guard Zeke Mayo, former Wisconsin ahead AJ Storr and former Florida guard Riley Kugel. All 4 gamers rank amongst Rivals’ high 100 transfers this offseason.
Mayo was ranked because the fifth-best participant within the switch portal. He averaged 19 factors per recreation in 2023 and shot 47% from the sector. Storr averaged 12 factors per recreation a season in the past.
Their additions ought to give Kansas much more depth than it had a season in the past. The Jayhawks faltered in February and March as Kevin McCullar Dickinson each suffered late-season accidents. McCullar missed the postseason, whereas Dickinson was in a position to return for the NCAA event after lacking the Huge 12 event with a shoulder damage.
Kansas completed sixth within the Huge 12 after dropping three of its remaining 4 common season video games. The Jayhawks then misplaced 72-52 to Cincinnati in its solely recreation of the Huge 12 event.
The Jayhawks went simply seven-deep a season in the past, and McCullar and Dickinson have been two of 4 gamers who averaged a minimum of 32 minutes a recreation. Subsequent 12 months, Kansas ought to have a a lot stronger bench — and now has a really critical case to be the preseason No. 1 staff within the nation once more with Dickinson’s return.
The previous Michigan middle has another 12 months of eligibility remaining. He averaged 17.9 factors and 10.9 rebounds a recreation a season in the past. Kansas will deliver him again together with KJ Adams (12.6 factors per recreation) and level guard Dajuan Harris (8.5 factors and 6.5 assists per recreation) along with the gamers it is added by the portal.
The Jayhawks are additionally including two extremely touted freshmen. 5-star recruit and Indiana participant of the 12 months Flory Bidunga has signed with the Jayhawks together with four-star ahead Rakease Passmore. Now that Dickinson is formally again within the fold too, Kansas is listed because the co-favorite together with two-time defending nationwide champion UConn at +1000 to win the nationwide title at BetMGM.
