With eight new faces, Kansas women’s basketball aims to exceed March expectations
Following a WNIT championship and pair of NCAA Tournament trips, Kansas women’s basketball hopes to build on that postseason foundation in the 2024-25 campaign.
And that comes with a challenge: returning to March.
“Once you become a team that’s been in the postseason and won games three consecutive years, hopefully that becomes the standard,” head coach Brandon Schneider said Tuesday. “I know that whether it’s returning players or newcomers, they come to Kansas to hopefully play for championships and consistently be a real competitor in the NCAA Tournament.”
The Jayhawks last season went 20-13 (11-7 Big 12). They won eight of their last 10 regular-season games and earned a No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament before losing in the Round of 32 to USC.
This year’s team takes on a brand new look, as Kansas lost three members of its starting five: Zakiyah Franklin, Taiyanna Jackson and Holly Kersgieter. Only six players return from last year’s team.
“We’ve lost a lot, of course, but we’ve gained so much,” sophomore S’Mya Nichols said. “We have eight new players, and every one of them brings something new to the table. And that’s more than we could have asked for.”
Nichols highlights the six returners, having already crafted an impressive resume in her short time as a Jayhawk. She made the All-Big 12 first team and was a unanimous selection to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team last season as the Jayhawks’ leading scorer (15.4 points per game). With much of last year’s core gone, Nichols is already filling a leadership void.
“I thought S’Mya did a really good job a year ago of really picking her spots,” Schneider said. “Understanding that there were fourth- and fifth-year seniors in the room, but I think she learned a great deal about the ways she wanted to contribute moving forward.”
On a team with eight new faces, Nichols will play a vital role if the Jayhawks are going to reach their goals.
“It’s step by step,” Nichols said. “It’s practice by practice. We want to get better every single day at practice, whether that’s rebounding really well or we played really good defense or our offense was flowing perfectly. Really just step by step.”
According to Nichols, the newcomers have already made a positive impact on the team. She said the players have meshed so quickly it hasn’t felt like an adjustment period.
“They just came in and made everything better,” Nichols said, highlighting junior transfer Elle Evans. Evans came from North Dakota State and was first-team All-Summit League last season, averaging 14.5 points per game.
As Evans made the decision to transfer, her goals aligned with the foundation at Kansas from the last few seasons — namely, success in March.
“I’ve never been to March Madness,” Evans said. “That’s something I’m really looking to, not just going there, but winning games.”
Kansas opens its season on Nov. 1 with an exhibition against Washburn at Allen Fieldhouse.
