What will KU basketball’s roster look like next season? That’s a big question
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Several seniors and starters (Council, Dawson, Ngala, White, Peterson) are gone.
- Bidunga is expected to test the NBA; other underclassmen face uncertain choices.
- KU targets top recruits and portal players as Self weighs his future.
In this new era of NIL and the transfer portal — one in which virtually all of KU’s basketball players have agents — it’s close to impossible to project the type of team that will take the court for the Jayhawks this summer into next season.
It’s even more difficult considering the fact 23rd-year coach Bill Self has said he needs some time to assess his health and discuss his future with family members before revealing whether he’ll for sure be back for 2026-27.
There generally is roster unrest when a coach leaves a school.
What’s known for sure is the Jayhawks will be losing senior scholarship players Melvin Council Jr., Jayden Dawson, Gee Ngala and Tre White, as well as senior walk-ons Wilder Evers and Justin Cross.
Starters Council and White combined to average 26.2 points per game for a team that averaged 75.4 points per game, 76.9 in Big 12 play.
Also certain to leave is starting guard Darryn Peterson, a one-and-done freshman who averaged 20.1 points per outing.
Which KU players have decisions to make?
There are plenty of question marks surrounding the status of other players who are eligible to return.
Sophomore starting forward Flory Bidunga (13.3 ppg, 9.0 rpg with 91 blocked shots) is expected to at least test the waters of the 2026 NBA Draft. A nice paycheck would await him at KU if he decided to return for a junior season, however sentiment around the program is he’s likely to at least test.
He, Bryson Tiller and Kohl Rosario said after Sunday’s 67-65 NCAA Round of 32 loss to St. John’s they were not thinking about the future so soon after the conclusion of the season.
Tiller averaged 7.9 points and 6.1 rebounds per game and had a stellar first year of college basketball, hitting 44.9% of his shots. The 6-11 Tiller fired up 14 of 52 3s for 26.9% and would be a key returnee.
Nobody knows if the players not projected to be drafted will stay in this NIL era or transfer.
Freshman guard Rosario, who had a rough year shooting beyond the arc, wound up 18 of 63 from 3 for 28.6%. He’d be a prime candidate for a more prominent role (he averaged 11.6 minutes a game in 29 games) if he elected to stay and try to improve on his 3.5 points per game mark.
Freshman 7-foot big man Paul Mbiya, like Bidunga a native of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, averaged 5.1 minutes in 21 games. He scored one point in two minutes against St. John’s after scoring eight points with three rebounds in 16 minutes of a 68-60 opening round win over Cal Baptist.
Sophomore guards Elmarko Jackson and Jamari McDowell, both sophomores, emerged as reliable college rotation players in 2025-26.
Jackson, who was coming off a torn patellar tendon injury that forced him to redshirt the 2024-25 campaign, played 17.8 minutes per contest. He averaged 4.8 points in 17.8 minutes per contest with 49 assists to 33 turnovers.
McDowell averaged 3.3 points in 17.3 minutes per game. He had 39 assists to 17 turnovers.
Samis Calderon, a freshman small forward from the Overtime Elite program, saw little duty. He scored six total points on the season. He said on Saturday he also had not been thinking about his future and did not indicate if he’d be back.
Freshman walk-on guard Corbin Allen would have four years of eligibility if he returns. His high school coach, Oak Park’s Sherron Collins, has said he believes Allen is a major college contributor.
That leaves sophomore walk-on Will Thengvall, who played in just six games, failing to score.
KU basketball’s recruiting class
KU has signed letters-of-intent from four players.
Taylen Kinney, 6-2 from the Overtime Elite program and a McDonald’s All-American, is ranked No. 19 in the recruiting class of 2026 by ESPN. The highly regarded player is expected to contend for a starting spot.
Also signing with KU are incoming freshmen Trent Perry (6-5, Link Academy, No. 85 ESPN), Davion Adkins (6-9, Prolific Prep, No. 62 ESPN) and Luke Barnett (6-3, Mater Dei High, California, No. 82 ESPN). KU also has received a verbal commitment from Javon Bardwell, a 6-6, 175-pound junior forward from Overtime Elite (originally from Scottsdale, Arizona). He is considering reclassifying to 2026.
The Jayhawks are in the running for prize freshman Tyran Stokes, a 6-foot-7, 230-pound senior small forward who first semester withdrew from Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California and enrolled at Rainier Beach High in Washington. The McDonald’s All-American and consensus No. 1 player in the class is down to KU, Kentucky and Oregon.
KU also figures to be shopping for veteran college players in the portal.
One would think Self will announce a decision soon on his status with the portal opening on April 7 through the 21st with Stokes’ decision expected to be made soon.
“You know, you’re going to have to figure out who’s staying, who’s not staying, portal,” Self said. “I just think it’s — in today’s time — the next four to six weeks will be indicative to the question that was asked earlier: How can you improve yourself moving forward? The next four to six weeks will be the most important.”
