University of Kansas

Freshman forward Samis Calderon latest KU player to enter NCAA transfer portal

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Key Takeaways

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  • Samis Calderon enters NCAA transfer portal after limited freshman minutes at KU.
  • Several KU players — Bidunga, Tiller, Mbiya, Jackson and McDowell — also entered portal.
  • Kansas holds nine scholarship spots and incoming freshmen including Kinney and Adkins.

Kansas men’s basketball forward Samis Calderon, who played sparingly as a freshman, will enter the NCAA transfer portal, Overtime Elite sources in Atlanta confirmed to The Star on Thursday.

Calderon, a native of Espirito Santo, Brazil, out of the OE program played in 16 games at KU as a freshman and averaged 4.1 minutes per contest. He played in eight Big 12 games.

Calderon averaged 9.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game for Brazil in the 2023 FIBA U19 World Championships in Debrecen, Hungary. He competed for Brazil in the 2022 Under 18 Americas Championship and 2022 Under 18 South America Championship.

Other KU players with remaining eligibility who have said they have entered or will enter the portal: Flory Bidunga, Bryson Tiller, Paul Mbiya, Elmarko Jackson and Jamari McDowell. Also, Darryn Peterson has completed his one-and-done season at KU.

Returning scholarship players at this time: Corbin Allen and Kohl Rosario. Walk-on Will Thengvall also can return and keep his walk-on status.

KU has a recruiting class of incoming freshmen Taylen Kinney, Davion Adkins, Luke Barnett and Trent Perry. The No. 1 player in the class of 2026, Tyran Stokes, has an official list of KU, Kentucky and Oregon. KU has nine scholarships available to give to portal players.

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Gary Bedore
The Kansas City Star
Gary Bedore covers KU basketball for The Kansas City Star. He has written about the Jayhawks since 1978 — during the Ted Owens, Larry Brown, Roy Williams and Bill Self eras. He has won the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year award and KPA writing awards.
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