Today we’ll take a look at the main players returning from last year in Part 1 of this look at next year’s roster
The modern college sports landscape means keeping an eye out for news from your school every day of the offseason. Unhappy players freely transfer out looking for playing time, while players looking to prove themselves in better and/or higher level situations seek power conference roles. Kansas is generally no different, though this transfer season they did have one major difference.
The Jayhawks are the only power conference team not to have a single player transfer out. Kevin McCullar, Parker Braun, and Nic Timberlake maxed out their eligibility and had no choice but to move on. Arterio Morris had already been dismissed from the team before the season started. Johnny Furphy has eligibility remaining but has made it fairly clear his next step is the NBA. While Kansas is losing plenty of players from last year’s roster, not a single one is leaving simply because they want out, or a chance to play elsewhere. That said, plenty of new faces are coming in, so where does that leave the Kansas roster?
This is the first of a short series taking a look at KU’s 2024-25 roster. Today we’ll look at the players coming back after starting last year. Keep an eye on the site as we explore lesser-known returning contributors, and the big name transfers we can’t wait to see, in separate posts next week.
Returning Contributors
Dajuan Harris, Jr (senior PG)
Harris has already announced he’s returning for a 5th and final year. Harris has continued to play high level defense and dish out assists, but frustrated fans in recent years by refusing to shoot open shots while the defense locks down the team’s top scorers knowing Harris won’t even try to hurt them. Hopefully, surrounded by far more offensive firepower this year, KU won’t need him to hunt for his own shot so much, and he can comfortably focus on setting up baskets for others. Harris has talent that can help this team, but whether he truly shows it will depend on who is around him, and how much they concern the opposition.
KJ Adams, Jr (senior forward)
KJ can be one of the most exciting players on the team, with superb length and explosive athleticism. However, his total lack of ability to score away from the basket and bizarre aversion to grabbing rebounds leaves a lot to be desired. In my mind he’s best suited as a defensive-minded energy guy off the bench, and shouldn’t even be in the conversation to start next to a talented scorer at center, but Self loves his approach, attitude, and toughness and may be hesitant to reduce his minutes. With that said, keeping some of this year’s newcomers on the bench just to watch Adams destroy the team’s spacing and make life difficult for KU’s All-American center would be coaching malpractice, and I assume his role will change at least a bit this year. If nothing else, I would be surprised if he plays anywhere near last year’s 34 minutes/game.
Hunter Dickinson (senior center)
As mentioned under the Adams recap, HD is an All-American center who put up strong numbers (when healthy) last year despite the roster construction allowing teams to zero in on him and beat him up in the post. As long as he and Adams are sharing the floor as little as possible, he should have more room to operate, and maybe find his outside shot again (he’s a career 36% 3 point shooter who hit just 23% in Big 12 play this spring). His drop in production was likely due to a both a lack of spacing and HD playing while banged up down the stretch, even before he had to miss the Big 12 Tournament game against Cincinnati. Dickinson is a tremendous talent and as long as his teammates make the opposition pay for devoting 2-3 defenders to him, he could have the best season of what’s already been a great career.
Up Next
Next week we’ll take a look at more returning players, and what type of role and production we can expect to see out of them, as they return to try and carve out a bigger role on the team.