This might be the most interesting year of Kansas coach Bill Self’s recent tenure leading the Jayhawks. Even he doesn’t quite know what to expect from his re-made roster.
Since the 2022 national championship, the Jayhawks have been a bit rudderless. Kansas won a regular season conference title in 2023, but since Houston joined the league in 2023-24 Kansas has suffered double digit losses and failed to win a league title in the regular season or the postseason. Kansas has also failed to get out of the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
Have the standards changed? No. Has the landscape changed? Absolutely.
Here is a preview of the 2025-26 season for the Kansas Jayhawks.
Kansas Jayhawks
2024-25: 21-13, 11-9 in Big 12, sixth place. Reached Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals before losing to Arizona. Reached NCAA Tournament and lost in the second round.
Head coach: Bill Self is entering his 23rd season with Kansas. He is 609-148 with the Jayhawks and 836-256 overall. He is already in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. He has led Kansas to two national championships.
Big 12 history: The Jayhawks are one of the original members of the Big 12 Conference, which was a merger of the Big 8 Conference and members of the Southwest Conference.
2025-26 Schedule: Click here for the full Big 12 men’s schedule.
Kansas 2025-26 Roster Review
Gone: Hunter Dickinson (17.4 PPG), Zeke Mayo (14.6 PPG), KJ Adams Jr. (9.4 PPG), Dajuan Harris Jr. (9.2 PPG), Rylan Griffen (6.3 PPG), AJ Storr (6.1 PPG), David Coit (5.1 PPG), Shakeel Moore (3.6 PPG), Zach Clemence (1.4 PPG), Rakease Passmore (0.7 PPG)
Returning: F Flory Bidunga (5.9 PPG), G Elmarko Jackson (4.3 PPG in 2023-24), G Jamari McDowell (1.8 PPG in 2023-24), F Bryson Tiller (redshirt), G Wilder Evers, G Will Thengvall, F Justin Cross.
Transfers: G Melvin Council Jr. (14.6 PPG at St. Bonaventure), G Jayden Dawson (13.9 PPG at Loyola Chicago), G Tre White (10.5 PPG at Illinois), G Nginyu Ngala (10.98 ppg at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada)
Freshmen: G Darryn Peterson (No. 2 in ESPN 100), F Samis Calderon (No. 87 in ESPN 100), G Corbin Allen, G Khol Rosario, F Bryson Tiller, C Paul Mbiya.
Projected Starting Lineup
G Darryn Peterson: He’ll compete with BYU’s A.J. Dybansta as the league’s highest-impact freshman.
G Melvin Council Jr.: His experience at St. Bonaventure should be quite useful to the Jayhawks this season.
G Tre White: The former Illinois guard started in the Louisville scrimmage alongside Peterson and Council.
G Jayden Dawson: Put together a quality season at Loyola-Chicago in 2024-25.
F Flory Bidunga: He did come on at the end of last year and should get a sizeable bump in playing time.
Starting Lineup Crashers
G Kohl Rosario: He started in the Louisville scrimmage. Don’t crown him yet. He played 19 minutes but didn’t score. But Kansas likes what he brings to the table.
G Elmarko Jackson: He could work his way into the starting lineup if either Council or White falter or get injured.
Lineup Competition
Wanna hear something fun?
Self is a coach that tends to know from year to year what he has. Not this year. He doesn’t return a single double-digit scorer from last year. His top scorers on the roster are experienced mid-major stars who transferred in for their shot at the big time. Their best player will likely be Peterson, a true freshman who was one of the nation’s top recruits. This is going to take a while for Self to sort out. It’s interesting to note that only eight players logged double-digit minutes in the scrimmage against Louisville. The only one not mentioned about was guard Jamari McDowell. This is a team lousy with perimeter options and short on height. Expect Kansas to play at pace a lot this season.
Early Prediction
If Kansas is the Big 12’s bell cow, as Houston coach Kelvin Sampon said during media days last week, then the cow has been wandering the pasture for a couple of years. This is not the Kansas we’re used to and it’s not clear if the Jayhawks have totally adjusted to the NIL era in a way that will make the program a 30-win program again. But the unknown can sometimes be fun. And this team, with Peterson at helm, could be a really fun team to watch. The Jayhawks aren’t the favorite. But they’re a team that can win the league if the right things go their way.
