Bill Self ready for KU basketball summer workouts: ‘Jacked to see what we have’
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- KU team members have been arriving and moving belongings into McCarthy Hall since Friday.
- The group will begin summer school Monday and start official workouts the same day.
- Self highlighted a seven-player freshman class including consensus No. 1 Tyran Stokes.
Members of the 2026-27 Kansas men’s basketball team have been arriving from their hometowns — and moving their belongings into McCarthy Hall — since Friday.
KU coach Bill Self and his assistants have been stationed in the lobby of the players’ apartment complex to offer handshakes and hugs while lending a hand to a group that includes two scholarship returnees, four players from the transfer portal and seven freshmen.
The group, minus freshman point guard Taylen Kinney, who is currently with USA Basketball’s U18 team in Mexico, is set to begin summer school session classes Monday while beginning official team workouts and KU’s weightlifting program the same day.
The NCAA allows teams to practice eight hours a week when school is in session. Summer school officially runs Monday through July 24. Players are free to hold pickup basketball games as often as they’d like (without coaches present) while on campus.
“So excited to get started,” Self, KU’s 24th-year coach, said Thursday in an interview with Big 12 Today, a show which airs on Big 12 Radio. “We start school Monday, so we can definitely have them on the court on Monday. So yes, I’m jacked about that.”
He may be more enthused than usual this time of year.
“Because one thing about recruiting now, you’re doing it in the portal via tape. You’re not going out and seeing the guys in person,” Self said of the likes of incoming KU transfers Dennis Parker Jr. (Radford), Christian Reeves (Charleston), Keanu Dawes (Utah) and Leroy Blyden Jr. (Toledo).
“I’m jacked to see what we have, because usually you know what you have coming in. You’ve got your returning guys — we just return two dudes (scholarship players Paul Mbiya and Kohl Rosario) — and it’s not like they were prolific players for us this past year. So, it’ll be exciting to see everybody in the same gym,” added Self, who also welcomes hundreds of youths to town Monday for the start of his two weeks of summer hoops camp.
Self and his assistants are ready to start coaching a seven-player freshman class that includes Tyran Stokes, the consensus No. 1 prospect in the class of 2026.
Other freshmen: Kinney, Davion Adkins, Trent Perry, Luke Barnett, Grant Mordini and Atticus Richmond. Junior Will Thengvall is grandfathered in as a non-scholarship walk-on.
“The way I see it for us is we are going to be counting on a freshman to be our best player, no question. Best prospect and best player are two different things,” Self said referring to Stokes, a versatile 6-foot-7, 230-pound wing out of Rainier Beach High in Seattle.
“We’re counting and banking on him being both because I don’t think there’s any doubt (he’s the) best prospect. But he’s got to play to that level and last year we had it (in freshman Darryn Peterson). It’s just health didn’t allow him to do it,” Self said. “So you could look at it and say, ‘Well they made a mistake last year’ (in signing Peterson who missed several games because of cramping, illness and injury). No, we didn’t make a mistake. We just had some bad things happen that were uncontrollable. If those things do not happen this year, I think we’re right back in the game.”
KU has a top-3 recruiting class according to all the major recruiting services.
“I don’t think our recruiting has been off,” Self said. “I mean, we’ve probably signed arguably as good a pair of high school prospects as have been in the country the last couple years.
“The thing about it is, in the past, you’re able to follow up with another top-10 guy or top-15 guy, It’s harder to do now because can you pay two top-level recruits — where in the past guys would want to come to school there.
“So that’s a little bit different. I would say that the portal has been magnified to the point where we had two unbelievable portal guys last year in Melvin (Council Jr.) and Tre (White), but we didn’t bat 1,000. Portal mistakes are more magnified than high school mistakes, and so we’ve got to be more consistent in that area.”
Self stated that he’s “really excited about this year’s roster. But I was excited about last year’s roster, too. I’ll be honest with you. We were a 4 seed, so it wasn’t like it was terrible, but the bottom line is it hasn’t been what we have grown to expect.
“So yes, I’ve got to do a better job. We’ve got to do a better job of evaluating and coaching them after we get them. There’s no doubt about that.”
The Jayhawks are coming off a 24-11 season.
“I’ve learned how I could do some things better, there’s no question,” Self said. “But this era, and it’s not an excuse, is fragile because one little thing that doesn’t go as planned can totally derail a situation. In the past, depth could make up for that, but you’ve got to have a budget. So with the budget you can’t really afford maybe depth as much, because your third or fourth or fifth guy could be somebody else’s first guy.”
Self stressed: “I liked our team last year. I don’t think we were ever whole, and it’s no fault of anybody. I mean, DP tried his butt off, he just couldn’t quite get whole. Everybody else tried hard, and when we were good we were good, but when we weren’t we took a big dip.”
Self said physically he’s feeling great and mentally, too, after watching KU’s baseball team win the Big 12 regular season and postseason tourney titles and win the first two games in the NCAA regional.
“The story of our spring is definitely our baseball team. They’re killing it,” Self said. “I talk to Fitz (coach Dan Fitzgerald) all the time and everything, but it’s been a little bit different for me getting over there this spring. I’m going to follow them the rest of the way for sure.”
This story was originally published May 31, 2026 at 11:16 AM with the headline "Bill Self ready for KU basketball summer workouts: ‘Jacked to see what we have’."
