KU ready for Monday’s start of college basketball season: ‘I think we’re pretty good’
Kansas’ men’s basketball team was to take the court Monday for the first official practice of the 2023-24 season as a popular pick to win the school’s second NCAA title in the last three seasons.
ESPN’s Dick Vitale and Jeff Borzello, CBSsports.com’s Gary Parrish, NCAA.com’s Andy Katz and Stadium’s Jeff Goodman all have projected the Jayhawks to be the best team in the land.
Of course anything can happen, and usually does, during the marathon college hoops season that this school year runs from late September until early April.
This explains why the Jayhawks’ starting point guard of the last two seasons, Dajuan Harris, wants to leave predicting to others as drills begin.
“I don’t want to say too much because we’ve got a preseason No. 1 team. I don’t want to come out and say some crazy stuff,” Harris, the starting lead guard on KU’s 2022 national title team and starting floor general on the 2023 team that didn’t survive the first weekend of the postseason tourney, said in a recent interview with The Star.
“I’ll let you all see. We’re going to show you all how it goes,” added Harris, who will be trying to direct KU to its third straight Big 12 regular-season crown.
The reason for all the preseason optimism of the national pundits?
It has a lot to do with KU adding former Michigan big man Hunter Dickinson from the NCAA transfer portal. The 7-foot-2, 260-pound senior from Alexandria, Virginia averaged 18.5 points and 9.0 rebounds a year ago for the Wolverines. He joins a team that brings back experienced starters in Harris, guard Kevin McCullar and forward KJ Adams.
The fifth starter is expected to be either another experienced player in transfer guard Nick Timberlake, freshman McDonald’s All-American guard Elmarko Jackson or international sensation Johnny Furphy, a guard who joins the KU program after starring in youth basketball in Australia and in late-summer AAU events in the United States.
These players will be instructed by Hall of Fame coach Bill Self, who had the advantage of holding 10 summertime practices in advance of a valuable trip to Puerto Rico for three exhibition games against top competition.
“I think we’ve looked as good as we’ve ever looked in the preseason,” fifth-year senior guard Michael Jankovich told The Star in a recent interview. “We have a lot of new pieces. I think everyone is molding together pretty well. I think we have a chance to be pretty special.”
Self, the 21st-year KU coach, lost a whopping seven players to the portal (Kyle Cuffe, Bobby Pettiford, Joseph Yesufu, MJ Rice, Cam Martin, Ernest Udeh, Zuby Ejiofor) and gained four (Dickinson, Timberlake, Parker Braun and the suspended Arterio Morris).
Self also lost productive starters Jalen Wilson and Gradey Dick to the NBA, but he likes what he has to work with.
“I think we’re pretty good, one or two in probably every poll. Of course that doesn’t guarantee anything,” Self said in early August in Puerto Rico. “I don’t know how many (NBA) prospects we have. We’ve got good players. The key is staying healthy. The guys are liking each other — so far so good.”
If KU stays healthy, the Jayhawks have the potential to be a deep team even if Morris remains out on suspension. Forward Braun, the brother of KU national champ wing Christian Braun, has joined the squad. He is part of a big-man group that includes returnee Zach Clemence. Jamari McDowell is a freshman guard who was a top-100 rated player in high school.
Jankovich has long been thought of as a walk-on guard who could contribute in games if needed. He’s regarded as one of the best shooters on the team.
“The most improved player we have without question is Kevin McCullar,” Self said. “He is by far the most improved player we’ve seen so far and certainly been the best player on our team so far. That obviously could be somebody else on a different day. He’s been most consistent so far.”
Self has said many times he would not trade Harris for any other point guard in the country. And he’s praised junior forward Adams many times as well.
“KJ is a good player, man,” Self said this summer. “I think the presence of Hunter will help him. His presence certainly helps Hunter. But it’s too early to get excited about this stuff.”
The country has been busy discussing the possible impact 7-footer Dickinson can have on this 2023-24 team. He’s a player who can score inside and beyond the arc. He allows the 6-7, 235-pound Adams to play on the wing rather than in the post.
“Hunter in my opinion is probably the best transfer portal player to date,” said Self, who on Friday told The Star the hard-working Dickinson “killed it,” in Boot Camp conditioning drills.
“Nobody out there averaged 18.5 (ppg) in a power five league over three years and transferred for his senior year. We think he’s a stud. Hopefully he’ll do great. Hopefully we’ll come up with some ways to get him that ball that puts him in a situation to kind of expand his own skill set which is pretty vast to be honest. He’s probably not the best player we’ve had — there’s Joel (Embiid, last year’s NBA MVP) — but he’s the most-ready best player we’ve ever recruited. We’ve never recruited anybody who could do what he could do in his first year here.”
And there’s the versatile 6-8 Furphy, a shooting guard/small forward who is already on the NBA’s radar.
“He’s super good,” McCullar said of Furphy, who turns 19 on Dec. 7. “He’s so talented. He does everything on the court. He’s a versatile guy that can play on both ends of the floor, so he’s going to be really great for us.”
Asked what positions Furphy, who was not with the Jayhawks on the Puerto Rico trip, has been playing, McCullar said: “Pretty much everything, 2 through the 4. He can just move the ball in play. He can put the ball in the hole. Also he can guard well. He rebounds great for his size, super energetic. He’s going to play a pivotal role on this team.”
It’ll be a while before the 2023-24 Jayhawks play before a crowd. Late Night in the Phog will be Oct. 6 at Allen Fieldhouse.
This story was originally published September 25, 2023 at 5:30 AM with the headline "KU ready for Monday’s start of college basketball season: ‘I think we’re pretty good’."
