Kansas Jayhawks Q&A: Life for KU basketball after Ernest Udeh enters the portal

The Kansas men’s basketball team will have some early growing pains next season.

After all, next season’s team will be almost entirely brand new.

After KU big man Ernest Udeh entered the transfer portal on Thursday, the number of returnees from last season dwindled to two — KJ Adams and Dajuan Harris.

Udeh’s departure comes after Kansas landed Michigan star Hunter Dickinson last week.

With Gradey Dick, Jalen Wilson and Kevin McCullar turning pro, the Jayhawks needed a player to help replace some of their scoring output. Dickinson averaged 18.5 points and 9.0 rebounds last season.

Dickinson was exactly the type of player KU needed, but his addition led to freshman center Zuby Ejiofor entering the portal and likely contributed to Udeh’s departure.

Kansas has three scholarship spots open and will fill at least one of them with another big man.

The Jayhawks don’t have a big man on the roster that can back up Dickinson besides Adams, but Adams’ priority this offseason is to expand his shooting range so that he can play power forward.

Last season, Adams played center and it certainly was a tough ask for the 6-foot-7 forward.

KU has had eight players enter the transfer portal, which closed for undergrads on Thursday. Five of them found new schools: Bobby Pettiford (East Carolina), Cam Martin (Boise State), Zach Clemence (Santa Barbara), Joseph Yesufu (Washington State) and MJ Rice (North Carolina State).

Udeh, Kyle Cuffe Jr. and Ejiofor have yet to announce a destination.

KU has added three players from the portal: Dickinson (Michigan), Nicolas Timberlake (Towson) and Arterio Morris (Texas), but could have one more from the high school recruiting ranks by the end of Friday.

Former Duke signee Mackenzie Mgbako will pick between Kansas and Indiana today at 5 p.m. Central.

With that, it’s time for another Kansas Jayhawks Q&A. As always, thank you for all the questions!

Renderings will likely come out in the late summer or early fall. I will hopefully have some updates regarding stadium renovations shortly.

Right now, the main target for KU appears to be Mgbako. Still, with Udeh’s departure, Kansas will likely look for bigs in the portal or from the 2024 class.

Recently, Kansas hosted the No. 1 overall player in the 2024 class in Tre Johnson. According to 247Sports, KU will host top-ranked Class of 2024 big man Flory Bidunga this weekend.

I think so. College basketball has entered a new age with NIL and transfer portal restrictions where former All-Americans won’t stick around if playing time is threatened after year one.

College coaches essentially have one season where they can get away with playing a top-100 recruit limited minutes, and if their role isn’t expanded enough by next season, there’s a strong chance they will enter the portal.

That’s essentially what happened with both Udeh and Ejiofor.

On top of that, transfers are making an immediate impact compared to high school players.

In March, ESPN’s Jeff Borzello tweeted a staggering stat: Of the top 100 recruits in 2022, only 17 are averaging double figures in scoring this season. Of the top 100 transfers last spring, 62 — 62! — are averaging double figures.

I think it’ll likely be a mix of positive and negative. NIL played a significant role in Dickinson’s commitment and I feel it’ll be pivotal for KU, especially in the transfer portal.

In Udeh and Ejiofor’s case, I don’t think they would have ended up at Kansas if they had known transfers would eventually take away minutes. Both were top-100 recruits with plenty of offers, so they likely would have ended up at places where they could play big minutes early on.

I get it — I was also surprised that Udeh entered the portal. It looked like he had the backup big spot locked up if he wanted it. But, out of all the guys that have entered the portal, I was really high on Ernest taking another leap this season.

I understand why he left, though. His defensive ability is special, with his ability to guard anywhere on the court, and that would lead him to start on most other teams in the country. Why stick around and wait for Dickinson to leave — which could be another two seasons — when you can start for most other schools?