KU Jayhawks coach Bill Self reacts to the first day of men’s basketball boot camp

Kansas men’s basketball players, coaches and student managers gathered at 6:50 a.m. Monday in the Jayhawks’ practice gym, eager to tackle Day 1 of the program’s preseason basketball Boot Camp.

“Lots of energy,” KU coach Bill Self told The Star in a text message, asked to assess the conditioning drills that lasted just over an hour.

In rating the first day of Boot Camp as “good,” the 21st-year KU coach added, “Some new guys struggled getting through it. But they did (get through it). First day is always a shocker.”

The Jayhawks have a batch of newcomers making their Boot Camp debuts this season: scholarship players Parker Braun, Hunter Dickinson, Johnny Furphy, Elmarko Jackson, Jamari McDowell and Nick Timberlake, and walk-ons Justin Cross, Chris Carter and Patrick Cassidy. Cassidy as a manager worked the last three Boot Camps. This was his first as a member of the team.

The entire 18-player roster attended except for Arterio Morris, who is on indefinite suspension as reported Friday by The Star.

Boot Camp will run Monday through Friday. Self could bring back the Jayhawks a second week after a weekend of rest or end Boot Camp after Friday’s session.

Self has said Boot Camp may last just a week this year because the Jayhawks had such a busy summer practicing for their trip to Puerto Rico culminating with three games in San Juan the first week of August.

Parrish keeps Jayhawks atop poll despite Morris news

Gary Parrish of CBSsports.com has kept Kansas No. 1 in his preseason poll following the announcement of the Morris suspension on Friday.

He explained his reasoning in his updated Top 25 And 1 Rankings issued Monday:

“The possibility of that — or even the likelihood of that (Morris never playing for KU) — is not enough to compel me to drop KU from the No. 1 spot ... because the Jayhawks still have a Hall of Fame coach and a probable starting lineup that looks like this (Dajuan Harris, Nick Timberlake, Kevin McCullar, KJ Adams, Hunter Dickinson).”

Parrish added: “As I’ve explained before, that’s a lineup with size, shooting and experience — one so strong that a five-star high school prospect like Elmarko Jackson might really begin games on the bench. Harris is arguably the country’s best run-the-team point guard. Timberlake shot above 41% from 3-point range on 6.7 attempts per game last season. McCullar is a double-digit scorer and two-time Naismith Memorial National Defensive Player of the Year semifinalist. Adams started 36 times for the reigning Big 12 champions last season. And Dickinson is maybe the best center in the sport not named Zach Edey.

“Those five players have already combined to play parts of 17 seasons of college basketball, which means Kansas’ starting lineup will be one of the oldest in the sport. That’s an advantage in this era and among the reasons KU should still start the season at No. 1 even if Morris remains sidelined by another troubling allegation made against him.”

Coaches pick KU No. 1

A group of 100-plus NCAA Division I college basketball coaches agree with ESPN analyst Dick Vitale who recently deemed Kansas the No. 1 team in the country entering the 2023-24 season.

In all, 45.4% of the coaches surveyed by CBSSports.com selected the Jayhawks as the top team in the land. The poll was taken before the Morris suspension was reported by The Star.

Purdue received 17.9% of the vote, followed by Duke and Michigan State (12.3%), Marquette (4.7%), Florida Atlantic (2.8%), UConn (1.9%), Gonzaga, Houston and Kentucky (all 0.9%).

KU will play Kentucky in the Champions Classic on Nov. 14 in Chicago and also is scheduled to meet UConn on Dec. 1 at Allen Fieldhouse. KU conceivably could meet Marquette in the second round and Gonzaga in the finals of the Maui Invitational No. 20-22.

“Bill Self’s coaching (is the difference-maker). He wins — and now he’s got Dickinson. They’re going to be awesome. Nothing against other (teams) but there’s nothing quite like Kansas. They are just able to reload so well,” one anonymous coach told reporter Parrish, who organized the CBS poll.

The group of 100-plus coaches believe Purdue’s Zach Edey will repeat as national player of the year. He received 63% of the vote. Players who received multiple votes: KU’s Dickinson, Duke’s Kyle Filipowski, North Carolina’s Armando Bacot, UConn’s Donovan Clingan and Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner.