Former Kansas Basketball Transfer MJ Rice Commits to JUCO

Many fans may have forgotten Rice, but he has resurfaced playing for Cape Fear in Wilmington, North Carolina, his home state. The team could certainly benefit from his experience as a former Division I player, especially after finishing with a dreadful 3-27 record last season.

Following a strong senior season at Prolific Prep in 2022, Rice enrolled at Kansas for his freshman year. The Henderson, North Carolina, native was a consensus top-40 prospect out of high school.

In the 2022-23 campaign, Rice appeared in 23 contests for the Jayhawks, averaging 2.2 points and 1.0 rebounds per game on 40.8% field goal shooting.

While Rice entered the campaign with hefty expectations — he was initially thought of as a competitor to Gradey Dick for a spot in the starting five — the 6-foot-5 guard never panned out.

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Coach Self said he was 'thinking too much' at the beginning of the season, and a back injury stunted his progress. By the latter stages of the year, Rice was practically phased out of the rotation.

Rice’s move is a surprising change of scenery, coming after more than a year away from the public eye after his time at NC State. He played nine games for the Wolfpack in 2023-24 before announcing he would redshirt, and he eventually departed from the program.

The tweet states that Rice still has three years of eligibility remaining as a redshirt sophomore, suggesting he took a gap year this past season. He will likely attempt to utilize this time as a stepping stone to get back to the Division I level.

No one from Kansas' freshman class in 2022 remained with the team for more than one year. Rice, Ernest Udeh Jr., and Zuby Ejiofor all entered the portal, while Dick went on to the NBA as a lottery pick in the 2023 draft.

Nobody could have seen this coming a few years ago, when many thought he might be the next NBA wing playing for Bill Self. It just goes to show how unpredictable players can be in the transfer portal era.