Is It Time to Start Worrying About the Kansas Basketball Offseason?

More than two months into the offseason, Bill Self and Kansas basketball still have many roster issues to address after six players transferred away.

Granted, the Jayhawks needed a clean slate following an ugly finish to the 2024-25 season, but the amount of talent remaining in the transfer portal is slowly dissipating each day.

With three scholarships open, KU was hoping to use one of them on either Texas Tech transfer Darrion Williams or Italian prospect Dame Sarr.

As it turns out, Self and Co. swung and missed on both of their top targets on the same day.

The coaching staff showed interest in Williams since the former Red Raider entered the transfer portal, and many outlets considered Kansas the favorite to land him once he withdrew from the draft. Instead, he pledged to NC State following a campus visit to Lawrence.

Meanwhile, Sarr committed to Duke after initially being pegged as a KU lock.

Now, the Jayhawk faithful are beginning to worry about the upcoming season — and rightfully so.

Kansas has yet to land a true power forward from the transfer portal, and the list of available options is quickly shrinking.

Illinois transfer 6-foot-7 Tre White is a capable rebounder but isn't a true four next to 6-foot-9 Flory Bidunga, who is relatively undersized for a center despite his rim protection.

The only other player in the Jayhawks' depleted frontcourt is redshirt freshman Bryson Tiller. While he may become a solid player in the crimson and blue, Tiller underwent ankle surgery in March and remains a question mark heading into the season.

Complementary pieces like Melvin Council Jr., Jayden Dawson, and Elmarko Jackson will make for adequate role players, but as the roster stands, the Jayhawks will have to primarily rely on incoming freshman Darryn Peterson to orchestrate the offense.

Even if Peterson is as good as advertised, he won't be able to do it all himself in one of the best basketball conferences in the nation.

Other standout players KU has been linked to include RJ Luis Jr., who is going through the draft process. Another name to watch for is Ven-Allen Lubin since the North Carolina transfer could seamlessly slide to the four alongside Bidunga.

Coach Self is not unfamiliar with working his magic late in the portal cycle, bringing in past transfers like Remy Martin and Kevin McCullar around this time of year.

However, with KU's top targets no longer available, the pressure is mounting on the coaching staff to begin making key additions and avoid a similar outcome to the past two campaigns.