@approxinfinity Andrew White was never the better overall player between himself and Selden. His role at KU was always going to be coming off the bench playing lesser minutes because of who was ahead of him. Transferring was the best decision for White because he wouldn’t have had his cup of coffee in the NBA staying at KU.
None of this means White was a bad player because he wasn’t. It just means that the mid level 4 star recruit got recruited over by a pair of 5 star players who were better overall players than White and there wasn’t a pathway to starters minutes for him at KU until potentially his senior year.
Let’s say White never transfers and sticks at KU for his last two seasons, what’s his path to becoming a starter? Let’s just acknowledge that White was never going to start over Selden and Ellis, so for what would’ve been his junior season, his competition for minutes was Kelly Oubre, Greene, and Svi. I could easily see him playing over Greene and Svi, but I don’t see him staying in front of Oubre all season. That would probably put White in the 20 mpg range his junior season and going down as Oubre kept developing.
Let’s say at that point that White then decides to stay for his senior season at KU which would’ve been the 2015-16 team. There is an open starting spot that season that ultimately went to Devonte Graham so that would be the battle for White because we know he was never starting over Ellis and Selden. Would White have been able to beat out Graham for that starting spot in 2015-16 if he stayed all 4 years at Kansas?
So again, Andrew White was never a bad player, just someone who was here at a time when Self was at his peak in recruiting and White was stuck behind players who were just better overall than he was so he made the correct decision to go elsewhere to give himself the best chance to reach the NBA which he did.