KU ROSTER 2026-27
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@Jayhawk_69 Some of the bigs who have committed elsewhere:
Flory
Estrella
Sherrell
Cyril
Sylla
Hines
Yigitoglu
Fru
Fielder
Riebe
BonkeOnly guys remaining guys at this point are Diop, Thiam, and Reeves; the first two who would be very costly.
We used to be big man U. Could we not afford any of these others guys, or they just didn't want to play at KU?
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The good news is that Diop and Thiam are by far the best bigs in the portal. The bad news is we probably won't land either.
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I thought Stokes might announce today. If he announces between tomorrow and Saturday he would have to share his sports media attention with the NFL draft. Perhaps he will announce next week.
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If Stokes committing is Plan A, what is Plan B?
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@bskeet said in KU ROSTER 2026-27:
If Stokes committing is Plan A, what is Plan B?
That is the multi-million dollar question. It seems as if we've put all our eggs in that basket. Wholly apart from whether Stokes is really worth it, if he commits to UK or elsewhere, what then???
I guess we would have some budget for Diop or Thiam? But that really wouldn't be an upgrade from Flory and we would still be in desperate need of scoring wing. Not much left other than Juke Harris, and I assume we can't afford both him and one of the above bigs? Want nothing to do with the Baylor guy who just entered; black hole with the ball...
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We have a plan B and a plan C. They might not be good plans, but we've got 'em.
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@Jayhawk_69 said in KU ROSTER 2026-27:
We have a plan B and a plan C. They might not be good plans, but we've got 'em.
Care to share those B and C plans? And that they might not be good plans, which seems pretty obvious at this point, isn't reassuring as to whether there will be any difference in on-court production on off-court dynamics from the past 3 years...
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I don't know what the plans are. Maybe some international prospects
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@Jayhawk_69 said in KU ROSTER 2026-27:
I don't know what the plans are. Maybe some international prospects
NBA Draft dropouts too I’m sure. Going to be a few guys hit the market then
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Tounde would be a target for sure should he not get a first round promise after the combine. Bill doesn’t attend every year just for the scenery.
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My confidence level isn’t very high in the staff currently.
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I mean we are not competing for a championship for many reasons and certainly starting a freshman PG is one of them.
This portal cycle has exposed a lot already in how we are compare to other teams in roster management/budget. We know we are not able to outspend others. If you don't have the budget you're relying on other factors to sell. I don't think players value our brand or the significance of playing here anymore. I think its easy to negatively recruit against KU right now.
We landed a PF coming from a bad team in conference. He is a good player and upgrade from Tiller but is he a difference maker or just a steady starter? Then we landed a good PG from Toledo and will need to transition up in competition level. Stats and analytics say he's good and should be a good fit but we've also had a history of trouble with kids coming from lower levels. In both cases did we really beat anyone of significance for them? They had the same agent. Were these guys options #1 or just what they could afford and easy to recruit based off who was after them etc.
Our 3rd leading scorer, left for another school who was our potential leader and offensive/defensive anchor. Whether it was solely for money still signifies an issue that doesn't seem to have a fix under Self. We wouldnt pay him what he wanted and apparently didn't value him enough to do so. Why couldn't we get the most important player to return? Seems like a major elephant in the room if you ask me.
We seemingly have decided that Stokes at his price was worth paying though. We just saw a season that relied on a freshman and how that went. Potentially signing up for that again is asinine. And what if they miss on him in the end? There isn't going to be a backup plan given the new portal window and how quickly it's moving at the top. Seems like the most risky recruiting decision this staff has made in the recent era. There's very little upside to this all unless Stokes is some ungodly talent which just doesn't appear to the be case either.
Of course there's still a roster to fill but man we look as if this season is going to be a real struggle bus
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@BeddieKU23 said in KU ROSTER 2026-27:
We just saw a season that relied on a freshman and how that went. Potentially signing up for that again is asinine.The definition of insanity is . . . .
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IDK how true this is, but supposedly we aren't the highest offer for Stokes so if he does end up signing here, that gives me more confidence that he buys in and could end up being worth it. Still putting a lot of eggs in that basket which I'm not crazy about but it would make me feel a little better if that is true.
Our guard room has question marks but there are enough bodies there that we don't need all of them to hit. On paper it does have potential shooting there to space the floor and let Stokes work, so I see the vision for the roster. If the last two years have taught us anything, we shouldn't rely on transfer rankings to tell the whole story. Need players that will buy in to playing for Self, so hopefully the staff has fully learned that lesson. Starting center is still a question mark, but just having one major spot left to fill doesn't seem like an unsurmountable task.
Louisville is reported to be throwing stupid money around, so I don't know that it was ever feasible to get Flory back especially knowing he had one foot out the door already. Definitely wasn't going to be
Last year was inconsistent, but that team was good enough to win vs anyone (except prob Michigan). I would call doing it again insanity if that team was like 2024-25 and a shit show. Even then, if DP was fully healthy for the full season and they could have jelled a little more, maybe it ends up better? Or if just Kohl had been the 3 pt shooter he was billed as when recruited, we could have played Tiller less and more small ball.
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I heard a rumor somewhere out in the rumorsphere that Stokes now has a Kentucky basketball tattoo.
Here is a source, especially for @mayjay
https://collegefootballnetwork.com/mens-college-basketball/tyran-stokes-tattoo-kentucky/
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The 5 to play 5 rule is grinding things to a halt. All the sudden it’ll be a buyers market.
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@Jayhawk_69 It's in writing, so must be true!
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@MR11 said in KU ROSTER 2026-27:
Louisville is reported to be throwing stupid money around, so I don't know that it was ever feasible to get Flory back especially knowing he had one foot out the door already. Definitely wasn't going to be
I've heard Louisville has the benefit of private NIL... something I mentioned in here last year and had few believers in it. Private NIL has not limits... no institutional $22 mil cap. Nothing. If we really want to compete, we need to create a private NIL structure and then go build a budget at least twice what we have now.
I smell a run! (better buy more toilet paper)
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Currently we only have 1 player on the roster that's not a first or 2nd year player.
Yikes
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@drgnslayr said in KU ROSTER 2026-27:
@MR11 said in KU ROSTER 2026-27:
Louisville is reported to be throwing stupid money around, so I don't know that it was ever feasible to get Flory back especially knowing he had one foot out the door already. Definitely wasn't going to be
I've heard Louisville has the benefit of private NIL... something I mentioned in here last year and had few believers in it. Private NIL has not limits... no institutional $22 mil cap. Nothing. If we really want to compete, we need to create a private NIL structure and then go build a budget at least twice what we have now.
The issue is that this was supposed to be regulated but it basically hasn’t been. Collectives aren’t supposed to exist anymore.
Whole thing is a mess.
