KU ROSTER 2026-27
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The dog may be back it officially
https://x.com/KUHoops/status/2106773996716863893 -
For added context, last night Melvin Council posted on social media that he would announce his choice this morning between Kentucky, LSU, and "Mitchigan". There was some suspicion at the time that he may have been trolling.
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I guess that means neither Dajuan nor KJ were available.
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He was trolling socials
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Really mixed feelings about this development. Council arguably raises the floor for the team, but also lowers the ceiling. Whose minutes does he take? Kinney, a 5* recruit who is a legit PG? Blyden a combo guard, who also comes from a non-Power 5 conference, who had better stats his freshmen year than Council has had. Definitely a much superior shooter. Same with White. High floor but not particularly high ceiling - his production has been consistent throughout his career. He is a solid role player. Is he really an upgrade on a second year Kohl or Parker?
Depth has been a chronic problem in recent years. That shouldn't be the case this year. But depth only matters if you take advantage of it.
I think this all can only work if HCBS completely changes colors and will play 10 guys significant minutes. Big and small line-ups. Constant pressure with fresh bodies. "Starters" - Dawes, White, Stokes, Blyden and Council? Second line (thinking hockey analog) - Mybia/Reeves, Kohl, Barnett/Adkins, Parker, Kinney? I would really like at least Kohl and Kinney to get meaningful playing time to be able to develop.
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Yea, this seems to be the year to expand your rotation for sure.
I count 11 guys who should play decent minutes.
That leaves out Trent Perry, Luke Barnett, Atticus Richmond, Will Thengvall and Grant Mordini.
The others seemingly deserve PT.
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I could get behind the feeling that Melvin does not raise our ceiling, but to say he lowers it is categorically false. Many many great teams, including some that have won national championships, have started guards who are not good 3-pt shooters.
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@Jayhawk_69 said in KU ROSTER 2026-27:
I could get behind the feeling that Melvin does not raise our ceiling, but to say he lowers it is categorically false. Many many great teams, including some that have won national championships, have started guards who are not good 3-pt shooters.
I don't think that Council's ceiling is particularly high. IMO, both Blyden and Kinney have higher ceilings, which was my point.
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@DCHawker That is probably true, but it doesn't mean that Council limits the team'a ceiling
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@DCHawker did u see Tre play summer ball?
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@crimsonblu22 Just a few highlights. I really hope he can step it up. But for 4 years in college with 4 different schools and conferences, he's been basically the same player. His numbers last year were nearly the same as his sophomore year (better 3pt%).
I like him and I like Council. But the fact is that with both of them and the #2 in the draft, we just weren't very good.
So, we replay White and Council. Swap Stokes for Peterson. Is Dawes/Mbiya/Reeves better than Flory? Blyden is probably a step up. But is that enough to turn a 20 win team into a 30 win one? Maybe with a much, much better and deeper bench - but again, only if we take advantage of that depth...
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@Jayhawk_69 said in KU ROSTER 2026-27:
I could get behind the feeling that Melvin does not raise our ceiling, but to say he lowers it is categorically false. Many many great teams, including some that have won national championships, have started guards who are not good 3-pt shooters.
He is inefficient on offense as a whole. I could live with the 3pt shooting, it’s the 4/17 games with 12 missed floaters.
IMO he has to take a major step forward in shot selection (or shot making).
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That is only a problem if Council is the go-to guy on offense. He mostly was last season because Darryn didn't play and White and Flory aren't very good at creating their own shots.
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@DCHawker said in KU ROSTER 2026-27:
@crimsonblu22 Just a few highlights. I really hope he can step it up. But for 4 years in college with 4 different schools and conferences, he's been basically the same player. His numbers last year were nearly the same as his sophomore year (better 3pt%).
I like him and I like Council. But the fact is that with both of them and the #2 in the draft, we just weren't very good.
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@DCHawker said in KU ROSTER 2026-27:
@crimsonblu22 Just a few highlights. I really hope he can step it up. But for 4 years in college with 4 different schools and conferences, he's been basically the same player. His numbers last year were nearly the same as his sophomore year (better 3pt%).
I like him and I like Council. But the fact is that with both of them and the #2 in the draft, we just weren't very good.
So, we replay White and Council. Swap Stokes for Peterson. Is Dawes/Mbiya/Reeves better than Flory? Blyden is probably a step up. But is that enough to turn a 20 win team into a 30 win one? Maybe with a much, much better and deeper bench - but again, only if we take advantage of that depth...
Peterson was the best player on the team, but he was the one who wasn't a great fit. Peterson is much more of an iso player which is also partly why he chose Kansas so he could expand his game. The cramps and being in and out of the line up in the early season killed his chemistry with everyone else. KU was actually pretty good when Peterson was out because they had chemistry.
I will agree that White and Council shouldn't be KU's leading scorers this season, but White should be either the 2nd or 3rd leading scorer behind Stokes and potentially Dawes. Council at best should the 4th leading scorer.
I'm expecting Self to play a lot of small ball this year with Council, Blyden/Kinney, Stokes, White, and Dawes playing together a lot. Mbiya will provide size, but I don't see him being ready to contribute on offense much yet. Fortunately, we should be done with the 2 big line up so ce KU only has two true post players in Mbiya and Reeves and neither should be on the court together ever.
"Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that."
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. -
@Texas-Hawk-10 said in KU ROSTER 2026-27:
Peterson was the best player on the team, but he was the one who wasn't a great fit. Peterson is much more of an iso player which is also partly why he chose Kansas so he could expand his game. The cramps and being in and out of the line up in the early season killed his chemistry with everyone else. KU was actually pretty good when Peterson was out because they had chemistry.
Agreed, I feel like we are rewriting last year a bit. Peterson in and out of the lineup really messed with the team consistency, but they showed flashes of being a really good team. Council had to take on more of an offensive load than was ideal because of this and his efficiency reflects that. Last year's team had no other reliable ball handlers and our offense would have been a whole lot worse if he hadn't stepped up when DP was out. And when DP was in, he warped the offense and the team never seemed to figure out how to best play around that.
One or two of Blyden/Kinney/Stokes emerging as a reliable secondary creator should help Council quite a bit.
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@Kcmatt7 said in KU ROSTER 2026-27:
@Jayhawk_69 said in KU ROSTER 2026-27:
I could get behind the feeling that Melvin does not raise our ceiling, but to say he lowers it is categorically false. Many many great teams, including some that have won national championships, have started guards who are not good 3-pt shooters.
He is inefficient on offense as a whole. I could live with the 3pt shooting, it’s the 4/17 games with 12 missed floaters.
IMO he has to take a major step forward in shot selection (or shot making).
He’s such a terrible shooter. This season is gonna be miserable watching him if he tries to play like last season.
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With our roster full I put together a wee chart of how I see our lineup playing out in a typical game:
position - starter (minutes) - backup 1 (minutes) -backup 2 (minutes)
1 ----------- Council (28) -------- Kinney (6) ---------- Blyden (6)
2 ------------ Blyden (22) --------Kinney (10) ---------- Stokes (8)
3 ------------- White (20) ------- Rosario (10) ---------Stokes (10)
4------------- Stokes (16) --------- White (12) --------- Dawes (12)
5 ---------- Dawes (20) --------- Mbiya (20)minutes leaders: Stokes (34), Dawes (32), White (32), Council (28), Blyden (28), Mbiya (20), Kinney (16), Rosario (10)
I went with a small starting lineup because that seems to be our most talented group. Plus this would still be a good rebounding team despite being small. I guessed Rosario and Mbiya would beat out Parker Jr, Barnett, and Reeves due to experience in the system, but it would not surprise me if any of those three guys beat someone out to get minutes.
I understand that game scripts will change lineups and minutes. This is just a sample of what I think minute distribution could look like in a typical Big 12 game.
