What position where DP goes in the draft is usually more about what teams get to pick first and what are their needs. Or a team that wants DP badly might not be at the top of the draft choosing so will trade for him. Those details have already started with teams. DP could go first and then be traded immediately.

@FarmerJayhawk

I don't know how much I even believe that number. We just landed another recruit today and it didn't seem like we still had NIL available if it was only $14 mil.

@FarmerJayhawk

Sounds logical. But why is everyone throwing around this number of $14 mil NIL budget we have this year?

I was just reading about Louisville's high reliance of private NIL for their basketball program. It looks like their institutional direct-revenue sharing NIL for this campaign is $20.5 mil. I wonder what their total spending on NIL will be? Didn't we recently receive a huge donation directly to our AD from the Booth family? I'm reading that our rev share to basketball players is a little over $14 mil. I know we have the cost of the football stadium dampening our balance sheet but this could be Self's last year and it seems weird we don't show more appreciation.

I don't know... seems like we gave up on playing defense anyways after our last nattie. The exception being Flory. Even Flory didn't go after every ball. Granted, he was also trying to stay out of foul trouble.

@wissox83 said in KU ROSTER 2026-27:

BBN a rare breed?

"Rare" doesn't imply quality.... just uniqueness... including bad!

I could be way off base here... but I have a feeling Self hasn't shown his hand yet. I've heard all the rumors we have maxed out on our $14-$15mil budget (if that is the amount). It just makes no sense Self would come back for this year with that budget... a budget limiting us to a middle-of-the-pack roster. Maybe we need the current drama to play out a bit more so we can get a late donor or two to kick in some big bucks. We could do some real damage with another $5mil to spend. There are plenty of nice pieces left. I wouldn't mind pairing Momcilovic with Stokes. Imagine Stokes hard drives and pass outs to Milan for the easy trey. My biggest concern is at the 5.

Last, Self is the master of picking up someone special late in the game. He's done it before... but we do have to have financial incentive available.

I see Bashir as an option if we are down to spending very little. Isn't his defense in question?

I've been following the Stokes saga this entire time, and I do so by blogging both KU and UK ball. The BBN is a rare breed. They make Mizzou fans seem tame. Thank God our fanbase has a bit more class and also has limited fanaticism. The BBN tormented Stokes this entire time... piercing what limited privacy he had and harrassed him constantly. So when you read about Stokes smacking down UK, you know why. Stokes is a fighter! I know we were all high on our dawg last year, but Stokes is on a different level. Some say he goes overboard because he'll rip his own teammates and coaches a new one at times. It's the next level of dawg. Hopefully, we will all adjust to this level of scrap. Personally, I'm psyched! And my ex would never call Stokes a p*ssy! lol

@Jayhawk_69 said in KU ROSTER 2026-27:

Thought experiment: Would you rather Stokes commit or would you rather 5for5 pass and Tre White return?

How about both?

I feel certain the Stokes decision will come down this week. Both UK and KU... the loser loses bigger now as the options dwindle.

@Kcmatt7 said in KU ROSTER 2026-27:

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.

I don't think the NCAA is wise to step into regulating private NIL. The lawsuits will come and I don't see how this is their jurisdiction of control.

@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.

For some reason our basketball culture has been damaged. Why don't we have situations like this:

I like PF Allen Graves. He's not outrageously athletic, but the kid can play. It would be costly NIL, because he could stay in the draft, but I think he comes back for another year. I know we signed Dawes... but their styles are completely different and in most games, we can play without a footer in the paint.

@wissox83 Yes.. we "rent a player" for one year periods. But doesn't that mean we have an opportunity to win them over as true Jayhawks in that one year? From this last year, I zero in on Melvin... that guy acted more like a Jayhawk than many 4-year, old school players. Wish he had another year of eligibility... not only in hopes he would stay a Jayhawk but test if he was that influenced by Kansas during his stay. We will never know the answer to that one.

CBB has changed. We don't have any other option except to accept it or leave. I was still attracted to March Madness... I think I just have to recondition my thinking to build my fanaticism around a 1-year clock only. I will accept supporting our team on a 12-month clock. Then, hopefully, continue the same practice in following years.

Kansas... just like Kentucky... should have long since hired GMs.

Simple Jayhawk poll:

1. We are taking our time on signings because we are being very careful to coordinate a team with chemistry.

2. Our budget dollars have to stretch out enough to pay at least 8 players, so we are thrift shopping.

3. We are screwed! Half the good recruits are gone, and we will have to piecemeal together a team with marginal talent.

I'm still hoping for #1... but I am nervous.

@BeddieKU23 said in KU ROSTER 2026-27:

Supposed to have more then last yr but the problem is prices are way up so I'd bet it's a wash. I think there are other factors besides the money that's an issue

What are those issues? Why would Flory want to go to Louisville, if not the money?

As others have mentioned to me... one big question is; just how much NIL money does our AD and Self have available? It seems like we are low, probably because of the football stadium. It seems like ever since NIL came around we've had to pick from less talented players (as a whole).

@kjayhawks2.0 said in KU ROSTER 2026-27:

Online
kjayhawks2.0
about 11 hours ago

@drgnslayr that’s is a possibility for sure and I hope it happens. I just don’t trust Bill and this staff ability to create a roster good enough to win conference and national championships. Like I’ve said before right now the top teams not only the country but our own conference are bigger, faster, stronger and more athletic. Flory may have been those things against most of the teams we played he was just inexperienced. At the other 4 spots went heavily the other way and the guys on the bench of top teams were unmeasurable levels above ours. We may have had the worst bench in the Bill Self era with Mari and Elmarko getting most of those minutes. Sadly it didn’t have to be that way with guy we had in warms up all season. Maybe as you say those two transferring could be a huge blessing in disguise.

I still feel like we are at the lingering residue period after making the largest blunder in KU recruiting history... bringing in Dickinson. I agree our bench was weak. Hard to say Self has issues with recruiting if he lands Stokes... that will put us at the top of the recruiting battle. I think our biggest issue is development. Our starting 5 was solid this year and we didn't capitalize. When we did have DP, we didn't come anywhere near utilizing his potential. I've never seen us run so few sets or plays on offense. We can't blame it all on DP being in and out. Elmarko wasn't great, but he knew the offense. A little bit I blame on Self overtouting DP early on. That hurt the team. The other players felt a bit inferior and then didn't perform well while DP was out there because they thought he should control everything.

It's time for a coaching change after this year. We need new vitality out of coaching. It's not only Self that's tired...

Going back to our ability to recruit out of the portal. Look at the cumulative crop of guys we have snagged from the portal. Out of those guys, who have we maximized their use for us? If you look at their stats, most had better stats coming in to our program. Often they had better stats after leaving.

For one thing, Self's coaching style hasn't changed enough to keep up with this. His style was never to get the max out of players in one year. Back in the good old days, we would have players, usually for at least 2 - 3 years. Prime example: TRob. We need to adjust our system around only having players for one year.

@kjayhawks2.0 said in KU ROSTER 2026-27:

What I wonder... it's that most of our team didn't hesitate at all to move into the portal. I'm not for certain, but do the rest of the upper D1 teams lose this many?

If I remember right Miami in 2023 I believe made the FF and lost the whole roster in the portal.

I think the starting 5 of Michigan were all first year transfers.

I know we are all singing the "doom and gloom."

I'm now thinking differently. What we have is a very rare situation for Self! He can build his entire team from scratch! For example... what if Elmarko and McDowell stuck around? Those guys know the system, but we already know their limitations. Having many of these players still around limits what we can go out and get. Self is free, except for his signed HS recruits, to create his vision! I just hope it includes great athleticism, physical strength and size, and good perimeter shooting!

Our big advantage in the portal... it is mostly about money! Surely, Self will have a big piggybank for this task, and we are Kansas with a HOFr coach. I'm involved in several team chats besides KU, and several have already mentioned the THREAT from Kansas, because we need so many positions and have the clout to go get the players.