May 1 is Transfer portal deadline

… and no sign of anyone from last year transferring out (hoping I didn’t just jinx us!)

I really like what this says about our returning guys, especially the freshmen.

1. They believe in HCBS and the staff. And vice versa.

2. They like their teammates.
HUGE!

3. They are embracing the internal competition.
Perhaps we owe Mssrs. Eijafor, Udeh, Adams and Rice a big THANK YOU for empirically demonstrating that the grass is not always greener?

4. In summation, they WANT to be at KU.
Sweet!

I’m waiting until May 2 when the door is closed to celebrate the continuity and the chance to see the results of their growth and development unfold in competition.

And waiting to see what Johnny decides to do (NCAA deadline for withdrawing from the NBA draft is May 29), and who Bill may bring in with scholarship #13 should Johnny stay in the NBA draft as expected. There should be quite a few players pulling out that could be really good fits if it truly is “Johnny, we hardly knew you…”

Another option if Johnny is gone is if Self is happy with his squad of 12, he may opt to take the final NCAA scholarship hit this year. Then he can start recruiting for AY2025-26 with a full complement of 13 scholarships.

The waiting is the hardest part…

sasnak wrote: I agree with you on almost all points except the grass WAS greener for Ernie. He got some serious playing time with TCU. It still bugs me that we couldn't keep him . I can't blame him after we brought in Hunter and Parker. That said I was a huge fan of Parker's. Ernie is a LOT more athletic/high energy than Hunter.

Udeh was the top player loss for me this time last year. I really, really like the youngster.

But I’ll stand by my point on green grass. I don’t think it was any greener for him at TCU.

I think Ernest would have seen a LOT of PT with KU last season, and might even have been a difference maker for us in several losses. Maybe not as much PT as he did at TCU, but at least 10 mpg learning offense from Hunter. FTR Udeh started all 29 games he played in at TCU last year, but he only averaged 17.3 mpg as a *starter*? Is that TCU grass really “greener”? Hmm…

Parker was okay, and certainly more experienced than Udeh, but I believe if Ernest had stayed Parker would have been just insurance for injury, fouls and big man in-game exhaustion from flying up and down the court.

And I think it very likely that Hunter would have been around 28 mpg instead of the 32+ he played, and much fresher in February and March.

But that’s just my opinion.