Kansas basketball kicked off its 2024-25 season with the annual Late Night in the Phog celebration. Following the event, head coach Bill Self offered his thoughts on what he saw from the team during the scrimmage and the current makeup of the roster.
Not much to take away from scrimmage, Flory Bidunga a highlight
Self said he didn’t have much criticism from the scrimmage but did like that it gave the newcomers a chance to get their first action under the lights of Allen Fieldhouse.
Without being critical, I’m not going to leave out of here mad,” Self said. “I thought it was okay. You know, first time in the lights, guys nervous and stuff… Some guys probably looked better than others but for the most part, it was alright.”
One guy who brought the crowd excitement was freshman Flory Bidunga. The five-star finished the game with 13 points to lead all players and finished a flurry of lobs.
“It’s fun to play with a rim-runner, a guy that can play above the rim,” Self said. “You guys see it, he’s nervous and everything, but he’s a pretty good lob catcher.”
Kansas’ weakness from last season looking to turn into a strength
The Jayhawks were depleted for depth last season due to injuries and taking a scholarship reduction. They’ve reloaded for this season and Self thinks they can rely on that depth. While there may not be a ton of NBA Draft buzz compared to other teams, Self thinks the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts.
“I think our depth’s been upgraded quite a bit from last year,” Self said. “The best players don’t make the best teams, the players that play the best together make the best teams… NBA scouts aren’t going to roll through here and say ‘They’ve got all these pros,’ but I do think they have a chance to say ‘They’ve got a lot of really good players.’”
That added depth can hope to alleviate some of the ballhandling pressure on Dajuan Harris. Self said at media day he wants Harris, KJ Adams, and Hunter Dickinson to play a little bit less in order to maximize their efforts.
“I think last year, too much especially late in the season, he [Harris] had to bring it up and he had to make the pass to finish the play. That’s a lot,” Self said. “You guys didn’t see today, but KJ can bring it up every time, Zeke could, Diggy could. Those are probably the four I feel most comfortable with.”
Self thinks they’re are multiple players outside of the top guys that are capable of having big games. As the season approaches, the roster will continue to mesh and get better.“I think they like eachother and they’re unselfish, willing passers,” Self said. “If we can guard, rebound, how are we gonna guard a ball screen. I mean, there’s still a ton of things we’re not gonna be any good at. But for the most part, I think they’re trying really hard.”
Weighing a redshirt decision on Jamari McDowell
Self said at media day that there’s a chance he might choose to redshirt a player this season. One of the most likely candidates is Jamari McDowell. He played sparingly last season and there are multiple players ahead of him in the backcourt. Self said he talked to McDowell and his family today about the options.
“I don’t know what the expectations are, I said let’s just roll the dice and see how it plays out,” Self said. “The reality of it is he’s got an advantage over Rylan and AJ right now that may not be as clear two to three weeks from now when they get more comfortable because they’re newcomers. So we’ll take it all the way to the start of the season to see what we think about that.”
McDowell will still get the chance to play in both of the exhibitions regardless of if he redshirts or not. Self thinks McDowell has a lot of potential.
“If he’s a major contributor, great if he’s a guy who played spot minutes like he did last year, personally I think he’s gonna be too good a player to waste a year like that,” Self said. “But we’ll wait and see how it plays out.”
