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With Wilson and McCullar in the fold, KU's roster likely complete

Jalen Wilson has decided to return to Kansas next season
Jalen Wilson has decided to return to Kansas next season (USATodaySportsImages.com)

Not long after the season ended, Jalen Wilson, the 6-foot-8, 225-pound forward from Denton, Texas declared for the 2022 NBA Draft, leaving the door open for a possible return.

Kevin McCullar, the 6-foot-6, 210-pound guard from San Antonio, Texas made the same decision at Texas Tech, but opted to throw his name into the transfer portal if his dream of hearing his name called during the NBA Draft needed to be put on hold another year.

On Wednesday evening, Wilson and McCullar, who committed to Kansas over Gonzaga, removed their names from the NBA Draft and will arrive in Kansas for the start of summer school in the very near future.

“We are all very excited to hear the news today from Jalen and his family that he will be returning to school for the 2022-23 campaign,” said Kansas Head Coach Bill Self on Wednesday evening. “He’s gone through the process and the process did exactly what it is intended to do. It gave him the feedback he needed to make an educated decision. We’re proud of the maturity Jalen showed in making the decision and very excited to put him in a position to where he can enhance his opportunities to not only play, but have a long career in the NBA.

“Our team got a lot better today,” he added. “As well as Jalen played last year, he is just scratching the surface of the entire player he can be for our program. I’m looking forward to the intangibles he will bring to this team as he and Dajuan (Harris) become the vets and the leaders of our program.”

Wilson, who meet with or worked out for the Sixers, Warriors, Raptors, Bulls, Pelicans, Pistons, Nuggets, Pacers, Lakers, Timberwolves, Celtics, and Bucks, should be a serious candidate for Big 12 Player of the Year, along with other honors.

Wilson, in helping Kansas capture its first National Championship since 2008 this past season, averaged 11.1 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game. Offensively, Wilson shot 46.1 percent from the field, 26.3 percent from behind the arc, and 72.2 percent from the free-throw line.

Kevin McCullar will arrive in Lawrence next week
Kevin McCullar will arrive in Lawrence next week (USATodaySportsImages.com)
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During KU’s run to its second National Championship under Bill Self, Wilson went for 11 points and six rebounds against Texas Southern, 14 points and 14 rebounds against Creighton, 16 points and 11 rebounds against Providence, five points and 11 rebounds against Miami, 11 points, 12 rebounds, and five assists against Villanova and, in the National Championship game, Wilson tallied 15 points, four rebounds, and two assists.

McCullar, in 29 games this past season, averaged 10.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game. Offensively, he shot 40.2 percent from the field, 31.1 percent from behind the arc, and 72.5 percent from the free-throw line.

On Wednesday evening, McCullar talked about his decision to attend Kansas with JayhawkSlant.com

“I just actually made my final decision before the deadline,” said McCullar. “After talking to my family and other people, we decided that it would be best for me to play at Kansas this season. I’m really looking forward to playing for Coach (Bill) Self.

“Whatever Coach Self needs me to do is what I’ll do,” he added. “I just want to be the best player and teammate that I can be at Kansas. Whatever Coach Self needs from me, I’ll give him everything that I’ve got.”

For his career, 78 games, McCullar averaged 8.7 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game. He shot 43.2 percent from the field, 29.9 percent from behind the arc, and 71.8 percent from the free-throw line.

This past season, McCullar scored 24 points against Grambling on 9-of-18 shooting from the field and 3-of-9 shooting from behind the arc. He went for 17 (6-of-8; 4-of-6) against Incarnate Word, 21 (7-of-12; 3-of-6) against Arkansas State, 19 (3-of-7, 1-of-3, 12-of-15) against Texas, and 17 (7-of-13, 1-of-4) against Duke. In all, McCullar had 16 games where he scored 10 points or more. In all, he had scoring games of 24, 12, 17, 10, 21, 14, 10, 11, 12, 19, 10, 12, 11, 10, 14, and 17. He pulled down five or more rebounds 15 times this past season and had three steals in a game five times.

With Wilson and McCullar in the fold, KU’s roster, it would appear, is complete. In all, Wilson, McCullar, Bobby Pettiford, Joseph Yesufu, Dajuan Harris, Jr., Kyle Cuffe, Jr., Charlie McCarthy, Dillon Wilhite, Michael Jankovich, Zach Clemence, KJ Adams, Jr., and Cam Martin return.

Additionally, not long from now, Self and his staff will welcome Gradey Dick, MJ Rice, Ernest Udeh, and Zuby Ejiofor to the squad.

Wilson, McCullar, and Harris all played significant minutes last season, while Pettiford (injured), Yesufu, Cuffe (redshirt), McCarthy, Wilhite, Jankovich, Clemence, Adams, and Martin (redshirt) played limited minutes or no minutes at all.

Several of the aforementioned players will likely see an increase in minutes next season, and you can bet that Dick, Rice, Udeh, and Ejiofor will arrive in Lawrence ready and willing to fight for minutes.

Kansas, fresh off winning its first National Championship since 2008, has a roster filled with talent and what many consider to be the best coach in college basketball. If anything, Self is going to absolutely love working with this roster.

The 2022-23 squad will feature a mix of experience and youth, but if you really look at the roster, the experience still has some growing to do.

Pettiford logged just 111 minutes last season, Yesufu logged 314 minutes last season, Cuffe redshirted, Clemence logged 116 minutes, Adams logged 178 minutes, and Martin redshirted.


Gradey Dick should play a major role next season
Gradey Dick should play a major role next season (Kansas.com)

Meanwhile, Harris logged 1,158 minutes, Wilson logged 1,088 minutes, and McCullar, during his final season at Texas Tech, logged 864 minutes.

Had Wilson and McCullar opted to remain in the 2022 NBA Draft, Self would have been forced to find a replacement for each in a short period of time. In fact, if just one had decided to return and the other had decided to remain in the draft, finding a replacement with as much talent and experience would have been a difficult task to achieve.

Since defeating North Carolina in the National Championship game, three players, Ochai Agbaji, Christian Braun, and David McCormack, have moved on to pursue their dreams of playing professionally.

In all, Agbaji and Braun should hear their names called on Thursday, June 23, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. McCormack and Mitch Lightfoot will likely begin their professional careers playing overseas.

After the year-end banquet, which took place inside Allen Fieldhouse, Self said it was time to turn the page and begin to prepare for and focus on the 2022-23 season.

"It needs to come now,” said Self. “When we won it in '08, I remember telling our guys in June, 'What have we really done to get better, except, doing things that you do that are important, but they're not important as far as recruiting guys are winning.'

“So, I think we have to work smart,” he added. “And I think that we have to, basically, stay grounded and know what we're here to do and that's to put the best product we possibly can on the floor. And you don't do that by going to banquets and speaking and doing all that stuff. You do that by grinding and we have to get back to grinding."

When the 2022-23 season kicks off, Kansas, with Wilson and McCullar opting to return to college for what will likely be one final run, should enter the season as one of the top teams in college basketball.

Kansas, which is now the all-time winningest team in college basketball, has a ton of talent and some experience in key spots, but guys that played very little last year, or not at all, will need time to adjust to those new roles.

For Self, having guys like Harris, Wilson, and McCullar around will only make the adjustment easier and the transition a bit more smooth.

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