Kansas Jayhawks Q&A: KJ Adams’ role, KU basketball roster and conference realignment

The Kansas men’s basketball team underwent a complete roster overhaul this past offseason.

KU’s roster currently stands at 11 scholarship players, with only three returning players: KJ Adams, Dajuan Harris and Kevin McCullar.

The expectations surrounding the team are sky high — the Jayhawks have earned several No. 1 preseason rankings and figure to be in the mix for that spot when the season starts.

Perhaps the most intriguing player on KU’s roster? KJ Adams.

Adams played out of position at the five last season. Still, he often held his own against bigger and more physical centers. On the offensive end, Adams made a giant leap from 1.4 points per game his freshman season to 10.6 points last season.

After KU added star big man Hunter Dickinson, Adams can finally slide down to the four spot — he has spent the offseason working on his jumper.

Kansas coach Bill Self is excited about the potential of the big man rotation of Adams, Dickinson and Parker Braun, brother of former Jayhawk Christian.

“You can play in different ways,” Self recently said on the Field of 68 podcast. “You can play small when you play big at the five. You can play KJ at the five… and play extra small.”

What happens if Adams can shoot? He could find himself on draft boards.

“He plays really hard and he can defend multiple positions,” Jeremy Woo, who covers basketball prospects and the NBA Draft for ESPN, told The Star. “He’s going to have to shoot better. He’s not big enough to play as a rim-roller in the NBA, so I don’t know what exactly his role will look like, but I do like him.”

With that, it’s time for another Kansas Jayhawks Q&A. As always, thank you for the questions!

I think the chances of KU adding another player to the roster aren’t very high.

Many of the players left in the transfer portal — Grant Nelson, Arthur Kaluma, etc. — want clear minutes next season to showcase their talents to NBA teams.

For example, how many minutes would Nelson play if he joined the team? Would he start over Adams? Those are all valid questions for Nelson, who has made it clear he wants to play in the NBA as soon as possible.

If Kansas were to add another player to the roster, it would likely be a developmental player rather than a star. Right now, both the big man and guard rotations look set.

The rumors regarding conference realignment seem to never end.

It feels like we are eventually headed to a world where there are two super conferences, which I’m not a huge fan of. Of course, every school is looking out for itself, but it hurts college sports.

For example, USC and UCLA joining the Big Ten in 2024, despite having no geographic ties to the conference, will always be weird to me.

As for KU? Well, I like where they are sitting right now.

Kansas AD Travis Goff is positioning KU to be among the leaders of the new Big 12, especially with Texas and Oklahoma leaving.

“The way we’ve thought about it is that there’s no reason why Kansas would not be ‘a’ or ‘the’ leader in the Big 12,” Goff told The Star in February. “I think of the ambition we have. The Big 12 is an awfully competitive conference.

“We won’t rest on our laurels as we think about what the future looks like wherever it goes, wherever conferences go, wherever realignment might go, wherever the NCAA goes.”

Commissioner Brett Yormark also briefly addressed the topic on Friday.

For those who don’t remember the decisive two-point attempt, backup quarterback Jason Bean rolled to his right to set up the play. He had the choice between attempting to run into the end zone or throwing, but he didn’t set his feet and his pass sailed high.

It did not appear Bean saw tight end Mason Fairchild breaking free in the end zone, either, though Fairchild broke open late.

I wrote about the play in-depth after it happened. Here’s an excerpt from that article:

If he tried to run it, there was no guarantee he would’ve scored, as three Arkansas defenders were keying on him. Likewise, if he attempted to plant his feet, he might not have delivered a clean pass attempt with defenders converging on him, though the ultimate result of the play was a failed attempt.

Here was coach Lance Leipold’s explanation after the game.

“We came up with a play we used before,” Leipold said. “We really couldn’t exactly see everything Jason saw, whether he had the opportunity to run or not or try to make a throw and complete it.”

Sean Snyder is going to be a tremendous asset for KU football.

On special teams, he’s had quite an impressive pedigree. He was named the national Special Teams Coordinator of the Year in 2015 by both FootballScoop and Phil Steele and again received the honor from Phil Steele in 2017.

I also think Snyder could be pivotal for in-state recruiting.

Leipold said Snyder’s duties include helping coach special teams and defense, football operations and helping out with recruiting. I think Snyder’s impact will be seen the most on KU’s special teams play and his ability to recruit in-state talent to KU.

I love the passion KU fans have for basketball and football.

My favorite sport is basketball, so the ability to cover the most prestigious college basketball program is a dream come true. I love how excited KU fans get about lineup rotations in May, transfer speculation and how the team performs in season.

On the football side, I love seeing a fan base finally get rewarded after years of tough seasons.

There’s real hype around the program right now, thanks to Leipold and company, which I think will make for some tremendous stories and moments next season.