For weeks, particularly following the decommitment of incoming freshman Chris Johnson, fans and media speculated about where Kansas could find an 11th or 12th scholarship men’s basketball player. Would it be a young recruit who had a sudden change of heart or reclassified, or perhaps an upperclassman who spurned the NBA Draft process?
In the end, KU found its newest player in the unlikeliest of places: the 2022-23 Kansas men’s basketball roster.
Head coach Bill Self announced Tuesday afternoon that Zach Clemence, a 6-foot-10 incoming junior forward who averaged 1.8 points and 1.6 rebounds per game in sparse playing time over two seasons, is returning to Kansas rather than transferring to UC Santa Barbara.
“I had a conversation last week with Zach,” Self said. “He contacted me and we were discussing all things going on with him, future, transferring, all the stuff, and he asked me would it be a possibility if he could return, and we discussed what we both thought would be best for his future basketball-wise.”
Self and Clemence decided that he will redshirt during the upcoming season. Self said that Clemence could have been eligible to play immediately because he never officially started classes or practices in Santa Barbara. UCSB, following questions Monday from the Journal-World about Clemence’s enrollment status, deleted an Instagram post from May 23 stating that Clemence had officially signed.
Redshirting this season gives Clemence an opportunity to hone his game and emerge as a physically stronger and more experienced player. He’ll begin practicing immediately and will slot in as a backup option at the power-forward and center positions, where in terms of scholarship players, KU previously only had transfer Parker Braun and potentially freshman Marcus Adams Jr. as its main reserves behind KJ Adams Jr. and Hunter Dickinson.
“It caught me totally off guard when he reached out to speak about this,” Self said. “But we loved Zach when he was here. It didn’t work out for him from a playing-time standpoint, and I think there’s multiple reasons why that didn’t happen. But when he made the decision to leave, Hunter wasn’t here yet, but Zuby (Ejiofor) and Ernest (Udeh Jr.) were.”
Self added that part of Clemence’s ill fit so far has been that he has a “prototypical” skill set for a traditional power forward but that Kansas typically slots in guards at that spot in the lineup.
With 11 scholarship players, KU will shave two off its self-imposed three-scholarships-in-three-years penalty. Self didn’t totally rule out the possibility of adding one more player, despite being happy with his roster.
“I think we’re pretty set right now, but I will tell you this: If there’s an opportunity to recruit someone that will make us better, then I’m totally open to that,” he said.
