Updated 1:42 p.m. Monday, March 31:
Kansas wing Rakease Passmore plans to enter the transfer portal, a source confirmed to the Journal-World on Sunday night.
The news constituted the third portal entry for KU in a three-day span, and guards David Coit and Rylan Griffen closely followed on Monday morning .
It also means there is a high chance the Jayhawks will lose the entirety of their 2024 signing class (though putting one’s name in the portal does not guarantee a player will leave). Center Flory Bidunga is also entering the portal, and guard Labaron Philon never made it to campus, instead flipping to Alabama, where he became a starter on a team that eventually reached the Elite Eight.
Passmore was on the outside of the Jayhawks’ rotation looking in for much of his first year in Lawrence, and got most of his playing time in games when KU’s transfer wings, Griffen and AJ Storr, were struggling particularly acutely. After a promising showing in an exhibition contest at Arkansas, he received limited opportunities during the regular season and finished the year averaging 0.7 points and 0.6 rebounds in 5.1 minutes per game.
He missed a stretch in early February when he suffered a concussion and then contracted the flu, and ultimately went 1-for-12 from the field across his final 16 appearances of the year.
The loss of Passmore deprives KU of a potential opportunity for long-term development. Both during the recruiting process and following Passmore’s arrival on campus, KU coach Bill Self compared Passmore to Ochai Agbaji and said he felt he could become a great player.
The number of returning scholarship players for KU is steadily dwindling, with guard Elmarko Jackson, wings Storr and Jamari McDowell, and early-enrolling freshman forward Bryson Tiller all still on the roster as of Monday morning, but more departures expected.
AP Photo/Kevin Kolczynski
