Kansas coach Bill Self had to coach what sometimes felt like two different teams during the 2025-26 season, as he once acknowledged, amid the inconsistent availability of star guard Darryn Peterson.
The Jayhawks could have to reckon with some inconsistent availability in 2026-27 as well, depending on what goes in on Monroe County, Indiana, court with Tre White’s eligibility and in any other court with any other player they might select for their 15th spot.
But Self isn’t worried about having to play multiple different ways during the season ahead.
“I don’t think with our roster, I don’t think it’ll be different ways,” Self said. “I think Tre White is a 3/4. I think we play the same way with Keanu (Dawes) or Tyran (Stokes) out there or whatever. So I don’t think we’ll have to play a lot different.
“Where we could play different is if we play small. And that could be kind of fun, stretching the floor and doing that.”
KU’s 24th-year head coach had expressed mixed feelings earlier in the offseason about playing small — without a true center in Paul Mbiya or the still-recovering Christian Reeves, and with Dawes, the Utah transfer forward, as the most likely choice in the middle. But speaking to reporters on Wednesday in the wake of White’s return, he seemed more intrigued by the possibility than before.
“You could be looking, at times through the season, looking at Tyran, Keanu and Tre being your three big guys,” Self said, “and then you could play who’s the 5-man, multiple fives, however you want to do it to create some mismatches and stuff, which would be kind of fun.”
It would certainly make for an athletic and versatile front line, with each of the three capable of scoring inside and out, albeit without the tallest standing height — White is 6-foot-7, Stokes is 6-foot-8 and Dawes is 6-foot-9.
In any case, Self had plenty of kind things to say about each of the players in question. White is the newest arrival, after he returned to campus following his recent injunction. He had a career year with 13.5 points and 6.7 rebounds to go with 40.3% shooting from beyond the arc for the Jayhawks last year, and might have been even better in the NBA Summer League for the Miami Heat. Now he’s back in Lawrence without apparently having given much thought to going elsewhere during his one-week post-injunction transfer window.
“I think he’s better,” Self said. “Game’s easier to him. And he shot it well this summer. He’s just confident right now. He looks good.”
Stokes, the top player in the 2026 recruiting class, continues to live up to billing after Self and other coaches praised his all-around skills throughout the summer.
“He’s ridiculously bright,” Self said. “Ridiculous. And I think he can play with more of an edge. But he’s got the right mindset. I think he can become more consistent, but he’s big — he’s 6-8, 240 pounds.”
Dawes, already a proven frontcourt performer in the Big 12 from when he averaged 12.5 points and 8.8 boards at Utah last season, “came in as unbelievable,” Self said, although the head coach hasn’t been wholly content since KU started practice: “He hasn’t taken a step backwards, but he hasn’t separated himself. He’s a terrific talent, but I still think he’s thinking instead of playing.”
One potential concern with the small lineup is rebounding. As much as Dawes, Stokes and White — and even Leroy Blyden Jr. — appear to be above-average rebounders at their respective positions, it doesn’t appear to have come together for the Jayhawks quite yet in practice, regardless of the five on the floor.
“That so far and taking care of the ball have probably been our two biggest weaknesses,” Self said. “If we play small, we got to get a lot tougher rebounding the ball, for sure.”
But that won’t disqualify Self from considering the lineup, which would likely feature a backcourt of Blyden and Kinney with the frontcourt trio. It’s not clear whether Mbiya, in his second year with the Jayhawks, might be ready for a big role: “Paul has had a good camp, but he’s still got a ways to go. You know, he’s still raw, but he’s much more aggressive and athletic playing.”
It might still be early for Self to contemplate his starting lineup, a month prior to the season opener against Fordham on Nov. 2.
“I would think about it if we thought that our best team plays small,” Self said. “If our best team plays small, you better think about it, because you won’t play the same way, probably. But if our best team has a true 5-man, then yeah, right now it’d be Paul or Christian. That’d be the only two options.”
IN THE LOCKER ROOM
Beyond the on-court possibilities, there also may be off-court impacts to adding players late — especially established ones like White or, if either transaction gets borne out, Melvin Council Jr. or (reported target and Purdue transfer) Trey Kaufman-Renn.
“I don’t think Tre was even a consideration (that it could be) anything other than positive,” Self said. “If we added another one, now you know it starts to become a crowded house in many ways, but the bottom line is, isn’t that how we always recruited here?”
Self pointed out that he once had Jeff Withey as his fifth-best post player. He also described this year’s roster as his deepest team since the pre-NIL era.
“Whatever makes the team better, I think they’ll be OK with that,” he said.
With White back in the fold, the wing position might be most directly affected in the near term (even ahead of the centers who could stand to lose minutes if KU plays small). White will certainly siphon off some of the minutes that could have gone to returning sophomore Kohl Rosario, Radford transfer Dennis Parker Jr. and freshmen Luke Barnett and Trent Perry. (Self continued to praise Barnett on Wednesday, comparing his shooting ability to that of Gradey Dick.)
“You’re going to play 10, so there’s going to be — like any team — there’s going to be two or three guys that probably don’t play as much as they want to,” Self said, “and you look at it, well, isn’t that how Connecticut’s been the last several years? The best teams are all like that. I think there’s some teams that are (in the) preseason picked really high, and we may even play a couple of them in the exhibitions, that (are) definitely deeper than us.”
