Kansas freshman Ochai Agbaji’s first taste of the Champions Classic will have to wait a year. In fact, it looks like it will be another 12 months before Agbaji actually suits up for the Jayhawks.
Kansas coach Bill Self on Monday afternoon told the Journal-World that the freshman guard will redshirt the 2018-19 season.
Agbaji, a 6-foot-5, 210-pound athlete from Oak Park High in Kansas City, Mo., signed with the Jayhawks late and has had redshirt talk surrounding his name since he committed to KU last winter.
Late last month, at Big 12 Media Day in Kansas City, Mo., Self indicated that Agbaji could be a redshirt candidate simply because the KU backcourt is loaded with depth and talent.
Agbaji has said throughout his time with the Jayhawks — including as recently as last week after KU’s exhibition victory over Washburn — that he would do whatever the coaching staff thought was best for the team. And Self has said that the athletic guard who, in limited minutes, has looked smooth, confident and more mature than your average freshman, is too good of a player to waste a season by playing just a few minutes a game.
“This kid’s got some intangibles,” Self noted back at KU media day on Oct. 10, listing length, explosiveness, attitude and toughness. “I don’t want to make any bold predictions, but he’s going to be a guy that’s going to start a lot of games and play a ton of minutes and score a ton of points here. It just may not happen immediately for him. (But) I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t pan out to be one of the best 30 or 40 players in his class.”
When he signed, Self compared Agbaji to former KU guard Travis Releford, who also hailed from the Kansas City area and redshirted during his Kansas career. And now, the two have even one more thing in common.
