Monday marked the official start of the 2021-22 University of Kansas school year and, as a result, the unofficial beginning of the college basketball season.
While Lance Leipold’s football team, along with volleyball, soccer, cross country and a few spring sports with fall sessions, will be operating in the spotlight first, KU coach Bill Self’s Jayhawks began working toward the start of their season, as well.
In all, KU’s roster will feature 18 players this season (14 scholarship players and four walk-ons) and all 18 were on campus Sunday night in preparation for the start of school and preseason workouts.
The next four or five weeks will be mostly about individual work and early installation, with NCAA rules allowing for college basketball players to practice and lift weights for up to eight hours per week until the season’s official beginning in late September.
The rules state that four of those eight hours can be in a group setting with coaches. That will increase to 20 hours per week when the season begins.
Late Night in the Phog is slated for Oct. 1 and Self’s famed boot camp likely will take place sometime between now and then.
While the schedule is old hat for KU’s veterans, the next few weeks will be a crucial time for the 10 new faces on the 2021-22 roster.
In addition to adjusting to a new school and new college routine, KU’s newcomers will be experiencing Kansas basketball at another level for the first time, as well.
The intensity will increase throughout that time and it will crank up again when practices officially begin a little more than a month ahead of the Nov. 3 exhibition opener against Emporia State at Allen Fieldhouse.
Below is a quick taste of the first day of workouts, which featured all 18 Jayhawks in the gym and clear signs of just how competitive things will be for playing time this season.
KU’s practices, particularly early on, are going to be just as intense as some of their non-conference games. And that should have this team sharp heading into the season, which opens with a bang against Michigan State on Nov. 9 at the Champions Classic in New York City.
Senior guard Ochai Agbaji said this summer that he was ready to take on a greater leadership role than ever before.
“I’m ready for it,” Agbaji said “I know they’ll listen to me and I know they’re gonna build confidence in me also, while I give them confidence, so that’s the best thing I can do, just being a leader for everybody.”
In addition, Self said at the start of the summer that he thought the KU returners would have a huge role — perhaps more than in most years — because they not only have to set the tone for the team and the season but they also have so many new teammates they need to familiarize with the Kansas way of doing things.
“You’re looking at a very veteran squad even though you don’t have many, because of what those guys have been able to do and accomplish in their time here,” Self said.
Back in the lab ???? pic.twitter.com/qkycJgo5Id
— Kansas Men’s Basketball (@KUHoops) August 24, 2021
