Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self said after the 2023-24 season, which started with a preseason No. 1 ranking and ended with a second-round exit, “One of our problems this year with our young kids was we didn’t play a schedule that allowed those guys to play through mistakes. Going to 20 league games, it would be that on steroids.”
The 2024-25 schedule may not offer all that many opportunities for experimentation, either. The increase to 20 league games did indeed come to fruition as the Big 12 upped its membership, and the 11 nonconference games KU is playing otherwise include matchups against powerhouse programs like North Carolina, Michigan State and Duke, not to mention the likes of Creighton and NC State in December.
With all that on tap, the mid-major games may get overlooked, but it’s worth noting that KU played six games last year against mid-major foes who finished with an average RPI of 231 (excluding one game against a Division II opponent), and this season hosts at Allen Fieldhouse five foes who averaged a formidable 168, two of whom made the NCAA Tournament.
The Jayhawks got tested by Eastern Illinois (RPI 311) and Yale (RPI 83 and an NCAA Tournament upset win over Auburn) last year on their home floor and will welcome some more compelling lower-conference opposition this season.
There will be plenty of time as the season approaches to dig into Duke and the like, but for now here’s a deeper look at those less heralded teams.
Howard’s Bryce Harris (34) reacts after being fouled during the first half of the team’s First Four college basketball game against Wagner in the men’s NCAA Tournament on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, in Dayton, Ohio.
Howard (Nov. 4)
The Bison will visit Allen Fieldhouse for the second annual McLendon Classic, but they’re already fairly well acquainted with KU. Six players on Howard’s 2024-25 roster played in the 96-68 loss to the Jayhawks in the first round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament. In the interim, the Bison made the postseason again but lost to Wagner in the First Four.
Seth Towns is gone after playing an unlikely eight-season college basketball career, but Howard’s other top two scorers are back. All-conference first-team guard Bryce Harris broke out last season to average 16.6 points and 7.5 rebounds per game while also making the all-defensive team. Second-team all-league pick Marcus Dockery, a high-volume 3-point shooter, is entering his fifth-year-senior season after starting his career at Maryland. Those two made 69 of a possible 70 starts for a team that otherwise featured a rotating cast of characters.
A few primary transfers have joined this season’s roster, including Jaren Johnson (a starting guard from Dartmouth), Anwar Gill (a graduate-transfer guard coming off an inconsistent year at La Salle) and Antonio Chol (a 6-foot-9 power-conference forward who played only sparingly at Rutgers). Cameron Shockley-Okeke also joins the roster after taking the unusual path from Ivy League graduate at Columbia to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and now to Howard.
Oakland head coach Greg Kampe calls out to his team during the first half of a second-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament against North Carolina State Saturday, March 23, 2024, in Pittsburgh.
Oakland (Nov. 16)
The Golden Grizzlies will make their third trip to Allen Fieldhouse after losing to Self-coached teams in 2009 and 2017 as part of the Hall of Fame Showcase and Hoophall Miami Invitational, respectively.
Oakland dazzled the country in March thanks in large part to the 3-point shooting display of Jack Gohlke, who connected 10 times to help his team take down Kentucky. Gohlke is now with Oklahoma City in the NBA Summer League, and the Golden Grizzlies also lost a variety of key contributors, such as conference player of the year Trey Townsend (who went to Arizona), Chris Conway (signed with Washington), Blake Lampman (graduation) and Rocket Watts (graduation).
As memorable as the last season was, Oakland’s coach Greg Kampe has seen it all. Kampe will enter his 41st season at the helm, having shepherded the program from Division II to that first Division I tournament victory over Kentucky. He’ll have some new talent to deploy in the form of, among others, Jaylen Jones, a Tennessee State transfer and the brother of current Grizzly Isaiah Jones; highly rated South Sudanese JUCO product Deng Majak; and another pair of brothers in Chang and Jack Hoth.
UNC Wilmington guard Donovan Newby (55) in action during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in the championship of the Colonial Athletic Association conference tournament against Charleston, Tuesday, March 7, 2023, in Washington. Charleston won 63-58.
UNC Wilmington (Nov. 19)
The Jayhawks and Seahawks will meet for the first time ever in one of just two games (along with Howard) that had not yet been reported prior to the official announcement of KU’s schedule on Thursday.
UNCW, like Oakland, pulled an upset over Kentucky last year, its first win over a ranked foe in 21 years, except the Seahawks’ did not take place in the NCAA Tournament. In fact, UNCW hasn’t made the tournament since its back-to-back appearances in 2016 and 2017. The Seahawks had a solid year at 21-10 (12-6 Coastal Athletic Association) with a very experienced team that had three graduate students among its top four scorers — and the highest-scoring of all, Trazarien White, left for TCU after scoring 19.8 points and adding 6.8 rebounds per game.
UNCW does return a number of players with starting experience, if not particularly distinctive stats, in guards Donovan Newby and Noah Ross and forward Khamari McGriff. And the Seahawks have managed to “stay old,” as so many coaches attempt to in modern college basketball, by combining graduate student Newby with three additional graduate transfers (among a group of six overall transfers). One of them, Sean Moore, is best known for his team-high and career-best 19 points against Purdue in Fairleigh Dickinson’s 2023 NCAA Tournament upset.
Furman forward Garrett Hien (13) attempts a foul shot during the second half of a first-round college basketball game against Virginia in the NCAA Tournament, Thursday, March 16, 2023, in Orlando, Fla.
Furman (Nov. 30)
The Jayhawks and Paladins face off in a game that, despite taking place in Lawrence, is technically part of the Vegas Showdown; KU and Duke play on Tuesday, Nov. 26 in Las Vegas after a game between Seattle and Furman, then KU hosts Furman and Duke hosts Seattle the following weekend. KU previously beat Furman 101-60 at Allen Fieldhouse in 1993 in the schools’ lone meeting.
Furman regressed to the mean somewhat in 2023-24 after making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1980 (and beating Virginia) the prior year. The 2024 Paladins lost in the semifinals of their conference tournament to the Samford team that ended up testing KU in the Round of 64.
Much like Oakland and UNCW, Furman has lost much of its scoring production from last season, including JP Pegues, who hit the game-winner against Virginia. PJay Smith Jr., a onetime Division II transfer, shot well last season and averaged 10.0 points. He’ll be back, as will a trio of forwards with double-digit starts last year in Garrett Hien, Tyrese Hughey and Ben VanderWal.
The Paladins went to the Division II ranks for another experienced scorer in guard Nick Anderson (Barry) and 6-foot-11 forward Charles Johnson, who averaged a double-double at Cal State Monterey Bay. They also added a former MAC sixth man of the year in Jalen Sullinger and Florida State reserve Tom House.
Brown guard Kino Lilly Jr. lays the ball up during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Southern California, Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023, in Los Angeles.
Brown (Dec. 22)
KU is 2-0 in its history against the Bears with victories by 70 and 58 points, both in Lawrence; the last matchup was in 1997.
As those margins would indicate (although granted, many teams have met similar fates at Allen Fieldhouse), Brown has not experienced a lot of historical success in men’s basketball. The Bears have made the tournament twice in their history, most recently in 1986. But they got very close in March, when they made their first-ever Ivy League tournament, stunned Princeton and took Yale down to the wire before giving up a buzzer-beater.
The engine of that run was Kino Lilly Jr., a junior guard who scored more than 20 points in five of his last 10 games. Lilly was briefly in the draft but is expected to return next season, along with most of the Bears’ production, as is often the case in the Ivy League. Forward Kalu Anya (9.6 points, 7.4 rebounds) transferred to Saint Louis, and guard Kimo Ferrari, who went 10-for-12 from deep and 14-for-16 overall on senior night against Dartmouth, went to walk on at hometown San Diego State. Brown retains Lilly, Nana Owusu-Anane (14.7 points, 8.8 rebounds), another regular starter in Aaron Cooley and several others.
The Jayhawks are bringing an Ivy League team to Allen Fieldhouse around Christmas for the third straight year in what is rapidly becoming a holiday tradition.
Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World
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