Kansas City, Mo. — Having graduated three of its starters following last year’s NCAA Tournament run, Kansas’ roster saw a lot of turnover during the offseason as head coach Brandon Schneider brought in three freshmen and five players from the transfer portal.
“We’ll play four guards, and we’ll be smaller at the quote-unquote five positions from time to time,” Schneider said, speaking at Big 12 media day on Tuesday. “We have a freshman in Regan Williams who has done an outstanding job coming in and creating a lot of value for herself immediately. Positions one through four for us are really positionless.”
“We’ve lost a lot, of course, but we’ve gained so much,” said sophomore S’Mya Nichols. “We have eight new players and each and every one of them brings something different to the table, and that’s more than we could’ve asked for.”
While the Jayhawks don’t have a 6-foot-6 center like what they lost in Taiyanna Jackson, Schneider emphasized his recruitment of length on the perimeter as KU looks to allow traditional guards and forwards to contribute and help account for what Jackson provided defensively and off the boards.
“(We’ll be) playing a little more five-out, pacing the play. My biggest concern right now is how are we going to defend the paint and rebound,” he said. “It’ll have to be by committee. When you had a player that had the potential to go and get 20 rebounds, you’re going to have to go rebound more (this year). We call it gang rebounding, let’s all try and go get three or four rebounds (each) in order to still rebound at a high level.”
A key to successfully developing this is the return of Nichols and fifth-year senior Wyvette Mayberry to this year’s starting five. Both the players and Schneider emphasized how well they work off of each other, while he voiced the importance of Mayberry’s return to help Nichols from a leadership lens.
“Knowing that we have eight new faces, it’s really (been) about being a voice and being an example,” Mayberry said. “I’ve been here for three years so I kind of already know what to expect, so kind of just taking that role head-on and also… just showing up for my teammates every day.”
Only a sophomore, Nichols has quickly had to adapt to a veteran role and serve as an example for her new teammates.
“We’ve kind of built it around S’Mya and Wyvette and their ability to draw attention off the bounce and attack the paint,” Schneider said. “And in order to do that you’ve got to space the floor and we’ve got some new individuals that can create space.”
Much of the talk at Big 12 Media Days revolved around the addition of Elle Evans, which added length to one of the smaller teams in the conference — but Schneider identified another two key players that he expects to carry significant weight for the Jayhawks.
“Evans is somebody that we’ve talked about from the beginning,” he said. “I think two (other) players… that are going to play a big role for us this year are Regan Williams, a freshman from Kansas City, and Brittany Harshaw, a transfer from Creighton. Both of those women have really created a lot of value for themselves since the day that they stepped on campus.”
“They came in and made things ten times better,” Nichols said of the newcomers. “We have Elle… She’s in the gym earlier than us getting shots up and she’s in the gym later than us getting shots up. And I’m sure she’s going to go in there on the off day today and get some more shots up.”
As they adjust to the new faces surrounding them, Nichols and Mayberry both said they had been focusing on weak areas in their game over the offseason, as Mayberry adjusts to being more of an off-ball guard, while Nichols spent the months off focusing on her shooting from distance.
“Looking at the scouting report it says that I’m a driver and aggressive, so back up,” she said. “And I’ve just been trying to make sure that I can hit a 3 when it really counts.”
This determination to better themselves is similarly evident among the newcomers in the first few weeks of practice, the team’s two biggest leaders said on Tuesday.
“We had some great shooters that came in, they’re just willing to do whatever they see fit to help us be the best that we can be this year,” Mayberry said. “They just have showed us that they’re here to play and I feel like we have some great additions and I’m excited for you guys to get to see them play.”
To make all of these adjustments come together and form a successful team looking to build off last year’s campaign, Schneider is the key piece, according to Nichols and Mayberry.
“Brandon really knows what he’s talking about, every single time,” Nichols said. “He knows when someone’s hot, and he’s going to get them in the right position to keep going which allows our momentum to keep going. And he’s just the perfect balance off the court and on the court, so we all connect with him a lot better.”
This group of representatives believes their team can be better than their projected eighth-place finish in an increasingly competitive league.
“We have a lot of underdogs in our program, and I’m excited for all of us to get on the court and shine and shock the world because we do have a lot of shocking to do,” Nichols said. “I feel like the only people who won’t be shocked will be us.”
The Jayhawks will embark on this campaign starting at home with their Nov. 1 exhibition game against Washburn at 6:30 p.m. before their season opener against Lindenwood on Nov. 6 at 6:30 p.m.
AP Photo/Charlie Riedel
