KU Senior Night mystery: Who will give speeches after Tuesday’s game vs. K-State?
The new era of super seniors and portal players has made it difficult to finalize Senior Night plans at several schools, including Kansas.
“We’ll figure something out,” KU coach Bill Self said, referring to the lineup of seniors on the 2023-24 Jayhawk roster who will give speeches after Tuesday night’s home men’s basketball game against Kansas State.
Tipoff is set for 8 p.m., with a live broadcast on ESPN.
KU seniors who conceivably “could” give speeches are … Michigan transfer Hunter Dickinson, Towson transfer Nick Timberlake, Santa Clara transfer Parker Braun and Texas Tech transfer Kevin McCullar as well as Dajuan Harris and Michael Jankovich.
Some of those players also could elect to only listen, not talk during the speech-giving portion of the evening.
Self explained the situation in his postgame radio interview with Greg Gurley following the Jayhawks’ 82-74 loss to Baylor on Saturday in Waco, Texas.
“I don’t know who our seniors are yet,” Self said, “because ‘Hunt’ obviously will probably be one of the seniors. (But) he still has a chance to come back.”
Dickinson, who played three years at Big Ten school Michigan, still has a COVID-year to use if he so desires. Yes, he is eligible to play for KU in 2024-25.
“Juan has already told me he wanted to wait until next year,” Self stated of Harris, who has a COVID year to use as well.
‘“Jank’ to me is our only true senior (spending five years in Lawrence). Parker, Nick and Kevin are seniors but have already had their senior day: Kevin had his last year at our place (giving a speech after season-ending home win over Texas Tech). Then Parker at Santa Clara and Nick at Towson,” Self added.
Self stressed: “I do want all those kids honored even if they don’t speak after the game. We’ll give them an opportunity to be introduced with their families, get some flowers and go out there and be recognized.”
KU has won 40 consecutive Senior Night games heading into the K-State home finale.
The Jayhawks (21-8, 9-7) enter the game having lost two in a row and with a 5-5 record through the last 10 contests.
KU’s chances of winning would be helped greatly if the Jayhawks could bury a good number of 3-pointers, while stopping the opponent from sinking shots beyond the arc.
KU hit four 3-pointers to Baylor’s seven on Saturday. However at one point Baylor in building a 13-point lead had iced seven 3s to just one for KU.
In the previous game, KU hit three 3s to 13 for BYU in the Cougars’ 76-68 win at Allen Fieldhouse.
“The three that start you would think would hit 3s; what’d we go, 1 for 9?” Self said of McCullar going 0-for-5, Johnny Furphy 1-for-3 and Harris 0-for-1 Saturday before a sellout crowd of 7,500 in Baylor’s new arena, Foster Pavilion.
“Then ‘Hunt’ (Dickinson, 1-for-1) finally makes one, and Elmarko (Jackson, 2-for-2) makes a couple off the bench. That’s all (KU converted). Juan and Johnny and obviously Kevin, we are not going to shoot a ton. Collectively they should shoot 12 or 14. We need to start knocking at least a couple of those down. It changes the whole complexion of the game when you don’t have to labor to score to get it a step closer all the time,” Self said.
KU has one game left following the Senior Night game. The Jayhawks will take on Houston at 3 p.m., Saturday, in Texas.
