It was another fun year full of unique stories about KU athletes, some you’d heard of, some you hadn’t and some you surely wanted to learn more about once you did.
We’re looking forward to finding more such stories in 2026 and introducing you to the many unseen sides of some of your favorite Jayhawks.
From funny on-court/field tales to off-the-court features on who these athletes are and what makes them tick, our goal here is to always bring you an interesting look at your Jayhawks.
Before we move fully into a new year, here’s a look back at our favorite KU athlete features of 2025, with the rest of our “Favorite Stories of 2015” dropping tomorrow, covering R1S1 analysis, news, game reactions and more.
Part II - Our favorite KU stories of 2025
— ICYMI, here's Part I, a collection of player features, from Wednesday —
Analysis:
• It was a rough season for fans of Kansas basketball, who watched yet another preseason No. 1 roster struggle when it got to Big 12 play. In an attempt to explain what was happening, we did this deep dive on how the KU program got to that point in February's "How We Got Here" feature.
• Speaking of frustrated KU basketball fans, they reached a new low at Late Night 2025, when a huge section of the KU student section booed loudly when former KU big man Hunter Dickinson was shown with his NBA team on the video board during a Jayhawks in the NBA video. Not cool. Whether you like Dickinson or despise him.
• It was years in the making and followed months of construction. And it was every bit as glorious as anyone could have ever dreamed of – even just half finished. In late August, KU opened the doors to the brand new David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium experience and, after soaking it in, we tried to explain just what that day meant to Kansas football and its fans.
• It's amazing how quickly some people forget just how bad KU football was from 2010 to 2021. It's those same people who hit social media repeatedly during the Jayhawks' recent 5-7 season to share their opinion that KU coach Lance Leipold should be fired. Here's one look at why that idea is utterly ridiculous.
• We won't get too much into the whole Darryn Peterson situation, mostly because it's still unfolding, but there was a pretty cool story on our site about how KU welcomed its star back into the fold — particularly from a usage and go-get-us-a-bucket perspective — when DP finally returned from a prolonged absence. Before sitting out again, anyway.
Memorable Game Day Moments:
• We weren't there for this one in Minnesota, but it was still fun to look back on it with the guys who made it happen — five consecutive home runs by the Jayhawks in a rout of the Golden Gophers. This feat wasn't just historic for KU baseball, this was historic in all of baseball.
• During a ho-hum round at LCC this fall, KU golfer Ebba Nordstedt casually fired a school-record-tying 63 — 8 birdies and 10 pars — and then went out for a little ice cream to celebrate. Here's how she did it and what it meant to her.
• Senior day for the KU women's soccer program was one to remember for transfer Emika Kawagishi, but not because her family made the trek from Japan to celebrate the final home game of her career with her. Instead, because her fiance's grandparents — Mamita and Papito — showed up to walk with her on a truly memorable night.
• It was 6 full years of ups and downs, highs and lows, good and bad, health and injury and it came to an agonizing end in late-November, when KU QB Jalon Daniels threw a couple of late interceptions that thwarted KU's upset bid of Utah and kept the Jayhawks from reaching bowl eligibility for the second year in a row. The end was always going to be tough for JD6, who absolutely loved his time as a Jayhawk, but this was a tough goodbye.
Reaction:
• In March, shortly after the disappointing KU basketball season ended with a first-round NCAA Tournament loss to Arkansas, legendary broadcaster Bob Davis died. His passing sparked a series of tribute pieces, trips down memory lane and fun flashbacks to some his greatest calls. Here's ours.
• The Kansas baseball team was red-hot down the stretch in earning a spot in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, and, before their trip to regionals, R1S1 Sports got to spend a day at the ballpark with the team, watching how the Jayhawks prepared for the postseason.
• The Kansas basketball coaching staff got a new look in the offseason, with the departure of longtime Bill Self assistants Norm Roberts and Fred Quartlebaum paving the way for one really, really noteworthy replacement. You know him as KU's point guard in the late-1990s, but the decision to bring back Jacque Vaughn was such a good move for the KU program in so many ways and for so many reasons.
• This last one wasn't exactly KU-specific, but his experience with Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005, when he was a young athletic administrator at Tulane, went a long way toward shaping current KU AD Travis Goff's path in the industry. KU has obviously benefited from a lot of Goff's chops, and, in September, he sat down with R1S1 Sports to reflect on the 20-year anniversary of the catastrophic storm.
— For tickets to all KU athletic events, visit kuathletics.com
