We learned on Monday that two more Kansas basketball players are planning to enter the transfer portal when it opens on Tuesday, with one of them creating the potential — and probably the likelihood — of Kansas losing all five starters from the 2025-26 team.
Bryson Tiller, a former 5-star recruit who just finished his redshirt freshman season with the Jayhawks, will enter the portal this week, according to several reports and a press release from his One Story brand management & public relations team.
KU big man Paul Mbiya, a freshman from Congo, who came on late down the stretch, also has elected to hit the transfer portal, according to multiple reports from various recruiting outlets.
Both players were in the Jayhawks' 8-man rotation down the stretch, and Mbiya was one of the Jayhawks' better players in a pair of NCAA Tournament games, playing double-digit minutes — 16 vs. Cal-Baptist and 13 vs. St. John's — in KU's two NCAA Tournament games in San Diego.
Those two games accounted for 29 of the 107 minutes Mbiya played this season, and he scored nearly half of his total points (12 of 26) and a third of his total rebounds (9 of 30) in those two games.
While Mbiya was an emerging project, Tiller is more of a known commodity. He figures to be one of the most sought-after players in the portal, with him and Flory Bidunga possibly both being among the top 10 or 15 players available nationally.
The Atlanta native enjoyed a breakout season with the Jayhawks this season, starting 31 of 35 games, while averaging 7.9 points and 6.1 rebounds in 25.8 minutes per game.
Tiller had some monster games for the Jayhawks and was a huge part of their offensive production. The 6-10, 245-pound forward, who came to KU from Overtime Elite, was asked to play down low a lot in KU's offensive and defensive schemes and, as a result, he recorded double-digit rebounds four times while grabbing 8 or more rebounds in 11 games.
Tiller's all-around game is what made him the versatile piece with impressive potential. He also handled the ball well on the perimeter and was a solid — and incredibly willing — 3-point shooter from the jump.
Tiller faded a little down the stretch and was less effective in the final month or so of the season than he had been in January and February. Never was that more clear than when was benched to start the 2nd half of KU's semifinal loss to Houston in the Big 12 tournament. Tiller did not play at all in the 2nd half of that game.
His decision to enter the portal is likely about finding a place where he can be more of a focal point of the team's offense. That's certainly what the One Story release about him entering the portal would lead you to believe, as the Tiller team highlighted his points, rebounding and shooting percentages this season in games when he had both 8+ field goal attempts (9 games) and 10+ field goal attempts (5 games).
According to the release, in those games Tiller averaged between 14 and 15.8 points per game, on 53.2% shooting or better.
One Story also noted his near-triple-double of 10 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists in a win at Oklahoma State — his first career double-double — as well as his production in home wins over Arizona and Houston.
If it's a bigger role in the offense that Tiller covets, moving on from KU is probably the right move for him. Last year, the Jayhawks' top two offensive threats were all-Big 12 players Darryn Peterson and Flory Bidunga, with capable veterans Melvin Council Jr. and Tre White holding the reins behind them.
While these moves made Monday a busy day in the Kansas basketball world, things only figure to pick up from here, with the potential for more departures and now the need for Bill Self and company to pick from the portal to round out the 2026-27 roster.
A couple of years ago, Self moved quickly to add players from the portal and not all of them worked out. Last year, he was more deliberate and took his time to analyze and assess the fit of each player and that led to Council and White becoming two of KU's biggest transfer portal success stories to date.
We'll see what the plan is from here and how KU addresses its needs this time around.
The portal will be open from Tuesday through April 21. That, however, is just the window to enter the portal. Players can still commit to schools well after that April 21 deadline, as long as they formally enter the portal by then.
— For tickets to all KU athletic events, visit kuathletics.com
