Kansas City, Mo. — There was a moment during Tuesday’s Big 12 Media Day breakout session, when Kansas freshman Tyran Stokes had to clarify himself while talking about a teammate because, as of Sunday, the Jayhawks now have two players with the same first name — Tre White and Trey Kaufman-Renn.
As it turns out, the issue goes much deeper than that.
“We’ve got a lot of T’s on our team,” Stokes said of the 2026-27 KU roster. “We’ve been trying to figure it out. We’ve got TK (Taylen Kinney) and TKR (Kaufman-Renn). We’ve got Tre White and Trent (Perry) and Tyran. Just a lot of T’s. So we’re trying to figure it out right now.”
That’s the least of the 17th-ranked Jayhawks’ worries at the moment, with their 6 p.m. exhibition clash with No. 11 Louisville set for Wednesday night and No. 2 Duke coming to town for the exhibition finale on Sunday.
They’re much more worried about fit, chemistry, who plays well together, who has bought in and who can deliver what KU coach Bill Self wants to see on a consistent basis.
But, still, these little details — something as simple as what these guys call each other — not only matter but also can help strengthen the bond of a bunch of guys playing together for the first time.
Stokes, who was joined at Big 12 Media Day at T-Mobile Center by teammates Kohl Rosario and Keanu Dawes and Self, explained why the name game is a bit of a challenge.
“If you say TKR in a game, it’s just too long to say,” Stokes noted, with Rosario agreeing with him wholeheartedly. “With TKR, you’d rather say TK, but if you say TK then little TK might look over. So, it might just be big TK and little TK. We’ll see.”
Rosario said there was one key element among the two TK’s that makes it easier to manage.
“It helps that they’re different positions,” he said. “You’re not gonna tell TK to post up. You’re gonna tell TKR to post up.”
“Listen, we’ve been so excited. I mean, this past month and a half has just been great, with all these new additions to our team. Just having that experience is really beneficial when it comes down to the stretch and the really important games.”
— KU sophomore Kohl Rosario on the Jayhawks' depth
That doesn’t address the issue of the other T’s that Stokes mentioned, but Rosario added that the more players who are being mentioned, the better it is for the team and roster as a whole.
“(That just means) everybody’s doing good,” he joked, before adding, “I mean, we’ve only had two days with this problem. So, I’m sure we’ll figure it out. Coach (Jeremy) Case will come up with something witty. Or Coach (Bill) Self.”
Added Dawes: “I think we’ve adjusted to it well. When you’re on the court, you know which teammate is out there and which teammate you’re talking to.”
There are other ways that nicknames come to be, of course. But even if what to call each other is an issue all season long, these Jayhawks will take it because of the depth and talent that exists up and down the current roster, a decent chunk of it coming in the past few weeks.
“I think, as a team, we understand what that means and how much closer it brings us to our goal,” Dawes said. “The depth that we have, it makes it really hard to stop us. Especially when people buy in. I think we’ve got a really good team full of guys who are buying in and understanding what we’re trying to accomplish.”
Rosario said the buy-in has been tremendous, both from the guys who had been here all summer and the new arrivals with the big names.
“Listen, we’ve been so excited,” Rosario said. “I mean, this past month and a half has just been great, with all these new additions to our team. Just having that experience is really beneficial when it comes down to the stretch and the really important games.”
And therein lies the big-picture view of this whole thing.
For most of the summer, KU had a team that was likely a Top 25 team with talent, new faces and players filling a variety of roles. And in just a couple of weeks, Self and company brought in three incredibly accomplished and experienced college basketball vets, all of which are capable of starting right away.
The Jayhawks will not pretend for a second that adding new pieces this late in the game — the season opener is less than 2 weeks away — does not have its challenges.
“Definitely different and new,” Stokes said. “Having a new person come in every week is something that you don’t really see every day. But with them being able to come in and lock right in to what we’ve been doing for the past four months has been a great thing. Right now, it’s just a lot of trying to build chemistry; we’re all trying to learn each other and see what each person can do.”
Stokes also said that, at least in the case of Kaufman-Renn, the progress of adjusting to Kansas and his new teammates has been expedited greatly because of his past experience.
“TKR has only been here for two days,” Stokes said Tuesday. “But it feels like he’s been here for a week.”
Stokes said he has witnessed Kaufman-Renn working overtime throughout practices, with KU’s coaches and even in the film room, often watching tape as many as three times a day to get up to speed.
Self said Tuesday that Kaufman-Renn will be available against Louisville but also may not play on Wednesday night. Whether he does or doesn’t, this team’s depth and talent will be on full display and the KU lineup will be full of guys who get it and are willing to give everything they’ve got for as long as they’re out there.
“He’s been preaching on that,” Rosario said of Self and this team’s depth. “Like, ‘We’ve got 10 guys. Just go out there and play your butt off.’”
Added Dawes: “We just want to win.”
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