The Kansas men’s basketball team officially got on the board in the transfer race last week, when Utah forward Keanu Dawes announced his commitment to Kansas.
Dawes comes to KU with decent numbers — 12.5 points and 8.8 rebounds per game in 32 starts last season — and 63 games of power-conference experience. The Houston, Texas native played 32 and 31 games with the Utes during the past two seasons after starting his career at Rice during the 2023-24 season.
At 6-foot-9 and capable of stepping out and shooting open 3-point shots, Dawes also brings a good amount of versatility to Lawrence.
Could this be a sign of what Kansas is looking for this time around?
Are experience, versatility and a power conference past the currency for KU this time around?
Time will tell, but the Jayhawks certainly could do worse than to prioritize those traits when building the 2026-27 roster.
With all but two scholarship players from last season leaving — to graduation, the NBA or to enter the portal — Kansas needs veterans.
The incoming freshman class is strong and highly regarded by the top recruiting analysts in the industry. It’ll get even stronger — like, elite — if (when?) No. 1 overall prospect Tyran Stokes elects to sign with KU.
But even then — and Stokes is crazy-talented and also incredibly versatile in his own right — the Jayhawks will still need veterans to guide them.
While having Kohl Rosario and presumably Paul Mbiya back is a good thing, neither player is anywhere close to a college basketball vet. Big Paul barely played last season. And Rosario should not even have been in college a year ago, having reclassified into an earlier class to get to KU when he did.
They, too, will need veterans to lead them. Maybe not exclusively veterans. KU, it appears, is in on a couple of younger players in the portal who seemingly would be nice additions, Toledo freshman Leroy Blythe Jr. most notable among them.
While several players in KU’s incoming freshman class will play key roles for the Jayhawks next season, we’re a ways removed from coaches trying to go at it with freshman-heavy rosters. The portal has made it so they don’t have to and, more importantly, Self was never a huge fan of doing that in the first place.
So, now he has Dawes. He’ll likely add other veterans in the coming days and weeks. But Dawes is a great place to start.
Not because his numbers wow you or even because he’ll match those numbers as a Jayhawk. He may not. He may not need to.
What he will need to do is provide poise and experience when things get hot. And with two years of play in the Big 12 Conference already under his belt, he should be more than prepared for what awaits.
Just like Melvin Council Jr. and Tre White were last season.
No one overcelebrated either of those signings at the time they happened. And, especially with Council, no one knew when they committed just how impactful they would be during their lone years as Jayhawks.
But, boy, were they important pieces. Not only because they added experience and talent but also — and especially — because they were relied on even more than anyone could’ve imagined when Darryn Peterson dealt with availability issues.
In recent years, we’ve seen KU both hit and miss with veterans in the transfer portal. For every Council, White or Zeke Mayo there’s been an AJ Storr, Cam Martin or Nic Timberlake that didn’t quite deliver, be it through production or leadership.
So, there’s no guarantee here that Dawes will. But given his background and versatility, it certainly seems like a safe bet that he’ll land with the former group listed above.
Let’s see how it plays out and who else Self and company add.
I understand that Kansas fans get anxious during portal season and that every player who signs elsewhere seems like a miss. But, remember, Self has learned a thing or two about how to work the portal.
He took his time last year and hit two home runs after suffering through a few misses in the years before.
While we’re still talking about a small sample size, recent history has shown that Self taking his time and searching for the right KU fits rather than just trying to stockpile talent ranked near the top of an arbitrary portal list has been the better move for the Jayhawks.
Dawes fits both criteria here, in that he’s a veteran with good experience and he committed to KU during the second week of the portal being open.
Onto the next addition, of which there will be many.
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