LAWRENCE – The Kansas basketball team’s offseason so far has made headlines, and for good reason.

Although Kevin McCullar Jr. and Johnny Furphy are on their way to the pro leagues and the NBA Draft, three veterans – KJ Adams Jr., Hunter Dickinson and Dajuan Harris Jr. – have decided to return to college. Coach Bill Self and his team have signed top-class talents such as Zeke Mayo, AJ Storr and Rylan Griffen through the transfer portal. Even two newcomers, Flory Bidunga and Rakease Passmore, are already making waves.

But all of this doesn’t mean Self and his team are done expanding their roster. After struggling more than expected last season, they’re looking to find more success in the Big 12 Conference and nationally, so efforts are being made to increase their depth. The timeline for how long that will take is unclear, but they’re not sitting idle.

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“In a perfect world, I’d like to have one more, but I think we’re better,” Self said. “Obviously on paper we have a little more depth, but this time last year we had more depth, too. So, of course, unexpected things can happen. But yeah, I really like our roster. We were lucky to have KJ, (Harris) and (Dickinson) all come back.”

From Self’s perspective, it would be ideal if he had eight players he could consider as true starters by the start of the 2024-25 season. That would give Kansas a much deeper bench than last season. But it’s not like the next person the Jayhawks add to their roster has to be someone who would start for them.

Sure, Self acknowledged, it would be nice to add another talented starter. But he also emphasized that they need someone who can contribute to making everyone else better in their role, and doesn’t necessarily have to be the one who scores a ton of points. Self pointed to former KU players, mentioning Tyrel Reed, Brady Morningstar, Travis Releford and Kevin Young.

Self, who left open the possibility that the new signing could be an international prospect, seemed to dismiss the notion that it would be difficult to find someone willing to take on that type of role for Kansas. As for the portal, he reflected that people enter it with different goals. Self said some think about name, image and likeness (NIL), some think about going somewhere and winning, some think about seeking a more significant role and some think about wanting to be part of a specific program.

“We’re talking to a few people,” Self said. “Hopefully we’ll find someone who fits what we’re trying to do and fits in with and complements the people we already have.”

As long as everyone stays healthy, that next addition to the roster could be more of a luxury than anything else. But last season also showed that relying on it can be a bit of a risk. Even this week, during a scrimmage with current players at a local training camp, Elmarko Jackson — a freshman last season — took a hard fall near the basket and his leg was being examined on the court when the scrimmage ended.

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Self told the kids at camp that Jackson was OK. With some help, Jackson eventually left the field. But that moment showed how quickly things can change, even before the games are even played.

“Obviously I saw the crash, but I didn’t really see what happened because I was sitting on the bench,” Dickinson said. “But it was good to see him do it relatively on his own and on his own power. So I’m hoping for the best. I’m not sure, but we have a really good training team that will get him back in shape as quickly as possible.”

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas athletics for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the 2022 National Sports Media Association Sportswriter of the Year for the state of Kansas. Contact him at [email protected] or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared in the Topeka Capital-Journal: Who will Kansas basketball coach Bill Self add to the Jayhawks roster?