Bill Self praises Dajuan Harris Jr., KJ Adams Jr. as he recaps KU basketball’s season
LAWRENCE — There’s a lot that’s transpired for Kansas men’s basketball since this past season ended.
Gradey Dick, Jalen Wilson and Kevin McCullar Jr. have all started to go through the pre-draft process ahead of this year’s NBA draft. Five others have elected to transfer, with most of them having already announced where they’re going to play next season. And Thursday, the Jayhawks made it official that they’d signed Towson transfer Nicolas Timberlake to be a part of next season’s roster.
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But during Kansas’ end-of-season banquet earlier this month, there was the opportunity to reflect on what the team was able to accomplish during the 2022-23 campaign. That included praise head coach Bill Self had for his players and coaching staff. And here are a few more takeaways from what Self had to say that evening.
Dajuan Harris Jr. will go down as Bill Self’s favorite
Harris is a veteran guard who’ll be back with the team next season, and it was clear in a speech during the banquet how much Self values him. Self started by noting Harris is potentially “the greatest story” they’ve ever had, and then continued on by saying Harris will go down as his all-time favorite. Self added that he wouldn’t trade Harris for anyone.
“It’s amazing to me whatever team he’s on always wins,” Self said about Harris, who’s started 75 games across the past two seasons. “And I don’t know that everybody truly values everything he does, but I don’t know if he realizes this — because of COVID, we’ve got him for two more years.”
Bill Self highlights KJ Adams Jr.’s breakout season
As a freshman during Kansas’ national championship season, Adams did play in 37 games and start one of those appearances. But the forward also only played sparingly, and didn’t have much production one could highlight on the stat sheet. So, considering the jump Adams made this past season as a sophomore, it’s not a surprise that Self highlighted what Adams did so glowingly.
Adams started all 36 games this past season and averaged a bit more than 27 minutes per game. He was a reliable shooter inside who averaged 10.6 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. Self said Adams went from being “a guy,” to someone who he saw as the “best big-man” in the Big 12 Conference for the majority of conference play.
“He wasn’t just the most improved player in the Big 12, he was the most improved player in college basketball,” Self said about Adams. “And that makes the story pretty cool, but what makes it cooler is he did that when he and his family are going through real struggles.”
Here’s what Bill Self said he enjoyed most about coaching the team this past season
Kansas won another Big 12 regular season championship this past season, and did so outright during a campaign that also included some impressive non-conference wins. Then, the Jayhawks finished as the runner-up in the Big 12 tournament and reached the round of 32 in the NCAA tournament. What Self said enjoyed the most about coaching the team over the course of it all, was how the players shared the ball.
“When we played well, I thought we were hard to guard in large part just because the guys were so unselfish,” Self said.
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: KU basketball coach Bill Self praises Dajuan Harris Jr., KJ Adams Jr.
