The Kansas basketball program is coming off a disappointing 2023-24 season. The Jayhawks finished the year at 23-11 and came up short in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Moreover, a former player has made a decisive college basketball transfer portal decision. Arterio Morris is moving on after ending a battle with rape charges.
Arterio Morris started his college basketball career with the Texas Longhorns and later transferred to Kansas. In August of 2023, prosecutors charged him with rape after an alleged incident at McCarthy Hall, which housed the men's basketball team.
The former guard was suspended from the team and was later dismissed. However, prosecutors dropped Arterio's charges on April 9th due to insufficient evidence. One day later, Morris decided to enter the college basketball transfer portal, per Jeff Goodman.
Arterio Morris was a McDonald's All-American before his lone season at Texas. He averaged 4.6 points and 1.4 rebounds in 11.8 minutes per game. He did not get to show what he could do at Kansas, but he looks to get back on the court with another program.
Meanwhile, the Jayhawks will continue their quest to get back to the top of the Big 12 after a treacherous season.
Bill Self's squad started the season strong but could not close sufficiently. They finished sixth in the conference and failed to earn a March Madness berth for the first time since 2020. Before that, the last time the Jayhawks missed the postseason was in 1989 under Roy Williams. This shows just how uncharacteristic the 2023-24 season was for the team.
Nevertheless, Coach Self and company will have what it takes to reload for an improved showing.
Kansas basketball looks to return strong for 2024-25
The Jayhawks are likely to see fluctuation in their roster due to college basketball transfer portal movement and graduations. In 2023-24, Kansas was primarily led by seniors who may not return for the next season.
Kevin McCullar Jr. led the team with 18.3 points and 1.5 steals per game. He used his fifth year of eligibility and will likely attempt to play professionally. Meanwhile, Hunter Dickinson was also key in the Jayhawks' attack.
Dickinson averaged 17.9 points and 10.9 rebounds throughout the season. It remains to be seen if he will return for another year or go pro. Regardless, Kansas will have stout contributors for 2024-25.
The Jayhawks ranked ninth in the nation for their incoming Class of 2024 recruiting prospects, per 247 Sports. If Kansas can retain some of their players from 2023-24, obtain pieces through the transfer portal, and develop their incoming talent, they will be good to go.
Despite Kansas' subpar regular-season stretch, the Jayhawks had a chance to make a Big 12 title run. However, the team went out in the second round with a 72-52 loss to Cincinnati.
This prompted Bill Self to get brutally honest about what the Jayhawks lacked.
“The bottom line is, we need to be able to make six or seven threes,” Self said. “When you get outscored 15 to 30 points every game from beyond the arc, that's a lot of twos, you just don't have enough opportunities to make those up.”
Expect Kansas to make a concerted effort to improve their shooting during the 2024 offseason. The Jayhawks may have had a poor late-season showing, but they can undoubtedly come back strong for 2024-25.
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