KANSAS CITY — Kansas coach Bill Self strolled into the T-Mobile Center, site of the Big 12’s annual basketball media day, on Tuesday looking trim and full of confidence. He has lost about 50 pounds in the wake of a couple of heart procedures the last few years. Self’s typical broad smile and easygoing demeanor were accompanied by a noticeable limp, the lingering effect from replacement surgery on his left knee over the summer.
Self is 63 years old now, a Hall of Famer with two NCAA championships on his resume. He briefly considered retiring at the conclusion of last season, but after getting a clean bill of health from his doctors, he decided to return for his 23rd year at Kansas, and his 33rd as a college head coach. Self still enjoys the job, but his return was also motivated by a desire to restore KU to its previous glory. His program went 14 straight years winning at least a share of the Big 12 regular season title, but two years ago the Jayhawks finished sixth in the league, and last year they were third. They were bounced from the 2026 NCAA Tournament in the second round by St. John’s on a heartbreaking, last-second bucket.
Self acknowledged on Tuesday that he is nearing the end of his career, although he stopped short of predicting this will be his final season. But he is also showing that this old dog can still pull off some new tricks. Self pulled off a major head turner on Monday when Kansas announced that it was adding former Purdue forward Trey Kaufman-Renn to the roster. Kaufman-Renn, 24, was a First Team All-Big Ten player for the Boilermakers, but his eligibility was presumed to be expired because he has already spent five years in college. (He redshirted in 2021-22 due to an injury.) Last June, the Minnesota Timberwolves selected Kaufman-Renn with the 59th overall pick in the NBA Draft, but after playing for the team in Summer League, Kaufman-Renn decided to pursue a sixth season in college instead of looking to sign a pro contract.
The fact that Kaufman-Renn has been drafted and already spent five years in college sets him apart from the roughly 175 men’s college basketball players who are trying to gain another year of eligibility by challenging the NCAA’s so-called “five in five rule” in court. That rule, which was passed in June, allows all college athletes five years to play five seasons, as opposed to the current setup which allows them five years to play four. Since the timing of the rule excluded the high school Class of 2022, many of them have taken the NCAA to court in hopes of playing (and getting paid for) an additional season of competition.
Kaufman-Renn’s addition would also seem to run afoul of the rule the Big 12 adopted over the summer prohibiting schools from rostering athletes who entered a professional draft and stayed in past the NCAA’s withdrawal deadline. But league commissioner Brett Yormark told reporters on Tuesday that Kaufman-Renn was not subject to that prohibition because, “He was automatically put in the draft (as a senior). He didn’t declare for the draft. That is the distinction.”
Kaufmann-Renn joined KU’s roster 10 days after an Indiana court granted him a temporary injunction. The other two fifth-year Jayhawks, 6-foot-4 guard Melvin Council Jr. and 6-foot-7 senior guard Tre White, played for Kansas last season. Both also won recent injunctions. All three cases are still working their way through the courts, and there is no guarantee that any of them will be available to play all season.
In most years, coaches would be unsettled by that level of uncertainty, but in this sport, at this moment, it is simply the cost of doing business. “I welcome the uncertainty, to be honest with you,” Self told reporters here on Tuesday. “It’d be nice if all the court cases were set on the same date (so we knew) if guys were going to be eligible or not eligible. That’s not the way it works. … I’m going to coach the same whether we have them or not. These guys need to go through the process.”
Self is far from the only coach who is taking on this risk. Half the teams in the Big 12 currently have players who are eligible due to a judge’s decision. The difference with Kansas is the fact that all three players are all likely to assume major roles. Self once again signed one of the nation’s top recruits in 6-foot-8 freshman forward Tyran Stokes, but he clearly would not be taking this kind of risk if he had more confidence in his roster.
Self didn’t make a prediction about what would happen with these cases, but he indicated he wouldn’t have signed the players if he didn’t think there was a likelihood they would be able to play. “I don’t know that I think it’s a small chance because I thought it was a small chance that you couldn’t have two-time transfers three years ago,” he said. “I thought it was a small chance that there would be no players playing a fifth year. I’m not faulting anybody, but the court system says different. I’m coaching like they’re going to be here today and prepare that way. If later on they’re not here, I’ll hate it, but it’s the same as dealing with a season-ending injury.”
Self bristled at the suggestion that he was a disruptor because he added Kaufman-Renn so close to the start of the season. “Nobody controls when the court dates are,” he said. “Are people that did it in July a disruptor? There’s 21 or 22 players in our league that are in the same situation. If we don’t play with them, we’re going to play against them. So all I want to do within the guidelines of whatever has been set is figure out, how do we get our best team together?”
Many coaches have been reluctant to add players challenging the five-for-five rule because they didn’t think it would be fair to the other players in their program. That’s why Kaufman-Renn’s former coach, Matt Painter, did not invite him back to Purdue. “Our guys committed to us based on the opportunities they expected to have,” Painter told Hoops HQ in September. “You give somebody your word, you can’t go back.”
Baylor coach Scott Drew echoed that sentiment on Tuesday when he explained why he hasn’t signed more fifth-year seniors. The only Baylor player currently eligible due to an injunction is Caden Powell, last season’s seventh man who is a native of Waco and whose mother teaches at Baylor’s law school. “When you recruit somebody, you tell them what you expect and what opportunities are in front of them,” Drew told Hoops HQ. “They wouldn’t make decisions if they knew certain other players were going to be on the team. With our team, everybody can come back next year, and we want that to be the case. If you lie to guys in the recruiting process, then it’s hard to get people to come back and trust you again.”
Several other coaches across the Big 12 are also hoping the courts will eventually allow their fifth-year seniors to suit up. BYU coach Kevin Young signed Michigan State transfer Jaxon Kohler, and West Virginia coach Ross Hodge signed forwards Brenen Lorient and Javan Buchanan under similar circumstances. Texas Tech has three such players in legal limbo, two of whom have previous ties to the program. Senior guard Donovan Atwell started every game last season after spending his first three years at Southern, and senior forward Darrion Williams spent his sophomore and junior seasons in Lubbock before transferring to NC State last season. The third fifth-year senior, forward Jamichael Stillwell, spent his first two years in junior college and played at Milwaukee and UCF.
“We’ll handle it the same way as if somebody’s injured, where you don’t know if they’re going to come back,” Red Raiders coach Grant McCasland told Hoops HQ. “I think we’re prepared for the flow of it because we’ve dealt with it in different ways.”
For Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger, rolling the dice with senior point guard Tamin Lipsey was an easy call. Lipsey is an Ames native who was a four-year starter for the Cyclones and is the school’s alltime leader in steals. “Tamin was the only one we pursued, looked into, or even thought about,” Otzelberger told Hoops HQ. “Our players know how much he’s meant to this team and this program. Certainly they’re all competitors and want to play as much as they can, but I think there’s a respect and an understanding that this is a unique circumstance for a unique young man, and an opportunity for our team to get better.”
Self has made clear that he believes there is nothing unfair about bringing in the best players he can. He said the only player he spoke with individually about the addition of Kaufman-Renn was 7-foot-2 senior center Christian Reeves, who previously played for Duke, Clemson and Charleston. He arranged for the three of them to sit down and talk. “Trey said to him, go back and look at the tape. Every big I played with, I make them better and I’ll make you better,” Self said. “Christian was excited about that.”
Self said he does not expect Kaufman-Renn to play in the Jayhawks’ exhibition game against Louisville at Allen Fieldhouse on Wednesday night. Kaufman-Renn is more likely to suit up for Sunday’s home exhibition against Duke. There’s no telling for sure whether Kaufman-Renn will be in a Jayhawks uniform all season long, just like there’s no telling whether Council, White, or any of the other hundred-plus players around the country will compete throughout the winter. The only thing we know for sure is what has always been true, which is that coaches will usually do whatever they can to gain a competitive advantage. Self may be in the final chapter of his career, but he still wants to win big.
“Our sport is going through changes, but every business goes through changes,” he said. “The product’s great. The sport is great. People are still interested, but there needs to be some finality on what we’re dealing with, and I do believe that’s going to happen soon.”
Meet your guide
