After last year’s NCAA Tournament exit in the Round of 32, Kansas coach Bill Self admitted he’d already turned his attention to next season.
Lack of depth, specifically in the backcourt, was a key issue for the Jayhawks in 2023-24, with freshman Elmarko Jackson and transfer Nick Timberlake failing to find consistency throughout the campaign.
That won’t be an issue this upcoming year, even with Timberlake graduating and Jackson out for the year with a knee injury.
Self and the Jayhawks prioritized adding marquee talent around point guard Dajuan Harris and big men Hunter Dickinson and KJ Adams, bringing in Wisconsin wing AJ Storr, South Dakota State’s Zeke Mayo, Rylan Griffen from Alabama, and Shakeel Moore from Mississippi State.
Then, as if that wasn’t enough, Kansas landed another guard transfer on Friday in David Coit. Coit is a 5’11 guard from Northern Illinois who averaged 20.8 points, 3.4 assists, and 3.2 rebounds per game last year. He shot 33.7% from three on a whopping 9.6 attempts per game.
Coit was available after having a waiver approved by the NCAA, giving him another year of eligibility. He began his career playing at the JuCo level before spending the past two seasons in the MAC at Northern Illinois.
“Kansas was the best situation for me,” Coit said. “Coach Self trust in me, and trust in my ability to come in, play make and score. He was honest with me from the start. He recruited me months ago before the summer. He was always transparent about what he was looking for and his coaching staff was the same way. It was a great situation for me.”
How coach Self divides up playing time between Harris, Storr, Mayo, Griffen, Moore, Coit, and returning sophomore Jamari McDowell remains to be seen, but at the very least it’s a different problem than the one the team faced last season.