LAWRENCE — A 48-hour stretch in early April appeared to set the Kansas basketball team’s starting lineup for the upcoming season.
On the eve of the Jayhawks’ exhibition opener against Washburn, KU coach Bill Self confirmed that starting lineup but left the door open to another lineup possibly being the team’s most productive.
On April 11, the Jayhawks got a verbal commitment from Josh Jackson, a five-star guard and the top-ranked prep player in the nation according to Rivals.com and several other recruiting outlets. Two nights later, then-freshman forward Carlton Bragg announced at the team’s season-ending banquet he would return for a sophomore season, giving KU an obvious replacement for graduating 1,000-point scorer Perry Ellis.