Kansas may be counting on Trey Kaufman-Renn before he’s ready to play originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Kansas has added one of the most accomplished big men available, but Trey Kaufman-Renn’s arrival comes with a question Bill Self can’t yet answer publicly: Will he be ready when the games count?
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Self said Wednesday that he is “planning on playing” Kaufman-Renn in Kansas’ Nov. 2 opener against Fordham, while stopping short of confirming the forward’s availability. The coach cited conditioning and an ankle injury after Kaufman-Renn missed the Jayhawks’ two exhibitions. He had turned his ankle in practice before the Oct. 25 exhibition against Duke.
That uncertainty matters because Kansas did not bring Kaufman-Renn in simply to fill out its frontcourt. The 6-foot-9 forward averaged 14.2 points and 8.3 rebounds for Purdue last season and has experience playing both power forward and center. When he is fit and available, he is expected to have a significant role in the Jayhawks’ plans.
His eligibility is part of the larger question around the transfer, too. Kaufman-Renn spent five seasons at Purdue, including a redshirt year, and sued the NCAA for another season under the new eligibility rules. He received a preliminary injunction in Indiana, but the local report on Self’s comments said the court had not yet uploaded a document explaining the injunction’s terms. Self said the immediate unknowns he was weighing were Kaufman-Renn’s conditioning and injury, while also acknowledging he could not promise the player would be available Monday.
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Kansas has one more exhibition against Washburn before opening the regular season, giving Kaufman-Renn a chance to build toward game action. But the clock is short. If he is limited or unavailable against Fordham, Self will have to adjust the frontcourt rotation while a major new piece works his way into shape.
The transfer gives Kansas a proven scorer and rebounder. Whether he can immediately become that difference-maker depends on his health and readiness, and Self’s cautious update has turned the final days of the preseason into a storyline worth watching.
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