We’re now a few days removed from Late Night in the Phog and another season of Kansas basketball — for the men and women — is on the horizon.
Crazy how fast time moves.
KU media day and Big 12 media days are also now in the past and the Jayhawks each have a couple of exhibition games coming up before opening the season for real — Nov. 4 vs. Howard for the men and Nov. 6 vs. Lindenwood for the women.
There’s plenty to learn about both teams in the weeks and months to come. But here’s a quick look at what we’ve seen and heard so far, with a heavy dose of reaction from the recent Late Night scrimmages.
We’ll start with the women first and do a similar story on the men’s team, too.
Late Night Scrimmage Reaction — KU women
• Sophomore S’Mya Nichols said at KU’s media day that she was ready for the full-time role as the team’s point guard, after flipping back and forth between PG and the 4 during her freshman season. She played there enough in 2023-24 for us to know what that might look like, but she showed it right out of the gate during Late Night, hitting a teammate with a perfect pass on the pick-and-roll to open the scoring. Nichols is so talented, has such great vision and really utilizes her strength and smarts to run the show. She should be among the best point guards in the Big 12 this season.
• The Jayhawks have a team full of newcomers and transfers and there’s one of them who is not being talked about much at all right not. Right now. Brittany Harshaw is going to be a player to watch. The 6-foot-1 transfer from Creighton, who is also a Kansas native (Andover, near Wichita), has all kinds of game and brings versatility, talent and passion to the KU perimeter. Watch her for 2 minutes and you'll see all of the swagger you need to tell you what she's about as a basketball player. She wears No. 23 to pay homage to Michael Jordan and says she patterned her game after another great in Kevin Durant.
• After playing a lot of point guard during her first couple of seasons at KU, fifth-year senior Wyvette Mayberry will play off the ball this season, with her former roommate and talented teammate S’Mya Nichols handling the PG duties. The Jayhawks went this way late last season and only lost three games in the final dozen or so after making the change — one at Baylor, one to Texas in the Big 12 tournament and one to Final Four participant USC in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament. It was interesting to note during the scrimmage that even when Nichols was on the bench, Mayberry stayed off the ball, with Spanish sophomore Laia Conessa playing some point.
• There’s been plenty of talk already about how different the Jayhawks will look and play this season compared to the team that constantly threw the ball into Taiyanna Jackson in the post last season. In short, they’re going to be way more run-and-gun and they showcased that in the scrimmage, getting shots up early and often and without hesitation. KU coach Brandon Schneider has said that this team is basically positionless from the 1 through the 4, and, at times, they’ll have five perimeter players on the floor, all of whom can shoot and are not afraid to. Nichols said she spent the entire offseason working on her shot. Mayberry showcased her ability last season. North Dakota State transfer Elle Evans is an absolute gunner and even Harshaw, juniors Sania Copeland and Freddie Wallace and freshman big Regan Williams are comfortable stepping out to 3-point range.
• It remains to be seen how much they’ll be utilized, but returning bigs Danai Papadopoulou and Nadira Eltayeb, who is back from injury, showed the ability to play in the post when called upon. Most likely, that will come on the defensive end as much as anything, with those bodies, their height and their fouls coming in handy against opponents with a true 5. Papadopoulou got used to that role in a big way last season, and she looked lighter on her feet and moved better and quicker in the scrimmage than I remember seeing at any point last season. Neither is expected to play big minutes, but they’ll both be ready for whatever role awaits them.
— Check back later in the week for our reaction to the men's scrimmage...
— For tickets to all KU athletic events, visit kuathletics.com
