photo by: Emma Pravecek/Journal-World Photo

KU center Ernest Udeh Jr. goes for a layup during the team scrimmage at the annual Bill Self Basketball Camp on Wednesday, June 8, 2022 at Allen Fieldhouse.

Depth is never a bad thing in college athletics, but it seems as if Kansas basketball coach Bill Self would prefer to see a little separation at the 5 position.

With five different players capable of playing KU’s lone big man spot this season, Self and the Jayhawks are still searching for one of them to assert himself as the obvious and automatic option inside.

“I don’t know that we’ve had consistently what I’d like to see so far,” Self said last week.

Throughout much of the offseason, many believed that sophomore Zach Clemence would be the first in line to handle the primary role at the 5 for the Jayhawks. And Self said Wednesday, at Big 12 media day in Kansas City, Missouri, that Clemence very well still might.

But as the preseason has gone on, the search for an answer at the position has remained up in the air.

Self has said on multiple occasions that freshmen bigs Ernest Udeh Jr. and Zuby Ejiofor were playing well and ahead of schedule. And super-senior Cam Martin, along with sophomore KJ Adams, also remain in the mix for minutes at the 5 for the fifth-ranked Jayhawks this season.

The preference is for Adams to play more on the perimeter, but until KU locks down an answer down low, Adams’ strength, athleticism and versatility may continue to make him an option. On Wednesday, Self even went as far as to say Adams will spend some time at the 5 this season.

“We’ve got four bigs — and, if you throw KJ in there, five — that could all play ample minutes and split time and all those things,” Self said. “But I’d rather have one that is getting backed up rather than have five that are just playing a little bit. So hopefully one of those guys will emerge.”

While Ejiofor and Udeh bring similar skill sets — long, athletic bigs who can run the floor and attack the rim — the other three all appear to be a little different.

Clemence is a knock-down outside shooter who is capable of playing inside, as well. He’s long, fearless and doesn’t mind mixing it up. The key for him is to learn how to be on the floor for the long haul rather than being used in two- to three-minute spurts like he was last season.

Martin is the slowest of the bunch but he also may be the strongest. He’s another player who has a good outside shot and he has logged a lot of playing time at the college level, albeit at Division II Missouri Southern State before his transfer to Kansas.

“If you want a ball-screen, run-to-the-rim, defensive team, you’d probably go with Ernest or Zuby,” Self said Wednesday. “If you want a skilled, pick-and-pop team that maybe doesn’t have the same presence defensively, you probably go with Cam or Zach. But we need one of those guys to emerge. And right now they’re all just right there the same.”

While KU’s depth and different options at the position could play to the Jayhawks’ favor at some point, Self said trying to play four different guys 10 minutes per game each was not something he was interested in doing.

“Then you’re going to have four guys that are mad,” he said. “I’d rather have one guy play 25 and one guy play 15 and then you’ve got two happy.”

While the lack of a true defensive presence at the position is one concern for Self and his staff, another big one is the fact that none of the KU big men are true back-to-the-basket scorers.

“At the end of the day, you’ve still got to be able to throw the ball (inside),” Self said. “Our last two baskets of the season last year were throw the ball to a guy (David McCormack) and have him make a four-footer. And right now we don’t consistently do that at all.”

There are other ways for KU to get the low-post scoring Self wants, and he said Wednesday that he thinks wings Jalen Wilson, Kevin McCullar Jr., Gradey Dick and MJ Rice all could be used in that type of role from time to time.

“Absolutely,” Self said. “Now, the (bigs) need to be good enough passers that they can (throw it inside), but we’re messing with all that stuff right now.”

Kansas will play a so-called “secret scrimmage” against Illinois this weekend at Lindenwood University in St. Louis and then enter the homestretch of preparing for its exhibition game with Pitt State 12 days later.

That game is slated for 7 p.m. on Nov. 3, with KU’s regular season opener coming four days later, at 7 p.m. on Nov. 7 against Omaha.