photo by: AP Photo/Noah K. Murray

St. John's forward Zuby Ejiofor, center, celebrates with teammates after winning the Big East conference regular season title after they defeated Seton Hall in an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, March 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)

The increase in player movement over the last few offseasons has resulted in a slew of former Jayhawks dispersing throughout the world of college basketball.

Quite a few past Jayhawks have been to multiple schools since leaving KU in the first place, and more will join their numbers in the years ahead, as former Kansas players Zach Clemence, David Coit, Rylan Griffen, Rakease Passmore and AJ Storr all entered the transfer portal, with only Griffen and Passmore still looking for new homes.

Here’s a look at a variety of players who at one point had either played for or pledged their services to Kansas, from those who never made it to campus (like transfer wing Riley Kugel) to those who spent multiple years in Lawrence (like Bobby Pettiford or Joseph Yesufu), and how they all performed over the course of the recently concluded 2024-25 season.

A couple of them will even cross paths with KU next year as they find themselves back in the Big 12 Conference.

Marcus Adams Jr..: A 6-foot-8 wing from Harbor City, California, Adams reclassified to the class of 2023 to join the Jayhawks a year early, and even arrived on KU’s campus for summer practice. But he left the team, committed to Gonzaga and eventually flipped to BYU that September.

Adams spent one trying season with the Cougars in which he lost both his father and grandmother and only played one game due to injury. He transferred again, this time closer to home, to CSUN, where he averaged 16.1 points and 4.9 rebounds in a breakout second-team all-conference season with the Matadors. Adams is now back in the Big 12, as he has committed to Arizona State for next season.

Kyle Cuffe Jr.: The guard from Harlem, New York, only ended up playing two games at Kansas after he redshirted as a freshman and then missed all but two games of his second year in Lawrence due to a knee injury. After transferring to Syracuse, he played in 59 over the course of two seasons but never in particularly significant minutes.

During the 2024-25 season, Cuffe averaged 5.1 points per game on just 33.1% shooting. He is now once again in the transfer portal looking to play two additional seasons of college basketball.

Zuby Ejiofor: He didn’t get to face off against his former school, even though KU and St. John’s got placed in the same pod in Providence, Rhode Island, because the Jayhawks lost in the first round to Arkansas. But Ejiofor, who left the Jayhawks when Hunter Dickinson transferred to KU in May 2023, put together an excellent season in his second year with the Johnnies, tallying 14.7 points and 8.1 rebounds as he was named the Big East’s most improved player.

Tyon Grant-Foster: An in-state product from Kansas City, Kansas, Grant-Foster spent one season with the Jayhawks after beginning his career at Indian Hills Community College, playing just 8.1 minutes per game. He transferred to DePaul, only to spend nearly two full years out of basketball after he collapsed at halftime of his first game with the Blue Demons.

After two heart surgeries, Grant-Foster averaged 20.1 points per game at Grand Canyon in 2023-24, a breakout campaign that went all the way to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, earning him national attention and even a chance to participate in the NBA Draft Combine. He ultimately returned to school but did not quite reach the same heights this past season, starting 17 of the 26 games he played while scoring 14.8 points per game on 39.9% shooting. Grant-Foster entered the portal.

Chris Johnson: Before Adams, in the same offseason, there was Johnson, who had been the Jayhawks’ first commitment for 2023 but changed his mind right as players were heading to campus. By the end of June 2023, the Missouri City, Texas, native had committed to Texas, where he ultimately played minimal minutes in 17 appearances; he transferred to Stephen F. Austin after the season.

Johnson showed promise in three appearances in November, but didn’t play the rest of the season and is back in the portal.

Latrell Jossell: Another former Jayhawk whose path after Kansas took him to Stephen F. Austin (and former Bill Self staffer Kyle Keller), in his case for three years, Jossell wrapped up his career with a final season at North Texas, which reached the NIT semifinals. As one of the Mean Green’s primary bench pieces, the 6-foot-1 guard averaged 7.2 points per game on 35.1% shooting.

Riley Kugel: Kugel was once the Jayhawks’ first transfer commitment of the 2024 offseason but never made it to campus under somewhat oblique circumstances, with Kugel’s father posting on social media that KU did not accept certain credits from classes his son took at Florida. Regardless, the 6-foot-5 wing averaged 9.3 points per game as a part-time starter for Mississippi State in a tough SEC and has since transferred to UCF, where he will meet KU during the 2025-26 season.

Bobby Pettiford: Another Jayhawk who found himself in Providence for the 2025 NCAA Tournament, Pettiford spent his final collegiate season helping High Point reach March Madness for the first time. He didn’t start for the Panthers, but his 17 points in the Big South tournament title game helped him earn MVP honors for that competition.

High Point was competitive in its first-round battle with Purdue but fell 75-63. Pettiford, who had previously played at East Carolina in addition to KU, finished his senior year averaging 8.8 points and 3.4 assists per game.

Labaron Philon: After he had initially committed to Auburn, Philon signed to play at KU alongside Flory Bidunga and Rakease Passmore as part of the 2024 class but never quite made it to campus, and while he would likely have been at the lower end of the Jayhawks’ rotation during the 2024-25 season, he flourished as a starting guard for Alabama.

An SEC all-freshman selection, Philon scored 10.6 points to go with 3.8 assists and 1.4 steals per game, helping the Crimson Tide reach the Elite Eight. He led the Tide with 16 points in its season-ending loss to Duke and revealed on Monday that he will enter the NBA Draft after one collegiate season.

Ernest Udeh Jr.: One of just two of these players who faced off against KU during the 2024-25 season, the center Udeh took a step forward in his second season at TCU with 6.6 points and 7.5 rebounds per game (including seven and eight in his lone matchup with the Jayhawks at Schollmaier Arena on Jan. 22) and an all-conference honorable mention.

The Horned Frogs closed the season by losing five of their final six games, including consecutive losses to Colorado. Udeh entered the portal and transferred to Miami, which is now led by former Duke assistant Jai Lucas.

Tre White: Once committed to KU before he had even started his sophomore year of high school, White has circled back to the Jayhawks after multiple additional high schools and stints in college at USC, Louisville and Illinois. Most recently, for the Illini, the 6-foot-7 wing started 31 games with 10.5 points and 5.5 rebounds.

He has now officially signed with KU, with Self calling him a “Swiss Army knife” in a press release.

“We feel he’s an immediate major contributor, a playmaker, and with his size can guard one through four,” Self said.

Joseph Yesufu: Yesufu, a member of the 2021-22 national title team who also had a brief stint at Washington State, rejoined his former Drake head coach Darian DeVries for DeVries’ one and only year at West Virginia.

Yesufu hit a pair of key 3s in the Mountaineers’ upset win at Allen Fieldhouse on Dec. 31 — which set the tone for the conference slate ahead for the Jayhawks — and came off the bench for WVU throughout the season, though his playing time increased as the year continued. At one point he scored in double digits in four straight contests in February, including a 6-for-6 showing (4-for-4 from deep) when he put up a season-best 16 against Cincinnati.

photo by: AP Photo/Frank Franklin II

St. John’s’s Zuby Ejiofor (24) looks to pass during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against the Marquette in the semifinals of the Big East tournament Friday, March 14, 2025, in New York.

photo by: AP Photo/Ryan Sun

Grand Canyon guard Tyon Grant-Foster, right, shoots against Maryland forward Julian Reese (10) during the second half in the first round of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 21, 2025, in Seattle.

photo by: AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn

North Texas guard Latrell Jossell celebrates the win over Minnesota after the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Minneapolis.

photo by: AP Photo/Michael Woods

Mississippi State guard Riley Kugel (2) runs a play against Arkansas during an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, March 8, 2025, in Fayetteville, Ark.

photo by: AP Photo/George Walker IV

High Point guard Bobby Pettiford (55) shoots the ball past Winthrop forward Tommy Kamarad (15) during the first half of the Big South Championship NCAA college basketball game Sunday, March 9, 2025, in Johnson City, Tenn.

photo by: AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson

Alabama guard Labaron Philon (0) reacts during the first half of an Elite Eight round NCAA college basketball tournament game against Duke, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in Newark, N.J.

photo by: AP Photo/Jerry Larson

TCU center Ernest Udeh Jr. looks into the stands in an NCAA college basketball game against Baylor Sunday, Jan.19, 2025, in Waco, Texas.

photo by: AP Photo/Kayla Wolf

Illinois guard Tre White (22) reacts to scoring a 3-point basket against Xavier during the second half in the first round of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 21, 2025, in Milwaukee.

photo by: AP Photo/Kathleen Batten

West Virginia guard Joseph Yesufu (1) is defended by Houston guard Mylik Wilson (8) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, in Morgantown, W.Va.