photo by: Brett Davis/Overtime

Kohl Rosario of the YNG Dreamerz is pictured in action during an OTE League game on Friday, Nov. 15, 2024 at OTE Arena in Atlanta.

Like any freshman, Kansas’ Kohl Rosario is looking to his coaches for advice on how he can improve in the early stages of his college career.

“They’re going to tell me what I need to do, and I’m going to work on that,” he said.

They also tell him, however, that he needs to do something other than play basketball. So this summer you can find Rosario out on the golf course, or — even though they’re not that good — playing tennis or volleyball with his fellow freshmen Samis Calderon and Bryson Tiller.

“I’m sure you can’t even imagine that,” Rosario said with a smile.

Not long ago it might have been hard to imagine Rosario — first name Kohl spelled “like the store,” as he sometimes has to tell people — at KU in the first place, at least during the 2025-26 season.

When head coach Bill Self first saw Rosario play at Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball League back in April, there were rumors he could potentially reclassify up a year and join the class of 2025, but “we actually checked into it immediately and were told that it wasn’t going to happen,” Self said.

And then a week later KU learned it truly was a possibility, and “dove in headfirst.”

“Even before the visits, I knew that it’s not really worth it to do a whole ‘nother year of high school,” Rosario said.

After a recruitment that lasted essentially about a month — as long as it could possibly have gone during the summer, Self said — Rosario moved up to 2025 and picked the Jayhawks.

“It’s when the opportunity came about, and when hard work meets opportunity, and I felt like I was ready,” Rosario said. “And if you’re the best person in the gym, you got to go to a different gym. So I feel like this is the next step that I needed to make in order to be a better version of myself.”

Rosario joins KU from Moravian Prep in Hudson, North Carolina, after taking part in the Overtime Elite basketball league last season. He averaged 15.7 points and 5.6 rebounds for YNG Dreamerz, but his recruiting took off during the summer with an impressive showing at EYBL and a 30-point game on 10-for-10 shooting at the Adidas NextGen EuroLeague in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates.

Self had plenty of praise for Rosario on Monday after just two weeks with his young recruit. He compared him to Christian Braun, but a better shooter than Braun, though not yet as powerful.

“I mean, he’s a real athlete,” Self said. “He’s an unbelievable offensive rebounder, he tries really hard, he’s active, he’ll steal you possessions and he’s a really good shooter.”

Self said that while Rosario isn’t in the absolute uppermost echelon of natural shooters KU has had during his tenure, “He’s in that next camp of being a guy that can line it up, but you think he can make two out of five if guarded and three out of five if he’s not.” He, Jayden Dawson and Darryn Peterson are among the primary 3-point shooters expected to fire away for this year’s Jayhawks.

Rosario, for his part, takes a lot of pride in his effort: “That helps the team gain more possessions and ultimately win,” he said.

Teammate and fellow wing Tre White, a three-time transfer who by his own admission has “been around the block a couple times,” was impressed by Rosario from his first practice, when he went 5-for-5 from beyond the arc with a pair of dunks. But how hard he played stood out, too.

“I feel like that’s what’s really going to keep him on the floor,” White said. “He has probably the best motor on the team. Probably next to me. I feel like that’s his blessing for sure.”

Rosario’s recruitment was a whirlwind, but the Miami native said it hasn’t been much of a challenge getting adjusted to KU and Lawrence. He was already living by himself at OTE, for example.

“It’s hot right now, like Miami, so it’s not really that much of an adjustment,” he said. “We have a lot of basketball. That’s where I found myself, that’s where I have my peace, is in my basketball and when I read my Bible. It was pretty easy.”

Lawrence has been a hit with his family and particularly his mother Kristy, he said.

“They just think it’s all like one big family,” Rosario said. “I mean, everyone treats you like you’re family here. It’s different from Miami. Miami, they’ll look at you and they won’t even say hi. Here at Kansas, everyone’s super nice, they’ll treat you well.”

Rosario could have a chance to contribute early in his career on the wing, at least as a role player. The Jayhawks brought in veteran off-ball guards like Dawson and Melvin Council Jr. and also have a bigger wing in White, but Rosario could vie for playing time elsewhere in the rotation with the likes of Jamari McDowell.