photo by: AP Photo/Craig Pessman

Illinois' Tre White celebrates during an NCAA college basketball game against Purdue, Friday, March 7, 2025, in Champaign, Ill. (AP Photo/Craig Pessman)

Tre White didn’t necessarily have any preconceived notions about where he might land when he entered the transfer portal looking for his fourth school in four years. But when Kansas was one of the first programs that came calling, it seemed fitting.

“Then it just kind of registered with me and my people — like, full-circle moment,” White said.

The circle took nearly six years to close.

In the summer of 2019, KU was not even done yet with its 2019 recruiting class (it later filled its final spot with Dajuan Harris Jr.) when a prospect from the distant future announced his commitment to the Jayhawks.

White, who had at the time completed his freshman year at Washington High School of Information Technology in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was headed to Texas’ Cornerstone Christian as a sophomore, pledged to join KU nearly three years before his high school graduation.

“I’d never seen him play,” KU coach Bill Self recalled. “He commits and then decommits two months later.”

Self conceded that was a little bit of an exaggeration. (It was actually more like five.)

“And we couldn’t even call back then,” he added. “It was illegal to call, so we had no relationship. But it was nice to see it kind of come full circle.”

White embarked on quite the journey leading up to his transfer-portal pledge to KU on April 5. After Cornerstone Christian were Ribet Academy and Prolific Prep and a commitment to USC; after a year at USC came Louisville and Illinois. Between his three colleges he’s played in 94 games, 86 of which he started.

“The positive of that, he’s been coached in three different systems by three different guys, (which) has added to his IQ,” Self said. “And he’s a ridiculously bright player. He’s a good basketball player. He’s been a very pleasant addition and surprise.”

Added White: “I feel like every place is like a landing stop for me to kind of just get better and grow myself as a player and as a man.”

A 6-foot-7 wing originally from Dallas, White most recently averaged 10.5 points and 5.5 rebounds for the Illini. Those stats had dipped slightly from his more prolific season at Louisville, but he was playing for a much better team, on which he developed a reputation as a “glue guy.”

The term White himself uses quite eagerly is “Swiss army knife.” He can produce in different ways, he says, depending on who’s on the floor with him: “I can plug and play into different areas. I can guard bigger guys, little guys, score on bigger guys, score on little guys and hold the team together.”

White said his dad helped him develop that sort of identity when he was growing up as a basketball player.

“You know, when you’re younger, you want to be a scorer and stuff like that,” White said. “But I feel like I’m more versatile at being a plug-and-play guy. I can take somebody off the dribble, be an off-the-ball guy, be a defender, be a transition guy, whatever you need. I feel like that’s kind of the new age of basketball right now.”

White said Self had showed him examples of the sorts of wings he could aspire to play like who have had success at KU: Christian Braun, Josh Jackson and Jalen Wilson, “athletic wings who don’t have to do a lot with it but (are) efficient, guard the best players, run the floor, one, two dribble, get to your spot, kind of stuff like that.”

He can also fill a key role off the court.

“I’ve kind of seen what is effective and what holds a team together,” he said. “I can kind of see when our team’s kind of slipping up.”

So far, so good, as White also said that the current KU squad is the fastest a team has bonded of any group he’s been a part of.

White has embraced serving as a team leader since he was a kid, he said. But plenty of aspects of his game were in their infancy back in 2019, when he declared himself a Jayhawk the first time, a virtual lifetime before he would actually put himself in a position to wear the crimson and blue.

“I’d say then I was more of curious, unsure of who I want to be,” White said. “And I feel like now, I’ve been around the block a couple times. I kind of understand my strengths and weaknesses. I know where I can impact teams, and I’m more comfortable with myself and what I can do.”

photo by: AP Photo/Michael Conroy

Southern California guard Tre White (22) drives on Michigan State guard Tyson Walker (2) in the first half of a first-round college basketball game in the men’s NCAA Tournament in Columbus, Ohio, Friday, March 17, 2023.

photo by: AP Photo/Adrian Kraus

Louisville guard Tre White, left, shoots against Syracuse forward Chris Bell during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Syracuse, N.Y., Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024.