photo by: AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez

California guard Dai Dai Ames (7) moves the ball during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Duke, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Berkeley, Calif.

As the Kansas men’s basketball team begins to construct a new roster for the 2026-27 season, it has locked in a well-traveled guard for a visit.

Former Kansas State, Virginia and Cal guard Dai Dai Ames will see KU on Monday, his agent Adam Papas confirmed to the Journal-World on Friday afternoon.

News of this visit was first reported by CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein. The Jayhawks will have plenty of competition for Ames’ services, as Rothstein noted that he also has plans to visit Tennessee, Xavier and Ole Miss in the coming days.

Ames already has 96 career games and 76 starts to his name through three seasons, but he just concluded by far his most productive campaign. At Cal, the 6-foot-2 guard averaged 16.9 points, 2.2 assists and 2.0 rebounds while shooting 46.4% from the field and 37.6% beyond the arc. He was a third-team All-ACC selection.

The Chicago native accomplished that in 31.8 minutes per game after he had scored 8.7 points in 25.7 minutes at Virginia in 2024-25 and 5.2 points in 20.5 minutes at Kansas State as a freshman.

Should he ultimately choose KU, Ames could be a promising backcourt partner for the Jayhawks’ high-ranked freshman point guard Taylen Kinney.

KU’s 2026-27 roster currently figures to include Kinney, fellow freshmen Davion Adkins, Luke Barnett and Trent Perry and returners Corbin Allen and Kohl Rosario.

OTHER BUZZ

Ames may not be the only prospect headed to Lawrence early next week. According to Shay Wildeboor of JayhawkSlant.com, DeSean Goode of Robert Morris has completed a Zoom call with the KU staff and will also visit on Monday.

Goode was the Horizon League’s player of the year as a sophomore after averaging 15.2 points and 8.7 rebounds per game for the Colonials. While primarily an inside scorer who shot 62.9% overall, he also made an impressive 57.1% of his 3s, albeit on the relatively small sample size of 63 attempts.

A 6-foot-8, 230-pound forward from Fairmont, West Virginia, he started his career at IU Indianapolis, where he started 20 of the 30 games he played as a freshman, averaged 7.8 points and 6.0 rebounds and was an all-freshman selection.

Other players who have been linked to KU via reports of Zoom calls in recent days are guards Wes Enis (South Florida), Terrence Hill Jr. (VCU) and Jaylen Petty (Texas Tech).