photo by: Damon Young/Kansas Athletics

Kansas freshman Jaliya Davis is pictured in summer workouts on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, in Lawrence.

As Kansas’ point guard, standing 6 feet tall, S’Mya Nichols has for a while taken on the unenviable task of guarding opposing teams’ power forwards.

What she calls her most important area for improvement this offseason, however, will be defending against quick and shifty opposing guards.

“I normally just guard the 4s, for size purposes,” Nichols told the Journal-World. “But we have size.”

Last offseason, the Jayhawks couldn’t reel in a pure center in the transfer portal and were undersized in the post compared to some of their Big 12 opponents. They had certainly built up their length on the wing, a longtime recruiting priority of head coach Brandon Schneider’s, with players like the 6-foot-1 Brittany Harshaw and 6-foot-3 Elle Evans. But the frontcourt essentially consisted of 6-foot-3 Regan Williams — who was then a true freshman — and a pair of longtime reserve centers.

This year will be different, to the point that Schneider has previously said he wants to play with two forwards more often: “We’ve got a little bit more size and depth on the front line that we can play that way.”

“He talks about it every day,” Nichols added. “He brings it up every day that we are tall, we are long, and we should be able to help each other with the aspects that we have.”

Williams is back with another year in the program, and she’s joined by a trio of new bona fide forwards in freshmen Tatyonna Brown (6-foot-4) and Jaliya Davis (6-foot-2) and senior Indiana transfer Lilly Meister (6-foot-3). Nadira Eltayeb, one of those veteran reserve centers, is also back to provide depth.

“We’re very long, we take up a lot of space, especially when we’re playing defense,” Nichols said. “Elle, she gets in the paint, she can shoot over people, things like that. Taty, tall but crazy bounce, insanely athletic, great shot blocker, you know. And then we have Liya who’s also tall down there and again, crazy athletic, great footwork, I think it’s awesome. We have it.”

What they also have, something for which they are quite thankful, is a high quantity of healthy players. Last year’s team was so debilitated by injuries that, as Schneider says, “we couldn’t hardly practice late in the year because of people that just weren’t available at all or we had some guys that were really banged up.”

They even had their whole team, all 12 Jayhawks, in place at once for a portion of the summer, which isn’t always the case.

“We played a lot more than we ever have within our time slot, and I think that really helped develop some on-court chemistry and kind of gave everybody a vibe of what maybe the strengths of each player are,” Schneider said.

KU doesn’t have its entire roster operating at full speed yet as players work their way into good health, but Schneider said he expects to have everyone totally available by “late September, early October.”

Nichols said she enjoys the newly competitive and “rowdy” practices with greater numbers on hand.

“We’re always fresh,” she said. “We’re always on beat, because you can sub in and then still be on the same track. It’s also a lot more fun, because you don’t feel like you’re being used too much or beat down. For sure that way, and also I feel like it helps because when people play multiple positions or when people play your position … you guide them through different things that they’re not used to.”

Rivalry to be renewed

In arguably the most prominent matchup of their nonconference slate, the Jayhawks will reprise the Border Showdown when they take on Missouri at the T-Mobile Center on Nov. 15.

Schneider said it is useful to have an opportunity to practice and play at the same venue that houses the Big 12 tournament, but added, “I think now especially with the makeup of our team, I think we have some local flavor that that’s going to matter a lot to.”

KU has four Kansans in Davis, Harshaw, Nichols and Sania Copeland, plus Williams hailing from Kansas City, Missouri.

Nichols said she didn’t realize how long it had been — 13 years — since the two teams contested the rivalry matchup during the regular season (outside of their chance meeting in the 2023 WNIT). She added that she has a lot of friends who play for the Tigers.

“I think it’s cool that we get it on the women’s side, because it’s such a big deal in the men’s as well, and to tie into that, I think it’s awesome that even football played them this year,” she added.

Overall, Schneider said KU put together a good mix of different sort of games in its nonconference schedule, though he did acknowledge that it has been difficult for the Jayhawks to find road games (they play at Northwestern and Missouri State in December). He said he hoped KU’s young players will benefit from receiving playing time in several early-season matchups before the date with Missouri.

Schneider weighs in on Big 12 policy change

The Big 12 Conference will for the first time mandate the regular release of player availability reports this upcoming season. The system is already in place for football and will soon be implemented for men’s and women’s basketball.

In basketball, teams will have to publish information on whether players are available, out or a game-time decision, once the night before a given league game and once 90 minutes before tipoff of that game.

Schneider said he understands the measure and isn’t opposed to it, given the continuing evolution of college sports and the proliferation of sports gambling. The reports could “mitigate people trying to contact our players on social media, to try to get inside information.”

“I can’t tell you a specific instance with our players, but I think it could be as innocent as hey, you’re in a class with somebody, you may be friends with them, but, for example, ‘Hey, I know Elle’s had a hamstring issue, is she going to be able to go tonight?'” Schneider said. “You think it’s really an innocent question, but there might be some ulterior motive. I just think from that perspective it’s a positive.”