Kansas Basketball 2025-26 Projected Lineup, Rotation & Roster Tracker

The tenures of longtime Kansas basketball starters like Hunter Dickinson, KJ Adams, and Dajuan Harris came to an end last season when the Jayhawks were eliminated in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against Arkansas.

Head coach Bill Self, coming off three consecutive early exits in March Madness, knew he had to make significant roster changes.

Now entering his 23rd year in Lawrence, Self has one of his best freshmen ever running the show in Darryn Peterson, who is expected to be one of the most dominant players in the country and was named the Big 12 Preseason Freshman of the Year.

Peterson will lead a new-look Jayhawk squad determined to reclaim its spot at the top of the Big 12. However, it will be up to his supporting cast to step up alongside the potential No. 1 pick in next year’s NBA Draft, so let's take a peek at how KU's roster and depth chart look heading into the season.

Kansas’ 2025-26 Projected Starting Lineup and Rotation

Last updated: October 30, 2025 @ 11 a.m. CT*

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Position	Starter	Backup 1	Backup 2
PG	Darryn Peterson	Elmarko Jackson	Nginyu Ngala
SG	Melvin Council Jr.	Jayden Dawson	Jamari McDowell
SF	Kohl Rosario	Jayden Dawson*	Jamari McDowell*
PF	Tre White	Bryson Tiller	Samis Calderon
C	Flory Bidunga	Paul Mbiya	Bryson Tiller*

*Multiple positions

Latest Updates

According to Coach Self, freshman wing Corbin Allen is expected to redshirt this season. We have since taken him off the projected depth chart as a result.

For most of the offseason, fans believed that the final starting five spot would come down to Jayden Dawson or Elmarko Jackson. However, neither of those players found themselves in the starting lineup during the season-opening scrimmage against Louisville.

Instead, Overtime Elite product and freshman wing Kohl Rosario received the nod. He has been praised by the coaching staff all offseason and found his hard work rewarded early on.

The rotation will be worth monitoring again on Tuesday against Fort Hays State, as Rosario went scoreless in 19 minutes vs. the Cardinals, missing all four of his shot attempts.

He is still adjusting to the college game, so it wouldn't be surprising if he came off the bench for one (or multiple) contests until he becomes more comfortable. There were many plays where he looked disoriented, or at least not like the player Coach Self had described in press conferences.

Additionally, the stock of redshirt freshman Bryson Tiller is starting to skyrocket. He scored 12 points, blocked four shots, and logged a team-second-best 28 minutes in the exhibition.

The sky is the limit for the Jayhawks' backup big man if he continues to improve, and the more he plays, the more likely it becomes that he continues to take second-unit minutes away from Paul Mbiya.