Dame Sarr: The Key Domino to Kansas’s Basketball Recruiting Class
After a historically disappointing season, Bill Self and the revamped Kansas staff want to redeem themselves from last year's off-season failure. Self took the 2025-2026 recruiting into his own hands and got himself the Naismith Men’s High School Basketball Player of the Year, Darryn Peterson. The early addition of Peterson and the recent announcement of Flory Bidunga returning for his sophomore year put things into motion for this Kansas off-season. The other acquisitions of Illinois transfer Tre White, Loyola-Chicago transfer Jayden Dawson, and St. Bonaventure transfer Melvin Council Jr added significant depth at the guard position, helping out Peterson and sophomore guards Elmarko Jackson and Jamari McDowell.
After a bit of a dry period in the transfer portal, speculation regarding prospects entering the NBA Draft or returning to school, Bill Self gave Kansas a hope like they’ve never had before. The 2026 number one recruit, Tyran Stokes, took an official visit to Kansas, and with heavy consideration of a reclassification by Stokes, this made every Jayhawk fan lose their minds. While it’s been reported that Stokes will likely take other visits, Kansas fans got their hopes up for another recruit, not the typical Bill Self recruit. After swinging for the fences last off-season, trying to mesh together wings AJ Storr and Rylan Griffin, Self needed to find replacement wings to outshine the misfit of Storr and Griffin. Bill Self acquired Tre White and knew he needed to add more.
With significant depth at guard and a serious lack of depth at the wing and center positions, Self went international and reached out to Barcelona guard/forward Dame Sarr. Sarr recently got back from testing the NBA Draft waters and an official visit to Kansas. While it’s been gaining more steam, Sarr could be a key domino in the wing recruiting for Self and his staff. Assuming Sarr and his camp decide to commit to the Jayhawks, that could be a key piece in Texas Tech transfer forward Darrion Williams' commitment, as he is also testing the NBA Draft waters, and has gained significant steam in his recruiting, even having landed a couple of expert predictions logged to Kansas.
This would be the ideal recruiting class for Self. Pairing Peterson and Bidunga with Sarr and Williams, and the other pieces, could result in another Final Four appearance. While the staff would still need to look for another center to back up Bidunga, Self is doing exactly what he needs to do to re-energize the city of Lawrence after back-to-back disappointing seasons. Getting Sarr is the number one priority for this Kansas staff right now, and I wouldn’t be shocked if there’s a commitment soon from Dame Sarr to Kansas. Sarr would be a huge addition for this upgraded Kansas team. There’s nothing Bill Self loves more than freakishly athletic, long, and defensive-minded wings, and that describes not only Dame Sarr but also Darrion Williams, who could be the most underrated player in the entire transfer portal after a sensational season with Texas Tech.
