Kansas Basketball: What Tristan Enaruna’s commitment means for Jayhawks

The Kansas Basketball program has gone through many struggles in the past year, but the future has gotten brighter. Star forward Tristan Enaruna has committed to play for the Jayhawks.

Kansas Basketball’s 2019 recruiting class got off to a very rocky start. They had the 55th ranked recruiting class according to 247sports which Isaac McBride and Christian Braun as their only two recruits. Those two went way up in the recent rankings and with Tristan Enaruna committing is has risen their class up to 28th in the nation.

Enaruna is a talented player, but his ranking varies in a big way on different sites. He shot up the rankings on Rivals as he moved up 61 spots to finish as the 44th ranked player in the class. ESPN and 247sports have him 97th and 79th respectively.

He is a talented player who has a chance to make a big impact right away, but it’s more likely he will be in a reserve role before being given the chance to shine during his sophomore season. The Jayhawks still have some uncertainty in the frontcourt, but with them expected to have good depth on the wing, he will have to fight more minutes.

As things currently stand he’ll have to battle with several returning players such as Marcus Garrett and Ochai Agbaji for minutes. If he’s going to play some inside at the four in smaller lineups he will have to beat out some of the bigs including David McCormack and Mitch Lightfoot.

The one player who could take some big minutes away from him is Silvio De Sousa. By now we all know that he has been ruled ineligible through the 2019-20 season, but there is hope that he’ll be able to play. If he is reinstated he will return to Kansas and he will play a large role and potentially start alongside Udoka Azubuike. If he isn’t reinstated than he is expected to remain in the NBA Draft and begin his professional career.

While Kansas has the potential to be loaded again next season we know that things don’t always go as planned. We saw the Jayhawks preseason #1 team last season dealing with injuries and off the court issues before losing in the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament against Auburn. Getting a playmaker like Enaruna is big for the future, but adding more depth is key as well.

Last season the Jayhawks were supposed to be extremely deep, but they had many players who were disappointing. They didn’t get what was expected out of guys such as Quentin Grimes, Charlie Moore, and KJ Lawson and they struggled to adapt as the season went along. After the year they had last season that made this recruiting class needed to be a huge success.

After a slow start on the recruiting trail, many people were questioning if Self was committed to staying in Kansas. His rumors to the NBA could’ve played a part in some of the struggles, but the FBI investigation played a part as well. The Jayhawks were considered the favorite for Matthew Hurt for a long time before he ended up going to Duke. After a rough start to this class, it seems as if they are in a good spot to add more talent for next season.

Bill Self typically has success recruiting in the spring and he seems on his way to having another top-notch recruiting class after landing Tristan Enaruna. They aren’t close to done though with other top recruits such as five-star RJ Hampton, and graduate transfer Rayjon Tucker very much interested in playing in Lawrence.

After the Big 12 regular season title streak came to an end at 14 it’s time for the Jayhawks to look towards the future. Bill Self is committed to getting them back on top and competing for national championships, and Tristan Enaruna is exactly the type of player who can develop into a star to make that happen.