Kansas has already lost its starting center Joel Embiid and starting small forward Andrew Wiggins to the 2014 NBA Draft. Now it looks like the Jayhawks are going to lose their starting point guard from last season, too. Naadir Tharpe is expected to transfer from Kansas, according to ESPN's Jeff Goodman.
Naadir Tharpe expected to leave Kansas, according to a report
The Jayhawks appear to be losing another starter from last season.
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
The report on Tharpe comes just hours after Class of 2014 point guard Devonte’ Graham narrowed his list to N.C. State and Kansas. Graham’s recruitment by high major schools has been a long time coming. The guard signed with Appalachian State in 2012 but tried to get out of the commitment once it became apparent bigger schools were interested. Former Appalachian State coach Jeff Capel would not accommodated Graham with his request to be let out of his letter of intent, but new coach Jim Fox finally did.
The domino effect appears to have led to Tharpe’s decision to transfer. The senior-to-be point guard was shaky at both ends of the floor through the end of the season as Kansas fell in the round of 32 to Stanford. He averaged 8.5 points and five assists on the season, shooting 43.6 percent from the floor and 37.7 percent from three.
Kansas will look dramatically different next season. Top recruits Cliff Alexander and Kelly Oubre will attempt to replace Wiggins and Embiid. Junior-to-be forward Perry Ellis and sophomore-to-be guard Wayne Selden Jr. return Bill Self's lineup. Kansas should be the favorite in the Big 12 regardless of who is starting at point guard, though Myles Turner's decision to play for Texas should make the top of the league highly competitive.
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