Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Player Profile: Andrew White III

Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

With the first exhibition game for the Kansas Jayhawks basketball team just a couple weeks away, it is time to start taking a look at the players who will make up the 203-2014 men’s squad. Over the next 2 weeks, KC Kingdom will feature a series of player profiles, taking a look at each player on the team and where they may fit in.

Naadir Tharpe’s profile is here, Perry Ellis‘  is here, and Jamari Traylor‘s is here.

Maybe the most under utilized Kansas Jayhawk player of the 2012-2013 season was Andrew White III. It would be interesting to know if Head Coach Bill Self ever regrets not getting White more playing time last season. Except for a 30-day stretch in December, covering 6 games, when White played a total of 56 minutes (this included no minutes against Ohio State), White was not given much of a chance.

He only totaled 125 minutes all of last season so he only saw the floor 69 minutes outside of that stretch right before conference play began. There were 12 games where White didn’t see any action at all. White averaged 2.2 points a game when he did get on the floor, and he pulled down 1.2 rebounds in those games, while only averaging 5 minutes of playing time.

Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

White’s best game of the season came against the Belmont Bruins when he dropped 15 points in just 10 minutes, on 6-8 shooting. In this game, he played mostly as a post-and-pop forward where he would post down low then pop to the outside for a shot. After that game, Kansas fans thought they would see more of White but the anticipated playing time never materialized.

For the season, Andrew White III shot 33% from the field last year (18-54), including 27.8% from 3-point range (10-36). While these numbers do not indicate a very good skill set of shooting the ball, White is supposed to be a very good shooter, and he looks good doing it. It is often hard to get into a flow as a shooter while playing sporadically.

It is hard to say what White’s role will be this season. Looking at the roster, with 7 freshmen and a senior transfer, plus holdovers Naadir Tharpe, Perry Ellis, and Jamari Traylor, it is difficult to discern just what White’s role will be on this team. There are probably twelve legitimate candidates for Self’s regular rotation but 3 players will probably be left out when it comes to playing time. If White is one of those three, it would not be surprising if he red shirts.

Of course, with his size (6’6″, 210 lbs), and his shooting ability, he could offer match up problems for opponents. If he improves his consistency on his shot, and becomes a bit better on the defensive end of the floor, White could certainly play his way into the rotation.

White seems to be a prime candidate to become a player who pays his dues as a freshman and sophomore but plays himself into a starting role as an upperclassman, much like Travis Releford. He is not a superstar in the making but will probably develop into a really good college player at some point. It would be surprising if this is the year he earns a lot of plating time. The numbers just don’t seem to be in his favor.