Kansas Jayhawks: The Future For Kelly Oubre

By Zach Blochlinger | Mar 26, 2015

The Kansas Jayhawks 2014-2015 campaign came to an end on Sunday afternoon when they fell in the round of 32 to the Wichita State Shockers. The game pitted the second seeded Jayhawks against the seventh seeded Shockers in a sunflower state showdown that fans have been looking forward to for years.

Now that KU’s season is over, it’s time for fans to look ahead to next season. At first glance, it seems that the Jayhawks will get almost everyone back next year, as they only had one senior on the roster, and really only have minimal NBA level talent on the roster.

Other than senior Christian Garrett, freshman Kelly Oubre Jr. figures to be the only other logical player that may leave the team. Fellow freshman Cliff Alexander figured to be a one-and-done as well as Oubre, but with all of his eligibility issues causing him to miss most of the second half of the season, I doubt NBA teams would draft him as high as he would like (Source of article: Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star).

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Let’s just assume that Cliff Alexander will be back in Lawrence for another season for now. This makes KU’s only significant loss from the 2014-15 roster Oubre, and that’s if he even decides to enter the NBA Draft.

Oubre is the 12th overall ranked prospect for this summer’s 2015 NBA Draft, according to DraftExpress. Oubre has some strong competition at his position in this year’s draft class including Justise Winslow from Duke, Stanley Johnson from Arizona, Mario Hezonja from Europe, and R.J. Hunter from Georgia State.

All five of these players (including Oubre) are projected lottery selections by ESPN’s Chad Ford. In my opinion, Oubre is the weakest prospect out of these five. That said, he also has the most to prove before he makes the jump to the NBA.

At Kansas, Kelly Oubre Jr. was obviously one of the most talented players on the roster, but I felt like he left a lot to be desired. He had his up and downs throughout the year as head coach Bill Self made him earn his starting spot, but I don’t think he ever reached the heights that people expected him to.

Yes, he’s athletic, can shoot the ball, and has great length, but he has some significant red flags that jump out to me. His effort is nowhere close to where it needs to be and his defensive game has a lot of potential, but isn’t quite there yet. Oubre also lacks the strength and driving ability of NBA caliber small forwards.

Oubre could be a good player in the NBA next season, there’s no doubt about that. I do think, however, that if he were to return to Kansas for his sophomore season and continue to improve over the summer, he would turn into one of the top five or so prospects and even players in college basketball.

If Oubre returns along with Cliff Alexander and the rest of the Kansas roster, (don’t forget the addition of freshman commit Carlton Bragg as well), the Jayhawks are looking scary heading into next season and should be one of the preseason favorites to win it all.

Next: What Now For KU Basketball?

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