Kansas Basketball: Silvio De Sousa must step up quickly

The Kansas basketball program has finally gotten freshman big man Silvio De Sousa eligible to play. They need him to be a force down low immediately.

This past weekend, Kansas basketball finally got to see the debut of freshman forward Silvio De Sousa. However, having become eligible just that morning, De Sousa had a predictably limited impact in the Kansas Jayhawks win over the K-State Wildcats. Moving forward, the Jayhawks will need much more from De Sousa.

Of course, the debut of the highly touted Jayhawks freshman has been a long time coming. The NCAA has been taking their time in determining Silvio De Sousa’s eligibility for this year, though most experts agreed he would be allowed to play. De Sousa had to achieve academic eligibility by completing his high school course work before this semester.

Silvio De Sousa was on the floor against the Wildcats for just four minutes on Saturday. In that limited time, he managed to pick up a personal foul and turn the ball over. Hardly an encouraging start to his career, but nothing to overreact to. It would have been overzealous to expect him to be ready on such short notice.

Silvio De Sousa checked in for Kansas midway through the first half and (no shock) has looked rusty. Bill Self has made it clear that it will take time for De Sousa … but kid plays hard and can rebound.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) January 13, 2018

Life Comes At You Fast

Unfortunately for Bill Self and the Kansas basketball program, they aren’t going to get any time to develop Silvio De Sousa before getting him on the courts. The Jayhawks are in danger of being dethroned from the Big 12 while in pursuit of a record 14th-straight conference title. They will need De Sousa to be a big part of that.

The Kansas Jayhawks have struggled down around the boards this year, and have become reliant on outside shooting. That is generally not a recipe for success in basketball. Center Udoka Azubuike hasn’t had much help underneath the rim. Adding Silvio De Sousa to the mix should create another scoring threat.

That will be tested quickly though, as the Jayhawks are set to take on #2 ranked West Virginia tonight. The schedule doesn’t get much easier after that either as the Big 12 looks very strong this year. Kansas will need Silvio De Sousa to become a force early on if they are going to make a run at that conference title.

Billy Preston Next?

With Silvio De Sousa firmly in the fold, Kansas basketball will now turn their attention to another freshman forward, Billy Preston. Jayhawks fans had expected to hear something on his fate this past weekend, but it never came. Adding the 6’10 forward should make the KU bigs a feared force.