Kansas Basketball: 15 greatest scorers in Jayhawks history

Greatest scorers in Kansas basketball history: 9. Frank Mason III

Frank Mason III, 2017 National Player of the Year. Let’s take a trip down memory lane, shall we?

While Frank Mason is the most recent Jayhawks player to make this list, his impact on the program was immense. He served mostly as a bench player during his freshman season, but started every game over his final three seasons for the Jayhawks and was named an All-Big 12 selection in each of those three years.

Though he was always a good offensive player, Mason was mostly known for his defense during his first three seasons. In fact, he was named to the All-Big 12 Defensive Team in 2016. Of course, you can be great on both sides of the court, and Mason’s offense exploded in a huge way in 2016-17.

He took charge of the Jayhawks during his senior season and averaged 20.9 points per game, by far a career-best (he averaged 12.9 per game as a junior). Mason also became much more efficient despite having a larger role and shot 49 percent from the field, including 47.1 percent from 3-point range.

That explosion pushed him all the way to sixth on KU’s all-time scoring list with 1,885, even though he averaged just 13.0 points per game for his career.

Though Mason never made a Final Four, he did reach the Elite Eight twice and kept KU’s conference championship streak intact with his gritty offensive game.

He was drafted in the second round by the Sacramento Kings in 2017 and played the first two seasons of his career with them before signing a two-way deal with the Milwaukee Bucks this past summer.