It’s been a bit of a slog lately for Kansas. The Jayhawks saw their 14-year streak of Big 12 regular season titles snapped by Texas Tech and Kansas State, bow out of the NCAA tournament in the second round and then missed out on five-star recruit RJ Hampton, who opted to go play professionally in the Australian league.
Yes, Silvio De Sousa was granted eligibility for the 2019-20 season, but on the whole, the last few months just haven’t been what Kansas is accustomed to.
That run of tough luck looked to change Wednesday.
Freshman guards Devon Dotson and Quentin Grimes both decided to remove their names from NBA draft consideration Wednesday hours ahead of the deadline to do so.
The 6-foot-2 Dotson averaged 12.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game as a freshman he also shot 48.2 percent from the field and 36.3 percent from 3-point range.
Got a whole lot more in store. . . Year 2!! Let’s Riiiiddeeee!💙⚪️❤️ #UnfinishedBuisness 💍 #RCJH pic.twitter.com/s2CyrKsQky
— Devon Dotson (@d_dotson1) May 30, 2019
Grimes’ first season in Lawrence was largely underwhelming for the top-10 prospect in the 2018 class. He averaged 8.4 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2 assists per game while shooting just 38.4 percent from the floor. He did, however, seem to turn a corner in the last month of the season when he scored in double figures in seven of Kansas’ last nine games.
His decision to opt out of the NBA draft doesn’t necessarily end the questions about his immediate future, however, as noted by the Kansas City Star’s Jesse Newell.
Important to note: @evandaniels' report has only stated Quentin Grimes is withdrawing from the NBA Draft. No confirmation yet from family on what that means regarding a potential future with KU or elsewhere.
— Jesse Newell (@jessenewell) May 30, 2019
UPDATE: Minutes after Dotson’s decision to return to school, Kansas coach Bill Self announced that Grimes would be entering the transfer portal.
“We’ve all enjoyed coaching Quentin this past year and certainly appreciate his efforts,” Self said in a statement. “We initially anticipated him staying in the draft but he and his family decided to return to college but not return to the University of Kansas.
“We totally support and respect Quentin and his decision and wish him the very best moving forward. We believe Quentin will have a long professional basketball career and look forward to watching his development.”