On Saturday afternoon, Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks lost a huge piece of their 2025-26 squad to the transfer portal.
According to a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Kansas’ freshman phenom Flory Bidunga plans to enter the transfer portal after a successful first year of college basketball.
In his first season with the Jayhawks, Bidunga averaged 5.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game on 69.8% shooting from the field. Although the freshman big man announced his plans to enter the transfer portal, Thamel noted that a return to Kansas is also an option.
Bidunga’s guardian commented on the situation, saying, “Flory will enter the portal with intentions to return to Kansas. After discussing this as a family, we have decided this is the best decision for Flory’s future. We will evaluate our options and are open to a return to Kansas.”
Coming out of Kokomo High School in the Class of 2025, Bidunga was listed as a five-star prospect by the 247Sports index and the nation’s 14th-ranked player. He also checked in as the fourth-ranked player at his position and the top-ranked player in the state of Indiana.
The transfer portal officially opened on Monday, March 24, 2025. According to NCAA data, 1,296 FBS basketball players entered the transfer portal in 2023-24 school year, with 864 (66.7%) undergraduates and 432 (33.3%) graduate transfers. Of the entrants, 70% reported that they enrolled in another school, 6% withdrew their names from the portal, and 23% are still active, transferred to a non-NCAA school, or left their sport.
The Heartland College Sports Twitter account is an excellent resource for keeping up with the latest Big 12 news and announcements. Make sure you check out our HCS member forum to connect with other Big 12 sports fans.
