The Kansas Jayhawks received bad news about their roster this week. Upperclassman forward Silvio De Sousa announced that he would be leaving the Kansas basketball program for “personal reasons”. It has been a rough offseason for the Jayhawks and losing an experienced forward will hurt their overall team play this season. De Sousa has had a long journey just to be eligible to play college basketball, so this comes as a surprise announcement.
Kansas’ Silvio De Sousa has decided to opt out of the season and is leaving the Kansas program due to personal issues. https://t.co/W1x5RlGEP1
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) October 16, 2020
The Jayhawks only played the forward just under nine minutes per game in his first two seasons with the program. He was likely to see a jump in playing time and production this year, but now Bill Self will need to find another player to fill those minutes. While with the Jayhawks he averaged 2.6 points and 2.8 rebounds per game in his second year. He was also an efficient 47.1 percent from the field. There is currently no word on when or even if the forward will return to Kansas or basketball at all.
Silvio De Sousa was a four-star and top 35 recruit coming out of high school. The potential is there for him to be an impact player, but he needs to deal with whatever is bothering him right now. Kansas has plenty of talent to work with but this paired with an NCAA investigation could make it a rough year for the Jayhawks. The hope is that De Sousa works through his personal life and is able to return to basketball if he choices to do that. Kansas now needs to find a way to replace his minutes and more importantly his experience.
