LAWRENCE — Kansas basketball will soon learn if Taylen Kinney will commit to join the Jayhawks, as multiple reports have detailed Sept. 28 as the date the prospect will announce his commitment.
Kinney, with Overtime Elite, is a 247Sports Composite five-star prospect in the class of 2026. He’s the second-ranked point guard in the nation, and 17th-ranked player overall. Other schools to know include Indiana, Oregon, Louisville, Kentucky and Arkansas.
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“You know, it was a good visit,” Kinney told 247Sports about Kansas. “That coaching staff is a great staff. They just got Jacque Vaughn too and he’s an NBA vet at the point guard. Then Bill Self, his background it pretty much speaks for itself.”
Kinney continued: ”When I got there coach Self tossed me his keys and he was basically like this is yours next year. We didn’t get too much into it but they showed highlights of other guards like Devonte Graham and Frank Mason and he showed me how they played and other guards that they’ve had that he just let rock out.”
Kinney would be the latest freshman to arrive on campus and being expected to take on a significant role. Darryn Peterson, a freshman guard for the Jayhawks this season, is widely expected to be a star and spend only one season at KU before becoming a NBA draft pick in 2026. However long Kinney’s path to the professional ranks ends up being, odds are it wouldn’t take long if Self already has that much trust in him.
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Kinney would also be a centerpiece for a 2026 recruiting class for Self, that could help bring in even more talent for Kansas ahead of the 2026-27 season. If the Jayhawks can enjoy the bounce-back season they are preparing to have, that would help a lot as well. KU is coming off of a season in which it finished 21-13, and lost in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Conference tournament and round of 64 of the NCAA tournament, but with Peterson leading the way and a collection of veterans around him optimism is growing for the 2025-26 campaign.
Taylen Kinney dribbles the ball down the court during a USA Basketball training camp for the Men’s U19 National Team on June 14, 2025, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He was the 2022 National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas basketball class of 2026 5-star Taylen Kinney commitment near
