Former Kansas player says Jayhawk coaches knew about payments from Adidas

The Kansas Jayhawks basketball program could be in trouble, and that will impact the Wildcats indirectly, but it will have major recruiting implementations starting now.

Billy Preston, who never played for the Jayhawks due to an ongoing investigation into Adidas payments, was a five-star recruit in the Class of 2017, committing to Kansas prior to Thanksgiving of the year prior.

“Former Kansas men’s basketball forward Billy Preston, who never played in a regular-season game with the Jayhawks due to an ongoing NCAA investigation into his eligibility, said he believes KU staff had knowledge of payments made by Adidas representatives to Preston’s mother, Nicole Player,” Shreyas Laddha of The Kansas City Star wrote.

The Jayhawks did have a self-imposed ban for Bill Self, the team’s head coach, prior to the 2022-2023 season, but that may not be enough as the NCAA could easily lay down the hammer on the blue-blood program.

How might that impact Kentucky, though?

For starters, the Wildcats have 2,377 wins in their program’s history, eight fewer than Kansas, which leads the nation. If any wins are vacated, that could give Kentucky the title of the winningest program ever.

On top of that, both programs are currently in a race for Michigan Wolverines transfer center Hunter Dickinson. Dickinson is one of the top transfer targets for teams, and he’s coming off a few impactful seasons with the Wolverines. Dickinson has averaged over 18.5 points per game over the last two seasons, so his scoring would be a major plus for either side.

Given this recent news, what the bans could be for Kansas, considering a potential postseason ban, may be impactful in Dickinson’s decision, currently with both programs on his radar. That could give Kentucky an important leg up.

Ultimately, this won’t be the end of what is heard of Preston’s situation.