Kansas sophomore Conner Frankamp has decided to leave the Jayhawks basketball program and will transfer to another school, the university announced on Thursday.
While experiencing some late season success with Kansas - he played well in both of KU’s NCAA Tournament games last spring - Frankamp entered this season buried in the depth chart behind a pair of returning perimeter players as well as a couple of highly touted freshmen.
The Jayhawks return Wayne Selden Jr. and Brannen Greene and added two talented guards in freshmen Devonte Graham and youngster Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, who is from the Ukraine. As such, Frankamp would have had a difficult time breaking into the regular rotation for the nation’s number 5 team.
"I met with Conner and his father Wednesday to discuss his situation and opportunity this season at Kansas," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "On Thursday he informed me he was going to transfer at the end of this fall semester.”
Last season, Frankamp averaged less than three points per game in only 9 minutes of playing time. He had a bit of a coming out party against Eastern Kentucky and Stanford in the NCAA Tournament - he scored 12 points against the Cardinal in a losing effort - and was slated to contend for the starting point guard position vacated by Naadir Tharpe, who left the school last spring to be closer to his home in Maryland.
However, the additions of Graham and Mykhailiuk seemed to leave Frankamp out of the mix.
"I've been thinking about this for a while now," Frankamp said. "I love KU and I love the Jayhawks. I feel like I've improved quite a bit since I've been here. I love my teammates but I just don't feel like it's the right fit for me. We have many good guards and so many big-time players. I want to be at a place where I could play a bigger role."
So far there is no word on where Frankamp will end up. Once he decides, he will sit out the mandatory calendar year and have 2.5 years of eligibility remaining.