Should we panic about the Bryce Thompson thing?
Bryce Thompson is in the portal. When I heard the news, I was immediately very surprised. My instincts steered me toward a dark thought—that Thompson knew more about the shape of the NCAA punishment, and quickly packed his bags. His recruitment felt so symbolic, a highly visible sequence that proved KU could still land five-stars even with sanctions coming.
What could his departure mean for the program?
However, as I read more about it and scoped the Mike Vern bird site feed, I began to feel a little less alarmist:
Rumors are flying around these days, and they’ll continue to fly until the portal period is over. I’ve heard that Tulsa, where Thompson is likely to transfer, might be hiring Rod Thompson, Bryce’s dad. I’ve heard that Joe Dooley could be returning to the KU bench, which Dooley already debunked. Marcus Garrett is apparently weighing a return to the roster; there’s plenty of room for him. Hudy is not being retained at Texas, for some (presumably dumb) reason—Travis Goff, make this happen. I don’t think the moves are about to end anytime soon.
Taking a step back, this year’s special transfer portal should be a one-time thing. I can’t blame players for exploring their options, because there is literally no penalty for doing so. First team All-Big 10 forward Dorka Juhász is transferring to UConn so she can play with Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd, with two years of eligibility—who wouldn’t do that? An extreme example, but emblematic of the new universe of possibilities and playing opportunities all D-I hoopers have.
As much as I love to be a “but the campus is so beautiful!” person, I don’t think having to scrounge up a new JSTOR login is a meaningful impediment for switching institutions of higher learning. Can’t lie—I’m bummed about him leaving because I like his game! Injuries derailed some promising momentum, and his shooting could unlock parts of the floor that KU needs to thrive on offense. I think we only got a glimpse of what he could do as a slasher/shooter, and that having someone of his scoring pedigree pick apart the floor would be truly exciting. Throughout his whole tenure, I felt that I was always reading about Rod and Bill Self’s relationship, which became this whole narrative about trust and friendship, but I never really got to know all that much about Bryce. That’s too bad.
For now, let’s treat the Quentin Grimes/Bryce Thompson parallels as a coincidence. Self sees an opportunity in the portal and I’m all about letting him play that out.
Oh, I’m still planning to write about Roy, but turns out the assignment “write about your entire childhood!” is a whole thing. Soon, though!