Florida Basketball: Riley Kugel isn't in Kansas anymore

One of the notable sub plots for Florida Basketball during the 2023/24 season was the reduction in playing time for Riley Kugel. After beginning the year as an entrenched starter, Kugel was relegated to coming off the bench during the back half of the season.

Kugel entered the transfer portal in a move that wasn't a surprise, but it was somewhat surprising when he announced he would be transferring to Kansas.

Well, maybe not as reports from this week indicate Kugel will be playing basketball somewhere else other than Lawrence in 2024/25.

Florida Basketball: No Place Like Home

Earlier in the week, Kansas coach Bill Self hinted that Kugel might not be suiting up for the Jayhawks in 2024/25. Speaking to Andy Katz, Self wasn't confident his new transfer was ever going to make it:

"We also got a commitment from a young man from Florida, Kugel, Riley Kugel, that it's up in the air whether or not Riley will come."

- Bill Self

That "up in the air" seems to have been decided as Matt Norlander of CBS Sports is reporting that Kugel is back on the transfer portal market and will officially not be making it to Kansas.

Kansas, ranked 2nd in On3's "Way Too Early" preseason poll for next season, seemed like an odd choice for Kugel. If his goal is more playing time, he would unlikely find that at a top-20 school.

He had Arizona, UConn, and Houston in his top four schools prior to committing to Kansas, all of whom would also require a battle to crack the starting lineup.

But everyone has their own individual intentions and it seemed clear by season's end that Todd Golden and Kugel weren't seeing eye to eye, so a change of scenery might be all that Kugel is looking for too.