Kansas lands Purdue transfer Trey Kaufman-Renn in a big boost before the season starts

The Kansas Jayhawks have added a big-time player just before the college basketball season begins. Trey Kaufman-Renn, a tall and talented forward who spent four years at Purdue University, has joined the team. Kansas coach Bill Self made the announcement on Monday, just hours before the men's preseason AP Top 25 rankings were released. Kaufman-Renn is 24 years old, has already signed up for classes at Kansas, and started practicing with his new teammates on Sunday.

Kaufman-Renn is 6 feet 9 inches tall and plays power forward, which is exactly the position Kansas needed help with. Two players who used to fill that spot on the team left — one transferred to Louisville and the other went to rival Missouri. That left a big gap in the lineup, and Kaufman-Renn is expected to fill it right away. Coach Self is excited about what the new player brings to the team.

At Purdue, Kaufman-Renn had a strong college career. He played in 147 games over four seasons and helped Purdue reach the national championship game two years ago. He also made it to the Elite Eight and the Sweet 16 during his time there. Coach Self praised him, saying he has been 'extremely well-drilled and well-coached' and has a high basketball IQ, which means he understands the game very well.

Kaufman-Renn's path to Kansas is unusual. He was picked 59th overall in the NBA draft this past June by the Minnesota Timberwolves. He even played in five summer league games for Minnesota, averaging 6.6 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. Instead of staying in the pros, he decided to return to college for another season.

The reason he can come back to college comes down to a new NCAA rule. The NCAA is the organization that runs college sports, and it recently made a rule change meant to let student-athletes play five seasons over five years. However, the rule created confusion about whether players who had already finished their careers could use it. Many athletes, including Kaufman-Renn, went to court to fight for the right to play one more year. A judge granted Kaufman-Renn a preliminary injunction earlier this month, which means he is allowed to play for Kansas for now while the legal case continues.

Two other Kansas players — guard Melvin Council Jr. and Tre White — also won the same kind of court order to play another season. Kaufman-Renn joins them on a roster that also includes Tyran Stokes, the top-ranked recruit in the entire country, and five-star freshman Taylen Kinney. Kansas looks like a team ready to compete at the highest level this season.

Kaufman-Renn put up impressive numbers during his time at Purdue. In his junior year, he averaged 20.1 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. In his final season, he averaged 14.2 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. Those are the kinds of stats that show he can be a real difference-maker for the Jayhawks this year.