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Every time Tyran Stokes enters Allen Fieldhouse through the northwest tunnel, he immediately senses the weight of the building’s history. The glowing blue and white national championship banners that hang in front of the north end windows. The shimmering panels of the hallowed James Naismith Court, which still murmur with the footsteps of past greats. But on this late September morning, as Kansas’ second consecutive No. 1 recruit enters from the depths of the arena, he looks right at home. He adjusts his headband and nets a deep three from the outskirts of the Jayhawks logo. The hand he held up for his follow-through quickly drops, his thumb meeting his forehead to form a makeshift shark fin as he backpedals down the court.
“This is my one and final time explaining it. If you don't get this, I can't tell you,” Tyran says to the camera, as he begins to explain his latest celly. “Shark. You know what a shark does? What does a shark do when it smells blood? It eats. It attacks. You see what I'm saying? So after I hit a three-ball, now I got that little feeling. I'm starting to smell blood. I hit another three. Blood is rushing. I'm seeing it all over the floor. And then say I hit a third one. Damn, it's over.”
The confidence in his cadence, backed by the picturesque scenery of the legendary arena, was built from years of proving from coast to coast just how expansive his bag is. He presided over the rest of his high school class with one dominant display after another, keeping his hold on the No. 1 ranking with a vice grip ever since his sophomore season. He’s the first American to drop a triple-double in FIBA U19 World Cup history, ending the competition with a gold medal. The brand-new Rainier Beach gymnasium out in Seattle was in a frenzy as he cooked up a 63-piece on his senior night. The rims at Rucker Park are still recovering from his MVP performance at the SLAM Summer Classic Vol. 7. And his opponents in the EYBL consistently cleared the runway anytime the 6-8 point forward was barreling down the court in transition. Now he’s breaking out the full duffel in Lawrence.
“When I step into this gym, I just feel all of the energy behind it, like all the history, everything that went into this building. I just like sitting here and sometimes thinking about what I can do in here and what I can add,” Tyran says.
Since stepping off the sprinter in front of McCarthy Hall in late May, Tyran has been building a connection with the one of college basketball’s most storied programs before he stitches his own addition to the fabric of KU hoops.
During a jam-packed summer schedule filled with weights, practice and individual workouts, he’d wander into the arena, make his way to the uppermost section and soak in the heaviness of the atmosphere. From underneath the corner wall’s “Beware of The Phog,” he envisioned the student-section bleachers bouncing to the rhythm of Jayhawk Nation, while decades-long fans cheered from the original 1955 wooden seats to his right. Other times, he’d just open YouTube and study up on the success of teams from years past, particularly the ’08 and ’22 squads that hung the banners just overhead.
“Right now, I’m about to start hooping. But in the summer, it felt so far away. So I could only watch and see the emotions,” Tyran says. “But now I’m about to feel it.”
To get to the present, Tyran takes a quick moment to reminisce on the past few months, recounting a grueling daily itinerary that refused to let up. Lift at 9 a.m. Individual workouts at 10 a.m. Practice at 10:45 a.m. Throw in another side workout. Get some shots up. Then come back a few hours later and put up a few hundred more. Every day, like clockwork.
Tyran points to the weight room as the fortress of solitude that helped him prepare the most for his freshman season. He’s stronger, leaner and faster, while simultaneously surprising the coaching staff on the court with his consistency from deep. The elbow extended three has already become his go-to spot on the maple wood floors, the same place where he hit a side-step triple in his first on-court appearance on KU’s socials. During Bill Self’s notorious summer bootcamp, he adopted his favorite KU mantra: You can fake the energy, but you can’t fake the work. It’s the motto he’s been living by ever since his first steps on Naismith Drive.
“Summer was long and brutal. It was work,” Tyran says. “[I’m] talking about three-a-days, sometimes four, sometimes five. You might have two extra side workouts, but you’ve also got lifts in the morning. Then you’ve got to come after lifting for your individual [workout], then practice. After practice, I like to get extra shots up. After every practice, no matter how tired I am, I’m going to shoot. That was the summer schedule every day. But the summer was nonstop.”
As his connection to the school’s history grew, so did his relationship with the coach that convinced him to spend his immediate future in the Sunflower State. Amid Kansas’ mid-summer humidity, Tyran began his daily check-ins with Coach Self. The two connected after every practice over his willingness as a passer, how the staff could put him in situations to get his teammates even more involved and their shared desire to let the work speak for itself.
“Coach is going to say, we can practice for two hours [and] the energy can be fake, but the work is going to be real because no matter what, we can't get away from how hard he's going to work us. Like, we can fake like we want to be here, fake like we're enjoying it, but we still are going to have to work hard,” Tyran says.
On top of goals that include winning the Big 12 and bringing another natty to Lawrence, a successful season also means ensuring the achievements and legacies of others, like boosting his head coach’s elite record at home. “He has no more than 23 losses. I don’t want that to get over 27 while I’m here,” Tyran says. Or making sure senior Tre White’s return to the Phog features a barrage of open threes. Getting his is always an option, but using his planetary orbit to pull in help defenders and make the extra read is what will differentiate a great individual season from an even better one as a team.
Alongside six other freshmen and a handful of upperclassmen, the new-look Jayhawks are leaning on the projected top pick in the 2027 NBA Draft to lead their on-court production. Off of it, they’re collectively building on the foundation that was set before the leaves on campus started to turn.
“Having a couple older dudes and mostly young guys on the team just helps us try and build chemistry and jell a lot. We’re so well connected,” Tyran says. “In the summer, we used to go eat together and try to build the chemistry early so we wouldn’t have to when it comes to game time. We already know.”
Between team dinners, go-karting, bowling nights, football tailgates and heading to Coach Self’s house the day after our shoot, the squad’s been purposeful about building connectivity, leading to the confidence that had Tyran strutting out of the tunnel. And sometimes, the opportunities present themselves, like when he and his fellow freshman teammate Taylen Kinney took a pit stop on their way to the stadium to flick it up with the Marching Jayhawks and their instruments.
The campus environment has been everything he anticipated since announcing his commitment live from Turner Studios in Atlanta in late April. He wanted to play in a conference loaded with top 25 teams. He wanted to play for Bill Self and be pushed by him every day. He welcomed the weight of Allen Fieldhouse on his shoulders. And most importantly, he wanted to do it all to win.
When we ask what games he’s got circled on the calendar, Tyran proceeds to list off damn near half of the Jayhawks’ schedule. “Louisville, Duke, Kentucky, UConn. Oh, Mizzou, Iowa State, Arizona, Houston, BYU, West Virginia, Ohio State at MSG. Who else? UNLV,” he says. It’s on sight with everyone this season.
That passion for the game extends far beyond the moments when the pebbled leather grain is gripped between his palms. But when he does have the rock, best believe that passion will translate to a bucket, block or dub. Take your pick.
Nearly all of Tyran’s time on campus is dedicated to something involving the game, in hopes of stamping his name in the program’s illustrious history books. It may be early, and the proof is still en route, but the latest Jayhawk to rock No. 4 already has his roadmap to success laid out in front of him. And he’s itching to share it with the rest of Jayhawk Nation.
“Just a dog, bro, somebody who puts their all on the floor every night,” Tyran says about what he wants to be remembered for on campus. “I want them to know I gave my all no matter the outcome. Every time they come watch me play, or they watch me play on TV, they know that I’m doing whatever I can to make sure that we come out with a dub. Just know that I love being here and I love the support that y’all give me, so I’m going to give it back in return on the court.”
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