JUST IN: Zach Clemence Reflects on Redshirt Decision and Prepares for a Promising Future with KU Basketball.
Zach Clemence’s comments expressing his consideration of burning redshirts “every game” for KU.
Zach Clemence, a forward for the Kansas Jayhawks, fought an internal fight against himself during his junior year of collegiate basketball last year. When injuries mounted and KU’s season collapsed, he was always considering pulling the trigger on his redshirt.
This started to happen practically every day. “All games,” he murmured. “Every game, all the games.” Clemence had to endure a difficult time watching his fellow Jayhawks suffer. He declared, “It sucked.”
During the 2022–23 season, the 6-foot-11 forward from San Antonio averaged 1.4 points and 1.3 rebounds in 5.9 minutes per game. Clemence was limping and battling to get to the ground. During the redshirt season, Clemence had a chance to improve and start over. And it appears to have been successful. KU’s coach, Bill Self, gave Clemence a lot of accolades throughout the 2023–24 campaign.
In remarks made during KU’s end-of-year dinner, Self claimed that Zach has progressed the most on the team. In actuality, he had a very successful year. We gave him a redshirt. Naturally, there were plenty of occasions this year that we wished we hadn’t. However, he has improved greatly, and I believe that his level of confidence is at its highest right now.
“I believe it was a mindset.” He’s grown a lot more powerful. He may have been stronger and tougher because he became much more physically fit, resilient, and all-around more complete. According to Clemence, examining his redshirt is “a professional thing.”
What has changed the most in the past year for him? It’s his skill to play without the ball, he claimed. Clemence has also put on a little weight; he played at 215 pounds before reaching 230 pounds presently. “I still approached every practice as though I were going to play,” he remarked. “That’s what really got me through,”
Clemence’s position for the 2024–25 season is currently the largest unknown. With both starters Hunter Dickinson and KJ Adams back, KU’s frontcourt is deep. Flory Bidunga, a five-star freshman big man, has also joined the Jayhawks. As Dickinson gets used to the college game early in the season, Clemence is probably going to be Dickinson’s backup. However, he stated that he is willing to take on any position on Self’s team.
Clemence remarked, “I feel like I’m a guy you could just plug in and do pretty much whatever you want.” He expressed his desire to maximize his remaining time at KU. “That’s about it, I hope for two great ones (years).”
