Bill Self told St. John’s star Zuby Ejiofor he ‘wasn’t good enough to start’ at Kansas

Shortly after getting a commitment from Michigan transfer Hunter Dickinson in May 2023, Kansas head coach Bill Self had an exit meeting with big man Zuby Ejiofor and his father Andy Philachack. The writing was on the wall. The 7-foot-1 Dickinson was going to be the featured Kansas big man, and Ejiofor, who played just 5 minutes per game as a freshman, was the odd man out.

Self wanted Ejiofor to stay and redshirt, but the coach told Ejifor “he [was] not good enough to start and/or play major minutes on any Big 12 team,” Philacheck told NJ Advance Media. “The conversation was pretty serious, Zuby didn’t like it at all,” Philacheck said. “Basically Zuby was like, ‘I didn’t even get a chance.

’” At that point, Ejiofor and Philacheck decided it was time to transfer. “It was our [decision],” Philacheck said. “Coach wanted him to stay and had an option to redshirt him.

” The storyline took a hilarious turn this week when Mike Francesa said on his podcast that Ejiofor transferred because he was playing behind Joel Embiid, who had already been in the NBA nine seasons at that point. The Self comments about Ejiofor were first reported by Ian O’Connor of The Athletic. “Telling him he’s not good enough to play, that put a fire in (Zuby),” Philacheck told O’Connor.