Kansas
From Indiana Mr. Basketball to Kansas ‘highest ceiling,’ Flory Bidunga ‘feels city behind me’
NBA draft prospects to watch in the March Madness tournament
USAT’s Mackenzie Salmon gives you four players to keep your eye on in March Madness that will most likely be heading to the NBA next year.
Sports Pulse
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Clad in crimson and blue just fits Kansas basketball freshman Flory Bidunga, much the same way it suited him the previous three years at Kokomo High School.
Bidunga leans back against his locker inside Amica Mutual Pavilion on Wednesday and pulls his headphones off his right ear to respond to a question, just in time to hear the word Kokomo.
Instantly, Bidunga smiles.
It’s roughly an eight-hour drive from Kokomo to Lawrence, Kan. but the support Indiana’s 2024 Mr. Basketball still receives from his Indiana home travels.
“I still get texts. I see people from Kokomo commenting on my posts and showing love,” Bidunga said ahead of Kansas’ first-round NCAA Tournament game against Arkansas at 7:10 p.m. Thursday. “I feel the city behind me.”
Bidunga feels much the same way about Kansas, which can afford to ease him into a role and let him develop.
Flory Bidunga from Kokomo to Kansas
When Bidunga enrolled at Kokomo as a sophomore from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he’d never played organized basketball.
But he had elite athleticism, the first thing that his Jayhawk teammates noticed when he arrived in Kansas.
“The athleticism jumps off the charts,” center Hunter Dickinson said. “He can put his head at the rim pretty much whenever he wants. He’s got really good instincts, especially blocking the ball. He’s a really aggressive player and he uses his athleticism to his advantage.”
Bidunga’s athleticism is what endeared Kansas coach Bill Self to him.
Now, it’s about honing that while also making Bidunga a better basketball player.
“He’s got to develop some consistent offensive ways that he can score more points,” Self said. “Right now, he’s a rim runner. Obviously, a lob threat. Scores off of putbacks and in transition. He’s got to get to where he’s a better back-to-the-basket scorer, a better face-up scorer.”
As a freshman, Bidunga is averaging 5.9 points on 71.1% shooting.
Bidunga chose Kansas because Self has a history of molding big men into NBA draft picks, including 2023 NBA MVP Joel Embiid.
“That will help my future, being coached by coach Self,” Bidunga said. “He has a history with some bigs.”
What is Flory Bidunga’s potential?
Bidunga averages 16.2 minutes per game as a freshman, but his potential has him forecasted as a potential 2025 NBA first-round pick.
“His time in college will probably be shorter than most,” Dickinson said.
Bidunga has shown glimpses of why he’s a pro prospect.
He had a career-high 19 points against Houston, a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, on Jan. 25. His 52 blocked shots this season are the fourth most by a freshman in Kansas history.
“It’s one thing to have athleticism, but to be able to use it is what makes him special and what makes him really good,” Dickinson said.
Right now, Bidunga’s focus is solely on Kansas and how far he can help the Jayhawks advance in the NCAA Tournament.
Beyond that, though, the sky is the limit for the former Kokomo Wildkat.
“I think his ceiling is one of the highest that we’ve had at Kansas in the last several years,” Self said.
Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on X and Instagram @samueltking.
Kansas
Salvador Perez attended the Ecaudor-Curaçao match at Arrowhead. So did other royals — from the Netherlands
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City Royals captain Salvador Perez, along with teammates Starling Marte and Carter Jensen, attended Saturday evening’s World Cup match at Arrowhead Stadium.
So did some other royals!
King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands began Saturday by cheering the Dutch past Sweden in Houston.
The monarchs ended the day by watching Curacao make some history against Ecuador in Kansas City.
The small island nation of Curacao is a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and that makes King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima the heads of state. So, after a quick flight north Saturday, the royal couple dutifully swapped out their bright orange scarves of Het Oranje Legioen they wore to their earlier match with bright blue ones for The Blue Wave.
Curacao, the smallest World Cup team in population and size, made its tournament debut last Sunday in a 7-1 loss to Germany. But it bounced back from that defeat to earn a 0-0 draw with La Tri and earn its first-ever point in the tournament.
“It is an extra-special World Cup because we have both the Netherlands and Curacao,” Willem-Alexander told RTL-TV. “So we have twice as many teams to cheer for. A great opportunity to cheer on both the Blues and the Oranges. All in all, it will be a special World Cup for me with two teams, and I naturally hope they go extremely far.”
The Netherlands moved one step closer to the World Cup knockout round after a 5-1 win over Sweden.
Brian Brobbey and Cody Gakpo scored two goals apiece to help coach Ronald Koeman’s team bounce back from a disappointing draw in its opener and move atop Group F. The Netherlands concludes group play against Tunisia on Thursday in Kansas City.
Curacao is still alive, too, after Eloy Room made 15 saves — one off the World Cup record — to earn a draw with Ecuador. It concludes Group E play on Thursday against the Ivory Coast in Philadelphia at the same time Ecuador is playing Germany in New York.
It is quite rare for sitting monarchs to come through the area. Queen Ann of Romania attended the dedication of the Liberty Memorial, which is where Kansas City is holding its World Cup FanFest, in the 1920s, while King Gustav XVI of Sweden made a stop in the small Kansas town of Lindsborg when he was passing through the Midwest in the 1970s.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Kansas
1 man dies after being shot June 9 in Kansas City, Missouri; police working to identify person of interest
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department is working to identify a person(s) of interest in a June 9 shooting that led to the death of one victim.
Police were called around 6 a.m. on June 9 to the area of Independence and Monroe avenues in Kansas City, Missouri.
Responding officers found an unresponsive man behind a residence in that area. He was transported to the hospital for life-threatening injuries, per KCPD.
Police were notified Friday night that the shooting victim died.
KCPD said Saturday “detectives have made headway identifying subject(s) of interest.”
Anyone with information on the incident is encouraged to call KCPD Homicide detectives directly at 816-234-5043 or the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers Tips Hotline at 816-474-8477.
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If you have any information about a crime, you may contact your local police department directly. But if you want or need to remain anonymous, you should contact the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers Tips Hotline by calling 816-474-TIPS (8477), submitting the tip online or through the free mobile app at P3Tips.com. Depending on your tip, Crime Stoppers could offer you a cash reward.
Annual homicide details and data for the Kansas City area are available through the KSHB 41 News Homicide Tracker, which was launched in 2015. Read the KSHB 41 News Mug Shot Policy.
Kansas
1 man killed, 5 others wounded in mass shooting Friday night near East 19th and Vine streets in KCMO
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One person was shot to death and five others were wounded by gunfire Friday night in the 18th and Vine Historic District in Kansas City, Missouri.
Police said officers were in the area of East 18th Street and Paseo about 10:30 p.m. when they heard gunshots.
The officers moved to East 19th Street between the Paseo and Vine Street to check for shooting victims, according to a police department news release.
They found one man who had been shot and was unresponsive, along with two women who had been shot.
The man was declared dead at the scene.
One of the women suffered serious gunshot wounds and the other woman suffered non life-threatening wounds, according to the police department news release.
Officers at the shooting scene were notified three more shooting victims from the same area had been taken to a hospital by a private vehicle.
An adult male and female were reported in stable condition late Friday, while a second adult male suffered critical gunshot wounds, according to police.
Police said their preliminary investigation revealed the victims were standing on 19th Street between Vine and Paseo when people began shooting in several directions.
All the shooting victims were hit by gunfire in that area, according to police.
No word on what led to the mass shooting and at least one murder.
This is a developing story and will be updated when new information is available.
—
If you have any information about a crime, you may contact your local police department directly. But if you want or need to remain anonymous, you should contact the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers Tips Hotline by calling 816-474-TIPS (8477), submitting the tip online or through the free mobile app at P3Tips.com. Depending on your tip, Crime Stoppers could offer you a cash reward.
Annual homicide details and data for the Kansas City area are available through the KSHB 41 News Homicide Tracker, which was launched in 2015. Read the KSHB 41 News Mug Shot Policy.
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