LAWRENCE — Flory Bidunga’s decision to sign with Kansas basketball gave the Jayhawks one of the best prospects in the 2024 recruiting class.

Bidunga, who reported to campus earlier this summer, came in as a 247Sports Composite five-star prospect. Although he was listed as a forward by KU when his signing finalized last November, he arrived as the No. 4 center in his class. The top talent coming out of the state of Indiana, Bidunga joins a Kansas roster with high aspirations with a lot of potential himself.

But how Bidunga is going to fit into the Jayhawks’ plans is something that will need time to figure itself out. Kansas coach Bill Self said as much earlier this month at an event in Topeka. Remember, veteran center Hunter Dickinson is back for one more year with the program and is an All-American.

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“I think Flory’s probably a good a prospect as we have,” Self said. “We’ve got to figure out who he is and how he impacts us and what he can do to help. Because, he’s really not tall. I mean, he’s 6-7, 6-7.5. But he’s a terrific, freakish-type athlete that can change directions and can jump and can put pressure on the rim. He can do a lot of things, but can he play with Hunter? Or, how does it work?”

Whether Bidunga plays alongside Dickinson or not, Bidunga has welcomed the challenge of going up against one of college basketball’s established stars in a practice setting. Bidunga did so publicly in a camp scrimmage in June in Lawrence. He said he views it as a chance to help prove himself.

Bidunga left the door open to what position he’ll play this upcoming season, saying it depends on a lot. At this point, he’s just seeing how it goes. But that athleticism and rim presence Self talked about certainly showcased itself.

The most significant challenge Bidunga has, from his perspective, is there’s so much to learn. But Bidunga noted he has a lot of mentors he can turn toward for advice. He also considers Self not just one of the best coaches around, but the best coach for him, in part because of Self’s experience coaching international prospects.

Bidunga, who’s from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and attended high school in Kokomo, Indiana, for now will focus on improving his outside game and working on his hook shot. He’ll continue to develop for a team with Big 12 Conference and national title aspirations.

And, after that recent camp scrimmage, he earned praise from Dickinson, too.

“I really liked his aggressiveness from this jump,” said Dickinson, who’ll look to mentor Bidunga. “He was super active out there. Obviously, everybody knows his athleticism. I think just continuing to get him used to the college game, Ramsey and everybody will be a big factor in that. But he’s got so much potential. I mean, everybody can see it in the gym. Just trying to make sure that he maximizes it here at Kansas.”

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas basketball's Flory Bidunga has a lot of potential with Jayhawks