The Kansas University Jayhawks unveiled a new white basketball uniform yesterday, and have brought back the “Circus” font. Because “Trajan Sucks”.
KU Athletics announced that the Circus font uniforms will make a permanent return as the primary uniform for the 2024-25 season.
One detail mentioned in the above graphic and which will be covered shortly is that KU is adding a plaid striping on the bottom of the shorts — an homage to basketball founder and former KU head coach, James Naismith, known for wearing plaid in his wardrobe. But first…
Allow us to reintroduce ourselves.#Payheed pic.twitter.com/wooxdO5mKE
— Kansas Men’s Basketball (@KUHoops) October 3, 2024
The Circus font is beloved by many KU fans, and it has been worn by past greats who also starred in the NBA. Players such as Drew Gooden, Paul Pierce, and Raef LaFrentz all played for KU when their uniforms featured the Circus font. Let’s take a closer look at the unis now.
The fauxback uniform should be an instant classic. The jersey features a thick blue/thin white/thin red striping pattern that wraps around the neck and arm slots. “KANSAS” is rendered in a radial arch in blue lettering, with red outlines — in the Circus font. Front numbers are in the same font style and colors as the wordmark, but also contain a very thin white outline between the blue and red. Numbers feature small perforations.
One of the cooler features of the jersey was shown briefly in the video: NOB will also be rendered in the Circus font, radially arched, in solid blue.
Rear numbers will be rendered in the same font and colors as the front numbers.
The new shorts have a blue/thin white/red/thin white/blue striping pattern on the waistband. The “KU” logo (in Trajan font) is in the center of the waistband, in white, separating the colorful striping pattern. Perhaps the more interesting detail is found in the hem stripes: those are thin red/white/thick blue/white/thin red, with the blue stripe featuring a plaid pattern supposedly inspired by James Naismith’s preferred suit pattern.
KU’s classic Jayhawk logo is found on both sides of the shorts.
This will serve as the Jayhawks’ primary uniform for the 2024-25 season. KU previously switched from circus to Trajan font ahead of the 2007-08 season, though they have occasionally worn the Circus font on their uniforms, but Trajan has long served as the main option for KU. With the football team also beginning to return to the Circus font, it appears Trajan may be on the way out (for good).
Finally, the team has introduced a new social media logo, featuring “KU” in Circus font atop a basketball hoop.
Here’s a comparison of the previous uniform with the new one:
While I’ve never shared the apparent derision some fans have had for the Trajan font, I love the Circus font, so these new uniforms are an upgrade in my eyes. The plaid blue stripe on the pants hem is an interesting feature, but it won’t be visible except for up close. Otherwise it just looks like the solid blue found on accents on the rest of the uniform. I also really like the NOB being in radially arched Circus font, instead of a generic block font. It’s also a bit difficult to tell from the above comparison photo, but the previous uniform set also featured giant side panel/shorts striping, which is no longer present. Talk about addition by subtraction.
I’m definitely looking forward to seeing these on the court this season.
Readers? What say you?
PROS:
Circus Font
Both collar AND sleeve piping present and matching
Mostly consistent theme of big blue stripe next then small white strip then small red stripe
Big Jayhawks on shorts
CONS:
Adidas logo ruining the front of the collar
Waistband striping not matching the other stripes
Perforations in numbers
MINOR GRIPE: I think I’d like if the Kansas on the front also had the thin white stripe between the blue and the red.
Overall definitely an improvement, not a classic but a good not great jersey
I can’t tell the difference between Circus and Western (Tuscan) font.
They’re very similar for sure. Tuscan strokes are more uniform, where Circus has heavier downstrokes. The “S” in Circus has rounded ends, the “S” on Tuscan does not. Tuscan is generally a heavier font.
Hopefully they unveil a blue version as well! Looks good
link
Actually, the blue version has leaked already!
Do the word mark and number feel a little high? The script, makers mark, conference patch, and flag patch, all feel so cramped, then there’s so much white space between the number and waistband.
Massive upgrade, but please ditch the perforations.
Oh thank you, Jesus! The Trajan is officially all gone. They spent like $10,000 for some firm to come up with that shit.
I went to a (MLB) Cardinals game at Busch Stadium III and an usher would not allow me to my seat because I was wearing a red “TRAJAN SUCKS” T-shirt. Had to buy a T-shirt or turn my shirt inside-out. We were in St Louis for a weekend before we headed to Kansas City for a wedding. Didn’t go all First Amendment or anything but that left a bad taste.
That usher racking his brain trying to figure out who “Trajan” was!
I always hoped he was a Roman Empire scholar who believed that Trajan truly was one of the 5 Good Emperors. Or he liked college sharpshooters from Alaska who couldn’t make it in the NBA.
IMHO, the Trajan font was an overcorrection by KU to disparage the canard that the Sunflower State was filled with bumpkins and hayseeds. Doesn’t matter, soon there will be Trajan throwbacks to commemorate the NCAA Championships.
They’re putting the front letters too high on a lot of these basketball uniforms. I think this is an adidas thing.
The main things that stick out to me are that break in the collar, and the perforated numbers. Other than those two things, its a pretty good uniform.
I don’t think the placement is any higher than it should be. The name goes right across the chest. I think any lower, it would look off. The broken collar doesn’t make things better.
A nearly perfect uniform ruined by a large hideous Adidas logo on the collar piping
Awesome jerseys! Genuinely curious: is there a way to reduce or remove completely the ads on this website? They are becoming increasingly distracting and annoying when I try to navigate this site. I see some people with a paid subscriber badge, would this remove ads? Thank you! I just can’t deal with this anymore.
Yes. If you sign up for Uni Watch Plus (link should be at the top of any article), you’ll have absolutely, positively no ads. No popups, nothing in the side bar. Just pure unadulterated Uni Watch!
Just click the “Join Uni Watch Plus” icon at the top of the page.
Will do, thank you so much.
Trajan was a failed attempt at the “athletic-department-wide” font trend mostly because it was the font for *everything* at the university whether it was athletics or academics.
It was a unified identity that robbed the university’s teams of their unique identities. The Circus font was exclusively a men’s basketball thing. Each sports could go however it wanted.
Larry Brown tried to get rid of the circus font once, replacing it with a modified version of Champion’s default font that had circus-like flares at the end of each numbers’ stoke. Sadly, this was the uniform of “Danny and the Miracles.” (link: link)
(Hopefully the links work)
Roy Williams brought the Circus font right back when he took over. However, I don’t know if it was a manufacturer’s error on not that the first-year edition of the return featured uniforms that said “Kansas University” instead of “Kansas.”
link
Roy wanted them to look like North Carolina jerseys so he added the University to the bottom of the jersey (as Carolina’s said North on top of the number and Carolina below). It did not go over well with the fans because the school is technically The University of Kansas so they replaced it after one year. I actually have one of the game worn jerseys from that year!
Hunter Dickinson gotta be thirty by now. Unis look nice though.
A very good uniform, did not know about the good doctor preferring plaid. But the adidas mark is way too big on these basketball jerseys.
Massive improvement.
Kansas once had one of the most iconic uniforms in college basketball but they surrendered some of that capital when they went away from the Circus font.
There are some things that don’t love about them (too busy, Kansas is too high, the striping is too bold, adidas logo too pronounced, etc.). However, on the whole, they have finally found the right path again.
KU grad here. Trajan won two national championships and countless Big 12 titles.
I do prefer this aesthetically, for the record!
Mizzou grad here, so take this with all the salt you can muster. Didn’t they wear Circus font for 2 NCAA championships as well? Mind you, they were more widely spaced in time. But still, the combined history and relative uniqueness of Circus weighs heavily in it’s favor.
In unrelated matters, I wonder who leaned on Bill Self to relent and finally let use play each other in football next year.
Fact checking myself, I’m just plain wrong. The Chamberlain team did not wear Circus. Ignore previous telegram
It’s unfortunately behind a paywall, but I wrote about Kansas’s yellow uniforms, worn once during the Danny and the Miracles season. All pics are original, as I own the full uniform.
link
One correction: it’s the University of Kansas, not Kansas University. Despite always abbreviating to KU. It’s a Big 8 thing.