Mollie Ernstes dreamt of playing Division I college basketball for as long as she can remember, but it wasn’t until the 2024-25 high school preseason that she began looking at it as an attainable goal. The 2026 Jennings County standout could envision herself playing at that level, she said during a phone interview Saturday, and following a strong junior campaign and prolific start to her AAU season, those high-major offers began rolling in.

The offers began rolling in during the spring with Arkansas and Rutgers among the initial wave, then Kansas entered the fray following her penultimate AAU tournament.

Kansas was Ernstes’ last offer, but the coaching staff was dedicated to building a meaningful relationship with her — while respecting her boundaries and not pestering her with constant calls. “I really appreciated that and it made me like them even more, because they respected me,” she said.

Ernstes took her official visit to Kansas the weekend of Sept. 12.

Four days later, the 6-foot guard accomplished her goal and made her dream a reality, verbally committing to the Jayhawks.

“I got that, ‘When you know, you know,’ feeling during my visit,” said Ernstes, whose list of finalists included Arkansas, Dayton and New Mexico. “I got chills and all excited like, ‘I can see myself going here.'”

“The relationships I had with the coaching staff and the players when I got there — those were definitely the best relationships I had on any of my visits,” she added. “I could really just be myself. I didn’t have to reserve anything. All the girls were really relatable and the coaches were super relatable. … I felt very appreciated and welcomed.”

Ernstes recalled feeling “all nervous and stuff” when she realized Kansas could be the place for her following the second day of her visit to Lawrence. But she was only “98% sure” and didn’t want to make a decision based on emotion. So Ernstes returned to Indiana, prayed on it. “I wanted to make sure I got the extra 2%.”

“This is a huge decision, the biggest one I’ll make for the next few years,” Ernstes continued. “I knew I could not decide on the visit, so when my parents and I got back, we talked about it for a few days before I made my decision.”

In basketball terms, Ernstes followed a breakout sophomore campaign with a similarly explosive junior season, averaging 22.1 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.5 steals. That production came as she stepped into an expanded role and became more of a volume shooter out of necessity. Ernstes averaged nearly 19 field goal attempts and nine 3-pointers per game, and finished the season 178-for-447 on field goals (both career-highs; 39.8%). She converted 65 of her career-high 217 3-point tries (30.0%) and shot a career-best 84% at the free-throw line (87-for-103).

Prospective colleges were recruiting Ernstes as a 3-point shooter, she said in July, so she spent the summer sharpening that area of her game, looking to improve upon her career 34% rate.

She earned an offer from Arkansas in late April, then played “pretty well” during an AAU event in Atlanta a month later, resulting in a dozen or so new offers, including Dayton, New Mexico and Rutgers.

Ernstes took visits to New Mexico, Ball State, Arkansas, Dayton and Kansas over the summer before committing to KU. 

“I really appreciate the opportunities that all the coaches, all the universities and all the programs offered me, and I really appreciate the time and effort they put into me,” Ernstes said. “But I’m ready to be a Jayhawk.”

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