🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Mason also morphed himself from a 32.7% 3-point shooter his freshman season into a 47.1% 3-point shooter his senior season. It would be nice if Dotson could follow suit, though he will almost certainly not have the same amount of time to do it as Mason did.

@KUSTEVE He has more talent than Frank for sure. But Frank had (and still has) an iron will and very strong work ethic. Frank willed himself to being a npoy and into the nba. That said, I'm high on Dotson too and hope he starts.

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@DanR I'm looking forward to Doke/Konate matchups too. I'm hoping Doke doesn't get a technical called on him for standing this time in Morgantown. We know Konate won't get called for a technical despite flexing and trash-talking every time he does anything. I'm still mad about that if you can't tell.

It hurt me to put two kitties on the first team, but Brown and Wade are pretty much the team.

I would put Grimes first team if he played for any other team in the Big 12.

Fisher is the one I feel least confident in because of his knee.

Team 1: Brown, Wigginton, Wade, Lawson, Konate

Team 2: Fisher, Grimes, Bane, Lard, Azubuike

POY: Lawson

DPOY: Konate

In the Bill Self Era, Kansas team points per game are as follows:

03-04: 75.7 ppg

04-05: 75.0 ppg

05-06: 74.3 ppg

06-07: 78.4 ppg

07-08: 80.2 ppg

08-09: 76.4 ppg

09-10: 81.6 ppg

10-11: 81.2 ppg

11-12: 73.9 ppg

12-13: 75.2 ppg

13-14: 75.2 ppg

14-15: 71.1 ppg

15-16: 80.2 ppg

16-17: 83.2 ppg

17-18: 81.3 ppg

Kansas has had six teams that averaged over 80 points per game. In those seasons, the team's 3-Point Field Goal Percentages were:

07-08: 39.7 3P%

09-10: 40:4 3P%

10-11: 38.2 3P%

15-16: 41.3 3P%

16-17: 40.4 3P%

17-18: 40.1 3P%

I'm not sure that this season's KU team will even have a player that shoots better than any of those averages. Maybe a few players will surprise us and shoot lights out, but it will be hard for KU to be at 85 points per game unless that happens. On the other hand, I'm not sure KU has ever had a group of players this dynamic in the front and back court in the Bill Self era. So it's a bit hard to judge for that reason. In my opinion this seasons Kansas team is going to more closely resemble some of the juggernaut Kentucky teams in terms of dynamic ability, but with a little bit less talent and more experience. For what it's worth, Kentucky's two best teams under Calipari (the 11-12 and 14-15 teams) were not great 3-point shooting teams or great scoring teams. The 11-12 team averaged 77.6 points per game and shot 37.7% from 3. The team that a lot of Wildcats fans consider to be the best Kentucky team despite not winning a national championship was the 14-15 team that went 38-1 and lost to Wisconsin in the final four. They averaged 74.4 points per game and shot 34.9% from 3. So the good news for this season's Kansas team is that there is precedent for being really really good without being a fantastic 3-point shooting team.

I think this season's Kansas team will average 79 points per game, allow 63 points per game, and shoot 36% from 3. The only way they average more than 85 points per game is if Roy Williams comes back to coach.

I think Self will go with 9 players: Dotson, Grimes, Vick, Dedric, Doke and Garrett, Moore, KJ, and De Sousa. That leaves McCormack, Lightfoot and Agbaji. In my opinion McCormack should be the first player off the bench in that group. He's almost in his own category. Maybe we can call him a super reserve. He can play if a player is ineligible, or if there's foul trouble, or if a player is injured, or if Self is just pissed off at the regular rotation players for some reason.

The two bench players who I am really excited for are Garrett and De Sousa. Both players had good moments as freshman last season (Garrett throughout the season and De Sousa at the end). Garrett was above-average at just about everything except shooting. And the rumor is he's been working on that this offseason. If he can become an average shooter, or at least improve his free-throw shooting, I would seriously consider starting him. De Sousa kind of reminds me of a more skilled and bigger Jamari Traylor. He has the most upside of any big man on the team and I would give him as many minutes as possible.

I'm somewhere in the middle of @bshark and @kusteve on the offensive stagnation. On one hand, we've seen Kentucky teams with excellent bigs and excellent dribble-drive players struggle offensively because of lack of 3-point shooting. On the other hand, I think this KU team will have better 3-point shooting than those Kentucky teams. Vick and Moore we know can shoot. Grimes is a decent shooter, and he should get a lot of open looks due to: 1. KU having 5 legitimate scoring threats on the floor at all times; 2. Teams packing it in and forcing Kansas to beat them with 3's; 3. passing out of the post after a double team comes; 4. dribble-drive and kick-out; 5. Transition. I'm expecting Grimes to be somewhere around 35-37% from deep. Similar benefits for Dotson as Grimes, and I think he'll be between 30-35% from the outside. Garrett has been working on his shot. The Lawson's aren't great 3-point shooters, but they aren't horrible either. And of course Mitch has the stroke. My point is I think this KU team has enough outside shooting to prevent it from being a weakness. It won't be a strength, but it won't be a weakness. Against 75% of the teams Kansas plays this season, they can still win despite horrible perimeter shooting. But if they do that against Kentucky, Tennessee, MSU, Villanova, at West Virginia, at KState, or against a good team in the tournament they will probably lose. I think this team loses 4 games before the NCAA tournament, but I'd love to be wrong.

@BeddieKU23

This is right. People sometimes forget that defensive rebounding is part of defense, and Kansas ranked 102nd in the country in defensive rebounding last season. This was in large part due to playing a 4-1 lineup. This season, Self should have a 3-2 lineup on the floor almost all of the time. And there will be times where it may look like more of a 2-3 lineup with KJ playing the 3. There's also the fact that KU will have the personnel to be an excellent rebounding team this season. Doke, for his size, is not a good rebounding big. But both of the Lawson's are long, and Dedric has a quick second jump. De Sousa averaged 16.8 rebounds per game per 40 minutes last season, and 12.6 rebound per 30 minutes. He should be an absolute monster on the boards. McCormack should be good due to his size. Lightfoot will be decent. I'm expecting Kansas to be one of the best rebounding teams in the country this season, which should help them to be better defensively as well.

I think a lineup of Garrett, Grimes, KJ, Dedric, and De Sousa could be pretty devastating defensively.

@mayjay Nope. Just another Jayhawks fan.

Kansas and Kentucky look like the best teams to me right now, because they have fewer question marks than other teams. As has been pointed out in other articles, Kansas has 5 players on their current roster who have averaged more than 12 points per game in a single season (Doke, Vick, Dedric, KJ, and Moore). What's more, those 5 players naturally fit into a typical looking starting 5. I'm not saying they will start, but they could if they had to, and I'm willing to wager we'll see those 5 players on the court together a fair amount this season. So you have that as kind of a base.

Now you add Dotson, Grimes, Garrett, De Sousa, and McCormack and you have another talented, albeit unproven starting 5. Oh and you also have Lightfoot and Agbaji. For Kansas to reach their full potential this season, their younger players will need to play well and live up to the hype, which they seem to be doing for the most part; Grimes was the FIBA U18 mvp; Dotson is very fast; Garrett has been working on his shot; McCormack works hard and has looked good; De Sousa ended his season on a high note. But even if all of those players have a rotten year, which won't happen, Kansas is still left with a capable and proven starting 5. I'm sure that's what a lot of these coaches and writers see right now when they look at Kansas - a safe team with a ton of depth that still has a lot of room for growth. My biggest worry with Kansas is the guard play. Bringing the ball up the court, handling the press, running the offense, getting the ball to the right player, will be the responsibility of freshman and sophomores. Kansas most experienced ball-handler is a redshirt sophomore.

Kentucky is similar to Kansas. They have enough depth for 2 starting 5's that would be ranked in the top 25, some experience (though not as much as Kansas), and a lot of talent. Experience could still be a problem for Kentucky, but their depth makes it less of an issue. And it looks like they'll have some decent 3-point shooters this season too. By far, Kentucky is the team that most worries me as a Kansas fan.

Duke doesn't have the depth that Kansas or Kentucky do. They are hyped because they have the Top 3 freshman in the country by recruiting rankings (Barrett, Reddish, Williamson). They are all good players, but they are freshman and they all play similar positions. Duke is lacking in point guard depth. Their starting point guard will be Tre Jones (another 5-star freshman). If he struggles or gets injured, Duke will rely on Jordan Goldwire (who played 6.5 minutes per game last season) to handle point guard duties. They also have nowhere near the big-man depth that Kansas and Kentucky have. Coach K is high on Marques Bolden (he says he can be as good as any big man in the country next season), but he only averaged 12.9 minutes, 3.9 points, and 3.6 boards per game last season. Other than that they have Javin DeLaurier (12.7 minutes, 3.4 points, 4.0 boards), Antonio Vrankovic (4.7 minutes, 1.0 points, 1.1 boards), and Justin Robinson (4.8 minutes, 1.4 points, 0.6 boards). Even if Barrett, Williamson, and Reddish live up to the hype, I'm not sure Duke can be as good as Kansas or Kentucky without Jones and Bolden playing well too.

I thought his opinions were on point and I wouldn't blame him if he didn't come back.

Also I have his email.

I know bshark pretty well on another site. We've known eachother since before we both started posting on buckets. And I play in the same fantasy football league as he does. So I'll see if I can contact him.

1. Self
2. Self
3. Self
4. Self
5. Self
6. Self
7. Self
8. Self
9. Self
10. Self
11. Kruger
12. Huggins
13. Dixon
14. Beard
15. Prohm
16. Smart
17. Boynton

...,

1. Weber

2. Drew

I know it's supposed to be about what they did at Kansas, but I think a lineup of:

Wilt, Embiid, Manning, Pierce, and White/Mason/Hinrich would be pretty fire.

I went to the one in Chicago when we had Wiggins/Embiid and we played against Duke/Parker. That was really fun. I would recommend it. I stayed in the same hotel as Digger Phelps and I saw him at the hotel bar after the game.

@justanotherfan I went back and forth on KJ or Moore in the end-of-game lineup. My rationale for choosing Moore is the ball-handling and free throw shooting. Also the fact that he spaces the floor better for Dedric because he's a deep threat. KJ is obviously the better option on the defensive side of the ball because of his length. I don't really think there is a wrong choice here. It would probably come down to which player is better for the situation based on what team Kansas is playing. Like if it's West Virginia I would probably go Moore over KJ because so much of their offense is generated by the press. If it's more of a finesse/offensive/shooting team like, I dunno, North Carolina or something then I might take KJ. Or if it was Duke I would put KJ on Barrett/Reddish.

Eh... I saw Vick disappear in too many games last season to say that. If Dotson starts I think he would be the fifth option in terms of scoring, but I think there will be games where he takes over as a distributor/passer/play-maker. Dotson can score too. And Moore is either KU's best or second best outside shooter. There will be nights when he's making 3's and contributes a lot as a scorer. Basically I think KU is too balanced and too deep to call anyone who starts a fifth option. I will say that I think there is a definite option #1, though, and that his name is Dedric Lawson. There's so much depth and versatility with this KU roster that Self can employ different lineups depending on the situation.

Starting Lineup: Dotson, Grimes, Vick, Dedric, Doke

Other Potential Starting Lineup: Moore, Grimes, KJ, Dedric, Doke

Offensive/End of game Lineup: Dotson, Moore, Grimes, Vick, Dedric

Defense Lineup: Garrett, Grimes, KJ, Dedric, Doke

All-Guard lineup: Dotson, Moore, Grimes, Vick, KJ (Garrett too)

Best/Optimal/Potential Scariest-For-Other-Teams Lineup: Dotson, Grimes, Vick, Dedric, De Sousa

A few comments on these lineups:

1. They all have Dedric and Grimes, who I think will be KU's best players this season. And I think that fact will be reflected in their total minutes per game.

2. If Moore starts over Dotson, I think Vick comes off the bench. Moore and Vick are KU's best outside shooters. If they both start, that doesn't leave much perimeter shooting coming off the bench. I think there will be times when they are on the court together, of course. But unless another guard emerges as an above-average outside shooter, I think the lineups on the floor will include either Vick or Moore with brief times of overlap. Moore being one of the only proven quality perimeter shooters is also the reason that I think he will get more than 12 minutes per game.

3. The optimal lineup is based the one that I think could potentially be the best. There are a lot of ifs here. If De Sousa is eligible and develops. If Dotson develops. If Grimes develops. If Vick can stay engaged in games throughout the season (side note: he reminds me a little bit of a poor man's Wiggins with a better stroke in this way). If Dedric lives up to the ridiculous expectations that have been placed on him by coaches/fans/writers. If all of that happens I think that this lineup could be devastating on both sides of the ball. And fast. Really, really fast. This is also the reason that I lean more towards starting Dotson than Moore, even though Moore might be the better player at the beginning of the season.

4. I think the first starting lineup that I have listed also gives Self the best bench for in-game damage control. If the team isn't playing defense, Garrett and KJ (and Mitch too) can come into the game. Charlie Moore can come into the game for added shooting. And a deep roster means that anyone who isn't hustling or giving 100% effort will sit.

Standard Missouri.

@justanotherfan I agree with you. His mechanics, though, especially on his pull-up jumper look a lot like Klay Thompson's. The comments I was reading were from Lakers fans who haven't watched him play much other than the summer league games. They were also throwing around Peja Stojakovic.

Svi Mykhailiuk is drawing comps to Klay Thompson after a few summer league games.

His nickname should be the UKlaynian.

I'm going to guess 4 losses. They have 4 games (assuming they play Tennessee) against Top 10 teams in the non-conference, and only one of those games is in Lawrence. Two neutral site, and one in Rupp against a UK team that looks very strong preseason and should be better by January. Then 9 road games in conference. Two games stand out on the schedule in particular, and this is what I would like to see:
1. Beat Kentucky in Lexington - Because it's Kentucky
2. Blow out Villanova in Lawrence - Because we owe them

Next season by minutes (only counted for games that the players actually play in, which is why the total minutes are more than 200):

Dedric - 30

Grimes - 28

Vick - 24

Dotson - 23

Doke - 22

Moore - 20

KJ - 19

De Sousa - 18

Garrett - 18

McCormack - 6

Lightfoot - 6

Cunliffe - 4

Teahan - 2

Elliot - 2

Luinstra - 2

Agbaji - RS

@HighEliteMajor This is hilariously wrong.

Continuing with the random thoughts:

Kansas is at the half-way point of the conference season with 9 games played and 9 games remaining

5 of the remaining games are in Lawrence and 4 are on the road, which might be a bad thing actually

Graham played 40 minutes again. Newman played 40. Svi played 39. We will see if lack of depth takes its toll in the 2nd half of conference play.

Malik Newman had 10 rebounds last night

Mitch Lightfoot didn't score but still had an impact on the game

KU went to the free throw line 26 times and only shot 20 3s. I'm not sure how many games they've shot more FTs than 3s but it can't be a lot

Kansas doesn't play again until Saturday against OK State. I'm hoping they can play well enough to pull Graham early

My pre-game abuse of the color purple was effective and I might start incorporating that into non-kstate games

@BShark And that's why he will continue to not beat Kansas. He blames the officiating instead of focusing on correcting his team's actual problems. Not that I'm complaining. I hope Bruce stays there for 10 more years.

Awfully quiet in the Octagon of Doom. lmao

Weber is going to explode.

Wade shoots 45.3% from 3. Don't come off him.

That's why he's still coaching at Va Tech and not a sports analyst.

Oh... Wait...

Uncle Fester doesn't think KU can win a national championship this season. Bummer.

I'm going to prepare for the game today by asserting my dominance over anything that is purple. Let's go Jayhawks.

LeBron is a good player but a toxic teammate.

GA is a Duke brat who flops and trips people.

Moving on.

Ya but that was early on. They haven't been playing very well lately. I'm worried DJ Hogg is going to make a bunch of 3's, though.

I like KU's chances today if Doke can stay on the floor (with the exception of the last few minutes in a tight game). I don't feel good about going to KState, though.

Good call.

I just want Kansas to win. I don't really care too much about conference perception.

I guess I want Kentucky to lose, too.

Missouri isn't participating this year, but I hope they lose to whichever SEC team they're playing.

Trae Young was great, though.

Lon Kruger is a good coach.

Water is wet, etc.

Partially. He was a contributing factor but I don't put it all on Bill Self. Self should have switched Doke and Lightfoot after the first time Kruger decidedt o intentionally foul. But, Azubuike is the one who missed the free throws, he also bears some of the blame.

Additionally DG shot 4/19 from the field and missed a lot of shots that he is capable of making. If he makes 2 or 3 more of his FGA and shoots like 6/19 or 7/19 (still bad), then it puts KU in a much better position to close out the game.

Overall just a disappointing loss and a game that KU should have had.

I'm not thrilled with how they played, but I believe that the hardest game to win is the game after a big win. So I'm glad they won.

They avoid the loss and there's still plenty of things for Self to scream at them for.

PER is player efficiency rating and it's one of the better stats to indicate offensive efficiency. Right now his PER is 33.8, which is very very good. It might go down after this game. PER doesn't consider defense, though.

@wissox They appear to be very good, yes.

@wissox He was also a really good player at Purdue. I feel bad for him because of the injuries he's had to deal with. Hopefully this goes well for him, I think his commentary is pretty decent. Definitely better than a lot of other people that ESPN employs...

@Kcmatt7 Well in fairness they did just lose Fisher for the season.

48 points on 39 shots. 8 assists but 7 turnovers. I don't know, was it a good game or a bad game?

Trae about to walk-off right here.

omg

@BShark Then it's fortunate that they are coached by Weber.