KU ROSTER 2026-27
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I could get behind the feeling that Melvin does not raise our ceiling, but to say he lowers it is categorically false. Many many great teams, including some that have won national championships, have started guards who are not good 3-pt shooters.
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@Jayhawk_69 said in KU ROSTER 2026-27:
I could get behind the feeling that Melvin does not raise our ceiling, but to say he lowers it is categorically false. Many many great teams, including some that have won national championships, have started guards who are not good 3-pt shooters.
I don't think that Council's ceiling is particularly high. IMO, both Blyden and Kinney have higher ceilings, which was my point.
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@DCHawker That is probably true, but it doesn't mean that Council limits the team'a ceiling
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@DCHawker did u see Tre play summer ball?
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@crimsonblu22 Just a few highlights. I really hope he can step it up. But for 4 years in college with 4 different schools and conferences, he's been basically the same player. His numbers last year were nearly the same as his sophomore year (better 3pt%).
I like him and I like Council. But the fact is that with both of them and the #2 in the draft, we just weren't very good.
So, we replay White and Council. Swap Stokes for Peterson. Is Dawes/Mbiya/Reeves better than Flory? Blyden is probably a step up. But is that enough to turn a 20 win team into a 30 win one? Maybe with a much, much better and deeper bench - but again, only if we take advantage of that depth...
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@Jayhawk_69 said in KU ROSTER 2026-27:
I could get behind the feeling that Melvin does not raise our ceiling, but to say he lowers it is categorically false. Many many great teams, including some that have won national championships, have started guards who are not good 3-pt shooters.
He is inefficient on offense as a whole. I could live with the 3pt shooting, it’s the 4/17 games with 12 missed floaters.
IMO he has to take a major step forward in shot selection (or shot making).
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That is only a problem if Council is the go-to guy on offense. He mostly was last season because Darryn didn't play and White and Flory aren't very good at creating their own shots.
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@DCHawker said in KU ROSTER 2026-27:
@crimsonblu22 Just a few highlights. I really hope he can step it up. But for 4 years in college with 4 different schools and conferences, he's been basically the same player. His numbers last year were nearly the same as his sophomore year (better 3pt%).
I like him and I like Council. But the fact is that with both of them and the #2 in the draft, we just weren't very good.
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@DCHawker said in KU ROSTER 2026-27:
@crimsonblu22 Just a few highlights. I really hope he can step it up. But for 4 years in college with 4 different schools and conferences, he's been basically the same player. His numbers last year were nearly the same as his sophomore year (better 3pt%).
I like him and I like Council. But the fact is that with both of them and the #2 in the draft, we just weren't very good.
So, we replay White and Council. Swap Stokes for Peterson. Is Dawes/Mbiya/Reeves better than Flory? Blyden is probably a step up. But is that enough to turn a 20 win team into a 30 win one? Maybe with a much, much better and deeper bench - but again, only if we take advantage of that depth...
Peterson was the best player on the team, but he was the one who wasn't a great fit. Peterson is much more of an iso player which is also partly why he chose Kansas so he could expand his game. The cramps and being in and out of the line up in the early season killed his chemistry with everyone else. KU was actually pretty good when Peterson was out because they had chemistry.
I will agree that White and Council shouldn't be KU's leading scorers this season, but White should be either the 2nd or 3rd leading scorer behind Stokes and potentially Dawes. Council at best should the 4th leading scorer.
I'm expecting Self to play a lot of small ball this year with Council, Blyden/Kinney, Stokes, White, and Dawes playing together a lot. Mbiya will provide size, but I don't see him being ready to contribute on offense much yet. Fortunately, we should be done with the 2 big line up so ce KU only has two true post players in Mbiya and Reeves and neither should be on the court together ever.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 said in KU ROSTER 2026-27:
Peterson was the best player on the team, but he was the one who wasn't a great fit. Peterson is much more of an iso player which is also partly why he chose Kansas so he could expand his game. The cramps and being in and out of the line up in the early season killed his chemistry with everyone else. KU was actually pretty good when Peterson was out because they had chemistry.
Agreed, I feel like we are rewriting last year a bit. Peterson in and out of the lineup really messed with the team consistency, but they showed flashes of being a really good team. Council had to take on more of an offensive load than was ideal because of this and his efficiency reflects that. Last year's team had no other reliable ball handlers and our offense would have been a whole lot worse if he hadn't stepped up when DP was out. And when DP was in, he warped the offense and the team never seemed to figure out how to best play around that.
One or two of Blyden/Kinney/Stokes emerging as a reliable secondary creator should help Council quite a bit.
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@Kcmatt7 said in KU ROSTER 2026-27:
@Jayhawk_69 said in KU ROSTER 2026-27:
I could get behind the feeling that Melvin does not raise our ceiling, but to say he lowers it is categorically false. Many many great teams, including some that have won national championships, have started guards who are not good 3-pt shooters.
He is inefficient on offense as a whole. I could live with the 3pt shooting, it’s the 4/17 games with 12 missed floaters.
IMO he has to take a major step forward in shot selection (or shot making).
He’s such a terrible shooter. This season is gonna be miserable watching him if he tries to play like last season.
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With our roster full I put together a wee chart of how I see our lineup playing out in a typical game:
position - starter (minutes) - backup 1 (minutes) -backup 2 (minutes)
1 ----------- Council (28) -------- Kinney (6) ---------- Blyden (6)
2 ------------ Blyden (22) --------Kinney (10) ---------- Stokes (8)
3 ------------- White (20) ------- Rosario (10) ---------Stokes (10)
4------------- Stokes (16) --------- White (12) --------- Dawes (12)
5 ---------- Dawes (20) --------- Mbiya (20)minutes leaders: Stokes (34), Dawes (32), White (32), Council (28), Blyden (28), Mbiya (20), Kinney (16), Rosario (10)
I went with a small starting lineup because that seems to be our most talented group. Plus this would still be a good rebounding team despite being small. I guessed Rosario and Mbiya would beat out Parker Jr, Barnett, and Reeves due to experience in the system, but it would not surprise me if any of those three guys beat someone out to get minutes.
I understand that game scripts will change lineups and minutes. This is just a sample of what I think minute distribution could look like in a typical Big 12 game.
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Ha, I’ve been wanting to discuss the starting lineup for sure, but I’m gonna wait some more until this legal nonsense sorts itself. Who knows what next week will bring…
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Might as well discuss the current as of today team while we can!
