KU Roster for 25-26
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@Jhawk69 said in KU Roster for 25-26:
@rockchalkjayhawk But Zuby gives you stats that are almost as good, plus is a better defender, plus would have cost us less NIL money that we could have spent elsewhere.
During the 2023-24 season, Zuby averaged 4 and 3 while oy playing 11 minutes per game. Udeh averaged 4 and 5 while playing 17 mpg his first year at TCU in 2023-24. Neither player was ready to step up and contribute that year. KU still needed an impact big for that season. Even if those 2 stayed and KU never lands Hunter, it doesn’t do anything to address KU’s biggest offensive issue the last two years, KJ Adams and the 4 spot. Neither Zuby, nor Udeh are 3 point threats so they don’t do anything to address the spacing issues KJ created at the 4 spot.
The arguing about Hunter vs. Zuby/Udeh doesn’t really matter to KU’s success those two years because of the 4 spot. On the court, Hunter was never the biggest issue the past 2 years. His offensive game was tailor made for Self’s system. Self unfortunately couldn’t put a group on the court around Hunter that complimented his skill set. Hunter needed guys that could move without the ball to create driving lanes and open 3’s, but the only two players that could do that were McCullar and Harris. We also know Harris didn’t have a quick shot to take those open looks from 3 he consistently had which was frustrating as Harris was a 37% 3 point shooter for his career.
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@Jhawk69 Danny & the miracles
Carmelo and Jerry who???
Yeah DP 100% as Kobe 2.0 can lead us to a title
We have the athleticism
We have the length
We have the buy-in from the guys
The dudes like each other and all seem humble
I’m 100% on board with this squad. Gotta see them their first few games and I may 180 my tune but for now I’m gonna hope DP is the greatest recruit we’ve ever had (because honestly he is)
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I don’t remember a single soul in here predicting a natty just ahead of the 2022 season. Play the game and enjoy the show! RCJH!
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6th ranked Big12 team seems about right. I hope this squad can end the year ranked. Tough road ahead; hopefully they over achieve. 7 potentially ranked teams on the schedule gives the Jayhawks plenty of opportunity to prove themselves!
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I don’t blame people for being a little low on this team given the history of the last 2 seasons. But this is a totally new team built around a great NBA prospect with athletes all across the board. As you said, we’ll get an idea of whether or not they should be ranked higher earlier with the non conference schedule
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@rcjhdraft said in KU Roster for 25-26:
I don’t blame people for being a little low on this team given the history of the last 2 seasons. But this is a totally new team built around a great NBA prospect with athletes all across the board. As you said, we’ll get an idea of whether or not they should be ranked higher earlier with the non conference schedule
Unfortunately that describes 1/2 the schedule. This Kansas roster is a bit weak - looks like a middle of the pack to top 1/3 of the Big12 team. Definitely won’t out talent many teams.
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@dylans Flory is going to have a Joel Embiid year.
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I am hopeful for a team very improved over last year’s team. First, we will immediately experience a team with a lot more athleticism. That doesn’t always translate into victories, but I look back on last year’s team and how Harris and Dickinson looked anemic (along with defensive anemia from Storr, Mayo, and Griffen). I think DP will be the key and it is my opinion he is figuring out how to make other players better. Flory will be a beast, especially since his minutes won’t just be an afterthought. Part of our offense will be building offense around Flory. All his attention will just light him on fire with enthusiasm. My only worries are foul trouble, though he will have more weakside and on-ball defense support this year.
We are due for a good “chip year!” No more lofty, silly preseason #1 ranking!
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@approxinfinity said in KU Roster for 25-26:
@dylans Flory is going to have a Joel Embiid year.
Ugg show flashes and then get hurt before March madness? I wish he had Embiid’s potential, but he doesn’t. Too small and not skilled enough. He could be a very good college player if he puts in the work, but will never be an NBA MVP due to genetics.
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@drgnslayr said in KU Roster for 25-26:
I am hopeful for a team very improved over last year’s team. First, we will immediately experience a team with a lot more athleticism. That doesn’t always translate into victories, but I look back on last year’s team and how Harris and Dickinson looked anemic (along with defensive anemia from Storr, Mayo, and Griffen). I think DP will be the key and it is my opinion he is figuring out how to make other players better. Flory will be a beast, especially since his minutes won’t just be an afterthought. Part of our offense will be building offense around Flory. All his attention will just light him on fire with enthusiasm. My only worries are foul trouble, though he will have more weakside and on-ball defense support this year.
We are due for a good “chip year!” No more lofty, silly preseason #1 ranking!
I just hope they are entertaining/fun to watch. Last year sucked. At least be entertaining and act like you care/want to be there and that’ll be a big improvement. - this team isn’t sniffing winning the league, hopefully they will be fun to watch before they all leave and it’s a mostly new roster next year.
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I don’t know how good we will be next year but I can all but guarantee we will be better than last year. Let’s break it down by position.
PG- This is a battle between Melvin and Elmarko. I think Melvin takes the cake. I don’t know if Melvin will be better than DaJuan. Melvin is as weak at outside shooting as DaJuan was, is more athletic and can create better penetration but probably not as good a floor general. Overall I could see us either being slightly better or slightly worse at PG than we were last year.
2G: Darryn will be better than Mayo.
3G: Dawson, Rosario, or even Jamari could start here. Any of these three would be an upgrade over Rylan. Something that was not talked about often enough was how bad Rylan was last year. Horrific on-ball defender, out of position constantly on both offense and defense, could barely dribble a basketball, and wasn’t even that good a shooter. He might be the worst starter in KU history and it is likely we never start a player as bad as him again.
PF: Tre White will start here. Last year it was KJ. Tre White gives us everything KJ gave us (hustle, glue, good defense) plus is a better rebounder and shooter. This is an upgrade.
C: Flory will stary here. He won’t be the scorer Hunter was but will be a better player overall. He won’t cause all the turnovers Hunter caused and he won’t be toasted by every decent opposing center we play. He will be at least a small upgrade and has the potential to be a massive upgrade.
Bench: Elmarko, Dawson/Rosario, Jamari, Mbiya, Tiller is a much better group than Coit, Storr, and last years Flory was.
So, in conclusion, we will be getting an upgrade everywhere except for maybe at the 1.
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@Jhawk69 Good assessment! I have to add… which Juan? I thought last year’s Juan was bad. I didn’t like the way he ran the offense. He rarely actually created offense himself like he used to by having plays with one other teammate to score. He was recognized for his defense in past years but he wasn’t outstanding at D last year and was often a liability. I’m complaining… but I still liked Juan tremendously.
The biggest problem with last year’s team on offense… every player (except Mayo) we had was one-dimensional. KJ, the year before last year, started to nail down midrange shots and floaters. That was gone and teams dared him to shoot those last year. Hunter was the closest thing to a 2-dimensional threat with his long ball, but failed and then teams learned to just get a hand up from trey. Rylan… only required a little outside D to shut him down. Juan… refused to attack.
I think we will have a lot more multiple-dimensionality. Just having a guy like DP to carve up defenses is a huge start.
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The team, including Juan, but to a man, felt broken at a certain point without a way to fix. Agree Juan wasnt good by the end of the season, but I’m not faulting him for it.
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Last year’s team was not lacking athletes or ability. But they performed/executed well below their abilities. For a Bill Self team, this was anomalous. We are used to Bill Self teams performing at or beyond their individual ceilings.
So, I’m going to posit that the players this year are, collectively, more or less similar in ability to previous years’. What will need to be different is how they perform throughout the season.
That leads me to the question: is the 2025 Bill Self and staff greater than the 2024 Bill Self and staff?
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@drgnslayr Juan struggled at times last year but much of that was because he shouldered such a heavy load. Overall I think he did fine, not great, but fine considering that he was tasked with creating every look on offense and defending the other teams best player on defense.
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The last 2 years were a struggle because Self went for big names in the portal instead of the best fits. I know Hunter catches a lot of grief, but he absolutely was a perfect Bill Self 5. The only reason his poor defense is held against him so mich is because he was usually surrounded by at least 2 other bad defenders on the floor as well. Dejuan and KJ were the only players that played consistently that we’re considered good defenders.
AJ Storr is an extremely talented offensive player, but he needed to be in a system where he could be on the ball more with a coach that likes to run iso because that’s his strength. Rylan Griffen had never played in an offensive system with structure to it and he never picked up the nuances of Self’s motion offense and was frequently out of position because of that.
On paper, I love the roster composition this season so much more than the last 2 years and I think as long as Self’s health holds up, I believe this team has a legitimate chance at making a Final Four this year. On paper, this could become one of the best defensive teams Self has ever had. Every player brought in that’s expected to play big minutes has a reputation of being above average to elite on defense.
There are some valid concerns about the offense this year, but I think that’s being a little it overhyped. Nobody on KU is an elite shooter, except maybe Rosario, but I believe the only one I would consider a bad shooter is Council. Tre White has gotten about 3% better each year from 3, all 3 years at P5 schools, so I don’t see a reason to believe he can’t shoot close to 35% this season.
By no means do I believe KU is going to lead the Big 12 in 3 point shooting, but I believe they’ll be good enough that teams have to guard them on the perimeter opening up driving lanes for them as well.
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I agree with the general sentiment of your post but I do not agree that Hunter was the perfect Bill Self 5. Bill Self usually expects and gets physical and scrappy play from his bigs. Hunter was the furthest thing you could get from physical or scrappy.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 @Jhawk69 I think Hunter would’ve been very good had we had some shooters. Several pictures were posted on X the last two years of him have 3 or 4 people on him at all times. When there is zero threat of someone hitting a long shot, just pack the paint. I was never a fan of Juan’s game personally, I hate walking the ball up the floor and dribbling in circles going nowhere just to do it. Kansas basketball is pushing the ball and getting out into fast break. I think we can do that this season. Basketball 1-0-1 easiest why to beat the defense is to beat it down the floor.
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The Arkansas game dispels the notion of Hunter being a good player hindered by a bad roster around him for me. He is a good mid-major big but cannot start on a top-25 team. He can use his size and nice touch around the rim to score in bunches against lesser opponents. But any quality opponent will hold him to an inefficient night on offense and score at will against his defense.
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@Jhawk69 said in KU Roster for 25-26:
The Arkansas game dispels the notion of Hunter being a good player hindered by a bad roster around him for me. He is a good mid-major big but cannot start on a top-25 team. He can use his size and nice touch around the rim to score in bunches against lesser opponents. But any quality opponent will hold him to an inefficient night on offense and score at will against his defense.
That happened because teams like Arkansas doubled and triple team Hunter as much as possible because they gambled that KJ and Dejuan wouldn’t do anything on offense.
David McCormack was also not much of a physical player and was never a good defender as well, but because he had a much better supporting cast on defense, Self was able to hide McCormack’s shortcomings on that end of the floor. Mayo, Griffen, and Storr were nowhere near Braun, Agbaji, and Wilson on defense and therefore, Hunter’s bad defense couldn’t be schemed around the McCormack could.
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Hunter was a unique player and I don’t think his game worked well for any team out there. He had skill with his repetitive offense… but he moved like a slug out there. Plus… he played soft. When we needed our guys to really buckle down against the better teams he wasn’t bringing that extra energy. We’ve usually had bigs with less offensive moves but they would get pushed to turn up their intensity when we needed it. Big Mac… TRob, etc… even Landen Lucas brought extra juice when we needed it.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 said in KU Roster for 25-26:
On paper, I love the roster composition this season so much more than the last 2 years and I think as long as Self’s health holds up, I believe this team has a legitimate chance at making a Final Four this year. On paper, this could become one of the best defensive teams Self has ever had. Every player brought in that’s expected to play big minutes has a reputation of being above average to elite on defense.
My thoughts exactly!
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@Texas-Hawk-10 Even if that were true I don’t think it changes the fact that Hunter had no physicality or hustle, meaning he isn’t a Bill Self big.
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@Jhawk69 there was a precedent in the Bill Self era fot skilled slow unathletic bigs on some of his less functional rosters
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@approxinfinity Dedrick Lawson?
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Did anyone see Fran Frascilla’s comments on KU on X? He was extremely high on them, and said that they are vastly underrated. Thinks Calderon is a star in the making, and says he doesn’t see a way DP doesn’t end up a 1st team AA. I’m no fan of FF, but that’s pretty high praise from a guy who knows hoops, and is around our program a lot.
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@P-H-C I saw his comments. I hope he meant them and not kissing up cause so many of our fans can’t stand him!
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I’m super psyched up on this team. I’m certain more of you would be if you saw them practice. The athleticism alone is going to shock you. I know we will have plenty of tests this year before March… especially teams like Houston. But I like our chances on preconference games because even though we are a team of new players, they will start off ahead of many other teams. The questions down the road will be about injuries and if we can continue to develop at a rapid pace to keep up with the competition.
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On a podcast I listened to, I guess FF had also X’d about DP hitting 8 3’s in a row with some being contested during a scrimmage. Not just 8 during the scrimmage, but 8 in a row.
