Reasons to believe in next year’s team
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WELCOME BACK, JW!
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Boom
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I think I can help with this DeJuan confusion. He’s not like Sherron. I was so glad when Sherron graduated. Love the guy- he’s true blue Jayhawk. But Approx and I both know speaking ill of Sherron is a major offense in Jayhawk Land. We know it triggers you, yet somehow we do slip up and blurt out a “lousy senior year” or something offensive to St. Sherron from time to time, so we offer our humble apologies. We still love THAT shot.
The comparison is Russ Rob. “The Lurker” ( a.k.a. JayhawkFantoo) pointed out that DeJuan and Russ are literally splitting images in everything, from the defense to the offensive game, and I agree with that. My opinion is DeJuan improves offensively enough to get to 10 per, and that is plenty, folks.
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These returns obviously reveal the players’ desire for a KU B2B.
I wonder if they might have been clued in to what our IARP sanction will be, and maybe are assured we won’t be banned from post-season 2023?
I just doubt they would invest another year in what could be a dead-end effort…
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These two announcements on a day I received my championship tshirt, and book, and last day of school made for a very very very happy birthday!!! I’ve got one minute left.
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We just won a natty without a scoring PG.
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I’d rather see Juan add to his assist stat this coming year than his point stat.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 said in Reasons to believe in next year’s team:
So with Wilson’s announcement, the most likely starting line up for next season should be Harris, McCullar, Dick, Wilson, and Clemence I’m guessing.
Next season should be interesting to see how Self handles the line up because other than Udeh, there’s not a true post that figures to be part of the rotation unless Cam Martin suddenly got good enough to play at this level. Even then, Cam’s outside shooting was a big reason why he was brought in so we could potentially see a lot of 5 out next season which is something I never thought I’d see out of a Bill Self coached team.
I’m guessing the core bench pieces will be Rice, Pettiford, Adams, Udeh, and Yesufu with Ejiofor, Martin, and Cuffe getting spot minutes unless Ejiofor jumps ahead of KJ in the rotation. I’m not knocking Ejiofor, but he’s probably looking at being the 5th big in the rotation which historically means very few minutes.
That is definitely a possibility. I’m thinking we might see Pettiford, Harris, McCullar, Wilson, and Clemence as starters. Rice, Yes, & Dick rotating in the 1-3 spots and Udeh/Adams rotating at the 4/5. Bigger rotation early in the season and a few will drop out as conference play picks up. There’s some big shoes to fill and lots of opportunity for whoever is ready to step up and take it.
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Perhaps this team will grow on me as the summer goes along. I was expecting a few more chess moves from Self to bridge the gap on guys he’s lost. There’s no way around the fact this team was gutted after a Championship which usually happens.
Comparing it to past teams I’m a bit concerned about experience & where the scoring will come from. 9 of 13 guys have little to zero experience playing in games. Among those 9, as many as 6 could be regular parts of the rotation so lots of growing pains. The 3 returning Soph’s all have promise and we could even see 1 or 2 of them start. The freshman class is stellar, we got real dudes this year so talent is not a question.
It’s going to be interesting to hear who’s developing. Development is beyond vital this offseason. Will a freshman push to start in the backcourt or will Self lean on experience or another ballhandler next to Harris. That 2 spot will be a battle. Will Wilson shine being the man? I think he will. He’s waited his turn and watched his brothers take the leaps. This is his time and he’ll get every opportunity to showcase. In spite of my concerns the ceiling on this team seems high. Odds are at least one of the freshman & one of the Sophomore’s will have a breakout season. I think the keys to a successful season lie on what the young guys can give on a consistent basis. Interesting offseason. Glad its over
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I’m not 100% sure we are done. Might Self carve a space for Mosley?
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@wissox said in Reasons to believe in next year’s team:
These two announcements on a day I received my championship tshirt, and book, and last day of school made for a very very very happy birthday!!! I’ve got one minute left.
- Truly a day to remember!
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The question with Wilson (and with several others) is whether he is ready to take on a bigger role.
For Wilson, that boils down to efficiency. Can he average 14 ppg while shooting at or above 45% from the field? If so, that’s a win for KU. If he averages that, but on a lower percentage, that makes it really hard to build a top notch offense around him because it will be very inefficient. Part of Wilson’s increased efficiency last year was on the offensive glass and as a second or thid option on kickouts. If he’s the primary scorer, those opportunities go away for him (and go to Adams or Udeh, or someone else). If he can be efficient even outside that, KU has another top notch offense. If he can’t be (and this is the big question), then KU can have a good offense, but it will be inefficient.
The other question is secondary scorer. Is that McCullar? Is that Dick (or is he the shooter/floor spacer). McCullar doesn’t have a history of being very efficient either, so having Wilson and McCullar as the first two options offensively is concerning from an efficiency standpoint. I will note that I think both are very good collegiate players and that I think both will play well next season. I just don’t know where the efficiency comes from. Harris won’t help bump up the efficiency. Dick, Rice, and Clemence are all unproven at the college level for that type of scoring. We could have a good team next year, but they may have to play some ugly ball to get there while they figure out how to be efficient.
This KU squad is a top 5 squad. They need to get into transition though, because the half court offense will be a work in progress for most of the season.
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@drgnslayr technically we did in 2008 as well but Sherron and Remy played in those final 8-10 minutes not Juan and Russ.
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@drgnslayr said in Reasons to believe in next year’s team:
I’m not 100% sure we are done. Might Self carve a space for Mosley?
I think Mosley wanted to be here but there’s parts of his game that don’t particularly fit with Self. He’s not a great athlete or defender but his offensive game certainly looked very appealing. Personally I thought he was worth bringing in (Harris/CB connection + the instant offense) because of how much offense this team has lost. Ochai, Dave, CB, Remy. We have 1 guy returning who can replace 1 of those guys but not 4. There will be a drop off in offensive firepower from last season to this upcoming one. How much will be one of the key’s to the season
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@drgnslayr said in Reasons to believe in next year’s team:
I’m not 100% sure we are done. Might Self carve a space for Mosley?
KU hasn’t been recruiting Mosley for weeks now. Self did not believe he was capable of playing defense at the level we require.
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@BeddieKU23 you are correct about Mosley. He was supposed to commit to MSU twice now and backed out. Texas Tech is still involved but strongly prefers Kerwin Walton. KSU is lurking, hoping.
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I’m not really familiar with Mosley but liked his point totals and connection to Juan.
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@drgnslayr said in Reasons to believe in next year’s team:
I’m not really familiar with Mosley but liked his point totals and connection to Juan.
Subpar athlete basically. If he was even as athletic as Jalen/McCullar with his skill set he would have been at a P5 school and already in the league imo. Incredibly skilled and will be a nightmare for us if he ends up elsewhere in the league IMO.
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@kuballin10 said in Reasons to believe in next year’s team:
@drgnslayr technically we did in 2008 as well but Sherron and Remy played in those final 8-10 minutes not Juan and Russ.
I’m a HUGE Russ and Juan fan but this unfortunately for my opinion, very true. I think Bobby or Yes are the Sherron Remy role this year. I dynamic change of pace guard that when they sub in can make a significant impact and change the way a game is going. Juan is steady and won’t get us into trouble but may need a little backup with the firepower to blow an opponent out of the water. I like having both as opposed to comparing which is better/more important.
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@drgnslayr said in Reasons to believe in next year’s team:
We just won a natty without a scoring PG.
He sparked a heck of a comeback. Many people are saying it was the biggest in title game history
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@justanotherfan said in Reasons to believe in next year’s team:
This KU squad is a top 5 squad. They need to get into transition though, because the half court offense will be a work in progress for most of the season.
Hopefully this defense will be capable of forcing the turnovers and rebound well enough to get this team running. Can you imagine Juan, Yes, and McCullar as the perimeter D? Could definitely apply some pressure to the ball handlers.
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@BeddieKU23 , IMO player’s talents at a low to mid-major don’t often translate well to P5, especially at the elite P5 levels. Cam Martin (we’ll wait and see) seems to be an example of that. I don’t remember a plethora of them succeeding. Coach apparently feels that way about Mosley.
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I agree its difficult to jump up in competition and be as good especially at KU. It does happen every year across the nation but I think its difficult to predict which players will blossom. Mosley made a lot of sense due to his connections to the program & his offensive skill level. I could argue Self has taken two transfers in recent past (Moss/Coleman-Lands) that were similar to Mosley athletically/defensively. I do think Self prefers to get transfers from major conferences though so I do think that is a big factor in his decision making process with transfers. Take a look at the recent transfers & Yesufu/Cam Martin are the only 2 guys that have transferred in from lower levels.
2021-22- Coleman Lands- (Illinois/Depaul/Iowa St), Remy Martin (Arizona St). Yesufu (Drake) & Martin (D2) .
2019-20- Moss (Iowa)
2018-19- Dedric, KJ Lawson (Memphis), Charlie Moore (Cal)
2017-18- Cunliffe (Arizona St), Newman (Mississippi St).
2016-17- Dwight Coleby (Ole Miss).
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I beleive in next years team. I also have reason for concern about next years team at least probably for non con. The Reason ? - I have yet to see anyone convince me about scoring droughts ? - -Scorers , PROVEN SCORER’S
This team is going to b really inexperienced for awhile , I just think we are going to take some lumps. - -Were gonna look ugly , really ugly at times early. I mean who is going to take over score the ball for us ? you can’t try and defend by saying Dick or Rice - -any of the Freshmen to be that scorer. Big difference between High School and P-5. Alot of those moves you got away with in High School - -some of those shots - -they aren’t gonna work in College, as you got players just as good to defend those moves - -those shots.
I think sure Jalen - ya Jalen will score but even him how is he gonna be on a consistent basis ? - he isn’t gonna be no mean star monster scorer. Jalen has shown from the past he might score 15-16 one game and then might be 10 the next time. Is Jalen a guy that’s a Alpha? - is he gonna step up and take that key shot late in a crucial game ? - I don’t think at this point that Jalen is that type of player. - Jalen is a good player but Is Jalen a take charge player ? Jalen is a very good complimentory player. Do we even have that type of player on this team ? - -Lot of questions to be answered. Other then Jalen , who can we look to for that production ? I just don’t think we can count on the freshmen for that. In most cases unless they are a proven one an done like top 5-10 range they gonna hit that wall sometime.
Were gonna be good defensively - -I think we got a chance to be REAL GOOD defensively. I just think Offensively - -were gonna look like we going through mud some times bog down. I hope I’m wrong but I just think that Scoring is going to be a big issue for some time hope I’m wrong. Would be great to come out and be hitting on all cylinders from the gt go. - -I do not think this is a top five team at the beginning , more like possibly a 8 or 9 - just so many qustion marks
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@Jethro said in Reasons to believe in next year’s team:
We had to have great shooting last year because our rebounding sucked. If we missed, there’s a good chance we weren’t getting the ball back.
I think you may have just been overreacing to times we didn’t do great.
Here are the full season stats. First line is KU, and 2d line is our rank nationally.
3rd line is our opponents, and then their rank.
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@Jethro And same stats for conference play:
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@mayjay I think you’re correct. Let me fix it for you. I should’ve done my homework.
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@Jethro I think it has more to do with our emotional hopes that get dashed whenever KU does something wrong, for example, if we miss an easy rebound. It gets magnified in our reaction, and those mistakes tend to be what we remember.
Happens to everybody! Just think of how baseball fans revile Bill Buckner–one misplay created a mythos of him as hands of stone despite him having committed only 146 errors in 16,661 chances over 21 years, and even setting several fielding records. But that play is seen as the one that lost the World Series for Boston.
Except it didn’t. They lost the Series the next night. Emotion affects memory!
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@mayjay said in Reasons to believe in next year’s team:
@Jethro I think it has more to do with our emotional hopes that get dashed whenever KU does something wrong, for example, if we miss an easy rebound. It gets magnified in our reaction, and those mistakes tend to be what we remember.
Happens to everybody! Just think of how baseball fans revile Bill Buckner–one misplay created a mythos of him as hands of stone despite him having committed only 146 errors in 16,661 chances over 21 years, and even setting several fielding records. But that play is seen as the one that lost the World Series for Boston.
Except it didn’t. They lost the Series the next night. Emotion affects memory!
I think I fell for a combination of us getting beat on the boards against UNC and the Big Dave caterwauling to think we weren’t good on the boards. You should’ve seen my face when I pulled up NCAA stats…lol. Any who, the original point was to say all is not lost if we aren’t as good from 3 point land as we were last year… when we won the national championship. I really think we have a deep, solid team that might not be as good as last year, but still will be a damn good team.
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@Jethro You certainly made a good point about good shooting being necessary since we may not be able to rely on a banger underneath. Z will likely get the agility and finesse boards, but I think he is a couple years away from being bulky enough to get a putback basket like Dave’s against UNC!
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Gosh… the news this past week… Wilson and McCullar here… We should be competitive on the boards this year! Now… if we get good boards from the 5? Could be huge!
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@drgnslayr said in Reasons to believe in next year’s team:
Gosh… the news this past week… Wilson and McCullar here… We should be competitive on the boards this year! Now… if we get good boards from the 5? Could be huge!
If Udeh is what they say about his aggression on the Boards - -we gonna be fine. -Him & Wilson and others. One thing I will say My God Udeh is big -I mean Big hope he can develop some offensive progress to go with the rest of his game. - Actually I’ve her Zuby is as good maybe better offensively at this point although neither have super offensive games at this pint BUT still glad we have this pair to go with Zach on our team
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@drgnslayr said in Reasons to believe in next year’s team:
Gosh… the news this past week… Wilson and McCullar here… We should be competitive on the boards this year! Now… if we get good boards from the 5? Could be huge!
Rebounding won’t be an issue unless Self decided to play KJ Adams the majority of the minutes at the 5. He’s the only big that’s going to play that’s a bad rebounder. Clemence is already a good rebounder and should be even better with a year of lifting and bulking up. Udeh has the frame to be a monster on the glass, and Wilson is a good rebounder for a stretch 4.
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1 and done.
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The kid is so smooth!
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Besides Juan, Wilson and Gradey I haven’t seen enough of anyone else to make an educated guess. I think the freshmen will really help! I know KJ plays pretty good D consistently when he goes in. Am anxious to see what we have. Vets better be working hard!
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I think Gradey is rather overrated. Would love to be wrong…
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@BShark you will be doing a lotta loving!
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@Crimsonorblue22 There will be a big adjustment period imo. Can he defend the way Self wants at this stage? Very doubtful.
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@BShark he can jump hi, run fast and get a shot off quick with hi release. No reason he can’t move his ft, get those long arms in the passing lanes. He gets a lot of offensive dunk put backs. I’m ready to say I told ya so all yr! I hope anyway.
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Juan will be throwing a lot of lobs to him. Excited!
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@BShark said in Reasons to believe in next year’s team:
I think Gradey is rather overrated. Would love to be wrong…
I’m guessing one area he’s not overrated is his shooting form. That looks pretty solid. It’s always tough for scrubs like me to judge an incoming player, having only seen him play a few times. He never stood out in those few games though.
But, somebody has to shoot and score next year. His light is gonna be Green to launch 3s.
He for sure doesn’t have a college ready body. That will hold him back on anything physical.
I’ll call my shot in the other thread…
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I think he will have some highs and lows his freshman year. He’s going to get pushed around, and that will completely push him into becoming best friends with the strength coach next summer.
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https://twitter.com/KUHoops/status/1534243326236532737
Look at how happy he is @Crimsonorblue22
Some issues behind the scenes at Tech!
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@BShark said in Reasons to believe in next year’s team:
https://twitter.com/KUHoops/status/1534243326236532737
Look at how happy he is @Crimsonorblue22
Some issues behind the scenes at Tech!
All I know there are some really un happy fans in Texas lol
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@BShark I’m excited! Really!
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@Crimsonorblue22 said in Reasons to believe in next year’s team:
@BShark I’m excited! Really!
Same. Bill had his pick of some pretty good players and chose McCullar. Would have seen more guys end up here if we had guys transfer out. But no one wants to leave the champs.
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My 2 gkids in Lawrence are at Washburn bb camp. Brett’s a great friend, my son played a lot of ball with him. Anyway the kids took pics with Juan and each a pic getting Gradey’s autograph. I haven’t been able to post pics for a long time.
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@Crimsonorblue22 That’s awesome
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Zach said yesterday he’s up to 225.
