We need to change his initials from DP to DNP

We could name a Keanu Dawes and Christian Reeves front court "Keanu Reeves"

Taylen Kinney is on the US's U18 team. Should be a good stage to assess how college-ready he is.

If we win I will be psyched. If we lose without DP I will blame not having DP. If we lose with DP I will blame the short-term chemistry issues of working him back into the lineup. Either we win or I have an excuse!

Here are the takeaways.

Positives:

1. It was nice to be on the other side of an epic meltdown after the Houston and Baylor "games" last year.

2. DP played 32 minutes.

3. DP was clutch at the end of regulation.

4. We showed that, when we play with heart, we can be a very good team (though I guess we already knew that).

Negatives:

1. This result was more of a TCU choke than a KU victory, though there were elements of both

2. We played with absolutely no effort for an unacceptably long time

3. DP is still cramping

Once again, Melvin saved our bacon. God he is good.

Bill Self said on the postgame radio show that Flory is the best defender in the country and that he was tremendous tonight, citing that neither Toppin nor Watts could score on him

I am very proud of the guys. They had had so many "moral victories" where they played good teams close without DP but came up just short this year. And today they had had enough of that! They made damn sure to get the job done! What a special group

I will miss Kohl Rosario. I think I will always believe he would have turned into a fan favorite before the portal era.

At this point I think it is best to just assume he is done for the year. That way we are prepared for it and if he does come back it will be a pleasant surprise.

Mario Chalmers is on the squad. The backcourt looks awesome

It seems to me that there is a new ideology shaping the way the Kansas basketball staff is approaching the transfer portal this offseason. A couple of seasons ago their approach was to go after the biggest names in the portal (Dickinson, Storr, Griffen). That approach failed miserably. Last season their approach was to target players who fit the profile of a “Bill Self player” (Council, White, Dawson). This approach was better but still left something to be desired. This year, it seems their approach has been to target players who were playing their best basketball at the end of the season.

Let us assess each player who committed to Kansas via the transfer portal this offseason to demonstrate that this is indeed the coaching staff’s approach.

Leroy Blyden Jr.

Over the first 11 games of the season, he averaged 13.6ppg on 41% from the field (but 43% from 3), 2.7 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 1.9 turnovers (for a 2.4 a/to ratio), and 1.8 steals per game.

Over the last 11 games of the season he averaged 17.5ppg on 48% from the field (but 38% from 3), 4.9 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 1.8 turnovers (for a 3.0 a/to ratio), and 1.8 steals per game.

His numbers in every area were better in his last 11 games of the season than in his first 11. The only exception to this rule is three-point shooting, but that was very anyways strong in both samples. His improvement as a rebounder is eye-popping.

Bear in mind, this comparison of samples is especially telling because neither sample includes his 36 point explosion, which is a statistical outlier.

Keanu Dawes

Keanu Dawes scored in the paint and rebounded well throughout the whole season. His numbers in those departments do not change much from early season to late season, though it is worth bearing in mind that he was facing much better competition by late season.

However, one area in which Dawes did improve greatly as the season progressed was three point shooting. Over his first 11 games, Dawes was 3/25 from three, good for 12%. For the rest of the season, Dawes was 29/76 from three, good for 38%. He more than tripled his efficiency from three, and did so while continuing to take multiple attempts a game and against better defenses than he faced early in the season.

Dennis Parker

Dennis Parker is the only player in this portal class who does not follow this rule. His numbers fluctuated randomly throughout the season, with no clear patterns.

However, whatever Dennis Parker may lack in evidence that the staff is taking this approach, Christian Reeves makes up for in spades. Indeed, perhaps no player in college basketball improved more from the first half of the season to the second half than Reeves

Christian Reeves

In his first 18 games of the season, Reeves averaged a lowly 7.7ppg, a pitiful 6.2rpg, and a woeful 1.2 bpg. However, over the rest of the season (13 games), Reeves averaged a princely 15.7ppg, a herculean 9.9 rpg, and a stately 1.7 bpg.

Ultimately, 2 out of the 4 portal gets for Kansas were clearly better all-around basketball players at the end of the season than they were at the beginning. Then there is an additional player who might not have improved “all around,” but he improved a key area (three point shooting) so much that it still improved his overall impact on the game substantially (as his efficiency went up quite a bit and defenses have to respect a 38% shooter from downtown far more than they have to respect a 12% shooter). Thus, I think it is fair to say that 3 of the 4 portal gets were markedly better overall later in the season than they were earlier in the season, which suffices to prove that targeting improving players is the coaching staff’s new method. I hope it works out.

12 assists. Good to see DP learned how to pass the ball. Its a shame he never figured it out with us

Apparantly we are recruiting Mihailo Mušikić, a 7 footer from Serbia

I know you guys have not been able to stop thinking about how I ranked the top points guards, shooting guards, wings, power forwards, and centers of the Bill Self era last offseason. I also know you have all been dying to know how I would update said rankings now that another season is in the books. For your reference, here are the previous posts:

PGs: https://archive.kubuckets.com/topic/13780

SGs: https://archive.kubuckets.com/topic/13781

SFs: https://archive.kubuckets.com/topic/13782

PFs: https://archive.kubuckets.com/topic/13783

Cs: https://archive.kubuckets.com/topic/13784

6th men: https://archive.kubuckets.com/topic/13785

Here is where the new guys on the list rank.

PG Melvin Council: 6th on the list. Behind Devonte Graham and ahead of DaJuan Harris. He was a lot better than Harris but not near as good as Graham so this ranking seems clear.

SG Darryn Peterson: 8th on the list. Behind Kevin McCullar and ahead of Brady Morningstar. If this list was based on talent he would be first, but Peterson's lack of availability and the fact that he just didn't make our team better drop him to 8th.

SF Tre White: 8th on his list. Behind Ben McLemore ahead of Grady Dick. Very similar stats to Dick actually but a better defender, rebounder, and drawer of fouls. But, he could not take over a game like McLemore.

PF Bryson Tiller: 11th on the list, after KJ Adams and ahead of Christian Moody. His ability to play really well in spurts puts him ahead of Moody but he just wasn't a good player overall on either offense or defense so he can't be above anyone else on the list.

C Flory Bidunga: 6th on his list. Behind David McCormack and ahead of Darnell Jackson. He is definitely a better individual player than D-Block and was a better regular season player than Big Dave. But Flory just cannot pass Big Dave in my eyes because Bid Dave's heroism in the final four was the stuff of legend and Flory's career has no answer to that.

6th man Jamari McDowell: 12th on the list behind Connor Teahan and ahead of Elmarko Jackson. I appreciate everything Elmarko did for our program but he just was not a great player. Not a terrible player, but he should have been an 8th man instead of a 6th man.

Is anyone getting excited for the TBT this year? This is shaping up to maybe be the best roster we have ever had. Frank Mason, Marcus Garrett, Zeke, Mayo, and LaGerald Vick have all signed up. Seeing Frank and Marcus play together should be a lot of fun.

The backcourt is looking strong already but they need to get some bigs.

Here are some players I think might join the team (I have no inside info, just judging this based on eligibility, how much they like KU, past TBT membership):

Thomas Robinson
Billy Preston
Kevin Young
KJ Adams
Mario Little
David McCormack
DaJuan Harris
Perry Ellis
Tyshawn Taylor
Melvin Council

I doubt it but if we could get Thiam or Cadeau we might be the favorites to cut down the nets

Yes. A deep run into March/April begins by having a good regular season and building momentum into the postseason. Having a good regular season that builds momentum into the postseason entails winning the conference. Winning the conference is made much easier with an undefeated record at home.

Let's go undefeated at home the way we used to in the good ol' days

Update. Kinney and Team USA lost to Canada and settled for a silver medal. Kinney's stats after 5 games are as follows: 7.4 ppg, 3.8 apg, 1.0 spg, 0.6 rpg, 2.0 turnovers/game, in 16.6 minutes/game. He shot 7/15 (47%) on 2pt field goal attempts, 5/15 (33%) on 3 pointers, and 8/11 (73%) from the foul line.