Posts made by justanotherfan

Looking at the rest of the schedule, KU should get to at least 9 wins, if not 10. Home for both Tech and KSU, then heading to Cincy for the last game. The hope of getting to the Big XII title game is a long shot since either Texas or OSU has to lose two of their last 3, but if KU finishes third in the conference and is 10-2, I’d imagine they would have a chance to go to a pretty good bowl.

I assume the Big 12 will not have a team in the CFP, which means the champion goes to the Cotton Bowl (I think). Big 12 could get a second team into the New Year’s contract bowls if Texas and OSU win out, with the non champion potentially getting a spot in the Peach Bowl.

That would mean Alamo gets the first choice, followed by Pop Tarts, then the Texas Bowl. If KU loses to KSU or Tech, they could slide down to the Guaranteed Rate Bowl. I doubt they go back to the Liberty Bowl since they were there last year. My guess is the Alamo Bowl takes OU even though KU beat them, and the winner of KU-KState goes to the Pop Tarts Bowl, with the loser going to the Texas Bowl.

Of the last 25 years, the 2002 KU team was the only KU team in honestly thought might never lose. That team was incredible, but not winning the title kind of overshadows that.

The 2007 team gets lost in the shuffle as well because of 2008, but that team was basically as good as the 2008, swapping a bit of consistency for more explosiveness.

We will never know what the 2020 team could have been. If they win the national title, they probably go down as one of the most dominant KU teams ever. That group really was robbed of potentially a place in history as an all time type of team. A title puts them up there with the 97 and 2002 KU teams in terms of dominance, but with a title to back it up. Maybe the best KU team of the last 50 years? We will never know what a dominant March run does for their legacy.

That three games to finish is BRUTAL. At Baylor. Home for K-State. At Houston. Better have the conference title more or less wrapped up before that because that is rough. Houston is probably a top 10 team. Baylor is probably top 20. K-State is probably top 25. That’s an absolute gauntlet to run just to get to the Big XII tournament.

Great for TV, though.

@jayballer67

The Booker one was a bad call because he even got his head out to the side to make the hit. He hit him squarely, but legally. I can understand the call on Bryant. I can’t understand the one on Booker.

The McLemore dunk was incredible.

The Selden one against Baylor.

The Wright dunk against Mizzou, though, was the one that immediately came to mind. There’s another one from Brandon Rush against Mizzou that is also really impressive.

There’s a pretty awesome photo of the TRob lob from Taylor against Baylor that makes that dunk even more iconic.

Traylor against Texas on the lob was ridiculous. I thought he was going to get undercut and never even get to the ball. I was absolutely in shock for about two minutes after the dunk.

The McCormack dunk to start the second half against UNC was probably one of the most important dunks in KU history, if not the most iconic. Really gave KU some energy right off the start of the half to spark the comeback.

Mangino was a potential liability to get a complaint for harassing other individuals in the athletic department and on campus. He simply didn’t have any anger management control at the time.

Its also why no one would touch him afterwords. Serious liability at that time regardless of what he did on the field.

I don’t see any real danger in anyone other than Dick declaring. Although I think Dick should return because he needs to get stronger. He was outmuscled too often at the college level. He’s a great player, but he could get really banged up at the next level if he doesn’t get his body stronger to take that punishment night in and night out.

It’s not a mistake for him to leave, but he could benefit from staying another year.

Out of KU’s transfer portal guys, I wouldn’t be surprised if Clemence, Pettiford, Rice and Yesufu are all helping tournament teams next year. All of them are talented and could help teams win. I could see Clemence becoming that sweet shooting big man for a team that gives a high seed fits in the tourney. Pettiford could be a PG that helps a mid tier P5 team get over the hump, or is all conference at a mid major. We already know what Yesufu can do at the mid major level. No surprise if he’s a starter for a tournament team, which was never in the cards at KU. And Rice will land somewhere and may have a journey similar to another transfer from KU in Quentin Grimes.

That doesn’t mean KU was wrong for how they handled them. It doesn’t even make the transfer portal bad. It actually is good. The fit wasn’t good for Rice. Yesufu could have a bigger role somewhere else, which gives him a chance to make money overseas. Same for Pettiford, with an outside chance to be an NBA prospect if he can stay healthy. Clemence wasn’t a Self style big. He was never going to play big minutes, but he could have a career overseas if he wants it. And KU can bring in a new group that fits into what Self wants to do more easily. Win for everyone involved.

@Jethro said in 2023 Transfer Portal:

MJ was gone a long time before he entered the portal. Wish I knew what really happened.

He didn’t ever get a chance. Once he returned from injury he wasn’t part of Self’s plan. That probably cost us MJ, and may have hurt us in the tournament as well.

@FarmerJayhawk said in 2023 Transfer Portal:

Seems like he’s just not a cultural fit in MHK. Tang runs a very, very loudly Christian program, and Massoud is a practicing Muslim. I imagine he’ll head closer to home.

Always seemed like he hit a big 3 late in games for them.

I hope that’s not the reason. There should be room in the program for anyone. As a man of faith, I would hope Tang would respect another man of faith. Not saying he didn’t because I don’t know, but I hope he did.

Having these guys ready to step in and start next season is huge. Even if you don’t have them for 4 years, bridging that gap while other guys develop is important to avoid a step back to being a 1 or 2 win team.

@Kcmatt7 said in State of the Roster 2023:

@justanotherfan said in State of the Roster 2023:

Improvement on the lines is a must. Watching the national title game last night, Georgia’s lines dominated TCU on both sides of the ball, which made everything else irrelevant. And Georgia had other talent! But they were so much better up front that it just didn’t matter.

If KU wants to take the next step, improving the offensive and defensive lines has to be a priority. Skill positions are heading in the right direction, but it won’t mean anything if the line play falls behind. I’d love to add another good lineman on defense, and at least some depth on the o-line.

I will say that our OL is one of the best in the country and it pretty darn close to as good as we should ever expect. Jmo

The DL has a long ways to go though

I think the Oline is good, but it is rare to see a group of five linemen make it through the entire season fully healthy. Depth is critical.

Improvement on the lines is a must. Watching the national title game last night, Georgia’s lines dominated TCU on both sides of the ball, which made everything else irrelevant. And Georgia had other talent! But they were so much better up front that it just didn’t matter.

If KU wants to take the next step, improving the offensive and defensive lines has to be a priority. Skill positions are heading in the right direction, but it won’t mean anything if the line play falls behind. I’d love to add another good lineman on defense, and at least some depth on the o-line.

@jayballer67 said in Maybe #1:

Got a question- -innocent enough just curios and looking for honest opinions. - - - The question is , do you think – K/State got over ranked in the polls or not ? From unranked to ranked 11th. - -For me yes I do think they got ranked to high. -Do they deserve to be ranked ? - -Hell yes they do but not 11th. – I was thinking more on the line of anywhere from 15 - - to 17th. - -So what do you think - -where do you feel they should be ranked ?

K-State is good. They have beaten three straight ranked teams. They have loads of talent - probably a first and second team All conference player. They are well coached. This is the K-State team I was talking about earlier last year when people were laughing. They have guys that have done it at other places, and Keyontae Johnson is a real star. They should be a top 4 seed come March, and could make a deep run.

Georgia played their best game of the season, and never really let off the gas. TCU needed to play their best game of the year to have a chance. They played a bad game, and Georgia took full advantage.

But TCU deserved to be there. They won their semifinal, so the only argument is that the CFP wasn’t necessary this year since UGA beat Ohio State and TCU beat Michigan because UGA was the best team all along.

@BeddieKU23 said in 2024 recruiting thread:

@Texas-Hawk-10

He could be here due to the covid year. However, the way he’s improved this season I’m wondering if that’s realistic. It would be beyond incredible if we got 2 more seasons out of him after this.

If his shot continues to improve, I could see backup PG ability at the next level. That will keep you on a roster for a decade, and if he’s smart, he will be set for life with that.

Probably only get seven. It will be tough for a team that goes 5-13 or 6-12 in the conference to make the tourney. Even if a team does decent at home (6-3 or better) losses will pile up on the road for all but the very best in the league.

KU cruised easily, but a couple issues to worry about for later in the season.

1. Self only trusts 7 guys on this roster, even in a blowout. Harris, Adams, McCullar, Dick, Wilson, Yesufu and Pettiford are the only guys Self is willing to give any run. We are vulnerable to injury or foul trouble because Self has set a tight seven man rotation. If we are healthy, we are fine, but if any of those 7 aren’t available, that’s trouble.

2. Lack of size is getting us beat up on the glass. Mizzou had 12 offensive boards. Irrelevant in a blowout, but without any size to go to off the bench, that is a continuing concern.

Great to blow out Mizzou (always). But KU has some things to sort out to prepare for March.

@jayballer67 said in Rice?:

@Jethro said in Rice?:

https://twitter.com/GamblinGauchos/status/1600152112179998721

yes it is- - it’s going to be just fine for sure. - -Wonder what Pac 12 has to say about that now.

My worry is that the Big 12 is losing two of their largest enrollment schools. The other issue is that the schools that they are adding may have lots of students, but may not have as large of alumni engagement.

Houston, for example, has nearly 40,000 students enrolled, but my guess is that if you polled students at Houston, they would be fans of other, larger schools like Texas A&M, Texas, or LSU. Their degree may say Houston, but their allegiance is to another school, particularly once they graduate. TCU (Texas, A&M) has a similar problem, as does Cincinnati (Ohio State, Louisville, Kentucky), and UCF (Florida, Florida State).

Perhaps the move to a P5 will help shift allegiances going forward, but a lot of older alums may have graduated from one, but are “fans” of another school.

BYU is the outlier here because they are the Mormon equivalent to Notre Dame. The downside is that, unlike Catholics, which are spread pretty widely across the country, Mormon populations are very heavily concentrated, so interest in BYU will be heavily in Utah, but sparse in a lot of other places.

Will Big 12 ratings be high for a title game between Baylor and K-State (random pairing) in 2025? Or will that game flop because both teams come in with two losses already?

I anticipate that most of Alabama’s starters will sit out. They may still play well against KSU, but the difference of the programs can be seen in how they are approaching this game.

Players go to K-State hoping to one day have a chance to match up with a traditional power like Alabama in a major bowl game. For KSU, that’s a huge accomplishment, as it would be for KU.

Players go to Alabama to win national championships. That’s all. For the Alabama players, this season was/is already a failure, and winning the Sugar Bowl won’t change that. Bryce Young won’t (and shouldn’t) risk his draft status on a failed season. Alabama has already won 9 Sugar bowls. Winning a tenth without a national title on the line doesn’t mean much for them.

Winning the Sugar Bowl for K-State would be potentially the greatest accomplishment in program history. It wouldn’t even make the second shelf of Alabama’s football trophy case.

It’s the same as advancing to the Sweet 16 for a lot of college basketball programs. A lot of places would hang a banner and give a raise to their entire staff for getting to the Sweet 16. At KU, that’s a down year. Sweet 16 is the floor expectation. Standing on stage hoisting a trophy on a Monday in April is the goal. Same for Bama football, except in football you already know whether you can achieve that ultimate goal right now. Bama can’t.

@stoptheflop said in Seton Hall Gameday discussion:

@drgnslayr What’s the deal with Gradey’s scoring disappearing in the second half? If he’s not going to score, maybe he just plays the first half and a bench player or several get more minutes in the second half. I sure like his first half scoring though. I doubt it’s conditioning that inhibits Gradey’s second half scoring. Gradey’s just the opposite of Wiggins, who really turned on his scoring at the 30 minute mark of the game.

Could be an issue of not having a counter for the counter yet. Gradey gets going early because guys haven’t really seen him. At some point, they adjust and the pressure is on Gradey to make an adjustment to keep rolling. Right now, he isn’t making that adjustment. I think he will in time.

Being undersized helps on the offensive boards, but hurts on the defensive glass.

On defensive rebounds, you have to get physical with your man and box him out. Trouble is, if you are significantly undersized (and at 6-7, KJ is very undersized for a 5), it can be hard to hold that position because you have to move that guy out, otherwise you don’t have an advantage when the ball comes off the rim.

On offensive rebounds, though, being undersized doesn’t necessarily hurt you because you can get off box outs with your quickness and hit gaps to knife in for rebounds before guys can make contact with you. Having big guys always helps on the glass, but it helps more on defense because if you get superior position, you have an advantage.

KU’s freshmen bigs are raw. Very raw. I knew Udeh was raw. I thought Ejifor was a bit more polished, but he is more raw than I expected from his HS performances. We may get something from them in spurts, but I don’t expect much consistency from them.

One of the tough transitions for bigs from HS to college, especially P5, is that the guards are tons better than what they are used to seeing. You think you can block a shot because HS guards can’t hit that floater. Guys in college can, and they are good at baiting you out of position (or into a foul) by hesitating that split second, or lofting the ball just out of your reach. They will draw you up the lane, then hit the cutter behind you where most HS players can’t make that pass, or don’t have a teammate with the awareness to cut into that open area. That’s why a good freshman big is so startling, and why those types of players usually aren’t in college for very long.

I think both Ejifor and Udeh will be good eventually. I think they will both help KU win games this year. But there will also be moments where you want to throw the remote because they are so raw and will make mistakes. But they have to play. Self can’t give in to the temptation to just ride his perimeter guys. He needs Ejifor and Udeh because he will need their size. Clemence too, because he’s the only one of those three that has an offensive game other than “lob threat” right now.

@Texas-Hawk-10

Houston can defend at a top 5, maybe top 3 level. That means they are in every game before it even tips. If they can score at all, they are a threat.

@DanR said in Texas Southern Game Thread:

It really is amazing how horrible big men are as freshmen. I don’t know if it’s just that they finally play against guys their own height or if pre-college coaching for bigs is non-existent. Sure, they make a big dunk or impressive block once in a while, but otherwise they’re like a chunk of gravel stuck in the machinery

It’s all of those things combined.

In HS, other than on the AAU circuit, you’re unlikely to see another big man that is both as skilled as you are (if you are a legit D1 prospect) and also as big as you. The overwhelming majority of HS players will never even sniff D1, so even D1 level guards will only see a handful of matchups each year during the HS season that really test them. But those are at least quality tests because if you’re 6-2 or 6-3, you will see guys that are similar in height. If you’re 6-9, not so much.

Most HS coaches are not very good. The better ones are strong fundamentally, but aren’t very advanced. Probably only the best 0.01% of HS coaches can really teach a D1 prospect what they need to know to succeed at the next level. Everyone else you just hope they don’t screw the player up with bad habits or fundamentals. Even the top HS coaches don’t have the time to cover the advanced stuff because you may only have one or two guys that can actually get that stuff. The majority of your HS players need to learn the fundamentals. A D1 player that only has good fundamentals and hasn’t moved on to more advanced stuff will look lost on PnR, rebound positioning, crossing actions, etc. And everything is faster, so those fundamentals will get sped up.

And coaching bigs is harder, anyway because most HS coaches were not big men, so you have a guard teaching a big guy. Our best big man development at KU happened under Danny Manning, which is not an accident. Since then, our guards have developed more quickly, but that’s no surprise on a staff full of guards. Most big men have never been coached by a good big man coach until they arrive in college.

We saw last week that KU needs MJ Rice as an offensive threat. You can’t survive the entire season with only two solid scorers. You need three. Wilson, Dick and Rice is much better than just Wilson and Dick to open up the floor.

Throw Yesufu and McCullar in as secondary options and that’s a functional offense.

Only thing left is finding some rim protection from Udeh or Ejifor. But that may come with time.

KU looked shaken in the first half, not ready for the intensity. If they are more settled in the second half, they have a shot.

@Kcmatt7 said in KU vs ksu 🦃's:

Just not talented enough to make mistakes. Our defense has to improve over the off-season

Gotta get more athletic on defense. This group has to be assignment perfect. It’s tough to operate with no margin for error.

@FarmerJayhawk said in Anyone concerned about losing Leipold to Nebraska?:

Guessing 42-24 KSU. We just don’t have the horses to go 60 minutes with them…. Yet.

K-State isn’t that much better talentwise. They look significantly better prepared, but that’s on the coaches for not having guys ready to go.

KU looks unprepared. I did not expect Leipold to have this squad look this unprepared in this game. K-State isn’t even outplaying them. It’s just mistake after mistake to give the Cats a lead.

@benshawks08 said in Box Score Musings:

@justanotherfan Back is what has been reported.

For an athletic guy that is not good. Could linger all year.

Heard on the stream last night that MJ Rice is or has been injured. Anybody know what he is dealing with? He’s another big wing player, but his availability is in question.

The Daniels hit wasn’t dirty. Because Jalon Daniels is so elusive, guys are going to naturally come flying in to help finish the tackle. The TCU player that landed on him was already pursuing to make the play if Daniels escapes the tackle. Daniels didn’t, and landed awkwardly. That’s not dirty.

In truth, the only hit that was clearly dirty was the one on Gabriel. He was sliding. The others were just normal plays.

Bryce Young got hurt this year on a similar play. QBs have to remember to protect their shoulder when they are falling or getting tackled, particularly close to the sidelines, where the grass/turf tends to have less give because it is more compact from people constantly standing there.

KJ is undersized, as noted by pretty much everyone, so if he’s our 5, any team with a decent big over 6-8 is going to be a problem for him. There’s just nothing you can do when you are giving up 2-3 inches to a guy that can actually play.

As for the others, Udeh is pretty clearly the furthest along, and should get minutes that reflect that. Ejifor is going to be a bit of a project. I think Clemence should get minutes, but I worry that he is going to be as bad a defender as we feared, possibly worse. His lateral quickness just isn’t very good, and teams can put him in bad PnR situations to exploit that. I think KU is going to have to defend PnR differently depending on which lineup is in. With KJ, you just switch everything because he can harass even quicker guards on the perimeter with his athleticism. With Udeh, you can play more straight up. With Ejifor and Clemence you probably have to ice the screen (force the defender to the nearest sideline) to limit the options of the ball handler by using the sideline as a third defender.

Having those changing strategies will require some discipline from our guards though, because they will have to be aware of which big is guarding the screen at all times. You can’t mix up that KJ just came in for Ejifor, for example, expect to ice the screen to the sideline, and miss the switch. That’s a dunk pretty much every time.

There are some pretty clear limitations for our 4/5 rotation. That will probably be the biggest thing to watch here early.

I didn’t get to watch last night’s game, but I do have some thoughts on the bigs rotation.

This is a bit of a mess (if you can call anything on a national championship contender a mess) because KU does not have a single big man that can truly do all of the different things you want out of a big man. They don’t have a lob catcher/rebounder/post up threat/ stretch shooter/ rim protector/ PnR defender in a single package.

KJ can catch lobs and defend the PnR, but his rim protection will be at issue with bigger players, and his rebounding will be roughly average. He can’t post up against bigger guys and his shooting remains to be seen, though I am probably higher on his shot potential than most. So out of those six things, KJ can probably do 2 well, 2 okay, and 2 poorly. Zach can shoot, but can’t protect the rim, guard the PnR or catch lobs. So he can do three things (post, stretch and rebound), but really can’t do the other three (protect the rim, PnR, lobs).

You can combine Zach and KJ in the lineup and that gives you 5 of the 6, but you still lack rim protection. Zuby or Udeh could protect the rim, and both look to be okay on PnR (though they are freshmen, so they will struggle against more advanced PnR players), but neither is as good a shooter as either KJ or Zach. I don’t think either is a real post threat at this moment, so basically you just get lobs with them. And while Zuby is a good rebounder, I worry about Udeh’s hands in the rebounding game. And Cam, while a good shooter and adept offensive player, is likely not a P5 level defender. He can get spot minutes for his offense, but against teams with good bigs, he will be a liability.

And with the talent KU has on the perimeter, I don’t know how much you can legitimately play 2 bigs without compromising having your best 5 on the floor. Wilson, Dick, Harris and McCullar are going to play big minutes. Rice is super talented, but may not have a spot right now. Either Yesufu or Pettiford is going to get squeezed on minutes as the season continues, especially if the big rotation remains this crowded.

KU has a lot of questions to answer over the next three weeks because the rotation is crowded and there are things that different guys do really well, but also things that they don’t do as well.

Grifol was the only internal candidate that had any chance of being hired by KC in this cycle, but like @AsadZ said, they needed a clean break from the previous regime. I expect we will see new people throughout the development chain for KC, but Grifol will probably do well in Chicago (but hopefully not too well).

The Nets never should have brought in Simmons. Simmons has lost complete confidence in his shot, but still wants to play on the perimeter. If he were a rim running 4, he would be playable, but he doesn’t want to play the 4, so he’s ineffective. He could be Draymond Green plus, but he wants to be a star that can’t shoot.

They have to blow this whole thing up. Durant traded. Irving traded, Simmons traded. Tear it down to the studs and start over.

It’s been a while since KU had a PG that had good size. Really since Tyshawn Taylor. We have had lots of good PG in that time - Mason, Graham, Harris, among them - but not a PG with this kind of size and skill in combination.

The two things I like most about him are his size, which unlocks a lot of options in his game, and his ability to change speeds. There are lots of fast PG that are fast all the time. There are lots of crafty PG that keep you off balance with their shiftiness. Jackson looks like he can do both. He can hit the afterburners if he wants, or use his first step to get by, get the defender on his hip and then manipulate the defense with his size, strength and pace.

I hope he stays at least a couple of years, but he may have NBA offers before then.

Ideally Vasko does not play at all this year. He is the guy that needs to be ready to take the reigns after Daniels leaves after next year. Him having three years to start after next season rather than two would be the best case scenario.

Adams was wrong for pushing the guy.

The photog probably should not have been there in that moment. Security tries to keep the tunnel clear as players are exiting, so that is a failure on that level.

But Adams still shouldn’t have pushed him.

Ultimately, it’s Adams’ fault this happened, but the Chiefs should have done a better job of keeping the tunnel clear, especially after what happened at the end of the first half.

Not necessarily relevant, but Master P was a pretty legitimate basketball player in his own right. He had some NBA tryouts. His own son (Percy Romeo Miller aka Lil Romeo) rode the bench at USC, but was a solid player - just too famous to be a D1 benchwarmer.

@DanR said in Initial Impressions of Top 25 and 1 Preseason Poll:

I think KJ is a guy Bill Self is going to play a LOT. Probably more than some of us would like. He already trusted him when the game was on the line last year, and he’s the only physical defender on the inside with any experience. If he can set a high screen, rebound like a beast, and throw down a lob from Harris once in a while, he’s the big man.

KJ is more of a 3/4 than a 4/5. We used him last year as a 4/5, but he came out of HS as a 3/4. I imagine with the size we brought in, he shifts back into that 3/4 role, where he can use his quickness against 4s, or his strength against 3s.

Contract negotiations for Leipold just started. I can’t see them being done yet unless KU basically handed him a blank piece of paper and told him to write whatever he wanted on it.

Had to be done

UNC should probably be #1. They are the team that went the furthest that returns more or less intact. They should be ready to roll day one.

Gonzaga and Houston lost some talent, but both have very strong returning groups. I agree with them being top 10, but maybe not top 5. Kentucky had a terrible end to the season, but they have a ton of talent as well (cooked KU last year).

Is Baylor better than KU? Hard to say. Depends on how KU’s newcomers look. But Baylor will probably be good if they are healthy.

Duke is overranked, but I think people are seeing the name, and not all of the changes coming. Will Duke still be Duke after Coach K? We have no way of knowing the answer to that.

@BeddieKU23 said in Anyone concerned about losing Leipold to Nebraska?:

@DanR

I think you could add Miami to that group as well

The difference between Nebraska, Tennessee, and Miami is that Miami is still smack in the middle of one of the best football recruiting areas in the country. Within 90 miles of campus there are dozens of D1 prospects every year. If you could convince those kids to stay local, Miami could turn around their program in two years. That’s not the case at Tennessee, and definitely not the case at Nebraska.

KU is as good a job as Nebraska right now, maybe even better. Better recruiting area (KC metro superior to Omaha/Lincoln), more reasonable fan expectations, improving facilities.

Wisconsin is a tough job as well. How do you recruit against Ohio State, Michigan, etc. You don’t have tons of recruits local, so you have to be able to go to Chicago, Ohio/Michigan/Pennsylvania for players.

Not saying that KU is a much better recruiting ground, but matching expectations to reality, KU is the more reasonable job.

This may be a happy medium. Someone that recruits will recognize because of his work on NBA on TNT, but not someone that donors will be uncomfortable with. Usually when you split the difference, you end up making nobody happy, though, so it could easily be a dud.

@Kcmatt7 said in Jalon Daniels for Heisman?:

I do think he is going to need to score 45+ TDs between his arm and his leg to win. CJ Stroud is off to a SCORCHING start and is going to throw like 50 TDs this season.

The season he needs to be trying to emulate is the RGIII 2011 Heisman season. If that isn’t enough to get it done, considering the insane turnaround that would be KU football in this scenario, I don’t know what would.

I agree. KU would need to go 10-2 or 11-1, plus have JD6 throw for 38+ TD and run for 14+ TD for him to actually win the Heisman. But if we are just talking about being a finalist, 8-4 KU with 30 something passing TD and double digit rush TD is enough.

Jalon Daniels has been great so far this season. There are a lot of reasons why KU is undefeated going into October, but Jalon Daniels is at the top of that list. He has been a revelation at QB. So how good has he been this year?

On Saturday against Duke, Daniels was 19-23 for 324 yards and 4 touchdowns, and added 83 yards and a TD on 11 carries. He was great. Which got me thinking, is Jalon Daniels a Heisman candidate?

So I went back and looked at the last three years of Heisman trophy finalists that were QBs to see their stats and where Daniels stacks up through 4 games.

First, Daniels’ numbers through 4 games

66-93, 890 yards, 11 TDs, 1 INT passing, 38 carries, 320 yards, 4 TD rushing

Team is 4-0

So the first step is obviously staying healthy. Daniels will need to play in all 12 of KU’s scheduled games to merit a surprise Heisman bid. The second is that Daniels will need to keep winning. No matter how well he plays, he won’t be a Heisman finalist if KU is 5-7. KU needs at least 8 or 9 wins to get Daniels invited to NY.

So now the numbers. Through 4 games, the accuracy is comparable to all of the finalists. Mac Jones was obviously super efficient in 2020, but Daniels is above 70%, which is where he needs to be.

He’s also throwing for enough scores without turning the ball over. Setting aside Joe Burrow’s tour de force in 2019, passing for 40+ TDs with under 10 picks is a good measuring stick. Daniels will need to bump up the yards, though. He won’t be considered for the Heisman as a QB with only about 2500 yards passing. He needs to average closer to 250 yards per game the rest of the regular season.

Where he may set himself apart is his running. There was no way that Jalen Hurts was beating Joe Burrow in 2019. There was no way anyone was with Burrow’s numbers. But throwing for over 3800 yards and running for almost 1300 more was plenty to get invited to New York. No other recent Heisman QB has run as much. Daniels is on pace to run the ball over 200 times and, if he does that, should crack the 1000 yard mark.

So what does Jalon Daniels need to do to get invited to the Heisman ceremony.

1. Stay healthy
2. Win 8 or more regular season games
3. Pass for over 2800 yards in the regular season
4. Rush for over 1000 yards in the regular season
5. Throw 35 or more TD passes
6. Throw 10 or fewer interceptions
7. Run for 12 or more TDs
8. Complete 70% of his passes

If he can do that and KU ranks in the top 25 at the end of the regular season, he will be considered for the Heisman. The good news is that he is doing a great job of all of those things right now, with a chance for some showcase games against Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Baylor in time for Heisman voters to see him play. If he tosses up a the type of game he had Saturday against one of those teams in a win or a narrow loss, that may propel him into the conversation.

Games to circle are the final two games - Texas and KState. If Daniels is to make it to NY for the ceremony, it will require a “Heisman moment.” A 300 yard passing, 150 yard rushing, 5 total TD performance against Texas (because its Texas) or in a rivalry game could be the final thing Heisman voters need to see, especially if it comes in a win.

So am I crazy, or not crazy?

@jayballer67 said in 2023 croots:

Tre Richardson touched the ball 5 times last night - - scored 5 times – Highland Park wins 74-0 - - This kid needs to be on the roster, he wants to be RB - - KU has offered WR - he needs to wake up this could always switch later

His mom wants him to go to KU, or at least stay in state. I think he commits to KU by the end of the year as an athlete. KU is super deep at RB, but a guy like him is dangerous in space. If I were him, I would switch to WR for the simple fact that his chances of being a pro at his size (5-10, 165) are better at WR than they are at RB.