@FarmerJayhawk Why do you say UCLA?

I can’t think of a comp either. Maybe Conner Teahan with better shooting and athleticism.

Andrew White?

Mason also morphed himself from a 32.7% 3-point shooter his freshman season into a 47.1% 3-point shooter his senior season. It would be nice if Dotson could follow suit, though he will almost certainly not have the same amount of time to do it as Mason did.

@KUSTEVE He has more talent than Frank for sure. But Frank had (and still has) an iron will and very strong work ethic. Frank willed himself to being a npoy and into the nba. That said, I’m high on Dotson too and hope he starts.

@DanR I’m looking forward to Doke/Konate matchups too. I’m hoping Doke doesn’t get a technical called on him for standing this time in Morgantown. We know Konate won’t get called for a technical despite flexing and trash-talking every time he does anything. I’m still mad about that if you can’t tell.

It hurt me to put two kitties on the first team, but Brown and Wade are pretty much the team.

I would put Grimes first team if he played for any other team in the Big 12.

Fisher is the one I feel least confident in because of his knee.

Team 1: Brown, Wigginton, Wade, Lawson, Konate

Team 2: Fisher, Grimes, Bane, Lard, Azubuike

POY: Lawson

DPOY: Konate

In the Bill Self Era, Kansas team points per game are as follows:

03-04: 75.7 ppg

04-05: 75.0 ppg

05-06: 74.3 ppg

06-07: 78.4 ppg

07-08: 80.2 ppg

08-09: 76.4 ppg

09-10: 81.6 ppg

10-11: 81.2 ppg

11-12: 73.9 ppg

12-13: 75.2 ppg

13-14: 75.2 ppg

14-15: 71.1 ppg

15-16: 80.2 ppg

16-17: 83.2 ppg

17-18: 81.3 ppg

Kansas has had six teams that averaged over 80 points per game. In those seasons, the team’s 3-Point Field Goal Percentages were:

07-08: 39.7 3P%

09-10: 40:4 3P%

10-11: 38.2 3P%

15-16: 41.3 3P%

16-17: 40.4 3P%

17-18: 40.1 3P%

I’m not sure that this season’s KU team will even have a player that shoots better than any of those averages. Maybe a few players will surprise us and shoot lights out, but it will be hard for KU to be at 85 points per game unless that happens. On the other hand, I’m not sure KU has ever had a group of players this dynamic in the front and back court in the Bill Self era. So it’s a bit hard to judge for that reason. In my opinion this seasons Kansas team is going to more closely resemble some of the juggernaut Kentucky teams in terms of dynamic ability, but with a little bit less talent and more experience. For what it’s worth, Kentucky’s two best teams under Calipari (the 11-12 and 14-15 teams) were not great 3-point shooting teams or great scoring teams. The 11-12 team averaged 77.6 points per game and shot 37.7% from 3. The team that a lot of Wildcats fans consider to be the best Kentucky team despite not winning a national championship was the 14-15 team that went 38-1 and lost to Wisconsin in the final four. They averaged 74.4 points per game and shot 34.9% from 3. So the good news for this season’s Kansas team is that there is precedent for being really really good without being a fantastic 3-point shooting team.

I think this season’s Kansas team will average 79 points per game, allow 63 points per game, and shoot 36% from 3. The only way they average more than 85 points per game is if Roy Williams comes back to coach.

I think Self will go with 9 players: Dotson, Grimes, Vick, Dedric, Doke and Garrett, Moore, KJ, and De Sousa. That leaves McCormack, Lightfoot and Agbaji. In my opinion McCormack should be the first player off the bench in that group. He’s almost in his own category. Maybe we can call him a super reserve. He can play if a player is ineligible, or if there’s foul trouble, or if a player is injured, or if Self is just pissed off at the regular rotation players for some reason.

The two bench players who I am really excited for are Garrett and De Sousa. Both players had good moments as freshman last season (Garrett throughout the season and De Sousa at the end). Garrett was above-average at just about everything except shooting. And the rumor is he’s been working on that this offseason. If he can become an average shooter, or at least improve his free-throw shooting, I would seriously consider starting him. De Sousa kind of reminds me of a more skilled and bigger Jamari Traylor. He has the most upside of any big man on the team and I would give him as many minutes as possible.