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Kansas Jayhawks Basketball: The Curious Case of Wayne Selden

By Matt Ostrowski

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The date was October 10, 2014, and thousands of fans were packed into the University of Kansas’ Phog Allen Fieldhouse.

It was the annual “Late Night in the Phog”, and all these Jayhawk fans were excited to get a sneak peek at the upcoming season’s team during the intrasquad game.

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Wayne Selden was everywhere! Driving to the hoop, finishing through contact, dunking, and sinking three-pointers. He finished the night with a game-high 17 points on 7 of 12 from the floor. In a game that was just 20 minutes long.

As everyone filed out of the fieldhouse, I turned towards my friend and uttered something that, in retrospect, was so ridiculous it’s now humorous: “Wayne Selden is going to get All-America hype this year, and he might even earn himself some Player of the Year votes.”

The point of this story isn’t for all of you reading this to wonder what on earth I was thinking (but seriously, what WAS going through my head?), but rather to show you just how high the expectations were for Wayne Selden last season.

According to Rivals, Selden came into his freshman campaign at Kansas as the 12th best freshman in the country, ahead of guys like Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Tyler Ennis, and Bobby Portis, all of who are now collecting checks for millions of dollars in the NBA.

When Jayhawk fans were asked about the coming season, their answer probably sounded something like “Man, we have Wiggins AND Selden on the wing?! They’re going to be unstoppable!”

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But Selden was good, not great in his freshman campaign. Playing in Andrew Wiggins‘ shadow, Selden was relegated to a spot-up shooter on offense, something that didn’t fit the game of a guy that came in as a slasher (as he shot just 33% from 3-point range).

But he still managed to have some sparkling moments, and even gave then point guard Naadir Tharpe some occasional rest by sliding over to the point guard spot, showing a good ability to make plays and find the open man, posting a decent assist rate and shooting 53% on twos, a great mark for a guard. Still, his usage percentage ranked just fifth among the Jayhawks’ eight rotation players that season.

In what was a surprise to nobody, Andrew Wiggins announced after that season that he would be entering the 2014 NBA draft.

In what was a bit more of a surprise, it was also announced that Selden would have arthroscopic surgery on his left knee, an injury he had been dealing with for the latter half of the 2014 season, perhaps explaining his poor play during March Madness.

Now, for the 2015 season, it was his team. Wiggins was gone, the ball would be in his hands, and he would be healthy.

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    • But of course, those expectations weren’t met. Selden regressed in a way that made some wonder how he was so highly touted in the first place.

    He was completely invisible for so many offensive possessions, just standing in the corner hoping that someone would find him for an open three (which is the one area of his game he did improve on, shooting 36.5%). His usage only went up to 20%, good for only fifth among the Jayhawks eight rotation players again.

    He shot just 39% from inside the arc. When he would get to the rim, he often missed the layup as he searched for contact that wasn’t there, or just tried to completely avoid the contact altogether, flinging the ball at the basket, hoping for a foul call.

    His athleticism that was so praised also disappeared, as missed dunks seemingly became the highlight of Selden’s season…

    and when he looked to pass, he almost always made the wrong one. Notice when this video pauses, he had Landen Lucas available for a lob, and Kelly Oubre in the corner for a wide open three. Instead, he throws it three feet behind him to Jamari Traylor, who struggles to score from anywhere outside of a foot from the basket, thus bricking the jump shot. Terrible decision!

    But in this summer’s World University Games, the Selden that Kansas fans thought they were getting two years ago finally showed up. Selden led the whole tournament in scoring at just over 19 points a game, and earned himself the award for the tournament’s best player as he led Team USA to the gold. He was finishing in the lane…

    making the right pass…

    and his praised athleticism seemed to be back.

    If the Selden from this summer’s World University Games is the one the Jayhawks get this season, there’s no reason they won’t be a legitimate top 5 team in the country, with a real shot at a Final Four appearance. With him and Mason pacing things in the backcourt, Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk making an improvement on the wing to replace Oubre, and Perry Ellis in the post, the offense figures to be very, very good.

    But if Selden reverts to last year’s form, it could be a long year for the Jayhawks with another exit in the round of 32. With the Big 12 being as good as ever (thanks mostly to Buddy Hield and Georges Niang), that could put Kansas’ streak of Big 12 regular season championships on the line.

    But for now, let’s enjoy the Wayne Selden that showed up this summer, because it sure was a ball to watch. How could I forget to mention this cold-blooded, game-tying three from NBA range?

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