What does Devonte Graham mean to the Jayhawks?

“I’m not sure who the best player on Kansas is this season, and quite frankly, it might be Devonte Graham.”

When this was spoken inside a gym full of guys that all watch college basketball rigorously, it was met with a fair bit of criticism. Of course, just a few hours later, with the Jayhawks down two late in the second half, it was Graham who came up with one of the biggest plays of the game:

But still, why Devonte Graham? On paper, his numbers aren’t all that gaudy: 11 points, three rebounds, and three assists per game on 45% from the floor and 43% from the three-point line.

Those numbers are solid for a starting guard in college basketball, but is that really good enough for someone to consider him the best player on the number-one team in college basketball?

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However, Graham’s value goes far beyond anything any traditional stat-line will tell you. Look a little deeper and you’ll see that he’s only turning the ball over .9 times per game. His assist to turnover ratio is a very good 3.69. Not quite Monte Morris territory, but still a great number.

Look just a little bit deeper, and you’ll notice that he’s averaging 1.9 steals per game.

Ok, so what?

Well, recently, Kansas has had a bit of trouble forcing turnovers. Whether it’s a coincidence or not, they have failed to make it out of the first weekend of the NCAA tournament in both of the past two seasons. In 2012-13, they lost in the Sweet 16.

In all three of those seasons, they also failed to crack the top 90 in the country in turnovers forced. This year, the Jayhawks sit at 48th in turnovers forced, mostly thanks to Graham and his thievery.

Even better: the last time the Jayhawks cracked the top 50 in turnovers forced? 2011-12, when they made a run all the way to the National Championship Game before ultimately losing to Kentucky.

Not to mention that Graham’s 1.9 steals per game is much better than any KU guard in recent history. You would have to go back five years to 2010-11 to find the last Kansas guard to average 1.5 steals per game, and that was Tyrel Reed.

The last time a Kansas guard averaged over 1.5 steals per game was the devilish championship backcourt of Mario Chalmers and Russell Robinson, who both did so (Graham’s backcourt mate Frank Mason is also averaging 1.9 steals per game this year).

Kansas Jayhawks /

Kansas Jayhawks

So what’s so important about steals? What’s so important about forcing turnovers?

Not only does a steal rob the opposing team of getting a shot up, but steals often result in layups at the other end. It turns good defense, into easy offense.

For example, Graham completely changed the feeling of the Oklahoma game with the steal I showed above. Oklahoma went from having an opportunity to go up four with under four minutes remaining in the game. Instead, Kansas went up one.

And it seemed to me, at that point, that Graham is better than most at turning steals into layups at the other end. So, I went through all of Kansas’ play-by-plays from this season (excluding the Chaminade game as there was not one available) and took a look at every one of Devonte Graham’s steals.

Overall, I tracked 23 steals. Of those 23 steals, 11 of them resulted in immediate layups. One resulted in a put-back after a missed layup. Four resulted in fouls being drawn. Two resulted in made jumpers. He pulled one of them back to run the offense. And only four of them resulted in a missed shot.

That means that off of Devonte Graham steals, Kansas either scores, or gets fouled, 83% of the time. For comparisons sake, his teammate Frank Mason is also averaging 1.9 steals per game. But Kansas only scores off of 65% of those steals.

Watch here as Graham gets a steal on the baseline, yet still manages to outrun everyone and get a layup for Mason:

And of course, he has plenty of highlights eerily similar to his steal and bucket in the Oklahoma game:

So next time someone asks you about the Jayhawks, make sure you mention Devonte Graham’s name. Sure, he may not be their best player. It could be Perry Ellis. It could be Wayne Selden. It could Mason. Nobody knows for sure.

Next: Caris LeVert's Status Still Uncertain Ahead of Key Stretch

But one thing is for sure: Devonte Graham is completely changing the dynamic of this Kansas team. They’re now turning good defense into offense, and that’s not something they’ve done much of recently.

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