Kansas Basketball: Can the Jayhawks fix their flaws?
By Bryan Mauro
Reinforcements are on the way for the Kansas Jayhawks but will it be enough?
For the last 13 years the Big 12 has had the same conference champion.
Most expected the same result this year; however, it appears that there may be a changing of the guard in the league. The Kansas Jayhawks have seemingly struggled, at least by their standards, out of the gate. The Jayhawks appear to have many flaws. It is a bad year to be a team with flaws, in a Big 12 that is seemingly loaded.
Perhaps one of the most glaring flaws for the Jayhawks is that they appear “soft” as head coach Bill Self has said numerous times. Self is a brutally honest coach, who tells things like it is. He has also had some of the best overall teams in the country in his tenure at Kansas. If he calling the team “soft” it is probably strategic to hopefully have his team play better. However, it seems as if there may be some truth to those comments.
The Jayhawks do not lack in talent, as they are loaded with McDonald’s All Americans, and are a matchup nightmare for many teams. This Kansas team, unlike virtually every Kansas team in Self’s tenure, lacks the killer instinct. At points this year Kansas has worked the game to a double-digit lead, just to watch it evaporate minutes later. They don’t appear to be a great rebounding team and have many moments of not sharing the ball overly well.
One of the biggest culprits at time of not sharing the ball is starting point guard Malik Newman. Newman is known as a volume shooter, and often he has terrible shot selection. His shot selection leads to no offensive flow. Newman is a talented kid and is used to being the guy, but, if Kansas wants to maximize their success, Newman needs to make sure he is doing all he can to get everyone involved.
Kansas has many consistent scorers but has a tendency to all bunch together at times and have no floor spacing. Udoka Azubuike and Devante’ Graham have been two of the better players in the country and at times have been dominant. The Jayhawks do rely on these guys way too much, and, on many offensive possessions, Graham is often left taking a bad shot or drawing the entire defense. Azubuike is limited offensively; he doesn’t shoot any jump shots. Azubuike is an explosive dunker, and that is all he does on offense. His size does give most teams a problem, and he is dynamite off of the pick and roll.
Other than being “soft,” one of the most glaring issues with the Jayhawks is their depth. Kansas only plays eight guys but only the starting five seems to contribute. Mitch Lightfoot is the back up big man and has moments of brilliance but does not play enough to make a big enough contribution. Marcus Garrett is a true freshman who has been a disappointment by Kansas standards. At times, it looks as if Garrett is lost, and he has dreadful shooting numbers at this point in the season. The last player Kansas plays off the bench is mid-season Arizona State transfer Sam Cunliffe. Cunliffe has only played in 4 games and has yet to make his mark on the program.
Depth reinforcements may be coming shortly for the Jayhawks in the way of talented bigs, which should help Azuibuike with his stamina so he can be dominant the entire game. Kansas is going to get early enrollee Silvio De Souza within the next 2 weeks. It remains to be seen how effective De Souza will be, but, if he picks up where he left off at his IMG Academy career, De Souza should be explosive and quite an asset to Kansas down the stretch of the season.
The biggest mystery in the nation — and also Kansas — is the status of Billy Preston. Preston is a McDonald’s All American, a game-changing talent out of Oak Hill Academy, who has yet to play a single minute for the Jayhawks this year. In the preseason, Billy Preston was involved in a single car accident on campus. This kicker to this story is that the car was not registered to him. Kansas first suspended Preston, and now both Kansas and Preston sit in limbo with the NCAA as they await his playing status. Coach Self is confident that both De Souza and Preston will be eligible by the end of the month.
These players alone are not going to fix Kansas basketball for the 2017-2018 season. The new additions will help Kansas and may cover up a few flaws. For Kansas to be successful the rest of the year, their senior leaders need to ignite this team and show the younger kids what Kansas basketball is all about. LaGerald Vick and Graham are the leaders and need to lead as such. They need to hold players and themselves accountable. Plus Kansas just needs to put a typical Kansas beating on a team to get their confidence back.
If Kansas is not able to find a way to play normally Kansas basketball this year, the typical fun nights at the Phog could turn into very long nights at the Phog. Kansas lost all three games this year on their home soil. That is unheard of in the Bill Self era.
The Jayhawks are not in danger of missing the NCAA tournament. While they will still make the tournament, they may not receive their normal seeding, as this is down year for Kansas. With the potential lower seeding in the tournament, and with Kansas noticeable flaws.
The Jayhawks may be looking at an early exit in the NCAA tournament; however, it always seems when everyone expects them to take an early exit they make a run. Could this year be the same?