Duke vs Kansas: 5 biggest questions for 2019 Champions Classic matchup
By Brian Rauf
2) How will Kansas work out their frontcourt rotation?
As all of basketball goes to a more pace-and-space, perimeter-focused style, Kansas finds most of their strength on the block.
Star big man and Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year Udoka Azubuike is back and should dominate the interior for Kansas for a third consecutive year. He and Devon Dotson (we’ll talk more about him later) are clearly Bill Self’s two best players, yet two of the next best are also true big men in the finally eligible Silvio De Sousa and former McDonald’s All-American David McCormack.
The Jayhawks don’t much proven depth, so these three are going to see significant playing time. The challenge for Self is figuring out how to use them effectively.
Azubuike is going to start and be used heavily. That much is obvious. In an ideal world for Kansas, De Sousa and McCormack will rotate next to him and will likely be on the court themselves whenever Azubuike takes a short break. However, as we’ve learned, playing two true big men on the blocks really hurts spacing and limits opportunities around the rim for penetrating perimeter players.
It also hurts Kansas that two of their key wing players, Ochai Agbaji and Marcus Garrett, are not great shooters, further hurting their spacing.
Will Self choose to go the more traditional two-big route in hopes of dominating inside, and will it work? Or will he try to use just one big on the court and try to stretch KU’s thin depth on the perimeter? Will he try to play De Sousa or McCormack out position?
How Self approaches this problem will be key in determining their chances in this game, and how they perform in that style could tell us something about KU’s national championship hopes.