Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Cause for Concern or Precaution? No Darryn Peterson in Jayhawks' 71-35 Exhibition Win vs Fort Hays

Episode Date: October 29, 2025

Kansas Jayhawks star freshman Darryn Peterson missed the exhibition game against Fort Hays State due to cramping and illness. Could this become a recurring concern for a roster built entirely around h...im? Or is this a small precaution that will be just a blip on the radar for KU?Derek Johnson breaks down the Jayhawks' 71-35 victory, spotlighting Melvin Council's breakout 16-point performance and the intensifying battle between Bryson Tiller, Paul Mbiya and Flory Bidunga for the starting center role. The analysis covers critical shooting concerns with Kohl Rosario's continued struggles, spacing issues in the half-court offense, and why Kansas may need to embrace a defensive-minded "rock fight" identity this season. Bill Self's assessment that the team looked "dull, boring, lacked energy" raises questions about offensive execution heading into the regular season.Key discussions include the big man rotation puzzle, rebounding dominance versus Fort Hays State, and whether KU has enough shooting to complement their defensive athleticism.Discover why this exhibition revealed more concerns than celebrations for Kansas basketball's championship aspirations.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!PelotonLet yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread+ today at https://www.onepeloton.com.DoorDashWith DoorDash Streaks, you save every Saturday you order — stack it up all season and you could save up to $250. Order this Saturday. Keep the streak alive. Fuel your gameday — only with DoorDash. Terms apply. Promo period through 11/18.MazdaIt’s the small details that make the big plays. And just like there’s more to every player, there’s more to a Mazda vehicle. Mazda. Move and Be Moved. GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 This wound up being more than just an exhibition against Fort Hay State. Darren Peterson was hurt and missed the game. Melvin Council looked really good. Do we have a debate about how many minutes some of the different centers should be getting? We break it all down on this episode of Lock on Jayhawk. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team, Every day.
Starting point is 00:00:32 What's going on? Derek Johnson here. This is Locked on Jayhawks. Thanks to make it to your first listen every day. And thank you the everydayers catching each and every episode of the show. We are free and available anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. And on today's edition of the show, we are recapping KU taking down Fort Hay State, 71 to 35 in kind of an ugly exhibition game. I only want to make Tony Bennett proud. and we're going to break that down.
Starting point is 00:01:00 What went down in the game who looked good, everything like that, what's next for KU? But we're also going to break down Darren Peterson because he did not play in the game. KU superstar freshman wound up sitting out with cramps and soreness that was later kind of defined from Bill Self as a possible kind of sick bug type of things. We're going to break it all down on this episode of the show
Starting point is 00:01:20 as well as the game recap. And today's episode is brought to you by Fandual. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you'll get $300 and bonus bet to use across the app. Download the Fandual app today. So Kansas wins 71 to 35, but honestly, it's not often that you can, I don't know, almost like have the main topic of your show before the game actually happens, which is kind of what happened here with the Darren Peterson injury. We're going to get into what happened in the game and who looked good and everything
Starting point is 00:01:47 like that. But I do think the biggest headline here is Darren Peterson not playing in the game. And, you know, on its surface value, having your star player who has a chance to be the number one picking the NBA draft who has the chance to be a first team all-American big 12 player the year has a chance to be the wooden award winner is a chance to be the best player in the country having that player you know again in a vacuum who's not feeling 100% not suiting up for your exhibition game against the d2 school it's like for face value it's like okay whatever right it's more of the question of like is this going to be a long-term thing what specifically happened here what does this all mean right on its face value it could mean
Starting point is 00:02:28 nothing. But if this is something that leads into other games down the road on the season, it becomes problematic because KU built this roster around Darren Peterson. And I mean, any team would be, you know, screwed to a certain extent if they didn't have their best player, right? But from the Kansas perspective, with the way it's been built with a lot of role players around Darren Peterson, it would be to the 10th degree, right? You don't have that other kind of star player that you feel like, hey, if Peterson's out tonight, can they go get to 25 points? I don't know. Maybe somebody could, but I don't think it would be like, the expectation necessarily.
Starting point is 00:02:59 And so it's obviously not good. Like you go back to the different explanations. We heard kind of in the week that Peterson was dealing with some cramping issues and soreness from the cramping. And that's kind of what limited him in the second half against Louisville in that exhibition game. We also heard from Bill Self in a pregame interview, just done with Great Gurley, about, you know, that he's dealing with some like a bug.
Starting point is 00:03:26 I don't know, it could be interpreted a lot of different ways, like a sick bug, a stomach bug, like, I don't know, whatever. And it's entirely possible those two things are related, right? Like, what if he has stomach flu and that's causing him to be dehydrated and by being dehydrated, it's causing him to have cramps? Like, that would be a natural correlation that you could kind of go between them. It's also been a while since those things have happened. And it's like, are these different things? Or maybe the first of his cramps, maybe now it's a stomach quick thing. It's also like, okay, if it's about stomach bug, why is he on the sideline with the other players, other team?
Starting point is 00:03:55 I don't know. I don't know. There's a lot of questions you kind of have here. What exactly is going on? And, you know, it is one thing to be like, okay, well, I don't know. I'm just struggling to think of this. Like, I can't think of a player missing a game for cramps specifically. And again, maybe it's more the sick bug type of thing that makes sense that Bill itself kind of brought up there. Because you think a player is like having to miss time in a game or maybe not coming back in a game after they go out with cramps. But I can't think of somebody just like straight up not playing the whole game. because of cramps, right? You would think that would be something that you could, hey, I've cramps two hours before the game. Okay, we're going to have you, give you an IV. We're going to have you drink water. We're going to have you massage it out or whatever it is that, like, you'll at least be able to start the game and then we'll see where it goes from there.
Starting point is 00:04:39 And obviously, like cramps are one of those things we saw with Cooper Flagg last year. Like that was kind of a nagging injury early in the air for him that kept him out at certain moments. It didn't cause him. I don't think to miss any games specifically. But it is something that, you know, kept coming up for him. And so that's the thing here with Darren Peterson, where it's like, okay, it causes you.
Starting point is 00:04:55 to miss a game that didn't really matter at the end of the day. But if it does cause you to miss more time or other games, your key moments late in games, then that's where it kind of becomes a problem for KU. So it's entirely possible. They're just being super precautionary here. But this is the thing that makes it weird to me, is that Bill Self is not typically one who, like, it could be a random pickup game in my backyard. But if Bill Self's coaching it, he's going to want to win and he's going to want every player on the team to play and play hard. It doesn't matter of the competition if Bill Self is that big of a competitor. And so like, it would not be very Bill-like to just be like, hey, you know what? We don't need to, you know, I want to get the
Starting point is 00:05:33 other guys' reps. And I know what you are and you have. You don't need the reps. The other guys, that would not be Bill Self. That is not Bill Self to a T at all, right? Is it possible at all that Darren Peterson's camp is, you know, sitting there like, hey, this game doesn't really matter. Like, he's not feeling 100%. We don't want him playing. And I don't know if there's something to that like I do think there is something to the idea that like I don't know like we'll get into this a little bit later but like I don't think Darren Peterson jerseys are for sale yet I don't think that's a KU thing um and so it's like is there I don't say this to make it sound like it's some horrible like relationship I just mean like from a standpoint is there some power there
Starting point is 00:06:14 from his team like that if if they want a decision it's happening that way right and you can understand because it's Darren Peterson and you deal with those things right um so I I don't know. I don't entirely know. Maybe I'm just completely wrong on how bad cramps are, how the bug was, or whatever it is. But when I go back to the quote the Bill Self gave to the press conference of Greg Gurley, that part certainly adds to my intrigue where, you know, the way he says it, he says it's a bug or something. Like, as if he's kind of just dismissing it to be like, yeah, I'm not really too happy about this that it's forcing him to miss a game. But again, maybe that's just where, you know, if it is just precautionary and it is just a one-time thing, like no big deal,
Starting point is 00:06:59 but if it is something that happens later in the season, obviously, then it becomes a bigger deal. So we'll approach it if it gets to that point a little bit later. But, you know, especially with how good Darren Peterson is, like, you don't want to be him to be missing any time there. Now, it did give you the opportunity to have some of these other players kind of step up in a very real way. And it definitely gave you the opportunity to see for better or for worse, what some of these players and what this team would look like, like in the half court, for instance, without Darren Peterson, and it wasn't great returns necessarily. I think Bill Self said this quote after the game. I didn't think it was great by any
Starting point is 00:07:35 stretch. I thought we were dull, boring, lacked energy, except for one guy, obviously, and he's talking about Melvin Council there. He said there were some things defensively that were okay, but we didn't create havoc, which, you know, it's kind of true. They didn't have a bunch of steals or anything like that. But, you know, that's what you miss when you don't have Darren Peterson. And I think that kind of sums up the game. So let's get a little bit more into the summerization of the game. Then we'll get into some of our awards, stats of the game and game balls and all that stuff, big as positives and negatives. This is locked on Jayhawks. Today's episode of LOJ is brought to you by Mazda. Mazda crafts cars for those who do more than simply move. From footwork
Starting point is 00:08:14 to breathwork, athletes sweat all the details. Mazda brings the same intention to how we craft every model. You can make everyday drives feel like anything but from smooth handling to intuitive controls. With all-wheel drive standard in every crossover SUV, you can drive with confidence through almost any season. Like our players, we sweat every detail because when you make every move count impossible becomes irrelevant. Mazda move and be moved. Thanks for joining us on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks, Kansas win 71 to 35 without Darren Peterson. It wasn't the prettiest game for KU, but you win by 36. And I think if we're to look at this one, like, this is going to be a Kansas team, especially if Peterson's not out on the court, like you're going to have to win
Starting point is 00:08:59 in some rock fight ways. And so obviously rock fight with the D2 team is a little bit different, but again, you more than doubled up the score and won by 36. I think some of the biggest positives, certainly from this game, you look to Melvin Council, 16 points, 5 of 6 from the floor. He had six assists to just one turn. over and he did all that in 23 minutes, he was really good. And you saw it in a lot of different ways. My favorite play of the game, if we're to loop in play of the game with this too, it was the loose ball. I forget who forced the loose ball or if it was just kind of an unforced loose ball, but the ball was kind of in the middle. And all of a sudden, like, there's, there's, I don't
Starting point is 00:09:36 know, four or five players between the two teams converging on the ball. And Melvin counsel jets through the middle, grabs it, hits his top gear super fast, takes it all the way to the rim and dunks it. And that was just a play where you saw the tenacity, you saw the fierceness, you saw the athleticism. I'm getting up to Dunk. You saw the speed. I mean, he can get to that top gear when he does. He's a blur. So that was my favorite play of the game. And, you know, that was really good by Melvin Council. So really impressed with, with his performance in this one. Again, you take some of these with a grain of salt given the competition. But the Louisville game, the shot wasn't falling, but I thought he was still doing some nice things. So the
Starting point is 00:10:13 process was there. The shot wasn't falling. That is part of his repertoire, that he's not always known for being a guy who the shot's going to fall, but I liked what I've seen so far from him through a couple of games for KU. You know, Trey White had 12.6 rebounds, but it didn't feel like Bill Self was too pleased with his game in the aftermath. I thought one of the other positives for KU, honestly, was the big basketball looked good. Now, maybe this is just a product of you're playing a smaller team in Fort Hay State, and so playing too big basketball is going to look even better because it's an even bigger size advantage. And then even when it wasn't too big basketball, I felt like Paul and Bia obviously was very good.
Starting point is 00:10:50 I mean, nine points, nine rebounds in 12 minutes. That's incredible production. You look at Bryson Tiller, I thought he really backed up what he did in the first game as much as you can. 10 points, seven rebounds on four of six shooting. And so I thought those guys look good for KU. It was a bit more of a struggle, though, for Florida Bedunga, six points, nine rebounds. He's 05 at the line. Only three of nine from the floor had a couple turnovers.
Starting point is 00:11:13 And Bilsov kind of said, like, he wasn't really doing the things that are the strengths of his game. He was getting a bit out of his element is what he kind of said after the game. Is it something where, you know, I'm expecting Florida to not start or I'm expecting one of these other guys to start over him or start eating into his minutes? Not necessarily, but I do think it is interesting of note that if we were to say who's been the best big man through two games, I think you would say Bryson Tiller is the answer. And so again, I think my, my pick would still be here. Who's going to be KU's best big man this season and come the end of the year? Florida Bedungo would still be my pick.
Starting point is 00:11:47 But if you were to ask the question a month ago of what percentage chance would you give Bryson Tiller to be the best big man on this roster? If you would ask KU fans that a month ago, including if you would ask me a month ago, I don't know, some KU fans have been very high on Bryson Tiller. And shout out to them, tip of the cap to them, because he's looking really, really good. You know, maybe the ones who were higher on this team would have added it, I don't know, 30% or something like that. I probably would have had it in single digit percentages, mostly because of how high I've been on Florida Budunga.
Starting point is 00:12:20 That number's rising. I don't know what that number would be at right now, but it's like if you ask me again, like what odds would I need? If I had to, if sports book of Derek and I was giving out a, I don't even know how you would measure this, who's going to be the best big at the end of the season for KU basketball?
Starting point is 00:12:36 What would the odds on Bryson Tiller be for me to be like, oh, I'd want to bet that. Would it be three to one? Would that be enough? Would it be two to one? Would it be five to one? I don't know. But what would the odds?
Starting point is 00:12:44 But whatever that number is, it's rising. He's been really good through two games. And KU needs a little bit more out of Flory. I do think a little tough matchup sometimes when you are playing smaller teams for Biggs because it can be a little bit of, hey, you're getting swarmed, you're getting double-teamed because they kind of have to. And that can be a little bit of a different matchup. There are also more of a half-court game in this one,
Starting point is 00:13:05 which is probably going to favor Tiller over Flore because Tiller's more skilled on the offensive end of the floor. That's going to be helpful there. Whereas if it's a more transition game like Tiller, is good in transition too but maybe florrie capitalizes on that a little bit more so i don't know certainly something to keep an eye on like again florrie's going to start i still think florrie's going to be the best big man on the team but you know and it's not just because florrie it's because how good tiller has been you are starting to wonder okay where is that now with mbia a little bit
Starting point is 00:13:33 more of a raw player there again that production is insane i don't know like they're too often where he's bringing the basketball down and like some little things there um i still think he's a really raw player, it is nice, though, to be like, hey, even if he's really raw, he's so gigantic, it's still going to make an impact, you know? And to that perspective, there still is a role for him on this team, but I don't really expect him to, like, I would be surprised at this point with the way that Tillers playing and with knowing the expected role for Florey, I would be surprised if Mbia is more than an eight or 10 minute per game player.
Starting point is 00:14:12 Now, maybe he continues to grow and ends up being a. 12 minute per game guy, 15 minute per game guy. We saw a little bit of the too big with him being Flory, but Bill said after the game, like, I don't even know if that's something we're going to use again in the regular season. So take it for what it's worth. But I do feel comfortable with him being in the game, right? I think there's enough there with his size and everything like that that makes you feel good. I think the biggest negatives in this game, I mean, obviously Darren Peterson, having the out
Starting point is 00:14:34 for the game for whatever reason that we just kind of talked about. I think beyond that, the other biggest negatives, again, like this was from Bill Self after the game. He said he thought, Trey White and Flore Badoongos shied away. from playing to contact and he notes that he's going to need, that he's going to need them to play stronger. So that would be kind of one of them, but I expect both those guys to respond because I think they're going to have good seasons for KU. The other one would be Cole Rosario that I was certainly hoping that, hey, it was a rough game against Louisville, certainly shooting
Starting point is 00:15:01 the ball. He did some other things in terms of like hustle plays. Still had some hustle plays in this one. But overall, just three points, three rebounds in 21 minutes on one of five shooting. The shot has not come around. He's looked nervous. He's looked a bit off. And here becomes the big challenge for KU going back to the two big conversation like KU's five best players right now right this this can change in January players get better and you know players have to deal with injuries or different fit or different scouting reports like things change but as of right now for the start of the season opener if you were to say who is the best five KU can put on the court it probably would be Darren Peterson melvin council Trey white bryson tiller and florida the problem is
Starting point is 00:15:42 that lineup does not have enough shooting in it. And so your best five might not necessarily be your best fitting five or your best playing five. And so then you get to a standpoint where it's like, okay, if you're playing too big basketball, one of Dawson or Rosario, or Rosario has to be in there to give you three point shooting. And then it's like if you're not playing too big basketball, well, are you going to be able to have enough from Rosario or Dawson? So it's interesting because Rosario and Dawson haven't really had that moment or done much. I mean, Dawson, two points in this one. I did like that one drive yet, but two points, two turnover, 17 minutes, not a ton there.
Starting point is 00:16:14 That's going to be a key position for KU because even if Dawson and Rosario don't end up being top five players individually on KU, they're going to need to play top, at least one of them is going to have to play top five role on this team just from a standpoint of the shooting that is needed for this team and because they are kind of that connective piece from, you know, the Peterson Council, Marco, whoever's in the back court with the big men for KU. That's going to be so important for how you try to figure that out. So they need to get Cole Rosario going.
Starting point is 00:16:41 Obviously, over the long haul with all the practices, Rosario has done well, but it hasn't translated to the game so far. And so you'll be waiting for that maybe in the season opener for KU. Is there a better chance to Tiller ends up starting the season opener now? I don't know, maybe. We'll see. But I think the bottom line here is this. Again, I don't want to take away too much from your exhibition game here.
Starting point is 00:17:00 You're playing all these lineups. You're not going to play. You're playing Jamari McDowell 22 minutes when, you know, that probably won't happen in a game in the regular season. You're playing, you know, weird combinations of things. So you don't want to take everything away. But I'll say this. KU's going to have to win some rock fights this year.
Starting point is 00:17:19 And I think that's what we saw. They don't have a ton of go-to scoring options in the half-goort. At times, you got clogged up and clunky a little bit here and there. Some of that stuff will get better just with everybody knowing their role, just with players getting better, with Bill Self doing a little bit more in terms of the playbook. But I'll say this. I don't think that's a bad place to be. Because if you're going to have to win a lot of games on rock fights, first of all, Bill Self in close games, like very good.
Starting point is 00:17:47 And if you're giving me basically a team that can defend and force the other team in a rock fight with the athleticism, and you're just going to say, hey, we're going to have these close rock fight games. We're going to play good defense. But we have Bill Self figuring things out. And we have Darren Peterson to score some late buckets. Again, that's not the worst place to be. it's really not so i i think if like darren peterson were to miss a game in the regular season you're going to have to win that game with your defense that's going to be kind of the the fact of the matter is how i'm kind of walking away from this game um and there's going to be some some games
Starting point is 00:18:22 that don't look pretty but i think that's one of the differences here like k u beat north carolina last year in like a crazy up and down offensive game i know the louisville exhibition ended 90 to 81, but that was, that was foul inflated and free throw inflated. That wasn't, you know, offensive masterpiece inflated outside of Peterson's first half. I don't think Kansas win, like if Kansas beats North Carolina this year at North Carolina, it's going to be because they kind of made them play bad and they were able to, you know, do it that way and then make some key shots. I don't know. It's just a different way of doing it, but I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing, even though at times we might feel like it's a little
Starting point is 00:19:02 ugly. At the end of the day, win the darn games. And I think this team is set up to be able to do some of that with Bill Self and Company. Let's finish up with our, I guess, stats of the game and awards, game balls, all that. This is locked on Jayhawks. Today's episode of L.O.J is brought to you by Peloton. Peloton shaping the future of fitness with the brand new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus powered by Peloton IQ. It's the most advanced. It's the most advanced. equipment yet, designed to give you real-time guidance and the endless ways to move, whether you're running, lifting, or cross-training with your favorite instructors. This is training reimagined. Peloton's built for breakthroughs with tools that help you plan, stay motivated, and reach peak
Starting point is 00:19:46 performance. The swivel screen, it's a game changer. You can go from running on the tread plus to strength training without missing a beat. So let yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward. explore the new Peloton cross-training tread plus today at OnePeloton.com. Thanks for joining us on this episode of Lockdown Jayhawks, a little recap of KU against Fort Hayes State. We'll get back into the football action later this week with some previews for the Oklahoma State game. We will also get into more basketball early next week, and it'll be the season opener next Monday. So make sure you subscribe to the show, and thank you, if you already are. Thank you, the everydayers.
Starting point is 00:20:25 are stats of the game in this one. I mean, holding them to 26% from the floor. Obviously, you don't expect them to always go one of 19. And I said this against Louisville, too. I do feel like the amount of like wide open threes way lower than, you know, you had in a lot of games last year. But obviously, most teams are going to make more than that. Most teams are also going to go better than two of ten at the free throw line. It's a little lucky there. What Bill Self was saying about the chaos plays, you only force seven turnovers. And that is the one thing where I'm like, okay, what's going on here? like Kansas had six blocks, so that's nice, but they only have three steals. With what Kansas is and how athletic they are and some of the defenders they have,
Starting point is 00:21:02 no excuse for this team not to be better at getting steals. They were not good at it last year, but I think part of that was a personnel thing. I'm not saying they're going to be, you know, Bob Huggins Press, Virginia, Bill Self doesn't play that way, but they should be a better steel team. So anyway, I just got a little distracted there. But yeah, holding them 26% from the field, that would be one of the stats. Hey, here's my ultimate stat of the game, though, in this. one for KU. It's the 57 to 25 rebounding advantage. And if you're looking at it, the offensive
Starting point is 00:21:30 rebounds 14 to 6, I know you should have an offensive rebounding advantage with the size advantage and the athleticism advantage that you had. But that's kind of the point after you got kind of beat up on the glass against Louisville. I wanted to see them respond on the glass. And yes, again, you should have done it. But you know what would be a worst conversation right now if we were sitting here saying, yeah, they weren't good on the glass against Louisville. And now you lost on the glass to Fort Haste State, too. And it'd be like, is this going to be a problem for KU? Well, now we don't walk away from this going, oh, see, the rebounding's great.
Starting point is 00:22:02 The rebounding's fixed. The rebounding is going to be elite. I don't walk away from it saying that, because that's not what this proves. It just gives you a non-negative of a data point, right? I don't walk away from this game saying that it's a huge problem. I walk away saying you did what you were supposed to, and that is a good thing when you're playing against an opponent here you're looking to bounce back there. um our awards of the game we're going to give our jersey sales estimated leader award to melvin
Starting point is 00:22:28 council i think melvin council is going to lead k u in jersey sales this year i wish they publicize that i guess i understand why they don't they probably don't want to have some athletes you know mad at the others or something i don't know but like um with council i think the if you ain't a dog your dog food um like he just endears himself to to k u fans and i think he's going to be a popular jersey. He's a fun player to watch with his athleticism and the way he plays and the way he defends and everything and the way that he gives Max's effort seemingly a lot for so often. I think he's going to lead. The other reason you would think the answer would be Darren Peterson. I mentioned this earlier. I don't think his jersey is still for sale. I don't think
Starting point is 00:23:12 that's a KU thing. Like I said, I think that's a little bit. I don't know what's going on there. I'll just leave it at that. But yeah, wouldn't shock me of Melbourne Council. I guess another way of saying that is I think Melvin Council is going to be a fan favorite, right? A red shirt of the year that goes to Corbin Allen. Bill Self mentioned that he's going to be redshirting. This is just a way for me to bring that up. So Corbin Allen will be red shirting and there's your news there as he'll have another year to kind of develop in the system. And then my last award here is the opposite of the Frank Mason hip and your over award.
Starting point is 00:23:44 What does this mean? Frank Mason, one of his best attributes, he was quick. He was pretty speedy, but he wasn't. He wasn't, you know, he wasn't Devon Dotson in terms of his speed. Again, had good quickness, good speed, but it wasn't otherworldly. It wasn't John Wall. It wasn't Kyrie Irving. It wasn't, right? But the thing that Frank did about as good as I can remember any guard doing under Bill Self is if you got on his hip or if you got behind him, you were staying there. And that is an unbelievable skill to have, whether it's from changing pace, whether it's just keep, whatever it is, if you can, once you get a guy on your hip or behind you, keep him there. he becomes a lot easier for you to predict what he's going to do and a lot easier for you to control what he's doing when you're on offense and he's the defender. And Frank was unbelievable at that. So good.
Starting point is 00:24:34 Well, right now, O'Marco Jackson is the opposite of that. Lamarco, I think, showed some good things today. He had a couple good, like, pull-up jumpers. He has the athleticism, but he's just not getting by guys. And it feels like he'll get somebody to his hip or his, side and then he slows down or he gets somebody to his hip and he's not able to fully blow by them and get the layup. And I don't know what that is. I don't know if that's a confidence thing. I don't know if that's a just certain guys understand the angles and know how to use
Starting point is 00:25:06 their body a little bit more. I don't know if that's coming off the injury thing for Marco. I don't know what it is. But if he can figure that out, right? If you can talk him about with Frank Mason, I don't know if Jack Vaughn probably was pretty good at that. If he can figure that out, he's going to have a very bright future. But right now, that is still something that I think is a little bit more raw in his game. On our game balls for this one, I mean, we mentioned offensive side. We'll go with Melvin Council, 16 points, five of six, also six assists to one turnover. That ends up being, you know, a really productive day at the house for Melvin Council. He probably wins our overall game ball as well, if we're going to, you know, give one out for that. Our defensive game ball for
Starting point is 00:25:44 this one, I don't know, man. I know, I know, I know Paul and Bia didn't have a steel. or block, but he felt like he was really affecting things on the defensive end, which you would imagine with his height and length. Flory had three blocks, but it didn't feel like he had the best game overall. We'll give it to Bryson Tiller. He had two blocks for KU and it was kind of a happy medium with him, Bia and Tiller. And that's been, to me, maybe the most impressive thing that I've seen from Tiller so far. He's really been working hard on the defense event.
Starting point is 00:26:10 And that's going to certainly get you playing time with Bill Self. That'll do for this episode of Lockdown, Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get a podcast, including on our YouTube page or you can like and subscribe to the show. See you next time with LOJ.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.