Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - DOUBTED: Is National Media DISRESPECTING Kansas and Why Metrics Appreciate Tyran Stokes & Jayhawks

Starting point is 00:00:00 A lot of the National College basketball media is, let's just say, hating on KU coming into the season. Let's quiet the haters on this episode. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's up, Derek Johnson here in today's episodes brought to you by Fandual. Join all the action at Fandual.com to play daily dingers and make your free pick on who's hitting home. this MLB season. All right. We're going to get on to some of the latest news, some interesting, I guess, updates from KU and the courts and everything like that.

Starting point is 00:00:45 But we're going to start right here quieting the haters, quieting the doubters, however you want to say it, because it feels like a lot of national college basketball media is hating on KU, is low on KU coming in to the 2026 to 2027 season. But then you look at some of the computer sites, the metric sites, wherever you're, you want to call them. And KU is certainly in a much more advantageous position on where they're being there. So what gives? What? Because, you know, it's one thing for, okay, KU's ranked, you know,

Starting point is 00:01:18 at a given time, eighth on Ken Palm, but they're 14th in the A people. It's like, okay, one's a little higher on the other, but like the gap there is can can be explainable. It's weird though that KU is like top 10 or top 15 on these different sites. And they're struggling to. even crack top 25s from national media. Like that is a big valley. That is a big gap between the two. And like for instance, when we look at where KU is ranked coming into the year, Jeff Borzello is like the high man of what I've seen over at ESPN with KU at 23.

Starting point is 00:01:54 Gary Parrish for CBS Sports does his top 25 and one and doesn't have KU on the list. Eam and Brennan of the Athletic, I believe, doesn't have KU on his top 25 either. And then the, I don't know, the chef's kiss here, John Rothstein has, for Fanduel, Kansas in at 33. And that's just like, seeing some of the teams ahead of them on there, it's just like, are you serious? Like you have them. And what cracked me up with that one and what honestly led to this episode for me was of how it was handled. So Bill Self goes on John Rothstein's podcast last week, right? And they're having a conversation talking about the team upcoming, yada, yada, yada.

Starting point is 00:02:35 And Bill Self in conversation and flow asks John Rothstein back. And Bill Self is a very knowledgeable dude. I bet you he knew where John Rothstein had him in the rankings. And he was trying to make him squirm and feel uncomfortable. But, you know, maybe he didn't. Regardless, it was funny, the interaction because he asks him, you know, like, where do you have us, John, for the upcoming season? He was probably expected to hear like, oh, you know, I have 18.

Starting point is 00:03:05 or 24 or something like that and john rothstein answers which this was such like a chicken a coward answer to not just that like if you're going to have them 33 say it with your chest they be like i got you 33 i got some questions you know he goes uh like back into the top 25 you know top 30 somewhere in that range it's like dude you have him 33 you just undersold how low you have k you ranked bill self because you were worried about saying it in front of his face right so i i found that kind of funny. But again, you compare some of these human poles to the other side with the computer front of things where on Bart Torvik, Kansas comes in at number 10, even ahead of schools like Yukon and Michigan. Shooty Hoops, which is, it's a funny name, but it's actually become one of my

Starting point is 00:03:51 favorite kind of go-to sites for this because it has a really cool way it looks and everything, and they're kind of a newer metric site. They've KU.N. at number 12. Evan Miyakawa, I believe, has Kansas in that like 15 to 20 range coming into the season, but if they get Trey White, it rises to like top 10, you know? So it's a very big difference between the two. And it just feels like people almost got preseason ranking fatigue from KU. They had those back-to-back years that they preseason ranked KU number one. They didn't live up to expectations.

Starting point is 00:04:27 And now they're just going to be punished for it, you know, and that they're not going to be ranked super high. I think that it's funny too because I look at this past season for KU and I'm like, was it, was it a season in which, you know, KU is riding home about? No. But like, for instance, you look at last season. KU coming into last year was 17th on Bart Torvik. Based on the season that Kansas had this year, four seed, losing the second round of the tournament to a good opponent, you know, 17 in the preseason, it feels like it kind of came in about

Starting point is 00:05:02 right of where Kahn. you was. Whereas, like John Rothstein, for instance, coming into last year even, I don't think Kansas had, was in the top 25. I want to say they were in like the 25 to 30 range. And looking back on it, it's like, okay, John Rothstein probably views last year as a win. Like, oh, I was right. Kansas isn't going to be great. When in reality, the season Kansas had was vastly overperforming where John Rothstein had him last year in the offseason. Again, if you picked them to be 28th coming in last year and they got a four seed in the tournament even though they lost in the second round they've vastly outperformed what you expected them to do but it doesn't feel like they're

Starting point is 00:05:42 getting any credit for that instead it's oh they lost in the second round again and oh the two years prior we were giving them preseason number one hype and they fell short of what our expectations are and that's i don't think a good way to go about it for building this year's list building where they should be this year you know i actually wanted to go back and and kind of take a look to of how did both the AP poll and how did Bart Torvik, for instance, compare last season or how did they produce? How did they perform by season's end? And looking at the preseason top five in the AP poll compared to the preseason top five in Bart Torvick, three of Bart's top five teams, I guess his formulas teams, finished in the top five. Only one of the top five preseason on the AP poll

Starting point is 00:06:31 finished in the top five. So already that's a checkmark to Bart Torvik outperforming there. Among the AP polls preseason top 10, six of the top 10 finished in the top 10. Well, in Bart Torvick, seven of the preseason top 10 finished in the postseason top 10. I'm using Ken Palm for the finality here just to give kind of a different whatever here. So again, you're getting a plus there. And then among the top 25 preseason AP poll teams, 20 finished top 25 on Ken Palm. It's the same for Bart Torvik.

Starting point is 00:07:04 So they're actually relatively similar, but there's much more success at the top for Mark Torvik than the AP. And that's just last year. I didn't really go through in previous years and stuff. But one of the ones that really rings true to me is like I look at the AP poll and where the humans were, Illinois was ranked in the teens. I want to say they were like, I don't know, 17 or something like that. Bart Torvick had them preseason in the top 10.

Starting point is 00:07:28 And they finished as a top five team on Kenpon. Like that was a huge win for Bart Torvik. Both sites, you know, whether it's the AP poll or Bart Torvik, were high on BYU in Kentucky. And I will say the AP voters were even higher on Kentucky. They had them like nine. Torvick had them like 14. Didn't live up to that billing.

Starting point is 00:07:48 UCLA was seen as a top 15 team by both. And that ended up being just outside the top 25. Both had Arizona and the teens and they ended up being top two. But another win for Torvick was, you know, Duke and Michigan, and we're still high on the AP poll, but they were six and seven. And that ended up being, you know, two of the top three teams in the country last year. Bart Torvik had both those schools in the top five. So, you know, there were some advantages.

Starting point is 00:08:12 I would say in general, Bart Torvik performed better from the preseason to the postseason than a year ago. Doesn't mean it's all gospel, though, right? It is at least close enough that you do have to take into account these. So what are maybe the humans missing here, right? Like what are some of these people missing that is leading to such a big gap, such a big valley between where some of the humans are ranking them to where some of the computers are. We'll get to that next. This is locked on Jayhawks. Our episode today is brought to you by five-hour energy.

Starting point is 00:08:45 If you got a sweet tooth, well, you know how tough it is to find that perfect treat without all that sugar, right? That's why cotton candy, five-hour energy shot brings that nostalgic flavor back in a whole new way. this is that classic cotton candy taste you remember but with a tasty caffeine boost and zero sugar it is a quick easy way to satisfy that sweet craving while keeping things simple and on the go right if you love that cotton candy flavor um shoot i mean i'm thinking of even taking it to like a baseball game right like you know the perfect uh you know your peanuts your cotton candy whatever um that's the perfect alternative to actually eating cotton candy in the sweets all day right it really does bring back that throwback, fruity vanilla vibe, and it's surprisingly smooth, right? It's super convenient

Starting point is 00:09:34 too. It's small. It's a portable shot. You can grab it whenever you need that little pick me up. Bring on the sweetness with cotton candy, five-hour energy shots available online now at five-hour energy.com or on Amazon. Thanks again for joining us here on Locked on Jayhawks. So a big gap between like some of the computer sites like Torvick to where say John Rothstein, some of the, I guess, people, the adults in the room have Kansas in the preseason. So what could possibly the humans be missing here, right? I think the first one to me is just how impactful Tyron Stokes could be. I think for a lot of other years, like even I should actually go back and find this.

Starting point is 00:10:17 Did LSU with Ben Simmons, were they like a preseason top 25 team? Like has there been love to players when they've been the number one recruit on their team, where they give in at least back end top 25? votes because there was an expectation of what they could do to lift the team. But that's not happening for KU when they actually have better pieces around him than say like a Ben Simmons at LSU. And I almost wonder if a part of it was because of the Darren Peterson circus last year. The on and off, the what's going on here? Why is he not playing the, I guess the creatine, the cramping, everything. What's going on? Like, is there an element of the, because the computer is just going to view it as, oh, this

Starting point is 00:10:57 player did this and produced this and this is where you finished. Now here's this other player that has nothing to do with that player. And this is what I'm expecting it to do on average based on number on recruits, you know? Or as a human is going to view it as like, oh, no, like that didn't go well with the number one recruit last year. So I guess it's not going to go well with the number one recruit this year, even though again, getting a four seed would mean Kansas would be a top 20 team in the country and would be overperforming where they are in the preseason right now. But I don't think they're getting enough credit for having a legit superstar on the roster in Stokes. I also think there's a little bit of an element of maybe overvaluing the loss of Florida

Starting point is 00:11:36 Bedunga. I don't want to overly minimize the loss of Florida Bedunga. Like he was the Big 12 defensive player of the year, the very efficient piece, at least on offense, just in terms of dunking the basketball. But it's also a very limited piece, right? Like there are times where he, you know, wasn't able to outpower other big men down low. and they were able to score a little more than you hoped, or they were able to out rebound him a little more than you hoped,

Starting point is 00:12:00 or his lack of offensive presence, you know, kind of kept KU stuck in the mud offensively when they would gladly have had another piece on the offensive end of the floor. I think that to me, like, Flory Bodunga is not losing the overall center prospect. It's losing the A plus version of the block shot rebound. big man and k u has basically played money ball at that spot to say hey we don't think going from a florididunga to other big men who you know maybe they don't have a great offensive game but they can

Starting point is 00:12:36 rebound they can block shots we think that just having those guys at a b minus level at a c plus level but maxing out of roster elsewhere is going to be more beneficial and better for the team and i i think there is a little bit of an overvalue in there to that loss um i also think you know going back to the voter fatigue thing. I do think that is a little part of it. I think there are some people in the national media that are lumping last season in with the previous two and really,

Starting point is 00:13:05 you know, especially disappointing as being a preseason number one still. And again, lumping in last year, oh, you got another four seed loss in the second round again to those two previous seasons when, you got a 70 years ago.

Starting point is 00:13:20 Last year was different. And like last year, you lost a close game. in the second round. You can get blown out in the second round like a couple of years prior to that. To St. John seemed that, you know, finished what, 13th or something on Ken Palm? Like, that was a good opponent. People are acting like it was a two years ago season again. And last year, too, maybe it wasn't as much of just like a lack of fitting or talent or whatever, you know, it had to do with some circumstances that you could have never foreseen with the Darren Peterson stuff, right?

Starting point is 00:13:51 I also think this. I think that Kansas has been underrated from a shooting perspective. right um when you look at some of bill self's teams in terms of three point shooting like he typically is able to actually raise the floor there like this past year team 34.6 percent that was you know 139th in the country they actually the year before were top 90 in the country and i don't know that this team's going to shoot like 40 percent from three but i just think they have more guys who can get them off so the volume could be a little bit higher and they have a higher like i just think the amount of competent shooters right you look at last year's team for instance. When Darren Peterson was in, he was obviously a great shooter.

Starting point is 00:14:27 Trey White, obviously, very, you know, good shooter for KU in the end of things. But outside of that, it's like, you know, like, Jemari McAwell at home, Rell Marco Jackson on low volume, but like, that's hit or miss. You look at this year's team. I'm thinking Tainlin Kinney should at least be an average three-point shooter. I'm thinking Leroyden should be a good three-point shooter. Digin Tyrant Soak should at least be an average three-point shooter. I think Keanu Dawes should at least be average.

Starting point is 00:14:54 if not better, 37% in Big 12 play last year. And he's working on it a bunch in the offseason. Look at the bench. Corzario should be better. Dennis Parker has some three-point prowess. If you can make another addition, can they add some three-point shooting? Luke Barnett could be playing and he could be the best three-point shooter on the team. There's just more guys that can shoot on this year's team.

Starting point is 00:15:14 And it's not just about the numbers in the three-point shooting. It's how you're respected that way. It's how it spaces the floor. It's how your court becomes more open because you have more guys that have to get respected on the floor at all. times. I don't think there's enough credence being given to that KU's three-point shooting should be better this season. I also don't think there's enough credence given right now to the fact that KU's rebounding should be much better. I think KU or I think people just see, oh my gosh, you lost Bryson Tiller, former five-star crew. You lost Florida Bodunga, this really impactful center, and you just

Starting point is 00:15:45 assume that KU's, you know, everything they had from their big man was great, and now it's going to be bad. But in reality, if you go look at the numbers, Kansas was 227th in the country last year in offensive rebound rate, you know, the last time Kansas finished in the top 200, which I think this year's team can do, was 2023. They got a one seed, right? If we look at the seasons in which Kansas finished in the top 100 in offensive rebound rate, which I don't know, I mean, with Paul M. B and Christian Reeves, that's a good place to start. I think Stokes will be able to grab you offensive rebounds. Parker would be able to a little bit. So, you know, I don't know. that might be a high bar to finish top 100.

Starting point is 00:16:22 But again, if we do look at top 100 offensive rebound ranked teams under Bill Self, it's 2022 national champions, 2021, which got a three seed. And, you know, I don't know, they got blown out in the second round. There was some COVID stuff going on with that team. But weird year as well, 2020, which was the team that would have been favored to win the national championship, 2017, which obviously got a one seed made the elite eight, 2016, which got a one seed was the number one overall seed. And like, you know, 2015, 20, like, I could. keep going on and on and on.

Starting point is 00:16:51 You go back 2011, which was 2010. These are really good teams, right? Then you look at the defensive rebound rate. And Kansas was a bad defensive rebounding, or more average, I guess you would say, rebound rate team last year. Keanu Daz was like one of the best defensive rebounders in the country. You should have a solid defensive rebounder at the center position. Again, Stokes and Parker and some of these guys will be good defensive rebounders.

Starting point is 00:17:15 Kansas possession game is going to be better, right? They should be able to get more steals than they did last season because it was just so bad that the bar is so low. So if you're getting more steals, if you're getting more offensive and defensive rebounds, and the defensive rebounding one is key because even if Kansas has a worst first shot defense, but they're grabbing more of the rebounds, like as good as the defense was last year, as good as Flory was defensively, Kansas was still the ninth best defense in the country. We saw some of the Hunter Dickinson defenses finished like around the 10th to 20th range. So again, I don't think people are giving enough.

Starting point is 00:17:49 credence to the rebounding, the shooting, some of the personnel. I'm with the computers on this one. I think KU is closer to being a top 15 team than the alternative. All right, let's finish up here with some of the latest news, including some of the latest in court. This is locked on Jayhawks. Our episode today is brought to you by Fandualt sportsbook. Baseball fans, if you think you know who's hitting a homer,

Starting point is 00:18:14 Fandwell's giving you a chance to call your shot with daily dingers. It is easy to play. Just make your free pick for who you think will hit a home run in their next game. If you're right, you'll receive a profit boost to use on your next bet for a chance at extra winnings. Best of all, you can make a free pick every day throughout the MLB season. Daily Dingers is another fun way to stay engaged with every day's games, whether you're following your favorite team or keeping an eye on matchups across the league. Every game has something or someone capable of going deep.

Starting point is 00:18:40 Now you get the chance to make your prediction before first pitch, right? So do you just pick a game in Corres Field or at the Sacramento A's ballpark? Because those places are, you know, easy to hit them out. It seems like, do you just pick, a hot hand jack caglione bobby whit hit one on sunday to just ride a hot hand there right you can go with different ones of these and then you really get ready with some of your futures for the nfll and and you know college football season upcoming so are you ready to play your game today join all the action at fandwell dot com that is fandwell dot com to play daily dingers and make your

Starting point is 00:19:12 free pick on who's hit in the homer play ball and swing for the fences on fandwell an official partner of the mlb and the lockdown podcast network thanks you for joining us here on lockdown Jayhawks and some of the latest news. Well, this according to Austin Massey, SBI, from SBI, SB Insider, you know, formerly worked of 24-7 sports and CBS sports. He said the NCAA filed its reply a day early in Wisney v. NCAA. It was just due by Monday. Briefing on the stay pending appeal request is now complete.

Starting point is 00:19:48 The 10th Circuit can rule at any time on whether the preliminary injunction remains in effect during the appeal. No deadline is set. So we don't know for sure when it's going to happen or how it's going to rule, but now we are in that next step that like, okay, at any moment in time, we could hear news on this on whether it's happening or not. Now, Melvin Council, unlike Trey White, Trey White's the one to watch with with that, because if that gets denied, then Trey White will have to be one of these guys who sues kind of individually from a state level. But the NCAA responded to Melvin Council. And one of the key mentions in here was that he signed an exhibit 10 contract where he's basically saying like he's not going to be eligible regardless of what happens with the Juko stuff.

Starting point is 00:20:31 That becomes interesting is there going to have to be a separate court case for Melvin counsel to be like, hey, I should be able to be excused from this because I thought I wasn't going to be eligible. So I was just doing what's best for me. But now that I know I can be eligible, I wouldn't have signed that contract. I don't know. And we'll see where that one goes. We also got to see Jalen Daniels ball out for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in preseason football over the weekend. He absolutely killed it for the bucks. And right now they're having, you know, contract negotiation, I don't know, hurdles stuff with Baker Mayfield where you don't know what's going to happen in the future there.

Starting point is 00:21:06 The more JD impresses with the Buccaneers, you know, could you get into being a future piece or having a future opportunity with the team? Just keep killing it in the preseason. But that was really cool to see. And heck, even if you just kill it in the preseason to a point where you can keep getting contracts as a second string, that ain't a bad life to live in the NFL either. And certainly one where would be very profitable, right? Like maybe you can be the Kansas version of Chase Daniels even, and that would work out in a real way. And then the last bit of news here, KU Women's Soccer off to a two O and O start. They blasted Missouri State, seven to nil, seven zero, the final score there.

Starting point is 00:21:43 So a two and a start with both lanes at home for KU women's soccer. I don't know for this episode of Lockdown, Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page. Don't forget our stock risers from week two of KU Football Camp right here on LOJ as well. And we'll see you next time on the show.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - DOUBTED: Is National Media DISRESPECTING Kansas and Why Metrics Appreciate Tyran Stokes & Jayhawks

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