Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Evaluating Jacque Vaughn's Kansas Head Coaching Debut - Could He Be the Jayhawks HC Post Bill Self?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Did Jock Vaughn strengthen his candidacy for future KU head coach post Bill self? Plus, KU football schedule came out. It's pretty brutal. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. How's it going, Derek Johnson here with another episode of Locked on Jayhawks. Thanks for making it your first listen every day. And thank you for making Lockdown the number one sports podcast.

Starting point is 00:00:32 network. On today's episode of the show, we are breaking down how Jock Vaughn did in his first game as the interim head coach for KU basketball. And if it means anything, moving forward, uh, whenever the post bill self days are. We'll also get into the KU football schedule because, uh, it is a pretty tough one. It's pretty brutal for what came out for KU in 2026. Some of it self-inflicted. Some of it not. But we'll get into all that coming up. Let's start right here with KU and Jock Vaugh. So Jock Vaughn fills in for Bill Self, and we've since heard from Bill Self at Hawk Talk that sounds like he's doing well, maybe even trending toward, you know, coaching potentially in the Kansas State game.

Starting point is 00:01:11 So that's all good news for Bill Self and everything. But this is potentially a peek into the future. I mean, there's no guarantee of it. Obviously, Jock Vaughn is somebody who has spent a majority of his time in the NBA, like who's to say that after this year, he doesn't bounce back up to the NBA. But certainly from Kansas brass perspective, Kansas donor perspective, Kansas donor perspective, perspective, I think a lot of them would be very interested in whenever Bill Self retires, whether it's at the end of this year, if it's in five years, or if it's in seven years,

Starting point is 00:01:41 that Jacques Vaughn would be on that short list of guys to potentially be the replacement for Bill's self. And so this became a little bit of a test pad for it because, you know, you can point to the resume during his NBA time and some of the struggles he had. You can point to the good season he had with Brooklyn. You can point to, you know, arguments for or against. You can point to the ones against of the record not being very good or whatever. You can point for the ones for. Well, it's the NBA and it's more about player talent and you didn't have the most talented

Starting point is 00:02:12 rosters. You can make your arguments, right? And then it's the same thing with like the assistant coaching. It's like, if the team's doing well, it's like, okay, well, the assistant coach is part of that. If the team's not doing well, then it's like, well, is it the assistant coach's fault? Is it the player's fault? Is it the coach's fault?

Starting point is 00:02:25 Like, you just don't know. It's hard to, like, give you this stuff out. So this gives you a better peel into how he performed. at least from the X's No's perspective. And obviously this doesn't cover, you know, recruiting and some of the other elements of the job, though. You would think a hit coach who was an All-American at Kansas and is somebody who played in the NBA. And, I mean, it seems to be somebody who, like as Darren Peterson has kind of taken to in terms of working with him. You would think all of those elements would make Jock Vaughn a good recruiter in addition to being, you know, now that it's more transactional anyway.

Starting point is 00:03:00 and he's been in the NBA, you would think he'd do just fine recruiting. But anyway, point being, what did we see from him this game if we're going to overanalyze what we saw in this game to be like, okay, you know, what was good here? What wasn't, right? And obviously, this one specific game should not give him the job. It should not disclude him from the job, right? But it does at least give us a little bit of evidence, right? So one of the ways to evaluate coaches is besides the recruiting and the scheme and everything is

Starting point is 00:03:29 how they do an after timeout situations. That is where Bill Self consistently, year in and year out, has been one of the best coaches in the country in getting Kansas, sneaking Kansas extra points throughout a season in those after timeout situations. How did Jack Vaughn do? I think a lot of people remember that big alley-up they had. That would certainly a big moment in the game

Starting point is 00:03:47 and certainly delivered in that moment. What about the overall body of work here from the game, right? So in going back and looking over the game, I don't know if you want to count this one, but KU's first play of the game, you would think that maybe you had a play drawn up for the first play of the game. And it ended up being a Flory Budunga 16 foot jump shot that was no good. And again, it's hard to even know, like,

Starting point is 00:04:12 is there a play drawn up for the first play of the game? Is there not? And then if there is, does a player potentially hijack it and just be like, hey, I got an open look. I'm just going to shoot it. So it is, even this is an, you know, impossible game to play. But that would not be one that you would point. to in the success column. The next after timeout situation that they had actually wound up being

Starting point is 00:04:32 a 19 foot made jump shot by Melvin Council, which on its own made shot, that's good. But do you really want, you know, the shot out of a timeout being a 19 footer all the time? Probably not. The next one is again, and this is where it gets a little difficult to try to figure out, like, are we just talking directly after the timeout when Kansas has the ball? Are we talking about their first offensive possession after the timeout, right, to where did they drop a play, when Colorado has the ball and they say, hey, when we get the ball back, this is what we're going to run. That's impossible to know without being in the huddle, right? But you get Colorado free throws after a timeout and then Darren Peterson has a turnover.

Starting point is 00:05:08 So that one, you know, kind of hard to know as well because that was just a nice defensive play by Colorado and didn't necessarily get to see the set or whatever play. Potentially, Jacques Vaughn wanted to run, right? Then you get the first play out of the second half or again, you would think, okay, maybe you talked about a specific play, you wanted to run out of halftime. and that comes after Colorado scores on the opening possession in the second half, it ends up being a Darren Peterson missed 11-footer. You get Darren Peterson an 11-foot shot, you're going to live with it.

Starting point is 00:05:36 Then you get the next after-timeout situation is a shot clock violation. So that's not great. So already to this point, we're sitting here with one score, two missed shots, two turnovers on the first five. And again, how many of those are necessarily the exact situation? tough to say. Then you get a TV timeout later. Colorado scores.

Starting point is 00:06:00 KU gets fouled and then it was a foul on the floor. Jamari McDowell misses a 26 foot three-pointer. So again, that one's hard to say. Like, are you counting that one or not? I don't know if this one counts either because it was timeout. Trey White makes free throws. Colorado gets a possession and then eventually Florida Badoon gone the next time down makes a layup off a Trey White assist.

Starting point is 00:06:24 Was that something where you said, we're going to timeout, Trey White's shooting free throws. Once we get the ball back, we're going to run this play, or was it just the flow of the offense? So, you know, that could go either way.

Starting point is 00:06:33 The best one obviously did come at that under eight timeout. That's on Melvin Council throw that lob to Florida Bidunga for an Alleyoop that made the score 60 to 54 at the time. And that was not just a key moment because it was one that worked, but it was at a moment of the game that was later in the game when the score was tight. So that was clutched there. Then you get a Colorado timeout later, which was followed by a Florida Bidunga block.

Starting point is 00:06:53 And then Jamari McDowell missing a 26. 6 foot 3. And then you had a TV timeout followed by Ransich splitting free throws and then McDowell missed a 24 foot 3. So overall, again, without knowing exactly how many of those should count into this discussion, it's not as much success as you would have hoped for, but it also is a small sample size and tough to fully tell. Now, if we're looking at other positives and negatives from the game. I think absolutely you have to look at the way KU responded after the first time. I mean, it was a two-point game at halftime, and it was immediately 40 to 40 to start the second half. KU responded well in the second half. The KU defense was better in the second half. I think

Starting point is 00:07:37 some of that does go to Jock Vaughn for halftime adjustments, which is super important for a coach as well, right? I don't know. Maybe this one is over exaggerating, but again, knowing how much Peterson had been working with Jock Vaughn, is it possible that Jock Vaughn helped get even more out of Darren Peterson in this one, a game where he played through an ankle injury and finished the game. Maybe you could have that conversation there. But I don't think it's like, Darren Peterson being like, ah, Bill Self's coaching me today, not Jock Vaughn. So I'm going to ask out of the game. Like, I don't think that's what's happening either. Some of the negatives, I didn't like the switching five, but is that a Jock Vaughan thing or is that something that Bill Self

Starting point is 00:08:12 wanted to implement, you know, as part of the game plan before they went over? It also was not a stellar game for KU, which, you know, this was wasn't a top three statistic game in any stat category for Kansas. The closest was this was their fourth best free throw attempt rate game and their fifth best three point percentage game. So it wasn't just like a jump off the page game. But again, the tough thing here is how much of the game plan is Bill Self. How much was the game plan? Jock Vaughn. How much are some of the other assistant coaches pitching in? How much is it is the players? So even then this is an inexact science. And it almost does just kind of become a confirmation bias thing. Like if you are in the camp of like you

Starting point is 00:08:52 want jock vaughn to be the next head coach at kansas you're going to sit here and go well that was everything i wanted they won on the road they haven't been winning on the road the team responded well and if you're somebody who is more so like hey i like jock vaughn a lot and he should be a candidate but just get the best candidate even if it's somebody externally because that's what they did with bill self that's what they do with roy williams um then you might point to it and go okay it was good they won i'm glad they won but they also got lucky a little bit with the whistle they got lucky with a band three. It wasn't a great opponent on the road. So I just kind of think this becomes confirmation bias for whatever side of that aisle you're on that this game isn't going to change

Starting point is 00:09:32 anybody's mind is kind of where I come out with this. All right, the KU football schedule doesn't look too easy on paper. Let's get to that next. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by TurboTax. Tax season doesn't have to take over your life. This year, TurboTax is making it easier than ever. Does hand things? off and move on with your day. With TurboTax full service, you can have your taxes done for you by a trusted local expert start to finish without the stress or the guesswork. Instead of spending hours trying to figure out forms, you can meet with a local TurboTax expert in person or connect online. They handle everything from W-2s to self-employed forms and work to get you every deduction.

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Starting point is 00:10:45 where you can get the ad-free version of Lockdown Jayhawks with all your major podcast apps and get an invite to the members only Lockdown Everydayer Club Discord server. We're talking KU, where we're talking to. talking college basketball, where we're talking football, you can join a bunch of the different links. And if you want the specific locked on Jayhawks link, it is locked on jhawks.com. That's locked on jhawks.com. Show notes as well if you don't have a pen or you're not writing this down. Okay. KU football schedule is brutal. That's how I would describe it in one word. It's not just the opponents and the locations and when they're playing them.

Starting point is 00:11:27 It's the construction of it. It's the lack of buy weeks for KU. It is the lack of any moment in time, really, of there being back-to-back easier games for the Jayhawks. There is no really stretch where you feel like, okay, they should be able to build up some easy momentum there. They are going to have to earn every single thing they get. want to make it back to bowl eligibility. I like the roster to do it. The schedule is going to make that roster really work at it. Right. So they open up the season on a Friday, which at least does give you an extra day to get ready for week two. But September 4th against Long Island,

Starting point is 00:12:02 fine, FCS game playing on a Friday, right? Get that extra day for the next week. Then week two, you see September 12th against Missouri. So again, having the extra day there is nice, especially because Missouri will be probably one of the more talented, better opponents that you face upcoming this season. know how they're going to be in comparison to this past year. They've had some players transfer out, but typically they have a pretty big NIL budget that they're able to reload their roster in a big way. And Amad Hardy is back. So that'll make it difficult because we saw KU really struggle in stopping him. It certainly is unfortunate that KU couldn't play one of their games in week zero and get that kind of extra ramp up. But then you get September 19th. That's the London game when they're going to be

Starting point is 00:12:44 taken on Arizona State. So you're giving up a home conference game to play in that one. And That is part of this here that, like, some of this is not KU's fault with the difficulty of the schedule. Some of it is the fact that you're only by week you get all season is after you're coming back from London is brutal. Because that almost feels like, I don't know what the right answer is. But, you know, what if two of the days coming back? What if three of the days coming back from London are more so just about recovering your body of playing a football game overseas? having all that long travel there and back, you know? And then it's like your normal biweek is not a biweek anymore.

Starting point is 00:13:26 Your normal by week becomes a condensed buy week. And that's the only buy week you get. On top of it, you're traveling to London after you play your biggest rival in Missouri. That might be an uncomfortable plane ride, right? But you play Arizona State. Then you have the biweek September 26th. Then you're October 3rd versus Middle Tennessee State. And that one is tough that you can get that in week zero.

Starting point is 00:13:46 So the reports are out there that they appealed to try to do so. And that would have been huge for KU to kind of get that extra bi-week later in the year. Unfortunately, because they play Middle Tennessee on October 3rd, that's the stretch where they play nine consecutive games without a buy week. So this is where the depth comes into playing a big way for KU. I think they've done a pretty good job of adding. I think about linebacker where they have like potentially, what is it, like three linebackers who could be backup linebackers who are like redshirt seniors.

Starting point is 00:14:15 having that sort of depth of older players is going to be gigantic to get through this portion of the schedule for KU. And who knows? Maybe now they're like, hey, you know what, maybe we should try to add another couple extra bodies in the transfer portal just to try to weather the storm of attrition that we're going to be having from October on. But you play Middle Tennessee State there. Then October 10th at Utah. That'll be a tough one. October 17th at Kansas State. October 24th versus Baylor.

Starting point is 00:14:43 So you're one home game in October. is against a team that you just have been slaughtered by year over year every time you play them. It hasn't mattered to the coach. They got blown out last year in 2024 when they played against Baylor. They were getting blown out at halftime when they went down to Baylor. And was that 22? But they ended up coming back and making it close. And then all those other years, you know, whatever it was.

Starting point is 00:15:05 They just have not done well versus Baylor. And that's your only home game in October. Then you're at TCU on October 31st. November 7th, you're back home against UCF. November 14th throughout West Virginia, November 21st versus BYU, who is going to have cultural ball playoff aspirations, and then November 28th at Oklahoma State, which I think will be an improved Oklahoma State team. Now, the normal disclaimer here that we go into this every year with the schedule and you look

Starting point is 00:15:31 at things and go, this is manageable, this isn't manageable, and especially in the Big 12, things are so unpredictable. And a lot of these games end up being so close that, like, change. Chances are, like we're looking at some of these games, for instance, at Utah, at Kansas State, at TCU, you know, versus BYU. Chances are one of those teams or something is, like, there's going to be a team who's preseason ranked in the Big 12 that winds up not being ranked. And then there's going to be a team who's not preseason ranked who's projected win six or seven games and wins nine or ten. That's how it works. So it's almost a bit of schedule rule that, right?

Starting point is 00:16:07 Like, for instance, two years ago, Arizona State was seen as one of the bottom teams at the conference. They end up winning the league. that changed your schedule if you did or didn't have, which Kansas did have Arizona State on the schedule that year. You look at this past year. People thought Kansas State was going to be really good, right? Kansas State goes six and six. That became a little bit different on people's schedules versus playing Arizona,

Starting point is 00:16:28 who had a really bad year the year before. People thought that, oh, well, Arizona is going to be an easy game for people. Arizona wins nine games this year, right? So I will say this. As challenging as it does look on paper, there is a chance that the schedule does lighten up if somebody is worse than you think. The flip side to it is what if Utah is as good as you think? And what happens if one of West Virginia or Oklahoma State turns it around?

Starting point is 00:16:53 What happens if UCF has all this floor of talent and turns it around and what if the schedule gets worse, right? The other thing I'll say is this. I know it is brutal to have these nine consecutive games and just one bi-week. Kansas just had, what, three by-weeks this past season? they didn't make a bowl game. They went five and seven. I'm not saying it didn't help. Like, obviously, you'd prefer to have the three buy weeks.

Starting point is 00:17:18 But it doesn't guarantee success in the same way that having to play nine straight games won't guarantee failure. So it's unfortunate. It's something they have to overcome, but it doesn't prevent them from still getting to a bowl game. All right, let's continue on. What is the biggest swing game in this schedule? What are the biggest? keys and can KU upset one, somebody, the toughest stretches of the schedule. We'll get to all that next. This is Lockdown Jayhawks. Thanks you for joining us here on the show. Don't forget you

Starting point is 00:17:50 join the Everydayer Club at Lockdown Podcast.com slash everyday or you can get the ad-free version of Lockedon Jayhawks and also join our Discord server. Don't forget too, you can check out Locked on College football or Locked on College basketball for your second listen every day where you can catch up on some of the national storylines. All right, so what is the biggest swing game for KU in this schedule. To me, I think it is that Arizona State game in London, right? I'd imagine you're going to be underdogs against Missouri. Now, playing at home in a rivalry, maybe you're able to pull off the upset, right? That'd be pretty cool if KU was able to do that. And that could be a huge momentum boost to start the season. But let's say you are underdogs to

Starting point is 00:18:29 Missouri and do lose that game at home. You would then be sitting at one and one, assuming you take care of Long Island, which I would certainly hope so. That becomes a huge swing game. Are you going to be two in one or one and two? Right. And if you're able to win that game, I mentioned earlier, like there is no easy stretch, right? Like you look at Long Island and Middle Tennessee State. Those are the two games that you look at the most as saying those are gimmies. But there is not a back-to-back gimmee, right? And so if you're able to beat Arizona State, then you're looking at three and one. you're playing middle Tennessee state off a buy. And then from that point, it's like, can you scrounge up three more wins to get to bowl eligibility between the home games versus Baylor, UCF, and BYU?

Starting point is 00:19:12 Can you go two and one there that gets you to five wins? And then one on the road between Utah, K-State, TCU, West Virginia, Oklahoma State, right? Maybe you're even saying two and two at home and then win two of those road games. The Arizona State game to me becomes the pivotal game to the path to bowl eligibility versus if you lose that game, What if you do lose to Missouri? Now you're potentially sitting at two and two through your first four games. And getting to four wins becomes a little bit more difficult, right? The other one I would say is the key point is probably that Baylor home game in October

Starting point is 00:19:46 because that could potentially be for KU to avoid an O for October, right? You're going to be underdogs at Utah, I would imagine. I guess middle Tennessee state, but the big 12 games, the big 12 over in October, right? you're going to be underdogs at Utah. You're going to be underdogs at K-State. You've lost 17th straight. Ideally, they finally end the streak, but I'm not going to pick it until I see it at this point.

Starting point is 00:20:12 You're going to be underdogs at TCU. So if you don't be Baylor at home, which, you know, KU was really struggled against Baylor historically. That said, Dave Iranda is going to be on the hot seat this year. They've lost a lot of players to the portal. They did pick up some like DJ Lagway, who are kind of interesting. So we'll see what they look like.

Starting point is 00:20:27 But that could be a, gigantic game, right? Especially because even if you do win the Arizona State game, and let's say you're three and one, but then if you go over in October, you go from three and one to three and five, and the outlooks of making a bowl aren't great. If you can at least win the Baylor game and you start three and one, you beat Arizona State, you start three and one, you beat Baylor, you're at least four and four going into November going, hey, we still have two home games, we take care of business at home or making a bowl game. If we just win one of two home games, we just got to win one or two on the road. I think those become the two pivotal

Starting point is 00:20:59 games for KU versus Baylor at home and Arizona State in London. I mean, winning at K. State would do wonders too, right? Like that would kind of swing it as well. And then the other question is that would make things easier to get into bowl eligibility is can you upset someone? Who becomes the best? I guess it becomes difficult because like you're trying to look at, okay, what are the games that KU would probably be the biggest underdogs in?

Starting point is 00:21:23 BYU is as good as we think. Probably BYU at home would be in that conversation at TCU. I mean, we see TCU. you have seasons where they win five games, and seasons where they make the college football playoff. So they're kind of a tough team to gauge. How good are they going to be this year? You know, how is Kansas State going to do in year one with Colin Klein?

Starting point is 00:21:41 I think Utah looks to be really talented team, and I'd expect them to be good, but it also is a new coach. So, you know, I guess you don't really know for sure with Arizona State. Like, you know, they're coming off a year where they weren't as good as the year before. They lose some pieces like Jordan Tyson and the quarterback, but Kenny Dillenham seems like a really good. coach and then it's like Missouri. But can you upset one of those? Can you beat Missouri? Can you win at Utah? Can you win at Kansas State? Can you win at TCU? Can you win at home against BYU? I'm not saying

Starting point is 00:22:09 you win all those. I'm saying can you win at least one of those five? If you win one of those five, the path to bowl eligibility becomes a lot easier, I think, for KU and how you maneuver around to get the six wins. And that's kind of where I'm focused at right now. Like if this team, after all the losses they had, after not making bowl games last two years, or they can just get back to bowl eligibility against a tough schedule when you're going to be playing at a reduced capacity at home, when you're giving up a home game to play in England. If you can get back to a bowl game, if you can go six and six, I view that to be a successful year.

Starting point is 00:22:39 I think they have the roster talent to do it. The schedule makes it a little bit more difficult, though. All right, that'll do it for this episode of Lockdown Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. Don't forget to check out our KU Colorado Postcast. If you weren't up all night and want to catch up with what was going on that anymore, or even if you were and you just want to reminisce on KU getting a big roadway.

Starting point is 00:23:01 And we'll see you next time for KUK State preview right here on Locked on Jayhawks.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Evaluating Jacque Vaughn's Kansas Head Coaching Debut - Could He Be the Jayhawks HC Post Bill Self?

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