Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - How Kansas Jayhawks' roster issues led to Big 12 opener defeat to West Virginia Mountaineers

Episode Date: January 1, 2025

Kansas Jayhawks basketball fans, brace yourselves! The Jayhawks' unexpected loss to West Virginia Mountaineers in their Big 12 opener has sparked intense discussions. Could this be a sign of deeper issues within the team? Host Derek Johnson breaks down the game, spotlighting standout performances from Zeke Mayo and Flory Bidunga, while questioning the fit of key players like KJ Adams and Hunter Dickinson. The episode dives into the challenges of Kansas' current roster and the potential impact of recent lineup decisions. With crucial games against UCF and other top-ranked teams on the horizon, the stakes are higher than ever. Will the Jayhawks find their rhythm and reclaim their dominance? Tune in for a comprehensive analysis and discover what lies ahead for Kansas basketball.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Rocket MoneyCancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to RocketMoney.com/lockedon today.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelThe NFL Playoffs are almost here, but it’s not too late to get in on the regular season action with FanDuel because right now, new customers can finish the season strong with TWO HUNDRED and FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS if your first FIVE DOLLAR bet wins. Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started. 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)

On today's Locked On Jayhawks, trouble for KU. They lose their Big 12 opener for the first time in over 30 years. 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 going on? Derek Johnson here. This is Locked On Jayhawks. Thanks for making it your first listen every day. We're free and available anywhere you get your podcasts, and you can find us on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. On today's edition of LOJ, we are recapping the Kansas-West Virginia game. The

Jayhawks lose for the first time in their Big 12 opener, and it's like 33 seasons. It's an unbelievable streak that comes to an end here in this one, and a lot of not good for Kansas. A lot of not good that you were hoping would be better, and now a lot of questions moving forward. There were some positives. Zeke Mayo and Floyd Badunga we'll break it all down we'll get to game awards and then what's next for ku on this episode of the show so kansas falls by one point to west virginia and um 62 60 won the final score certainly a lower scoring game this was a west virginia team that was without two of their starters. This is a West Virginia team that had arrived in Lawrence at like four in the morning, according to a report from Jeff Goodman. They had all sorts of travel issues getting into the game.

They had every reason in the world to lose this game, and they did not. Now, maybe some of that stuff contributed to Kansas being able to come back into the game. Maybe they were a little bit more tired at the end of the game. But point being, Kansas should have won this game to begin with they were like 12 and a half 13 and a half point favorites coming in I think it was 12 and a half or something and then it moved to 13 and a half after the report came out um Kansas had no business losing this game and they did and it is uh just a continuation of Kansas I think this was their 12th or 13th loss of the calendar year of 2024 which is uh

pretty incredible for a Bill Self team I mean right now this would be the first time Bill Self if the season ended today which it doesn't fortunately um the Kansas finished outside the top 10 in Ken Palm back-to-back season since his first two seasons at Kansas so you're basically talking 20 years it was a very similar loss to the Missouri loss like it was a horrible first half you came out where you couldn't do anything right. You came out where you had no energy to start the game and you got your butt whooped in the first half. And then the second half, you looked a lot closer to the team you'd hoped to be and played a lot better. But unfortunately, because of the hole you dug yourself in, you weren't able to overcome that. It's kind of like, you know, the team a couple

of years ago did find themselves in a lot of holes but they came back and had all these crazy wins including a game on december 31st the team with jaylen wilson two years ago they were down i think 14 15 and a half to oklahoma state ended up coming back winning from behind this team is like that except they're not getting the wins they're they're just coming closer and then they're falling at the very end and you know i i know people want to point out the end of the game that okay uh you have the backcourt violation go against you maybe some nickel dimers that go against you maybe you didn't like the foul call that goes on flory uh on the pump fake where it's kind of the offensive player initiating contact that is normally a foul that is called though um but

you know i can understand that not liking the rule of it um the no call on kj which we didn't get to see a replay of because espn plus sucks um all fair points but like one i don't like blaming the refs like there's a thousand calls in a game that could go your way could go against the other team ku was up 21 to 6 in free throw attempts and ku has been like a really bad team at getting to the free throw line this year so like they lost for a billion other reasons. And many of them are because this team has very real issues. Can we just start real quick? What the heck on the last play? So there's only 1.9 seconds.

You're down by a point. It's not looking good. But my initial thought, KU had a timeout. Bill Self is so good, you know, out of timeouts and out of sideline plays and all that stuff. Was that, okay, they're going to throw the ball down the court. I think they did something like this against, I want to say it was against Oklahoma it was the regular season finale it was a game that Kansas didn't have to they'd already clinched the big 12 and they ended up losing the game but they ended up like throwing the ball down the court and tossed it to Frank Mason I think

got fouled he like hit three free throws went to overtime or maybe buddy healed or somebody hit like a game-winning shot this was maybe in the 2014 or 2015 season I thought it was going to be something similar to that you throw the ball down the court he tosses it out or you throw the ball down the court somebody catches the ball and immediately takes his time out and then you're left with one second to basically just find somebody for a catch and shoot opportunity I thought that's what they were going to do and I thought even in the aftermath after it happened when KJ Adams he got Hunter Dickinson who is a good outlet and deep ball passer makes the catch I thought the play was going to be for him to take a timeout turns out in the postgame and maybe this was just Bill Self you know I don't know covering for his guy like

maybe it was supposed to be a timeout and it just didn't happen either it was forgotten or the ref didn't hear it or something and Bill Self was just not wanting to throw KJ Adams under the bus like that's entirely possible but based on the postgame comments from Bill Self, it turns out that was not the case, that they were like, oh yeah, we thought we could get KJ in a one-on-one and we were worried about somebody else. KJ Adams is not this like dynamic offensive player,

and especially that situation with the second to go, where it's probably going to be a jump shot. That is not his game at all. And in addition to that, KJ Adams was having a bad game. He was not doing anything on offense. So like, I am perplexed by that at the end of the game which almost makes it worse in the explanation but the the struggles the problems for ku like it is an amalgamation of a bad fitting roster right like you basically ran it back when there are real fit questions and i do say that like it's almost bad

but we'll get into the the too big basketball i guess because like in some sense too big basketball doesn't work in today's day and age in other sense too big basketball does work and i think you actually saw proof that too big basketball can work when the flory hunter lineup was in there but like it's just a bad fitting roster when you look at everybody together it's not necessarily that like some of these players individually are good players or good for a specific role but when you put it all together it's kind of a bad fitting roster and then you have other players who maybe are good players but they're not good enough to not play with high intensity that you don't see high

intensity in the first half and you see the end result being in a hole too big to overcome you have rotation issues you have trouble figuring out what your rotation should be what your best lineup should be and some of your players that you were hoping to be your best players a haven't earned the trust of bill self b haven't played as much as they would have hoped or you would have hoped c when they have played like i i know there's been a lot of conversation about okay rylan griffin and aj store need to be playing more and i do agree with that and yes should kj's minutes be closer to 20 than they are 30 yes i agree with both those things i'm not i'm not disagreeing with both with any of those

but also at the same point of time did you know aj store and rylan griffin came into this game averaging a collective like 41 minutes per game right that's not a huge number but that's still both of them averaging over 20 minutes per game it's not like they're not playing at all like they're getting opportunities to try to prove what they're doing even if it is a bit tighter of a leash than you would expect or maybe you would hope for and that's all fair criticism to say maybe the leash should be a little bit loosened but my point is it's also got to be hard for a coach to see these guys play minutes and not do anything and so i guess part of my point is that it really isn't just one thing. Like I know some people just want to say, oh, it's just KJ Adams, or it's just the transfers

not doing all, or it's just Bill Self, or it's just, it's all of these things. It's a lot of things, right? And so that's almost worse, I guess, because you can't just pinpoint one thing. Like what I'm saying is basically, I don't think this is as easy as one solution. I don think this is as easy to say if that changes they're okay i think it's a lot of different things have to change and uh it's not good enough right now it feels embarrassing feels disappointing uh and it feels like it keeps happening and uh you know i guess on the bright side like zeke mayo continues to be an absolute stud for you like that was really cool to see what what he did and it's really cool when when a team it feels like is is lethargic or without energy when you do have a guy like Zeke

Mayo who I think is uh showing a lot of passion showing a lot of energy when he is out there and obviously he was great today 27 points um he was awesome and continue to to you know progress and getting used to his time at K i thought florida dunga was absolutely great for ku obviously it was unfortunate he had the foul at the end of the game but like you know prior to that like he had been amazing and that was very interesting that um you know despite all the questions about the lack of spacing about playing kj next 100 against in our kj next to florida dunga instead of when it got to a point where it was like, okay, this getting out of hand, like we need to do something. We need to try some other lineup. Instead of Bill Self being like,

yeah, we're going to play a small ball lineup. We're going to try to outspeed them and we're going to try to hit shots. He was like, no, I'm going to double down. I'm going to play even bigger. You thought KJ Adams and Hunter Dickinson wasninson wasn't enough spacing try i'll raise you one floor badunga and hunter digginson but it actually worked it worked in a very real way it changed the game can just got back in the game with that lineup and i think that was a real criticism from this game too can't stop back in the game because of that lineup and yet all of a sudden over the last whatever it was minute and a half two minutes of the game they go back to like kj adams and flory or kj adams and hunter and it was like wait wasn't this other lineup the one that

was working why'd you change it up um but it did work with flory and hunter and actually it does make a little bit of sense to me if you look around college basketball there are teams being successful with two big basketball right it hasn't worked for kansas this past year and a half because the two bigs it just doesn't really make as much sense um there are natural flaws of playing two bigs and those natural flaws typically are going to be you're not going to be as speedy on the defensive end you're going to struggle guarding teams you can really space it or three-point shoot um maybe there's going to be a little less spacing on your offensive end of the court like those are very real criticisms and flaws that two big basketball in today's day and age can have.

But the idea of playing two big basketball is that some of the positives you're going to hope are going to outweigh some of the negatives that you're going to get more rebounds. You're going to get more possessions on the offensive end because you're going to win the rebound battle on the offensive and defensive glass. You're going to get easier buckets at the rim. You're going to be able to score on the inside a little bit more and you're going to have more interior defense and so the problem is as much as i love kj he tries so hard i don't think this is like it's it's just a fit on the team problem right um because kj is a good defender and a good dunker he's a good passer but he's not a a post

score right he's not a good rebounder and he's not a rim protecting defender right he's more of a i'm going to guard you one-on-one type defender and so for kansas normally if you're going to play two bigs you're saying okay i'm giving up this to be better at rebounding to be better at inside you know presence on offense and defense. Unfortunately, when it's KJ Hunter, you're not getting the positives of that. You're just getting really the negatives. It's just not a good fit, whether it's not a good fit by having Hunter or not a good fit by having KJ. I think you could make it work with one of the two. I just don't think it works as well with both of them. It's not necessarily an indictment on both players.

It's an indictment on the fit of having both of on the roster at the same time but it works with flory because guess what flory is a good rebounder flory is a good rim protector right he can be a weak side rim protector to help make up for some of the deficiencies of hunter dickinson on the defensive end of the court um i think you look at it and it's like well with flory and hunter it just you get the benefits of playing too big basketball as opposed to just getting the negatives. Now, what does that mean moving forward? I don't know, because we've seen Self go to a player.

We've seen Bill Self go to a lineup in a specific game, and it means nothing for the next game. And the fact that he still closed with KJ Adams and that he was the one taking the last shot kind of is telling to be like, no, he's still going to go with KJ, and he's still going to play with big minutes. You know, maybe we see it a tad more with Florian Hunter, but my guess is it's more of like the same old,

same old and future lineups. It definitely feels like to me, it would be better if KJ was playing closer to 20 minutes per game than he would be closer to 30, which is what he kind of has been. But again, even with the Flory Hunter lineup doing good work, which honestly, I would like to see that

maybe even be the starting lineup next game. Wouldn't hate it. Although we saw post-game comment from Bill Self mentioning possibly even go to KJ, Flory, and Hunter, which I don't necessarily want to go that far. But again, like that didn't close the game and even in a game where KJ was struggling. So I don't think it's going to happen,

even if maybe that's my opinion, right? So bottom line, I don't really think this is a Big 12 title contender. I don't really think this is a Final Four contender. Maybe if they make a couple changes in the lineup, maybe if they make a couple changes with some of the talent playing better, maybe this or that can come together

and they can figure it out. I'm not saying it's impossible for it to happen. I'm just saying at this stage of the season, it's what they are but at the very least i come away from this like thinking even higher of zeke mayo i come away from this thinking even higher about florida badunga so i guess at least that's good and props to west virginia who feels like they they probably should have had a win in west in uh allen field house by now like they've had so many close calls so i i guess you know tip of the cap to them for finally getting it done.

All right, let's continue on to Game Awards. What's next for KU next? This episode of the show is brought to you by Game Time. I love going to live events. It can be sports, music, theater, comedy. One of my favorite opportunities is to go to the live events with other people too. And it's a perfect time of year that you can bring others to one of those events because there's so

many different things going on right now. There's basketball games going on. There's football playoffs going on. There's bowl games going on, right? You might be attending a concert or a sporting event. And with GameTime, they've made it even easier to get tickets for your favorite events with their new feature called GameTime, they've made it even easier to get tickets for your favorite events with their new feature called GameTime Picks. This feature filters out the fluff to show you only incredible deals on great seats so you don't have to waste time

searching through thousands of tickets. With GameTime Picks, I found amazing deals and can even see the view from my seat before buying. The super deal was particularly impressive. They offer great seats at unbeatable prices, plus the app's all-in pricing shows the total cost up front with no surprise fees at checkout. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account, redeem code

L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N-C-O-L-L-E-G-E for $20 off. Download GameTime today. What time is it? GameTime. Thank you for making LockedOnJayAx your first listen every day. Check out some of our other shows. Bill Self talking about Darren Peterson being the best recruit they've ever had. Certainly hope so, because this season, not looking too hot, so they're going to need a big year to bounce back next season.

Okay, game trophies from this one. Let's talk about best moment. I think, in general, Flory's second-half play was a good moment for this team. I also think for a team that struggled to get to the free-throw line, seeing Zeke Mayo get there that often, those are both good moments from this game overall. If you're talking about individual plays, the Zeke Mayo three after he fakes, gets the guy to blow by,

takes like a dribble and then shoots a three. That made it 59-56. That was cool. The Hunter offensive rebound and put back to make it 59-58. And then the Zeke Mayo layup and one, the foul that cut it to one on the free throw and then ties it on the free throw. Those were the best moments of the game. Unfortunately, the worst moments of the game,

it was when you were down one. Diggy Coit gets a really good steal, passes to KJ. Instead of him going out with it and reset the offense, he goes up for a contested layup, misses it badly, and then you end up pointless there. That was a bad moment. Then the last shot of the game, that was a bad moment. Flory fouling Javon Small, that was a bad moment.

The whole first half, that was horrendous. The second three by Joe Yesavu if that one felt like a dagger obviously kansas ended up coming back from that and ended up still having a chance but that one almost felt like it was going to be the dagger and for him to of all people to make him when it's like i wonder how many games joe yes who hit two threes for kansas in a game you know what I mean? That was brutal. And then the Javon small where he like almost traveled, stayed with it, then canned this really hard, deep contested two from the baseline to make it 59-53. Those are all bad moments.

But I think the worst moment has to be, to me, I don't know. I guess the last shot is the one that resonates with people the most. But honestly, it's the one where Diggie Coy got the steal and KJ missed the layup. That one, it felt rushed. It felt unneeded it felt unnecessary and it felt like it could have been a huge play after you diggy gets you the steal and you have all this momentum and it's like zeke mayo and and stuff running the show and he doesn't get an opportunity there uh our next award is the eight too many holiday treats award that goes to hunter dickinson

that might be a little mean i don't know he came out really slow from the game it looked super lethargic there were a few rebounds he just like didn't go for there was the one where it just like popped in his arms and it just like went out of bounds off him and he didn't like try to re-get it and was like pointing that it was the other way that was weird um he like had that one hook shot where just flew out of his hands really slow on defense they were exploiting that and just getting easy buckets on the inside by taking advantage of him and screens or raising his line. It was a really bad start for Hunter Dickinson. He wasn't really giving you anything.

He was kind of getting abused on defense in addition to being lethargic. I don't know. Maybe a bit of a lazy start. Obviously, he ended up with a double-double, ended up producing better from then on. Once he was in there with Flory Badunga, I think it helped him on the defensive end start um obviously ended up with a double double ended up producing better from then on and once he was in there with floyd badunga i think it helped him on the defensive end because flory became kind of the rover the guy who can make up for things at the back end and i think that helped

out hunter i think that helped out ku so i do hope we get to see that lineup a little bit more moving forward uh why is it so non-productive award that goes to the transfers minus Zeke Mayo Zeke Mayo was unbelievable again 27 points for KU but the rest of the transfers Shaquille Moore, Dingy Coy, AJ Storr, Rylan Griffin those four players combined played 46 minutes those four players combined in 46 minutes had zero points on 0 for 5 shooting now I will say for Dingy Coy he did have that good steal Dingy Coy actually ended up with a plus 12 in the box score despite not really putting much up. So I don't know if he was just out there providing good defense and spacing and ball handling, or if he just happened to be a ride for a good part of when KU was coming back from behind. But still,

and you look at, you know, Bill Self's comments from the postgame when he was asked about what like Ryland Griffin and AJ Storr provided and he was basically like nothing and that was after he mentioned both guys having good practices especially AJ Storr who started the game for you and that is about as discouraging as anything that you did get good practice from him but it didn't matter into the game and this is where things become very difficult for me because on one hand as we discussed earlier should KJ be playing less minutes yes probably should Rylan Griffin and AJ Storr be getting a bigger leash for when they make mistakes this day in the game yes probably as well but I can understand when you look at AJ Storr and Rylan Griffin combined in this game had 27 minutes played they scored three

points on one of five shooting they had zero zero assists to one turnover. They didn't do anything in this game. So like you look at it and it's like, would you like them to get a bigger leash? Yes, absolutely. And in theory is giving them a bigger leash. Does it give them more confidence to play better? It's entirely possible. But also like if you're a head coach and you try to live on a ideal of they have to earn it. What have they done on the court when they are getting that

playing time which again it's not 60 minutes a game they're still averaging both over 20 minutes per game at least they were coming into the game maybe it's around 1920 after this game um and they haven't earned it to this point so it's like yes you want them to play more but it's also the other other switch of this is like but if you're the head coach you can understand why you wouldn't have that trust i guess what i'm saying is going back to all this like i know a lot of people want to blame bill self for this and and i do think like i agree that you should have stuck with the flory hunter lineup at the end of the game and and i don't like the play going to kj at the end of the game like all that totally fair i don't know that there is a solution right i don't think it's as easy to say, if you just play this lineup, it'll work.

Or if you just play this guy more, it'll work. I think there's a lot more problems for KU than just that. But yeah, not a lot of production there. Offensive MVP goes to Zeke Mayo. 27 points, 6 of 13 shooting, 13 of 13 on free throws. Hit some clutch ones as well. He was awesome for KU. It feels like they're wasting some of the good opportunities

that he's provided them, though. Defensive MVP, Flory Padunga. He changed the game on're wasting some of the good opportunities that he's provided them, though. Defensive MVP, Flory Padunga, he changed the game on the defensive end of the court. Kansas offense was definitely a lot better in the second half, but this wasn't a game known for the KU offense. They still scored in the low 60s. They were able to make some defensive stops to go on that run, and Flory ended up with 11 rebounds in 17 minutes. Unbelievable rebounding and 10 defensive rebounds in 17 minutes. He had a huge impact coming in to patrol the paint next to Hunter in the second half.

His athleticism, his speed, his quickness as a big man was so impressive and imperative for KU to be better in that second half. And you look at plus-minus, David Coit was the best at plus-12. Floyd Badunga was second on the team at plus-8 in the game, so he's a defensive MVP for KU. But, yeah, not a lot of great for KU in this one. All right, what's next for the Jayhawks? This episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. The NFL playoffs are almost here, but it's not too late to get in on the regular season action with FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook, because right now new customers can finish the season strong with $250 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins not only can you bet on who will win

the game but FanDuel also has bets for which players will score a touchdown how many points each team is going to score you can get player props for the KU games bet the over on Zeke Mayo points right and so much more visit FanDuel.com to join today. That is Fanduel.com for your chance at $250 in bonus bets. Make every moment more with Fanduel, an official sportsbook partner of the NFL and the Locked On Podcast Network.

Finishing things up on this episode of Locked On Jayhawks, what is next for KU? Well, they're at UCF. It's a rare Sunday game, and this one becomes everything for KU, right? I mean, if you start 0-2 in Big 12 play when this is one of your more winnable weeks of the season,

you have Arizona State on Wednesday, which you should win that one, although I guess with how things are right now, you can't take anything for granted. Then after that, it's at Cincinnati, who's a top 25 team, and it's on the road, and they spanked you in the big 12 tournament and then you have at iowa state which is both one of the best teams in the country and the conference and one of the toughest

places to play if you lose this game at ucf there's a real chance you're going to be two and three or one and four through the first five games of the season and kansas is only three and ten on the road in the hunter digginson era so that does not make you feel better about it you remember last year Kansas lost at UCF that was not a good performance and also from what we know after you lost at Missouri when you were coming off a loss and that was a rivalry you came out of that one without any energy so as easy it is for me to say okay well maybe they'll come out more energetic after this performance last time that happened wasn't exactly the case so um it'll be interesting to see how k response i think it'll be very interesting to see how bill self coaches the game who the lineups

are who's getting the most run do things start to get bared down a little bit more and i don't know what it's exactly going to look like for ku but it feels like they're at a crossroads right now how are they going to react from here because uh it certainly has not been a very good season so far for KU especially compared to expectations the good news is there is still time to figure it out but you are running short on that time because we are and maybe when you're listening to this in the new year um we're about to be in the new year and um you know I mean there's only so much you can do once you get to, like, March, right?

You have the Remy Martin example, but, like, that's a once-in-a-lifetime type of thing that can happen. So you got to start figuring this thing out by really the start of February, and we'll see if that starts on Sunday against UCF or if it is more of the same old, same old. That'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcasts, including on our YouTube page, where you can like and subscribe

to the show. See you next time with LOJ.