Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - IMPACT: Jayhawks WITH & WITHOUT Darryn Peterson + David Santiago Kansas Football Film Review
Episode Date: February 17, 2026Kansas Jayhawks face critical questions after falling to Iowa State with star guard Darryn Peterson back in the lineup. Is KU’s best lineup still ahead, or is chemistry slipping? Derek Johnson spotl...ights the impact of Peterson’s on-off splits, revealing surprising defensive gains but stalled offensive production in Big 12 play. The breakdown explores how Peterson’s return alters roles, affects turnover rates, and challenges offensive rebounding—plus which adjustments might ignite KU’s postseason potential.Insight continues with a film review of transfer David Santiago from Michigan State and Air Force on the football field for Lance Leipold, and updates on KU women’s basketball. KU baseball’s opening weekend and future home games are previewed, offering fans a look at fresh talent and upcoming challenges. Don’t miss this analysis of Kansas basketball’s evolving identity, team chemistry dilemmas, and the road ahead for Jayhawk athletics.Everydayer Club If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!5-Hour ENERGYHave your cake & drink it too. Birthday cake-flavor is back, no fork needed. Vanilla-y cakey flavor, caffeinated kick, and no sugar. It's party time. Order Now at https://5-hourENERGY.com or Amazon. MazdaLike our players, we’re driven by the details. Because highlights make the reel. What it takes to get there makes it count.There’s more to a Mazda. Because there’s more to you.Turbo TaxFor a limited time, you can have your taxes done by a local TurboTax expert for just $150 — all in, if a TurboTax expert didn’t file for you last year. Just file by February 28. Take taxes off your plate and get back to your life. Visit https://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today. IndeedListeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast FanDuelUse your Profit Boost on an NBA future and get entered for your chance to win a trip to the NBA Finals.Play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Visit https://FANDUEL.COMto 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) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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On today's Locked-on Jayhawks, has KU been better or worse during Big 12 play with and without Darren Peterson?
Where are some areas they've done better or worse?
And where are some areas the KU needs Aaron Peterson to get it going, break that all down after the Iowa State loss on Saturday.
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 with another edition of Locked-on Jayhawks.
Thanks so much for making us your first listen every day.
And thank you for making Locked on the number one sports podcast network.
On today's episode of the show, we're going to break down Kansas with and without Darren Peterson so far in conference play after some fun discourse over this past week with the Arizona and Iowa State games.
Also get into things that he has done well and maybe things that have fallen off a little bit during conference play in the games he's played.
Then we'll get into a little bit of a film breakdown on David Santiago, the transfer edition from Michigan State and Air Force, as well as some of the.
the latest news involving updates on KU women's basketball and KU baseball kicking off the season.
Today's episode is brought to you by Mazda. We put that same drive into every detail,
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So KU wins against Arizona without Darren Peterson. They lose against Iowa State with Darren Peterson.
Common denominator, Darren Peterson, what's going on? And again, everybody who brings that up,
fails to bring up that KU lost to Iowa State with Darren Peterson, but they also beat Iowa State by 21 with Darren Peterson, right?
I think that just the version of Kansas that was in the Arizona game wins that game against Arizona.
I think the version of Kansas with or without Darren Peterson that we saw Saturday loses that game against Iowa State.
I don't think it's easy to pull the thread there.
Now, I wanted to take a look at because of this and because of the discourse that's, you know, coming about because of
of the game, has Kansas been better or worse with Peterson on the floor?
And so I wanted to take a look at just Big 12 only games, right?
Because once you take a look at the entire season, things move a little bit from a
standpoint of, okay, you have some of the buy games in the non-conference.
And then you look at conference games and you don't really have that buy game in there
to kind of, you know, push something ahead.
You have more consistent opponents, more consistent scouting reports.
So just taking a look at this.
Like if you look at net rating on the season for KU this season,
Florida Bedunga has the best net rating on the team plus 25.3 points per 100 possessions.
KU is better when he's on the floor versus when he's off it.
Melvin Council ain't far behind.
He's at plus 23.6, both insane numbers, like 98th percentile for Bidunga 97th for
Melvin Council, incredible numbers.
Interestingly enough, the third highest net rating on KU is Jamari McDowell right now at plus 9.7,
which is interesting because he's had some big moments here there.
You think the first half against Arizona, but it's felt like some of his big,
moments came more in the non-con than in conference play. But actually, KU's played really well
when he's been on the floor. Darren Peterson's next. Darren Peterson, so on one hand, you would say,
well, that's weird. You would think the guy who is supposed to be your best player would be first,
not fourth. But still, it's like Peterson has a plus 9.2 net rating. So Kansas overall is
nine points per 100 possessions better when he is on the floor than when they are not, right?
That's still 74th percentile nationally. They've had 280 minutes with him on the floor.
in Big 12 play, they've had 205 minutes with him off the floor in Big 12 play.
But that's part of it too, is the idea that when you look at the games that he has missed
and then come back for, there is an adjustment period for KU.
There absolutely is.
And so that's the bigger deal to me.
It's not, oh, are they a better team without Darren Peterson?
They're a better team with Darren Peterson, but they're a better team with Darren Peterson
playing consistently.
Because when you are having to be yo-yoted in and out of the lineup, it does affect roles.
It does affect meshing and team chemistry.
But when he's consistently playing and playing in these games for KU, that is still the best version of KU.
Now, what is interesting, though, is that KU's O rating is down three points per 100 possessions when he's been on the floor in Big 12 play.
And I do think part of that is that, you know, when he's had to miss games and then come back, it does lead a little bit to, you know, stalling on offense.
I do think there's something to the nature, too, of at times things have been a bit more stagnant or overly focused on getting him the ball.
as opposed to just everybody being aggressive and running the offense the same way that they would if he wasn't on the floor.
And this is one that I don't view as his fault.
I guess you could put a little fault on him like, I don't know.
Has Darren Peterson?
I should actually look at this because I actually don't know the answer.
How many offensive rebounds has Darren Peterson grabbed this season?
I mean, I'm trying to think back to his high school stats.
He was averaging what, like seven rebounds, total rebounds per game.
I think was the number there somewhere in that range, six, seven, eight.
And so you're, I mean, you've got to be if you're averaging seven rebounds game, like probably
is one of them is offensive rebounds per game.
So it looks like he has grabbed seven offensive rebounds this year.
I do not remember many of those, maybe some long shots.
That's one of those where it's like, okay, could he be contributing more to the offensive
glass too?
Probably.
But that's something where maybe because of the injury, he doesn't want to get injured.
And so you're not playing with that fearless mentality.
But this is the craziest thing.
KU's offensive rebound rate drops almost 10 percentage points when he is on.
the floor, putting him in the first percentile, so about as bad as it can be nationally in college
basketball in on-off rating of offensive rebound rate. But that's not all just him, right?
That's one of those numbers that to me points to the idea that, yes, the rest of the team has not
figured out how to play off of him or has not figured out how to play aggressively off of him
to the same degree necessarily, right, or figuring out where they need to go for that, right?
because that should not be a number that that's low, that's that low when he is on the floor, right?
KU's turnover rate actually rises a little bit when Peterson's been on the floor, which I think
makes sense again with the chemistry stuff.
The free throw temp rate actually goes down, which again, probably makes sense a little bit
with him not always being the most aggressive when he's been out there.
But what's interesting to me is when Darren Peterson's been on the floor, KU's been over
12 points per 100 possession better on the defensive end.
And I don't think Peterson has gotten as much love for how good of a defender he is.
Listen, I get it.
You can pull a couple highlights throughout the Big 12 season,
or maybe he's playing a little bit of OLA defense where he gives up an easy drive to somebody
where it looks like he's not in full speed and he's not in full motion.
But like when he's been engaged, I would argue that when he is engaged,
he is the best perimeter defender on the team.
And he can really get steals at a level.
Not anybody else on this roster can get.
He can get blocks.
He can play really good defense.
He actually one of the things that I've been impressed with is a lot of times when like a four man gets on him in the post or something and he switches on to him and his garden him in the post, he's really strong and sturdy and doesn't really give up ground.
And so again, like I said, like there's moments you can point to and be like, yeah, he probably didn't give a hundred percent effort on that one.
But like he actually is actually kind of a good defender.
And that has been a big noticeable thing that KU has actually been a better defensive team with him out there.
And I think part of the reason too, if KU wants to be a switchable team, which they do, having a six.
foot five, six foot six foot six guard who can basically defend wings or guards makes that a lot more
potent defensively. You look at the defensive rebounding too. That is something that typically
Peterson is going to, Peterson's going to bring better defensive rebounding than say El Marco Jackson
or Jamari McDowell when they're out there. And so KU's defensive rebounding rate,
96th percentile in the on-off defensive rebounding rate when he is out there. So it really helps KU
on the defense glass. KU's been a better effective field goal percent of defense when he's out there.
They forced a lot more turnovers, 90th percentile turnover rate plus minus when he is out there.
The free throw, they don't foul as much when he's out there because you just have more size that you don't have to foul.
So it is interesting to me, the idea that you would look at this and say, okay, KU's actually been a better defensive team with Darren Peterson out there in Big 12th play.
And the offense is the one that's lagging behind.
And that kind of goes to the idea to me, again, that it is a bit about a chemistry thing and that if you can figure out the chemistry between this potential,
elite shopmaker with the rest of the team and figure out how they can play aggressively
with this guy, then all of a sudden you're in a situation where, okay, the offense can be better
along with the defense that actually has been better. Now, you look at it in Big 12 play so far,
and a couple things come to mind to me too here for Darren Peterson. So in Big 12 only play,
Peterson has just a 9% assist rate. On the season, it's 13%. So that is a big drop off. And that
9% assist rate is basically 27th percentile.
So that's not great.
And his assist turnover rate is only 0.55 in Big 12th play.
That is in the seventh percentile nationally.
So like, can he be engaged more as a passer and initiator for the KU offense?
And can you do that with Melvin counsel out there putting him a little more off ball or
does it not work with counsel being off ball?
Like, I think that becomes interesting.
His field goal percentage in Big 12 play has dropped from 54% on the season to just under 51% on the season,
which is still above average to good, but it is a drop, right?
Three point percentage is, it's dropped like half a percentage.
So it's really nothing too notable there.
But I think those are things that come to mind, right?
You look at the shooting for Peterson.
And if you're saying, okay, the shooting is down a little bit in Big 12 play,
the playmaking and passing and working with the rest of the team is down a little bit.
The chemistry comes in and out so it hurts the offense,
but it's helping the defense when he's out there.
all of those to me feel fixable.
But again, it all comes down to this simple question.
Are you going to play consistent games?
Because if he's not going to play consistent games, maybe KU is better.
You know, like, again, the ultimate goal here of winning a national title making a final four,
the best version of KU to do that is with this team and Darren Peterson.
But if you're going to continue to get yanked in and out of the lineup and not establish that chemistry
and not know what team you're going out there with, it does become more.
difficult to be the best version of yourself.
And we saw in the Arizona game, they showed that, hey, we can be a really good version
of this team without Darren Peterson.
So it's almost one of those things where it's like, if you're only going to get Peterson
for one of every two games, which you wouldn't think the flu situation that kept them
out of the Arizona game is going to cause you to miss more games, at least you would hope
not.
But if you're only going to get one of every two games, I don't know, is the price of the ticket
worth the ride?
Probably not.
But if you are going to get them for every game the rest of the season, even if it ends up
being, you know, okay, limited minutes here or there, that becomes more worth it because the
ultimate goal, the ultimate outcome, the ultimate ceiling, the ultimate potential are still
better with Darren Peterson.
All right, let's get to a film review of David Santiago and then we get to some of the latest news.
This is Lockdown Jayhawks.
This episode is brought to you by Mazda, moving the game forward.
For those who show there's more to the score than what's on screen.
You know, I want to kind of highlight here again, how good Florida Bidunga has been in Big 12 play
for KU.
Like this dude, we just talked about it, 98th percentile net rating when he is on the floor for KU during Big 12 play.
His defense has been unreal.
He's going to be in the common.
I mean, he'll definitely be on the all big 12 defensive team.
I'd imagine he's going to be on the all big 12 first team in general.
And he's going to have a chance to win big 12 player or defensive player of the year, I guess big 12 player of the year, national defensive player of the year.
Like he has just been so awesome for KU this year, living up to the hype of what we hoped he could be.
Right.
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Okay, we've been doing some of these film reviews.
We just did a Jayland Dupree one yesterday.
We did a day beyond Crouch one the week before.
Again, we try to get the film that we can on some of these players.
And we have some on some guys and, you know, go.
through them and then kind of take a look at okay what are thoughts on the player and actually came
away way more impressed on jalen dupree than i actually thought i was going to be coming into that here so
let's get to david santiago he is the linebacker slash edge transfers playing linebacker and more of a
three-fourths probably more of a defensive ed edge for k u at michigan state year before was at air
force the game of film that i got for him actually becomes very interesting it is the 2025
game he played at michigan state against the national champion indiana who's
Now, he only played 21 snaps in this game.
So a little unfortunate, this is the only one I got to do.
When you're looking at the pro football focus grade from the game, it wasn't great.
It was a mid-50s PFF grade.
So I do really wish that I had more tape than just that one game for him.
The flip side is, well, I get as good of tape to show because it's not just that Indiana was an absolute wagon who won the national title.
It's that Indiana's left tackle who he was going up for a lot in this game.
Carter Smith was the Big Ten offensive line.
of the year. So if you can show something against the Big Ten offensive linemen of the year,
that's a really good thing. But if you don't show something, then it's like, okay, well, how much
do I take away from this in terms of like, well, he just played a pro? And I guess that means that,
you know, I don't expect All Big 12 from you, but that doesn't mean you can't still be a
serviceable player for Kansas. You know, and it's like, where, where's the range? Are you below average?
Are you average? Are you above average still? Just because you went against a star player,
doesn't mean that you can still be a good player yourself.
So it becomes hard to try to figure out.
And again, I wish I had more film here.
He did have a play where he was on the other side against the right tackle,
which I think Indiana's right tackle is still a good player,
but it's not the big 10 offensive linemen of the year.
And he did make a tackle on what was like a five-yard run for Indiana.
I did think in general, like there were some neutral plays where it's like,
I wouldn't really call it like an offense of lineman win.
I wouldn't really call it like a win for Santiago on film,
where he did show a good bit of strength,
which I think becomes important because is KU asking him to move to the kind of strong side
defensive end spot and rotate there probably with Alex Bray, can you show a good bit of
strength and be a good run defender and, you know, be somebody who kind of sets the edge for
KU. I thought he showed some stuff there to be able to do that. Now, I did think there was a good
amount of times he got Stonewalled in this game and kind of moved or road graded away by the opposing
offensive lineman. And I got to be honest, like in watching this film,
I didn't think it was the greatest showing in the world.
I didn't think it was a great game here as kind of backed up by the PFF grade.
But again, it's like given the competition, given who you're playing against, both team and individually, it's like, again, how much do I take away from that?
Because the overall stats on the season, on say, pro football focus, the overall stats in terms of the production.
I liked what I saw from this kid.
I liked some of the highlights I watched from this kid and just in general highlights, right?
But then I'm watching this game and I'm like seeing get them pancakes by the left half.
tackle on a pass rush where it's not even like the linemen going forward or I'm watching him
get washed out easily by a tight end on one play. I just, I didn't, I didn't love this game film
would be the way of putting it. But again, that doesn't, that doesn't discourage me overall,
given the competition from the overall stuff, right? You're talking about somebody who's using an
offense linebacker or outside linebacker role here. So it'll be a little bit different, a little bit
similar to what he does at KU. I do like the versatility he provides for a KU team that wants to be
versatile. I do think this was a bad matchup too. And after watching Indiana steamroll,
you know, their way to a national title. And also like if you actually watch the national
title game, like the moments where, say, Rubin Bain and Mesidor for Miami were able to
win on the outside versus Indiana's really good tackles, it was with speed a lot of the time.
It was bend.
It was being able to beat them with their athleticism.
And that's where I think this becomes not a great matchup for Santiago in this game.
Because Santiago is more of a power guy, right?
He's more of I'm going to try to go through you guy.
And so for some matchups, that's going to work for this matchup.
I don't think that was how the best way to beat Indiana.
And so I think that made it a little tougher on the film too, right?
So I actually think there's some similarities here to Santiago's game to Brays.
But I do think Santiago has a bit more affinity to making negative plays.
So I did come away.
would say, I guess, like slightly lower here. But again, I'm trying not to let this one game cloud my
judgment for what I came in expecting to see here from a standpoint of just looking at the stats,
looking at the PFF grades, looking at the highlights and the other games. And I still kind of
lean toward the idea that I guess I was leaning toward the idea that Santiago is going to be the
starter over Bray. I don't know that I'm there anymore from the standpoint of, okay, Bray is going to
have the familiarity with the defense a little bit more. So maybe it wouldn't surprise me if Bray
starts over him. But I have not.
not switched up at all the idea that both Bray and Santiago are going to be guys who play 200,
300 plus snaps each on the season for KU. And I do think Santiago will help the defense and be a
nice addition for KU, but I do think it limits the ceiling a little bit of what my expectations
are, at least in the first year as he grows into it a little bit with KU. Let's get to some of our
latest news for Kansas. A little update on KU Women's Basketball, KU Baseball. That next, this is
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Okay, so some news before we get into the update on KU Women's Basketball and KU Baseball here.
So it was posted by Justin Thurman, one of the running backs for KU.
We posted this on social media that he, I guess, tore his Achilles.
I think it was back in like November or something, he had surgery.
So a guy that the staff seems to be pretty high on and somebody who can be a young running back
that develops into something really good for KU and the thought was, okay, could he
potentially be in the running back rotation for KU.
Could he earn his way there?
Well, I think that probably tells you torn Achilles in November.
Probably going to miss all of this season, unfortunately.
But he was able to get a red shirt for his first year.
Maybe that means he can get a medical red shirt for 2026 and then just be a third year
freshman in 27, right?
That would be, I think, be ideal for both Thurman and KU.
Some other news, Paramount Plus announced last week that they're going to have a new four-part
docu series.
It's called Made for March.
It's going to debut on Saturday, April 4th, which I believe will be Final 4th, which will chronicle both Michigan and Kansas.
And I don't know when the filming started or starts for this.
Is it something where they're just going to be like chronicling their time in March at the end of the regular season,
the conference tournaments and the NCAA tournament?
Did they start it before the season started?
I don't know.
But that would be cool to see some of that.
It will be interesting from a standpoint of like, how much is Darren Peterson going to,
going to be on the show.
Like is he,
is he and his team and management team going to be like,
I don't want to be on this?
Are we going to actually get insight into kind of what's going on behind the scenes?
Who knows what we're going to actually see there?
But, you know,
all for the content and stuff and should be entertaining at the very least, right?
And I've been catching up on my survivor seasons to get ready for Survivor
Season 50.
So I do have Paramount Plus.
So I'll be ready to go to watch that one.
Okay, KU Woman's Basketball Update.
They just fell to a really good Texas tech team since we last talked about it
and then bounced back with a win over a not-so-great Houston team.
But the loss of Texas Tech was encouraging because it was only about five points
against a tech team that is in the top 30 on Bart Torvik.
And that was on the road.
They still play Texas Tech at home.
And that becomes a must-win game if Kansas wants to be a potential NCAA tournament team.
So right now they are 16 and 11 on the season after the 17-point home win against Houston.
They're six and nine in Big 12 play.
The final three games, they are underdogs in all three of them on Bart Torvick.
They're about a point underdog to Kansas State on the road.
Now, they did beat Kansas State by 22 in Allen Fieldhouse.
So if they can replicate that and win in Manhattan, that would be huge for KU.
And then you're looking at Home Against Texas Tech, top 30 team on Torvick.
They're about three and a half point underdogs there.
And then they're at Oklahoma State to finish the season.
Oklahoma State's top 30 team on Torvick.
They're about 10 point underdogs there.
I think they need to win these next two games.
I mean, they need to go two and one down the stretch to at least have a shot at the tournament.
Because that would put you at 18 and 12.
It would put you in a position where you'd still have more work to do.
You'd still have to win probably two games in the big 12th tournament there to have consideration.
But I will say at the very least, if you can win one of the games, you're setting yourself up where you should at least, I would think, make the woman's NIT, which we just saw them win a couple of years ago.
But overall, when you're looking at it, like KU's profile, I found this very interesting.
They're 32nd in the country on Torrick on offense.
They're only a hundred and twenty-third in the country defensively.
And I think they have had a Tiana Jackson-sized hole on the defensive end,
the defensive interior from the center position ever since she has left because that was
not necessarily the case for KU in some of the years that she was here.
Like you go back to last year, KU was 93rd in the country on defense.
That was obviously without Tiana Jackson, at least according to Torvik.
But you go back to 2024, which I think.
would have been Tyana Jackson's last year. They were 37th in the country on the defensive end
of the floor. You go back to 2023 when they win 25 games that year. They were 22nd in the country
in defensive efficiency on Bart Torvik, 2022, which I think is the year they won the NCAA
tournament game over Georgia Tech. Yeah, it is. And that year, they were 35th in the country
in defense. So they need to get that rim protector, I guess, next year. Maybe they have it. They
have a freshman coming in who's a McDonald's All-American. So that'll be key for KU moving forward,
but still some time left in this season to potentially make a move, to make a move, to make
taking it to the post season, but it's kind of now and never time for that.
And then KU baseball season is often running for the Jayhawks.
They're going to be going at it still on the road.
Like that's the one thing.
I always feel like teams who are in KU shoes are at a disadvantage to begin the season
because they're in a position where it's just a colder weather state.
You're not able to practice outside as much versus and then you're playing on the road
for your first couple weeks to start the season.
So it just becomes difficult at the start of the season.
And we've seen them have some slow starts in the non-con, really the previous two seasons and still have great seasons.
So, you know, if they have another slow start here, I'm not going to be overly worried by it necessarily.
But they are going to be, they just, you know, we're on the road in Edenburg, Texas against UT Rio Grande Valley,
who actually is like a really good mid-major team.
So tough games there.
They're going to be on the road against Lamar on Wednesday.
And then like McNeese State down in Louisiana, this upcoming weekend for three-game set.
And then they're going to be at Minnesota, who I believe is, plays it.
an indoor baseball field.
That'll be kind of a big one for them.
It's a four-game series out there.
Their home opener isn't all the way till March 5th, which is upcoming on a Thursday
against St. Thomas.
So you're going a while on the road here.
Just try to keep it afloat in the non-con and then try to hit your stride and Big 12 play
would be the thing.
So they lost their season opener to UTRGV, which again is a very good major school, 7 to 4.
And then they won the second game 10 to 3.
as I'm recording right now, they are deadlocked on Sunday.
So I don't know, they're either two and one or one and two when you're listening to this come out on Tuesday.
So yeah, we'll kind of keep an eye on them because Brady Ballinger back to, you would hope get to be an All-American and lead KU to some special things.
But we'll be keeping an eye on them throughout the season.
All right, that'll do it for this episode of Lockdown, Jayhawks.
You can find a show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page or you can like and subscribe to the show.
And we'll see you next time for another edition of El.
OJ.
