Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks All-American Wing Kevin McCullar is OUT for the Tournament: Affect on KU-Samford

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked on Jayhawks, Kansas All-American wing Kevin McCuller is out for the NCAA tournament. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Derek Johnson. Give me a follow on Twitter at DJohnsonRadio. You can find our show here with Locked on Jayhawks anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. And on today's bonus episode here of Locked on Jayhawks,

Starting point is 00:00:38 some breaking news is Kevin McCuller, Kansas' senior All-American wing, is out for the entirety of the NCAA tournament. Not just this first out for the entirety of the NCAA tournament. Not just this first game, the entirety of the NCAA tournament. Let's break down what's going on, what Bill Self had to say about it. Certainly some interesting comments I think you could read into. The effect on Kansas, the effect on KU's matchup with Samford and maybe moving forward in the first week if they can get through Samford now in the first round of the NCAA tournament. So let's start right there. What was said by Bill Self? He said he was basically after

Starting point is 00:01:12 the team got off the bus and arrived and everything to their location. He was asked by media, like what's going on? Did say about Hunter Dickinson that he basically has like, you know, everything's going well. Like he's practicing. He's basically a hundred percent, or or I guess about 100% as you could be after coming off an injury, I would certainly imagine. So sounds like that's good news with Hunter Dickinson. Not good news with Kevin McCuller. Here is the phrasing and keep an eye on how this was phrased. I'm reading this as a direct quote from what Bill Self said.

Starting point is 00:01:39 Kevin's not going to play. Kevin says his knee pain has not subsided any and it's too bad for him to be able to contribute. So Kevin will not play. Kevin says his knee pain has not subsided any, and it's too bad for him to be able to contribute. So Kevin will not play. He later says in a follow-up quote, he's out. We're shutting him down for the tournament. And he kind of started to get into an idea that, yeah, even if we win these next two games, like then at that point, we'd be doing it without Kevin and we're not going to bring him back. And so we don't totally know this for sure. But from my perspective, when you read how he said it, Kevin's not going to play. Kevin says his knee pain is not subsided based on everything that I've known about the about bone bruises from, I don't know. Um, just, I guess what I've known are like Hunter Dickinson

Starting point is 00:02:20 dealt with kind of a, a, a bumped knee earlier in the year and just had to kind of play through it, is that it's one of those injuries where it's like it's not going to get worse. It's not like, oh, if you sprained this or if you have a strained or a tight this, then you're at increased risk of playing through it that you could pull it or that you could have this severe injury. It's just one of those injuries where it's like it's not going to get fully better until you just like rest on it for a long period of time, which obviously you don't have during the course of the season but

Starting point is 00:02:47 you can play through it it's just pain management right and I think that's what we've seen from Kevin McCuller this year that explains why certain games he's not playing certain games he is right it's not that it's getting better and worse during the season it's just it's the same in some games maybe your pain management is a little bit better than the others or maybe some games you know you get it bumped in practice or something though self-study hasn't practiced in like six weeks and maybe that re-aggravates the the pain management side of things but anyway i do think it's very interesting there um i guess it's nice they ripped off the band-aid so you don't have to all the way along be like okay they won the first round game could kevin be back the second round

Starting point is 00:03:21 no you get rid of that hope and now you just know the group you're going to have kind of moving forward. It's hard for me not to view this as like a Kevin McCullough camp thing that it's like, hey, I am in some pain here. Like, I just don't know if I should play through it. Is it worth it? Me playing against 13 seed Samford, you know, playing through the pain. And for Bill Self's perspective, maybe you're just like, yes, it is worth it. Like, you know, clutch up it is worth it like you know clutch

Starting point is 00:03:45 up a little bit like play through the the the bit of pain here I guess is what's going on and we don't know totally what's kind of going on behind closed doors and everything like that but I do think it's interesting for Bill Self's perspective how he phrased the part about you know even if we win the next two games like you know he wouldn't be coming back at that point because it almost felt like to me that this has been maybe a season long thing or whatever last two months thing, however long it's been with Kevin McCuller or Bill South finally came before this tournament and was like, okay, are you going to play through the pain or not? And if Kevin McCuller was like, you know what, it's too painful. I don't know if I could play this game, but Hey, if you win this game and

Starting point is 00:04:19 make it to the second round, I'll play that game. Self was like, no, you're either in or out for the whole thing. And so we're just going to shut you down for the season. And maybe it's even something from Kevin's camp where they're like, hey, we don't want to get further injured because we do have hopes of going on to the NBA after this season. The weird part about that to me is, and I don't mean to just like crap on this here. This is just kind of my take on how this thing's going. Kevin's been an excellent player for KU and I don't want to take away from that. But the weird part about it to me, when you read NBA, you know, scouting reports, when you read mock drafts and you see the strengths, you see the weaknesses, you see the pros, you see the cons. One of the big things on Kevin

Starting point is 00:04:54 McCullers' con list, on the weakness list, is that he's had to deal with injuries every year he's been in college and how durable will he be during an 82 NBA game season? Because you go back through his career. First year at Texas Tech, he missed two games. Second year at Texas Tech, he missed nine games. Third year at Texas Tech, he missed eight games. First year at Kansas, he missed two games. And this year he has now missed six games. After the game on Thursday night, it'll be seven games.

Starting point is 00:05:18 And then if they go any further, obviously counting on from there. So collectively, that is 27 counting 28 games that he has been gone for in his collegiate career with different injuries. And I don't also want to be the injury guy because for some guys, like that is just an unfortunate thing that haunts them and it's nothing they can control. And it sucks. Like it's one of those things where it's just like, you know, people don't want to get hurt. They're not like trying to get hurt. But my point here is that it's not about, oh, he, you know, this or that. It's about, this is a question for him in the NBA draft. Can he be healthy enough? Can he be durable? And so from my standpoint, I'm sitting there going, listen, man, they got five years of tape

Starting point is 00:05:59 on you. If you have a poor shooting game in the NCAA tournament because you're playing through an injury, I think that's going to be easier to excuse than you're just not playing in these games when that already is a big knock against you. So honestly, in my opinion, I think this hurts the stock just as much as if you played through it and didn't play well. But that's my opinion. All I'll say is this, and I saw Bryson Stricker tweet this out. I was actually getting prepared to say this on the show, but I'll give Bryson credit for it because I think it's 100% true. If this was Jalen Daniels, he would be getting toasted right now.

Starting point is 00:06:32 And I think there is more there with this one than there ever was with the Jalen Daniels one. All right, let's talk about the effect on Kansas and KU's matchup with Samford on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. First, this episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Say goodbye to busted brackets because FanDuel lets you bet on every game of the tournament. Whether you're betting on a big upset or a one seed, it's time to go dancing on America's number one sportsbook. Right now, new customers get $200 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins, that's 200 bucks to use on point spreads,

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Starting point is 00:07:24 Have fun. Just be responsible. Visit Fanduel.com slash LockedOn and bet on college hoops until they cut down the nets. Continuing on with our bonus episode of LockedOn Jayhawks, Kevin McCuller out for the NCAA tournament. Not just KU's first game

Starting point is 00:07:41 with Samford. Let's talk about the impact on KU on their roster, on their rotation. First of all, for the starting lineup, I think it's safe to assume based on the games Kevin has missed, it'll be DeJuan Harris, Nick Timberlake filling in for him, and then moving up to the two spot. And then you got Johnny Furphy sliding down to the three with KJ at the four and Hunter Dickinson at the five.

Starting point is 00:07:59 Obviously, this means more minutes for Nick Timberlake. I think Timberlake's averaging like 28 minutes per game when he starts games, which a couple of those were early in the season, but most of those have come with Kevin injured. So I think it's safe to assume that Elmarco Jackson will get some increased minutes, which that might've already happened just because you're playing a team where you need extra ball handlers. And then Jamari McDowell. I mean, you could have convinced me that KU even sliced the rotation even more. And then the NCAA tournament, Jamari wasn't really going to play. Maybe he'd come in for like two minutes. Now that Kevin's gone, the rotation even more and then the NCAA tournament Jamari wasn't really going to play maybe he'd come in for like two minutes now that Kevin's gone you have even more minutes to go around so I think he becomes definitely part of the rotation at this point

Starting point is 00:08:32 so if I'm giving like a rough minute projection for what I'm expecting for like KU I could see like so DeJuan Harris and Big Joe play was like 35 36 minutes per game but against a team who presses an altitude maybe that goes down a touch so like let's say DeJuan 34, but again, you could convince me 36 or something. Nick Timberlake, we'll call it 28. That's what he averaged when he was a starter this year. Marco Jackson, we'll give him 20. That would be a bump up from what he's played in Big 12 play, but with Kevin out, there's more minutes to be had. Jamari McDowell with 12. I do think McDowell, if you're comparing him to Timberlake, both are kind of two guards, but McDowell has more ball handling, even though I wouldn't say it's like true point guard ball handling.

Starting point is 00:09:09 It's a little bit more than Timberlake, more of a combo guard. So maybe he ends up getting, I mean, there have been some games where he played 15, 20 minutes. Maybe this ends up being more of that for Jamari McDowell, if he can give you that extra ball handling that you lose with not having Kevin on the floor. Johnny Furfew will give him 32 minutes, KJ Adams 34, Hunter Dickinson 34, and then Parker Brown gives you like five or six or seven or eight, somewhere in that range. I think that's where you're looking at from the rotation here for Kansas.

Starting point is 00:09:33 Let's talk about how it affects the matchup itself, though, with Samford and anything after that, if you can get through the Bulldogs in the first round on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. This week's March Madness bracket highlight is brought to you by your friends at Nissan. Each week, we're picking one team that stands out, a team that's pushed it further than the rest. Just like any of the all-new 2024 Nissan SUVs, these guys were able to take it to the next level.

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Starting point is 00:10:41 the week for Kansas. Well, first of all, you're going to see the betting line certainly shift for Kansas. It like opened eight and a half, going to see the betting line certainly shift for Kansas. It opened 8.5, dropped 7.5, pushed back up to 8.5. I think I've already seen it's 7.5, but last I saw it was 7.5 with Kansas plus 100, so that almost tells me it's probably going to end up at 6.5, maybe even 5.5. So we'll see how that affects things here.

Starting point is 00:10:58 At the end of the day, Kansas, even without Kevin McCuller, you still have more talent than Sanford. Now, experience matters, play style matters. There are so many things that matter in college basketball. And for instance, like Elmarco Jackson is a McDonald's All-American. He would be the most talented player by that notion on Samford, but he's just not fully ready for college yet. So like, you know what I mean?

Starting point is 00:11:20 Even if you put him on Samford as the most talented player, what would his role be, right? So there's kind of that weird view of it. But still, point being, even without Kevin McCuller, So like, you know what I mean? Even if you put him on Sanford as the most talented player, what would his role be? Right. So, so there's kind of that, that weird view of it, but still point being, even without Kevin McCuller, this is a game. If this was a regular season game and there wasn't the NCAA tournament seat attached, like, I don't know, there'd be less stress about it. And it would still be like, oh yeah, you should still be able to beat Sanford. Right.

Starting point is 00:11:40 But there is increased pressure and, you know, pressure does create weird things happening in the NCAA tournament. But obviously, it's one less guard who can defend for you with Kevin being one of your better defenders. And it's a Sanford team who launches threes. It would be nice to have another guard to defend. It's also one less guard to ball handle. And honestly, I almost view that as the bigger deal here because Sanford presses their top 20 in the country in steal rate and turnover rate force, basically. And DeJuan is your primary ball handler.

Starting point is 00:12:09 But over the course of a game, especially in altitude, especially against a press, you're going to get tired. You're going to need somebody else to bring the ball up every now and then to give you a little bit of a breather. And on top of that, sometimes, you know, you might be the initial ball handler. If they might double you, you're trapped. All of a sudden, somebody else is going to have to catch a pass and they're going to have to take it up, right? Well, that's one initial ball handler. If they might double you, you're trapped. All of a sudden, somebody else is going to have to catch a pass, and they're going to have to take it up, right? Well, that's one less ball handler. I mean, you could argue Kevin McCuller was KU's second ball handler on the team. Now, El Marco is more of the point guard type than Kevin McCuller was,

Starting point is 00:12:34 but there's a reason Bill Self early in the season said Kevin McCuller is our backup point guard. Like, Timberlake's not really a ball handler. El Marco isn't really that true point guard yet. So, I mean, a lot more goes on El Marco Jackson to be that ball handler. El Marco isn't really that true point guard yet. So, I mean, a lot more goes on El Marco Jackson to be that ball handler. Like this could be a game where if El Marco Jackson only scores, you know, four points and has two rebounds and two assists, but as zero or one turnovers, that stat line doesn't sound that great, but it might actually be for KU and just giving you

Starting point is 00:12:59 somebody else who can bring it across the court. But it also makes you more thin. It gives you even more minutes for some guys to spread out on a team that doesn't have much depth in altitude and against the spread, the press. It is one less scoring option, one of your best ones. And one of the few ones on your team who can create a shot. And even then, like Kevin wasn't a great shot creator off the bounce, but he was arguably the best one on your team and one less rebounder too. Like that should have been an advantage on paper for you. Well, that's one less good rebounder for you. Now, if you make it to the second round, Gonzaga has Anton Watson at the three.

Starting point is 00:13:29 He's a really good player at their three spot. It'd be nice to have Kevin McCuller there, but you won't. McNeese State, very similar to Samford. So same kind of idea with the impact there for KU. This is a huge loss for the Jayhawks and what they could do. We'll see how it affects the game. We'll have our game preview later this week of KU Samford. Make sure you're tuned into our show here with Locked on Jayhawks and what they could do. We'll see how it affects the game. We'll have our game preview later this week of KU Samford. Make sure you're tuned into our show here with Locked on Jayhawks.

Starting point is 00:13:48 Thanks for joining us today. You can catch us anywhere you get your podcast and on our YouTube page. Like and subscribe to the show. See you next time.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks All-American Wing Kevin McCullar is OUT for the Tournament: Affect on KU-Samford

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