Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Puerto Rico Trip Overreactions: KJ Adams Fits with Hunter Dickinson

Episode Date: August 14, 2023

One week out, overreactions to the Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team's trip to Puerto Rico. Who stood out, why KJ Adams seems to fit well with Hunter Dickinson, KU team style/identity this year, and what questions still remain for Bill Self like the starting 2-guard/shooting guard position between Nick Timberlake, Arterio Morris and Elmarko Jackson. Plus, who is Kansas' Most Valuable Player?Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BirddogsToday's episode is brought to you by Birddogs. Go to birddogs.com/LOCKEDONCOLLEGE or enter promo code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for a free white tech hat with any purchase. You won’t want to take your birddogs off we promise you.LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONCOLLEGE. Terms and conditions apply.eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit. eBay Motors dot com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Right now, when you bet on a Super Bowl Winner, you can GET BONUS BETS EVERY TIME THEY WIN IN THE REGULAR SEASON! FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's Locked On Jayhawks, we're going to be talking overreactions to KU's Puerto Rico trip in basketball. It's been one week since their final game. Biggest overreactions to what we saw for the Jayhawks and how that could turn into this year. 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. You can hear me as well, Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. on KLWN in Lawrence with Rock Chalk Sports Talk.

Thanks for making Locked On Jayhawks your first listen every day. We are free and available wherever you get any of your podcasts. You can also find us with our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to our show. On today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, we're overreacting to what we saw in Puerto Rico. We took a week off. We've talked plenty about it if you missed it on any of the past episodes, but

now a little more time to let stuff sink in and really have some good overreactions to what we saw as part of this. First, though, this episode of Locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs. These days, every new potential hire can feel like a high-stakes wager for your small business. That's why LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the right people for your team faster and for free. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash lockedoncollege. Terms andconditions.

Apply. Okay, so one week off of the Puerto Rico trip for KU. I've got, if you're watching on our YouTube page, I've got kind of a crummy-looking graphic with some of the stats of the individual players. Hunter Dickinson led the team, points per game, with 19 of them. Also rebounds per game with seven of them also rebounds per game with seven of them. DeJuan Harris and assists just under seven of those. It was also DeJuan

in steals with almost four per game. Oddly enough, Hunter Dickinson didn't have a single block in his time down in Puerto Rico. Parker Brown led the way with one of them. KJ Adams shot a team best 71% from the floor. He also shot technically a team best 67% from three among players who, you know, took, I guess, two or more per game. It was Nick Timberlake with the most at 40%. He took the most threes, made the most threes in terms of totality. And then it was Hunter Dickinson attempting the most free throws tied with Kevin McCuller making the most free throws,

but the best free throw percentage Jamar McDowell, technically four for four. If you want bigger numbers, they're seven of nine. KJ Adams actually had the highest number at 78%. So biggest takeaways from this three game stretch for KU and Puerto Rico. The first one to me, the KJ Adams and Hunter Dickinson, that pairing works. It just does. I know it was three games. I know one of them was against lesser competition, and you didn't get to play the full Bahamian national team. You didn't get to see DeAndre Ayton and the full pros that they went against, and it is still just three games. In one of them, KJ Adams only had three points. I don't care. That pairing seemed to work just fine. I think it's going to be okay this year. Yes, it's not as ideal as if you had a traditional wing who's going to shoot

extremely well from three-point range that really stretches out the floor. KJ knows what he's doing, man. He's a very trusted player by Bill Self. They're going to run some of their high-low stuff. Hunter Dickinson and KJ are both good passers. They're going to take advantage of that passing to each other. In the case of KJ, he's a really good cutter. He can catch it off lobs.

So if another team just sags off of him and he's standing in the corner, that guy might fall asleep and he might be able to go back door behind him and throw down a lob. I think you're going to be a pretty good rebounding team on the offensive side of the ball. We saw Hunter Dickinson have a lot of tap outs. KJ was a good offensive rebounder last year, although some of the defensive numbers weren't great.

Game two, you wanted more from the rebounding in total between the two guys, but you know, Bills will have more time to kind of work on that. Hunter Dickinson, as I mentioned, zero blocks in the event. I expect that to go up once the college season starts up, but that's the beauty of KJ, man. He can kind of cover up. He's a really good weak side rim protector when he's coming over to make those plays and kind of help defense, and he could kind of be a rover in some of that area. He can also defend out on the perimeter that makes him a wing. I am not concerned about that pairing anymore. That was my biggest question going into this thing.

And yes, it was only three games, but for having an overreaction to what we saw, I'm no longer worried about it, even though it wasn't a high sample size of him shooting jumpers. He shot, you know, a couple mid-range. He shot three three-pointers. It looked pretty good. The form looked a little bit better, a little little smoother a little quicker out of KJ Adams but it's just figuring out ways to fit in outside of just doing that and you know there are at least enough teams who have played even recently two big basketball which this is like one and a half bigs to to a certain point and had success you think back to a lot of the Duke teams recently

and that's what they're going to be trying to do this year. Marvin Bagley, Wendell Carter, right? They were Grayson Allen shot from rolling around the rim, which everybody's happy that that thing popped out, but from being in the final four, right? So I think it's going to be okay, and I think everything's going to work there. My other big overreaction here is KU is very athletic. Now, this doesn't sound like an overreaction at all.

This just seems very duh, right? They looked very athletic. They looked very springy, but again, with the competition, you don't really know everything you're going up against where it's like, well, are they athletic? Cause they're just playing against a bunch of guys who aren't very athletic, uh, where they don't make them, you know, where it's, you know, on a curve, it looks like KU is a lot more athletic than they are, But no, man, when Bill Self says we want to be an athletic team, it's not always about just having a 6'6", 6'7", wing who has a 40-inch vertical and can dunk on someone or having a pogo stick center that's going to block three shots a game

and throw down a bunch of dunks. Some of that is just speed-based, and some of that is guard-based. Like, can you have quick guards? That matters into this too. Like, the Frank Mason, Devontae Graham teams, neither one of those guys were this, like, otherworldly vertical athlete. Now, both had pretty good hops and could throw down dunks, but it's not like they were, you know, John Morant necessarily,

but they were really quick. They were really fast. They were athletic in that way, and it led to Kansas being an athletic team. You look at the guards that they have at their disposal this year. Marco Jackson is super athletic. DeJuan Harris is an athletic college guard. He's very quick. He gets up on you. Artario Morris is athletic, obviously. You know, Nick Timberlake, you might get the, oh, white guy shooter role. Like, no, he's athletic, right? Kevin McCuller is a pretty

good athlete too. KJ Adams is obviously very athletic Parker Brown it's been said like multiple times now people are doubling down on this take like whether it's his mom whether it's Bill Self that he's the best athlete in the family right even more than Christian Brown so you have a situation here where you have a really athletic team and we'll see what Johnny Furphy adds to this because he looks really athletic too I feel very confident this is going to be a very athletic team which means you should be good in transition and you should have potential to be really good on the defensive end and crashing the glass with all those athletes. And I think because of that too, you're also going to see this team get a lot of steals and

pressure the ball a ton. That's my other reaction. This team is going to be really good at forcing ball pressure. Sometimes it gets floated out there. Like would this be the Bill Self team that the full court presses? They have the bodies for it. They never do. Sometimes you'll see them throw it out for a play or two. Sometimes you'll see, you know, you have one of your guards pick up the other guard on 94 feet or pick them

up at half court to slow them down, initiating the offense. I think they'll do that a good amount this year. But last year's team was really good at forcing steals too. I think this team is going to be really good, if not better at forcing seals. Cause you have to want and Kevin, just like you did last year's team was really good at forcing steals too. I think this team is going to be really good, if not better at forcing seals, because you have to want and Kevin, just like you did last year,

but you add our Terrio who should be good at it. El Marco who should be good at it. So I think this team is going to be really good at forcing steals and be one of the better ones in the big 12. There's another overreaction, I guess. And then my final overreaction I have here is KU has the potential to be an elite defense.

This kind of filters back in with the athleticism stuff. Just in theory, DeJuan Harris and Kevin McCuller, who were both all Big 12 defensive team picks last year in the conference, they're back. They could be two of the best 10, five defenders in the entire country, not just the Big 12. So that's a great starting point. Hunter Dickinson should be a good one-on-one defender in the post. So teams who traditionally are going to play through a big man and try to go through the post, it's not going to be super easy down there, and he is at least a big body you have to move.

Even if it's a team who has a stretch five or is going to kind of force you out a little bit, you can play maybe some more Parker Brown in that game. You can play some K.J. Adams at the five to at least knock it down at least a little bit. But I think K.J. is going to be a really good defender. There were times he was switched on to a guard or guarding on the perimeter, and he looked pretty good out there, which I thought he did pretty good last year too.

But I think he looked even more fluid this year. He looks even more athletic, even bigger than he was before, which is saying something because he already was that type of guy. So with KJ, I feel good about where that's at defensively. And then you feel good about some of the guys coming off the bench, what they're going to provide. I feel very good about all those things that those overreactions might just end up hitting for this Kansas team this season. There's still some questions though, that remain about this team, even after the three game, let's get into those and let's get into who KU's most valuable player this year could end up

being. We heard Bill Self say, Kevin McCuller is the best player. Is it Hunter Dickinson? But what about most valuable on the team? We'll get to that coming up in a moment here. This episode of the show is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs. These days, every new potential hire can feel like a high-stakes wager for your small business. You want to be 100% certain that you have access

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in the fog but that's not till october even then that's kind of an open gym setting where, you know, the coaches, I don't know how much they're calling plays. You hear Bill self on the broadcast, always complaining about, why'd you do this? Why'd you do that? And it's kind of funny. And then we'll have exhibition play at the beginning of November, I guess secret scrimmage before then. But again, we're not really going to totally know. So there is a long period of time here about two months,

three months before we're going to get some more snippets that are, I don't know, maybe a little bit more real. Biggest questions remain. There still is the question, who's going to win the starting two spot? Who's going to win the starting shooting guard spot between Nick Timberlake, who started game one, Artario Morris, who started game two, and Elmarco Jackson, who started game three? I think a lot of people have been kind of assuming Artario would be that lately. And after the first game, he had 20 points. I think you'd be right to assume that. I don't want to discount El Marco Jackson here.

I'll be honest. I'm at a point now where I'm thinking I'm slightly leaning Artario Morris, but I have El Marco Jackson 2 and I have Nick Timberlake 3. I think all of them are going to play good minutes for you, 15, 16 to 20, 25 minutes per game from all three of them. So all of them will have a role and be critical on this team. So maybe it doesn't really matter who starts. It'll matter more who finishes and you hear that all the time. But maybe the starter will end up being the one that plays the most minutes. Maybe that'll be the one who plays 25 minutes per game. Second guy plays 20

and third guy plays 15. So it could have a pecking order like that. We don't totally know. I wouldn't be surprised if El Marco, who's been really impressive, but maybe inconsistent because you're a freshman and you're still trying to figure things out and iron things out. If over these next two months, he really skyrockets in what he can do and getting more comfortable with the team. I really love when El Marco is out there with DeJuan Harris. It's an athletic, fun backcourt. Both guards can pass it. Both guards can drive it. El Marco's super athletic.

Both can pressure the ball. I love what that provides. So that's going to be a big question over the next couple of months. But even though I had Nick Timberlake right now at three, you know, you asked me two months ago, I had Nick Timberlake in the starting lineup. And who knows, maybe he could work back in front there because if the shooting just becomes that good and he can you know fit in in other places and why can't he win that starting

job too so all of them really are in it um the johnny furphy uh role of this team is going to be really interesting he could play the two he could play the three he could play the four i don't know how many minutes you're gonna have at the two with arterio morris el marco jackson nick timberlake eating up a lot of those minutes at the three I don't know how many minutes you're going to have at the two with Artario Morris, Elmarco Jackson, Nick Timberlake eating up a lot of those minutes. At the three, I don't know how many minutes you're going to even have to begin with because Kevin McCuller and maybe some Nick Timberlake. And then at the four, some Kevin McCuller, some KJ Adams, right? Are you going to play Parker Brown next to Hunter Dickinson? It's going to be hard to find that role for Johnny Furphy. If he's as good as they think he's going to be, and keep in mind, a lot of those comments have been based on what they saw on tape, what they've seen in recruiting, what he's as good as they think he's going to be, and keep in mind, a lot of those comments have been based on what they saw on tape, what they've seen in recruiting, what he's doing so far.

He's not with the team yet, so you don't know totally how he's going to fit in and everything. But if everything goes as planned, I feel like the role is going to be for maybe eight to ten minutes a game, whether it's spot minutes, where it's those eight to ten minutes in a given game, or if it's every game, that kind of remains to be seen. And as we've talked about a lot, it's hard to see a KU Bill self-rotation going nine deep, maybe in the non-con, but once we get to conference play, it'll typically be eight and on certain nights, seven. And if it is eight, does that mean it's down to Johnny Furphy versus Parker Brown? And obviously there are different positions, but if you decide Johnny Furphy is better than Parker Brown,

you can just play KJ Adams as the backup five minutes. That creates more four minutes, which you could move Kevin McCuller to, and that opens up more three minutes, which you could put Johnny Furphy into. So that'll be a really interesting one because Parker Brown, I think there were a lot of really good reviews in the practices leading up to Puerto Rico, but I don't think he played his best ball in Puerto Rico either. How much does that matter?

Johnny Furphy joining late, that's going to be tough. Joining later into the system, and they're not super deep into everything yet, but you're still behind in some of the stuff, and how quickly can you catch up to that will be important for what he can do year one. Will Jamari McDowell redshirt? Zach Clements sounds like the plan is for him to continue to redshirt. I don't think we saw anything in Puerto Rico outside of hearing that he had scored like 60 points over the course of two scrimmage games. Then he had eight points in the first exhibition game that was like, well,

if he's that good, if he's putting up 30 a game in every practice, like could you take the redshirt off? I don't think that's the plan, but will Jamari McDowell redshirt, part of it could depend on going back to Johnny Furphy, right? Like, are you ready? And do you feel good about that? Part of it's going to depend on Jamari McDowell, what he wants to do, what his family wants to do. But what if Jamari McDowell comes out and all of a sudden he breaks out and he looks better than Johnny Furphy in the months leading up? Then at that point,

it's no longer a conversation. And the big question I have from the team perspective is the shooting. Shooting was good in game one. It was poor in game two and game three, both from three-point shooting and from the free throw line. Now, it's still such a small sample. You're playing with a different basketball with the FIBA basketball. You're playing in a gym you're not used to. The floor's slippery. You're playing against professionals. It's just going to be a little bit different. I'm not overly concerned yet. It's just that you back it up and it goes back to the idea that this team, there are people having questions about their three-point shooting, and then you back it up by not having a great performance over the last two

games that it does scare you a little bit. But I did an episode a couple of weeks ago about why I'm not overly concerned with three-point shooting, that it's easier to get to that level of where national title contenders have been. Check it out with Locked on Jayhawks, you know, at that 35, 36% mark, then you might think, and I still think they can possibly get there. All right. I want to finish up here with who is KU's most valuable player.

I think that'll be an interesting discussion here with Locked on Jayhawks. We heard from Bill Self prior to the team leaving for Puerto Rico that Kevin McCuller was the team's best player. Everything we saw, you can have that argument. You can have Hunter Dickinson. From an All-American perspective, award perspective, it'll probably be Dickinson just because the stats will go that way. But you can understand with Kevin McCuller because you have the added defense,

the leadership perspective, why Bill Self would say that. It could also be Bill Self saying that to challenge Hunter Dickinson and to challenge Kevin McCuller to live up to that hype, right? So there are the reasons that that could be the case. But I'm interested in what is the most valuable, who is the most valuable player on the team. I still, for my money, think Hunter Dickinson is going to wind up being the best player on the team because of his impact

as being the go-to option on offense, what he's going to do as a scorer as a passer as a rebounder how everything is going to kind of float around him and how he's going to be the orbit on the offensive side of the ball that I think he will be the best player in that regard but valuable player maybe it is him if everything is around him and I guess you could well, the drop off from him to the second string is more than, you know, any other position that you have. But I could argue DeJuan Harris too. He's so valuable anytime he's on the floor. Then again, you have other good guards.

I think in that way, it is Kevin McCuller. And that way it is Kevin McCuller as the most valuable. He's the glue to being in a wing. Like most of your other players are more guards or they're forward slash centers. So he's kind of the glue in that regard. You can play him at the three or the four he's one of your better passers he'll be one of your better scores he'll be one of your better rebounders he'll just do everything well for this team and be a connective piece that um should have that leadership ability

and we saw some of those pro moves that he's kind of added that he still can be when you need him a go-to score in some key moments you would hope but also he's probably going to be somebody who is fine deferring that he's going to be valuable in that regard that he doesn't always have to take the big shot if somebody else has that moment and that's important to know when to do it and when not to do it and you add in his defense that he's versatile if he gets switched on to a one two three four even a five you feel okay with him being out there. So I could argue that you can also argue KJ Adams, though, is most valuable because they don't really have anybody else that can do what KJ does, which is be a kind of true power forward to that sense. Like you can play Kevin as a small ball for, maybe you can play Johnny Furphy as a small ball for he's only in 180 pounds from what he's listed

at. Maybe you could play Parker Brown with two big basketball, but like, I don't know. You don't have a ton of power forward options. And from that standpoint, the scarcity standpoint, you could argue he's the most valuable, especially when you look at it as, you know, KU being a sinking ship or being one that floats along the way and has everything that you could want and, you know,

wins a title this year. That could just be dependent on how KJ Adams going back to our first overreaction how he fits next to Hunter Dickinson how he progresses as a player how he shoots the basketball if he doesn't do well and the fit's not there it's going to be hard for this team to live up to the potential but if he does it's going to be easy for them to be one of the best teams in the country. So I think actually you could argue it is him. Maybe he's the X factor, right? There's that term. Maybe that makes him the X factor. Kevin or DeJuan is most valuable. Hunter as the best if we want to give different things here just to give everybody a little piece of the pie. All right. You can hit me up on Twitter at D Johnson radio. That'll do it for this show

of locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show wherever you get any of your podcasts. You can also find us on our YouTube page with Locked on Jayhawks. Have a good rest of your day. I will be back from out of town, and we'll get to some more consistent content this week with Locked on Jayhawks. So be on the lookout for that, some more KU football stuff upcoming. See you next time.