Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks vs Arkansas Razorbacks: Bill Self and John Calipari Square Off in 1st Round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament

Episode Date: March 19, 2025

Kansas Jayhawks face off against the Arkansas Razorbacks in a thrilling NCAA Tournament first round showdown. Can Bill Self outmaneuver John Calipari in this high-stakes basketball clash? With star pl...ayers like Boogie Fland and Hunter Dickinson in the spotlight, this matchup promises intense action and strategic depth.Explore the rich history between these two coaching titans and the key player matchups that could decide the game. Discover how Kansas plans to dominate the paint and control the transition game against Arkansas's formidable defense. Will Zeke Mayo's recent form hold up against the Razorbacks' athletic guards? What role will Dajuan Harris, KJ Adams, Rylan Griffen play? What about the injury status' for Adou Thiero and Shakeel Moore?Tune in for an in-depth analysis of the Kansas Jayhawks' strategies and player dynamics. Don't miss out on the expert insights and game-changing discussions that could shape the outcome of this NCAA Tournament battle.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!NissanTake your adventures to new heights in the All-New Nissan Armada PRO-4X. Learn more at NissanUSA.com.Disclaimers: Optional features. Towing capacity varies by configuration. See Nissan Towing Guide and Owner’s Manual for additional information. Always secure cargo.Supply HouseJoin the Trade Master program today at SupplyHouse.com/TM and start ordering plumbing, HVAC, and electrical supplies with just a few clicks. Plus, use promo code SH5 for 5% off your first order. That’s SupplyHouse.com!FabricJoin the thousands of parents who trust Fabric to help protect their families. Apply today in just minutes at MEETFABRIC.com/LOCKEDONCOLLEGE. 5-Hour ENERGYHead to 5-hourENERGY.com to find over 15 flavors to choose from, including Watermelon, Blue Raspberry, and Peach-Mango. Need one now? Grab a 5-hour ENERGY shot at your local grocery or convenience store—they’re everywhere! Stock up today and stay energized.UpworkVisit Upwork.com right now and post your job for free to connect with top talent and grow your business today!FactorLooking to optimize your nutrition this year? Eat smart with Factor. Get started at FACTOR MEALS.com/FACTORPODCAST and use code FACTORPODCAST to get 50% off your first box plus free shipping.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGEfor $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.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)

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Starting point is 00:00:00 It's Bill Self versus John Calipari again. It's Kansas versus Arkansas again. It's NCAA tournament round one action. We preview today's game on today's Locked on Jayhawks. 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. It's NCAA tournament time. And this is Locked On Jayhawks. Thanks for making it your first
Starting point is 00:00:35 listen every day. Thank you to the every dayers catching each and every episode of the show. We're free and available wherever you get your podcasts, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe. Uh, releasing this a little early normally was going to come out Thursday morning, but figured give you a little extra time to listen to it and get you ready for the Kansas Arkansas game in the NCAA tournament. Um, especially with, you know, you're probably going to be watching
Starting point is 00:00:58 games Thursday morning. So we're going to get into the matchup headlines, Arkansas scouting report keys to the game for KU players to watch on today's edition of lockdown. J Ox that is brought to you by game time download the game time app, create an account and use code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase with game time. Kansas takes on Arkansas it is a little past a six o'clock tip in Providence, Rhode Island, I guess there's a
Starting point is 00:01:24 chance that the game could get, I don't know, pushed back a little bit if the first game goes long or something like that. So we'll just kind of wait and see on when it exactly starts, but scheduled for a 6-10 tip time between these two teams in Rhode Island. And obviously Bill Self versus John Calipari
Starting point is 00:01:40 becomes the first big headline of this game, right? Because you're talking two coaches who are Hall of Fame coaches, two coaches who have had a lot of past history against each other. If you're an everyday or you would have caught already some of our episodes where we were talking about the past history between these two coaches and they're one and one against each other in the NCAA tournament. Both previous ones were national championship games. This one, not quite the same, but anytime you go one against each other in the NCAA tournament. Both previous ones were national championship games. This one, not quite the same,
Starting point is 00:02:07 but anytime you go up against each other, it becomes a big thing, and that'll be the case once again this time. Where it feels like at this point, like are both coaches throwing their 95 mile per hour fastball anymore? I don't know. With Bill Self kind of reigns the scene,
Starting point is 00:02:21 which on Cal Park probably not, but in this specific matchup, it was like these two teams are pretty even, should be interesting. This also interesting tournament history between these two. This will be the third tournament matchup between the two of them. The first was in 1991.
Starting point is 00:02:35 That was a fun one for KU fans, the Elite Eight game in which Kansas defeated Arkansas. I forget if Kansas, I think Kansas was the three seed. I forget if they're the two or the three. I'm pretty sure they're the three seed seat and defeated Arkansas in the 1991 Elite Eight. That was Roy Williams first Elite Eight or first Final Four team. And for a lot of Kansas fans who are, you know, a little bit older than I am, like that is one of their favorite generational wins, right?
Starting point is 00:03:00 If you're a younger fan, maybe you have your favorites that come to mind. That becomes the one that you would compare to, right? If you're a younger fan, maybe you have your favorites that come to mind, that becomes the one that you would compare to, right? Like if you think the the KU Duke win in the 2018 Elite 8, if you're a bit of a younger fan, and that's one of your favorite wins, that's kind of the equivalent for fans of that generation. It's a high scoring game, you've beat a really good Arkansas team, like that was one of the more fun games of the Kansas, I don't know, NCAA tournament history, so to speak. The most recent meeting in the tournament between the two, not as fun, probably a game Kansas should have won.
Starting point is 00:03:34 And I mean, had Bill Self been coaching, Norm Roberts did everything that I think he could, but had Bill Self been coaching, hard for me not to think that Kansas doesn't beat Arkansas in this heck around. around nonetheless they did lose two years ago and kind of sucks because that was the end of Jalen Wilson's career that was the end of Grady Dicks career at Kansas and it was a game in which yeah KU lost a close game that they could have won in a lot of different directions
Starting point is 00:03:58 in the end I don't know maybe it feels a little better knowing that Yukon buzzsaw was awaiting the sweet 16 matchup, but certainly would have felt good to make it to the second weekend because we haven't seen a ton of those recently. For KU we saw 2022 with the national title and that's the only second weekend we've seen since 2018 oddly enough. But yeah, that one was obviously different coach with Eric Musselman, it was the shirt off game, but certainly both previous matchups have been thrilling in different regards. I would imagine this is going to be a close one too.
Starting point is 00:04:27 The next big headline here is I think for both Kansas and Arkansas, like trying to start anew and claim a strong finish to what has otherwise not been what has been a bit of a bumpy ride for both schools. You come in for Arkansas, Jen Kalapari comes in, brings in some transfers, freshman recruits. There's high expectations. Maybe not the expectations or Kansas was where they were the number one team, but with Arkansas they were being
Starting point is 00:04:49 seen as like a top 20 team in the preseason and they beat Kansas in the exhibition game where maybe it does raise those expectations. And they ended up being a bubble team that finished season strong to get to the NCAA tournament. From the Kansas perspective,
Starting point is 00:05:02 they had a good start to the season and then things kind of fell apart and things were up and down to the finish line for KU. But this is an opportunity for both schools to maybe not like just completely erase what happened over the regular season to make it that it was, you know, not quite meeting the expectations, but certainly make you forget it a little bit and give you a little bit of, you know, Advil to overcome the pain for a few weeks, right? That if Kansas or Arkansas makes a Sweet 16, I think both teams would be thrilled with that NCAA tournament run this season based on how the
Starting point is 00:05:36 regular season went. So an opportunity to kind of gain some favor back in that area. Now it's also the rematch of that exhibition game. That's the last headline I have here. And I mentioned earlier in the week, I don't want to take too much from this game, but I do think it's also a rematch of that exhibition game. That's the last headline I have here. And I mentioned earlier in the week, I don't want to take too much from this game, but I do think it's at least important to bring up because Arkansas won by 16, 85 to 69. And it was an interesting game in which Kansas could not stop the Arkansas guards.
Starting point is 00:05:56 You look at Boogie Fland scoring 22 points, and that's of note because Boogie Fland is supposed to be back for this game, 15 point per game score for Arkansas. Now is he gonna be the same guy? Is he going to be rusty? How many minutes is he going to play? That's interesting because he played 35 in that exhibition against KU.
Starting point is 00:06:12 Then you have DJ Wagner who had 24 points. You couldn't stop him in that first matchup. And then John L. Davis came off the bench. He didn't do a ton five points on two of nine shooting, but still becomes an interesting piece for them. Jonas, I do didn't play in that exhibition game for Arkansas, and he plays in this one.
Starting point is 00:06:26 Now on the flip side though for Arkansas, Ado Thiero, who is their leading point per game score, he's out. Now he didn't play well in the exhibition game, two points on one shot in 17 minutes, but he's been really good this season. Billy Richmond has taken on a bigger role since when you first saw him in the exhibition game.
Starting point is 00:06:43 From the Kansas perspective, AJ Storr store was starting he played 18 minutes, but started the game for KU Zeke Mayo only took six shots he had seven points like that's not indicative of what he is anymore flurry started and hundred Dickinson did not play Ryland Griffin who has been big time on the struggle bus recently, but still has potential to be a good three point shooter did not play for KU you got 10 minutes from Zach Clements. You got 14 minutes from Jamari McDowell. So 24 minutes between those guys. David Coyt had 24 minutes,
Starting point is 00:07:11 which we've seen Diggy Coyt play, you know, that level of minutes in games down the stretch here, but it's games where he's hot. And Bill Self was like, okay, I'm going to keep him in there for the shot. Maybe he was 0 for 5 in the Arkansas exhibition. If that happens in this one, he starts over three.
Starting point is 00:07:25 He's only playing 1012 minutes, right? If he's three for three, maybe he does like 24 minutes again. So both teams just personnel wise are so different, and I think it was Christiana, one of the former KU players who watched the game and they posted on social media on Twitter that like they're not running any plays.
Starting point is 00:07:41 At Kansas wasn't so like again, I don't really know how much you want to take into account. The one thing I will keep an eye on is more so the idea of Arkansas's guards were very difficult for KU to guard. And the other piece is Dewan Harris had 26 points, which you go back to the previous time that Dewan Harris met John Calipari when he was at Kentucky, he had 23 points. John Calipari is going to say, hey, Dewan Harris, if you want to beat us by scoring, we'll let you. And so I think that becomes important in this game as well
Starting point is 00:08:09 that you might need 15 plus points from DeJuan Harris, which he did have a good shooting game in the Arizona game in KU's most recent outing. The other big piece, Rikis Pasmo at 11 points in that game. So Rikis Pasmo are clearly going to be the X factor here and score 15 points for Canada. No, that is not going to happen. But you look at the Arkansas
Starting point is 00:08:25 scouting board now coming into this one. They come in ranked 40th on Ken Palm. They went 20 and 13 on the season and they have the 73rd ranked most efficient offense on Ken Palm. They have the 20th best defense that was even more emphasized in SEC play where they were 14th of the.
Starting point is 00:08:44 How many teams are in the SEC at this point 1820 whatever it is their fifth on the defensive end of the floor which is really good considering all the teams that are like 123 four seeds in the SEC. They play fast. They get out in transition. They are top 70 nationally in tempo rating. They're a very tall team in terms of average height which you know mostly goes to their big men but also they do have the ability of like a six, six wing and Carter Knox. They don't really
Starting point is 00:09:09 have little guards like their guards are 6364. You look at the personnel of note mentioned to do the arrow is hurt. And according to John Calipari, he's going to be out for the game. So he doesn't have to worry about him. On the flip side for KU, their injury report sees Shaq Moore, I guess he was practicing on Wednesday. So in a game where you're going to be looking to defend guards, how much can Shaq Moore give you after he's missed all these games? I don't know, probably not more than 10-12 minutes,
Starting point is 00:09:34 but could he give you a good 10-12 minutes to just help defend one of those good Arkansas athletic guards? Yeah, absolutely. And maybe that is the difference in you winning a close game. And so Boogie Fland coming back possibly 15.1 points, 5.7 assists, 1.5 steals per game, 37% from three. What level is he going to play? Is he going to play 30 minutes and look like that exact guy when he comes in right away? Or is he going to be somebody who plays 15 minutes? Or is he going to be somebody who they try to play him a big minute total, but he's just not the same guy. The shots are falling and he's too rusty. That'll be
Starting point is 00:10:07 very interesting. A six four sophomore guard DJ Wagner 11 points per game three and a half assists per game had that big exhibition game 4131 81 splits for him this season. And then six four guard John L. Davis. He's got a lot of success in this tournament putting up big numbers and you know, advancing Florida Atlantic to the final four a couple of years ago. This season for the Hogs, 11.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, one and a half steals and 38% from the floor, 32 from 384 at the foul line.
Starting point is 00:10:34 It is interesting, though, you look at those those three guards, even though they are really good players, the efficiency isn't always there for them. Then you look at the Wayne Cardenock, six foot six. He's a freshman who put up eight points, three rebounds, 33% from the floor. But as we mentioned on one of the previous episodes, really good corner three-point shooter. And he's playing well.
Starting point is 00:10:52 He's at double digits in seven of their last nine games. They have another freshman, 6'5", Billy Richmond, who's a powerful wing, 54% from the field, not a three-point shooter. But you look at him since February 8th, eight points per game over three boards per game. So interesting player there. Two bigs for Arkansas, which is on one hand a good thing for KU because it
Starting point is 00:11:13 goes style on style. On the other hand, they're just bigger than you with the two bigs, at least at the four position. Trayvon Brazil is 610 goes for six and a half points, five rebounds over a block per game game 63 from the floor 41 from three He can really shoot in space from the outside 611 240 pound Jonas I do the Tennessee transfer who didn't play in the exhibition 6.4 points five rebounds over a block per game on 57 from the floor more of a rim roller dunker type really good defender Interestingly enough though. Hunter Dickinson
Starting point is 00:11:42 Had an amazing game against Jonas. I do in the Maui Invitational third place game when he was back at Tennessee just a couple of years ago for Kansas. Then you look at Big Z, Avicich, their 7'2", 245 pound center, 9.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, two blocks per game on 38% from three on pretty good volume. And so they'll use a little bit of knocks at the four if they want to go small, but you're going to see a lot of two big lineups and basically that combination of I do Brazil, Avicich, it's 22 points, 15 rebounds,
Starting point is 00:12:14 four blocks per game, really good rim protection. And in the case of Avicich in Brazil, it's 68 of 175 from three point range, which I mean, that's good volume. 175 threes are basically in five per game between those two shooting at about 39% from three point range. So some very interesting personnel for KU to try to defend. We had a recent episode talking about the player matchups. Thank you if you already caught it. If you haven't checked that out as well, let's get into the strengths and weaknesses
Starting point is 00:12:40 though for this Arkansas team keys to the game for KU players to watch still more to come here with lock on Jayhawks. Our episode of the show today is brought to you by Monarch Money. Ever check your bank account and wonder where did all my money go between dining out online shopping and entertainment, it's easy to lose track. That's where Monarch Money comes in your personal CFO, giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch Money isn't just a budgeting app, it's a complete financial command center. You can track all of your accounts, investments
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Starting point is 00:15:23 Well, the strengths. They get to the free throw line and they prevent free throws at a very solid rate. They are top seven in what has been a loaded SEC and they are top 110 nationally in both statistics. For what it's worth, they have shot their free throws at a solid level too, so when they're getting there, they are taking advantage on a good rate there. Their two point offense and their defense from twos have been solid in both their middle of the pack in SEC. But again, you factor in how good the conference has been. Their top 60 nationally in two point offense right now, which makes sense.
Starting point is 00:15:54 They have that litany of big bigs and they've gone to athletic enough to drive to the rim. Really put rim pressure on you. Defensively, they finished top four in SEC only games in two point events and their top 90 nationally. Thanks in large part to a top 10 block rate. Those three bigs as we talked about averaging about four
Starting point is 00:16:12 blocks per game. They're also decent and not turning it over and getting steals, but they're not elite at either. Now the weaknesses for Arkansas rebounding. They've been better at defensive and offensive. I wouldn't say that I would. I would not call the defensive rebounding a weakness, but the offensive rebounding.
Starting point is 00:16:32 Certainly has 13th in SEC games and 249th nationally in offensive rebound rate and they have been only 10th in SEC games and defensive rebound rate. So maybe more of a mild defensive rebounding team, not a very good offensive rebounding team, which is interesting. You would think that with all the big men that they have, the athletic guards,
Starting point is 00:16:51 they'd be really good at offensive rebounding. I think part of it is that with Brazil and Avicich, a lot of times those big men are shooting threes or spacing out the floor to where they're not down there to maybe grab some of those offensive rebounds. Also, this is not a great three-point shooting team. It is interesting because you can make the argument of Isich is their best three-point shooter, and he's a big man.
Starting point is 00:17:10 They're 201st nationally in three-point percentage at 33.3%, and that's the number that has gotten worse over the course of SEC play. In conference play, Arkansas down to 30.8% from three-point range, which put them 12th in league only games. They don't shoot them much either in terms of volume. So what are the keys to the game for KU? Well, key number one is Arc Battle, which is the battle in the paint, so to speak.
Starting point is 00:17:37 On the season, Arkansas gets 34.8 paint points per game. That puts them in the 82nd percentile nationally. And that's a number that's been similar for them recently over the last five over the last 10 games, but it is down to the 55th percentile in conference games. It is tough to tell with some of these stats though, like what version of Arkansas are you going to get because no do the arrow but also getting boogie flan back.
Starting point is 00:17:59 Like how does that kind of affect things? Kansas though is doing a pretty good job this season of sealing off the paint. They're allowing 28 pain points per game essentially, which puts their defense in the 85th percentile near one of the better numbers in the country in terms of, you know, paying points allowed per game. Then you look at Arkansas on defense, they're giving up 31 pain points per game.
Starting point is 00:18:24 That ranks about dead average, 50th percentile nationally. In conference play, a number that dropped even further though to 37th percentile, so they've been worse at it recently. And that's where Kansas butters their bread on offense. 37 pain points per game that puts them in the 93rd percentile nationally, with that number dropping a sliver in conference play and of late, but you know still to a level
Starting point is 00:18:45 that's that's still good. So which team is going to impose their well more in the paint both teams like to get in the paint both teams like scoring the paint Kansas not a better job typically and preventing shots in the paint though Arkansas has done a really good job if you're just looking at the percentages of teams shooting at the rim and obviously both teams play you know two big men it's going to be very interesting how the teams kind of match up here.
Starting point is 00:19:04 Number two is the transition battle. In conference play, the Razorbacks gave up gave up one of the top quarters. So, you know, one of the top 25 percent of field goal attempts in transition in college basketball. Kansas is a team on the season who's been above average
Starting point is 00:19:22 in transition points per game over 10 per game there. But in conference play, that number is down big time. So in conference play, the number dropped from down to a little over eight points in transition per game, which is 37th percentile nationally over the last 10 games. That's down another sliver to 8.2 and over Kansas the last five games, they were down to 6.2 transition points per game. This has not been something Kansas has been getting better at. This is something they've been getting worse at, but it is something that I still think they have the potential to be better at and get back to where they were last season, get back to where they typically are under Bell's Elf teams, get back to where
Starting point is 00:19:57 they were earlier this season. And you have to be able to score in transition in NCAA tournament games. If it comes down to half-court defense, it becomes really, really difficult to score because games come a slog because teams with do or die mentality are defending typically better. And just in general, there's been so much scouting over what you do, especially in a game where these coaches are familiar with each other, right? So you have to be able to score in transition. For Williamsworth, Zeke Mayo, KJ Adams, those are KU's top two transition field goal shooters in Big 12 games in terms of attempts. And Mayo is shooting 50%
Starting point is 00:20:31 on transition threes in conference play. So you want to continue to emphasize that. Now the flip side, Arkansas does this super well too. They're averaging 12.7 fast breakpoints per game. That puts them in the 90th percentile in conference play, it's dropped a bit over 10 fast break points per game, but that's still, you know, above average to good so far this season. So which team can get out in transition a little bit more? Number three is squeeze the orange in wins this season. Arkansas is averaging 17 points off turnovers per game.
Starting point is 00:21:00 That puts them in the 96th percentile during that specific stat to go with the steel rate in wins that ranks in the 83rd percentile. So in wins Arkansas very good at getting steals very good at converting those steals into points. But in losses, Arkansas is averaging 10 and a half points off turnovers per game. That's about a seven point dip. And that ranks them in just the 10th percentile nationally to go with the steel rate that drops from 83rd percentile wins to 58th percentile nationally to go with the steel rate that drops from 83rd percentile in wins to 58th percentile in losses.
Starting point is 00:21:26 So as you can see, our number two matchup, which kind of invoked transition defense combined with not turning the ball over, which a lot of times leads the transition points the other way, that's going to be crucial for Kansas victory. And interestingly enough, from the Kansas side, they have a 13.3 turnover rate in wins versus a 17 turnover rate in losses. What does that mean? In wins, Kansas is in the 88th percentile in turnover rate and losses there in the 14th percentile. So you can see very much for both these teams, you know, Kansas on offense not turning the ball over, Arkansas forcing turnovers and leaving that to points very much is going to be tied to who
Starting point is 00:22:02 wins this game. I think this all goes back to something we talked about earlier this week. Again, thank you for an everydayer. The importance of Dewan Harris to this matchup. It really does have to be everyone. This can't be a game where, you know, 100 against him has six turnovers or, you know, Zeke Mayo has five turnovers. But Dewan is the guy that kind of spearheads that for KU. All right.
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Starting point is 00:23:35 The NCAA Tournament is here and so is the bracket breakdown. Locked On Podcast Network and Amazon Fire TV channels are teaming up to deliver NCAA tournament coverage like never before. Watch studio shows featuring former players and Lockdown's local experts as they guide you through every upset, buzzer beater, and bracket matchup. Stream it all for free on Amazon Fire TV channels. Search bracket breakdown to see it all for free. It's your team every day.
Starting point is 00:24:04 So Kansas taking on Arkansas, we'll have a postcast after the game to discuss whatever happens. And then we'll continue on the weekend and we'll go one of two paths. We'll either talk about the season that was and what's ahead in the offseason, or we'll talk about what's next for KU in their next matchup. Hopefully it's talking about the next matchup. Anyway, player matchups for this one between Kansas and Arkansas. As we talked about earlier, again, Dewan Harris is the X factor of this matchup. So I think it would have to be Dewan versus whatever guard lines up against him.
Starting point is 00:24:34 And he lines up on whether it's Boogie Fland, DJ Wagner or John L. Davis. But just to pick somebody else, since we did go in depth about how important he is in this specific matchup, I think Hunter Dickinson versus the Arkansas swath of big men in a couple different ways for Hunter. He needs to go into takeover mode. Essentially. I think for Kansas to have a big run in the NCAA tournament something that Bill Self kind of challenged him on in it's going to be difficult because that's a
Starting point is 00:25:01 bunch of size that they can throw at you and how are you going to, you know, be able to do it. Him being able to hit a three or two in this game, like we saw in the recent big 12 tournament games, I think would go a long way. And also, how is he going to defend the Kentucky Bay or the Arkansas bigs? I'm so used to junk out part with Kentucky, I'm sorry. How important is he going to be on the defensive end? How are you going to use him? If a V stitch is out there, and that's the matchup? Are you going to be giving up open threes How are you going to use him? If a Vsitch is out there and that's the matchup,
Starting point is 00:25:25 are you going to be giving up open threes to Arkansas there? You know, what if they throw him out, or if it's Brazil out there as the five and then use Knox at the four, how are you going to defend him from three? I think there's going to be some interesting matchups in terms of how you kind of cross play that. I will say I'm also very interested by Zeke Mayo
Starting point is 00:25:43 versus whatever Arkansas guard he's on because Zeke didn't really do much in the exhibition game. How is he going to handle somebody who's super athletic? But he's been playing really well lately, right? Just had a really good big 12th tournament shooting the basketball. Had a really good game against Arizona too. How is he going to play on both ends of the floor? And can Arkansas exploit that on their end of the floor?
Starting point is 00:26:02 Now, high on the go off meter for Arkansas. I am worried about a V stitch. He's taking 124 threes. That is one behind second on the team. So he's one of the highest volume three point shooters on the team, even in though he is a big man and based on how Kansas defends, he's going to get open. Looks. The question is how many is he going to go four for five or is he going to go two
Starting point is 00:26:24 for two that can kind of defend depend, but he also can add some rebounds and rim protection for Arkansas. I also think that whatever guard has Zeke Mayo and or Rylan Griffin, AJ Storr on them can use their speed athleticism and quickness to maybe cause some issues. From the Kansas side, high on the go off meter. So you look over the last five games over the last 10 games for Arkansas. They're giving up a good amount of above the break threes and over their last five games, teams have shot 39% against them on those above the break threes, which tops in the nation during that span. Well, we talked about the transition play earlier. Zeke Mayo 50% on transition threes. Zeke Mayo is also leading Kansas in attempts on above the break threes this season and is shooting them at a 40 and a half percent clip
Starting point is 00:27:09 in that area. So Zeke Mayo high on the golf meter. You know who else by the way shoots a lot of above the break threes for Kansas and does it at a 37% clip? Diggy Coit is the answer. So let's rock with Zeke and Diggy. Diggy may be giving you two or three threes off the bench for Zeke. You know, the
Starting point is 00:27:28 hope is providing you 1520 points to help lead the offense and maybe open things up a little bit for Hunter Dickinson down low and a lot of those Hunter and Zeke pick and rolls. That's all for this episode of Lockdown Jayhawks. Thanks for joining us and don't forget to check out all our action packed week of episodes right here at Lockdown Jayhawks. We'll be back for that post cap cast for whatever happens in Kansas and Arkansas. See you next time for another edition of Locked on Jayhawks.

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