Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kevin McCullar & Hunter Dickinson Will Miss the Big 12 Tournament for Kansas Jayhawks Basketball

Starting point is 00:00:00 On this bonus episode of Locked on Jayhawks, Kevin McCuller, Hunter Dickinson officially out for the Big 12 tournament, according to Bill Self. 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. Thanks for making Locked on Jayhawks your first listen every day. We are free and available anywhere you get your podcasts, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show.

Starting point is 00:00:34 You can give me a follow at DJohnsonRadio. Thank you to every dayers tuning in to each and every episode. And we're giving you a bonus episode today because there was some news from Bill Self at Hawk Talk that he announced Kevin McCuller and Hunter Dickinson are not going to be playing in the Big 12 Tournament for Kansas, though he did seem optimistic that both would be playing in the NCAA Tournament next week. We're going to get into the outlook for the Big 12 Tournament. The outlook for the NCAA Tournament, is this just posturing or is it true? How would those things affect things for KU on this episode of the show?

Starting point is 00:01:05 First, we are brought to you by Nissan. This episode is brought to you by Nissan. Are you the kind of driver that likes to push things a little further? Ever wonder what adventure could be around the next corner? Take the Nissan Rogue, Nissan Pathfinder, or Nissan Armada and go find your next big adventure. Check them all out today at NissanUSA.com. So we recorded tonight an episode with Nick Schwert. It was supposed to drop tomorrow,

Starting point is 00:01:26 and it talked a little bit about what would happen if Hunter Dickinson and Kevin McCullough were out. Turns out they're going to be, so that stuff all still applies. So please check out that episode. But as we were recording it, Bill Self said some of this stuff on Hawk Talk, so I decided, you know what, I'm going to do a bonus episode so that we can address all of this stuff that specifically happened.

Starting point is 00:01:43 Please do listen to that show because it is still pertinent to everything that is happening here, but we wanted to get it out all out tonight. So you can listen to it tonight, Tuesday, whatever it is. And we will still have a preview for the KU game coming out to you on Wednesday at some point. But anyway, so this is what Bill Self said on Hawk Talk about Hunter Dickinson. Quote, we got great news yesterday with Hunt. There's no surgery, did not tear his labrum. Actually, he's far better off than what the doctors and trainers even imagined. So, you know, it's one of those things where as long as you avoid some of that damage stuff,

Starting point is 00:02:20 guys can have like dislocated shoulders that pop back in clean and they're okay. And it is fortunate that's the case for Hunter Dickinson. Now, he did add, though, that Dickinson won't play this week, but will start practicing next week for the NCAA tournament. So that would be great news for KU to possibly have him back. In the account of Kevin McCuller, Bill Self said, quote, Kevin will not play this week, but that's a positive, too, because everyone thinks that the time off will obviously help him. He will play in the NCAA tournament as well.

Starting point is 00:02:47 And he also added they expect Kevin to be practicing a week from today. He said, quote, we've only been getting one practice in a week on the other times. He said, quote, we should be the most healthy we've been in a long time when the NCAA tournament starts. And those quotes from Hawk Talk with Bill Self, Henry Greenstein of the Lawrence Journal World was the one who posted that that on his social media so let's get into what that stuff means the effect on the big 12 tournament is this just posturing the effect on the ncaa tournament and more with this episode of locked on jayhawks first we're brought to you by nissan are you the

Starting point is 00:03:20 kind of driver that likes to push things a little further ever wonder what adventure could be around the next corner our friends at nissan have a lineup of SUVs with the capabilities to take your adventure to the next level. The 2024 Nissan Rogue is perfect for city drives and great escapes. They have class-exclusive Google built in to always give you an updating assistant to call on for almost anything. Gone are the days of connecting your phone. Google Assistant, Google Maps, Google Play Store built right into the 12.3-inch HD touchscreen infotainment system. The 2024 Rogue is the perfect mid-size crossover for your next adventure. And there's the 2024 Nissan Armada, too, as the lineup continues on.

Starting point is 00:03:54 You can change what you expect from a full-size SUV with the Nissan Armada. Picture a rugged 4x4 that can seat up to eight in a first-class luxury and style. Toe bigger and explore further in the 2024 Armada. Take the Nissan Rogue, Nissan Pathfinder, or Nissan Armada and go find your next big adventure. Shop NissanUSA.com. So there's the news. Hunter Dickinson, Kevin McCullough out for the Big 12 Tournament.

Starting point is 00:04:18 Expected back for the NCAA Tournament. Before we get to the NCAA Tournament, let's talk about the Big 12 Tournament, the effect on this. And Bill Suff did give a quote on this too at Hawk Talk he said quote it's going to look a lot different and we are going to be tiny it kind of added KJ Adams is going to probably start at the five Johnny Furphy will be the power forward Nick Timberlake the small forwards that answers some of the questions of will it be KJ starting at the four Parker Brown at five the expectation there would then be okay who, who becomes the new starter?

Starting point is 00:04:46 Well, if Nick Timberlake's the small forward, Furphy's the power forward. Without, obviously, Kevin Kohler, DeJuan at the one, I think you could assume Elmarco Jackson would be the two. Though then again, we did see Jamari McDowell start the second half against Houston, so maybe Jamari McDowell could be the starting two. Maybe there's a reason that Bill Self left that part kind of out. Maybe that is kind of more of an open competition. So maybe that becomes a little bit interesting here.

Starting point is 00:05:04 And then, obviously, off the bench, you'd have the other one of Jamari McDowell and Marco Jackson and Parker Brown. It will be a very thin team. Not that they haven't been like that thin. Maybe we even see, you know, a couple minutes where you have to throw Dylan Wilhite just to absorb a foul or something, or a couple minutes where you have to put in Michael Jankovich just to try to hit a three and to give somebody a couple minutes breather. That is entirely possible, which is kind of crazy to talk about in terms of how that could affect things for KU. I do think that playing small ball for Kansas,

Starting point is 00:05:31 I think it'll be tough against if you're playing Cincinnati for sure, because Cincinnati is really tough and they get about a lot of rebounds, and that could be a very bad matchup for KU. If it's West Virginia, it could be tough going against Jesse Edwards, but defending the threes, it'll actually help you. If you do make it through to the quarterfinal round, I think actually playing small ball five could help you in a game against Baylor, because Yves Misi was giving Hunter Dickinson trouble as a rolling and athletic running big man. KJ might be able to match up better, and he might be able to defend better on the three-point

Starting point is 00:06:00 line against them in one way. So I don't know. There is some positives that you could possibly have as part of it, but obviously you're going to be looking, who is going to give you your scoring punch? What if KJ Adams is playing the small ball five? What if he's able to just dribble and run by and drive by a bunch of centers and he averages 18 points per game in the Big 12 tournament? I don't know.

Starting point is 00:06:18 Is DeJuan going to be more of the Kentucky DeJuan where it's like, hey, we need you to score now. Can you average like 15 points per game in whatever amount of games you play in the Big 12 tournament? Can Johnny Furphy show some more off the dribble that we've more so seen him be like a spot-up shooter and a transition scorer? Can he add a little bit more to his game? Does this give the comfortability to Nick Timberlake and Elmarco Jackson that you know your leash is longer, your leash is big because there's not the guys to come off the bench, and maybe we see more of those guys in this game? I think as

Starting point is 00:06:45 we were talking about in the show with nick schwert he kind of mentioned that some of the biggest takeaways you can have from this is if any of the individuals go off and maybe this is the light you needed them to click headed into the ncaa tournament if you can get everybody back and healthy but certainly you have questions about who the scores are going to be who the guys are going to be late in the shot clock who the guys are going to be when you're playing a good defense i do think there's the opportunity for them to be a little bit more switchable defensively, a better three-point defense, but they'll probably be a worse two-point defense, and they could be an even worse rebounding team, which that part is a little bit scary too,

Starting point is 00:07:15 especially if you are matched up with Cincinnati in that first game. All right, let's finish up here with the effect on the NCAA tournament, and could this all just be posturing in some of the comments given from Bill Self? First, this episode of the show is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Say goodbye to busted brackets because FanDuel lets you bet on every game of the NCAA 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.

Starting point is 00:07:48 That's $200 to use on point spreads, money lines. You can even pick who's going to win it all. Just visit fanduel.com slash locked on and bet on college hoops until they cut down the nets. Locked on. Jayhawks is the official or FanDuel, the official sportsbook partner of the Locked On Network. So the effect on the NCAA tournament, obviously Bill Self again here, he said Dickinson will start practicing next week. And that he also said with Kevin McCullough, he will play in the NCAA tournament as well.

Starting point is 00:08:20 So that would be great news for Kansas for the tournament. The big question, though, that comes with this this though, is how much of that is true? How much of that is posturing for tournament seating? If you remember last year, Bill Self missed the big 12 tournament due to the health stuff and KU kept it close to their vest and kind of kept it day to day, even though I think we found out in the aftermath, he wasn't going to coach in the NCAA tournament. At least certainly it didn't seem like that was going to be a thing that was even on the table in that first weekend. But KU kept it close to the vest because you didn't want to lose too much seating from the tournament committee. Well, Self did say at Hawk Talk, he spoke slowly when he said those things because he knows there are

Starting point is 00:08:57 media members out there listening who are going to write what he said. And does that not imply to you that there is knowledge of, yeah yeah i want you guys to write what i said so that that gets out there to a national level so that the tournament committee does not ding us and that we can stay on the three or four line as opposed to them being like yeah we're gonna give you a five or six seed because you already have really thin team you're without two all americans to begin with and you're struggling we're gonna give you six seed whatever it is right give yourself your best chance i still am not taking because of that possibility, all of this for that, a guarantee that we're going to see McCuller and Hunter Dickinson. I think it's entirely possible. We don't. I do think though, that given the comments,

Starting point is 00:09:35 I would lean toward expecting to see both of them, obviously, like I'm not going to completely rule them out, but I do think that is an entirely possible thing. So I guess it's just something worth monitoring, even though I'm not going to assume it that way, if that kind of makes sense. But as far as for the NCAA tournament, the question then becomes, okay, well, it's only one week off. Like, I don't think you have to worry too much about shaking off the rust necessarily with them coming back or like reintegrating in the lineup. But what happens hypothetically if KU without Kevin and Hunter, like what if they did go to the Big 12 Tournament Championship?

Starting point is 00:10:10 What if they did like, you know, pull off the upset and win the Big 12 Tournament? What would that mean without those guys? I don't think that that's going to happen, but it certainly would be a weird hypothetical if we did get to that point. I think obviously, you know, this could be in some way a blessing in disguise. Like what if those guys get extra healthy? What if they have fresher legs and that allows them to, I remember there was the, the, the one like week off that you had during the big 12 tournament, I want to say, or big 12 regular season schedule. I want to say Hunter Dickinson had a great game after that.

Starting point is 00:10:39 And he said it was like the most fresh that he's felt in a long time. I think it might've been the Oklahoma game or something like that. And he put up like big numbers and maybe with Kevin Kohler, this is what you need. And maybe this will be the healthiest. And maybe this does go back in line with the idea of, you know, Kansas has not been built for the regular season, but maybe things will line up for the NCAA tournament this year. And if, as long as those things are true,

Starting point is 00:10:59 that could be helpful for the tournament, but we'll wait and see. That'll do it for this bonus episode of Locked on Jayhawks. Make sure you're catching our show with Nick Short talking about possible other impacts of this. KJ playing the small ball five this week and plenty more anywhere you get your podcasts here with Locked on Jayhawks. See you next time for a Kansas preview for the first round game of the Big 12 Tournament.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kevin McCullar & Hunter Dickinson Will Miss the Big 12 Tournament for Kansas Jayhawks Basketball

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.