Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Late-Game Issues, Defense KILL KANSAS: Jayhawks OUT in Big 12 Quarters with Loss to Arizona Wildcats

Episode Date: March 14, 2025

Kansas Jayhawks basketball fans, are you ready to dissect the latest showdown? Despite a strong three-point performance, the Jayhawks fell to the Arizona Wildcats in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinal...s. With standout plays from Zeke Mayo and Hunter Dickinson, Kansas showed flashes of brilliance but ultimately couldn't overcome Arizona's dominance in the paint.Derek Johnson breaks down the game, analyzing KU's performance and what it means for their NCAA tournament seeding. He highlights key players like Dajuan Harris, AJ Storr, KJ Adams and more, and discusses the broader implications for the Jayhawks' season. The episode also touches on potential matchups and the strategic adjustments needed for Kansas to regain its competitive edge.Tune in to explore the Kansas Jayhawks' path forward and gain insights into their tournament prospects.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!WayFairAfter the holiday hustle, there’s nothing like giving your home a little TLC. Give your home the refresh it needs with Wayfair. Head to Wayfair.com right now. Wayfair. Every style. Every home. FactorLooking to optimize your nutrition this year? Eat smart with Factor. Get started at FACTOR MEALS.com/FACTORPODCAST and use code FACTORPODCASTto get 50% off your first box plus free shipping.Turbo TaxReady for stress-free taxes and the most money back, guaranteed? Head over to TurboTax.com today and get matched with your Expert. Only available with TurboTax Live Full Service. Real-time updates only in the iOS mobile app. See guarantee details at TurboTax.com/guarantees.ROYDownload the Roy app now from the App Store and start backing your favorite athletes the way they deserve—with transparency, trust, and a real impact. This is the future of college sports. Join it now by downloading Roy and supporting your favorite players!Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. 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 Pretty good effort by KU, but in the end, their 12th loss of the season, they waste a really good 3-point shooting game, they crumble again down the stretch of the game, and now they await selection Sunday as they're out of the Big 12 tournament. 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. This is Locked On Jayhawks. Thanks for making it your first listen every day. Thank you to the every dayers catching each and every episode of the show. We are free and available wherever you get your podcasts and you can find us on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. On today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, we recap KU's 11 point lost Arizona, again, crumbling down the stretch a little bit, wasting a really good three point shooting game. Overall, KU played pretty well in this game.
Starting point is 00:00:53 I thought Arizona just kind of played better and Kansas was the worst team. And we're going to get into why on one hand, that's not the worst thing in the world. On the other hand, that is a little bit of an indictment of where these past couple seasons have been. Also getting to game awards for this one. And we'll finish up with what is next for KU because they now await their fate on selection Sunday. First, today's episode of Locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook,
Starting point is 00:01:19 where if you would have bet on Arizona in this game, I guess you would have came out a winner. Right now, new customers can get $200 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins at FanDuel. Arizona, 88, Kansas, 77. Wildcats move on to the Big 12 semifinals. Kansas falls in the Big 12 quarterfinals. This is the first time in Big 12 history.
Starting point is 00:01:38 Big 12 goes back to I forget if it's 96, 97 season or 97, 98. I think it was 96, 97. Either way, 1997, Big 12 goes back to Kansas has never had back-to-back seasons where they have not made it past the quarterfinal round. Technically, you could say the 2020 season, there was no Big 12 tournament. The 2021 season, they never played in the semifinals because they got out with COVID, but they won the quarterfinal matchup. So this is the first time in KU history that they have not made it out of with a victory, a quarterfinal matchup in back-to-back seasons, which is kind of adds to the down streaks that this team has kind of had this year. And it was a kind of different way of how both halves went for KU. The first half was more
Starting point is 00:02:22 about Kansas just couldn't make their bunnies inside. They were missing their laps inside. I forget what the exact number was of points in the paint. It was like 16 to four, 18 to four, something like that. Arizona's outscoring them in the paint and Arizona went bonkers from three in the first half. Not a great three point shooting team in Arizona. And yes, Kansas has a tendency to leave shooters wide open and that's gonna allow other teams
Starting point is 00:02:41 to get more comfortable and hit more threes. But it still was above the level that you'd expect from Arizona in the first half. And then the second half, Arizona wasn't really hitting threes at the same level. I mean, for the game, it finishes at a good percentage at eight of 18, which is good for 44%. But I think it was seven for 11 in the first half,
Starting point is 00:02:57 so they go one of seven from three in the second half. Kansas shoots well from three the entire game, 14 of 31 from threes. Iqmayo was on fire to start the game. Dwan Harris gives you a bunch of made threes which is kind of found money. Out there Dickinson gives you two more made threes which you know if that is going to be a long term thing now five made threes over the last two games that carries into the NCAA tournament that is a big revelation to come out of the big
Starting point is 00:03:20 12th tournament year for KU. But in the end you just kind of ran out of steam at the end of the game. And I don't know if that was partially fatigue from playing the overtime game the night before. And then you run into an Arizona team who, you know, plays very fast and is a physical basketball team. And maybe that has some sort of, you know, impact on the finish to this game.
Starting point is 00:03:40 But also we've seen Kansas struggle at the end of games this season. We saw it last night against UCF that even allowed it to get to overtime. We've seen it in other games. And then a lot of those situations that's maybe been execution over the last minute of the game in the last two minutes of the game and other games, it's been the execution over final, you know, 10 minutes of the game or the final eight minutes of the game. And in this one, it was really the final, I guess you could say maybe
Starting point is 00:04:04 eight minutes, but really the final like five minutes and change of this game that Kansas did not, you know, execute as well. And some of it was just missed shots that they were making through the majority of the game. And maybe that goes to the tired legs. Other things were, you know, bad turnovers or not playing as good of defense here or there. So you look at a Kansas was up 63 to 61 with a little over eight minutes to go. They were up two. That means over the final eight and change of the game, Arizona outscored Kansas 27 to 14. And also Kansas was down just one with the ball with 514 to go. And that means over the final 514 of the game, you were outscored 18 to 8 by Arizona, which you know not great if you're giving up.
Starting point is 00:04:50 18 points in a five minute span, because that means you're on pace to give up well like 140 points in the game. Also not great to only score eight points in a five minute span necessarily. I guess that one's not as bad. Well now that still only lead to like 64 points in the game, right?
Starting point is 00:05:04 I don't know. My math might be totally messed up here. Either way, here is what happened for the KU offense. I'm gonna read the play-by-play just for the KU offense because in that span, Arizona went on a quick 6-0 run after you had that shot, which was a good look, but it just didn't go down. Sometimes they're not going to,
Starting point is 00:05:21 but Arizona hits a 6-0 run after 70 to 69 with 5-14 to go. That turns into a bigger run of a 12-3 run for Arizona. And Arizona actually finishes the game, making seven of their last eight shots from the field. So as much as the, you know, part of the lack of execution, I don't even know, maybe execution's not the right word, just not playing as well down the stretch. Kansas could not stop Arizona
Starting point is 00:05:44 down the stretch of this game. It felt like the dribble drives of Caleb Love and the star where we're just killing Kansas down the stretch of the game. But here's what happened for the KU offense. After getting to 69 points, which compounded not being able to stop Arizona. which compounded not being able to stop Arizona. Missed three, missed jumper, turnover, turnover, blocked layup, offensive rebound out of bounds,
Starting point is 00:06:13 off the blocked layup. You did make a three, Duann Harris. You missed a three, missed another three, and then finally that long stretch ends with a David Coyte three. But again, missed three, missed jumper, turnover, turnover, blocked layup. And then you make a three, and then you miss two more threes. That means basically eight shots or eight possessions,
Starting point is 00:06:31 because a couple of those are turnovers, where you end up with just three points down the stretch of the game. It's kind of what leads to this, right? It's overall, again, like Kansas shot well from three, right? They shot well in this tournament, and maybe that's something you can walk away from this game saying that, you know,
Starting point is 00:06:43 some guys got out of their shooting slumps, and maybe that gives you a good feeling headed into the NCAA tournament, right? The shot well in this tournament. And maybe that's something you can walk away from this game saying that, you know, some guys got out of their shooting slumps and maybe that gives you a good feeling headed into the NCAA tournament. Maybe you get a few extra days of rest going into the NCAA tournament, right? But again, going 14 of 31 from three in a game where an Arizona team, you don't necessarily expect them to shoot 44% from three. Like maybe you just kind of tip your cap to them and you don't expect them to shoot 86% on eight more free throws than you take for the game
Starting point is 00:07:09 The turnover battle was 13 to 10. So it wasn't like huge difference one way or another Kansas battled on the offensive glass They out rebounded Arizona, which again was a thing that Arizona has been so good at this year 13 to 8 So again, you can kind of take away that as being a positive that led to a 15 to 11 second chance point But the big difference here in between this game and what happened last Saturday and you can kind of take away that as being a positive that led to a 15 to 11 second chance point. But the big difference here in between this game and what happened last Saturday is that Arizona was able to impose their will inside. 46 to 20 points in the paint for the Wildcats.
Starting point is 00:07:37 They love to, I mean, that's a Tommy Lloyd staple, getting those points in the paint, whether it's in transition or in the half court. And Kansas wasn't able to defend it in this game. They scored much higher rate points in the paint, whether it's in transition or in the half court. And Kansas wasn't able to defend it in this game. They scored much higher rate points in the paint in the second half, but Arizona was walling off the paint a lot better in this game.
Starting point is 00:07:53 I know Hunter still had his 19 points he was able to produce, but nobody else really for Kansas was able to score in the paint, right? You look at DeJuan Harris scoring 16, you look at Zeke Mayo scoring 20, those guys were getting it done from the perimeter. Nobody was really able to score in the inside for Kansas besides Hunter Dickinson here and there.
Starting point is 00:08:07 And even then they made him take 18 shots, get to the 19 points with three turnovers. They made things as difficult on him as possible even though he produced at a very high level, right? So you look at it and for a Kansas team that typically that needs to be their strength because I know they did shoot well from three in this game but typically that's their be their strength because I know they did shoot well from three in this game, but typically, you know,
Starting point is 00:08:26 that's their kind of go-to. Um, you lose by 26 points in the paint when that's typically one of your strengths, that's going to be a big problem. It's like, um, if you know, you're, you're a speed running back in football and all of a sudden you go from running a four, three to running a four, seven. Well, you're not really a guy who's going to truck somebody, you know, you're a speed running back, you're a speed running back. You're a scat back, right?
Starting point is 00:08:46 And so that's kind of what happened a little bit here for Kansas. The bottom line here, this is not a bad loss for Kansas. It's good opponent in Arizona is probably going to be, I don't know, five seed, four seed, something like that in the NCAA tournament. Kansas did some things well as we just went over, right? And they did some things that you can take away from this Big 12 tournament like Hunter Dickinson's three-point shooting and Zeke Mayo's play and I guess Hunter's just went over, right? And they did some things that you can take away from this Big 12 tournament, like Hunter Dickinson's three point shooting and Zeke Mayo's play.
Starting point is 00:09:07 And I guess Hunter's just overall play, especially in second halves of both games. And Dewan at least scored for you a little bit, maybe getting out of a shooting rut in this game. Yeah, the AJ Store game in the first game that didn't carry over to this game, sadly. But some things you can at least take away from this tournament, you know, to try to
Starting point is 00:09:26 paint a positive picture coming into the NCAA tournament. But it also kind of feels like where things were after that Texas Tech game, where it's like you didn't play super well down the stretch of that game. Again, this one, a bigger minute size in terms of when that happened. But it's like little picture, the opposite of big picture, little picture with this team,
Starting point is 00:09:46 they're playing a bit better. And I would say they are playing more consistent over the last seven games as part of the new season, even though they're only four and three, they are playing better than they were during that stretch before that. And they are losing close games to better teams, which isn't a huge deal on its own.
Starting point is 00:10:01 Like you lost a close game to a good team, like it happens, right? I think it's a bigger deal on its own. Like you lost a close game to a good team. Like it happens, right? I think it's a bigger deal in the big picture because if you're viewing this from a program perspective, if you're viewing this from a team perspective, oh, Kansas is an unranked team. They're the 16, the big 12 tournament. Oh, they lost a close game to a better Texas Tech
Starting point is 00:10:18 and Arizona team and a better Houston team on the road and games like that. Small picture for this specific team that has 12 losses, that stuff makes sense. And it's not like they just like, I don't know, we're just not trying sort of like the BYU game or kind of the Houston game to a certain standpoint. But the big picture reason why it's a big deal
Starting point is 00:10:37 is as a program, Kansas should never be the team that is set up to be the underdog. That is set up in all these games where you walk away saying, oh, moral victory, or you walk away saying, yeah, they played pretty well, but the other team just played as good as them, if not better, but they're just more talented or they're the better team.
Starting point is 00:10:55 Of course, that's gonna happen to some teams. You can't be the very best team in the country. Sometimes you can't even be the best team in your conference every year, but it's different when it's happening to a lot of teams in your conference, when you're the sixth place team in the conference, right? And it's happened for really back to back years now for Kansas. And so for this team specifically, based on everything we've seen this year, again, we've seen 11 other losses, this being the 12th, this is not a bad loss and
Starting point is 00:11:17 this is a fine result, honestly. The program as a whole and the aftermath of this team, it kind of just adds to the stink that has been there these last two seasons again 12 losses You've now fallen in the big 12th quarterfinal round or by the big 12th quarterfinal round because last year you lost a round before In back-to-back seasons for the very first time in big 12 conference history and and I guess I just more so you know, i'm to a point where like I guess I don't know.
Starting point is 00:11:45 There's a bunch of losses this year where I'm like, yeah, they played pretty well, but the other team just played better. And I just don't think that should happen as often as it has at a place like Kansas. But you know, on its own, entertaining games at the very least and suppositors, you can take away from the Big 12 tournament. Game Awards next. This episode of Locked on J-Hawks is brought to you by Nissan. We're all about the stats because numbers don't lie. And when it comes to the all new Nissan Armada Pro 4X,
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Starting point is 00:13:18 You can get futures, you can get early on the college football action, you can get early on the MLB action. Not that early at this point. I mean, opening days in a couple of weeks here. I think the Dodgers play in like less than a week at this point. You can get in on all that at players championship for golf this weekend. Now that you're not going to have some KU to watch.
Starting point is 00:13:32 So visit fan duel.com and get in on the college hoops or other sports action all tournament long with FanDuel. Continuing on on Lockdown J-Ox, don't forget to make Lockdown College Basketball your second listen every day. You can catch up on what's going on around all the other conference tournaments, what's going on with the Cooper flag and his injury and all the other stuff that is kind of going on here. Our game trophies here for KU.
Starting point is 00:13:56 Let's start with the best moments for Kansas. That was a really cool moment early in the first half. You have the loose ball that Duann Harris full out dives for, pokes it free, and it gets to Hunter Dickinson who then hits Zeke Mayo in the corner for three that cuts the lead in half to 35-32. Unfortunately, Arizona made a three right after that, but that was a really cool play
Starting point is 00:14:14 and showed the hustle of Duann Harris. This, I mean, just in general, I guess I would say that stretch where you made, was it four straight, well not straight, but four threes in a couple minutes span and maybe it's five threes but specifically the ones where you had Zeke Mayo hit the first one so it's 50 to 44 he hits one makes 50 to 47 and then you get the ball back after that and Zeke takes a step back three in the corner over Townsend makes it to tie it at 50 that one had all the. That one was sick for Zeke Mayo.
Starting point is 00:14:46 You also had the Dewan Harris three, which gave him their first lead since it was three to two. And again, I talked about that earlier. It was nice to see Dewan get the ball in the basket again and start to make some threes again. And then there was another step back three from Zeke Mayo. And I wonder if he was just kind of running out of gas at the end, because he was so hot to start the game
Starting point is 00:15:05 and he was so good in the night before as well. I wonder if that's where he placed 36 minutes a night, you know, high minutes last night in the overtime game. I wonder if his legs got a little bit more tired and maybe it was a little harder to find the ball and then the basket at the end of the game. Worst moment of the game. I mean, Arizona's first half three point shooting,
Starting point is 00:15:21 you don't expect him to go seven of 11. I know Kansas three point defense was bad. You expect other teams when your three point defense bad to make them and to make them at a high percentage. But I tweeted this out at half time, but here's the thing, even if you look at like, okay, the best shooters in the country, like Kobe Brea, I remember looking at his numbers last year,
Starting point is 00:15:39 like left open threes was shooting like 50% last season. Right. And he's like the best shooter in the country. Most good shooters in the country, if you leave them wide open, it's still gonna be like, I don't know, maybe 40, 45% from three, they're still gonna miss about half of them, if not more, right? So you don't expect them to start five of six
Starting point is 00:15:58 and go seven for 11. And especially when that's the case, right? It would have been one thing if it was because Del Orso, who's a 40% three point shooter, basically, was four for four in the first half, and he just kept leaving them open. The guys who made the threes for Arizona, it was KJ Lewis, who came in with one made three
Starting point is 00:16:13 in his last seven games. He hit one in the first half. Carter Bryant, who is a good shooter overall, a pro prospect, but he hadn't made two threes in a game in his last six games. He was two for two in the first half. Jayden Bradley, he hadn't in a game in his last six games. He was two for two in the first half. Jayden Bradley, he hadn't made a three in his last eight games. He made one in the first half.
Starting point is 00:16:29 And then Vassar, the center for them, had two games all season with two made threes. He hit two in the first half. So as much as KU's three-point defense was bad, there probably is also an element that like, you're actually okay with them taking some threes because they're so good at two-point shots that you have.
Starting point is 00:16:45 You can't take away everything, right? And Kansas has an Achilles heel against three point shooting teams. We've seen that, you know, really for the last couple of years. I mean, really for the Bill South era, that's always got a bit of thing. But it's been exasperated here these last couple of seasons. And so, yeah, that was not great. The one play where where Hunter gets the steal and then Kansas basically amounts to like a two on one
Starting point is 00:17:11 that kind of is like a four on one and they don't score. And looking back on it, the transition offensive Kansas was so bad. There was two opportunities by Dewan Harris. And these are both worst moments of the game too. Dewan missed a transition layup early in the second half. And then he gets the other transition layup blocked out of bounds.
Starting point is 00:17:29 Now that one, you got the ball back and I think Dewan hit a three. So I guess that actually led to more points in the end. But that's three transition opportunities that should be easy buckets. And again, if you want to take that one away, the third one, because you made a three out of it. Those are two buckets that you have to take advantage of, right?
Starting point is 00:17:45 And it's easy to say, oh, you lost by 11, like two buckets, okay, you lose by seven, what's the big deal? Well, the end of the game is just completely different, right? You're playing defense instead of fouling maybe in one of those situations, right? Instead of when Diggy Coy hits the three
Starting point is 00:17:57 and make it 79, 72, it's now, I don't remember if that was the, or was that was at 82 to 75, regardless, now it's 82 to 79, instead of 82 of 82 to 75 right you're not having to foul you're not having to to play desperate You can just play normal defense try to get a stop from there So it does change the game if you don't mess that up Also the the finish to the really both halves for KU I just mentioned the finish to the second half was bad for kids
Starting point is 00:18:22 They were one for ten to finish the first half to this team just completely. It's almost like KU football this year. They really struggled at the end of half to I don't know what's going on in the water in Lawrence so far this season. Also, there was that Floyd Budonga he fouled and goaltended. It really feels like Floria's kind of hit that that freshman wall. You can really see that he's just a raw player.
Starting point is 00:18:43 I think that's what it is. And, you know, it's it's it's a raw player. I think that's what it is. And, you know, it's a little different. Like we don't talk about it as much because he plays 10 to 15 minutes a game. So it's like, it's not as dire necessarily. I still fully believe in Flory long-term. I think he's going to be an awesome player, you know, next year and freshmen are allowed to have struggles
Starting point is 00:19:00 at certain times and he's still shown, you know, really good flashes. And I still want Flory to be the starting center next season, but that certainly hasn't helped KU that as the season has gone on, you know, Flory, uh, it felt like he was, he was about to skyrocket and take off. Like you have the Houston game and some other games in there, the UCF game in Orlando and, and, you know, that hasn't necessarily happened, which again is okay. Uh, he's still a really talented freshman that I think is going to really pick up at some point,
Starting point is 00:19:27 whether it's next year and two years from now. He wouldn't surprise me if he's an All-American, that sort of thing. But yeah, he has hit a freshman role at this point in time. Transfer of the game for Kansas. This is a fun one to pick for the Jayhawks. I mean, if you're talking all-time transfer, it would be Hunter Dickinson.
Starting point is 00:19:44 I guess Zeke Mayo too, to write a former transfers coming in. But I think the answer if you're talking one year transfers, it has to be diggy quite. He goes nine points, three of seven from three. But even then, did you know diggy quite had the worst plus minus of the game for KU at minus 10? That might be a little bit of bad noise. Maybe he was in there with bad lineups.
Starting point is 00:20:03 I thought diggy quite played a fine game, Although he I don't know had the best defensive game But again, like you'll take three of seven for three from diggie quite each and every game This was a huge regression from AJ store You saw the huge game and it would have been nice even if he had eight points in this game Where's like, okay, you know, you didn't back up the great performance from that before but you still still in life You should still showing a heartbeat instead. He goes over to with one foul, two turnovers in nine minutes. So I don't think we can ever expect that to happen again with with AJ store there. But he's got some good highlights for what's probably going to be his
Starting point is 00:20:36 transfer tape here in a couple of weeks. And then Rylan Griffin, like, I don't know what's going on there. The dude just can't shoot anymore. It's it's Nick Timberlake syndrome or something. So yeah, man, it's gotten a little bit ugly there. The appalling stat of the game, it has to be the just 20 paints in the point or points in the paint for Kansas in this one. And they were only four of 11 on lamps.
Starting point is 00:20:57 I think that's kind of the most appalling offensive MVP for KU. You could argue Dickinson, Harris or Zeke Mayo. I mean, nobody else had more than nine points. Zeke goes 20 points, six of 14, five of 12 from three, three of four at the line. He also had four assists, did have three turnovers. Duann Harris, 16 points, six of nine, four of four from three, three assists to two turnovers. And then Hunter Dickinson, 19 points, eight of 18, 12 rebounds, three assists, three turnovers. I'm gonna go with Zeke Mayo because the biggest moments of this game,
Starting point is 00:21:28 and I think the most fun moments were when Zeke were hitting like all those step back threes and some of the momentum that created. So I'll go with Zeke for the offensive MVP, but Harris and Dickinson get an honorable mention there. And then defensive MVP for KU. It's funny because Dickinson had two blocks and one steal, which is the most like chaos stats forced in the game.
Starting point is 00:21:47 The first nine points Arizona scored seven of the first nine were being guarded by Dickinson and I felt like Arizona really tried to attack him in ball screens and use the spacing against him, you know. So I don't think I would give it to him despite having the best defensive stats necessarily. When you look at for Arizona, they did a much better job. Did Kansas on Jayden Bradley this game, which was kind of a combination of different players for KU. So maybe give a little bit of credit there. Maybe give a little bit of credit for the wing defense on Del Orso again,
Starting point is 00:22:20 who had just eight points in the two combined games against KU. But I don't really know who I would pick in this game to be defensive MVP, because it didn't really feel like anybody was like shut down for KU. And for Arizona, they shoot 53 percent from the floor, 44 percent from three. They get to the foul line a lot. They make them. They had less turnovers than you. So it's like they had a bunch of points in the paint. I don't really know if I have someone to pick a defensive MVP.
Starting point is 00:22:43 This is not a good defensive game for KU. So we'll end it there. I what's next for KU men's basketball selection Sunday upcoming we'll discuss it next on Lockdown Jayhawks. Thanks for joining us on today's episode of the show. We are brought to you by Monarch Money. Ever check your bank account and wonder where did all the money go between dining out online shopping and entertainment? It's easy to lose track.
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Starting point is 00:23:56 to talk a little bit about what to expect more so into the bracket for KU because that is what KU is expecting next. We'll also have a postcast episode for whatever seed, whatever region they kind of get in there at the very end. So Graham Doran, who we had on the show a couple of weeks ago and does great work from the bracketology perspective, he kind of said the whole way through that for Kansas,
Starting point is 00:24:21 okay, winning the game that they did against UCF should probably secure. In fact, I think beating Arizona last Saturday should keep them off the eight line, but winning that UCF game should keep them in that direction. And they came into today on Graham's bracketology as a sixth seed. So losing an Arizona who's a better seed than you, I don't know that that drops them necessarily, but it does leave you in a position where if a team behind you, who is a seven or eight seed,
Starting point is 00:24:47 goes on a big run this weekend, maybe you do get jumped in some sort of situation if you're Kansas. And so, 4KU, I think you're probably looking at the six or seven line here, if you're a Kansas. Now, sometimes the tournament committee does things where we're all scratching our heads and even bracketologists are all, you know, the bracketologist pretty, typically like
Starting point is 00:25:09 they're getting, you know, 64, 65, 66 of the teams, they're getting pretty close on the seed line. So these people do a very good job. But yeah, every so often there is a surprise. But I think the most likely scenario is a six or a seven seed for KU. And I said this earlier, but like, again, I'd rather just win the games. I'd rather you win the games. You win the big 12th quarter, quarter's in, you move it on everything. The glass half approach or half look at this is you do get a little bit more rest in
Starting point is 00:25:37 between. And the other part of this is I really think I would rather be a sixth seed than a five seed, you know, because is the difference between the 11 seed you play and the 12 seed really gonna be that much? It might be, I guess it depends who they draw, right? If they draw Drake is the 11 seed with Ben McCollum, I don't know if I love that, but like, you know, Drake could also get a 12 seed. So, I don't know that that's that different. And then you look at the next round, okay, yes, the three seed is obviously better than playing a four seed.
Starting point is 00:26:06 It's really if you can make it to the sweet 16 where that pays off, especially this year, right? I think you look at the one seeds this year, at least the likely one seeds, when you look at what Auburn has done, and I know they've lost some games recently, you look at what Duke has done, and I know you beat Duke,
Starting point is 00:26:19 and I know Cooper Flagg's injured. What Houston has done, and I know you've played close with Houston. So like, you know, I'm going through through all these and I'm like, Oh, maybe they would stand a chance to get some of these ones. He's maybe they would make it a game if they could make it that far in the tournament. But like, I feel like those teams have really separated themselves from the pack, maybe more so than some of the two seats have.
Starting point is 00:26:36 I don't know. Maybe I'm off base with this. But like, I do feel like there is more chaos that happens on those lower sides of the bracket sometimes than the one seat. So maybe it won't be the worst thing in the world. And maybe if Katie gets 60, you know, that's just the crazy voodoo magic they need to rekindle 1988. Instead of Danny and the miracles, it's Dickinson and the miracles. But we'll get you more prepped for the NCAA tournament selection show coming up on Sunday. Might have another episode coming out for you on Friday or Saturday,
Starting point is 00:27:01 because you might be sad that there's no game of basketball on Friday or Saturday, the Big 12 tournament. So maybe we'll fill the void a little bit with some early transfer portal, interesting names that have already entered the portal and a spring football portal target for KU football. So we'll get into that either Friday, Saturday and a little NCAA tournament time later this weekend.
Starting point is 00:27:19 So make sure to subscribe to the show anywhere you get your podcasts, including on our YouTube page. And we'll see you this weekend on Locked on Jayhawks.

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