Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Locked On Jayhawks - 10.24.19

Episode Date: October 24, 2019

Talking Tech; Self, Dotson and Agbaji talk Border War, 2019 season Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome in, welcome in, Locked On Jayhawks, the game day, Thursday edition. I am Sean Kellerman, Learfield IMG College Broadcaster and University of Kansas Insider. This is Locked On Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, giving you insight, numbers, and a chance to hear from all the voices within Kansas athletics. Reminder fans, you can always follow me on Twitter, at Sean Kellerman, or follow the show on Twitter, at LO underscore Jayhawks. Well, we've got a lot to get to today. Of course, it's game day at Allen Fieldhouse.

The opener is tonight, exhibition game number one against Fort Hayes State for this Kansas men's basketball team. We're going to hear in the second and third segments from Bill Self, Devon Dotson, and Ochai Abadji as the Jayhawks look to get off on the right foot tonight at the Fieldhouse. But first, we're going to talk a little Kansas football and do a deep dive on the opponent this weekend, Texas Tech.

Kansas and the Red Raiders do in battle Saturday at 6 o'clock at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. So let's take a look at Texas Tech. They're 3-4, 1-3 in Big 12 play. Just kind of run through their schedule a little bit. They started 2-0 with drubbings of lesser opponents, Montana State and UTEP. Actually, Texas Tech won both of those games by 35 points. And then they've lost four of their last five, have the Red Raiders. They lost 28-14 on the road at Arizona in their final non-conference affair of the year. And then they had to open Big 12 play in Norman against Oklahoma. That was a 55-16 Sooners win. And then it was two more ranked teams. They had a home tilt against Oklahoma State, and Tech won that for their lone conference win of the year,

45-35. Then there was a little bit of controversy. They traveled to then 5-0 Baylor, who was ranked 22nd in the country. And in double overtime, Texas Tech tech lost 33 to 30 and i say controversy because the texas tech athletic director was actually fined by the big 12 for some comments on the officiating in that three-point double ot loss and then last weekend tech was back home they lost to iowa state a team that could be in the rankings here soon enough 34 to 24, Brock Purdy and the Cyclones took down the Red Raiders. So Tech, just 1-3. As I've said throughout this week, I think this is a team that Kansas can beat. Now, Texas Tech's quarterback is Jet Duffy. For the second consecutive season, he is a backup who has been essentially starting every game for this team because of an injury to their starter.

Sophomore Alan Bowman got injured in the Week 3 loss to Arizona, and he was injured the majority of last year as well as a true freshman. He's a pro-style quarterback, and Jet Duffy, more of a dual-threat guy, but still has put up some pretty solid numbers. Duffy is fourth in the Big 12 in passing, nearing 300 yards per game through the air, and all these stats will be in conference games only. Everybody plays everybody for parity's sake, and Duffy is susceptible. He's not one of the better quarterbacks in the league, obviously comes in as a backup, so this is a guy that hopefully the Kansas defense can get to and can rattle and force some turnovers.

Other offensive players for Texas Tech, Sir Roderick Thompson is their bell cow running back. He's carried 86 times for 469 yards and 7 touchdowns. Sir Roderick is 4th in the Big 12 as well, just behind Puka Williams, averaging 94 yards per game. Thompson, I mentioned with the seven touchdowns, he leads the backfield. Armand Schein also is in the backfield. He has got three touchdowns for this Tech team. Receiving the ball, it seems like TJ Vasher has been in the Big 12 forever. He is their top receiver with five touchdowns and 440 yards total. On the other side for Texas Tech, Jordan Brooks leads the way. He has seven tackles for loss. That's first

in the Big 12. And how about this? Douglas Coleman, the defensive back for Tech, has six interceptions, six INTs on the season, four of those in conference play, leading the league easily. And in terms of turnover margin, Texas Tech is tied for tops in the league in conference play. They're tied with 7-0 Baylor with a plus-six turnover margin, ten takeaways, and just four turnovers for the Red Raiders. Interestingly enough, Kansas, who was top five in the nation last year in turnover margin, has not been nearly as good this season, but they are plus one during Big 12 play, including that plus two in Austin on Saturday in that two-point loss. Interesting note as well regarding Texas Tech, they are last in the league in pass defense and last in the league in total defense. So Texas Tech is certainly susceptible and vulnerable, particularly through

the air. So if Carter Stanley can come out with the amount of confidence that he had in Austin, that could be huge for this KU team. We heard from Les Miles earlier this week how Carter Stanley completed 27 passes for 310 yards, but he found nine different receivers. And I thought it was really interesting what Coach Miles said about when you catch a ball and you feel like you're more of a part of the game, it's a lot easier to block and do your other assignments after you feel like you're a part of it. He talked a lot about how it's team, it's team. easier to block and do your other assignments after you feel like you're a part of it. He talked a lot about how it's team, it's team. And Carter Stanley found nine different guys in a very efficient, very impressive outing against a Texas team

that was scratching their heads as KU put up 48 points, including four touchdowns through the air. And they just couldn't stop Kansas' offense. The Jayhawks offense was essentially unstoppable the last drive of the game KU got with two minutes and 47 seconds left Stanley with help of a huge fourth down catch sports center number one play from senior wide out Daylon Charlotte was able to drive Kansas all the way down the field he hooked up with Stephon Robinson for his second touchdown of the day, and then of course found Charlotte in the back of the end zone for the two-point conversion that gave KU the 48-47 lead just over a minute to go. Of course, it was Dicker the

kicker after that, ending it for UT, and they won 50-48. But offensively, that's exactly what new offensive coordinator Brent Dierman and head coach Les Miles wanted to see in Dierman's first game at the helm. They saw a confident quarterback, a quarterback who wanted to make a lot of plays through the air and on the ground, and he certainly got that done. You have to think, if you're Texas Tech, sure you've been susceptible to the air raid attack across the Big 12, but you've got to think Tech and any team facing Kansas, the number one guy they're going to watch out for is Puka Williams. Puka third in the league and rushing, and he was sharing carries for the first four games without, or with Khalil Herbert, and Puka didn't even play the first game, but he's still doing what he does. 190 yards on the ground and

two touchdowns against Texas. So he's going to be the guy that Texas is likely going to focus, Texas Tech rather, is likely going to focus their defense on. So can Carter Stanley come back and have another great performance? And if he can at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium on Saturday at 6, then a lot of those Jayhawk fans will be going home happy and KU will pick up their first conference win in 2019. Tomorrow we'll preview this game a little bit more. I'll give you some keys to the game and my prediction for KU versus Texas Tech.

And we look forward to it. We hope that the Jayhawks get off the snide. And finally, all the work, all the improvement that we've seen can come into fruition in the form of a win. Coming up on the show, we're going to hear from Bill Self and Ochai Abadji. They're going to talk about the renewal of the border war. They chatted about that yesterday at Big 12 Media Day. And, of course, we'll hear more from those guys and Devon Dotson as well

as we preview Fort Hayes State game night tonight at Allen Fieldhouse. First time we'll see this new brand of Jayhawks on the court at James Naismith Court. The Locked On Podcast Network, the local experts on the biggest stories. It's the Jayhawks and the Red Raiders Saturday at 6 o'clock. Just got done talking a little bit about Texas Tech and what they bring. They're, of course, trying to reach a bowl game at 3-4. KU, perhaps a long shot, needing to go 4-1 the rest of the way, but no better time to start than this Saturday.

A home game, hopefully gets upwards of 30,000 fans and attendance at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium and get KU back on the winning track. So just got done talking about football. Going to transition to basketball a little bit. Of course, it's game day tonight. Jayhawks and the Fort Hays State Tigers. So one Tiger, let's transition to another before we talk a little bit about the season.

The big news that came out this week regarding KU athletics, of course, was the reigniting of the border war. Kansas and Missouri announcing that they're going to play six consecutive seasons in men's basketball, twice in Kansas City, twice in Lawrence, and twice in Columbia, beginning at Sprint Center December 12th in 2020. And there's a lot of mixed feelings out there among Jayhawk Nation. I think that mostly Missouri fans are very excited to have the rivalry back because they got to get something to be excited about for basketball as their team obviously still without a

Final Four and not very successful in past years either. Any opportunity they could get to perhaps shock the nation and pick up a victory over a marquee team like Kansas, and add on that the rivalry that, of course, has gone on since the Civil War days. Missouri fans very happy for that. Kansas fans kind of uncertain still. Not sure if they want to risk the possibility of losing to a team that isn't going to be more often than not a top-tier team in college basketball. And plus the bitterness factor of being upset that Missouri left the conference.

So why should we play them as badly as they want to play us? But nevertheless, it is happening. And let's hear some thoughts from some of the guys. Ochai Abadji, he is from Kansas City, Missouri. Here are his thoughts on the border war being renewed. You know, they're two great schools with a lot of history behind them. From where I remember growing up, it's a big rivalry, especially being on the Missouri side, seeing what they have to say about Kansas

and coming to Kansas and seeing what they have to say about Missouri. There's a lot to it, and it means a lot to a lot of people. And being from the Missouri side, Ochai was asked what reaction he's received on that end. I have some friends and family friends that are Mizzou fans. They're letting me hear it, letting my family hear it. But, you know, it's always a good rivalry. It has a lot of history, like I said. We talked, of course, about the bitterness of KU fans, I think, to this day.

And I would fall in that camp, too. Just being upset that Missouri left the conference because it was such a great rivalry it was the longest continuous rivalry west of the Mississippi for so long and then Missouri decided to up and leave after the 2011-2012 college basketball season KU of course winning the final regular season game in dramatic fashion back on February 25th of 2012, 87-86 in overtime. Not only was that the last game of this rivalry, but it was a matchup between two teams ranked in the top four, and Kansas clinched the Big 12 title behind Thomas Robinson's 28 points, 12 rebounds, and one cleanup top block, and the Jayhawks got it done in overtime what an exciting

game that was now one guy who's been on the fence of course about this rivalry ever since Missouri lost or left rather for the SEC KU head coach Bill Self coach saying in a statement the other day that he's he's happy that it's back you know he's been on the fence about it, but essentially it's going to be good for Kansas, and that's what's most important. And here is Coach Self talking yesterday at Big 12 Media Day about the new border war rivalry. It's been more positive than not positive. I don't think you can make decisions where you can please 100% of the people

all the time. And I know I have my reasons why wanting to do it. And I think they're very, very valid. And certainly, I know that it helps Kansas. And so I'm actually excited about it. I miss the game. I miss the game. I miss the energy. I miss the fans' hatred for one another, which doesn't pass down to coaches and players, but certainly that interest level, which is very evident by selling this place out in 41 minutes in 2017, I believe, is something that kids go to college to play in games like that. So I'm excited to get that back. There's obviously the emotional factor that's going to come in any rivalry. And whenever these two teams hook up, it's always going to be

emotional for the coaches, players, and especially the fans of these programs. But Coach Self took it one more level talking about the difficulty of scheduling and how this will be good on that front for Kansas as well. From a tactical standpoint, strategic standpoint, it helps with scheduling. You know, it's different. It's hard to schedule than it used to be. It used to be everybody played 16 league games. So you got 15 games that you can actually schedule somebody. Well, leagues are going to 20, at least other leagues are. We obviously can't. We're at 18. But they go to 20. And then you have an SEC challenge or a Big East challenge. You have a Champions game.

You play an exempt tournament. And there's no games left to schedule from an intra-conference type standpoint. So this will be two out of three years that we know our respective fan bases can come see us play. So I actually think it will be very positive moving forward. Of course, as I mentioned, it's going to be six consecutive years beginning next college basketball season that these two teams are going to hook up. It's going to be Kansas City, Lawrence, Columbia, Lawrence, Columbia, Kansas City, the rotation of location for these games. And of course, it was just basketball. That's all we're talking about right now, men's basketball, in which Kansas leads 172-96. The disputed all-time series in football is a Missouri lead 56-55-9.

So perhaps if these two teams get together on the gridiron again, Kansas will have an opportunity to regain that. It won't be a conference game, and because of that, it will not mean as much. But I think if you bleed crimson and blue, it just means a little bit more when you beat Missouri.

And we'll certainly look forward to that. Whether you like it or not, it's back. And you'll circle that game on your schedule. You'll want to be in attendance on December 12th of next year and future years as well because it's just a game that means a little bit more. It means more than Kansas State. It means more than Kentucky or Duke or any team that Kansas plays. It's just how it is.

As I said, it's something that's gone back all the way to the American Civil War. So it's back and it's exciting. If you're a Jayhawk fan, let's embrace it and let's kick that tiger tail as often as possible over the next six years. Coming up, we're going to hear more from Ochai Abadji. We'll also hear from Devon Dotson and a little bit more Bill Self as well. Kansas and Fort Hayes State tonight at Allen Fieldhouse, 7 o'clock tip. This is the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm just building more confidence in my shot. I'm working on it every day.

And anything I can do to help the team to win. That's Ochai Abadji talking about his improved shot. And he hopes to certainly be a contributor in many ways for the Jayhawks this season. And of course last season he didn't come in until after the first of the year. Initially going to be redshirted, turned into a starter real quick after Yudoka Azebuki went out with injury. And of course, Marcus Garrett had an injury a little bit later in the year. Jayhawks certainly needed Ochai and any success they had last year, particularly from conference play on, you can credit Ochai for playing a part in that, of course. All right, so tonight's the big night.

Final segment here, Kansas opener. It's an exhibition game against Fort Hayes State. We do know that Devon Dotson will probably not play in this game. He had that walking boot. And yesterday at Big 12 Media Day, Bill Self talked about how Devon is day-to-day but hopes that it's just a three- or four-day absence. And hopefully, as a fan, Devon is back on November 1st against Pitt State

in the last of two exhibition games. But nevertheless, Devon was at Big 12 Media Day yesterday and made available to the media. Devon talked about why he likes this year's team so much. We have great pieces all around, you know, starting down low, big dope. He's back for his senior year. He can cause heavy down there, rebound, block shots. So this is his height and length.

And we have Silvio back, eligible. He's a great piece, athletic, strong. And, you know, Ochai can shoot it, athletic, wing. So we have great pieces around, and I'm excited to get things going. Devon Dotson talking about how hungry he is for this season, and hopefully Devon, with that boot on his foot, will be out of that boot and back in game action as early as next week, November 1st, likely not going to play tonight in the exhibition opener.

So with Devon out, Kansas is going to look toward a couple guys generally viewed as wings and generally thought of as having wing size and skill set, Marcus Garrett and Ochai Abadji. Marcus Garrett's going to be the backup point guard for this team. Moving forward, he likely gets the call as the starter tonight, and Garrett isn't as much with the shooting as we saw last year. Really struggled from deep. Hopefully he has improved as well as some of the other guys on the wing for Kansas since that was a big negative for KU last year, perimeter shooting.

And Ochai Obagi is not generally viewed as a point or ball handler either, but those guys are likely going to take the reins tonight, and then hopefully Devon is back in a week. There are a bunch of newcomers coming in as well, guys who could play on the wing and will see on the wing a lot this season. The senior grad transfer from Iowa, Isaiah Moss, will be out there. And then three freshmen, Christian Brown, Tristan Inaruna, and Jalen Wilson. These are all guys who we'll hopefully get to see play a lot of minutes tonight and next week against Pitt State.

And maybe get a better idea of what their skill set is. All we saw on October 4th at late night was a 12-minute scrimmage where nothing really was set. Just kind of up and down, fast break style play. So hopefully these first two exhibition games will give us a little better idea of what we have out there. Ochai Abadji, yesterday at Media Day, talked to the media about the new freshman class. I think they just come in, all of them, they come in every day willing to work. They're never backing down from a challenge

whether it be coach's challenge or veteran guys returning, challenging, pushing them. So I think that's good, and that's always a good attribute to have. Spoken like a true veteran sophomore, Ochai Abadji, about these newcomers. I mentioned the four newcomers on the wing. Three of them are freshmen. And an interesting thing heading into this season, Kansas and Bill Self are going to get an opportunity to go back to playing the high-low, bigs-first oriented offense, where you're going to be able to utilize the size that you have up front, and finally the depth that you have up front with Yudoka Azubuki, Silvio De Sosa, and David McCormick. We'll get a chance to definitely

see Mitch Lightfoot tonight and next week against Pitt State in the exhibition games. We're not totally sure if we'll see him this season, as he has been named as a redshirt candidate as a senior, so he potentially could be back for a redshirt senior year next season and maybe even get a chance to play in that game against Mizzou at Sprint Center. But you would think Kansas is going to play two bigs the majority of the time. At the same time, Bill Self talks about how they've played a lot of four guards in the past, and that may be something we see a lot of this year as well. I think we'll have to. I believe

that the big advantage that this team could have on paper is that we can play big. I mean, we've got good big guys, and we've got three pretty good big guys, and we've got a fourth good one if we don't redshirt him. But there's a chance, you know, obviously we haven't made a decision yet on Mitch. So that's an advantage. But in order to take advantage of that, then you've got to be able to have one of those guys defend a guard because most teams will play four round one.

And we haven't shown consistently that we're very good at that. So if that's not the case, you're looking at us playing four guards unless we play zone and we don't play a lot of zone. So I really believe, I thought initially 10 to 15, but I think there could be 20 minutes a game that we could actually play four guards. So perhaps surprising to some that Kansas is going to play four guards, 15 to 20 minutes a game, at least that's the initial thought for head coach Bill Self. Of course, they've got the depth up front. They've got the depth in the backcourt as well.

So we'll kind of see what rotations from the outset that we're going to see out of this Jayhawk team. Very excited about tonight. Of course, first game of the season, always exciting. There's no exhibition when it comes to Kansas basketball, right? It's going to be at Pact House at Allen Fieldhouse. I'm sure all of you out there in Jayhawk Nation are as excited as I am. The five-game mesh between Kansas football and Kansas basketball gives us a lot to talk about here on Locked on Jayhawks.

Tomorrow, of course, we will recap tonight's exhibition game. We'll do our final preview of Texas Tech for the KU football team, and we'll have our Friday Five, five lines I like and you should too, for Saturday in college football. Can't wait for it. Thanks again for listening. We'll talk to you tomorrow. Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. And rock chalk, Jayhawk.