Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Locked On Jayhawks - 10.31.19

Episode Date: October 31, 2019

KU football gaining confidence; Bill Self discusses bigs, freshmen ahead of exhibition finale Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up Jayhawk Nation and welcome in to Locked on Jayhawks, game day edition as our Jayhawks men's basketball team closes out the exhibition season tonight at Allen Fieldhouse against Pittsburgh State. I am Sean Kellerman bringing you the show today and always. You can follow me on Twitter at Sean Kellerman. Follow the show on Twitter at LO underscore Jayhawks. I'm a Learfield IMG College broadcaster and your 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. Well, we've got obviously a lot of basketball talk today. We're going to start off by talking football and hearing from Les Miles and Carter Stanley. Later in the show, though, we'll hear from both Bill Self and freshman Jalen Wilson as they were made available to the media yesterday. So we'll get you some fresh sound from those guys and talk a little bit about the game tonight and what we can expect and what improvements we'd like to see from one game in the exhibition season. Of course, as Jayhawk fans, we're always left wanting more. Even one game in, we're going to see from one game in the exhibition season. Of course, as Jayhawk fans, we're always left wanting more.

Even one game in, we're going to break that game down as much as possible and try to pinpoint any potential down spots for this team and anywhere they can improve because the season starts quickly as Kansas takes on Duke in the first regular season game five days from now at Madison Square Garden in the Champions Classic. But first, we're going to talk some KU football. This Kansas football team has got the entire city of Lawrence buzzing, obviously, after the homecoming win over Texas Tech, and just adds a little bit more that it's the Sunflower Showdown this weekend, a Saturday at 2.30 against K-State. And this is going to be a very confident Jayhawks squad heading in.

A team that is, yes, 3-5. They're just 1-4 in the Big 12 Conference. But their three losses are five points or fewer. For whatever that's worth, it's not wins. The record is still probably too similar to what it's been in the past decade or so. But it's a confident team they've had a lot of close losses and they finally got over the hump last Saturday against Texas Tech two losses by five points and then of course that lost two weeks ago in Austin by just

two points but finally they get the three-point win against Tech at home and hopefully that's not the last one of the year hopefully it's not the last one in a row let's get a little big 12 winning streak going at home and win this sunflower showdown that we need to that we've been waiting on for quite some time coach miles was talking about how his guys are very confident when he met with the media earlier this week i think the team is playing with confidence. I think beyond a snafu and an extra point field goal, I think this football team is really ready to play the best and better football of their year, the back end here. Well, it's been pretty clear that the offense is playing with confidence.

We can see that in the past couple weeks. The offense has tallied more than 400 yards of total offense each of the last two weeks against Big 12 foes Texas and Texas Tech. And they're going to be facing a bit stingier defense this weekend in Kansas State, but still, with how everything is going under Brent Dierman so far, you have to be confident as a fan that the guys are going to keep the good times rolling. One guy that Kansas played the majority of the game without defensively

last game was Bryce Tornado, and we heard Coach Miles earlier this week talk about how important Bryce is for closing out gaps and how Coach thought that Texas Tech had too many holes or found too many holes in KU's defense once Bryce was out. But at the same time, Coach Miles is now looking at the positive side of Bryce missing the majority of that game. I think it could not have happened any better. We freshened one of our better players, okay, and had the time off, and we'll be in position to play him fully so perhaps a blessing in disguise for the Jayhawks defense they lose Bryce Tornadin early in the game against Texas Tech but the Hawks

end up winning the game despite a few defensive gaffes they got three stops on the last four Texas Tech positions out of their defense and And of course, the offense really turned it on after the first quarter and a half or so where they struggled getting their engines going. But the offense ended up, as I mentioned, putting up big numbers as they did the first week under Brent Dierman against Texas. Defensively, there have been a couple of guys pick up the slack and a couple of guys who have notably improved throughout the season. And there are some young guys like Gavin Potter.

He's been playing a lot of time at linebacker, particularly since Drew Prox was injured. No update on Drew Prox. I'm thinking probably if I had to guess that at this rate, Kansas is going to look into a medical redshirt for their linebacker and try to get him an extra year at the back end of his eligibility. But Gavin Potter, he's been a true freshman, and he has really improved leaps and bounds since his first couple games, first couple times on campus. Now remember, the two teams that Gavin Potter kind of, what's the best way to put this? We'll just say trolled.

The two teams that Gavin Potter trolled when he was announcing his college decision are the opponent last week, Texas Tech, and the opponent this week, Kansas State. He had a Tech shirt and a K-State shirt over the top of a Jayhawk, which I believe, I could be wrong, but I believe it was painted on his body. And he committed to Les Miles and the Jayhawk. So when you see that as a KU fan, he automatically becomes a fan favorite. He's been performing well recently.

Kansas has needed him to. And here's Coach Miles talking about Potter and some of the other young guys who have stepped up well they will eventually lead this team you know the guys that uh you know Parker and Potter and really just those guys that are seeing kind of what's going on and they want more because they're they're young. They're true freshmen playing football in the Big 12 Conference and playing really pretty well. So, yeah, I think it'll make a difference as they continue to mature. A lot of the freshmen, especially Gavin Potter,

have had an opportunity to make their presence known on the defensive side of the ball, and we look forward to seeing where their careers take them as they hope to make their impact known on the defensive side of the ball. And we look forward to seeing where their careers take them as they hope to make their impact on Kansas football, as Daryl Stuckey did on the defensive side. And, of course, we've got, I believe the number is 35 recruits coming in, incoming recruits for 2020 for this Kansas football team. So a lot to look forward to on that front.

Hopefully the arrow is pointing up for Kansas football, and we'll continue on the right trend if we beat the Wildcats this Saturday. Coming up next, we're going to hear from Bill Self and Jalen Wilson as they're going to talk KU Hoops. Of course, it's game night tonight at Allen Fieldhouse against Pitt State. All that's next, Locked On Podcast Network, the local experts on the biggest stories. Locked on Jayhawks, game day edition.

Give me a follow on Twitter at LO underscore Jayhawks. Just got done talking Kansas football ahead of the Sunflower Showdown this weekend. And now we're going to hear a bunch from Bill Self. He was made available to the media yesterday. And final exhibition game, of course, is tonight. And then we've got Duke in five days, so it hits us pretty quickly. But Bill Self, firstly, is going to address the NCAA announcement from yesterday. The NCAA board approved athlete compensation for their image and likeness. And basically, the NCAA said that they would allow athletes to quote benefit from the use of their name, image, and likeness and quote, there's kind

of a lot of gray areas regarding this, but needless to say, we're interested in what our man has to say about it. Here's Bill Self talking to reporters about the news from the NCAA. I think it's a good step. The way I read that was definitely a much softer stance than what the law in California was. So I think it will probably fall somewhere in the middle. But I do think it's a good first step, and I think it's great that the Board of Governors feel it's important to try to get out in front of this as much as you can at a late date and not waste any more time. So I think everybody should be commended for that.

And certainly, I do believe something positive will come out of it. But I think there's a pretty wide range or spectrum on what that positive could be. You know, you go from limiting to unlimited, and there's a huge differential when you talk about things like that. That's Bill Self regarding the NCAA news about the board approving athlete compensation for their image and likeness. And, of course, that's going to be an ongoing topic in the news, and we'll track that and have you updated on Locked on Jayhawks any time something new comes out regarding that.

But now back to the action on the floor. The biggest concern, which we highlighted earlier this week from the first exhibition game, was mainly the fact that Kansas thought they were going to be so big this year. They were going to have such an advantage because of their size, the length, and really the number of big bodies that they have down low. That ended up being kind of a problem in the first game because of the defensive end. Fort Hayes State hit eight threes a week ago, and six of those came from their big guys, their forwards that were being guarded by Silvio, David, and Doak.

So obviously that's been a stressor point for Bill Self and the KU coaching staff in practice this week. And here's what Coach Self had to say about how that's progressing. He scrimmaged on Monday and Mitch in 10 minutes made five threes against the bigs. So it wasn't exceptional. We may play somebody that actually shoots it as well as Mitch. But I think there's certainly an emphasis on it, and that's got everybody's attention. So we know the obvious things like, all right, bigs maybe aren't as quick twitch in general as guards, but there has to be more to it, right, in terms of why can't these guys prevent some of the fours and fives from getting out there and shooting, aside from the fact that they're maybe not as quick.

Bill Self talks about really the X's and O's of how bigs need to guard. I think a lot of it is reps. I think a lot of it, you can spend some time working on sliding your feet and things like that, but the bottom line is you have to, as your man moves or as the ball moves, you always have to be adjusting. And what happens, our guys watch. And when they watch, then their man catches it in areas where they can't get back to them.

So those are things that comes much more natural for a guard, obviously, or guys that played on the perimeter. But these guys, I mean, they can do it. It's just, it's going to take some time. We're not going to be great defensively until we can figure that out. While he admits the bigs are probably a ways away, Bill is still optimistic about how this team can be on defense. I think that we can become a really good defensive team. I think we can be a better rim protecting team and things like that.

But, you know, if you really defend four spots real well and break down on one, then it doesn't take much to make you look bad. But I do think we can be a good defensive team. I do plan two bigs or plan one big. And earlier this week, we heard some sound from Bill Self immediately after the game against Fort Hayes State last week, and he talked about, man, one game in, he was already thinking, I may have to play four guards maybe more often. Now, on Hawk Talk on Tuesday night, he did mention how it's probably going to be more like 20 to 30 minutes of the game. They're going to try to make sure they have two bigs on the floor.

Previously, he had mentioned 15 to 20 minutes going four guards, which seems high when you have what you feel like are three pretty dominant big guys in low. And we're not even talking about Mitch Lightfoot. We're still thinking there's a good possibility he will redshirt. But if that's the case, and Kansas does have to go to four guards, then you're going to be rotating three of your best players in at the five spot and Doak, Silvio and David. And then you have a lot of options at the four for a guard. But that being said, you're not going to have the advantages on the offensive end that you expected to have because of the size and depth of your bigs. So there's two different ways that KU can play this. And obviously it'll be a constant test trying to figure out this season,

which is going to work best for Kansas, but if they do opt to go four guards, you know that Marcus Garrett's going to be an option in there as a four. He's probably going to be the starter as a three, but he proved that he can play the four and guard a four last year. And then you've got the three freshmen. Now, Bill says that he wants two of them to have a pretty big impact on the year, just two of the three to emerge, but definitely at least one of them. Jalen Wilson was made available to the media yesterday, and he was asked if he's confident playing the four because Wilson, Christian Brown, and Tristan Inaruna

could be asked to fill that void if KU often opts to go with the four-guard lineup. Here's what Jalen said. Very comfortable. I feel like being able to stretch the floor and being big enough and strong enough to actual guard, maybe people that are bigger than me, just helps on defense and offensive end. So I'm applying fine playing any four.

That's Jalen Wilson talking about his comfort level playing the four if he was asked to play it. He did get the start in the first exhibition game, and he hit his first three. But, of course, he started because Kansas was without Devon Dotson and Isaiah Moss. Devon Dotson will be back tonight. He is slotted in to start at point guard for Kansas in all likelihood. And Isaiah Moss, we're not sure still if he'll go tonight or not.

He's still a little bit away. Hopefully tonight, if not, hopefully Duke. But Bill Self saying he's hoping he could string three or four good practices together and then be able to not only get on the court but help this team in some way. So in the meantime, Jalen and the other guys will help pick up the slack on the perimeter as well as being potentially asked to fill in at the four. One guy who will start tomorrow that did not in game one, aside from Devon Dawson, is David McCormick. Bill Self telling reporters today that David is going

to get the nod at the four, with Silvio starting at the four in game number one. Here's Bill Self talking about David's improvements. I think David going into this fall was our most improved player, and now I'd say that, you know, honestly, David or maybe Marcus has been our most improved player and now I'd say that you know honestly David or maybe Marcus has been our most improved player but you know he's he's shooting the ball David's a good shooter even you know he made that one the other night that looked really good and he missed a three that also looked pretty good even though that's not the shot that he needs to be taking many of but I think he's a much improved guy but but you know, that's a big

body to have to guard a guard, and that's what we're going to have to do because he's obviously going to have to if Doak's in the game, and to be honest with you, he's probably better at doing it than Silvio, even Silvio's in the game, so I've told those guys repeatedly, unless we're going to play three five men, five men, these are areas you got to improve on. And, and, and David's a big key to that. But I think he, I think his confidence level and everything is so much higher than it was this time last year. You can even see that just by watching David McCormick,

how much his confidence has grown since when he came in as a freshman and he was, you know, not quite, not, not exactly outgoing. He kind of kept to himself as a quiet guy, but now he's got a lot more bounce on the floor, a little bit more bounce with the media as well. And perhaps this is something that can get Silvio going a little bit. Bill Self talked about that, and he said he didn't think that Silvio played to a really high energy level or high athletic ability.

That's what he said after the game. Silvio did have 11 points and 7 rebounds in 18 minutes, but Silvio will start this one on the bench, and then it'll be a constant battle, you'd think, between those two guys. When KU plays big, who's going to get more minutes at the 4? You have to assume that Yudogaz Ibuki is going to get the majority of minutes at the 5. But a lot of guys, it's a good problem to have at this point. You have so many talented guys.

Who's going to start? And internal competition, that's something that's always good for teams. We're going to hear a lot more from Bill Self and Jalen Wilson after this break as KU preps to take on Pitt State in the final of two exhibition games tonight at Allen Fieldhouse. The Locked On Jayhawks, a product of the Locked On Podcast Network. Daily shows on the Kansas Jayhawks. You can catch us Monday through Friday.

And it's an exciting time to be following KU athletics. KU football picked up that big win last week, and now the Sunflower Showdown on Saturday hopefully can really spring this team to heights that has not seen in quite some time, a decade or so. And then basketball, always exciting this time of year, but this is the team that is ranked number three heading into the season. They've got a lot of depth that they didn't have last year and certainly excited. And what a way it starts on Tuesday against Duke. Just heard a lot from Bill Self regarding the bigs and his concern about their inability to guard the perimeter in

that first exhibition against Fort Hayes State. Let's hear Coach's thoughts on a few of the guards. Let's start with his thoughts on Marcus Garrett, who ran the show, and Marcus was incredibly impressive. 15 points on 4 of 7 shooting from 3. He had 5 assists and no turnovers as he was PG1 with Devon Dotson sidelined. Devon will be back tonight. Christian Brown was second-team point guard in that game, and Brown was awfully impressive himself as a freshman running the show at the University of Kansas. But Marcus Garrett Jr. coming in, not necessarily a point guard as a player. I mean, he'll tell you that he played a lot in high school, but we're used to seeing him on the wing. We're used to seeing him do a little bit of everything.

Haven't really seen him on the ball very much, though, his first two years at Kansas, and we got a chance to see that. He succeeded a lot against the Tigers of Fort Hayes State. Here's Bill Self talking about his junior guard. He's probably more of a point than what I've given him credit for the last couple of years. And, you know, when you got Devontae and obviously Devon last year, he hadn't had many opportunities. And with Q last year, I do wish I'd have played him more on the ball last year. And it still remains to be seen how much he will this year,

because we may have to play him some of the four too. But I think that – I think he's a good player. And, you know, he's always been a jack-of-all-trades type guy, but I think that we're seeing that he can actually run a ball club. Impressive stat line indeed, and perhaps what was most eye-popping to Jayhawk Nation was Marcus Garrett going 4 of 7 from deep. That's an area he has not excelled in his first two years at Kansas. That's not really why he's out on the court. He's on the court to be a defensive stopper and a guy

who can get in the passing lanes, provide ball pressure, and create extra possessions for you. But he did hit some threes in that first game, and maybe that's something that can be a part of his game a little bit more this year. This Kansas team is going to be looking for three-point shooters wherever they can get them after last year not really excelling in that spot. And of course, that's going to open up the game on the interior as well if you have a lot of guys who can stretch the defense. Bill Self previously had mentioned how Marcus had improved his shot technically in the offseason in his eyes. Here's Coach talking more about that when he was made available to the media yesterday. I think his confidence level and the numbers each day show that he's a much improved shooter. I mean, when you look at this statistically, what he's doing now compared to what he did in drills last year,

stuff like that, he's a much improved shooter. So I don't think that we need to base his play on whether or not he makes shots. But what a bonus that'll be if you have to guard him everywhere on the court. So the three-point shot, something that Marcus Garrett looks to add to his game this season. We know what we're going to get out of him in terms of defensive presence, like I mentioned. And he can guard the four. He can do a little bit of everything, similar to some of the glue guys of the past, such as Travis Relaford,

who really earned their way into Bill Selves' heart and earned their way onto the court many times at KU. A lot of guys who we're not really sure what we can expect out of them are part of that freshman class. They're all about the same size. They play basically the same position. You've got Jalen Wilson, Tristan Inaruna, and Christian Brown. Brown a little bit smaller, and Christian Brown. Brown a

little bit smaller, and he had an opportunity to run the point a little bit in that first exhibition, but these guys are all guys that can play on the wing. They can stretch the defense a little bit, and it remains to be seen what kind of spark they can provide on the defensive end. And like I said last segment, that could be key to which of them gets playing time as the season rolls on but we all know that these guys did not know each other coming into this year they came from very different backgrounds of course brown a local kid in aruna is from the netherlands and wilson he's a guy who originally committed to michigan and then backed out. Here's Jalen Wilson talking about this freshman class and how close these guys really are. Very close. We all have like a good bond. You know, I don't think anyone knew each other, you know, coming into this, but now that we've

got here, we've really connected well and we each, you know, bring something different and we all, you know, like gel well. So I feel like us three being together is, you know, it really helps us on the court. Jalen Wilson, the highest recruit of the three freshmen on this year's KU basketball team, talking about the bond that he has made with Christian Brown and Tristan Inaruna. Bill Self loves Jalen Wilson's energy.

Of course, Jalen started game one, the exhibition season. He won't start tonight with Devon Dotson coming back, of course, but Bill Stelz talking about his freshman's energy. I think he's a gamer as much as anybody that we've had come in here in a while. I mean, I think he's going to be the one guy that jumps a lot higher on game night and probably shoot a higher percentage on game night. And based on what people have told me, he's always been that kind of guy. So, but, you know, the bottom line is, you know, it's the same thing with him. If he can't keep somebody in front of him too, he'll have a hard time playing. But if he can and if Tristan can

and CB can, once we get Isaiah healthy, their opportunity to play will probably be, you know, in that four spot. So we, one of those guys need to come through for sure, and hopefully two of them will. All three of those freshmen will have an opportunity to prove themselves once more tonight in the finale of the exhibition season against Pitt State. Again, that's a 7 p.m. tip at Allen Fieldhouse. Hopefully you can make it out. Obviously we'll have all the coverage, all the recap for it on tomorrow's show. And then we've got a lot of preview in Duke.

Champions Classic time. Signal of the beginning of college basketball season. Very exciting stuff. Coming up tomorrow on the show, in addition to some Duke talk and some recapping of the exhibition finale, obviously we'll hear more from head coach Les Miles and Carter Stanley as they preview Kansas State. Big game coming up for the football team as well. And we've got a lot more from head coach Les Miles and Carter Stanley as they preview Kansas State. Big game coming up for the football team as well.

And got a lot more from Bill Self. We'll hear post-game from Coach Self and from a lot of the guys as well as the Jayhawks hopefully have a good performance tonight to close out the exhibition season. Thanks so much for listening. This is the Locked On Podcast Network, the local experts on the biggest stories. And Rock Chalk, Jayhawk.