Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Locked On Jayhawks - 12.20.19

Episode Date: December 20, 2019

Self, Dotson and Azubuike talk 3-point defense, keys to beating Villanova Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up, Jayhawk Nation? Welcome into this Friday edition of Locked On Jayhawks. I'm your host, 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. Really excited for the show today. Got a packed show full of content, as always. And, of course, got a big game coming up tomorrow morning. If you like sleeping in on Saturdays, be sure to set your alarm clock. Number one Kansas and number 18 Villanova doing battle at the Wells Fargo Center in Philly tomorrow morning.

Tips going to be at 11 o'clock. That game's going to be on Fox. So excited for that top 25 battle. And in the first segment, Bill Self's going to talk about the number one ranking, and if he discusses that with his guys, this will be the first battle for Kansas as the number one team this season. We'll also hear from Coach Self and Devon Dotson in the first segment about the three-point field goal percentage defense and how that's going to be a key against a team that gets up a lot of threes in Nova. Segment two, we're going to talk about the Big 12 and the Top 25,

the matchups that are going on this weekend to keep you all in the loop. And then Bill Self will talk about the Baylor-Villanova game. That took place earlier this year, and that was a Bears victory at Coastal Carolina in Conway. And in the final segment, we'll hear from Coach Self and Yudoka Azubuki as they break down Villanova as well. Coach Self spoke at length about the wildcats yesterday not only about this team but about the program as a whole and how successful they've been the past 15 years really amazing coach even said they're gonzaga plus two national championships i mean that's how good this villanova team has been

under jay wright particularly in recent years villanova knocked out been under Jay Wright, particularly in recent years. Villanova knocked out Kansas in both 2016 and 2018 in the NCAA tournaments, and then they would go on to win the national title, Coach Wright and the Wildcats. But we're not going to focus as much on the past as we are the future and the game tomorrow in this battle between two top 25 teams. All right, so let's get right to it. Coach Self, the number one ranking. This is going to be the first game for Kansas. Like I said, they're going to bring in this number one ranking. Of course, it happens to be probably their most difficult game to date. This battle on the road, a true road game, the first of its kind for Kansas this season against a team that Jayhawks all-time are 4-4 against, but of course have provided some heartbreak in those two aforementioned NCAA tournaments. Coach Self was asked at his press conference yesterday,

do you discuss the number one rankings with your guys? I won't spend much time on that, Gary, at all. It is kind of eerie, though. Last year we were ranked number one when we played Villanova, if I'm not mistaken. We just got it, right? And then we were ranked number one when we went to Villanova in 2005, almost on the exact same date. So one of them worked out, one of them didn't.

But I won't make a big deal out of that. It's too early to be doing that. That game last year was a 74-71 victory at Allen Fieldhouse for the Jayhawks. And the Gerald Vick in that game had 29 points for Kansas, and Dedrick Lawson had 28. So Kansas was able to get a little bit of momentum, a little bit of revenge from the 2018 Final Four loss. But of course, any time you get a chance to beat these guys, it's going to be big. And KU, of course, big target on their back with the number one ranking.

This is a Villanova team this year that shoots 43% of their total shot attempts from beyond the arc. So 43% of their field shot attempts from beyond the arc. So 43% of their field goals are from three. Bill Self talking about how Kansas' three-point field goal percentage defense has been pretty good. They're holding opponents to just a 29.9% clip. And here's Coach on that. Numbers good. Numbers very good.

Attempts poor. You know, the thing about it, and I said this before, I do think there's a reason why teams shoot more threes against us because of our size and maybe doke. I don't believe that we've done a good job of running teams off the line like we should, even though I think that we've done a decent job guarding it. But I feel like we need to do a better job of running guys off the line and make them play inside the arc a little bit more than what we have.

But numbers-wise, what are we, about 30% or 29% or something like that? So I would have to think that that probably ranks in the top 30 or 50 in the country. I don't know that for a fact. So it hasn't been poor. And if you take away one game, it's been really good statistically, probably close to 25%. But opponents are taking too many. And Villanova's averaging 31 a game.

We're giving up 28 a game. I mean, so you would think that this could be a game they could shoot 35 on us. So we've got to do a better job running them off the line. Kansas' defensive mark of 29.93 point field goal percentage is actually 72nd in the country, but there's a lot of teams that are close with pretty similar numbers. You go up to 29 flat percent, and you're at 46th in the country. Michigan holds that title. So not very far away from being a top 50 team like Coach Self talked about.

Devon Dotson talking about guarding the three. We worked on it this week. His big thing is if they can't get a shot off, he has no chance of going in. Just make them uncomfortable at all times. We've been working on different things like that and just getting prepared. One of the keys throughout this season for the Jayhawks has been feeling like they needed to go four guards a lot of time

because of the three-point shot. Coach just touched on why teams shoot more threes against them, but also Kansas has got to run guys off the line, like Devon was just talking about. But one big thing this season, the storyline, has been Kansas going four-guard lineups against two big lineups. David McCormick, he had that great game on Saturday against Kansas City, and Coach was asked, hey, the four spot, that's been such a big thing for Kansas this year.

Being able to play two bigs means the fours got to get out and guard stretch fours of the opposition. Has David been doing a little bit better guarding the three? I do see improvement. I do. And, you know, it's amazing to me when you get better offensively, usually it pumps some energy in you defensively too. And I do see his efforts always been great. He's terrific. But I do see maybe a more focused effort, maybe an effort to push himself to know that this is what he really needs to do. And it's a lot easier to have that mindset whenever things are going well on the other end.

And things have gone well for him shooting the basketball, even in practice. I mean, he's been pretty good. So got to get better. Silvio's got to get better. We're on the flip side of that. Silvio hasn't seen as many positive things happen. So even though he's trying as hard, maybe his energy or enthusiasm isn't quite as turned up as what David's is right now. But they both have to play with that type of energy in order to be able to defend a three because that's not what they do.

Well, we know David was great offensively against Kansas City and saw some good things from Silvio De Sosa as well. 9.7 boards and then defensively Silvio had three blocks and getting 20 minutes, the second highest minute total of the season for Silvio last Saturday against Kansas City. Hopefully these guys are able to get into more of a groove because that just adds another element to an already stacked and talented number one ranked Jayhawks team. After the break, we'll talk about the Big 12 and the Top 25 action this weekend. And of course, we'll hear from Bill Suff. He's going to talk about the Baylor-Villanova game that took place earlier this year.

And we'll go through my Friday Five picks as well. But first, let me tell you about Spotify Wrapped. If you're a Spotify listener, use Spotify Wrapped to show us your top Lockdown podcasts for the year. Take a screenshot and tag us at LockdownLive and LO underscore Jayhawks on Twitter, and we will share and retweet. This is Lockdown Jayhawks, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, the local experts on the biggest stories. We'll do our look around the Big 12 and the Top 25, of course.

No games last night of note. In the Top 25, Auburn did survive against NC State. Tigers are still undefeated, one of four remaining undefeated teams in the NCAA. Let's take a look at what's going on this weekend in the Big 12. Number 25, West Virginia, is at Youngstown State. All these games are on Saturday. Oklahoma hosts UCF in what you would think would be a football matchup. Texas is at Providence.

That game is a part of the Big East Big 12 battle. Texas Tech, who's ranked 24th in the country, hosts Rio Grande Valley. Oklahoma State is at Minnesota, and K-State hosts SLU. K-State will be the home team, but that game taking place at Sprint Center Saturday at 6. A couple games Sunday as well. Iowa State hosting Purdue Fort Wayne and then TCU hosting Xavier. That game will close out the Big East-Big 12 battle. Seven games in, the Big 12 is just 2-5.

They've got a chance at best to make the record a.500 record. Kansas, Texas, and TCU having an opportunity to do that this weekend. But Big East so far has had the upper hand in that battle. Top 25 games, one game tonight. Number 23, Penn State, freshly in the top 25 for the first time in quite some time, hosts an 0-11 Central Connecticut State team. And then Saturday, number 14, Michigan hosts Presbyterian. Number 19, Florida State is at South Florida.

Number 11, Memphis, of course, they're without James Wiseman, who elected to withdraw from Memphis and prepare for the NBA draft. So Memphis, that's quite the shot for them. But they are ranked 11th in the country currently. They will host Jackson State. Number 21, Tennessee hosts Jacksonville State. Number 21, Tennessee, hosts Jacksonville State. Number 17, Butler, hosts Purdue. Number 2, Gonzaga, gets a cupcake at home in eastern Washington.

A big game this weekend is in Vegas. Number 5, Ohio State. And number 6, Kentucky. Of course, Kentucky lost earlier this week to Utah. Auburn back at it as number 12. They're going to host Lehigh. This is an interesting game. Number 13, Dayton at Colorado.

That game is in Chicago. Two opponents and victims of Kansas are doing battle. That should be an interesting one. Number 20, also undefeated, San Diego State is at Utah. That game's in LA. Number 15, Michigan State hosts Eastern Michigan. Number 16, Arizona hosts St. John. And number eight, Oregon hosts Texas Southern. All those games are on Saturday. A couple top 25

games on Sunday. Number nine, Virginia hosting South Carolina. And number 22, Washington hosting Ball State. Let's look at the Big 12 and the top 25. All right, Friday, five picks. I'm 23 wins, 21 losses, and two pushes. So I'm two over 500. I'm telling you, it's the best secret kept in sports betting world right here on Locked On Jayhawks. And a four-in-one week last week put me over 500. So got to make sure at least get two wins this weekend to stay over 500. But of course, going for the perfect 5-0 as always.

A little bit of everything. A couple college basketball games, one bowl game, and then a couple NFL games. Two college basketball games tonight I'm going with. Vermont, you know I love Vermont. I like them minus 11 against Lipscomb. Vermont is a very veteran team. Steph Smith, of course the Duncan brothers, they're always going to be a good team. Ben Shungu is still on that team. I just like the returners for Vermont. I think they're an NCAA

tournament team again. I've seen some of the scores for Lipscomb this year, and they're not pretty. I like Vermont minus 11. How about this line? North Dakota State plus 12.5 at Marquette. I like the Bison. This is a classic letdown game for Marquette. North Dakota State, remember, in the exhibition season, they played Duke really well and almost upset the Blue Devils in the exhibition. And they're getting 12.5 to go on the road and face Marcus Howard and company. I think that's too many points. Marquette, letdown. Take NDSU, plus 12.5. Alright, one bowl game. Boise State, Washington State.

Number 19 ranked Broncos. I'm taking them and the 3.5 points against Washington. Anytime you get a chance to take a top mid-major program like Boise and fade a Pac-12 team, I'm going to hop on that, especially when I'm getting a good number at 3.5 points. Boise plus 3.5. And then two NFL games. One's on Saturday.

There's three NFL games on Saturday this weekend. The Buffalo Bills are plus six and a half at the New England Patriots. Take the Bills in this one. I understand the Patriots are the Patriots, and over the past 15 years, you haven't been able to get rich by betting against the Patriots, but something's not right with Tom Brady. Something's not right with this team. I think Brady continues to regress. The Bills are trending upward. I don't love their quarterback in Josh Allen, but I will say that he is a gamer and they've got a stout defense. They're getting six and a half points to take the Bills on Saturday. And then the Sunday game smells like a one team very hungry, one team maybe

not so much. The Baltimore Ravens have been steamrolling through everybody and they're 10 point favorites at home against or on the road rather in Cleveland against the Browns. I think the Browns have too much talent to not cover that. I know there's been a lot going on with drama about Landry and Beckham maybe supposedly requesting trades, maybe not, who knows. But I think Cleveland can at least cover the 10 at home against a Ravens team who, yeah, they're still trying to clinch the number one seed, but they're feeling pretty good about themselves. It may be time just now to fade the Ravens. All right, Friday 5 recap.

Vermont minus 11 against Lipscomb. North Dakota State plus 12.5 at Marquette. Those are college basketball games going on tonight. A bowl game this weekend. Number 19, Boise plus 3.5 against Washington. And two NFL games going on tonight. A bowl game this weekend, number 19, Boise, plus 3.5 against Washington, and two NFL games later this weekend. The Bills plus 6.5 at the Patriots,

and the Browns plus 10 against the Ravens. My Friday five, got to get at least two wins to stay over.500, but 23 and 21 and 2 so far since I've been doing that segment. All right, bringing it back to KU Hoops, we've been talking about the Lenovo. We've been talking about how they shoot so many threes. 43% of their shots are from the perimeter. They played Baylor earlier this year in the Myrtle Beach Invitational in Conway, South Carolina,

and the Bears won that one 87-78. Baylor was led by Jared Butler's 22 points in that game. Villanova got 27 out of Colin Gillespie, who averages just over 14 a game, and Villanova chucked up 25 threes. They were just 8 of 25. Baylor was 11 of 19 from threes, so that was a big difference there. 25 actually not one of the higher numbers for Villanova shooting threes this season, but they certainly were in this game. This is a battle between two ranked teams, but one of them had to lose, which is what Bill Self is going to talk about.

He's impressed with Baylor, and he did watch that game. Here's Coach's reaction. Baylor is good. I mean, Baylor's a top 11 or should be a top 10 team, and they're good. And that was two good teams playing, and it was a coin flip game. It could have gone either way, and Baylor made some plays late. But the thing that's different about Baylor this year, they're playing man. They're only sprinkling in zone, where in the past they sprinkled in man.

And it was a very good game, and two teams that are very good, that have very good guards and are capable of going and getting their own. And I thought it was a good basketball game. I thought both teams played well. It's just one team had to win. And in the final segment, we'll hear from Bill Self and Yudoka Azubuki regarding preparation for Villanova and perhaps one of their players that was a big-time target for KU that didn't go the Jayhawks' way, but he's having success and so are the Jayhawks.

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Just won Jayhawk in the NBA last night. Ben McLemore had eight points in a come-from-behind victory for the Rockets, 122-117 over the Clippers. Late game last night on the West Coast. That was the lone Jayhawk. Jayhawk's in action tonight, though. Sfi, Keefe, and the Pistons are at Boston. Marcus Morris and the Knicks are at Miami.

Embiid and the Sixers host Dallas. Oubre, Diallo, and the Suns are at Boston. Marcus Morris and the Knicks are at Miami. Embiid and the Sixers host Dallas. Oubre Diallo and the Suns are at Oklahoma City. And Wiggins and the Wolves are at Denver. That's your Jayhawks in the NBA outlook. All right, so let's look at this Villanova team that Kansas will be doing battle with. This is a team that is completely different from last year. They are focused on balance. Remember last year when they came to the Fieldhouse, they were led by Phil Booth and Eric Paschal, and Booth and Paschal provided 48% of the scoring productivity for the Wildcats last year. This year, it's all about balance. Nova has six players between 9.3 points per game and 16.3 points per game, led, of course, by sophomore Sadiq Bey, who's averaging over 20 a game and nearly 7 boards a game

in the month of December. So it's going to be a lot more balanced than we're used to. This Villanova team also, they're second in the Big East in scoring at over 80 points per game, but they're last in the Big East in defensive field goal percentage at 44.5%. Compare that to Kansas. Kansas offensively is shooting nearly 53% from the field, headlined by Yudoka Azubuki's 83%, and that 53% mark as a team is good for second in the country. So Nova has got to be a little bit concerned about how their weakness, perhaps, is Kansas' strength. I mentioned Bay, 16.3 points a game. Three others in double figures.

We know about Colin Gillespie. He's averaging 14.4 points a game and over 12 apiece for both Justin Moore and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl. Five different Wildcats have attempted at least 33s, headlined by Gillespie's 59. Robinson Earl, of course, he's a guy that Kansas targeted big time in the offseason trying to get the five-star recruit to come play in Lawrence. Of course, his dad, Lester Earl, played in Lawrence for three seasons from 97 to 2000. He was a 96 McDonald's All-American. But Robinson Earl choosing to go to Villanova. Here's Bill Self talking about the freshman. He's terrific. You know, he's a four man that's playing the five and he's a skilled guy that's playing away from the basket. You know,

he can, he's, he's about, he's a basketball player. You know, he can, he can stretch it. And then of course he plays so hard and so sound. He's an unbelievable free throw shooter. What's he averaging, 12 and 10 already? I think he leads our team in minutes too. We know Jeremiah well. We're happy for his success, happy that he's doing well. I wish he wasn't where he's at, but we're doing okay here too, so it's probably worked out for him very well, and he'll have a great career there.

Robinson Earl will take a three if it's open to him, but he is not one of the five guys who's taken over 30. He's more playing toward the basket type player, but 12.1 points and 9.7 rebounds, which leads the Villanova team for Robinson Earl. He is 7 of 20 from deep, and like Coach said, a good free throw shooter. He's shooting 83% from the line. Kansas has had a week off, of course. Didn't play any midweek game following their victory 98-57 over Kansas City last Saturday. Bill Self was asked right off the top at his press conference yesterday,

you prepared for Villanova? We haven't played for a week, so there's no reason why we shouldn't be familiar with what they try to do. But to make it more complicated, though, is what they try to do is put their players in positions to make plays, and that's the hardest thing to guard because they force a bad closeout and then play behind a bad closeout. They are the best that I've seen at doing that.

Run real subtle stuff to force a bad hedge or closeout or bad closeout, and then they're able to make the extra pass as well as anybody. So they're certainly not easy to prepare for. Bill Self would elaborate on Villanova, talking about how not only this team, but Wildcats teams in the past have one certain trait that they always do. They play as hard as anybody, and they fly around. Watching the game here last year, that was two hard-playing teams play here last year. They guard.

They don't beat themselves. But what I think that they do the best job of is not running plays, but allowing players to be players. They do a great job of footwork. They do a great job of pivoting. They do an unbelievable job of doing some things that maybe people stress but not at the level that they do and and um it's it is the way that they play it uh and ever in all five being threats it forces them all to be players and and so jeremiah playing the five there's nothing for him to catch it beyond the arc shot fake and go force help and then penetrate pitch you know that that's what that team that they had that that 1-18, did so good. They had five guys you had to guard everywhere.

And I think that's something that they do as good a job as anybody as far as all five spots being basketball players. Like with us, if they had dope, they wouldn't play that way probably. But with us, we can't play to that extreme that way. We take pride in guys making plays and being able to play behind the play as opposed to running plays. They do a terrific job with that. All their guards post. All their guards can drive it. All their guards, all their big shoot threes. They do a good job of flipping the floor in a way that makes you guard everywhere.

Yeah, we don't have to remind ourselves as KU fans that Villanova generally has guys who can shoot from all spots on the floor. I mentioned Robinson Earl. He's only taken 20 in 10 games. That's still a couple threes a game that he's shooting up. So you never know. But when Villanova won the title back in 2018 they had five different guys who could all stretch the floor remember Dante DiVincenzo and Amari Spellman guys who would

definitely make an impact and of course that 2018 Final Four game that we want to forget about Nova won 95 to 79 and Villanova hit 18 threes in that game a Final Four record 18 of 40 for the Wildcats Kansas is going to have to get out on the perimeter. Here's you doke as a bookie talking about that they should a lot of threes and Like I really haven't watched them play everything from this year from past years I know like they shoot a lot of trees and I know that bigs also can step out and shoot a lot of trees to Mean they do a lot of threes too. And, I mean, they do a lot of, like, they pass the ball and then they do a lot of cutting for the basket,

and that's going to pose a little bit of a challenge. But, like I said, we've been practicing and we've been getting ready for the game, and I'm excited. Villanova certainly will pose some challenges for our Jayhawks, but we know that our guys are pretty good too. We talked about the field goal percentage. We think we've got the best point guard in the country in Devon Dotson, and we've got some great other pieces on the perimeter,

Ochai Abadji and Marcus Garrett, who can have an impact on this game. Hopefully we see some more from the bench as well. Isaiah Moss, Silvio De Sosa, hopefully they're able to get in and make an impact. And maybe one of those freshmen, Browner and Aruna, could they make an impact in this one as well. Kansas has a lot of pieces. It's going to be a very tough matchup for Kansas, but it's going to be a very tough matchup for Villanova as well.

Number one team in the country are Jayhawks for the first time this season, and wouldn't you know it, their first game after the new poll comes out is on the road, first true road game against another top 25 team in the number 18 Villanova Wildcats. Should be a fun one. Thanks so much for listening. This is Sean Kellerman for Locked On Jayhawks, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And Rock Chalk, Jayhawk.