Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Locked On Jayhawks - Episode 4

Episode Date: October 18, 2019

Bill Self talks KU hoops; Deep dive on UT football; Friday 5 picks revealed Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up and welcome into Locked On Jayhawks, final show of the week. 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. Well, packed show coming for you today. We're going to get a chance to hear from Bill Self in the first segment. He's going to preview his team and talk about a freshman that maybe has been a little bit better than he and the coaches thought he would be

at this point of the season. Second segment, we're going to talk Kansas-Texas football. We're going to see what the Longhorns have done this year in our final preview before the Jayhawks take on the Horns tomorrow at 6 o'clock at Daryl K. Royal Memorial Stadium in Austin. And then our final segment, the initial edition of Friday Five, five lines of college football that I like and I think you should too. Let's get right into it now. Bill Self spoke to the media at Kansas Basketball Media Day and was asked about his team and what he thinks of them in the early stages.

We're big. We're fairly athletic. We can make plays you can't coach athletically in some areas. And then, of course, we have some speed on the perimeter. So I think the pieces are there for us to have a big year and play well. I'm not sure that our skill set is quite caught up to our athletic ability in some ways because we do need to shoot the ball more consistently better in order to really take advantage of having some bigs that can operate inside and do some damage. But I like them, and they've been terrific.

They're coachable, and they try hard and seem to pick up stuff pretty quickly. We've heard Bill Self a lot through the years when he's had teams that are highly touted heading into the season maybe not be in such a positive tone as he has been with this team. Everything I've heard from Coach in the initial couple weeks of practice is positive about these guys. I think certainly amid all the NCAA allegations that came about in the initial couple weeks of practice is positive about these guys. And I think certainly amid all the NCAA allegations that came about in the offseason, where Coach said this is as motivated as he's ever been, it sounds like the guys are on that same page as well. So the

coaches and the players are on the same page, and that can only be a good thing. Bringing in a lot of new freshmen, obviously, Tristan and Aruna, Jalen Wilson, and Christian Brown. And one question that Bill Self has always asked, or one trait that he always wants out of his team, is toughness. Coach Self talked about where this team is at in the early stages in regards to that Bill Self toughness. You never know how tough you are until a team sees their own blood, you know, until we get punched in the face and have to focus and think next play. I think there's such a big difference between trying hard and competing. Everybody tries hard, but, you know, are you able to handle each situation in a way to look next play and focus under pressure,

execute under pressure. That's competing. And, you know, I don't know where this team is on that scale, but I will know from a physical standpoint and from a trying standpoint, I think we're on the same pace as other good teams that are tough teams. I think it's fair to say that you're going to get toughness right off the bat. I mean, first guys that come to mind for me are, of course, Devon Dotson and Silvio DeSosa. Those are two guys who are just bulldogs, and they're going to bring it every night.

We didn't get the chance to see Silvio last season, but the fact that he went through everything he went through and sat out, I think it's just going to add to that motor that we saw in the 2017-18 season when Silvio got a chance to play a little bit with the team that went to the Final Four. And I think that he and Devon are going to be maybe the two toughest guys on this team. Devon Dotson, to me, is going to be the veteran sophomore for this team. Obviously, the point guard, you always look to him as kind of the quarterback of the team. Then you're going to have three seniors, one a grad transfer who came in in Isaiah Moss, one in Yudoka Azubuki who isn't as much of a vocal leader as he is leader with his game on the court. And then you're going to have Mitch Lightfoot who's absolutely

an emotional leader but maybe not a guy who plays as often and perhaps could even redshirt this year. So I think Devon is going to be the token leader for this team without question. And there's going to be those three young guys that I mentioned before the last clip. And Coach Self was asked at Media Day about those three youngins. Young guys, you know, whether it be Christian, Tristan, or Jalen, I mean, those are guys that need some experience around them to give them the best chance. I think they're beyond their years right now. I can see them being able to play in big moments early,

even though it's not really fair for us to ask them to do that. You'd rather rely on experience, but I think they'll be capable of doing that. We got a chance at Late Night in the Fog on October 4th to see some of these guys in action. One guy I was really impressed with was Christian Brown. He isn't as highly recruited or wasn't as highly recruited as somebody like Jalen Wilson, but Christian Brown impressed me. It was just a 12-minute scrimmage. He was getting to the rim.

He was getting putbacks. He was getting to the rim. He was getting putbacks. He was getting offensive rebounds. And he's a guy who perhaps Bill Self wasn't expecting that type of play. He's been well-drilled. He's a good player. He's kind of a jack-of-all-trades guy. He's got good size, however tall he is, 6'6", 6'7". He's tough enough that he can defend the four, which could allow us to play small some. He's tough enough that he can defend the four, which could allow us to play small some. He will be one of the better perimeter shooters on our team, and he's the best we have at keeping

balls alive. I mean, simple things like that. He gives your team a chance to score off broken plays because he can keep balls alive and things like that. But I think he's better than what we probably thought he would be at this stage. We talked yesterday about the number of wings that this Kansas team is going to have. You know, Ochai Obagi is going to be out there. Marcus Garrett is going to be out there. Garrett, Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year last year. And then you've got so many options. You've got guys like Brown, Jalen Wilson, and Tristan Inaruna, who we're not really sure how they're going to fit. Wilson and Inaruna are both 6'8", but they're probably just going to end up being big threes

with the depth that Kansas has in the frontcourt this year, which is something we really haven't had in four or five years. We'll hear more from Bill Self on Monday about the potential to play big and some of the options that that gives him. But particularly if you're playing like some of the prototypical Iowa State teams of the past that are going to play four guards, it does not hurt to have length and athletic guys that can maybe come in and guard the four when you're going up against four guards. And Brown and Aruna and Wilson certainly have that skill set

and that's something that Kansas can utilize if need be. I think without question, Kansas is going to try to play with their best players on the court, and when that's the case, you're going to see a lot of Yudoka, a lot of Silvio, and a lot of David McCormick. So KU, I think, is going to try to go back to playing big, which was the goal last year before Doak went hurt. But they've got a lot of talent, that athleticism on the wing, where those guys can hopefully come in and give Bill Self and company some options as well. So much depth on this team.

It's all about staying healthy, and certainly we look forward to seeing kind of how the rotation shakes out with 10 or 11 guys having an opportunity to be a part of that rotation. As I said, we'll hear more from Bill Self on Monday and as next week goes on in advance of KU's first exhibition game Thursday night, 7 o'clock, against Fort Hayes State. When we come back, we're going to talk Kansas football. We're going to dive deeper into the Texas Longhorns and see if KU has any sort of a shot to shock the nation and pick up a victory,

their first Big 12 victory in Austin tomorrow at 6. The Locked On Podcast Network, the local experts on the biggest stories. So let's take a deeper dive into the Texas Longhorns and what they've done this season. Of course, they'll be bringing in a 4-2 record to this tilt against the Jayhawks on Saturday. 2-1 in Big 12 play. Go back to week one, and the Horns faced Louisiana Tech. Texas won that game 45-14. And then week two was the big one to kind of see where this Texas team was at and what kind of bar they were setting. That was a home match against LSU, who was ranked 6th in the country at the time. And the LSU Tigers were favored by 6 in that game, and they covered.

They won by 7, 45-38 in a great game down in Austin. So Texas was 1-1, and they had no problem taking care of Rice at home the following week and then Oklahoma State came in first big 12 matchup for the horns that was a close one Oklahoma State actually made that game pretty close late Texas held on by six and then another close game against West Virginia on the road Ellinger and company, 10.5 point favorites, won that game by 11 at 42-31. And then last week, of course, was the Red River Showdown. So two losses for this Texas team, yes. But those two losses are two of the best teams in the country without question with LSU and Oklahoma.

Upcoming schedule for the Horns. They've got to look and they've got to be pretty excited about what they have left because you've already gotten Oklahoma out of the way and Oklahoma State. You've got Kansas, TCU, Kansas State as your next three for Texas. After that, they finish with a trip to Ames, which will be tough, a trip to Waco, which will be tough against the now 6-0 Bears. And then they have their final game, Senior Day, against Texas Tech on November 29th. That's a Friday game, Friday after Thanksgiving,

the Horns and the Red Raiders. So Texas has already been battle-tested this season, and certainly they're going to be bringing forth a lot of energy and perhaps a little bit of anger to this game against our Jayhawks tomorrow following their loss to OU. Kind of get a little bit more comfortable and see exactly who this Texas team has. Sam Ellinger we all know about. He maybe at the beginning of the year was generating a little bit of Heisman talk. He's kind of drifted toward LSU's quarterback Joe Burrow and Oklahoma's Jalen Hurts at this point, but Ellinger is certainly a very good Big 12 quarterback. He's got a 69% completion percentage with 17 touchdowns through the air, and Ellinger

also has five touchdowns on the ground. He is third leading rusher they've got a two-headed monster in the backfield do the horns with Roshon Johnson and Keontae Ingram those two have combined for five rushing touchdowns Johnson averaging nearly six yards a carry and Ingram averaging nearly five as always Texas is gonna have athletes on both sides of the ball. Their top receivers, Devin Duvernay and Brennan Eagles, in terms of yards, it's all about Duvernay. He is easily far and away Ellinger's top target as he has 53 catches on the season and no one else has more than 16. Of course, Colin Johnson, the 6'6 NFL prospect, has been dealing with some injuries. He's only played in three games. But DuVernay,

53 catches, four touchdowns on the year. Eagles has four touchdowns, as does Jake Smith. So Ellinger certainly finds a way to get everybody involved. Colin Johnson, by the way, he was dealing with an injury for a while, came back and played in the Oklahoma game. And then after that game, they realized that Johnson had suffered a concussion. But as of today, it sounds like Colin Johnson is probable to play against the Jayhawks. So that's where Texas is, at least in terms of offensive firepower. We know about the Jayhawks and we know what the Jayhawks. So that's where Texas is, at least in terms of offensive firepower.

We know about the Jayhawks, and we know what the Jayhawks are going to try to do to win this game. I mentioned yesterday, I think the key for Kansas is going to be to keep Ellinger and company on the sideline. I mean, that's where Kansas is at right now, and sometimes that's just got to go with what's going to give you the best chance to win. KU tried to do that against Oklahoma by huddling up before every play, by trying to utilize the running game, trying to keep the clock moving, keep Jalen Hurts and company on the sideline. And against Oklahoma, it actually worked pretty well. Kansas scored the first touchdown of that game, a dime from Carter Stanley to Daylon Charlotte on the far sideline, and you thought you were in business going up against a team that was favored heavily in Oklahoma. Eventually, Jalen Hurts, Trey Sermon, and the

Oklahoma offense got some momentum and were able to obviously pull away with this one in the end. They led 45-7. Kansas got two late touchdowns from Carter Stanley, both going to Stephon Robinson to make the score a little bit closer as they fell 45-20. But back to the original point, Kansas, their goal was to keep Oklahoma's offense off the field. And OU's got a good defense. In terms of Texas, their defense has proven to be susceptible. It's not like the dominant Texas defenses we've seen in the past. Ran through a few of the numbers yesterday. They're eighth in the conference in total defense are the Horns. And they're giving up sacks. And on the other side, they're not sacking anybody. So Texas is definitely more vulnerable than they've been.

Kansas has got to get some pressure up the middle with Cody Cole and Darius Maraney. And of course from the outside with guys like Azur Kamara, Najee Stevens-McKenzie, and Bryce Tornade and KU's now top tackler is going to have to have a big game on the defensive side as well. So the Jayhawks are going to come in. I'm sure they're going to try to establish Puka Williams. Perhaps Dom Williams and Velton Gardner will be a part of the game plan as well. But I think short passes, the pop passes to Andrew Parchment could be big in this one. Anything to keep Texas off the field and to keep KU's offense on the field give Kansas a better chance to win this game.

KU comes in as a 21 and a half point dog and that would be tempting to think that Kansas was going to cover because Texas as we said you know there's two lines of thinking one line could be they're not really looking at Kansas as much of a competitor talked about Tom Herman's press conference yesterday and how 26 minutes of his Monday press conference and not a single question was asked about Kansas. So at least that's how maybe the Texas media views this game. But that's still three touchdowns. That's a pretty big gap. And people are obviously thinking that the talent gap is going to be too much and that Texas is going to have a chance to run away with this one. So other line of thinking, of course, is that you're going to have a Texas team that's coming in angry after losing a rivalry game and maybe all their focus

indeed is on Kansas and improving and making sure that they make a statement because they're still trying to get that rematch, probable rematch, with Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship game in late November. Actually, that'd be early December this year. Texas versus Oklahoma. A lot of people are eyeing that as another potential Big 12 championship matchup. So we'll see. I think Texas has no problem with the Jayhawks. I'd love to see the Jayhawks put forth a good effort, but just too many injuries, particularly on the defensive side of the ball with Drew Prox likely not going to play again. I just don't think Kansas has the athleticism they need, particularly at the linebacking

core, to be able to contain Texas. I think the Jayhawks will show some spurts. I'm certainly excited to see what the offense can show under the direction of Brent Dierman. It's going to be his first opportunity to show what he can do as offensive coordinator of this Kansas team. And hopefully, at the very least, we'll see some consistency and see the ability for Kansas to put up some points. Coming up next, we're going to talk our Friday Five.

We're going to mention five games across college football and perhaps a bonus one as well that I like the lines, and I think you should too. That's all coming up next on Locked On Jayhawks, a part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Friday 5 time. Welcome back. Sean Kellerman here for Locked On Jayhawks.

Friday 5 is going to be our Friday segment where I'm going to look at some lines for college football or college basketball as that's coming up soon and let you know five lines that I like and I think you should too. Locked On Jayhawks here, a part of the Locked On Podcast Network, the local experts on the biggest stories. Feel free to tweet at me, at Sean Kellerman, or at LO underscore Jayhawks.

And, of course, you can follow this podcast on Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Apple Podcasts as well. Feel free to get in contact with me, tweet at me, message me, whatever you like. Let me know how wrong I was on these picks. Let me know what you think of the show and what you'd like to hear more of. But we had a chance earlier to hear from head coach Bill Self and his thoughts on some of the guys. Looking forward very much to Thursday night when Kansas takes on Fort Hayes State, the first exhibition game

of the year. Then it's not long before we're playing Duke in Madison Square Garden in the Champions Classic. Then of course, last segment we talked about this KU Texas matchup this weekend. A Texas team that's going to be coming off their loss to Oklahoma. KU team that was idle last week, they are also coming off a loss to Oklahoma because of that. So Kansas still in search of their first Big 12 win. We certainly hope that they put up a fight in Austin and then it's back home for two very winnable games in my opinion.

Texas Tech on the 26th of October. That game's at 6pm and then time has not yet been announced for the Sunflower Showdown game KUK State. That game will take place at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium on November 2nd. Alright, so I was looking through some of these lines and there were a couple that caught my eye that I really, really liked. And the first one is Florida minus five at South Carolina. Now, I'm far from a professional gambler,

and I think that would be something that many people who bet on sports would say. But I like to kind of go with the emotional part of the gambling side more than probably I should, realistically. I should probably go even deeper into statistics. But sometimes I just see a line and a team comes off a big or emotional loss, and I just think they're going to come out strong. Florida minus five at South Carolina. This is a Florida team that did not have a good game against LSU last weekend.

And that was a game that many people thought that the Gators would have a chance. But that was not the case. And I think that South Carolina, on the flip side, is coming off a game where they, out of nowhere, defeated a top three team in the country. They went down to Athens as 20-plus point underdogs, and they defeated Georgia. So I think perhaps those two games could have affected this line, and Florida, I think, should be a bigger favorite than a five-point favorite. So I'm going to take the Gators' land five and hope that they can travel down to South Carolina and upend what's going to be a confident Gamecock squad. Another one I like a lot is Penn State at home against Michigan. Penn State minus 9.

The Nittany Lions had that victory at Kinnick against Iowa, and it was an ugly game if anybody saw it. 17-12, Penn State won that game. They were able to cover. They were small favorites in that one, 3.5. So they covered 17-12. Iowa had a chance to cover with a two-point conversion in the waning minutes of that game. But Penn State got the win and the cover. James Franklin has not had a lot of success in his time at Penn State against Michigan. But I think this is one where he gets the guys ready

to go. College game day is going to be in Happy Valley, and I think that Penn State wins this game by double digits. Michigan has been better recently, yes, but they've been beating teams like Rutgers and Illinois, two of the worst teams in college football, and I just don't trust Shea Patterson yet as the quarterback, so I think Penn State minus nine is the way to go. I like Kansas State plus three and a half at home against TCU. K-State's been reeling, and TCU just is not strong enough, I don't think, to be a road favorite, particularly when you have that hook at three and a half. The Wildcats lost at home to Baylor their last time out, and they were so impressive at the beginning. They defeated a Mississippi State team that I think everybody was higher on than they

are now, but it's been rough going for Kansas State. I think they right the ship in Manhattan on this one, and I think three and a half seems like the right number for K-State to be able to at least cover, probably win outright against the Horned Frogs, even though K-State's offense has been down, TCU's defense has been great. I just think K-State and Manhattan is not going to lose again, so I think Chris Kleiman's squad gets it done for sure. And then I'm going to go two more college games. I like Georgia, 25.5 point favorites against Kentucky. Kentucky's got a lot of injuries, they're not packing a lot of punch, and I think Georgia is going to be angry after that home loss to South

Carolina. There's not much they can do now. That loss pretty much erased any potential they had of making the college football playoff. But I still think they're going to come out. They're going to try to make a statement and they're going to do it in a big way. Georgia minus 25 and a half against Kentucky. Another one I like, the final of my Friday Five, and I'm going to do a bonus one after this, but Akron plus 17.5 against Buffalo. I like that. Another thing I like to do is see where teams are at against the spread,

and I do believe in the law of averages a little bit. This is an Akron team who people have thrown money down on them covering. A lot of people have liked Akron throughout this season, and they are 0-6 against the spread. I like the 17.5, the hook there, and I think against Buffalo, Akron is finally able to get off the snide, and they improve to 1-6 against the spread. So those are my Friday 5.

Go over those one more time. Florida minus 5 at South Carolina. Penn State minus 9, hosting Michigan. Kansas State plus 3.5, hosting TCU. Georgia minus 25.5, hosting Kentucky. And Akron plus 17.5, hosting Buffalo. And I'm going to have a special NFL pick as well because I like it so much that I want to make sure that everybody who's listening can hear it.

The Bears minus three against New Orleans. I really like this pick. I know that New Orleans defense has been great. I know that Mitchell Trubisky not only has question marks with his health, but question marks with how productive he can be, how successful he can be. But he'll be back. I think it is an improvement without question from Chase Daniel. And I just think that this Bears defense is going to overwhelm

Teddy Bridgewater and company. The Saints have been amazing at covering the spread with Teddy Bridgewater. They're 5-1 on the year. I just think it's time that the Saints are just due for a loss. I think that's my main thought for this. Chicago is a tough place to win. This line started at 3.5. I like it a lot at Bears minus 3. I think Trubisky and company get the job done. I think the Saints are overdue for losses I mentioned and I don't think Teddy Bridgewater can continue the magic this week in Chicago so Bears minus three against New Orleans my bonus pick on this Friday well been a great first week really excited about locked on Jayhawks and can't wait for next week we're gonna have so much going on with the first exhibition game for

Kansas basketball taking place next Thursday we're gonna hear a lot more sound from Bill Self in advance of that game. Of course, we'll hear from Les Miles and some KU players as well following this game at Texas. And then, of course, we'll prepare for Kansas football against Texas Tech a week from Saturday. But first things first, Kansas at Texas on Saturday. Hopefully the Jayhawks can go down there and shock the nation. Sean Kellerman signing off. This has been Locked on Jayhawks, a part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Rock Chalk, Jayhawk.