Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Most Improved Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Player + How Many Double-Digit Scorers Will KU Have?

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked on Jayhawks, who will be the most improved KU basketball player for the 2024-25 season? You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Derek Johnson. You can find me on Twitter at DJohnsonRadio, and you can find our show. It's called Locked on Jayhawks anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show.

Starting point is 00:00:39 And on today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, we're talking which KU basketball player will take the biggest leap from last season. Thanks for the everydayers tuning in to each and every show. And on today's episode, we will also get into a conversation of how many double-digit scores will Kansas have and who would be those players on this episode of the show, which is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. the show, which is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account,

Starting point is 00:01:08 and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply with GameTime. All right, let's start right here. Which Kansas basketball player will take the largest leap from last season? So, you know, this is something where we see players all across college sports, across college basketball, across KU get better from one year to the next. That is not a new thing that happens. But it becomes a little bit more interesting to have this conversation because for Kansas, I don't know that there is an obvious candidate here. So let's go through the candidate of the returning guys and then we'll get to

Starting point is 00:01:40 who the pick is and why. You could talk about DeJuan Harris, right? Because DeJuan Harris is, I don't know, he has a chance to maybe bounce back, I guess you would say a little bit. Like I thought DeJuan Harris' 2020, I guess 2023 season was better than his 2024 season. But part of that was based on just the fit around him. Now, if the roster is a better fit around him, which I think it will be this season, then he could just be better. But is that really him being better? Or is that just the fit is better and he's the same player? And it does feel a little bit like we, the last couple of seasons, like DeJuan is who he is. And that's not a bad thing. Like we know DeJuan, when he has the right fit around him, can be an excellent defender, can be an excellent passer, can set people up and can really put the rest of the team, when you have the right fit around him can be an excellent defender, can be an excellent passer, can set people up,

Starting point is 00:02:25 and can really put the rest of the team, when you have the right pieces around him, into their perfect spots for them to excel at the best level possible for them. So, like, you know, but it feels like it is exactly what it is. I do – I am careful in saying that and doing that, though, because I do remember, like, going into into and this lesson will hold with me forever, like Frank Mason going into his senior season, which, you know, shout out Frank and what they're doing during the TBT right now. But in that he was a rotational player as a freshman, then both his sophomore and junior seasons were pretty much the same. Like they were solid seasons

Starting point is 00:03:05 they were all big 12 I think like second and third team something like that like he was a good player but it felt like what is the next level here and I remember going into Frank's senior season being like because you saw at the end of um what would have been Devontae Graham's sophomore season so going into Devontae's junior season like some big blow-up performances where it was like oh is Devontae gonna be you know the dude on next year's team? Or is Josh Jackson going to be the dude on next year's team? Ended up Frank was the national player of the year winner, won every single national player of the year. He went from being a good player to being the best player in the country. I'm not saying that's going to happen with DeJuan Harris, but don't underestimate that.

Starting point is 00:03:43 Even though we've seen similar levels of DeJuan Harris, but don't underestimate that even though we've seen similar levels of DeJuan Harris, I would say the last three seasons at KU doesn't mean there's not a level you can go to. And maybe it's a little bit different because in the case of DeJuan, you're talking about a six-year player. So the differences between year four, year five, year six are probably not going to be as pronounced as somebody going from year two, year three, year four. But we've seen it before, not just with Frank, but just in terms of that senior year or that final year, making that final jump, right? We saw it from, even though Jalen Wilson was technically still like what, like a fourth year junior or something like that, or a fourth year sophomore, fourth year junior or something like that in his last year, we all knew it was going to be his last year at KU, and he took that big jump.

Starting point is 00:04:28 Kevin McCuller took a big jump last season. Obviously, he had to deal with some injuries. Devontae Graham was a first-team All-American in his final season taking that jump. I mentioned Frank Mason. We see guys take that jump in their final season all the time. Maybe that could be DeJuan Harris. What about KJ Adams? Going in line with that final-year ride, big jump at KU, that would certainly apply to KJ Adams. Now, what would that

Starting point is 00:04:50 look like for KJ? And I think that's part of it with DeJuan. What would that look like for DeJuan to be the most improved player? I guess the scoring, could he even get to 10 points per game? That would be a couple points increase. The assist to turnover would still be good, but it would be more in line with the year two years ago than it would be for last season. The defensive numbers and the defensive impact would have to be more in line with two seasons ago than this season. And then the three-point shooting would probably have to go up. Maybe you take an extra three per game and you're shooting 38, 40% from three. For KJ, you would have to probably go from averaging 12 4 and 3 basically to averaging maybe you can get up to like 14 points per game 15 points per game and what

Starting point is 00:05:32 happens if like KU does have enough spacing with AJ Storr Rylan Griffin that it opens up driving lanes to where KJ just is this unstoppable driver of the basketball, and he's shooting 60%, driving a ton at the rim, getting fouled a ton. He's hitting free throws at a rate similar to what he's done the past two seasons from basically mid-December on because both seasons he's had really bad starts over the first month of the season, but from then on he's been closer to like a 65% free throw shooter. What if he just is this unstoppable driver of the basketball and is a good passer and improves on the rebounding?

Starting point is 00:06:10 Like it's not realistic to me to be like, KJ is going to all of a sudden come in this season and shoot 30% from three on two attempts per game. Like that's not realistic. Maybe the mid range shots that we've seen him take a good amount of, maybe those go in a little bit more consistently. That could be part of it and scoring a little bit more. And he ends up averaging 14 points six rebounds per game and two and a half assists per game on really good efficiency and he is even better in some of the

Starting point is 00:06:35 little ways as well like that would signify a good amount of improvement for KJ Adams uh what about Zach Clements coming back now Now, this one becomes interesting because technically it would be a second year of improvement in that what we would see. Like for all we know, the most improved player, and I think Bill Self might have actually said this at like the banquet or something like that, was Zach Clements last year. We just didn't get to see it. So Zach Clements performs really well and ends up taking that backup center role and maybe even is playing some minutes at four, and he's playing 10, 15 minutes a game, and he's hitting 36, 37% from three,

Starting point is 00:07:12 which is what you kind of thought you were going to get when he was coming in from the high school ranks. And he's holding his own on the defensive end and rebounding the basketball, and he's like a really good backup center for you that you are playing next to Hunter for a handful of minutes per game that would signify a big jump but how would you signify that based on last year I don't actually think you could say Hunter Dickinson like I I know I mentioned earlier like hesitating on just kind of getting into the mode of he is who he is but I feel like that is

Starting point is 00:07:42 the case with Hunter Dickinson and that's not a bad thing because it's one thing to be like he is but I feel like that is the case with Hunter Dickinson and that's not a bad thing because it's one thing to be like he is who he is when he's a all big 12 third team player which is still a very good player but clearly there's room for growth it's hard to be like oh you've been a first team all-american like you've been a uh or whatever you've been a multi-time all-american you still got another level to go to and I'm sure there are certain things like clearly there are certain things Hunter Dickinson is trying to get better at like can you have a more efficient season can you be more consistent three-point shooting with KU um the defensive side of the basketball is obviously the big one there but I think for

Starting point is 00:08:17 the most part like Hunter is what he is now maybe that would be the where the improvement would come what if Hunter becomes similar to what we saw with Yudok Azubuke in his final season, where Yudok was more of a lumbering big man, and then his final season, he was like getting out and switching on guys and sticking with them in the midrange and stuff. What if Hunter adds a little bit more in his pick and roll defense, in his overall defense? That could be real improvement. But in terms of what it's going to look like, the numbers, he's probably going to average around the same amount of points and rebounds he averaged last season.

Starting point is 00:08:47 Like he's not going to be averaging 25 and 15 next season, you know. So I guess it would be on the defensive end of the court with how that would be. Now, the newcomers, I don't know how you classify this with are they most improved because they weren't under your watch. But I still think you can monitor that. Like A.J. Storer to me is somebody who sticks out. He improved a lot from his freshman and sophomore season. What if the points go up even more this season? What if the efficiency goes up even more this season?

Starting point is 00:09:12 What if the defense and the rebounding goes up this season? I think those latter two are ones that are going to be ones that Bill Self certainly harks on that I kind of expect that to be the case. So I think he's going to be well-rounded and improved in a lot of ways. Rylan Griffin. This one, maybe it's improvement from just having an overall game or averaging even more points with Kansas. But I think with the adjustment in the scheme

Starting point is 00:09:36 and what you're going to be asked to do, I don't know that this would be my pick. Shaquille Moore, you're looking at an older player coming in to play a specific role. I don't expect that to be the case. Hard to see like Zeke Mayo being the one unless you grade on a curve because if you're viewing it from a statistical lens, he's not going to improve from his stats at South Dakota State to what his role is going to be asked to do at Kansas. But if you view it on a curve of, oh, he's asked to size down his role a little bit,

Starting point is 00:10:03 tougher competition, could just his game internally take a big enough step up that he is so much better from where he was last year, where hypothetically, if he were still at South Dakota State, you would see that jump in the increase. I guess that is entirely possible. So who is my pick for who's going to be the most improved player and why? We'll get to that in just a moment on Locked on Jayhawks. This episode is brought to you by GameTime,

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Starting point is 00:11:32 locked on Jay Hawks. And if you were, you caught yesterday's episode, which I would go back and listen to, maybe listen to it again or watch it on our YouTube page. Anywhere you get your podcast with Phil steel, where we previewed the KU football season with Phil steel of Phil steel's college football preview magazine and talking a little Big 12 with Phil Steele.

Starting point is 00:11:49 Also, tomorrow's episode of the show, we're going to get back to a KU football Friday and we're going to compare past Big 12 football champions and kind of look at where some of the benchmarks that KU football needs to get to for this season from a statistic element. Okay, so talking on today's edition about who's going to be the most improved player on this KU basketball team. So we went over some of the candidates and what would make them candidates for better or for worse for this. I think among the returning guys, my pick would be DeJuan Harris. I thought really hard about choosing KJ Adams, but as much as there's a chance for him to improve that way, there's also a chance the role gets sized down, right? What if you decide to play less of that kind of two-big basketball and you play more of a wing at the four to where, you know, you have more shooting on the floor,

Starting point is 00:12:39 and that could have an impact in terms of losing a little bit on that role. So I ended up going with DeJuan Harris because I do think he's in for a bounce back. I think the roster is set up much better this season for KU, that they'll have much more three-point shooting. They'll have much more scoring around DeJuan. And that's where he can best excel. And we saw DeJuan last season really struggle around the rim and on layup opportunities. I think with more

Starting point is 00:13:05 spacing i think some of those shots will go in now some of them he just point blank missed and and they weren't it wouldn't have mattered if they had an extra three-point shooter on the floor but i'm sure he's been in the gym kind of working on that so i think dewan's and if you just improve on those layups you're probably another you know half point point per game that you're averaging like i think dewan very well could average double digit points per game in his final season with another year of work, more consistency from three. Maybe you're firing up another three point attempt per game. We know the passing to turnover ratio is going to be there.

Starting point is 00:13:36 Last year, there were some games though where it wasn't. You get back to where it was two years ago and kind of have that bounce back. And because you have more players that can kind of take the load on offense, I think that allows DeJuan to excel even more on the defensive end of the court and exert more energy there where he was the big 12 defensive player of the year two years ago last year he was still overall a good defender but it wasn't that same level of being the best defender in the conference a part of that was Jamal Shedd joined the conference and obviously was very good for Houston but there were other parts of that too, which is just like he had so much to do on offense. He's playing so many minutes. It's hard to exert the same amount of energy and be as impactful on the defensive end as he was two years

Starting point is 00:14:13 ago or three years ago. So I think this year, because you're going to be able to initiate offense with AJ Storer, because Hunter Dickinson's going to have the ball up, because even KJ can initiate certain offense out of the kind of short pick and roll. Because Zeke Mayo and Shaquille Moore are going to be able to do some of those things. I think he's going to be better set up that you'll see a much improved version of DeJuan. Statistically, I don't know how much better the statistics are going to be, but I think impact-wise, it will certainly be a big enough difference between what you're kind of getting there. And then I think if you're talking about the newcomers, like AJ store would be the one to me.

Starting point is 00:14:50 I did actually consider like to kill more, even though he is an older veteran, like what if the three point shooting becomes more efficient? What if he is, uh, because he, his steel numbers were way better his previous two seasons than last year. Like what if that reverts kind of in the same way that Dwan, but I think my overall answer, not just among returnees is AJ store because he goes from averaging about 16 points, three rebounds per game a season ago, shoots 31% from three.

Starting point is 00:15:14 I think the three point shooting is going to go up. I think that's going to be closer to the mid thirties. So you're going to see a big improvement there. The scoring might be around the same, but you could convince me it's going to go up to 17, 18 per game. We saw Kevin McCuller, even with Hunter Dickinson, be around that mark. And so maybe AJ Storr gets that mark with another year of college basketball. I think you're going to see the rebounding improve from AJ Storr. I think part of that was a little bit of what you were asked to do. Like at Wisconsin, you're playing a slower tempo,

Starting point is 00:15:44 also not a team that likes to crash the offensive glass. They like to send numbers back to transition. And they were playing like two traditional big men. They had like a 6'9 power forward and like a 7-footer at center that they were playing down low, so they didn't need him to gobble up a ton of rebounds. Kansas, because you're playing with KJ, who hasn't been a great rebounder, like Storrs is going to be asked to get a lot of rebounds,

Starting point is 00:16:02 and especially if Storrs is playing minutes at the four, which I'm sure he will for Kansas when KJ is on the bench so from that perspective he's going to be asked to get a lot more rebounds and I think he will and I think so you'll get some improvement there on and then beyond all that I think Bill Self is very much going to demand you know the defensive side of the ball and I think that'll be a little bit better for AJ Storr, who's been close to an average defender. So can you be an above average defender this season? Even average at times, but in key moments above average,

Starting point is 00:16:35 I think you're going to see a big improvement from AJ Storr from a season ago. And he was already a really good player. I'm expecting very high standards and very big things from what Storr's going to bring to the table for KU this upcoming season. All right, let's finish things up on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. How many double-digit scores will Kansas have, and who will they be on LOJ? Thanks for joining us on today's episode of Locked on Jayhawks. Thank you to the everydayers tuning in to each and every episode.

Starting point is 00:17:01 Of course, you can check out all sorts of stuff going on across our Locked On podcast network. You can check out conference-wide if you want to check out what's going on around the Big 12 or some of the other schools specifically. You can check out those shows. If you're into the NBA or NFL or MLB, you can check out our shows related to, you know, you want to check out the Locked On Royals show or one of the other teams that you're interested in.

Starting point is 00:17:23 You can find their podcast anywhere you get your podcast and subscribe the same way that you can here with Locked on Jayhawks. So the question, how many double digit scores will Kansas have on this year's team and who will they be? Let's start here. Who are the locks to average double digit scores? I mean, Hunter Dickens and an AJ store are getting double digit points per game like that is happening on this year's team, right?

Starting point is 00:17:46 And they're going to be closer to 20 points per game than they probably are to 10 points per game. So those would be the ones that you feel great about. So that's two right off the bat with Storr and Dickinson. And if we just look at last year's team, again, that I mentioned, Kevin McCullough and Dickinson, both were around that 18 to 19 range. That could very well happen again with both this year. Who's close to a lock somebody

Starting point is 00:18:05 that I wouldn't quite put in the locks but I feel good about I would put Rylan Griffin there I guess it's possible that like Zeke Mayo ended up starting at the two or Shaquille Moore ended up starting at the two and then Rylan Griffin coming off the bench that would impact things and then maybe you're not projecting double digit scoring but I just think Rylan Griffin's going to get a lot of minutes I think he'll be in the mid to upper 20 minutes per game, maybe even up to 30 minutes per game, depending on some of the little things, the defense and the rebounding. But at the very least, we know he can shoot the basketball. We know he can score the basketball. I think he's a bit of an underrated passer and playmaker, and he will be very impactful for spacing the floor for opening things up for guys like Hunter Dickinson and AJ Store and KJ Adams on the inside.

Starting point is 00:18:48 And so I think Rylan Griffin is going to get a lot of three point volume and opportunities. And I think he will average double digit points for KU. I would say probably KJ Adams. He averaged 12 points last year. Even if the roll goes down a little bit, can he still get to 10 or more points per game? I think probably there's also the chance that he is one of the more improved players that we talked about earlier. And what if he does get up to 13, 14 points per game?

Starting point is 00:19:14 So I'd say probably KJ Adams gets up to that mark. This would be an interesting question. How many times has a KU player averaged double digit points one season, came back for the next and not averaged double digit points per game? Maybe there's somebody out there averaged like 10 and a half and went down to nine and a half or something like that. But I don't know. I feel like that probably doesn't happen that often under Bill Self at KU. Maybe I'm forgetting about somebody. So hit me up at D Johnson Radio on Twitter if you can think of somebody who comes to mind there. If they play enough, I think they will get double digit scoring, but I'm not entirely sure they will

Starting point is 00:19:44 play enough. That would be Zeke Mayo. Now, scoring, but I'm not entirely sure they will play enough. That would be Zeke Mayo. Now, if Zeke Mayo is playing 25 minutes per game, I would assume he's averaging double-digit points per year, somewhere between that 10 to 14 range. But what happens if Shaquille Moore is playing a ton of minutes and DeJuan's playing a ton of minutes and Zeke Mayo ends up only playing, you know, 15, 18, 20 minutes per game?

Starting point is 00:20:02 Could he be averaging closer to 7, 8, 9 points per game? Yes, that's absolutely possible. So he's a good sc seven, eight, nine points per game? Yes, that's absolutely possible. So he's a good scorer, but it's going to kind of come down to roll if he gets enough shots, if he gets enough playing time. Leaning, no, but he could would be DeJuan Harris. I talked about earlier in the most improved, like could he get up to 10 points per game? I still would say that odds would be he'd be closer to that

Starting point is 00:20:21 under 10 points per game. Even if he averages more points than he did last season, maybe it's nine, 9.2, 9.5. And I guess that is a tight line, but I feel like if they were setting an over under in like Vegas, it'd probably be like nine. So from that standpoint, leaning no, but I am open to the possibility that he could be averaging in his final season, 10, 10 and a half points per game. Maybe he does get a little bit more aggressive there in his final season. Unlikely, but possible. I would give to Shaquille more, you know, if Shaquille ends up winning that starting two job,

Starting point is 00:20:54 then it becomes even more possible because maybe you're playing 25 minutes per game. But, you know, you've been right around that nine point per game mark the past couple seasons. And that's with, with you know getting a bigger role I think on the offensive end then he probably will be asked to do at Kansas so I I would not be picking him but I understand it is possible and he's been close enough in the past uh the rest I would say won't happen like Flory Badunga is not going to play enough minutes that if Flory Badunga is playing 15 minutes per game he's not going to average 10 points per game. If he does, then Kansas is going to be the best team in the country. Same with Zach Clements.

Starting point is 00:21:29 He could be playing 10, 15 minutes a game. You're not going to average 10 points per game. You're going to play more minutes, first of all, and they're just not available. But that's not going to happen. It's not going to happen, unfortunately. Those players could both be very impactful, very good players, but you're not going to get to double-digit scoring.

Starting point is 00:21:44 So that's not going to happen. I don't think Rakeese Passmore is going to play enough to do that. I do think Rakeese will be a nice surprise this season, but yeah. So that means the answer, we had two locks as part of this and a maximum of seven. So you're between two to seven on the answer. I think the realistic answer is just saying between the group of, I would lean three with Rylan Griffin.

Starting point is 00:22:08 And then between the group of KJ Adams, Zeke Mayo, DeJuan Harris, probably one of those will get double digits. So I would say my guess would be four players will average double digits for Kansas this season. But realistically, anything between like three to five is probably very possible for KU, which means they could have a very balanced scoring attack. That'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. We'll be back on Friday for a Football Friday, taking a look at past Big 12 champions on

Starting point is 00:22:35 the football field and where KU compares, where they have to get to for certain benchmarks if they want to win the league this season. We'll see you next time with LOJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Most Improved Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Player + How Many Double-Digit Scorers Will KU Have?

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