Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - SOFT? Bill Self Calls Out Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Ahead of Matchup with Texas A&M Corpus Christi

Starting point is 00:00:00 We already got a soft call out from Bill Self. How will Kansas respond to the allegations against Texas A&M, Corpus Christi? You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. What's going on? Derek Johnson here, and this is Locked on Jayhawks. part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, now the number one sports podcast network.

Starting point is 00:00:35 And on today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, we are going to preview Kansas, trying to bounce back against Texas A&M Corpus Christi. Bill Self called them soft already. Are they going to show out against a team who does like to go inside with it that they can be not that and bounce back from the North Carolina game?

Starting point is 00:00:51 We're getting into our Texas A&M Corpus Christi scouting report, certain areas that we think you could actually test KU and give them good reps in this one. And then we'll get to our matchups to the game and players to watch for KU against Corpus Christi. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by Fandual Sportsbook. And with Fandual, you can get action on the game. Right now, new customers, too, can bet just $5.

Starting point is 00:01:12 And if your bet wins, you get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Download the Fandul Sportsbook app today. So KU takes on Texas A&M Corpus Christi, a little Tuesday night basketball action for the Jayhawks. And we already heard at the press conference on Monday, Bill Self calling Texas A&M Corpus Chris or you're calling Kansas ahead of the game with Texas and M. Corpus Christi soft.

Starting point is 00:01:32 That would be kind of funny if he called the other team soft. No, so he called Kansas already soft with how they play. And obviously you look at back at what happened in the North Carolina game. I think it's a fair assessment. You look at what happened in the second half, giving up easy buckets over and over again. It was not the toughest performance that we've seen from KU basketball team. And usually, you know, we'll hear Bill Self call the team soft to try to get more out of them.

Starting point is 00:01:55 it's not just like him calling a spade a spade in a way it's him trying to motivate in a and that's the thing like some teams are built differently than others some teams need to be motivated with with praise with encouragement give them confidence other teams need to be motivated with you know oh I don't think you can do this and I feel like this is one of those teams like you look at melvin counsel's mentality you look at probably Darren Peterson like if you probably tell those guys like hey yeah you can't do like you're not very good at this they're probably going to try to show you no we can do this we're good at that. And I think that's a good thing to have for this team and those players. It is interesting that you're already pulling that card early in the season. So, you know,

Starting point is 00:02:32 would you, I don't know, like, I guess it's never a great time. But it also is interesting to me. I think this is a good thing too. If you've ever noticed, like some of the teams that maybe feel a little bit more lost would be the wrong word, but that like Bill Self feels like he's already getting the max potential out of, it feels like he's usually. kinder to those teams in those press comment settings than the ones he feels like he can get even more out of. It feels like this is one of those situations where he's like, I think I can get a lot more out of this team. I'm going to try to challenge them in this way. And so I think that's why this game becomes interesting. It's a bounce back opportunity and an opportunity to show your

Starting point is 00:03:11 coach that you're not soft and make this your identity that you were a tough, rugged, defensive team. And obviously, you have this game, you have the Princeton game before you get to the Duke game, but it's a good opportunity to try to consistently establish that, you know, agenda for you guys as a team before you have that next big game with Duke in the Champions Classic. I think beyond that, like the other things I'm kind of looking to in this game, it's a chance for young guys to gain some confidence. Kansas is a very young team.

Starting point is 00:03:39 You look at the starting lineup, Darren Peterson's a freshman, Cole Rosario is a freshman, Florida Bedunga is a sophomore. You look at the rotation players on Marco Jackson's in the second year of actual play. Bryson Tiller is in his, you know, redshirt freshman year, but really his first year play for college basketball. Paul Mbia is a true freshman. It's a very young team for Kansas. And even the older guys, Trey White, Melvin Council, Jaden Dawson, they're playing with each other for the first time. And so I think, obviously, there represents a good opportunity to, you know, further tinker with lineups and tinker with rotations and guys establishing rapport and chemistry with each other.

Starting point is 00:04:15 But I think the chance for some young guys to get confidence is super important in a game like this. we have not seen Cole Rosario look super comfortable to this point in the season. And obviously you would point to and say, okay, well, shouldn't the Fort Hay State game have been the opportunity for that confidence? And yes, you're right, but it didn't happen. So here becomes another opportunity to get that. And whether it's him, whether it's Jaden Dawson, whoever, like this does represent an opportunity to try to garner more confidence for some of the young players who are going to be

Starting point is 00:04:44 counted on for this team, like Marco Jackson having a big game or Col Rosario or Jaden in Dawson like one of those guys having a big game that's a good thing for KU and that it kind gets the ball rolling in a real way like regardless of what Darren Peterson does I'm going to feel good about where he's at you know after this game right um I think from the florididunga perspective like you're looking at him to play a more consistent level of game so if he plays really well here you want to see him backing up with the Princeton game but you know that level of consistency has to start somewhere so why not this game but that's kind of what I'm looking at here here here's an interesting number. Here's a little interesting staff for you here. There's only been one time

Starting point is 00:05:23 in Bill Self's tenure at Kansas that they've started a season one and two. They've had other one-in-one starts. Most of them are they actually losing their opener and then win the second game. I think that last happened in 2020, I want to say, because I think they lost against Aga, unlike the second game. So it was the 20 to 21 season. And then they lost the year before, I think that in the same situation. But there's only been one time they've started one and two, which would require losing this game, which that would lead to a lot of panic and certainly a much different recap show than the North Carolina recap show. That's for sure. But there's your little bit of trivia. Do you know the answer? All right, time's up. The correct answer, the only time that KU has been one and two

Starting point is 00:06:02 under Bill South, you have to go back to 2005, 2006 season. So it would have been in 2005 ahead of the 2006 NCAA tournament. And they were two and three actually that year. And then went three and four, but they finished the year on a roll, 25 and 8. Obviously, it didn't end well in the NCAA tournament, but they were hot going into it. Again, you don't hope for that same NCAA tournament resume, but if you can have kind of a similar come up, again, you don't want to start three and four either, but there's examples and there's another one of the Billself team maybe starting a little bit slower and then kind of picking things up with the younger team as the season went on.

Starting point is 00:06:41 All right, we're going to continue on with the Texas A&M Corpus Christi scouting report. We get to our matchups of the game and players to watch. This is Locked on Jayhawks. And we are brought to you today by Game Time. College basketball is back. College football is ongoing. Lots going on right now. I don't know how you couldn't be more excited with all the sports going on.

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Starting point is 00:08:12 Okay, you're taking on Texas A&M, Corpus, on a Tuesday night. Let's get into the scouting report for KU has because I actually do think there's some interesting things about Corpus Christi that obviously Kansas should win this game. They should win this game going away. It feels like there's usually one non-con game, though, against a lesser opponent every year for KU, whether it was, you know, like, was it Tarleton State or was it, there was somebody, it was Stephen F. Austin or somebody during the title year where Remi Martin had to go off.

Starting point is 00:08:36 And then there's other years where, you know, it's just, there's always like one, I guess. And sometimes it's an Ivy League team at the end of it or whatever. But I do think the interesting things that you'll be able to, you know, they do this well or this is their identity, which are going to, in a way, challenge KU or make them get live reps in an area that, like, I want to see them get reps in, which I think are good. So they come into this one at one and two on the season. This is a team that went 20 and 14 a year ago when they finished 150th on Ken Palm. It is their third year for their head coach, Jim Shaw, who has two 20 win seasons in his first two years. So he's been really good to star for them. And this is interesting, too.

Starting point is 00:09:14 So you look at Ken Palm, they're ranked 263rd on Ken Palm. So not very good, number 280 on offense, number 222 on defense. They're a little bit higher at 233 on Torvik. But again, both of those, I don't think are going to do it justice because here's the thing. Texas A&M Corpus Christi in Jim Shaw's first year with the program was 274th in the preseason. He took him to 182 by the end of the year. And then last year, they started 234. in the preseason. They finished 150. So I could see this being as a, this isn't going to be,

Starting point is 00:09:47 you know, a resume way. It's not going to be a quad one opportunity or anything. But do keep in mind that I don't think this is a complete, like, I think this is a tougher game than the Green Bay game. This is a tougher game in the Fort Haystay game. Even if you see them on Ken Palm 263, just know based on those previous ascents with Jim Shaw, there's a chance they finish 180 where, you know, it ends up, I don't know, not in the same range as maybe the Prince and, game, we'll kind of see where that one goes, or the Green Bay game, for instance. But they were picked seventh of 12 teams in the Southland by Basket Under Review. Their one win was against a non-D-1 team.

Starting point is 00:10:22 Then the two losses, though, not, I wouldn't say necessarily close, but close-ish. They had a bad lot, eight-point loss to Tarleton State, who's sub-250, so that's not a great loss there. But they also only lost by 11 to SMU, and SMU is the top 50 team on Ken Palm. The four strengths for this opponent, 64th percentile, so solid there in offensive rebound rate, and that was something they were good at last season. So I think this is a bit of an identity thing. They want to crash the glass, and what have we seen Kansas do on the defensive end? Give up a lot of offensive rebounds.

Starting point is 00:10:54 That was true in the North Carolina game. That was true in the Louisville game. That's been true really all up to this point for KU. We've seen them give up too many offense rebounds. This is actually a good test against team who actually is pretty good at getting offensive rebounds to try to wall up there. In the half court, Texas A&M Corpus Christi tries to play post-up bully ball, right? That goes back with the offensive rebound rate.

Starting point is 00:11:14 But also, they ranked 17th nationally in field goal attempt rate last year and 85th in the country in post-up rate. So this is a team that wants to go inside. They want to post you up. They want to get looks at the rim. And that can go one of two ways here, right? KU has more size, KU has more length, KU has more athleticism, which means if they're going to consistently try to go on the inside, If that plays up for KU, it's going to be a long day for A&M Corpus Christi because, like, remember that Illinois game in the Elite 8 against Yukon, and they kept going at Donovan Klingin, and it kept not working, and then Yukon blew them out. And it was like, what was the game playing here?

Starting point is 00:11:53 If the KU length and physicality plays to its potential, that's what this game could be. But the flip side for KU is that if it looks like the Carolina game, it's going to work for Corpus Christi. And the other flip side to that is, which I guess would be on the same side, is that if KU is playing a team who wants to play bully ball inside, and whether that's going for a rebound or, you know, I don't know, just somebody's trying to throw up a hook shot or fools you on something, if KU gets in foul trouble defending on the interior, that's where it becomes a real problem for Kansas, because again, Kansas is not deep at all at the big position. So it would not surprise me if we do end up having to see a little bit more of Paul and Bea in this game than maybe we saw in the North Carolina game. Passing, I would say, is a strength so far. They're in the 83rd percentile nationally and assist rate, so they've done a good job moving the ball. They're also above average in their turnover ranks on offense too. So they don't turn it over too much.

Starting point is 00:12:50 They do a good job passing and sharing the sugar, so to speak. And then they're ranked ninth and third nationally in rate of possessions used in transition in the past two years. So those are 2024 and 2025. They've been top 10 nationally back-to-back years in the rate of their possessions that they use in transition. And so far this year, they're in the 61st percentile for the percentage of their points that come in fast break. So maybe it's not as high as it was the previous two years, but it's still above average. This is an identity of what their team wants to be under Jim Shaw is getting out in transition. And again, we go back to where did they struggle against North Carolina.

Starting point is 00:13:27 They struggled pick and roll. They struggled defending on the inside. They struggled in transition defense. You know, again, it's not nearly as good as North Carolina. It's not as big as North Carolina, but there are some similar traits there that at least give you live bullet reps to practice against some of those things you struggled with and maybe got to watch film on and try to correct in a real game, which is why I kind of like when this game is showing up on the schedule for KU.

Starting point is 00:13:50 Now, four weaknesses for A&M Corpus Christi. They are shooting just 35% from the field right now in their two Division 1 games. So that is obviously very bad. um they they've actually shot okay from three there are like 34% from three but the two point shots not been falling they don't get steals they're only in the 11th percentile on steel rate defense right now so kansas needs to do a good i mean they should do a good job of holding on to the rock in this one i will say in recent years they've been at least solid there so maybe that's just an early sample size thing and then 36th percentile so below average to pour in defensive

Starting point is 00:14:23 rebounding rate now as much as they like to crash the offense glass they're going to leave an opening for KU to get offensive rebounds. And I don't think KU did that enough in the Carolina game. Partially, though, that's Carolina and they've got the size and everything. This is a game where you should be hitting the offensive glass hard yourself. And then the last weakness one here, they're in the 38th percentile. So again, kind of below average, they're in defensive rating. So far, teams have shot 44% from the field against them and 38% from three.

Starting point is 00:14:53 Though I will say teams have only shot 50% at the rim against them so far. So it might not be the easiest in the war. And that, again, Kansas is bigger than, for instance, Harleton State. So that can change a little bit there. But so far, their defense has been a bit below average, even though they've done a pretty good job at the rim. Players to watch in this one, for Kansas, we'll start with Florida Bedunga. Again, as we kind of talked about, like, they're going to go at the rim in a multitude of different ways. They're going to go at the rim in postups.

Starting point is 00:15:20 They're going to attack the rim just in general, like trying to get a layup or off the drive. they are going to attack the glass and all of those things stress floribudunga in one trying to avoid fouls as we just talked about kU not a very deep team at the big position and two trying to play solid defense and grab those rebounds and so after a game where he and really everybody struggled on the interior defending for k u i want to see him bounce back i want to see him have a good performance um against a team who is at least going to test you in a little bit of a way there, right? And then on top of it, we heard from Bill Self on Monday, and he was talking about, like, who do you envision being kind of the second go-to option, the go-to option besides

Starting point is 00:16:02 Darren Peterson? And he kind of said, like, Floribodunga, right? So let's see what he can do on both ends of the floor. Let's see if he can start a really good run of play here after being a little up and down from one game to the next so far to this point in the season. For Texas A&M, Corpus Christie, player to watch over there. It's going to be Sheldon Williams. So Sheldon Williams was a former junior college All-American, joined Texas A&M Corpus Christi. I think he got injured last year and he played like half the season. And now he's back for another year. And last year he was more of a role player.

Starting point is 00:16:30 So far he's been a star for them on the inside and looks like he's going to be a all-southland player through a small sample size. So for in their division one games, he is averaging 17 and a half points and 14 rebounds per game. He actually led the Juko ranks in rebounding when he was that first team All-American there. So, like, very good rebounder, 17 and a half points per game right now, six foot eight springy forward. That'll be one that I think adds to the intrigue with Florida Bedunga, too, that he does have, you know, an interesting challenge on the other end. But it also makes Williams interesting.

Starting point is 00:17:02 He's not just like you think, oh, 17 points, 14 rebounds, he's probably just a springy athlete on the inside and he's just like, you know, grabbing a bunch of tenacious, fearless, like whatever. He's also skilled. He's three of six from three this year in the Division I games. So he's taking three threes per game and he's shooting him 50 percent, very small. sample size. He's also getting to the line a ton, six free throw attempts per game in the two Division I games. So this all kind of goes into that matchup with Florida Budunga. We have another player matchup. We're going to keep an eye on and the keys to the game for the KU offense and defense plus our Hawk to soar. We're going to get to all that next. This is Locked on Jayhawks.

Starting point is 00:17:40 Thanks for joining us on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. And today's episode of the show is brought to you by Fanduals Sportsbook. NBA's back, cult basketball's back, and there's better place to get in on the basketball action than with Fandul, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of the game or want to ride a hot hand, Fanduel has live bets on everything on who's going to score next to a fourth quarter or second half comeback. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team's making that late push. And if you've been watching college basketball, maybe a team sticks out to you that

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Starting point is 00:18:44 We can like and subscribe to the show. Again, thank you the everydayers. and actually making the Locked-on Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast network that is out there. Okay, so let's start with the KU offense keys to the game. I think get the fast break transition offense going. Kansas has actually been pretty good at getting fast break points so far the season, 15 fast break points per game.

Starting point is 00:19:09 That's a solid number so far to this point of the year for KU. And right now, Texas A&M Corpus Christi has given up a lot in transition. Like they like to get in transition offensively. They've been giving up a lot. Right now, A&M Corpus Christi is giving up 17 transition points per game. That puts their defense in the 17th percentile nationally for defending transition. Mention KU is getting 15 a game. This should be a game where this is a strength for KU.

Starting point is 00:19:33 They should be able to play up to it and continue to make it a strength. And part of that, too, comes back to the defensive end. You know, we saw it in the first half against Carolina, getting turnovers, leading to easy runouts for an athletic team. Oh, we didn't see it in the second half. Let's see it in this one against A&M Corpus Christi. For the KU defense, I think the key to the game is defending on the interior. Again, this goes back to the North Carolina game where KU struggled at these things.

Starting point is 00:19:57 And so part of it is just wanting to see improvement there, see the arrow kind of pointed up. But it's both in terms of the first shot defense where they want to attack the rim. It's grabbing the defensive boards where they want to crash the glass. And it is that second shot defense. At the end of the day, like, you can do a good job limiting their offensive rebounds. They're still getting it some. So then can you still be there to challenge the second shot and then grab the next rebound? And can you do all of those things without fouling and getting those big men in foul trouble?

Starting point is 00:20:25 That'll be kind of the question on that end of the floor for KU. Our player matchup, I mean, honestly, it is Sheldon Williams versus Florida Bedunga, but we just kind of already talked about those. So let's go with Mason Gibson versus Melvin Council. Gibson is a six-foot guard. He is one start, one game off the bench. but strong score so far only 23 minutes per game because of the one game off the bench but second on the team in points per game at 11 points per game so very efficient player so far

Starting point is 00:20:52 he was a Midwestern state transfer who was an all-conference pick at the D2 level in his league and so far he's come out firing he's shooting 43% from three on seven attempts per game um so he's definitely somebody to check and watch from the outside and I think defensively is where council can make an impact both this season and in this game for KU can you limit may Gibson, if that ends up being the matchup, I would also say this, like, as we continue to look to who can be the other scores for KU, it's also been, it's been very inconsistent for Melvin Council scoring the basketball so far this season. And I think, so right now he's averaging eight points per game. I think KU would love to have him around that 12 point per game range. He hasn't made a

Starting point is 00:21:34 three so far this season. Maybe this can be the game where that kind of comes through finally. And if he can consistently give you 10 to 12 points with strong defense, I think that's what you're kind of looking for here. So I'll be interested to see that matchup between counsel and Gibson. Obviously Gibson at six feet tall, counsel a little bit bigger of a guard. Can his size kind of bother Gibson in a real way? And then, you know, what is Gibson going to be like on the defensive end? Is he going to be somebody that can keep up with the speed of Melvin Council? You know, not a lot of people can. And then can counsel take advantage. And then going back to the KU offensive key, which is getting in fast break, getting the transition going. Well,

Starting point is 00:22:08 Melvin Council is great at driving transition play for KU because of his speed and slashing ability. Okay, Hockdesort, KU player we think can kind of go off here. We've probably been way too far in this episode without mentioning Darren Peterson. Darren Peterson, Darren Peterson, Darren Peterson, Darren Peterson. And Darren Peterson is probably going to have a good game because he's Darren Peterson. But also, when you look at Texanamus Corpus Christi, I mentioned they've actually done a good job at limiting shots at the rim. Teams only shooting 50% at the rim, which is a pretty low number at the rim. You look at so far, they're giving up a lot of shots just in terms of shot attempt,

Starting point is 00:22:43 shot volume from the corners for three and in the mid-range area. I'll get to the corner from three in a second, but what do we know, Darren Peterson? Darren Peterson's good shooting. He's good at shooting three, he's good of driving, whatever. But Darren Peterson is very much a tactician in the mid-range. That goes back to his high school days, got great footwork, got great rise-up. He's just very good in that area. So I think combined with just Darren Peterson being good at basketball and the fact that

Starting point is 00:23:08 Like, this is, I think, going to be a big mid-range game for him. So I think he'll put up a good total in that area. And then going to the corners, right, where I said, okay, they give up a lot of shots in the corners. The leader in three-point attempts from the corners so far for KU this year, small sample size, is Cole Rosario. He's five of them. He's actually made two of five. You would think with some of the misses that I would be lower than that. But that's actually been the area he's been able to make him.

Starting point is 00:23:33 He's two of five. And I think when you go back to the transition game, he should be able to be a guy who, with his athleticism, scores a bucket or two in transition, maybe gets a couple corner threes. I'm going to say that this is the game that he starts to break out a little bit, scores double-digit points, and it starts to get the confidence going. That's going to be my hawk to soar there with Rosario outside of Darren Peterson,

Starting point is 00:23:55 which I could just pick every game and he'd probably make me look pretty smart when I'm not very smart all the time, or very often. All right, that'll do it for this episode of Lockdown, Jayhawks, so you can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like, and subscribe to the show. We'll be back at you for a postcast of whatever happens in the game. And thank you for joining us and making Locked on the number one podcast network.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - SOFT? Bill Self Calls Out Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Ahead of Matchup with Texas A&M Corpus Christi

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