Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - What the Kansas Jayhawks Can Learn About Roster Needs From The 2023 Final Four

Episode Date: March 31, 2023

What can the Kansas Jayhawks basketball team learn about roster construction from the 2023 Final Four teams as it pertains to what they should be looking to accomplish or add from the transfer portal this offseason.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's Locked On Jayhawks, what can we learn from this year's Final Four, the teams that are in it, about Kansas and roster construction as we head into another offseason? You are Locked On Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Johnson, you can hear me as well on Rock Chalk Sports Talk, Monday through Friday, 3 to 6 p.m. on KLWN in Lawrence. Thanks for making Locked on Jayhawks your first listen every day. We're free and available wherever you get any of your podcasts. And on today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks,

we're going to be going over what we can maybe learn from the final four as it pertains to roster construction, what that could mean for Kansas as we head into the offseason here. But first, this episode of Locked on Jayhawks brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, the official sportsbook of Locked On. Make every moment more. Visit FanDuel.com to get started today.

First things first, what can we learn? What are maybe some things that thematically come together about the teams that are in the Final Four and about roster construction? We always talk about guard play in March. That's always been a consistent thing that we've discussed as being a key to going deep in March. And I think you see that with these, these teams as well. You look at FAU, they're filled with a bunch of guards kind of around the one big man, but John L Davis is, I mean, that guy might even be a future pro for FAU as, as just kind of a sophomore guard. Who's really good for them being able to get his own shop, but they have a bunch of really good guards all over the floor for them

that can get their own shot, create their own shot, but it's led by John L. Davis. You look at San Diego State. The Lamont Butler kid has really come on here. Trammell's been really good. Matt Bradley is a former transfer from Cal. He can usually be a guy who goes and gets his bucket, although he kind of struggled a little bit in the second weekend of

tournament play but they've got enough guards to go get their own bucket they're more so about the defense but at least they do have some of those guys who can get their own bucket and that's really three guys that can kind of do it for you and they have a couple other guys who can maybe make a shot for you down low in the post like the lady kid that are certainly helpful in the half court as well then you look at um as far as guard play on the other side of the bracket with miami like that is what makes the engine go for them yes norchot or me or on the inside is awesome for them he really unlocks them being able to play small with the guards but the the guards are the star of the show there isaiah wong is is a guy

that you know can get his own bucket whenever he wants. Nigel Pack can heat up and take over and win you a game at any moment in the tournament, as we saw him do against Houston. They've got really good guards all over the floor. The Poplar kid is probably going to be a future pro. So that's a team with a bunch of really good guards that can go get their own shot.

And then you look at UConn, like UConn is probably the most balanced roster. They have the really good big men, but they have the good guards as well. And that's what separates things. If you're a team that is just reliant on the big men, look at Purdue. Things usually don't go well.

Look at Kentucky, right? If you have the good big men, that is super helpful in the NCAA tournament, but you have to have the guards to support it as well. And Un with Jordan Hawkins he's going to be like first round pick he might even end up being like a lottery pick he's really good on the outside uh Tristan Newton transfer coming in has been really good they just have a lot of like guard wing types on the outside that are really helpful for them that can do a lot of different things or maybe create their own shot and when you add in Hawkins who is that guy who can you know it's kind of like ochag baji was last year

just a really good three-point shooter locates really well off the ball he can create a shot for you in a lot of different scenarios guard play continues to be a theme with teams that make deep runs in the tournament that's been a kind of universal thing over the course of time again shown by these teams. Transfers being a big part is certainly something for all these teams. For FAU, they have four transfers as part of the top nine in their rotation. Basically, two or three of their starters, when you look at just starts over the course of the season,

are guys who at one point or another transferred into the program. San Diego State has four players in their top nine who transferred into the program. Two of them are starters. UConn has four players in their top nine that transferred into the program, one of which is a starter. And then Miami has three who transferred into the program. All three are starters. So transfers becoming a key part of this added on to having some, you know,

pillars of the program, so to speak, Miami developed and recruited and found whatever you want to say, like with Isaiah Wong, he was a kind of homegrown talent, same with the Poplar kid, but they had in Nigel Pack. They add in Orchard O'Meara,

the Jordan Miller, who has been awesome for them. Didn't miss a shot in the elite eight. He's in a year two or three with the program, but he formerly a transfer into the program with kind of the mix of all this, like with with UConn, you were able to bring in some good transfers this offseason to supplant what you already had as a base with like Adama Sunogo and Jordan Hawkins with San Diegogo state like kind of the same thing so you look at it and that's the perfect mix i think that has to make you feel good because

duane harris and kj adams maybe ernest dude can be those kind of pillar players for you at kansas you're trying to surround them now maybe it's a little different for kansas because none of those guys are the the guy you think of as being like a superstar scorer that you're going to look for role players around him. But DeJuan Harris can be one of the best point guards in the country. So, you know, it's just a different way of looking at things. I think all four Final Four teams have really good center play. Now, it's in different ways.

Three of the four have traditional centers. Orchard O'Meara is the one kind of exception there to the traditional centers for Miami. But all four get really good center play. So with O'Meara, he's averaging 13 points, 10 rebounds per game. He's got he's pretty good rim protector inside of being six, seven over a block per game. Pretty good defender down low with San Diego State. You'll have the Le kid come in on the post and be able to score a little bit for you mensa is one of the best defensive centers in

the entire country for san diego state um their centers are more for like defense and rebounding and stuff but they have good center play and then with fau the golden kid has been really turning heads over the course of the NCAA tournament and then with UConn obviously Sunogo and Klingon are unbelievable for them at the two center positions all of them do have that which is kind of interesting because of the way you think like in the NBA the center position being phased out and certainly spacing has become more prevalent in college ball as well but still having that good center especially in college ball does matter now again going back to the conversation with like Zach Eady and Oscar Shibuye if you have a good center

and nothing else you're kind of screwed but if your good center is surrounded by good guards I know that's kind of a simple way of saying oh you just have a whole good team right you do but like if you can have a go-to option in the half court from your center position but still guards that can create for you that's the recipe look at kansas last year heck look at north carolina who they played in the title game last year that's what they had heck duke had a lottery pick or first round pick with mark williams at center they surrounded they made the final four uh villanova uh you're playing jermaine samuels as a small ball five like he gave you good center minutes so um that actually is still an important thing to have and then experience experience is a vital

importance a thing between all these teams UConn their average experience on Ken Palm which is based on the average like age experience of the players who are playing for the team 2.24 years that's 115th in the country San Diego State 2.95 years that's 115th in the country. San Diego State, 2.95 years, that's 21st in the country. Florida Atlantic, 2.10, 148th in the country. And Miami, 2.90, 27th in the country. All these teams are in the upper third of college basketball in experience. You have to be able to have old players. The beauty of that is you can acquire a lot of that from the transfer portal.

But that goes back in line with you also have to develop some players inside your program whether they're role players or key cogs as part of the team having that experience is so vitally important and that's what all four of those teams have uh so what does what does all that mean for ku in terms of roster construction what should we be looking out for now as they are in the offseason and looking for the transfer portal and everything? We'll talk about that in just a second. But first, this episode of Launch on Jayhawks is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. The tournament is heating up. There's no better place to get in on the action than at FanDuel,

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Just go to FanDuel.com to sign up. Make every moment more with FanDuel. What is this all about, KU, in terms of roster construction as you look around the Final Four, and those are the common traits between these different things. I think first things first is don't be afraid to bring in a ton of transfers. And that's obviously right up the alley of what's going to happen here this off season,

because KU has now lost five players to transfer. They're going to be adding several transfers this off season. They could lose more. I don't know. I mean, there is a big hole to be filled with a bunch of transfers this season, but I don't think you should be overly concerned with it in the sense of like, oh, they're going to have this new. Now, part of it goes to what players can get in the portal.

If you get the wrong players, you get downgrades of players, you get worse players, then yeah, that's a problem. But the opportunity is there with the portal that you can upgrade your roster pretty much every offseason if you don't like what you're getting from say your bench or from some of your young players in development and so you look around fau with four transfers in their top nine sdsu with four yukon with four miami with three, and all three of those in Miami are starters. There right there is the proof in the pudding that, you know, you can win with a lot of transfers on your roster and bringing in a lot of new guys.

Now, obviously, with Kansas, does that get accentuated? Because not only are you going to be bringing on a lot of transfers, you have a lot of freshmen, so it's just a lot of new players in general. Does that make things different? don't know maybe um also when you look at these like a lot of them are guys who have been in the program after transferring over for multiple years now with uconn i think three of their four transfers in the top nine are guys who transferred in this season like with miami nor chad o'meara and nigel pack who are both starters for them transferred in this season but there's also guys on both teams that transferred in and have stayed for multiple years matt bradley uh jordan miller right to where there are some of those types of players

um to where yeah like you look at texas it was a roster filled with transfers but transfers who stayed so you got both the experience experience at the specific school in the program and the the transfer part of it all kind of checked off but I guess don't be afraid that just because you're bringing in you know maybe two three four transfers that it discounts you from being able to win it all because of maybe a lack of continuity or anything like that because these teams have kind of showed the opposite and I think that is good for KU, knowing that you are going to be doing that this offseason. I think another part of this is KU needs more shooting this offseason,

unless they are going to be a complete muck it up team, like what San Diego State is. All of the final four teams, except San Diego State, are like elite, pretty much shooting the ball. UConn has a bunch of flamethrowers on the outside. Miami, that's what they do with their guard play. FAU has a bunch of good guards that can fill it up. San Diego State has a couple good guards that can fill it up,

but they're not a great offense. They're more so just about defense and mucking up the game. And you can get here. We've seen teams like this make the Final Four. South Carolina comes to mind in 2017. San Diego State, obviously this year we've seen teams who they're really good defense not good offense and they just get hot enough and they muck games up and they make it to this point but those are more the outliers and so as much as this final four is an outlier like of course fau is an outlier and

everything but fau isn't really that much of an outlier from some of the statistical profiles san diego state is probably more so now miami is a little bit too because of of the defense it's not even like in the top 100 but i think for the most part you look at it and you need more shooting each and every year aka wasn't a great shooting team this past season they ended up up pretty much average in the country, like right around there. And they struggled over the final month of the season. And that was even with Grady Dick being a part of the team to where you have this unbelievable freshman shooter who was one of the best shooters in the entire country. Right. And without him, you're a below average.

Maybe you're a bad three-point shooting team, right? And now he could potentially be going pro and off the roster. If you have a team with DeJuan Harris, KJ Adams, Ernest Uday, playing a lot of minutes, there's not a lot of shooting there. Your two and three men better be really good shooters. You better have good shooting coming off the bench as well, which you didn't really have this past season. KU needs more shooting to be a competent team,

to be an elite team for next season. Otherwise they might have to lean on mucking it up, which I guess that lineup with DeJuan, big 12 defensive player of the year, KJ, who's a good defender, Ernest for in protection inside, could be a very good defensive lineup. But yeah, you could use more shooting. And I think to that same note, like shot creation, sort of the same thing, of different can you have enough guys that can create their own shot late in the shot clock or in a half court situation KU's been a really good transition team the past couple of seasons I'd imagine that continues on when you have really good athletes Ernest runs the floor really well for a big man DeJuan so good at seeing everything

but what can you do in the half court now you think back to the title team the 21 22 team well remy martin could shake and make someone and score oh chai could do a bunch of different stuff to score basketball right he was a pro um christian could drive in a straight line drive or hit a three for you in the half court david mccormick you just dump it to him in the half court and let him go to work same with mitch lightfoot even he had that good little right-handed hook shot this past year's team. It was a little tougher, you know,

at the, toward the end of the season, we really saw Kevin McCullers offensive game. I think expand the shooting never really totally came around, but we saw him be more aggressive as a driver. We saw that little spin movie had where that started to add a little bit. And DeJuan would have the occasional like sweeping right-handed hook. But that was the thing,

like with both of those with DeJuan and Kevin, they were both more occasional things with KJ. Occasionally he could drive at a guy and score, but again, occasionally with Jalen, it was, you know, he could drive and that was kind of your main go-to option in the

half court. You didn't really have those other go-to options of guys who could shake and make someone or somebody in the half court. He could throw two on the post and just easily score for you you need more guys who can create their own shot in the half court is that a post up big that you bring in over the offseason is it somebody who's just an elite shooter and spaces the floor for everyone else to create those opportunities is it someone who can shake and bake someone on the perimeter and score as a guard position you need more shot creation because that is consistent with all these teams.

They have multiple guys on the floor at all times. They can do that. They can kind of rely on in half court settings and late game situations. And KU didn't have enough of it this past season. The last piece of this, probably not smart to put too much stock into this overall tournament this final four because of how open it was the fact that this does seem to be more of an outlier final four you have some outlier teams in here i wouldn't overly stress being like yeah that's the way you have to do it but there are a lot of traits that these teams do and because this is a newer age of

college basketball it still is important to use this is a newer age of college basketball, it still is important to use this as a data point and take some of these lessons into roster construction. Let's talk about if we think this final four is going to be kind of the new norm of how weird it is, or if this is kind of an aberration in just a second, but first this episode of locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by built bar. The built March madness bracket is here.

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up a box while you're there you can vote every day in march so hop in and support your pick it's a weird final four this year you had some people say is this the worst final four ever i don't know that i'd go that far although although I'd have to pull up everything in front of me. But certainly by weirdness factor, it probably is. You don't have the legacy coaches in there. You don't have maybe the star power of like, well, this guy's going to be a top five pick. All these teams, though, are top 25 in Ken Palm. Florida Atlantic's like 14. If you look at it by Ken Palm rankings and seeded them that way, UConn would be a one seed.

FAU would be a one seed fau would be a four seed san diego state would be like five seed and miami would be like a high six seed like is it is it that crazy like yeah it's a little bit crazy but i don't know that this is some like gigantic thing the weirder part is miami typically teams who play like elite offense but are like terrible defensively don't make deep runs in the tournament gonzaga made a deep one but they even have uh like they have the best offense in the country miami's like number five and gonzaga has a defense in the 70s at least miami's is like in the hundreds like right baylor that was an issue for them missouri in 2012 that was an issue for them um but they've kind of overcome that san die Diego State we talked about them kind of being a a bit of a outlier with the team that mucks it up so to speak and doesn't really have that that

great offense but I do think it's funny because all season long in college basketball everyone talked all year long about how open things were how there weren't any elite teams how anybody could win and then as soon as the tournament happens and an open tournament happens and all these weird upsets and these teams were not used to seeing go far or making the final four making the elite eight end up making those runs everybody's like how could this happen oh no this is awful like what what went wrong what's wrong with this sport it's like no that's what people have been saying all season long what are we doing here what are we doing here you know it's like you told someone

hey we're gonna go to this uh fast food joint for dinner tonight and then you show up at the fast food joint you're like what the hell man why don't they have why don't they have prime rib on the menu like well you knew what you were getting into. We're going to a fast food restaurant. We're not going to a steakhouse. That was this season in college basketball. It was not a steakhouse. So I do expect some more wacky years, at least until the COVID year plays out. I think that adds a lot more than people are really talking about in the college game right now. Think about it.

It's a full extra class of players that stick around for college basketball every year. It allows for an even bigger gap because now instead of just, you know, 19 year olds versus 22 year olds is kind of the ceiling and floor. You have like 19 versus 23 year olds or 24 year olds, right? So it opens up the distance of age that can be a difference there it creates a bigger gap there essentially it creates a bigger gap for experience among teams and it means that there's more players which means there's going to be more good players across college basketball because you have full extra class that's adding 25 extra 20 extra or whatever um across the country that's going to be filtered out meaning you're going to have more talent spread out across

the country and you get weird results just like this. So I think once that COVID class filters out in a couple of years here, things will be a little different than they are now. At the same point in time to next year, all four blue bloods could be great. I don't know that they will, but they could. Duke's bringing back Tyrese Proctor. They have a really good recruiting class coming in. They might be bringing back Kyle Filipowski with Kentucky.

They'll be bringing back at least a couple guys, I would think, and they have a really good recruiting class coming in, although I don't know how good this high school class is, but they have really highly ranked players coming in. They'll probably hit the portal. KU, you just expect to be good, right? And then with North Carolina, they're losing caleb love bringing back rj davis i think that'll be a better fit for them they bring back armando baycott good

recruiting class they've already brought in some transfers so you expect the four blue bloods to be better next season that'll i don't know this stuff just tends to run in cycles i think like think back you had a weird final four in 2011 where you had butler and vcu in it and then all of a sudden you go to 2012 and you have kansas kentucky uh ohio state and louisville right like that's like a very like college basketball power heavy thing uh you and then all of a sudden you have a weird one in 2014 right although it is still kentucky uh taking on wisconsin and you have yukon as a 17 in the title even though these are big name brands then 2015, you end up with like undefeated Kentucky, one seed, Wisconsin, one seed Duke. And then Michigan state is the 14th. Sometimes we get too bogged down with

like, this is what just happened. Everything's going to be like that from now on look over the course of time. It's just a data point. These things tend to run in trends and in cycles. It'll probably be like more chalk next year. So will there be other years like this year where weird stuff happens? Probably. Will it be the norm every year? No. I highly doubt it. That's going to do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You can catch me

later today on Rock Truck Sports Friday, 3 to 6 p.m. on KLW in Lawrence. Find us wherever you find any of your podcasts with Locked on Jayhawks or on YouTube. Have a good rest of your day. Have a good weekend. Later.