Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Who is The Most Important Kansas Jayhawk Basketball Player for the NCAA Tournament

Episode Date: March 19, 2024

Which Kansas Jayhawk men's basketball player is most important for KU in the first weekend of the 2024 NCAA Tournament? Could it be Dajuan Harris or Hunter Dickinson? What about Kevin McCullar's injury or Johnny Furphy's cold spell? More likely scenarios from KU including making an Elite 8 vs. a first round exit, Whose Stat Line is it Anyway, Final Four and Cinderella picks and more.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!ManscapedGet 20% Off and Free Shipping with the code LOCKEDON at Manscaped.com.Bettor TogetherDownload the Bettor Together DFS app now from the app store, and sign-up using promocode LOCKEDON for a chance to win your share of over $1,000 in cash prizes. Amazon Fire TVFire TV recently created Fire TV Channels to deliver a constant supply of the latest videos from your favorite sports brands, all for free. That includes all of us at Locked On and most of the big pro leagues and college conferences as well. To Learn More, visit www.amazon.com/LockedOnFireTVNissanOur friends at Nissan have a lineup of SUV’s with the capabilities to take your adventure to the next level. Take the Nissan Rogue, Nissan Pathfinder, or Nissan Armada and go find your next big adventure. Shop NissanUSA.com.LinkedInThese days every new potential hire can feel like a high stakes wager for your small business. That’s why LinkedIn Jobs helps find the right people for your team, faster and for free. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/lockedoncollege. Terms and conditions apply.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelNew customers, join today and you’ll get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS if your first bet of FIVE DOLLARS or more wins. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started. eBay MotorsWith all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to turn your car into the MVP and bring home that win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.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)

On today's Locked on Jayhawks, who is the most important player for Kansas if they want to make it out of the first weekend into the second weekend of the NCAA tournament? 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. Give me a follow at D Johnson radio on Twitter. He's Nick Schwert. Give him a follow at Nick underscore Schwert. You can find your podcast here with locked on Jayhawks.

Anywhere you get your podcast that you're making it your first listen every day. We are free and available anywhere you go, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. On today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, who's the most important player for KU this week as they try to make it to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament? We'll have a fun little game of more likely for KU, and then we'll finish up with whose stat line is it anyway? First, today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Make every moment more.

New customers join today and you'll get $200 in bonus bets. If your first bet of $5 or more wins, visit fanduel.com slash locked on to get started. Nick, hope things are going well. I don't know if you already have a bracket winner. Maybe I'll ask for who's your final four and any favorite Cinderella's at the end of things here. But big question right off the bat here for Kansas,

because I think it's an interesting one. Obviously with Hunter Dickinson and Kevin McCuller, it's kind of health permitting, but I think you can make a real argument for a lot of different guys here. So I'm curious what your answer would be. Who do you think is the most important player for Kansas if they want to make it out of the first weekend? Yeah, it's tough with McCuller.

It sounds like Hunter's going to be able to go. So that's an easy starting point. He's your best player, but the guy I'm actually going to go with is DeJuan Harris. I thought that that game against Cincinnati, I know everybody's kind of ready to purge that in KU's big 12 tournament run, if you want to call it that from their memory, but DeJuan was along with KJ, kind of the guys who with those two out, Hey, I know you're not a great offensive threat. I know you're not a prolific scorer, but you're a three-year starter, right? Like somebody's got to step up here in their absence. And we saw that from KJ a little bit, obviously didn't manufacture any success for KU, but we saw

KJ kind of rise to this occasion, next man up. I was a little disappointed to see DeJuan have a really rough outing. And now that you're getting into the NCAA tournament, he is a national champion. He started on the national championship team. This team's margin for error is so razor thin. And we've talked about it all year. There's not one guy where it's like, oh, if he just plays well, then this team can't be stopped. No, we've talked about it all year. There's not one guy where it's like, oh, if he just plays well, then this team can't be stopped. No, we've seen all these dudes individually have great games and losing efforts. So it really is an all hands on deck sort of situation.

But DeJuan's the guy I'm kind of looking at as I'm wondering if this team is going to hit the reset button here in the NCAA tournament. Can you turn the page? Can you put all of the failures, if you want to call them that, from the regular season behind you and really put your best foot forward? He started on a team that did exactly that back in 2022. And I don't know exactly what that looks like. I think it's the same stuff we've always talked about, which is be ready to shoot, right? Like be willing to shoot, just being a leader on the court. This team desperately needs that. And he's the guy I think everybody should be looking to. So I was going to say DeJuan Harris too. Maybe I'll give a different

answer just to change things up, but just to kind of add to what you're saying, because I do actually agree. It would be DeJuan Harris. You're right. Hunter Dickinson, you know, your best player. If Kevin's back too, then yeah, he's your other best player too. But I agree with you on DeJuan Harris. And I guess maybe that gets a little amplified in who you're playing in the first round with Samford. You know, that's a team who presses. That's a team who has a top 20 turnover rate. Kansas on the season is only two and four against teams who have top 25 turnover rates defensively. Samford is one of those. Now, Samford did it against Leicester competition, so their turnover rate being top 20 isn't as impactful as maybe TCU or Houston's being top 20, obviously. But point being, it's a team who presses,

and you're playing an altitude. You have a thinner team. It's not just about how you deal with the press and how you avoid the turnovers. It also like straight up about you know can you maintain your level of play as the game goes on can you um I guess not get overly tired because that's been a problem for Kansas this year and if you're playing a team who's pressing does that become a thing and you know when you think back to the NCAA tournament, like last year, I honestly, obviously the, I guess, 10 second call is the one that comes to mind with like DeJuan Harris last year in the NCAA tournament. And then you also think of like him stepping out of bounds in the national championship.

So there's some not great like thoughts there, but like he was actually really good in the NCAA tournament last year. In the two games he played in the tournament a year ago, he was a combined 10 of 22 shooting. He hit two threes on six tries, so fine efficiency there. He had 11.5 points per game, and in addition to that, he averaged six assists and had three and a half rebounds per game with three steals per game. So he was putting up good numbers in the tournament last year, but when you look at how they play the press, when you look at the importance of guard play in March, I don't think you can go with anybody else other than DeJuan Harris, even though there's a part of me that goes, oh, well, you're six and one when Johnny Furphy scores 15 or more points and he's been

in a struggle. Or you could say Kevin Kohler or Hunter Dickinson. You could say, I don't know if you want to get kind of cute with the answer, Nick Timberlake or Marco Jackson, because any contributions you would get from either guy would be so critical. But yeah, to me it is, it is the one Harris. Yeah. And I think not just like you talk about the style of play, but like, look at the dudes on Sanford, their point guards, five, eight, Derek, five, eight, five, eight.

There's shoot. They're two guards, six foot. Like these are little boys. These are little tiny itty bitty men. And DeJuan is not the biggest guy in the world, but he's got freakishly long arms. He has been one of the best perimeter defenders in the country. And one of the best, just like floor generals in the country, the past couple of seasons. So I, we were, I was talking to a buddy last night and he, we were talking about the way that Stanford likes to play. And he's, he likened them to a really annoying sixth grade basketball team, both in style of play and how they look on

the court. Because I want to, I don't want to understate how miniature these players are from Stanford. This is like, Hey, you're Kansas. You're DeJuan Harris. You're a national champion. Like run these dudes out of the gym. I don't care if they play an annoying style. I don't care if they press. Yes, that's how they have to win because they're Sanford, and they don't have dudes. You do. Now, your dudes haven't been performing up to your standards this season,

but DeJuan, this is a game where I feel like he can dominate in his own way. Dominating doesn't mean 20 and 10 assists from him. Dominant means just stifling defense, limiting turnovers, making the plays when they're there. Like we know what a good Duan game looks like. That's what I really want to see on Thursday. Here's what's interesting too, this season in losses, Duan Harris is two of 20 from three point range. That is 10%. In wins, Duan Harris is 22 of 44 from three, that is 50%. That is quite the difference between the two of those.

Now, I will say, honestly, if I was picking a second one, it probably would be Hunter Dickinson when I think about it because if you're playing Samford, if you win this game, and hypothetically you played McNeese State in the second round, if that were to be the case, then you have questions about how is Hunter Dickinson going to defend in space. If it ends up being a second round matchup, if you make it there and you're playing Gonzaga, that's more of a team who likes to post up a bunch.

And that would be maybe a more favorable matchup for him specifically. But this first matchup with Samford, this is actually pretty wild. I don't know the proper pronunciation here. If it's a chore, a chore, a core, a core, what he is. Samford's leading score averages 15.8 points per game, 6.1 rebounds, 1.8 blocks. He is six foot nine. So certainly Hunter has the size advantage there.

But this dude is only playing 22 minutes per game and he's averaging 16 and six. But the big thing that comes to mind there, he's shooting 44.6% from three. So there is a little bit here of how much can Hunter Dickinson give you on the defensive end will, because it be the post season. Like, are you going to get max effort, Hunter Dickinson, which I don't really know what it looks like because we've had this

conversation before. It's a very effortless, like, you know, 20 and 10 and kind of what he's putting up. But I think that would be the runner up that I would go to with Hunter. Yeah. And I think that when you look at that, that kid that you mentioned, uh, their leading scorer, I think it's a Corey court.

Um, when they got to the, when they got to their conference tournament, he was playing 25 to 35 minutes a night. Like I expect him to be out there a ton. And to that point, that's, you can talk about everything you want about scare that scares you about this

matchup for Kansas. Talk about everything that Sanford scares you about this matchup for Kansas. Talk about everything that Samford does well. Push it all aside. The only thing I want to know is, is Hunter Dickinson going to have to chase this dude around the perimeter for 30 minutes? Because if that's a yes, then that is immediately my number one concern. If it's a no, if you can find ways to negate that, which I imagine Bill Self, this staff, is going to spend all week trying to figure out exactly what they're going to do for that maybe it's zone maybe

it's junk defense or maybe they just say do it like try it but regardless like if that's not an issue everything else seems a little bit smaller yeah and for what it's worth if you're wondering oh could you cross match could you put kj on that guy and put hunter on the four well the four man for them actually has taken more threes and he's shooting 39% from three. So that isn't totally beneficial there. All right, let's get on to a little addition of more likely. I have a couple of different scenarios that will go back and forth

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Onto a little episode here of more likely, which I'm going to give two different scenarios. You say, which one's more likely pretty simple, right? Our first one, Kansas making an elite eight or losing in the first round, which of those two is more likely.

I mean, if I'm doing Vegas math here, then the answer is the first round because they're a 7.5-point favorite last I checked. Ken Palm has them as a 73% chance to win. Right, so 27% chance of losing. I think that's probably higher than the chances of most teams making it to the elite eight. I'm sure like the New York times or something has already broken this down. And that would be really annoying if I just went and found that and just gave you the actual percentage chance, but you're asking for my opinion. And I think it's an elite eight.

I really do. I think that I talked about this on our podcast last night. I know a lot of people are looking at some of these teams and saying, whoa, Sanford, their style of play. Same with McNeese state. Listen, man, this is Kansas.

We're talking about, and I get it. This year has been rough, but you got three mid major schools in your pod to get out of the first weekend. Like, are we really, are we really going to start clutching our pearls now?

If you are worried about Kansas, not making it out of the first game, it's not about Sanford. It's about Kansas. It's about the fact that you just don't trust this team, which is totally reasonable based off what they've given you this year. But I am going to say elite. I don't think it's like,

I don't think I'm predicting it because I'm probably going right in the middle. Like when I fill out my bracket, I'm probably going to have Kansas losing in the sweet 16, which I think would be a successful season. But I just, I'm really not expecting them to lose this game in the first round. Like I, I actually think that Kansas is going to go out there with the chip on their shoulder and look pretty impressive versus Sanford elite.

Hey, you know, get a little lucky. Maybe, maybe we get to set basketball back to the 1960s with the Zach Giede-Hunter Dickinson matchup. But I just don't see them losing in the first round. That's really what it comes down to for me. Yeah. I mean, I do think the more and more you're seeing these analysts and you're seeing the bets go in the way of Samford, that almost makes me feel better.

It's always the one you don't expect. Remember a couple years ago, everybody was picking Iowa to be the surprise team that made a Final Four and upset Kansas in the Sweet 16. Well, guess what? Iowa didn't make it out of the first round. And then some of the other ones that were maybe more popular, they end up getting through and getting the victory.

So that should maybe make you feel a little bit more confident. I honestly think the Gonzaga, if you do end up playing them, and then Purdue matchups, like those are the best teams you could play on the road to the Elite Eight. But stylistically, like those matchups are then Purdue matchups, like those are the best teams you could play on the road to the elite eight. But stylistically, like those matchups are not bad matchups. Like those are just teams that are good. You know what I mean? Whereas the, the McNeese state and the Sanford ones, they're worse teams than Gonzaga and Purdue, but those are tougher stylistic matchups. So I wouldn't rule out an elite eight run for sure. So yeah, I, I think percentage wise,

it still would be losing the first round. I guess I lean elite eight, but I don't rule out an elite eight run for sure. So yeah, I, I think percentage wise, it still would be losing the first round. Um, I guess I lean elite eight, but I don't know percentage wise. Maybe it should be first round. All right. Uh, Kevin McCuller playing or Michael Jankovich playing,

and I'm talking real, actually, no, just any minutes in general. What is more likely Kevin McCuller playing or Michael Jankovich playing? I'm going to go with Kevin McCuller here. I think, you know,

I'm not the biggest Kevin McCuller fan. The fact that Bill Self came out on Sunday night and said, yeah, you know, Hunter's looking great. Not sure about Hunter. Haven't even really seen him lately. Again, like you can take these words at face value if you want, or if you've heard him speak enough, you can kind of read the tea leaves sometimes

and maybe get a sense of some frustration that might be existent. When he spoke last week, Bill Self, he said pretty confidently they expect to have both of them back for the NCAA tournament. Like he wasn't leaving a ton open for interpretation. Well, you fast forward a week and all of a sudden it's like, yeah, we're not really sure. We'll see tomorrow. So that's a little concerning to me. as concerning as the idea of michael jankovic getting legit minutes for ku in the nc double doesn't have to necessarily be that if you think they're going to beat samford by 20 he could get in late i'm still gonna say kevin mcculler okay because that you know how many how many blowouts is ku had where the walk-ons get run? The walk-ons arguably have gotten more run this year.

When they're getting blown out. Yeah, as like pinch hitters than they have when like KU's just resting the studs. So I'm going to go McCuller there. I'll go McCuller as well. KJ Adams leading Kansas in scoring or Johnny Furphy leading Kansas in scoring? This is for their entire tournament run. However long it ends up being. What's more likely,

which one of those guys? Yep. I think like, yeah, it's different if it's like a single game, if it's a single game, it's easier because Johnny can pop, but Johnny does two things.

He knocks down shots and he scores in transition. And that's why it's a little streaky. That's why there are games where he's taken out of it because he doesn't really operate with the ball in his hands. He's not going and putting it on the deck and pulling up from mid range. He's not trying to drive and create contact. Like most of his free throws come in transition as well, but still like KJ leading them in. is a tough one this is a good one because I don't think either one is very likely um I'm gonna go Johnny because I'm just gonna trust the talent I think we've seen countless guys make their money in the NCAA tournament and if we believe that Johnny Furphy's a future first round pick or a potential lottery pick. Like this is where you start to earn that bread.

I go KJ Furphy's cold right now. And I mean, if, if Kevin is injured, then there's a little bit, or it doesn't play. There's a little bit more scoring to kind of go around that, that maybe could go KJ's way when Kansas does lose in the tournament, where whenever that ends up being,

what do you think is more likely? It comes by a blowout or a close loss. What do you constitute a blowout? 15 points. comes by a blowout or a close loss what do you constitute a blowout 15 points is that a blowout to you uh is it just one of those you know when you see it things i think we'll be able to you know in the in the aftermath yeah they've left no doubt the last times they have been but like okay for instance the villanova game in the final four that was a blowout that was 16 that wasn't like you know never close though yeah it was never close they've been blown out what three times this you know i would actually so like you go back to even like the marquette game at the beginning of the year i'm looking

at it now they lost by 14 points never in the game the last time that felt like a blowout that felt like a blowout so it's probably happened what five times this year i'm gonna say close loss because again, if I'm going with my theory that KU is going to go to the sweet 16 and play Purdue, I don't think produce the type of team that's going to blow Kansas out. They could blow other teams out, but Kansas, like, as you mentioned earlier, stylistically, like that's going to kind of play into what they want to do anyway. So if they lose, I think it would just be because Purdue was better or they're the better team. But that to me is like a seven or eight point win. Right. And even then, like the line

won't be seven or eight, right? If KU and Purdue play, I would imagine they'll be favored by five and a half. I don't know. I'm sure you can probably find those look ahead lines. So I'm going to go close game. I'll say close as well. And I think you have increased chance of that just because if they do lose in the first two rounds, I feel like that would be closer. Like, I don't think you have a 2021 USC with the Mobley brothers sitting there in the pod. Who knows? Maybe Gonzaga comes out and you play them and they hit like 12 threes or something. I don't know.

Whatever. Okay. Kansas making double digit threes in a tournament game, which I don't believe they've made double digit threes this season since the second game of the year. So that happening in a tournament game or KJams having double digit rebounds in a tournament game man again you just all these all these more likelies are like very slim percentage chances i don't even remember the games where they scored double digit three no i'm pretty sure it's just the first two games i'm pretty sure oh literally the first two games. I'm pretty sure that. Oh, literally the first two games.

Yes. Okay. So that's not happening by default. I have to go with KJ double digit rebounds, but how many times has that happened this year? I think five, four, five. Okay. So the stats would be on my side.

The numbers would be on my side. So yeah, it's weird. Like KJ does all the right things. Like, he goes after the ball. Like, he plays the right way. He's not big, man. He's just not big. So, I would say, you know, these first couple games, if you get, I mean,

Samford's the best opportunity you're going to have. He's going to be one of the biggest dudes on the court. He's going to look like Yao Ming. When those Samford guys walk on the court they're gonna be like whoa he's the biggest guy ever and then Hunter's gonna walk out and they're gonna say oh my gosh you have two of them and then Parker Brown's there and you're like where are you guys getting these dudes did I mention that Samford's really small did I did I say that earlier you did you did uh yeah I would go with the KJ one as well, although probably neither one going to happen. Okay, last one. Kansas makes the Sweet 16 this year or a Final Four next year?

Sweet 16 this year. Final Fours are so hard. Final Fours are so hard to make it to. KU could be the number one team in the country heading into the tournament. They could be 30-3 and not make it to a Final Four. What if I change next year's to an Elite Eight? Okay. Now you're getting somewhere. and not make it to a final four. So what if I change next year's to an elite eight? Oh, okay. No, now you're getting somewhere.

Now you're making me think about it because I see the bracket right now and I see the path to a sweet 16. It doesn't look like that difficult. Final fours are tough. Final fours are really tough. So I'm still going sweet 16 this year because I don't know who's back,

who is on this roster. Do you know, like you could probably name two guys that are going to be on the team next year, like beyond a shadow of a doubt, like you could guess on other charts, but there's like two dudes, you know,

who are going to be back and then everything else is up in flux. And as we saw this past off season, when you completely overhaul a roster, Bill self tends to have difficulty with those types of teams. Yep. All right. Let's finish up who Statline is anyway on Locked on Jayhawks. First, we were brought to you by Amazon Fire TV. Fire TV is your destination for sports from live games to highlights

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uh, who's stat line. Is it anyway, on this episode of locked on Jayhawks. Thanks for tuning into the episode. On tomorrow's show, I'm going to go through the bracket. We're going to use history parameters to give you what teams can make the Final Four,

what teams can win the National Championship. Okay, so for today's Who's Stat Line Is It Anyway? I am going to give you, if you've ever surfaced through Ken Palm, you can click on a player, and it has their statistic profile. And it gives you the comparisons to what this player's stat profile is most like. What other player does he correlate to? And I'm going to have you try to guess which Kansas player it is.

So for instance, this is going to be my example. If I told you that 2023 DeJuan Harris is the second most accurate comp to this player, you would guess DeJuan Harris, which yes, DeJuan Harris is the answer for himself. So he's been very similar to last year. So does this all make sense to you? Yeah, I'm following, but I feel like I'm going to do very poorly. Just want to go ahead and build in an excuse ahead of time. Here's the first one. This player's top comp was 2017 Sfi Mikhailuk so that would have been Sfi's junior year

and these are KU players correct these are all KU players current KU players I should say I'm gonna go with Johnny Furphy Johnny Furphy is the correct answer. Furphy's been better than Svi. No, Furphy's been significantly better than Svi. Well, at least much bigger role. Than junior year Svi. Oh, junior year Svi. Okay. Yeah. So 2016, 2017.

Yeah. Okay. I can see that. Yeah, I actually see that. I don't know what to do with that information. Like Svi took a huge leap his senior year, but maybe we'll get Johnny for his sophomore year. This one might be my

favorite one. Do you remember Joe Luau-Achille from Baylor? Real tall guy. Real tall center, right? Big man, dunks, blocks, all that sort of thing. So Joe Luau-Achille in 2018 was the third most accurate comp for this KU player.

I mean, it can't. I mean, Hunter's better than that. It's got to be a big guy. Is it Parker Brown? It is actually Hunter Dickinson. It's kind of disrespectful to Hunter, don't you think? I mean, the stats don't lie. They don't have bias, right?

It's just some. I think the algo is a little finicky. I think Ken Palm maybe needs to update the algo on that. Have you ever once watched Hunter Dickinson and been like, man, this reminds me so much of Joe. He's got a lot of Joe. I do like the cross race comparison. We don't get that a lot from like talking heads on TV.

So the algo, no biases there. No, no. All right. Last one I got here. I don't know if you remember Mariel Shayok from Iowa state. He was the fifth best comp for this KU player.

I remember the name. I don't remember the player. What would that have been like 2014? Like around that was, this was 2019. So I believe this was the Iowa state team that I want to say, Kansas lost state in the big 12 championship. Tyrese Halliburton.

That might've been. Yeah. I know it was the Dedrick Lawson team for KU. It was Halliburton there by then. Can you give me a position? Prone might've been the coach. Okay. Yeah, that sounds right. I just remember making a lot of puns like Mariel Shea knocking down shots, something like that. Sounds right. Why don't you give me,

why don't you give me a Nick Timberlake? No, the correct answer here is Kevin McCuller. So if I told you that basically a team had a starting lineup of DeJuan Harris, Junior Year Svi, Joe Luolachil, and Mariel Shayok, that do much for you? No, it doesn't do any. It sounds like a second round exit, quite frankly. Is it supposed to? I don't know know i just thought it was kind of funny i mean these don't really mean anything that much i just uh not really well now i want to go to like historically great players and see what their comps are oh wow zach edes oh isaac haas another massive seven foot four ogre from Purdue. I'm guessing another Zach Eadys on Zach Eadys.

Is that maybe? No, but he does get Kofi Coburn a couple of times. That checks out. Also gets a Yudoka Azubuki in there. So these are, yeah, yeah. I like those. Before we go, do you have a final four yet? Have you put your bracket together?

Do you have a favorite Cinderella? So I haven't put pen to paper. I've just kind of picked my final four teams. And I feel pretty good about it. My final four teams are going to be Auburn, Arizona, Houston. And honestly, the Midwest region, I think, is the toughest. And this happens every year. It's not because, like, who's going to win this game?

It's because I hate all these teams. But somebody has to go. And I'm usually pretty bad at this. So I'm going to flip what I normally do. I'm just going to take the team that I hate the most. And it's Purdue. I don't believe in Purdue at all, but they're good. And I know they're like, I know that I know what happened last year, but whatever. Who else?

Who are you supposed to tell me there's no way Purdue can get through them? And the answer is there isn't anyone. For my national championship, I think I'm going to go Arizona over Houston. So that's what I'm going with right now. In terms of favorite Cinderella's, I'm sure you're all over this one because I know you well enough. I really like Grand Canyon. Tyon Grant Foster, legend, Kansas legend.

Do you remember Sidney Curry? I don't know that he plays that much for him. Yeah, the kid who – I guess both are Jukos. Committed to KU, and then he committed to Louisville. He made it all the way to Grand Canyon, did he? So I like them. I also like – this is going to run completely counter to me putting Arizona in the national championship, but I like them. I also like, this is going to run completely counter

to me putting Arizona in the national championship, but I like Nevada, so it's one of those situations. KU fans know this very well. It's like you just got to get past that one game. There's going to be one game that's going to suck, and if you win it, you might go win the national championship, but you could just lose it, and so I like Nevada down there as a 10 seed as well.

Hi, he's Nick Schwert. Give him a follow at Nick underscore Schwert. I'm at D Johnson radio. We'll see you next time for another edition of locked on Jayhawks.