Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Why Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Should Tighten the Rotation Even More + Do You Want Everyone Back?

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked on Jayhawks, biggest takeaway from the KUK State game for me, it was that the rotation needs to be even shorter. 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. Find Nick Schwert on today's show at Nick underscore Schwert. And we are going to be talking some takeaways from the KUK State game that I think for me, maybe we'll see if it's interesting for the long term.

Starting point is 00:00:41 I also, there's been some discourse lately about from KU fans. Do we want everyone to come back next year? Because KU can bring a lot of players back. So we'll get into that, finish up with whose stat line is it anyway. First, today's episode of the show is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Make every moment more. New customers join today and you'll get $150 in bonus bets. If your first bet of $5 or more wins, visit Fanduel.com

Starting point is 00:01:05 slash LockedOn to get started. So Kansas dominates Kansas State, and it is what it is. Kansas State's one of the bottom teams in the Big 12, whatever. But I did find it interesting. Parker Brown, who was listed as kind of questionable going into the game with the injury, he ended up playing at the very end. So I don't know if that indicates that he was actually available or if that was just like, hey, we're up by so much, it's a minute left. Who cares if he has to hobble on the court with

Starting point is 00:01:30 the walk-ons? Either way, my big takeaway from the game is that Parker Brown has done a serviceable job in everything that you've needed him to do. Just come in there, be the backup center for five to seven minutes per night, and don't mess anything up. I think he's done a fine job at that. But I think now that we're getting to the ending point of the regular season, and there were some minutes in there where you saw KJ Adams playing as the backup five. Basically, when you look at it, there's only going to be, yeah, five to eight to 10 minutes a game where you need somebody to be the backup five to Hunter Dickinson. And Hunter Dickinson has the best on-off net rating on the team,

Starting point is 00:02:06 plus 15.8 on the season. You know who's last on the team besides walk-on? Parker Brown, who's minus 14.7. And the next closest on that list isn't up till negative 4.5. And I say all that to say that, yes, part of what's hurting Parker Brown there is that Hunter Dickinson's so good, and part of what's helping Hunter Dickinson's number look so good there is that Parker Brown is basically a walk-on center for all intents and purposes.

Starting point is 00:02:30 Point being, this team has a very small margin for error, as you know, compared to other KU basketball teams. So I know only five to seven minutes or whatever it ends up being a night where you're playing KJ Adams at the back of five instead of Parker Brown is really not that much but for a team that has to live on the margins to me my biggest takeaway was I think they need to cut the rotation even tighter six-man rotation for the NCAA tournament is the sixth man Nicholas Timberlake and and that's it everybody else is playing 40 a night

Starting point is 00:03:02 yeah and I'm fine with El Marco getting you you know, five, 10 minutes, but that I found was interesting too in the Kansas state game in a game where you blew out somebody else, a Marco Jackson, who I actually thought looked okay in the game only played six minutes. It is insane to me that we are sitting here with one game left in the regular season, and we're still trying to figure out how to fix this rotation. I mean, there have been some talking points. There have been like some question marks in years past that have kind of persisted throughout the season. Maybe they'll go away for a week or two and then they come back. And a lot of times it is the rotation because i do find it funny

Starting point is 00:03:45 this year i feel like it's probably a little bit more justified but the rotation is always something that we talk a lot about because it's one of those things like we've all played nba 2k you know we all know how to make substitutions and so we think like hey this guy sucks why don't you play this other guy right like that's basically what it comes down to. And we can all do that. We can all engage in that conversation. No, I'm saying the opposite. Narrow it down even further.

Starting point is 00:04:13 Well, you really aren't saying the opposite. You're saying Parker Brown sucks, so play these other guys way more. I don't know. Part of me is saying, yeah, I can't really argue with any of that. Keep the starters in. The bench guys are no good, but also they've been playing basketball for four months. I get it. It's the, it's the end of the year. So you lay it all out there, you leave it all out. Um, and you give yourself the best chance you have to advance. I think it's asking quite a bit of these guys to say, Hey, know how you've played like

Starting point is 00:04:47 more than any other starting five in college basketball this year. You're pretty tired, huh? KJ, you're pretty tired, huh? Hunter. And they're like, yeah, we are sure could use a breather coach. And he's like, okay, well that's, it's actually what I wanted to talk to you about. We're actually going to, you're going to see an uptick in minutes here in March madness. And you're going to play two games in a three minutes here in March madness. And you're going to play two games in a three game stretch. Like, do you not, can you not close your eyes and envision that like that second game of the weekend, regardless of what weekend it's at, whether it's round of 32 elite eight, where this team's just gassed because all these dudes just

Starting point is 00:05:21 played 40 minutes, two nights prior. And now you're going up against a team that is objectively better than the one you played two days ago. So that, to me, is my biggest concern. I don't really have an alternative option for you because I'm not going to sit here and say, no, the path to the Final Four is Parker Brown, quality minutes. That's not the answer either, but I just think that this team has been stuck between a rock and a hard

Starting point is 00:05:49 place all season long. Well, I think to me, it helps in a couple of ways. Like I said, it's minuscule, but that five to seven minutes, you know, playing KJ Adams at the five is a big upgrade over playing Parker Brown there. And if that's a two, three, four point difference in the game, in a second round NCAA tournament game with a team with tighter margins for error, like that could be the difference. And then on top of that, it also means that let's say KJ Adams is playing 35 minutes in that tournament game. If he's having to play whatever it is, eight minutes at the

Starting point is 00:06:17 center, that now means you're playing a few extra minutes of a fourth guard, say Timberlake at the two, Furphy at the three, McCuller at the four, however you want to line that up, around Hunter Dickinson, which I think helps a little bit of the spacing issues and the three-point issue. So I actually think there are a lot of ways where that is beneficial, but you're right, there's one game left in the regular season, so how much are we really going to figure out? You mentioned something there with the fatigue that I find interesting.

Starting point is 00:06:44 This is going to be a really dumb question, but I'm going to ask it anyway because it's going to be a fun question to ask. Big 12 tournaments next week. Hypothetically, right now, Kansas could have to play four games in four days if they don't have the double bye. Now that would take you winning all the games to play all four. Would Kansas be better off not? Would Kansas be better off being like, you know what, we're good. We're going to try to win the first game, and then we're out of here. Because as a team that, like you said, they could be fatigued pretty easily. Does playing four games in four days seem appetizing heading into the NCAA tournament?

Starting point is 00:07:17 The part that confuses me is the fact that you said, you set this up as it was going to be a dumb question. I don't think it's a dumb question at all. In fact, I think we ask every season. If you ask that to Bill Self, he would be like, you're saying we're going to try to lose. Like, what are you asking me? Well, no.

Starting point is 00:07:33 And my response to Bill would be, no, Bill, we're not asking you to not try and we're not asking you to try and lose. We're just asking you to not try so hard to win. Maybe just like be okay with losing a game that doesn't mean anything we know we know what his answer is going to be like they're going to Kansas City with every intent on trying to win the Big 12 tournament even though like there have been years where it's like man these guys could use a rest so-and-so's injured like the report came out that Kevin McCuller tweaked his knee again like don't even get me started on that whole saga, but yes,

Starting point is 00:08:08 they need to rest. They have five guys. And then Nicholas Timberlake who like once every two weeks will kind of show up and hit a few big shots. But this team more than any team perhaps in the bill self era could desperately use a few get right days. But you and I both know that's just not going to happen if they do like here's the other part though they could they could just lose left to their own devices like we've seen enough evidence this year to suggest that this team is fully

Starting point is 00:08:36 capable of having an early exit the big 12 tournament without them outright trying to have an early exit in the big 12 tournament and it's funny, because if they lose early in the big 12 tournament, it's not going to be a conversation of, Oh, they got more rest. It's going to be a conversation of seat. There's still something still wrong, you know? So it's almost like, but there's no, but I would say, and I don't know where you're at on this. I would say short of winning the big 12 title. And let's imagine, I don don't I don't know what the

Starting point is 00:09:06 bracket looks like right now so just pardon me but if you beat Houston you beat Baylor Iowa State I don't they probably won't shake out like that but if you have like really impressive wins down the stretch to win the big 12 title that's pretty much the only thing that's going to convince me that like this team can do something special in March because a loss early in the big 12, it won't tell me anything about this team. It will only confirm, like you just hinted at, it will confirm what I already think about them, which is this. They're not that great. Like, I'm not trying to talk about this team sucking, but like, they're just not great. They're not that special. Even if they win their first

Starting point is 00:09:44 game over like a 12 seed. And then even if they're like the five seed and they beat the four seed Texas tech and then lose the one seed Houston, does that change your mind either? No, that's exactly how I expect it to go. The scenario you just laid out a perfectly aligns with kind of how I expect next week in Casey to go. All right, let's continue on here. Do you want everyone back on this Kansas team? We'll discuss on the other side. First, this episode of the show is brought to you by eBay Motors. You can go to eBay Motors and get all the car parts you need with passion, drive, and patience. What brings home the winning trophy

Starting point is 00:10:21 is also what keeps your rider and I alive. eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to peak performance from superchargers, roof racks, exhaust kits, LED headlights, and more. Whether you're into speed, power, or style, eBay Motors has got you covered. With over 122 million parts for your number one rider die, you'll always find exactly what you're looking for. And with eBay Guaranteed Fit, your parts guaranteed to fit your ride every time earn your money back. Because with eBay Motors, you're burning rubber, not cash. With all the parts you need, the prices you want, it's easy to turn your car into the MVP and bring home that win. Keep your rider eye alive at ebaymotors.com. Eligible items only, exclusions apply.

Starting point is 00:10:56 eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to U.S. customers. All right, so Kansas can basically bring everyone back. Obviously, Kevin McCullers gone, Nick Timberlake's gone, and obviously they'll have a bunch of open scholarships too from the ones they didn't use this year. There's been a lot of discourse lately, though, from people saying, well, I don't even know if I want Hunter Dickinson back. I don't even know if I want this whole team back

Starting point is 00:11:19 because inherently this has been a flawed team. And I think roster construction-wise, there maybe are some flaws in there that you would point to and say, well, do you want to kind of start fresh and have a better base to it? So, you know, DeJuan Harris can come back. KJ Adams can come back. Hunter Dickinson can come back. We'll see what happens with Johnny Furphy and his NBA decision. Are they going to basically show the door to maybe some of the freshmen

Starting point is 00:11:43 who are they going to say come back and we want to see you another year? I don't know. When you view this question, would you want everyone back? Would you want to basically run it back minus Kevin McCuller and whatever you add via freshmen and the portal and all that stuff? What would your answer be? Okay, so I think that's important. You phrased it correctly because I think a lot of people, it's like you have a bad burger, you don't say I'm never going to eat burgers again. It's like,

Starting point is 00:12:10 well, maybe the meat was no good. Maybe the produce wasn't fresh. You don't just say, nope, get rid of it all. I'm only eating hot dogs from now on. It's like, no, it just wasn't prepared properly. There were a few things that didn't mix well together. And that's how I feel about this team roster construction. You said it, the pieces are good. I don't know that they fit well next to each other. I think you just go through one by one. Okay.

Starting point is 00:12:34 Dwan Harris. Even if I didn't want Dwan Harris back, I would say he gets to come back because he's got to, he started for a national championship team. So you got to ring. You're a legacy pick. You have been grandfathered in. Welcome back. Dwan started for a national championship team. So you got a ring. You're a legacy pick. You have been grandfathered in. Welcome back to Juan Harris for your 17th season.

Starting point is 00:12:50 Hunter Dickinson is kind of the same thing. It's like Hunter and DeJuan, both great individual players, but you've got a past first point guard and a guy who really has like a magnetic force offensively down low. Both of those guys, Derek, they need the same things around them. They need shooters around them. Neither one of them had it. And so even though you saw some good individual efforts from both of those guys, independent of one another and independent of everything that was going on, it just wasn't the perfect system around them.

Starting point is 00:13:20 The Hunter Dickinson stuff is funny. This team, Michigan, his freshman year went to the elite eight. Derek, they were the number one team in the country. That was a great team. And what did he have around him that year? Shooters. Turns out you put a bunch of 40% shooters around a dude who's the most efficient post player in America. You're probably going to be pretty tough to beat on most nights. So those are the two guys I want to start with. Furfies, without question. I'll be beside myself if Johnny Furfies played his last game in Allen Fieldhouse. I will be inconsolable if we don't see that kid back in a Kansas jersey. But he's going to be a top 20 pick. So I'm not going to be surprised. I'm just going to be upset.

Starting point is 00:14:00 Let me put it that way. I think the real interesting one comes with KJ Adams. Because Bill loves KJ Adams because Bill loves KJ you and I have talked about this you won't find many examples of a guy playing the the role that he's had the last two years and then all of a sudden like hey you're a backup now but I just don't know if if those those great individual players can maximize their potential with KJ on the court. It's just, he's 6'5". He's a power forward who doesn't really rebound and he doesn't stretch the floor offensively. We all know the great things that he does. Energy, he's a vibes guy.

Starting point is 00:14:43 He's probably the vibiest guy on this team like just like getting fired up dunking like that's sick we love that but I'm just not sure he fits next to Hunter and for DeJuan in general he just needs shooters around him and this team hasn't had that so if you told me that KU is bringing back DeJuan, Furphy, and Hunter in their starting five, KJ is your sixth man coming in playing 20, 25 minutes a night, and then you can fill out that roster with a couple of knockdown shooters, I'm a little bit more excited. But if you told me this team is just running it back, minus Kevin McCuller,

Starting point is 00:15:21 I don't know how I could come into next season with expectations that are much different than how this year just went. So I think that's totally fair. And I think, yeah, there is kind of a flaw there in how the roster, but I don't know, for me, it's almost more on the defensive end than the offensive end. I mean, there are other teams in the country who can succeed with basically two bigs. I mean, Duke is playing Mark Mitchell, who doesn't really shoot threes or shoot them well next to Kyle Filipowski. Houston, Houston is playing two big men who, I mean, I don't think either one has hit a three-pointer this year.

Starting point is 00:15:52 But I don't think it's a big man thing. It's a lack of shooters thing. Sure. Right? Yeah, but that's what I look to, right? With Houston, they have three guards around it. And so that's kind of where I'm at with this, is that I think you actually can make it work with KJ playing next to Hunter Dickinson, but you've got to get a scoring guard.

Starting point is 00:16:09 And I think that was looking back on it like the biggest flub of this offseason. And I think Bill Self tried to address that a bit with Arterio Morris. Now we can get into why that was, you know, the decision and what it was. Oh, turns out a guy that you brought in with a checkered pass, something came up. Right. But I think that the idea there is go out and get that next Remy Martin, or like, if you could redo this off season, right. Would you have gone harder for a guy like Tyler Perry or Max A. Smith who ended up at other spots in the big 12? Because that to me is the difference because that is a shooter. That's an off the dribble shooter. Right. And we saw that where DeJuan Harris was able to play with Remy Martin

Starting point is 00:16:46 or you kind of sub one for the other at different points where I think that's the ideal roster build. If you have two point guards, one of them is a scoring guard, one of them is DeJuan Harris who can then at that point even devote more energy to the defense side. You got Johnny Furphy back. At that point, you expect to take an even bigger leap in terms of what he's able to do in scoring and shooting.

Starting point is 00:17:03 But how is that different than the player that Kevin McCuller became this year? I mean, he's a guy who has 20 points a game. I get what you're saying, but I think it's different because Kevin has never been a guy where he's like, hey, we're going to trust Kevin to just create off the dribble. And as well as Kevin has shot it from three-point range this year compared to what he did in his career,

Starting point is 00:17:24 you don't view Kevin as a knockdown shooter. You know, Kevin's not taking a high volume of three point shots like game in and game out, right? It is different to me in terms of the, I guess the gravity and what they provide for you on the offensive end, the ability to at any moment, just be like, Hey, I'm just going to go grab the bucket off the dribble. Right. How often does that happen with Kevin?

Starting point is 00:17:43 No, it does. But you know, what I think is interesting about this year's team and like when you look at their strengths, this team moved the ball as well as any KU team I can remember. I mean, the ball never stuck. They shared it. Now they didn't knock down a ton of shots, but I think all season long, they've been number one in assists nationally all season long even with the fact that they haven't had great shooters now a lot of that's just let me let me just drop this down low to hunter dickinson he's going to turn over his left shoulder and get you two points but can you imagine the the ball movement on this team except you you'd remove kj adams kevin mcculler from the starting lineup, and you've just got guard,

Starting point is 00:18:26 guard, shooter, shooter. And going back to your point, I'm going to ask a question because you're right. You can make it work with two bigs. Plenty of teams have had success with it. But I ask you this sincerely. Do you think the best version of Kansas next year is with Hunter and KJ in the starting lineup? Because if the answer is no, then like now you know what your priorities need to be in the offseason. I think I agree with you. I would never build a roster like that. But the problem to me is that I don't think you're in a position with either one of those players to be like, get out of here. You know, I don't think it's the same as booting Kyle cuff and being like, Hey, I'm not saying you boot him.

Starting point is 00:19:10 You know, I'm not saying you boot him. I'm just saying you're going to experience a change in role. Yeah, no, it absolutely could happen. And I don't think it's wrong. I will say this. Um, I remember having these same conversations, I think with you, I think at the time we were both at rock truck sports stock when Kansas got just murked by USC in the second round of the NCAA tournament. And it was the same thing. I think they brought back four or five starters or I don't remember the exact number, but it was the same idea. I remember having conversations like, but do you want everyone back?

Starting point is 00:19:37 Like Bill self made the comments that off season about, we want to get more athletic and then boom, all of a sudden you're starting the same starting lineup. And what did that team end up doing they won the national title now they added remy martin and we saw the importance of that off the bench so i guess that's kind of where i'm coming from here i i do have one question though to leave you with if you could only have one back hunter dickinson johnny furphy pick johnny furphy okay easy answer he is an nba wing he is an nba wing don't overthink it like i get the whole conversation of, oh, well, so like there's a difference between being a good prospect

Starting point is 00:20:09 and a good college player. Go look at the teams that go deep in March, right? Like, Hey, there have been better college players than Paolo Banchero. What happened? What happened when they hit March? They go to the final four. He's the number one overall pick. Now he's an all-star. Like, give me the most talented player. To me, that's Johnny Furphy. All right, let's continue on. We'll finish up with whose stat line is it anyway? First, this episode of the show is brought to you by Amazon Fire.

Starting point is 00:20:39 Fire TV is your destination for sports, from live games to highlights to in-depth analysis. Fire TV offers amazing viewing experiences with smart TVs as well as the Fire TV Stick. You can plug into your existing TV that provides access to millions of movies, TV episodes, free and live TV. Whether it's the opening weekend for baseball, college basketball tournament, you're going to want to have a Fire TV. They recently created Fire TV channels to deliver a constant supply of the latest videos

Starting point is 00:21:05 from your favorite sports brands, all for free. That includes us right here with locked on and most of the big pro leagues and college conferences as well. Fire TV channels, let you dive into all the game analysis highlights and more to keep up and up to date with the latest world of sports, March madness,

Starting point is 00:21:20 NBA, MLB, and lots more not to mention great news, entertainment, gaming, travel, cooking videos as well. Check out fire TV channels or on fire, and lots more. Not to mention great news, entertainment, gaming, travel, cooking videos as well. Check out Fire TV channels on Fire TV and Alexa devices.

Starting point is 00:21:29 If you haven't checked out Fire TV channels, you should. Trust me on this. Learn more at www.amazon.com slash lockedonfiretv. All right, finishing things up here with a little who's stat line is anyway. First up, last three games, this player is averaging eight points per game. They're shooting 11% from three. Is it Johnny Furphy?

Starting point is 00:21:56 It is Johnny Furphy. Is this the freshman wall? No, no. Johnny Furphy transcends your tropes of what you expect young basketball players to do. Hey, Kevin McCullough came back. You got things kind of shifting a little bit. Nicholas Timberlake playing a little bit more. I think this is just kind of natural evolution.

Starting point is 00:22:18 But you know what? You know what I've always said about Johnny Furphy is he will be at his best when the lights are the brightest. So March has begun big game against Houston, big 12 tournament, the post seasons here, like it's Furphy time. Number two here. So since the start of February,

Starting point is 00:22:37 so what about a month, month and a week here, this player is averaging 11.1 points per game on 46 percent from the field 25 percent from three but 85 percent at the foul line so this is interesting because it would either be depending on who the player is this could be seen as a positive or a negative stat line if this is Nicholas Timberlake you'd say wow uptick look at this if it's Kevin McCuller you say oh what's up with Kevin like what's gotten into him lately um so i don't know which way you're going with it you just went negative on furphy

Starting point is 00:23:11 so i'm gonna say you're bringing us back with positivity and i'm gonna go with nick timberlake you're wrong would you like to guess again is it wait see you play these games with me so now you know that i'm thinking it's kevin muller, which is why you want me to guess again, just so you can say wrong again. So is it really not Kevin McCuller? Is there somebody else that I'm not thinking of? Is this, uh, it's not KJ. I don't think it's, well, it could be Hunter.

Starting point is 00:23:39 Hunter hasn't had a lot of big scoring outputs lately. Is this no, cause he had the really bad free throw shooting night so the 85 doesn't make any sense i'm gonna go with kevin mcculler it is dewan harris damn it the one player i didn't even consider they have like six guys uh so what's the takeaway here that he's playing well i guess i mean 11 if you said one's going to average double digit points. Yeah, but I would trade, I would trade the 85% free throw percentage for,

Starting point is 00:24:11 you know, 37% three point percentage. Yeah, I would too, but 17 of 20. So that's pretty nice for the one. Okay. This last one here is,

Starting point is 00:24:20 I think we've done this before, but this is an update. So it might be the same player. It might be different. I don't know. 44.8% on mid range two-point shots again this is defined as anything outside of the paint but inside the three-point arc this leads ku would this be hunter dickinson he is now second he was first for a while okay so we've got a new leader mid-range twos outside of the paint um i mean furphy i don't really remember him taking any mid-range shots el marco takes a ton

Starting point is 00:24:52 misses them all uh i'm gonna go with dewan harris you actually named him el marco jackson is the low-key here very low-key because i feel like he is in love with mid-range shots. But like I've said this all year, you want to like a shot creator, a guy who can get to his spot off the dribble. Hey, Elmarco is your guy. He beats the first dude all the time. Problem is when he gets to that spot, he ain't knocking down those shots. But I guess 45%.

Starting point is 00:25:24 Is it time to unleash el marco is this what we're kind of figuring out here yeah it's time i think so i think this is uh proof of just that i will say i think i think it was it was way lower he's shot it well lately but i also think there's a bit of you have the noticeability factor i think when he misses it's very noticeable because it's not a good miss. Yeah, exactly. They're hard clanks off the back iron and it's just like, oh, there's El Marco

Starting point is 00:25:52 again. That'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. Nick, where can you find your work? Check out our podcast, Could Be Wrong, wherever you get your podcasts, as well as YouTube. Find me on Twitter, at DJohnsonRadio. Subscribe to the show here, Locked on Jayhawks, anywhere you get your podcasts, YouTube as well.

Starting point is 00:26:07 That'll do it for the show today. Be back tomorrow with a KU Houston preview.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Why Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Should Tighten the Rotation Even More + Do You Want Everyone Back?

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.