HookEm

Here's my take on a KU player by player comparison with what we currently have on our team. Starters G – Dajuan Harris vs. Tyrese Hunter – Even. Both should be in the mix for All-Conference honors this year G – Arterio Morris vs. Max Abmas – Big advantage Texas. Morris will be improved but isn’t yet in Abmas’ class. G – Nicolas Timberlake vs. Brock Cunningham – Moderate advantage KU but I would rather have Cunningham. F – KJ Adams vs. Dylan Disu – Moderate advantage Texas. Both good players, but Adams has never played like Disu in March. C – Hunter Dickenson vs. Kadin Shedrick – Big advantage KU. Shedrick will be good, but Dickenson is a former All-American. Bench G – Elmarko Jackson vs. Chendall Weaver – Slight advantage UT. I’ll take the proven sophomore. F – Parker Braun vs. Ze’Rik Onyema – Moderate advantage UT. Onyema has been the better player to date. Braun may not even get minutes. G – Chris Johnson vs. Alex Anamekwe – Slight advantage KU but neither will matter F – Marcus Adams vs. TBD – Advantage UT. We will get someone more impactful than a fringe top-100 freshman. G – Jamari McDowell vs. TBD – Advantage UT. We will get someone more impactful than a fringe top-100 freshman. Bottom line is that they will be HEAVILY relying on their freshmen for depth. And outside of Elmarko Jackson, they are more in the 50-100 range and not 5-star instant impact players. Right now I would call it pretty close to even, and maybe a slight edge for us. If we get somebody better than Cunningham into the starting lineup, then I would say we have the better roster. Granted they have Bill Self and we don't and that changes everything. But I bet if you gave him the choice of our roster and theirs it would be a hard decision for him.

Fair. We also took 2 out of 3 games from them (in beat down fashion) and kept them from getting the Kansas City regional, which likely cost them a Final Four.

Here is there team as currently constructed (bold are returning): G – Dajuan Harris – 8.9 PTS, 2.5 TRB, 6.2 AST – 5yr SR - Big 12 DPoY – 6’1 G – Arterio Morris – 4.6 PTS, 1.4 REB – Soph (From Texas) – 6’3 G – Nicolas Timberlake – 17.7 PTS, 40% 3PT% - 6yr SR – 2x 1st Team CAA (From Towson) – 6’4 F – KJ Adams – 10.6 PTS, 4.3 TRB – JR – Soph – Big 12 MIP – 6’7 C – Hunter Dickinson – 18.5 PTS, 9.0 TRB, 1.8 BLK – SR – 3x 2nd Team Big 10 (From Michigan) – 7’1 G – Elmarko Jackson - #20 recruit (’23) – 6’3 F – Parker Braun – 7.7 PTS, 5.8 TRB – 5yr SR (From Santa Clara) – 6’8 C – Ernest Udeh – 2.6 PTS, 1.8 TRB - # 28 recruit (’22) – 6’11 G – Chris Johnson - #50 recruit (’23) – 6’4 F – Marcus Adams - #101 recruit (’23) – 6’8 G – Jamari McDowell - #108 recruit (’23) – 6’4 G – Wilder Evers (walk on) G – Charlie McCarthy (walk on) G – Michael Jankovich (walk on)

Finally got around to looking at KU. I'm not sure that they are head and shoulders better than us, especially if we pick up another good player in the portal. Yes, they got some good recruits and have done well in the portal, but they lost a TON from their team last year including: Jalen Wilson (Big 12 PoY) Gradey Dick (2nd team All-Big 12) Kevin McCullar (3rd team All-Big 12) - He may actually come back, but it is getting more unlikely MJ Rice - #27 recruit ('22) Zach Clemence - #43 recruit ('21) Zuby Ejiofor - #43 recruit ('22) Bobby Pettiford - #98 recruit ('21) Joseph Yesufu - 12.7 mpg This is basically a total rebuild for KU as they only return 27% of their points and 34% of their minutes and from this year.

I don't think it is a problem at all to sign Caleb Love. The guy is a year removed from leading his team to the National Final game while earning All Tournament honors. I have no doubt that Hunter, Love and Abmas could figure out how to coexist as a 3-guard lineup (probably the best one in the country). Love has the size to play the 3 at the college level. He wouldn't be a ball dominating guard in that case, but rather a primary scoring threat off the wing. He's probably not coming here anyway so it doesn't matter, but none of the UNC fans were shitting on him a year ago. Did he suddenly forget how to play basketball?

Brock is great but I can't see him doing any better than 3rd Team All-American. C'mon.

Looking at former Big-12 Tourney MVPs and Disu is in some solid-ass company. Man what a collection of great players. Disu is one of the very few who have come back for another year. Here are all of them in the 25+ years of the Big 12:: Devonte Graham - Came back to KU and made an All-Region team and was a Wooden Finalist Georges Niang - Came back to ISU and made an All-Region team and won the Karl Malone award Mario Chalmers - Came back to KU, won a National Title and Tourney MoP Hollis Price - Came back to OU and won Tourney MVP again the next year along with a 2nd team All-American award Jeff Boschee - Won as a freshman at KU. Came back to start over 100 more games Paul Pierce - Came back to KU and won Tourney MVP again the next year along with a 1st team All-American award I don't think it is unreasonable to expect a tremendous year from Disu next year. He was playing like an absolute monster to finish the year including being the first NCAA player in 20+ years to get 28 points, 10 boards, 2 steals without a turnover in a tourney game.

First, betting on anyone except the Jayhawks in ANY year would be a bad bet given how dominant they have been. I'm not saying we will win the conference, but I am saying we will compete for it. Last year was the toughest the conference has ever been and we finished 2nd and won the Big-12 Tourney. I think we could be similarly competitive this year, even if we don't add any additional pieces. I think this year’s roster stacks up VERY well vs. the roster last year: PG – Hunter (’23) vs. Hunter (’24) – Moderate upgrade. Hunter will be a year older and was also injured a good bit of last year. He should be improved in all facets. SG – Carr (’23) vs. Aẞmas (’24) – Slight upgrade. Both are great players, but I give the edge to Aẞmas. Carr is a better defender, but Aẞmas is a better scorer and is extremely efficient given his usage. Aẞmas has Big 12 Conference PoY potential (and has already been NCAA All-Region, something Carr never did). SF – Allen (’23) vs. Cunningham (’23) – Slight downgrade, but you all know I’m team Cunningham. Honestly the team played better last year when Allen was hurt and Cunningham got more minutes. Allen is the better player, but I’m not sure he is a better winner. PF – Disu (’23) vs. Disu (’24) – Moderate upgrade. I’m assuming we get March Disu for a whole year, when he was playing like a 1st team All-American and setting Texas tournament scoring records PF/C – Mitchell (’23) vs. Shedrick (’24) – Big upgrade. Shedrick was already better than Mitchell last year and gets another year to improve. Shedrick will be a better interior defender, better shooter (79% vs 40% FT!) and better all around player ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bench – Rice (’23) vs. Weaver (’24) – Big downgrade. Rice was the man. Weaver looks like he will be very good, but Rice was a proven, mature former conference PoY. This is the big missing piece in 2024. Bench – Bishop (’23) vs. Onyema (’24) – Moderate downgrade. Bishop brought maturity, poise and toughness. Onyema will be a senior and bring some of that as well, but I don’t think he will be as impactful as Bishop Bench – Morris (’23) vs. Anamekwe (’24) – Big downgrade. Morris was young and inconsistent, but he still provided an occasional spark or big moment. Anamekwe is still probably a year from contributing more than garbage time. Bench – Cunningham (’23) vs. ????? (’24) – Big downgrade, for now. Bottom line, for me we have a better starting 5 than we had last year when we were a few bad calls from playing in a Final Four and possibly cutting down the nets. We have two legit All-American candidates in Aẞmas and Disu. We finally have an enforcer big man and he can actually shoot free throws. We have one of the best backcourts in the country. The big difference is in our bench. Rice, Morris and Bishop were way better than Weaver and Onyema. That said, all of our starters have played 30+ minutes in their career. And Weaver can play starter minutes. We don’t NEED a super deep bench. In fact, I think our bench hurt us a little last year because it kept players from getting in a rhythm. Morris and Mitchell both would have been better if they had gotten more minutes. And things are only going to get better from here. We will add 1-2 more players who could range from role player to borderline superstar. If that happens, Cunningham moves to the bench and we could end up with a considerably better starting 5 and only a slightly worse bench. I need to take a long look at KU and see how well their pieces fit together.

Plus West Virginia currently has the #2 transfer class. They will be tough as always. I just think our starting 5 is going to be really good. Maybe better than this year honestly. But our depth likely won’t be nearly as good.

Awesome news about Hunter. In my opinion, we could roll it out with the team as constructed right now and compete for a conference title. The 2nd weekend of the tourney is already in play. Add more good pieces (ideally a really good wing) and it only goes up from here.

If the draft was rigged, Anthony Edwards would have gone to Golden State with the #1 pick Zion Williamson would have gone to the New York Knicks with the #1 pick KAT would have gone to the Lakers with the #1 pick And on and on.

Mitchell returning….

More than anything, Klay looks slow now. He used to be an A+ defender, but not anymore by a long shot. And because of that he is having to work harder on both ends especially in the playoffs. My guess is that is why his shot isn’t falling. Fatigue due to age and loss of a step.

maybe. On Bill Simmons the other day he was lamenting how Smart has like 50% more attempts at game winning shots than Tatum and Brown COMBINED. And he isn't very good at them. The problem is that he doesn't think he has an "adequate" offensive game. He thinks he is the man. Maybe Boston will keep him, but I wouldn't put the odds higher than 50/50 if they get knocked out by the Sixers.

If Boston loses, they are probably going to think about re-tooling their roster. I wonder if there is any way Boston would give it a go with CP3. Even at his age, he probably gives them a better shot at winning a title than Marcus Smart. And Smart would help Phoenix quite a bit with his perimeter defense and grit.

If the season started today, we would be rolling with: Max Abmas, 6-1, G – 21.9 PTS, 4.4 REB, 4.0 AST, 1.1 STL, 0.2 BLK, 91.9% FT, 53.0% 2P%, 37.3% 3P%, 36 MP, 123 GS, 2.0 TO - 2x Summit PoY, NCAA All-Region Chendall Weaver, 6-3, G – 9.5 PTS, 4.6 REB, 2.0 AST, 0.9 STL, 0.4 BLK, 70.3% FT, 46.5% 2P%, 40.2% 3P%, 29 MP, 25 GS, 1.2 TO – Sun Belt RoY, 3 yrs left And on the bench we would have Brock Cunningham who could play some spot SG and Gavin Perryman. Obviously we need to add some more. Ideally a 30+ mpg quality starter (like Tyrese Hunter) and another decent bench / development player who will accept 15 mpg.

I thought the deadline to transfer within the SEC was May 1? If so, then I think we may be in the driver's seat if he decides to withdraw from the NBA draft.

Three guys seems about right. Hunter + 2 more please.

Maybe I am the only one who wasn't super thrilled with the prospect of adding Rodman to the roster. He seemed to be a solid player, but not GREAT. And I don't think his dad is someone I would want to be closely associated with our program (even though I loved him as a player).

Yeah, I agree. That said, none of the bigs averaged more than 19 mpg last year. 26 for Disu and 24 for Shedrick would be a pretty big increase. Shedrick averaged about 19 mpg the last 2 years. Onyema played 20 mpg last year.

Playing around with lineups a bit. Assuming we add Sellers (or an equivalent G/F) and Rodman - and neither Hunter or Mitchell come back, I think the minutes would look something like this (with starters / closers in orange): Abmas, Weaver and Sellers are all used to playing big minutes so I don't think that would be a problem. This would definitely be a tournament team, but would still be pretty thin at guard. Any injury or foul trouble and we would be in trouble. If we add DJ Rodman, I think the minutes distribute pretty well at F/C, with the key players getting 22-26 mpg. If we add Hunter, things improve a lot IMO. That would let us bring Weaver off the bench and either add another backup guard and reduce everyone's minutes or distribute all of the guard minutes between Hunter, Abmas and Weaver. To me this looks like a team capable of making a deep tournament run. There is a ton of versatility with all the guard / forward players. You can go small with Hunter + Abmas + Weaver + Brock + Disu. You can go big with Abmas + Brock + Rodman + Disu + Shedrick. Just about everyone can shoot. Everyone can play defense. Lots of out of position rebounding. This would be a fun team to watch.

Probably better to discuss here than in the Portal or Recruiting threads, but I am continually amazed at the lack of respect that Cunningham gets. Any talk of having him in the starting lineup inevitably leads to comments like "we're fucked". I have to assume these are casual observers who only look at individual scoring metrics. My observation has been that Cunningham contributed more to winning than just about any player on the team last year. This site has some interesting stats on player offensive and defensive rating and accounts for the impact a player has when they are on the court (and normalizes it vs the strength of the other team's players) https://evanmiya.com/ Cunningham rated as our best player in total Bayesian Performance Rating last year (and the #34 player in the country). He had our 2nd best Offensive rating (behind Rice) and our best Defensive rating. If you just look at the "Box" ratings, Cunningham doesn't fare as well (3rd on offense, 6th on defense). This is because a ton of the stuff he does that helps the team doesn't show up on the box score - things like skip passes, screens, tipped out rebounds, defensive help, box outs where someone else rebounds, etc. Combining both offense and defense team efficiency, Brock ranked as the #18 player in the country last year. On offense, Texas scored 117.8 points per 100 possessions with Cunningham on the court. (Contrast that with 105.4 points per 100 possessions with Arterio Morris on the court.) He was also #2 on the team in +/-. With another year of offseason work, I see no reason that Brock won't come back as an even better player. I would love to see him get 25 mpg this year. Team Cunningham.

Once again, this is the stupidest thread title in the history of Surly.

Agree. I think Brock is the better player overall, and more likely to start on this team at SF.