Jayhawks Q&A: Potential leaders, football expectations and should KU model Kentucky?

We’re back for another Kansas Jayhawks Q&A.

Thanks for the Twitter questions, and a reminder that for 8 cents a day, you can avoid the paywall pop-ups while also helping to support our KU coverage for The Star.

The most natural fit — and best answer — at this point is Devon Dotson.

He’ll be a sophomore next season, which helps; it’s tough to have the self-confidence to tell older players what to do as a freshman when you haven’t been around the program a long time yourself.

I also think some recent quotes from Dotson in a recent Gary Bedore story indicate that showing leadership is something that’s important to him.

“Last year I was just coming in trying to learn everything, getting a feel for it. This year I’m looking to lead and just be that guy on the floor that can really help everybody else out there,” Dotson said on June 10.

“It helps a lot, me coming in (last year as a freshman) and Coach believing in me, sticking with me. It helps a lot in going into this year. I know what needs to be done out there on the court. I know what it takes to win out there at a high level. I’m ready.”

My second pick for this question would be Ochai Agbaji, whose personality reminds me a lot of former KU guard Devonté Graham. Both are likeable guys with happy-go-lucky personalities, and once Graham started taking on a bigger basketball role, he began to lead more.

Perhaps Agbaji — with an improved body and reworked shot — will follow a similar path to Graham in this area starting with his sophomore season.

This is a good question, and perhaps a topic worthy of a longer article at some point.

My main answer would be this: If KU is going to play with two bigs, it needs to be fine with winning ugly.

Let’s be honest: It was fun watching the Jayhawks during their Final Four run in 2018. KU spread the floor with shooters, opened up the lane for center Udoka Azubuike and run-and-gunned their way to efficient offense while playing an entertaining style.

Winning doesn’t have to be pretty, though. Sure, it’s great when both come together, but part of the reason I’ve respected West Virginia coach Bob Huggins in recent years is that he’s been unafraid to embrace a defensive approach (pressuring and *cough* fouling often *cough*) that is successful even if it sometimes makes for a less-than-ideal viewing experience.

I felt that way some when watching KU play Kentucky last year. The Wildcats’ offense, for much of the game, was stagnant. The floor spacing wasn’t ideal. There were times when even the fans in Rupp Arena let out groans, sensing they weren’t watching a good product.

Yet, in the end, Kentucky defeated KU, 71-63, on Jan. 26. And the final box score showed numbers that remained consistent for the Wildcats throughout the season:

• Kentucky grabbed 39% of its misses

• Kentucky outshot KU, 23-11, at the free-throw line

• Kentucky held KU to 35% two-point shooting

If you’re a team blessed with talented bigs, these are the ways you can beat most teams in the margins. The important part for KU will be getting back its offensive rebounding mojo, which has been lost in recent seasons with the change to a four-guard look:

The bottom line: KU’s winning formula next year if it plays two bigs will be unlike most teams. And it might not be as high-flying or aesthetically pleasing as many recent KU squads.

But “Bullyball” can win games too. Kentucky didn’t shoot many threes last year and sometimes was difficult to watch offensively, yet it still had an effective season because it thrived in some important statistical areas that also factor a lot into winning.

If KU is able to advance to a Final Four in 2019-20, you can bet that fans won’t be complaining about whatever method it took to get there.

I guess?

Look, the bar here is pretty low. KU hasn’t won more than three games in a season since the year before iPads were invented, so it won’t take much to get a fanbase excited about a potentially bright future.

But the situation also reminds me a bit of the famous Mike Tyson quote: “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”

Or, reworded for KU football fans: “Everybody has optimism until the team starts losing games again.”

For good reason, Les Miles has extended his honeymoon period with KU. He’s played ladder golf on campus and rappelled buildings and even had an impressive start to 2020 recruiting.

But we have to be honest in saying that this is a perfect spot in his tenure to build excitement. KU football is undefeated (0-0) with no games coming soon, so all the concerns about his offensive style working or the team’s lack of personnel or KU’s low scholarship numbers aren’t a real concern yet.

They all will be soon.

David Beaty also did many things right in the offseason before his first game ... then lost the opener to FCS opponent South Dakota State.

My point isn’t to predict doom for Miles or to say he won’t be successful. It’s just to say ... KU football fans will probably be enthusiastic until the opening kickoff against Indiana State on Aug. 31, and from there, the only way for Miles to keep those feel-good vibes will be with on-field results.

And, if we’re honest, those will be difficult to get in his first year while knowing the full scope of the KU rebuild ahead.

I think so.

You can read more about what Wilson hopes to bring to KU in this story from last week, but I think all indications are that Wilson should lead KU’s freshmen in minutes next season.

Though he finished in a similar position to teammate Tristan Enaruna in the final recruiting rankings, the impression I’ve gotten is that Wilson is considered to be more of an immediate-impact guy, while Enaruna might need a little bit more development time to reach his full potential.

The natural question, then, is how Wilson might carve out his playing time.

Self has already spoken some about playing him in a small-ball 4 role, which seems to be the best fit. From Self’s history, we know that when he gets players in this 3/4 mold, he typically likes to play them as smaller 4s, which allows those players to utilize their size while also not worrying as much about having to stay in front of smaller guards on the perimeter.

Then again ... if KU plays two bigs a lot, that wouldn’t leave much time for a four-guard lineup. So one could question whether Wilson will be able to defend the other team’s 3, and if he can’t ... he won’t fit well into any Azubuike-Silvio De Sousa pairings.

KU’s coaching staff still pursued Wilson heavily after he decommitted this spring from Michigan, and one would think the intent wasn’t just to bring him in as a seldom-used reserve. For now, Wilson gives KU options with how it might play, and if he is able to shoot it well from the perimeter, he potentially could put pressure on De Sousa to perform to keep his starting role.

Which leads directly to another question ...

I’ll start by acknowledging we all know this is a fool’s errand at this point. If you’d have asked me last June, I would have nearly guaranteed big roles for players like Charlie Moore and K.J. Lawson — and I might have bet the mortgage on that had you told me that Azubuike and Lagerald Vick wouldn’t have been with the team the final two months.

The main point: Things change, and they often do quickly.

But you asked for my official prediction, so here it is:

Starting five, first game

PG Devon Dotson

SG Ochai Agbaji

SF Marcus Garrett

PF Silvio De Sousa

C Udoka Azubuike

Starting five, start of Big 12 play

PG Devon Dotson

SG Ochai Agbaji

SF Marcus Garrett

PF Jalen Wilson

C Udoka Azubuike

I love this question, and I’ve probably thought too much about it over the past 18 hours or so.

My original thought was based off a belief I shared in an Isaiah Moss piece earlier this month: With efficient and ball-dominant players like Dotson and Azubuike returning, KU could definitely benefit if it had a willing role player in its rotation.

And the names I used in that story are the first that come to mind: Tyrel Reed and Brady Morningstar. It might not seem like those players would have a huge impact when it comes to maximizing NCAA title odds, yet it could be the case, as basketball is all about having five guys on the court who can complement each other.

This team could use players who bring out the best in both Dotson and Azubuike. In my mind, that would be someone who could be a floor-spacer offensively, a pesky on-ball defender (to help take some pressure off Dotson on that end) and also someone without an ego who wouldn’t mind doing the dirty work for a roster that already has stars.

So ... my first impression was that I’d probably go with Morningstar based on all that above.

Then again, one could get a little greedier and hope that a more talented player still might be able to co-exist with Dotson and Azubuike. When it comes to threes and ball-hawking, it’d be tough to go against 2008 Mario Chalmers, who had one of the best statistical seasons of any player in the Self era.

I also thought about Tyshawn Taylor — he’d be great in the pick-and-roll especially — before coming up with my final, final answer for this question:

Devonté Graham.

Just think about the fit with what KU already has. He’d be an outstanding outside shooter, good defender, accurate lob thrower and an unselfish player with innate leadership qualities.

After much internal debate, he’s the one I’ll go with.

I can tell you that we shouldn’t just define teams by win-loss records — there’s much more that goes into whether a program is successful or not — but we all know what actually happens. Miles’ first season will mostly be gauged on whether he could win football games, and he willingly signed a roughly $3 million-per-year contract knowing that would be the standard.

For me, best case for KU is anything more than three wins. The schedule starts soft with home games against Indiana State and Coastal Carolina, which gives Miles a decent chance at a 2-0 start. From there — based off early projections — KU is expected be at least a double-digit underdog in every game the rest of the season.

It’s worth reiterating: We don’t know what we don’t know right now. Maybe a Big 12 team or two with a new coach takes a significant step back. Maybe Miles’ coaching ability squeezes more out of this roster than the cold numbers would have us believe.

I’d still think starting 2-0, then getting a Big 12 upset at some point should be considered a fine season. Getting two conference upsets, though? And also posting a four-win season at KU for the first time in a decade? That sort of accomplishment, to me, would give KU fans legitimate reason to be excited about the future.

Worst-case scenario is what you’d expect: KU is upset in its opener to Indiana State, which leads to a high-pressure game No. 2 where — already — people would be questioning whether Miles was the right guy for the job.

An 0-2 start seems fairly unlikely, but if it happened, the Jayhawks would be staring down one of the toughest schedules in the college football while potentially facing their second winless season in the last five years.

That wouldn’t be fun for Miles or anyone. It’s why the Jayhawks could do themselves a huge favor by playing their best game of the season in Week 1.

I was all ready to answer this question ... then I realized my colleague Gary had already done so in his most recent story about Mitch Lightfoot.

So, Gary, take it away:

Self to this point has elected to not award a 13th scholarship, passing on pursuing big man Josephat Bilau (Wichita State) and wing Lok Wur (Oregon), who had expressed some interest in KU. Self in the past has liked to have an open scholarship in case somebody such as current blue-chips N’Faly Dante or Kyree Walker elects to reclassify from 2020 to 2019. Teams are allowed 13 scholarship players in accordance with NCAA rules.

In this case — as you suggested — Dante (Rivals’ ninth-ranked player in 2020) and Walker (26th) would be the types of players that would qualify as “no-brainers” for Self and staff this late in the 2019 recruiting season.

This story was originally published June 27, 2019 at 1:51 PM with the headline "Jayhawks Q&A: Potential leaders, football expectations and should KU model Kentucky?."

Jesse Newell

The Kansas City Star

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Jesse Newell covered the Chiefs for The Star until August 2025. He won an EPPY for best sports blog and previously was named top beat writer in his circulation by AP’s Sports Editors. His interest in sports analytics comes from his math teacher father, who handed out rulers to Trick-or-Treaters each year.