Who will start for Jayhawks in 2020-21? Bill Self offers early look at possibilities
Bill Self is not close to naming a starting lineup eight days into the 2020-21 college basketball season.
“You would think that Ochai (Agbaji), Marcus (Garrett) and David (McCormack) would certainly have the inside track, but everybody else, I’m not ready to say,” Self, Kansas’ 18th-year coach, said Thursday on a video call with media members held in advance of the 36th annual Late Night in the Phog virtual event to be streamed on various outlets at 7 p.m. Friday.
He did rattle off the names of some contenders on the perimeter.
“I think Christian Braun has had a good training camp so to speak. Tristan (Enaruna) has had his days. Jalen (Wilson) has had his days. Bryce (Thompson) has had his days and Tyon (Grant-Foster) to be real honest has had his days. I know I just listed about everybody on the perimeter, but it’s true.”
Of redshirt freshman guard Wilson, who sat out last season because of injury, Self said: “His attitude and ‘try level’ and commitment I think put him ahead of the newcomers with the exception of maybe Bryce (Thompson, freshman guard from Tulsa). Bryce came in very prepared.
“You guys (media) will be amazed at how much Jalen has changed his body and how much more explosive he is this year,” Self added of 6-8, 215-pound small forward Wilson.
Of junior college transfer guard Grant-Foster, Self noted: “Tyon has as much talent as anybody in the gym. It’s a matter if he can pick up the way we do things as opposed to the way he’s used to doing things. I’m not saying the way he’s used to doing them is all wrong, not saying that at all. It doesn’t fit with the way we do things in a lot of ways. He has got to tighten some things up. He is thinking and trying to please right now instead of playing. I expect that to be the case at least another month or so.”
Self noted that freshman guard Latrell Jossell would be out of the mix right now because of an ankle injury that’s kept him from practicing.
“He is behind,” Self said. “Everybody else all have had their moments where they’ve looked really good.”
Also available on the perimeter group is redshirt freshman Dajuan Harris, who could back up Garrett at the point.
Self knows one thing about his frontcourt following Silvio De Sousa’s recent decision to opt out of the season for personal reasons.
“Let’s call it like it is: ‘Mitch you are going to play. David you are going to play. Get in the best shape possible, stay out of foul trouble,’’’ Self said of McCormack and senior Mitch Lightfoot. “Things like that do give guys confidence that they don’t have to be great when they are in there to stay in there.”
Self said he believes freshman forward Gethro Muscadin as KU’s third big man “will play time to time because of foul issues or injuries or a positive COVID test. There’s no way getting around all those things. It does put some pressure on Gethro to be able to perform, but on the flip side I think it presents a unique opportunity for us to experiment and play five guards. So we go from playing small to playing tiny.”
Self said De Sousa’s decision to leave the program has led him to consider playing five guards at times.
“I do think we could be very hard to guard if we get creative and get guys to understand kind of how to be creative playing five out,” Self said, noting, “it’s something I’ve never done before. I think we need to be prepared to play that way some because of foul situations, injuries or whatever.”
Self said if he uses five guards they’d likely be “positionless” with “rotating 5s.”
“I will say this. If I had to pick somebody I’d want to be our point guard and somebody that had to play the 5, I’d take Marcus on both of those, if in fact we didn’t have a big,” Self said of the 6-5 Garrett, “We are just experimenting right now obviously.”
Fans get their first look at the Jayhawks on Friday night. Late Night, which has been taped, will be streamed on Big 12 Now on ESPN+, on the Jayhawks’ Facebook page and at KUathletics.com. Cable TV information is available at KUathletics.com.
“It was still fun recording our scrimmage (even without fans). It’s something new for the new guys,” junior guard Agbaji said of taping Late Night, which will include skits and scrimmages of the men’s and women’s teams. “It was still cool. It will turn out great. I am excited to see what they put together,” he added of the production crew.
De Sousa’s future plans unknown
De Sousa, a senior from Angola, has not finalized his future plans, Self said.
“I’ve talked to Silvio a lot,” Self said, “as our staff has. I don’t think he has made a decision at least to my knowledge as to what the next step is. I don’t believe that is the case.”
Self on Marquette stopping play for 14 days
Marquette’s basketball program has announced it has stopped practice for the next two weeks in accordance with NCAA protocols involving having a positive case of COVID-19 in the program.
“Our season will get interrupted this year,” Self said. “I’m not saying Kansas, but our basketball season the way we know it will not come off (without interruption) because of the testing protocols. I don’t see those testing protocols changing based on several teams getting knocked out or having to postpone games or cancel games. I do not think the medical experts will be making decisions based on college athletics at least in whole. There may be some things that obviously can be tweaked based on as we become more knowledgeable about things and how they are handled; Right now I don’t personally see Marquette, Kansas, Michigan State, Duke, UCLA, New Mexico, anybody that’s going through some stuff actually change protocol right now. I don’t.”
Late Night in the Phog details
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: Allen Fieldhouse. The event was prerecorded and no fans are allowed.
How to see it: Big 12 Now on ESPN+, Facebook Live (on Kansas Jayhawks Facebook page) and at KUathletics.com. Information on Cable TV options is available at KUathletics.com.
What to expect: Skits by KU’s men’s and women’s basketball teams, video highlights, coach and student-athlete introductions, scrimmages by the two teams; commentary by Self during men’s scrimmage
This story was originally published October 22, 2020 at 4:15 PM with the headline "Who will start for Jayhawks in 2020-21? Bill Self offers early look at possibilities."
