Bill Self hopeful about young KU’s basketball upside

Losing two of the top three NBA Draft picks in one year would be crushing to most teams. Bill Self’s Jayhawks have proved over and over again, with 10 consecutive Big 12 titles, that they are not most teams.

Kansas is preparing to move on without Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid. But the Jayhawks return two starters and add a decorated recruiting class that includes two McDonald’s All-Americans and Ukrainian prospect Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk.

“We don’t have anyone like Wiggs and Jo, but we have guys that may end up being as good of college players as those guys,” Self said.

“Everyone talked about their upside more so than what they actually did in the college game because they weren’t there long enough and Jo only played 28 games. I think we have more players that can impact a college game than what we had last year which to me is exciting.”

Even with all the raw talent on that team, the Jayhawks struggled defensively, allowing an average of 70.1 points per game and scoring 79.

“We stunk last year defensively,” Self said. “We didn’t put pressure on the ball, we never cut the head off and we let teams get comfortable. When I say we stunk though, we were probably still the second-best defensive team in our league. But that is not who we’ve been for years.”

Forward Perry Ellis, a junior from Wichita Heights, is the Jayhawks’ top returner averaging 13.5 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. Guard Wayne Selden Jr. added 9.7 points per game as a freshman.

Ellis was the only Jayhawk to receive votes in the preseason All-Big 12 team, which had him on the first team.

“That may be something we tell our guys because we have plenty of good enough players that could receive some consideration I think,” Self said.

Beyond Ellis and Selden, only two players — point guard Frank Mason and forward Jamari Traylor — averaged more than 10 minutes last season.

Then there is the element of the unknown with the freshman class, which is highlighted by McDonald’s All-Americans Cliff Alexander and Kelly Oubre Jr. The Jayhawks also added point guard prospect Devonte’ Graham and Mykhailiuk, who played in the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup before joining the team this fall.

Point-guard plans — After struggling to find a reliable point guard last season, Self comes into this year with a couple of possible plans.

Mason has the most experience at the position, having split time with Naadir Tharpe as a freshman. Self expects Graham to battle for playing time, in addition to Connor Frankamp and Wayne Selden making some appearances.

“I don’t know what the norm is going to be yet, but in a perfect world I would say that we need more ballhandling, we need more playmaking,” Self said. “I could see a scenario where Wayne plays point with two big wings and I could see a scenario where Frank and Devonte or Frank and Connor or whoever it is are in there are at the same time. I don’t see many scenarios where all three will be in the game together, but I think we can definitely play small.”

▪ Freshman power forward Cliff Alexander says he’s finally back to 100 percent after missing more than a month of summer training because of an ankle injury.

“The ankle is fine, excellent,” Alexander said. “I sat out the whole month of July and half of June, and it was hard to watch my team running up and down having fun with me on the sidelines just watching.”

This story was originally published October 2, 2014 at 8:27 PM with the headline "Bill Self hopeful about young KU’s basketball upside."