Where former guard Keith Langford sees the most progress from this KU Jayhawks team
Keith Langford is honest.
The former Kansas guard worked out with the team some over the summer, just before point guard Remy Martin made it to campus.
And when sizing up the squad player by player, Langford said he saw some rawness while not sure how all the pieces would fit together.
“I didn’t see them as how they are now,” Langford told The Star from his seat behind the KU bench a few minutes after the Jayhawks defeated Missouri, 102-65, on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse. “Coach (Bill) Self is working it right now. These guys, they’re turning the corner.”
Langford, a longtime professional overseas, said his questions were originally about KU’s ability. “Where’s the superstar?” he asked himself, wondering if KU had someone it could depend on to deliver in clutch situations.
After watching some of KU’s ball and body movement on Saturday, though, Langford said he had a better understanding of how this Jayhawks team could both succeed and win.
“Obviously I played, so I know, but when I’ve seen the way that they move the ball, I think it’s going to be their biggest advantage,” Langford said. “Because I don’t think anybody, in particular, is like uber-talented to just take over games, but the space they play with and things — it would have been nice to have some of that during my years.”
Langford says the final part with a smile. He was part of Self’s first two KU teams in 2004-05 when the coach was much more strict with his force-it-inside-to-big-men attitude.
Though an injury to forward Wayne Simien forced Self to evolve some to a ball-screen offense that better featured Langford, that setup still never came close to the type of space that Self creates for his guards now with KU’s current four-out, one-in setup.
“Coach Self, we were trying to wean him off the high-low,” Langford said with a laugh. “But they look good (now).”
KU’s players might not be the flashiest. And one by one, they might not have more eye-popping NBA talent than many rosters of the past.
But, gradually, they are starting to learn how to play together, while also versatile enough offensively to make defenses pay for minor mistakes.
One of the best examples came early after a Missouri made basket. Ochai Agbaji pushed it up the court to put pressure on the defense, then noticed Missouri was sagging off teammate Dajuan Harris before making a crosscourt pass to him.
The closeout was a step late — usually not a problem for a defense. But Harris took one dribble to force help, then passed to Christian Braun, who caught his defender a step behind.
Braun was able to get by his guy on the drive. Then after seeing Missouri’s defense help up, he threw a lob over the top to teammate David McCormack for an alley-oop.
It was the best of KU’s offense: three players displaying an ability to see the court, drive and pass, with a small crack in Missouri’s defense eventually leading to a break in the windshield a few seconds later.
“The way he has them moving the ball and at the speed and the pace and the way it’s going, it’s a lot different than on TV,” Langford said.
It’s not too early to start talking about how KU might have the nation’s best offense.
At this point, it’s probably a two-team race. Bart Torvik’s adjusted efficiency numbers just from this season have KU a close second behind Purdue, with the Jayhawks also well ahead of all other challengers.
KU has so many ways it can be dangerous. It’s outstanding in transition. It has shooters in the starting lineup and on the bench. The Jayhawks seldom turn it over, and quietly, McCormack is carving out a niche as a steal-extra-possessions guy while ranking sixth nationally in offensive rebounding rate.
KU’s defensive intensity still wanes too often, and Self will continue to focus on that area simply because demanding excellence there remains baked into his DNA.
Realistically, though, this KU team is built to win with offense. Much like the 2018 team — Self’s last to make the Final Four — the Jayhawks are equipped to outscore most of their other issues while putting immense strain on each position of an opponent’s defense.
Langford remains blunt, though. He wants to compliment KU’s offense more after Saturday’s performance but can’t go too far because of the circumstances.
“Missouri’s bad. I’ll be honest,” Langford said. “I don’t think that any of those players were necessarily the type of competition that they’ll face when the stakes are as high as possible.”
The future key, Langford says, is ball movement.
A skill that already has put KU ahead of where he believed it could be.
This story was originally published December 11, 2021 at 8:55 PM with the headline "Where former guard Keith Langford sees the most progress from this KU Jayhawks team."
