Bill Self tinkers with lineup as KU wins second exhibition game

Lagerald Vick swooped in from the wing and sprung from the hardwood, his go-gadget set of arms reaching skyward and waiting for the arrival of a spinning orange sphere. For a moment, Vick appeared to pause in midflight, waiting for a alley-oop pass from guard Frank Mason.

One … two … three.

Finally, the delivery arrived, player and basketball meeting at the rim. Allen Fieldhouse awoke from a mild slumber in the final minutes of the first half, and Kansas had a signature moment in a 95-59 exhibition victory over Fort Hays State on Tuesday night in the Jayhawks’ final tuneup before the regular-season opener Friday night against Northern Colorado.

If you took a zoomed-in photograph of this moment, you saw one thing: Mason, a junior guard, finding Vick, a freshman swingman, in transition for a thunderous alley-oop. But if you zoomed-out, taking in the full panoramic view, you saw something even more interesting. There was senior Perry Ellis, watching the play from the wing as the Jayhawks’ three-man. There were forwards Hunter Mickelson and Landen Lucas, manning the paint in a lineup with three big guys.

Kansas coach Bill Self promised this look earlier in the week, saying he wanted to experiment with Ellis, the Jayhawks’ All-Big 12 power forward, seeing time on the perimeter. But with Ellis playing alongside Mason and Vick in the backcourt, the picture was still a bit jarring to the senses. It also wasn’t the only experimenting of the night. In the last 40 minutes of prep before the real show begins, Self spent most of Tuesday night experimenting with roster machinations and varied defensive looks.

Moments after the Jayhawks went big, Self utilized a lineup with junior guard Wayne Selden at the point and Vick and sophomore Svi Mykhailiuk at the wing. A few minutes later, Kansas flashed a trapping zone press, forcing Fort Hays into a flurry of turnovers. As Self tinkered and evaluated, the Jayhawks shuttled in and out.

It was not always smooth or seamless, but perhaps it was a necessary means to an end. In the end, Ellis finished with 16 points and six rebounds in 24 minutes. Mason tormented Fort Hays State with 14 points and six assists. And Mykhailiuk shook off a poor shooting night in the exhibition opener and buried 5 of 8 from behind the three-point line, a solid audition in the days before the season begins.

For the second straight game, the Jayhawks played without freshman forward Cheick Diallo, who is awaiting his fate from the NCAA Eligibility Center. Midway through the second half, the Allen Fieldhouse student section broke into a “Free Diallo” chant, which reverberated through the old building’s rafters. At the end of the Kansas bench, former KU point guard Aaron Miles, now a member of the staff, looked over at Diallo and smiled. The Jayhawks also played without junior wing Brannen Greene, who spent the night on the bench with his warmup jersey on.

One day earlier, Self had foreshadowed the experimental nature of Tuesday’s contest. In the days after his team’s exhibition victory over Pittsburg State last week, Self was incensed by his team’s perimeter defense. The Jayhawks, Self groused, had been exposed by dribble penetration all night, and Self pointed the finger at his wings.

“Ridiculous,” he said.

In response, Self said he was considering using Ellis at the wing and doing something he has rarely done during his Kansas tenure: play a lineup with three traditional bigs. In some ways, perhaps Self just wanted to send a message to Selden and the rest of his wings. Ellis did log some minutes at the wing on Tuesday, but it was relegated to a 3-minute stretch late in the first half.

Now the Jayhawks will look forward — to the season opener against Northern Colorado on Friday night at Allen Fieldhouse, and to a date with Michigan State at the Champions Classic on Tuesday night in Chicago. When the Jayhawks take the floor at the United Center, a marquee matchup in the Windy City, some of these experiments will be a thing of the past. Self will find a rotation he likes — or at least a semblance of one — and ride his veterans.

On Tuesday, Self could afford to stretch his rotation and go to his walk-ons in the final minutes. On Friday, the real thing begins.

Diallo drama – One person close to Kansas’ Cheick Diallo is lawyering up for a potential legal fight as the NCAA continues its investigation into the eligibility of the freshman big man.

Tidiane Drame, a Malian-American who has served as Diallo’s legal guardian in the United States, has enlisted the representation of Donald Jackson, an Alabama-based attorney with a long history of representing college athletes in NCAA cases.

Jackson said his involvement, at the moment, pertained to Drame, a Mali-American who helped bring Diallo to the United States and pursue a college basketball scholarship earlier this decade.

While the NCAA continues to pore over Diallo’s high school transcripts and coursework from Our Savior New American, a private school in Centereach, N.Y., Jackson said the NCAA was also looking into Diallo’s relationship with Drame.

This story was originally published November 10, 2015 at 10:05 PM with the headline "Bill Self tinkers with lineup as KU wins second exhibition game."