How many non-shooters is too many? And other notes from the exhibitions!
Two exhibitions down, two games of so-so ball. I was tempted not to acknowledge the charity scrimmage in Champaign at all—such was the Jayhawks’ general effort level on both ends of the floor. However, enough stuff happened in last night’s Fort Hays State game that underlined a few general trends, so I’m going to lump them together and do a short round-up of notes.
To the bullets!
How many non-shooters is too many? Kansas is about to find out.
In lineups featuring Dajuan Harris and KJ Adams, two non-shooters who play positions where you’d ideally want some shooting, Fort Hays State had three people with feet in the paint surrounding Hunter Dickinson. UK’s program status has fallen off, sure, but will Hunter dominate longer, bigger double- and triple-teams? I am skeptical! Through five exhibitions (including Puerto Rico games), we are shooting 29% from three. With a 5 like Dickinson, that’s just not good enough.
I am worried about Elmarko Jackson, though I do anticipate things will open up some when KU starts D-ing up more and getting into transition. He did not score in last night’s exhibition—not great!—and there’s just no room for him to get to the rim in the half-court with KJ and Hunter standing on the block. Either we try to break up the traffic jam with shooting, or we try a different look with Elmarko on the floor, like when he got to run the backup unit for a few minutes at the end of the first half.
Nick Timberlake will find his stroke. He’s going to have to.
We might need Zach Clemence’s shooting tool, which is entirely theoretical at this point (career 22.3%).
While some of my existential “shooting panic” derives from my enjoyment of basketball at the highest level—where one non-shooter is too many, unless your non-shooter is Zion and shoots like 87% from the field—KU is going to win plenty of games with Self’s high-low back in full effect. Dickinson is a great passer, so there will be lots of opportunities to weaponize him, both at the block or on the elbow, creating opportunities with his passing.
Kevin McCullar put in the work, and you can see it. You can still see the holes in his game—he’s slow to load up, and isn’t really a natural creator—but he’s masks them by playing extremely efficiently. He is by far our most reliable shooter right now. Gulp!
Johnny Furphy! We need Furphy, I think. In that delightful small-ball lineup with Adams sliding up to the 5, KU all of the sudden was… unpredictable? That lineup switched everything, and it was clear the Furph man made them quicker, more dangerous, better. The Giddey comp is overblown because they’re both Aussies and it’s a lazy comparison BUT he does have some Giddey juice in terms of the canny timing of passes, and making extremely quick decisions—he had a few hockey assists last night that we’re not gonna get from other 4s. I wanna see him get some threes up.
Bill Self’s war on the three-pointer isn’t a real thing, despite comments like these. Self is about efficiency, maximizing our strengths. When we have shooters—like during the 17-18 ghost Final Four season—we let it fly. The math checked out. This team does not have shooters, and it doesn’t make sense to force it just because of an ideology. That’s Bill Self’s perspective, I think. That being said…..
The spacing is a mess, and we’re not getting out in transition enough just yet. Kentucky will be a really great test—how will unclog the half-court against elite athletes? We’ve got two warm-ups to figure it out.
That’s all for now! Rock Chalk. Thanks for reading y’all.