Jayhawk Talk

As tends to happen in these pre-holiday weeks, time has gotten away from me a bit. I can’t believe it is Thursday and I still haven’t written about KU’s win in Bloomington last Saturday. Turns it was good to put it off as now I can write about football signing day, too.

KU-IU Hoops

This game was played at the same time as L’s JV game Saturday. Actually they started a few minutes earlier in B-town, so I knew the Jayhawks were down 15–6 or whatever early. I casually checked the score during timeouts and saw that lead bounce around. In the second half I saw KU was down 11 and decided to concentrate on the game in front of me. There’s another KU dad in our parent group and we exchanged worried looks.

When the JV game ended I checked and KU was down just one. I tapped my fellow Jayhawk on the shoulder as I went to the concession stand and let him know. Another dad who got pulled into keeping the book actually had the game up on his phone – I never figured out how – so I was trying to sneak glances from my seat but was always blocked. Anyway, I was pleased when the game went final and KU walked off the court with a four-point win after trailing by as many as 13.

I watched the game Sunday. From what I read on Twitter during the game, IU could have easily been up 20 in the first half, and there was all the usual complaining. From my view, with the benefit of knowing the outcome, KU didn’t play that bad in the first half. They missed a ton of shots at the rim (evergreen KU critique) or that were wide-open from the perimeter (same). They had multiple chances to seize the momentum, but missed each one, and IU took advantage.

That second half run was fantastic. We started to see Bill Self making some adjustments to open things up for the offense. Hunter Dickinson moved closer to the high post. He can knock down shots from there plus hit teammates who cut into the newly-opened area around the rim. When Kevin McCullar and KJ Adams can attack the rim, KU is at its best.

DaJuan Harris was magnificent in the final 12 minutes or so. He’s been a little off recently, his entire game looser than normal. Saturday he was locked in, as demonstrative as he’s been all season, and made some huge plays when KU went on a 15–4 run.

Indiana isn’t a great team, but they do have some nice parts – Mackenzie Mgbako would be a great sixth man at KU, so makes total sense he chose IU where he can start – were locked in for about 30 minutes, and had Assembly Hall roaring in support. KU weathered all of that and were the better team in the last ten minutes.

It is wins like this, road games against inferior teams playing over their heads, that will make the difference in what should be another extremely competitive Big 12 season. KU acted like they had been there before on Saturday. Hopefully that pays off over the next two months.

It was obviously a fun win for me, as IU friends can’t talk smack about beating the mighty Jayhawks and I can proudly wear my KU gear around Indy.

M babysat for S’s cousin and her husband who went to the game. I made sure she greeted them with a “Rock Chalk,” when they returned home.

Eric Montross

A quick aside about Indy native and North Carolina alum Eric Montross, who passed away earlier this week at the age of 52.

I remember what a huge deal it was when Montross chose North Carolina over Michigan, where his dad and grandfather had played, and IU, who was still amongst the most elite of basketball schools, in 1990.[1]

I was thinking this week about the impact of his signing with the Tar Heels. He helped Dean Smith win his second national title in 1993, beating KU in the Final Four then Michigan in the title game.

What if he had gone to IU, though? I almost guarantee Bobby Knight wins at least one and maybe two more national titles.

The Hoosiers were the #2 seed in the South region in 1991 and got blown out by KU in the Sweet 16. Montross wasn’t a huge contributor in Carolina that year, so who knows if he changes anything there.

The Hoosiers did go to the Final Four in 1992, losing to Duke in the semifinals. That team had Calbert Cheaney, Damon Bailey, Greg Graham, and Alan Henderson, among others. Does Montross put them over the top against the Blue Devils? Let’s say he does, so take away a title from Coach K. Let’s also say they beat Michigan in the championship game, giving Knight his fourth title.

In 1993 Indiana was the #1 seed in the Midwest region, again losing to KU, this time in the elite eight. Surely Montross has a massive impact in that game. So they beat the Jayhawks in St. Louis, roll over the Montross-less Tar Heels in the Final Four, then can they beat Michigan for the second-straight year to go back-to-back? I’m not sure the Fab Five would have let that happen, but you have to at least consider that Bobby Knight was one recruiting decision away from winning four, maybe five, national titles and IU sitting at either six or seven titles overall.

IU fell off quickly after that 1993 team, and other than their crazy run to the 2002 Final Four, have never been close to the Knight Era peak since. Who knows how much of that is different if Eric Montross had decided to stay close to home and play for the Hoosiers.

KU Football

I refused to talk about KU football recruiting all fall simply because I’ve been tricked before. In February of 2017 KU had, briefly, the #1 class of commits in the country, including Ja’Marr Chase. That did not last. The history of KU football is filled with getting commitments from very good players, only to see them flip to a better school in the days leading up to signing day.

But Tuesday KU signed 17 high school players, 14 of which had been committed since before July 4. I’m still in a little bit of shock that so many of those kids, many of whom saw their recruiting rankings rise over their senior years, actually signed with KU.

Among that group was defensive end DJ Warner, who got offers from Michigan and Ohio State late, and had offers from Washington and Texas throughout the process. He is the highest ranked high schooler to ever sign with KU. Dakyus Brinkley, another DE, is also highly rated. And quarterback Isaiah Marshall, the player of the year in Michigan, stuck to his commitment and will sit behind Jalon Daniels for a year before he potentially takes over. There were some other good pieces in the class, which for the time being, is in the top 40 or 50, depending on which evaluation tool you look at. And it’s likely a little better than that. Just as KU’s basketball recruiting will always be a little overrated, KU’s football recruiting will always be a little underrated.

Lance Leipold and his staff have shown they are excellent talent evaluators and can develop those kids once they get into the program. They have a few players in this class who could have an impact pretty early in their careers. The rest will join guys from the two previous classes who have been, slowly, building up the depth of the program that was destroyed when Charlie Weiss was the coach.

I think that roster health is a huge part of evaluating the job that Leipold has done. He turned the team around quickly, getting to a bowl game in year two, winning eight (potentially nine) games in season three, and has the program poised to be a Big 12 title contender in season four if a few key players return. Stadium reconstruction began a week ago, a project that had been discussed and fretted about for decades. And the roster is as deep as it has been since the Mangino era.

KU even lost their offensive coordinator to Penn State and Leipold was able to plug in an OC with a similar system and a proven track record in a matter of days.

I’m not sure there was any doubt but the Leipold era has to get an A+ at this point.

Another sign that KU has ascended: Jayhawk fans are worried about players opting out of the bowl game. First team All Big 12 lineman Dominick Puni did exactly that. We are waiting to hear whether several other key players will not only play in Phoenix, but return to Lawrence next year. Gage Keys announced he was transferring to Auburn this week as well. Three years ago it’s hard to imagine there were any players on the roster good enough to consider either transferring to an SEC school or sit out a potential bowl game.