Why the McCullar news is significant

CorpusJayhawk wrote: Kevin announcing his return is really super significant; The data from last season showed several things about the team.
1. The team was better with Gradey than without him. That goes against some people's intuitive thinking. Losing Gradey was tough
2. JWil was obviously the MVP and the workhorse of the team. Losing him was tough.
3. Kevin was the x-factor on this team. Not only did KMac have a number of critical shots in critical times, his overall play consistently lifted the teams effectiveness. He always seemed to contribute what the team needed whether it was a big shot, rebounding, a steal, defense in general, or something else. He was an x-factor more than anyone on the team, including all the other 4 starters. All 5 starters had their moments but what I am saying is Kevin did it more and more consistently.

Dajuan should be incrementally better simply from another season. Ditto for KJ. I know we all love KJ and he went above and beyond for a 6'6" adonis to be center for us. But he simply did not have the skillset or size to implement the optimal game plan. With Hunter Dickenson, we have massively upgraded the 5 spot. McCullar and Dajuan will be better form normal growth. Also our bench would seem to be massively improved. So for 3 of 5 starts plus bench we are set to be significantly better in 4 of 6 positions. That leaves the Gradey and J-Wil replacements. Will Arterio, Nick and Elmarko come anywhere near to replacing them. Defensively the answer will likely be yes. Offensively probably not, but our style of play will differ and with The much stronger bench and Hunter in the middle, I think you can make a case we are better than last season. It will be interesting to see who starts. That might depend on if Self lands another player. If not, KJ will be needed as the backup at the 5. So he will likely not start. But if Udah returns (which is what I am really hoping for).it will be a little more interesting.

Dajuan (no-brainer) but with Arterio and Elmarko, his minutes may drop a wee bit.
Kevin (no-brainer)
Hunter (no-brainer)
Arterio (Self-loves a 2 guard lineup)
Nick (we will need some shooting)

Primary Bench players
KJ Adams
Elmarko Jackson
Chris Johnson

Spot on analysis as far as the last year stuff.

And a lot of "well, duh!" as far as next year. Not being derogatory here at all, CJ!

Harris set
McCullar set
Dickinson set

Ain't nobody gonna argue that.

From there on is where the wiggle room appears to be when discussing the 5+3.

Looking at just the 11 that Self says he is ready to go with unless a "game changer" comes along (more on that later), I'm going with this for the starting 5...

Dajuan Harris Jr PG
Hunter Dickinson 5
Kevin McCullar Jr 3
plus
KJ Adams, Jr at the 4
Arterio Morris at the 2.

BENCH
Parker Braun
Nicholas Timberlake (will get starter minutes at the 2 and 3)
Elmarko Jackson (backup point guard, will give Dajuan more rest throughout the games)
Marcus Adams, Jr (will get the chance to challenge KJ for the 4)

DETAILS
1. KJ is a Self favorite who does everything Self wants, made a huge jump from his freshman to his sophomore year and is expected to improve even more, and has been promised by Self that he is going to get the opportunity "on the perimeter", which arguably has been 1-4 for at least these past 5 years at KU. In other words, it seems as if KJ has the 4 spot to start the season and will have it until he plays himself out of it. Because he will at least initially be the starting 4, he will (hopefully) get very little opportunity to pick up fouls at the 5 because...

2. With the loss of both Zuby and especially Ernest, Parker Braun (6-11/235) was brought in to be the backup 5 to HD. Like KJ, Parker will get every chance to show he can do the job. Self is apparently impressed with Parker's athleticism (he is being quoted as saying Parker is more athletic than younger brother Christian, and Mom Braun agrees), so it will interesting to see if Parker does in fact take the vast majority of the "Hunter sitting" time, with KJ not playing 5 unless Self specifically moves to a small ball lineup for a given opponent.

3. Back to the initial starters, the last spot goes to sophomore Arterio Morris over super senior Nicolas Timberlake. Yes, we need outside shooting, but reports are Morris from February 1 on last season was the best guard on the guard loaded Texas roster, to include hitting over 40% from three. Timberlake is going to get starter's minutes at the 2 and 3 because of his shooting, but Morris is going to be the starting 2 guard at the start of the season because he is the high end defender Self loves on the perimeter. I cannot overstress how high Self is on Morris.

4. Bench. I already noted Parker will get his chances as the first big off the bench. Timberlake will be first in whenever Morris or KMc or possibly even KJ sit (with KMc sliding to KJ's 4 spot). Elmarko Jackson will primarily back up Dajuan, but his athleticism and hoops savvy may lead him to time at the 2 as well. And if Marcus Adams Jr keeps coming on as he did the last few months of his HS career he will see time backing up KJ at the 4.

Revisiting the last remaining open scholarship and "game changers" available...

5. Self says he is set at 11 scholarship players for next season unless "a game changer" becomes available.

5A. Ernest Udeh
Is he a "game changer"? I would argue not yet, but if you do not believe Parker Braun is the answer, Udeh would solve the only real depth issue if he returned - the backup 5.
Interesting is that as of 6 hours ago as I write this, national hoops analyst Eric Bossi of 247Sports was reported as saying nothing has changed in the last few days since Udeh to Duke apparently fell apart. IOW, there seems to be no clue what is up with him. Before the Duke visit KSt and TCU were listed as other places he would be visiting, but those visits have yet to be set. And Mike Vernon and Rivals have been reporting that Self & Co have maintained contact with Udeh, so who knows? And supposedly Mom never wanted him to leave KU to begin with, so again, who knows? Personally I would love him coming back. I think he has huge upside and could be the next great KU center if he did, but I just don't see it happening because if it did this postseason will have gone practically perfect for KU, and I cannot recall the last time that happened.

5B. Grant Nelson
The 6-11/235 PF from North Dakota State, currently deciding whether to stay in the NBA Draft or return for his last season of eligibility, would definitely be a this year game changer. There is "smoke" out there that he is looking at withdrawing and that WME, the agency that represented Gradey Dick for NIL, is working to represent Nelson in his NIL efforts.* If KU was lucky enough to get him, KJ just might be out of that starting 4 job, and if Parker Braun got any time after that it would be clean-up or emergency foul coverage unless he could beat out KJ for the backup 5 minutes.

Those are the only two I think might end up at KU, but both are long shots.

In closing, I must repeat that these are my views on the initial starters and the bench for next season.

Timberlake may prove so impactful that he just can't be kept off the floor.

KJ may not make the step up needed to successfully compete at the 4, forcing the 6-6 KMc to become our 4 and leaving an opening for Timberlake or Elmarko Jackson to get starter status (e,g, DH, AM, NT, KMc, HD).

Marcus Adams Jr may live up to the promise of his last months in HS and challenge KJ for that 4 spot.

I will say this -- I am not worried about outside shooting for this team. Timberlake and Morris have shown they can hit it and hit it often, Dajuan hits above 40% when he decides to take shots, and defenses collapsing on HD will give him and all the rest of our perimeter shooters more open shots than they will know what to do with. And of course HD can step out and hit the 3 as well if they don't follow him, leaving the post open for our perimeter guys cutting to the hoop if they do follow him.


*WME originally formed in 1898 as the William Morris Agency. See WME.