I've been on the side of liking this roster on paper quite a bit all off season, and for the most part my biggest concern has been how will Self use this roster to play good enough defense to win at the highest level in March.
Now that the season is upon us we will soon find out. The thing that I find myself thinking is that the roster has plenty of great pieces but how to best fit them together is going to be interesting:
1. You have your 3 returning starters which is always great to have in today's game because of the valuable experience they bring playing together in this system. However, playing all three of HD, KJ and Juan 30+ minutes per game is not going to work best because they don't compliment each other very well. Self has already stated that he wants to reduce the amount of minutes all 3 of them play to under 30, but how low is he willing to go, especially with KJ in my opinion.
2. You brought in 3 very highly regarded transfers in AJ, Rylan and Zeke who provide a lot of what we lacked last year which is perimeter scoring and outside shooting. They should all help with spacing for HD and KJ in the paint, especially when it's just one of those two playing in the paint at a time. However, it could take a couple months for them to really click at KU. All 3 might have to deal with the same challenges simultaneously of being in a new system.
3. We brought in 2 SR point guards to help Juan, which was badly needed but they are opposites skill wise and I'm not sure you can play them together much. Coit is an offensive spark potentially but he's 5'8" which might cause him to get exposed pretty badly on the defensive end at times. Moore is a lock down defender and athlete but he's kinda like Juan in that he's not much of a scorer so who knows if they can play together for long stretches?
4. The two freshman appear to have very high ceilings and might be our best athletes but they are freshman so it's completely up in the air as to how much they will contribute this year. Clemence and McDowell are probably at the end of the bench.
I think figuring out the best combination of players that compliment each other will be a huge task this year. I do think the right combination is on this roster but will we find it, will they gel, and will Self actually use it substantially, even if it means playing the returning players a lot less potentially. I hope so, but it very well could require some tough decisions to be made about the minutes distribution.
Now that the season is upon us we will soon find out. The thing that I find myself thinking is that the roster has plenty of great pieces but how to best fit them together is going to be interesting:
1. You have your 3 returning starters which is always great to have in today's game because of the valuable experience they bring playing together in this system. However, playing all three of HD, KJ and Juan 30+ minutes per game is not going to work best because they don't compliment each other very well. Self has already stated that he wants to reduce the amount of minutes all 3 of them play to under 30, but how low is he willing to go, especially with KJ in my opinion.
2. You brought in 3 very highly regarded transfers in AJ, Rylan and Zeke who provide a lot of what we lacked last year which is perimeter scoring and outside shooting. They should all help with spacing for HD and KJ in the paint, especially when it's just one of those two playing in the paint at a time. However, it could take a couple months for them to really click at KU. All 3 might have to deal with the same challenges simultaneously of being in a new system.
3. We brought in 2 SR point guards to help Juan, which was badly needed but they are opposites skill wise and I'm not sure you can play them together much. Coit is an offensive spark potentially but he's 5'8" which might cause him to get exposed pretty badly on the defensive end at times. Moore is a lock down defender and athlete but he's kinda like Juan in that he's not much of a scorer so who knows if they can play together for long stretches?
4. The two freshman appear to have very high ceilings and might be our best athletes but they are freshman so it's completely up in the air as to how much they will contribute this year. Clemence and McDowell are probably at the end of the bench.
I think figuring out the best combination of players that compliment each other will be a huge task this year. I do think the right combination is on this roster but will we find it, will they gel, and will Self actually use it substantially, even if it means playing the returning players a lot less potentially. I hope so, but it very well could require some tough decisions to be made about the minutes distribution.
