Kansas Biggest Threat is from Within

Kansas has had an impressive start this season, wins over a very good UNC team and a tough Michigan State. Throughout these games Bill Self has shown that his roster is not just talented but deep as well. They can send out platoons of substitutes losing minimal scoring and athleticism on the floor. This gives the Jayhawks a unique ability to rest players when needed and trust in their bench to not just maintain leads but even add to them. With such a talented roster and a proven winner what can take this team down? Shockingly it is their best player, a player of the year candidate, Hunter Dickinson.

I understand that this may come across as just a hater making a hot take to get clicks but bear with me. Dickinson can score almost at will within the paint and being 7’2 and 260 pounds he is a menace on the boards. While his stat line is always impressive it feels similar to an Andre Drummond impact instead of a last year Zak Edey. On offense he is an absolute game changer but sadly that is half of a basketball game. On defense he is what Patrick Beverly referred to as a traffic cone. He normally plants himself within the paint and tries his darndest to influence shots (often unsuccessfully) in most cases. Anytime he is asked to guard someone that is more than 6 inches from the basket he looks like he is moving in mud. I’m not asking an incredibly large human to have the fastest feet in the NCAA but he moves slow enough to have Zak Edey look like the flash. Kansas has not played any great shooting big men at this point in the year but that may just be their Achillies heal. When Kansas plays a team like UCF that is full of athletic bigs Bill Self will be given a dilemma. Does he leave his pre-season All-American on the floor and hope the four other guys can hide his deficiency or does he do the ultra-embarrassing sub-in/sub-out for offense defense (as one of those guys it hurts the pride) with a player that’s suppose to be one of the best in the league? Kansas has been able to hide their weakness, like all great teams do, but inevitably there will come a game where guards are getting beat off the dribble or they have a stretch four and five. When that happens, we will get an insight into how big an issue this really is.

P.S- I know the argument is he is that dominate on offense, but the reality is he should be. He is the same age as the OKC Thunder Roster.