While KU lost both of their exhibitions last week — including yesterday’s 90-84 loss to Duke at Allen — these unofficial games represent a crucial unveiling moment for this season’s Jayhawks.

Though it’s weird to see us lose at the Fieldhouse, I’m absolutely glad we played these games. It gives us an idea of the “shape of the thing” earlier in the season than we are used to, and these exhibitions feature other blue blood programs instead of, like, Fort Hays (s/o Fort Hays though!).

While these games exposed some of KU’s preseason structural flaws, it also delivered a nice glimpse at their potential, which might be even higher than expected. On one thing I am certain — to reach their ceiling, the Jayhawks must give the keys to Tyran Stokes immediately.

Even if you’re watching along casually, reading something like Joe Hill’s spooky short story collection 21st Century Ghosts, for example, it doesn’t take long to see what Stokes can do. He’s a lane shark who has ton of reps against elite competition courtesy of his time in the USA Basketball system.

There are going to be times when his shot isn’t falling, however that doesn’t limit his impact as much as it would for a different sort of wing. He is the exact type of connector at that position that KU needs to thread the offense together, especially since they seem to lack a traditional point guard, or at least one with some experience running Self’s offense.

Stokes laid down 28 8 and 7 (!!!) against elite competition — Duke is so long, deep, and has a massive, should-be megastar freshman center — and could not be kept out of the paint, or stopped in transition. If we’re going to make it deep into March, Stokes has to be the offensive engine, and we will have to just risk some of the defensive lapses that usually drive Self up a wall.

KU’s best lineups yesterday played small, played fast, and moved the ball around. The addition of Trey Kaufman-Ren should give Kansas some more mobile size, though if they play in a small ball configuration, they’ll certainly be lacking anything resembling “rim protection.” I am curious how Self will use Christian Reeves and Paul Mbiya in the rotation — they’re both good traditional bigs who operate in the exact spots that Stokes will need to drive into. TBD on that, but I like that we had a chance to speculate about this issue before the regular season even begins. I’d rather do that now than during the conference schedule.

The best lineups yesterday featured Stokes and fellow freshman Taylen Kinney, a player who I will also be stumping for all season. When Stokes and Kinney are in together, the ball doesn’t stick — Council and White have the tendency to pound the ball at moments where it needs to whipping around the perimeter. The four-freshman lineup gelled well — Trent Perry, +11, just saying.

KU will be able to get it out in transition, and they had better lean on that. If the Duke game was any indication, they’re going to have trouble with teams with length and size. Running out is one potential solve, although to do so, it’ll certainly involve playing smaller, quicker lineups, and just living with some of the weaknesses of that approach. It’s up to KU to minimize those.

The shooting and shot selection is still iffy. However, I’ve never felt better about two straight Jayhawks L’s in my life… probably helps that they didn’t actually count.