Is there such a thing as being *TOO* loaded?
Ochai Agbaji is coming back.
Remy Martin withdrew from consideration from the Draft, and will now fill a big role at arguably Kansas’s most necessary position for the upcoming campaign.
KU’s course-correction after the USC washout was so neck-snapping that I don’t blame you if you already forgot who is on this incoming team, but it’s a team loaded with both experience and talent. I don’t like to get too “on paper” in July, but the starting lineup could be Agbaji (Sr.), Jalen Wilson (RS Soph.), Drake transfer Joseph Yesufu (Jr.), Martin (Sr.) and David McCormack (Sr.) with Christian Braun (Jr.) as the first man off the bench.
Whoooooosh, y’all.
While I suspected that the bar for expectations next season would be extremely high, Agbaji’s announcement (and to a lesser extent, Martin’s) has already shot KU fan anxiety into the stratosphere. I haven’t even brought up highly-touted freshman KJ Adams and Zach Clemence, but I like the thought of them both being there at the back of the deck, coming along slowly but steadily. Maybe that’s a fantasy. But, come on! This is a roster.
At this time of year, there aren’t games or meaningful scrimmages. College dudes don’t really get to partake in the Olympics stuff. Anything can happen in the penalty-free portal window, but let’s say there won’t be any kind of major roster move. We don’t have much to go off of, but the nature of our fanbase often directs us toward criticism as an emotional defense mechanism: Is KU too deep? How are they going to play all of these guys?
Let’s get into it.
Chapter 1: The NIL
I get the sense that the post-NIL landscape is absolute chaos. Money is flying. Master P’s kid got handed a bag by Web Apps America; a Miami-based gym chain is giving all of U of Miami’s 90 scholarship football players $500 a month for the season. I’ve yet to see a deal handed out by someone like Nike or adidas, but you have to think bigger brands will wait out the early days and find value down the line. Marketplaces like Opendorse now exist, and they’re harder to navigate than a Discord channel about crypto.
Schools like Alabama have gotten in front of this, releasing full FAQs that walk potential sponsors through the process. KU seems to have not gotten in front of this, as they’re currently pushing players through a compliance app they launched after the NIL went live. Having done some DM wading in an attempt to exhaust the Streak Talk marketing budget ($75), I get the sense that things can only escalate from here. Or maybe not? Let’s talk in a week.
Newell pitching hockey subs
Kansas basketball is lucky to have a beat guy like Newell; compared to many other college beats, he does incredibly detailed work. But this is one of those Newell ideas I just do not see coming to pass, because… has Self ever done anything like this? People bring up Kentucky 2014 “platoon,” where Devin Booker came off the bench or whatever, but fail to mention that Cal scrapped the whole thing once the games began mattering. It’s hard to play that many guys and have it be effective over the long haul of a season.
Bill Self is an optimizer. While I don’t think there’s actually a thing as being “too loaded,” I understand the concern. Will the stuffed roster create tension in the locker room? Are there promises Self has made that he can’t keep? We’ll see. This year, KU has multiple ballhandlers who can also shoot, which has been the historic unlocking agent for KU’s spacing. If Martin/Agbaji/Yesufu are even hitting at like, a 35% clip, they’re going to be fine.
Yes, last year’s season contained many spurts of hideous basketball, but as an NBA fan, I can assert that this is true across the board. (Many late-stage playoff games have been borderline unwatchable! Go Bucks!). I think Self reads the room well, and he’ll rev this team up for success. A reminder: Scott Drew just won the title. You think Bill Self doesn’t have a full-on response overture planned for that?
Ochai’s NBA Adventure
I’ve had a theory that NBA scouts don’t watch college tape—one could certainly argue that they don’t really need to, since the games are played at such different speeds—and this Givony aside “ONE OF THE BEST DEFENDERS IN COLLEGE BASKETBALL” confirms it. Agbaji has the tools to be a great defender, but he hasn’t quite… shown that consistently, to say the very least.
Maybe guards coming out of Kansas all get this tag, and if that’s the case, great. But it makes me think Ochai will make a leap on defense, just so that if a scout does accidentally throw on a game while he’s waiting for Grizzlies-Warriors at 10:30 EST, he’ll have something to watch for.
What about the NCAA ruling? lol
Haha, remember this? The NIL has quickly warped everything that came before it; it seems harder to imagine that KU will be handed down a strict penalty. And even if they did get one, will the NCAA be strong enough to enforce it? Won’t KU have allies in their fight against it?
It may not matter. From the looks of things, Nebraska’s AD will be able to buy the NCAA in like, two months. I would not cast my comment here as the bravado of the would-be-punished; I just can’t see any timeline that existed previous to the NIL straightening out anytime soon.