The Jayhawks are not going to be an easy win.
Next up for Duke is Kansas in Las Vegas and that’s going to be a show.
Kansas of course is ranked #1 and not without reason.
The Jayhawks start with senior Hunter Dickinson, a 7-2/265 lb. grad student. He’s not a big NBA prospect - if he were he’d be there already - but he is a wonderful college center. He’s a really smart player too. Dickinson is putting up 17.8 ppg and 10.4 rebounds. He’s also getting nearly two assists per game and he has three point range.
Kansas also has an outstanding point guard in 6-2 senior Dajuan Harris, who’s averaging 5.2 apg and 9.2 ppg. He’s a big deal. Like Dickinson, Harris may or may not make the NBA, but he’s a great college point guard. Not many schools have a great point guard and a great center.
KJ Adams is also a pain. A 6-7/235 lb. senior, Adams doesn't have a huge statistical profile, but Jayhawks coach Bill Self said that he is as important as any player he’s had at Kansas. Tom Izzo compared him to Magic Johnson. A better comparison might be to Cooper Flagg: both are versatile and masters of subtle aspects of the game. He's also an excellent passer. Like Flagg, you’re going to need to watch him to see his mastery of the game.
Rylan Griffin is a 6-6 junior transfer from Alabama who has Final Four experience. Against UNC in last spring’s NCAA tournament, he had 19 points. Against Clemson in the next round, he had eight assists.
Zeke Mayo, a 6-4 senior and hometown kid, is getting 12.6 ppg, 5.2 rpg and 3.2 assists.
AJ Storr, a 6-7 junior transfer from Wisconsin, David Coit, a 5-11 senior and Flory Bidunga, a 6-9 highly athletic freshman, round out the rotation although Bidunga has had a tough stretch with an ankle injury against UNCW and getting a wisdom tooth taken out this week as well. He’s expected to play Tuesday.
Kansas is incorporating a lot of new elements into the team and that takes time, as Duke knows, but Self has some guys who really know how to play the game. The challenge for Kansas is playing together.
The Jayhawks are undefeated so far, although UNC gave them an excellent game and UNC-Wilmington pushed them for awhile too.
So did Michigan State.
The most interesting thing there is that UNC pushed them. The Tar Heels are a bit off their normal standards in the middle but still got 28 points and 21 rebounds from Jalen Washington, Jae’Lyn Withers and Van-Allen Lubin.
That may partly be because Hunter Dickinson has had a minor injury concern. It shouldn’t affect him (much) on Tuesday.
Other than Dickinson and Bidunga, Duke will have a considerable size advantage and the defense we saw in Tucson was stellar. We don’t have to worry much about Cooper Flagg, other than foul trouble and/or possible cramps, but Khaman Maluach may have a challenging night. Dickinson is big, strong and mean in a good sense. Maluach picked up three fouls against Kentucky and three against Arizona. If that happens again, Maliq Brown may become more important than ever.
Tyrese Proctor has always been a solid defender - just ask Caleb Love - and he’s likely to do well against whoever he guards. Duke could use a better game out of his sidekick, Caleb Foster, but Sion James is emerging as another outstanding defender off the bench.
Flagg is likely to match up against Adams and that has the potential to be the best one-on-one matchup of the season. It could be really great because those guys should really push each other.
We’re also curious to see how Kon Knueppel does. He took awhile to adjust to Arizona and wasn’t overly effective until late. He seems kind of due for a big game, doesn’t he?
We have no idea what’s going to happen, but we can say this: no matter who wins or who loses, it’s a November game and both teams are still figuring things out. That’s always true in November but more so in this new era where teams can fall apart and be remade in the space of a few weeks.
No matter who loses, both of these teams have an excellent chance of making it to the Final Four. So consider this a possible look ahead to March.
