Jayhawks' outside-shooting, four-guard lineup is here to stay
LAWRENCE, Kan. -- The hallmarks of Kansas under Bill Self over the years have been inside-outside post play and gritty defense, the kind of in-your-shorts man-to-man that leaves opponents gasping for air.
That trusted formula has produced 13 straight Big 12 championships.
But if the No. 10 Jayhawks are to break a tie with the UCLA teams of the 1960s and '70s for the most consecutive conference titles, their formula will look quite different this season: They will pour in 3-pointers, race around the court and simply outscore their foes.
"I do think you can get tougher. I do think you can get harder. I do think you can become more competitive and learn how to compete as you go," Self said. "But the reality of it is we're not changing right now playing four guards. Our second-best rebounder is 6-foot-5, 180 pounds. We're not changing that. We're not changing our next-best rebounder weighs 200 pounds. We're not changing that fact.
"We're playing four really average-sized guards," Self said. "We're not going to change that."
So, best to adapt to it.
It helps that those four guards -- Devonte Graham, Svi Mykhailiuk, Lagerald Vick and Malik Newman -- form one of the best backcourts in the nation. Graham is a do-everything floor general, Mykhailiuk one of the best sharpshooters in the nation, Vick the most athletic of the bunch and Newman capable of getting to the rim with as quick of a first step as anybody in the league.
It also helps that they're experienced: Graham and Mykhailiuk are seniors with three title rings on their fingers, Vick is a junior and Newman is a third-year sophomore who redshirted last season.
Together, they've led the Jayhawks (15-3, 5-1) to four consecutive wins, including road wins over then-No. 16 TCU and sixth-ranked West Virginia. They've pushed Kansas back to the top of the league standings headed into Saturday's game against Baylor, and back into the discussion of a No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament when the bracket is revealed in about six weeks.
In other words, they have Kansas right where it is accustomed to being.
But the route has been much different. That was evident in the Jayhawks' comeback victory over the Mountaineers on Monday night. Graham and Mykhailiuk combined for 20 of their final 26 points, most of them on 3s and pull-up jumpers -- each of them knocked down three from beyond the arc.
The comeback in years past would have featured a big man such as Darrell Arthur or Thomas Robinson in the post, or an elite guard such as Frank Mason III going right to the rim.
Different styles, even if the results have been the same.
"I think we assume some things because of the past," Self said. "You look at the past, I mean, Landen Lucas was tough. We're not replacing him with the same toughness. Josh Jackson was a monster. He was an assassin. We're not replacing him with the same type of mentality. Certainly, you can't match Frank's mentality in that area. Which is OK. We were so spoiled with that in the past."
Those past teams may have had bruising big men, tough guard play and pure scorers all over the floor, and they may have been one of the best defensive teams in the country. But they also had deficiencies, and in many cases, they are the same areas where this year's team excels.
The Jayhawks have already hit 195 shots from beyond the arc, tops in the Big 12, and are shooting 41 percent from that range. They are among the league leaders in assists and shooting percentage, numbers that help to offset the fact that Kansas ranks ninth out of 10 teams in the league in rebounding.
"We're going to be scrappy, tough. We got to do a way better job of rebounding, obviously," Graham said. "But yeah, basically, we've just got to get way tougher, like I've been saying."
That toughness could get a boost now that Silvio De Souza, a five-star prospect from Florida's IMG Academy, has been cleared to play. He graduated in December and promptly joined the Jayhawks, and Self is hopeful the big man will be up to speed by February.
It could get another boost if Billy Preston, another five-star prospect, is ever cleared. The school and NCAA have been looking into the ownership of a car he was driving on campus last fall.
In the meantime, the Jayhawks head into their game against the Bears on Saturday riding a win streak, winning high-scoring affairs thanks to 3-pointers and an offensive flair.
"We don't have the same team we've had in the past," Self said, "and we have to understand that."
