March 15, 2011

Kansas lost Sherron Collins, Xavier Henry, C.J. Henry and Cole Aldrich from last season, four fifths of a pretty awesome starting five. They didn't do a whole lot to replace them; Josh Selby was the only incoming freshman of note, while Mario Little and Travis Releford returned from voluntary redshirts. That was about it. And yet despite it all, Kansas are just as good as they were last year, if not better.

[...] At this point, the only thing Josh Selby does consistently is shoot, and he undermines that strength with an inconsistent release point and over-confident shot selection. Selby is not good at making shots around the basket at this stage in his career - which doesn't stop him trying - and his defense can be as wild, exasperating and damaging as his offense when it's similarly unchecked. That said, he is the Jayhawks's best guard option for creating his own shot, and, on his day, the best jumpshooter on the team. He is the polar opposite of Brady Morningstar, senior role player with bad facial hair, who is a ball mover, secondary ball-handler, extra passer, unathletic if effective defender, and reluctant shooter. (White role player at powerhouse school, rarely shoots, plays defense, Big 12. Excessive Bob Knight and Brent Musburger love was inevitable.) Travis Reed functions as the unathletic, well-intentioned spot-up shooter and extra-passer. (Same Musburger-related problem here, too.) Releford used his redshirt season to calm down and stop making so many mistakes, and, with an improved jumpshot, provides an athletic scoring guard option off the bench, particularly effective in transition. And Mario Little, a junior college transfer trying desperately to reform from undersized power forward into wing player, has developed a jumpshot with which to greater achieve that aim. He could stand to take a few less of them, however.

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