Wednesday Rock Chalk Roundup — 7.13.16

Jesse Newell of the Kansas City Star: “Even if he does get stronger, Bragg figures to be a better offensive rebounder than defensive rebounder simply because of his body type. Offensive rebounding and defensive rebounding are separate skills, and while players that can anchor in their spot for boxouts tend to be better defensive rebounders (think Landen Lucas), springier guys like Bragg tend to be better on the offensive glass while being able to squirm their away around defenders for loose balls. If Bragg would have played a few more minutes, his offensive rebounding percentage would have ranked 31st nationally, meaning his best path to more efficient offense could be cleaning up the shots of teammates rather than creating his own attempts.”

Andrew Wiggins was interviewed by NBA TV

Jerrance Howard still has some game. 

Matt Tait of the Lawrence Journal World: “Yes, Ryan Willis showed some promise last season, and, more to the point, showed some ability in some of the areas that Cozart is lacking. But, Willis also injured himself playing basketball this spring and was forced to sit out of most of the physical activity during spring practices. That gave Cozart the opportunity to take most of the reps as KU’s No. 1 quarterback and that, at least momentarily, gave him a slight lead over Willis in the race for the starting job. That fact is magnified by KU coach David Beaty’s desire to tweak the offense and go to more of a true Air Raid look, which Cozart now has much more experience running and repping than Willis.”

Big 12 Media Preseason Football Team Announced: No Jayhawks made the team.

Here’s a really good breakdown of Bill Self’s zone offense: “This playbook includes five zone plays from Kansas Jayhawks Head Coach Bill Self. Every year, the Jayhawks are one of the most efficient offenses in college basketball. With such a high powered offense, many teams opt to play zone defense against the Jayhawks. Bill Self does a great job teaching his players how to play against a zone including spacing and timing.”

This summer Frank Mason has been showing off his jumping ability every chance he gets. Here’s his most recent display of athleticism.

Ricky O’Donnell of SB Nation: “Ayton averaged 20.1 points per game on 58.3 percent shooting in 23 games on Nike’s EYBL circuit this summer, and placed third in the league by averaging 11.5 rebounds per game. He thinks of himself as a face-up big man and might be the first player to ever earnestly compare himself to Kristaps Porzingis. He canned 14 threes at only a 25 percent clip in EYBL play, but is already a very good free throw shooter, making 78 percent of his foul shots this summer. The one knock on Ayton is that he doesn’t always look like a great competitor. Is that a symptom of a non-stop grassroots schedule or something more concerning? If he puts it all together, he will be the front-runner for the No. 1 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. At the moment, Kansas would appear to be the favorite for his one-and-done season. The Jayhawks have supposedly had an assistant at every one of his games since he came to the United States in ninth grade.”