Kansas basketball: Vick’s absence could be green light for one Kansas guard

With the announcement that senior guard LaGerald Vick will be taking a leave of absence, Kansas basketball could be in trouble if it hopes to win a 15th straight Big 12 title.

Not only could the streak end, but potentially, the Jayhawks could take a hit in the postseason with the current absence of Vick (don’t worry, Kansas will still be in the NCAA Tournament).

With the streak in jeopardy, so is Kansas’ run of being a top-three seed in the NCAA Tournament. Depending on how well the Jayhawks perform without Vick, there could be a chance Kansas becomes a four-seed, which would be the first time the Jayhawks enter the NCAA Tournament as a four-seed since 2004.

Without Vick, the Jayhawks will be without their second-best scorer and best shooter on the team. Kansas’ ability to stretch the floor, which was already limited even with Vick, is nearly nonexistent now as the second-best three-point shooter on the team is freshman guard Quentin Grimes, who hits about 35% of his triples.

Freshman point guard Devon Dotson makes a higher percentage of threes than Grimes, but Dotson has not even made 20 three-pointers this year, as he is much more of a slasher.

Kansas’ ability to threat opposing defenses on the perimeter was poor and without its top shooter, there will need to be a player who steps up from behind the arc and a lot of fingers are starting to point at sophomore guard Charlie Moore.

Moore came into the Kansas program with high hopes, being a prolific scorer and facilitator at California. His expectations were to be a relief for Dotson and score off the bench, but as of late it seems as though Moore has been unable to do either.

His two most recent games have been solid games, having six assists against Texas Tech and then scoring eight points against Kansas State.

Moore was expected to be one of the better shooters on the team, but this season he has only been able to hit 27.5% of his threes and is barely better from the field overall, hitting 28.9% of his field goals.

With his recent turnaround however, there is hope for Moore to make an even bigger impact with Vick’s absence. On top of that, sophomore guard Marcus Garrett will likely miss his third straight game on Saturday against Oklahoma State, which begs the question, will Self start Moore?

The Jayhawks will likely whip out a starting lineup of Dotson, Grimes, Agbaji, Lawson and most likely Moore, meaning he will start his second game of the season. The last time Moore started a game was back in December against New Mexico State, where he shot 2-of-7 from the field, 1-of-5 from the three-point line and finished with five points.

Moore has struggled all season long, but now is his time to step up and be the guy the Jayhawks need.

Kansas will most certainly miss Vick in his absence, but there is a lot of talent on the squad (this was arguably Self’s most talented squad at the beginning of the season). What can the former five-star recruit do, what will he do to help the team?