Kansas basketball: David McCormack’s going to be a problem next season
Kansas basketball’s David McCormack will have an increased role on next season’s squad, and he should be one of the best players on the team.
After committing to the Kansas Jayhawks as a four-star recruit, David McCormack wasn’t expected to play much in his freshman year. He’d be behind Silvio De Sousa, Udoka Azubuike, and Dedric Lawson; however, Azubuike and De Sousa would both have complications, and McCormack was forced to step up for Kansas basketball.
McCormack started the final 13 games of his freshman season, and he retained that starting role into his sophomore year. McCormack started 18 games last season and played significant minutes in all of the ones he didn’t.
Last season, McCormack averaged 6.9 points and 4.1 rebounds in just 14.1 minutes per game. Now that Azubuike has graduated, David McCormack has a chance to step into the limelight and be the Jayhawks’ primary big man in the paint.
McCormack seemed to make significant improvements between his freshman and sophomore seasons, most notably the addition of a mid-range jumper. The mid-range McCormack jumper was one of those shots that made fans say “no, no, no, no, yes!” as the arc-less shot went into the basket.
If McCormack can knock down his mid-range shot with consistency it’ll make him an incredibly dynamic player, and a problem for opponents. He’s got a ton of potential to improve this offseason, and he could easily be an All-Big 12 selection next season.
An interesting comparison for McCormack is Thomas Robinson averaged just 7.6 points in his sophomore season before totaling 17.7 per game in his junior year. Robinson would go on to be taken at the No. 5 overall spot in the NBA Draft.
Obviously that doesn’t mean McCormack is going to have that great of season, but the two situations seem fairly similar.
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Kansas basketball is going to be a solid team next season. They’re returning a lot of the key pieces from their 2020 team, and David McCormack will be a huge part of the Jayhawks’ success. He’s going to be an absolute problem for opposing teams, and he should be one of the best big men in the Big 12.