Kansas basketball: Bill Self will mostly use four guard lineups next season
It looks like Kansas basketball head coach Bill Self will be sticking to a four around one style of play for the 2020-21 season.
It seems like forever ago now, but one of the major talking points last season around Kansas basketball was whether or not head coach Bill Self should primarily play four guards and one big, or try to use Udoka Azubuike and David McCormack at the same time.
While Self seemed to initially favor the traditional two bigs approach, the Jayhawks eventually transitioned to a mostly four-guard style, which was for the best. Playing Azubuike and McCormack at the same time just wasn’t very effective, and it caused all kinds of spacing problems.
Based on what Self said last night on Hawk Talk, it looks like we can expect next season’s lineups to reflect last season’s in terms of structure: “I see us playing four around one most of the time.”
Self didn’t rule out playing two bigs though, specifically saying that senior Mitch Lightfoot could come in at the power forward position from time to time.
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While this is all good news, the starting lineup for next season is still hard to predict at this point. Marcus Garrett, David McCormack, and Ochai Agbaji all seem like pretty safe bets, but the other two spots are both up in the air.
Tristan Enaruna, Christian Braun, Jalen Wilson, Dajuan Harris, Tyon Grant-Foster, and Bryce Thompson all have chances to fill those two spots, so we’ll see what happens over the rest of the offseason.
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While the starters are still unknown, Self confirming that the Jayhawks will continue with their four around one lineup is a good thing. It gives us more of an idea of what next season’s squad will look like and will hopefully capitalize on all the talent Self has at his disposal.