Kansas basketball needs a strong season from David McCormack

Senior forward David McCormack was an important offensive component for Kansas basketball last season. As he returns for potentially his final year, he’ll still need to be looked to as a leader for this team.

The Jayhawks relied on the six-foot-ten forward’s support often last season, as he would turn into a strong shoulder to lean on heading into the later weeks of the schedule.

By the end of his junior campaign, McCormack was averaging 13.4 points per game on 23 minutes. Starting in 28 of 29 games, he would be a driving advantage inside for the Jayhawks, leading the offense when the team got cold.

An NBA-ready season will mean plenty of impressive numbers on the stat sheet, however, getting Dave some support inside will also be a crucial part of making his senior year a slam dunk.

With new additions of forward transfer Cam Martin and incoming freshman Zach Clemence, there will be some new names to help give McCormack some aid in the paint. Sixth-year post Mitch Lightfoot will also be returning for another year with the Jayhawks after contributing an average of 10 minutes per game last season.

This set should be fairly reliable and places Kansas in a more comfortable position inside this time around. It may even come down to a battle for minutes, depending on which inside setup proves most effective.

McCormack was considerably healthy throughout the 2020-21 season, despite a hiccup with Covid-19 protocols before the Big 12 tourney. He would suffer a foot injury this offseason but has returned to practices, according to KUsports.com.

Kansas is expected to be a probable contender for a conference title and a deep March run this coming season, and if the hype is true, support inside will be a must. McCormack has been arguably one of the more reliable offensive backbones in the Big 12, and his senior season could feature more proof of that claim.