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New Year’s Resolutions: Kansas Jayhawks

Bill Self

Over the course of the holiday week, we at College Basketball Talk will be detailing what we believe will be the New Year’s Resolutions of some of the nation’s most talented, most disappointing, and thoroughly enigmatic teams. What can we say, we’re in a giving mood.

Who else made Resolutions? Click here to find out.

WHAT DOES KANSAS PROMISE TO DO MORE OF?: Find a consistent answer at point guard.


  • Why it will happen: The Jayhawks will need one of their two point guards -- junior Naadir Tharpe or freshman Frank Mason -- to step up and be more consistent if Kansas hopes to reach Arlington at the end of the season. Head coach Bill Self has to be pleased with the way his starter, Tharpe, has played in the last two games for Kansas since poor performances against Florida and Colorado and the Jayhawks’ incredibly difficult non-conference schedule should have them more prepared than most heading into the conference portion of the season.
  • Why it won’t happen: Tharpe (40 percent) and Mason (39 percent) are both shooting the ball poorly and are prone to lapses in judgement against pressure. It also doesn’t help that the Jayhawks are inconsistent as a team shooting the three (32 percent) and this allows opposing defenses to sag a bit and force Tharpe and Mason to make plays off the dribble. And how will Tharpe and Mason handle elite point guards after so-so showings against Florida’s backcourt and Colorado’s Spencer Dinwiddie? Facing an elite guard like Marcus Smart will be an interesting indicator of how Kansas’ point guards are handling Big 12 play.

WHAT DOES KANSAS SWEAR THEY WILL DO LESS OF?: Turn the ball over.


  • Why it will happen: Kansas turns the ball over around 13 times a game; none of the AP’s current top eight teams averages more than 12 turnovers per game, with many of them hovering around 10. Kansas is giving up a lot of possessions, but as their young rotation gets minutes together and their leadership at guard stabilizes, that number should go down. Naadir Tharpe looked far more in control during the Georgetown game and freshmen like Wayne Selden, Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid should understand the pressures of big-time college basketball after non-conference play is done. Plus, have you seen the difficulty of the Kansas non-conference schedule? They haven’t faced any low-to-mid major programs since late November and those turnover numbers could be slightly higher because of this.
  • Why it won’t happen: The Jayhawks have seven different players turning the ball over at least once a game. That points to a major team-wide issue and could prove to be an Achilles’ Heel for them come March. Kansas is still inconsistent in their halfcourt offense and their entire roster has to do a better job of valuing the ball and taking good shots. Is this a lack of leadership on the floor? Are the young Jayhawks still learning to gel? Only time will tell, but with Kansas’ perimeter shooting being so inconsistent, they also can’t afford to give away as many possessions as they have early in the year.

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