Taylen Kinney, Tyran Stokes McDonald's All-American Game Performances - What They Mean for Kansas

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Bill Delph, who will be back for Kansas, had to like what he saw from Tyron Stokes at

the McDonald's All-American game.

We're going to break down the Mickey D's performances from some of the high school

groups related to KU on today's episode of the show.

You are Lockdown Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Lockdown

Podcast Network, your team every day.

What's going on, Derek Johnson here with another episode of Lockdown Jayhawks, we're going

to break down some of the McDonald's game, All-American game reactions and results as

it pertains to KU.

We're also going to get into a little bit here on looking back on this past season.

What are some things that KU did as good as any team during the Bill Self-era and as bad

as any team during the Bill Self-era and try to take that to see what you can work on

in the off season?

Let's start right here with the McDonald's All-American game.

We'll get into a little bit on KU Women's Basketball Group, Sydney Bryant, but also KU with

Taylin Kinney on the men's side and then somebody they're obviously targeting the entire

in Stokes who seems like Kentucky and Kansas are the two leaders in the clubhouse there.

Let's start with what I saw from Taylin Kinney.

In the game itself, he had five points, three assists, but three turnovers, two rebounds

and two steals.

He was only two of eight from the floor.

He goes one of four from three.

I don't think it's over really the best idea to sometimes take a look at the shooting

sets in a game like this.

One game sample, it's not really, I don't know, the most conducive for hitting shots.

You're not like running a great offense with guys that you've known all the time.

Maybe you're playing with a different ball than you're used to.

There are certain things that the shots aren't always going to fall, but that said, we got

a good amount of watch on him.

It wasn't just the game.

There was also a scrimmage, which I went back and watched the scrimmage.

You can find both of those around on YouTube.

In general, I think the big question with Kinney coming into this year is going to be,

what is the defense going to be?

Because from an offensive perspective, he seems very skilled and progressed to a level

that can make an impact for KU right away.

What is that defense going to be?

I thought in the scrimmage in the game, he did a good job of playmaking on the defensive

end of the floor.

I think in general, I wouldn't call him the most.

I think in general, I wouldn't call him the best athlete in the world.

I don't think he's the fastest kid in the world.

I don't think he's the quickest kid in the world.

It is a little bit different than you think of some of the freshman point guards that

have been handed the reins in the bill's self-era.

You think of guys who do have a ton of juice, who do have that quickness, whether it was

Mario Chalmers or Devon Dotson, guys who have athletically had that little bit of burst.

I think there's some wiggle with Kinney.

I don't know how much overall speed and quickness and athleticism there is in general, but

I do think he makes up for it on the defensive end with, I'm not saying he's a bad athlete

or he's slow.

It's just like he's not those guys.

He has very quick hands, right?

Very quick hands able to get his hand on deflections, able to get steels.

He had a nice play where it was in the scrimmage, the ball's just kind of, I don't know,

the past has kind of come through the middle and he gets his hands up really quickly and pops

the ball in the air that leads to a breakout layup in the scrimmage and then he had another

steal in that game that led to a dunk for his team.

There was another play where he was able to kind of keep his feet like quickly in front

of the defender driving on him.

The defender spins and I wasn't sure if he or his teammate was the one who poked the

steal away, but he was the one who ends up grabbing it and then he bounces the ball

ahead for a really nice pass, the teammate for a dunk.

There was also like speaking to the defense in the game, there's a play where he's supposed

to get screened by two guys.

I don't think either guy did a great job setting the screen, but Kenny did a really good job

fighting around to make sure that he got by both screens and moments later in the game,

there's another play where they're making it look like he's going to get double screened

and then he makes the correct switch.

The first one they didn't switch it and he was able to stick with his man.

The second one they switched it, he finds the right guy that he's supposed to be on and

what I found really impressive was on the other end of the action, they had a off ball

shooter coming off another screen just getting open for a shot and the guy who was dribbling

the basketball to begin with off the double screen ended up just taking a shot as he was

taking the shot that other guy was coming off the screen and Kenny knew the action, read

the action right away.

He was in line to jump the passing lane.

He read it all, it was a really good job of recognition by him.

Obviously, the ball didn't come there, it went up on a shot instead, but that just showed

me some defensive IQ, which I thought was good.

Then he had a nice stop on the end of the first quarter play on which it was just kind

of a one-on-one like Gardom on a jump shot.

There was a play that this is going to happen with freshman I think, especially for somebody

like him who does clearly have quick hands and is able to get some steals where he got

a little too greedy and he gambled and then got beat because of it.

I will say moments where he got beat on drives and stuff like that, I don't think he's going

to be the best defender in the world, but if you're not going to be the best defender

in the world, it would at least be a playmaker.

If you're going to give up some touchdowns, get some picks, Texas, to go with it.

I do think we saw good signs of that with Kenny.

I don't know how tight of a dribble he has, but he also did have some good dribble moves.

That becomes kind of interesting.

The shots weren't falling at a high rate in either the game or the scrimmage, but again,

you look at the bigger sample size and he's been somebody who can make shots at a

high volume, so I'm not overly concerned with that.

I think what you did see in these settings was, even though the shot wasn't always falling,

the ability to create his own shot was always there.

He did show a nice floater than he made in the scrimmage.

The step back three hit in the corner over the Houston Commit Center, Diane, who are

Dianne, who by the way, I think that dude's going to be a stud, but anyway, he had to step

back three over him in the corner.

That was an incredible shot.

You can see the ability to create some of these really tough shots and make some of these

really tough shots that is going to be really valuable for KU to have because, quite frankly,

they haven't had enough of those players.

Now, KU needs to get more of them.

It can't just be Taylor and Kenny.

He can't be the first option, but you need to have multiple of those guys.

You can do that for you, and that is nice to see that he has that ability.

I also think he has solid vision and passing ability.

I'd say he's a very accurate passer as well.

There are a couple balls that he can really throw a line drive pass, like somewhere he's

like kind of looping it sideways, throws a good bounce passes, like he can fit a laser

being passed into a tight window with accuracy, so that was really cool to see as well.

I think in general, like I said, he's not a bad athlete.

He's a good athlete, but just compared to some of the guys who are at that game who

are a freak athlete, so you see the Jackson Richards isn't yet, or if we're to compare it

to those past build, like the Von Dotson.

It's not that, but the one thing that he has going his way is he seemed to have a really

good idea of change of pace and utilizing it, and that can be just as impactful as anything

is knowing how to change your pace, knowing when to stop, knowing when to start, knowing

when to go, knowing when to speed it up, because it can keep the defender completely off

of you, because they can't really get in rhythm with what you're doing, and I did think

he showed that a lot.

One question I came away from this, I only saw it happen twice in the game, but it was

when he was hard hedged, when you had basically the two defenders, like a ball screen comes

up, and the two defenders blitz him and basically are doubling him.

We know a lot of big 12 teams use that kind of aggressive defense, Houston does it, Iowa

State does it, right?

Other teams in the country do it.

He had one more forced amount of bounds, and he had another that he kind of struggled

with.

So how he starts to figure that out and improves on that's going to be really important

for KU next season.

I also think in general, and this is the case for a lot of young players, he's going to

have to learn to play off the ball a little bit better, didn't see a ton of movement

off the ball for him offensively defensively, there were times he got lost a little bit

off the ball that is, again, kind of normal for young players, but something that KU is

going to have to improve for him to play a big role.

I would also say this.

I think some places have him listed at like 64, he looks closer to like six one or six

two.

He's a bit of a smaller guard, which we've seen KU have so much success with.

So it's not a big deal from that perspective.

It is a big deal in terms of as you look to round out the rest of your roster in the

transfer portal, what types of players do you go after?

Maybe it doesn't make sense to bring on another small guard.

Maybe the other guard you need has to be at least, I don't know, six three or six four

or somewhere in that range as opposed to looking into, like we did the Jackson shell

stat deep dive, maybe with Kenny being closer to six one, shell stat no longer is

somebody who makes sense, right?

Maybe it has to be some of your six three or six four plus, right?

Okay, what about Tyron Stokes?

What about Sydney Bryant?

We'll get to those reactions next as well as the things that KU did is good and is

bad as any team of the bill self error this past season.

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All right, McDonald's All-American takeaways here.

Let's move on to Tyron Stokes, who is still uncommitted.

Could he go to Kansas?

Could he go to Kentucky?

He had an interesting reaction on social media to Bill Self announcing he's coming back and

the hope would be that for KU, that is good news with one Tyron Stokes.

So in the McDonald's All-American game, he had 12 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks

and a steal, filling up the statue.

And that is just kind of what he does, 5 of 13 from the floor.

So again, not the best efficient shooting game, 1 of 4 from 3, 2 of 3 at the foul line.

Now you go back to the scrimmage here and you see, because there's some highlights going

around from McDonald's All-American, like some really cool blocks that he had.

He has this like chase down block in the scrimmage game and just in general, it causes a lot

of like deflections and playmaking on the defensive end.

He even had to play in the scrimmage where he dives on a loose ball that he was responsible

for forcing.

And I couldn't help but see that and be like, dude, this is scrimmage in the McDonald's

All-American game.

He'll self would love that, right?

And then I found in general, like he showed pretty good awareness of when to pick up someone

or to switch or something.

The block that he has on like an arching layup off a pick and roll on defense in the scrimmage

was unbelievably special.

He also had a nice steal that led to a dunk in the actual McDonald's All-American game.

I mean, you just see some of the highlights in the flash plays of what he is capable of

doing on the defensive end.

It is really special with his like six foot seven frame that's super athletic.

I was really impressed by Stokes passing ability.

And it's interesting because as you're watching the broadcast both in the practice session

and in the game session, they're raving about his passing.

In fact, from the people on the broadcast, they think that Tyron Stokes best skill is

his passing ability.

And I find that interesting because, you know, as good as scoring season as Darren Peterson

had, the passing wasn't there to what we wanted it to be.

Now, a little overblown, the assist numbers weren't as good as they probably should have

been.

Like he did make some good passes that KU just kind of blew the shots on.

But I think Stokes isn't even better pass regardless of what Peterson is, which I think

becomes interesting for a couple reasons that we'll get to here in a second.

But he was especially good throwing passes to the big man, Dionne, again going to Houston,

which I also found interesting because it's like if you're good at throwing passes to

the big man, whether it was like throwing a lob or hitting him when he had sealed off

his opponent, I'm just thinking they're like, if you can get Stokes next to Florey, that

could be a lot of easier buckets for Florey.

At times, KU struggled to get Florey the ball in an advantageous position this year.

I think Stokes would help with that.

He also had a really nice bounce pass to help a teammate get to the free throw line.

It just really felt like he played like almost even better when he was the primary initiator

with the passing ability.

And the reason I love that even more is going back to what I just said on Taylor and Kenny.

He might be closer to 6162.

You want another guard in there.

What if Tyron Stokes is the answer, right?

Like, if you bring Tyron Stokes in, I know we view him as a three or four.

And on the defensive end, sure, he can be the three or four.

He has that size.

And at the end of the day, you kind of are what you guard.

So you would be the three and four, but offensively, I think you'd be fine with basically your

one, two, being Stokes and Kenny, where Kenny offensively is basically your shooting

guard, combo guard shooting guard, and Stokes is basically your one offensively because

he is that good of a passer.

And the mismatches you could create with him running, pick and roll as the ballhandler

are incredible.

So you almost, and then you could build a super jumbo team, which is kind of invoked right

now, called basketball.

If you were to bring in Stokes, you can almost view it as offensively Stokes is the one.

Kenny is the two, transfer is the three, right, like you could bring in a wing.

You could bring in somebody who could shoot whatever.

Your four could be tiller, it could be a transfer, whatever, and then flurry or transfer,

depending what happens with flurry at the five, right?

Then defensively, you could view it as, okay, Kenny's guarding the opposing one, whoever

you need to guard the two, and then Kenny's guarding like a three for instance, right?

It gives you flexibility that he can do those things and is so successful at him.

Being general, I would say just the passing of, or the combination of passing and athleticism,

it also makes him an incredible transition player.

The athleticism comes seamless sometimes, like, he's one of the, some guys are like, like

Cohen Carr is not just an incredible athlete, but like Cohen Carr, as you can say, is like

a violent athlete, like you feel it, you see it with Stokes, it's more of like a seamless,

he sores, he floats places where you don't always realize it until it's like, oh, somebody

is attacking the closeout because he would have had an open three, and then he just glides

right by him and sores up in the air and makes it look easy, like he's floating and throws

down a dunk.

Just a seamless athlete in the best possible way.

Now like Kenny did get lost a few times off the ball defensively, he did get beat by

a quicker guard on a switch to the basket at one point, and then I think there was a foul.

So, no, that comes down to an interesting question of what he wants to do with, do they want

to keep being a switchable defense?

Do they not?

Right?

Because Stokes does have the ability to guard multiple positions, but I don't know that

you always want him on like a quick guard, necessarily.

Okay, what about a KU woman's basketball Sydney Bryant?

This one will be a little bit shorter.

It wasn't the best game for Bryant.

She played 11 minutes off the bench, she went 0 for 5, grabbed one rebound, she had multiple

turnovers, kind of an ugly game, a turnaround jumper that clanked away near make on a three

pointer, but then had another one where she missed the three pretty badly.

She had a nice drive at one point, just missed the layup.

And then, yeah, that bad stretch where she missed the three, then threw the ball right

to the defender, and that at the other end, she was on a opposing guard who steps back

on her and gets her to kind of fall back and nail step back three on her.

That was a rough possession.

There were a bunch of possessions where she was just like running to the corner for some

reason.

Defensively, too, got caught on a guard at one point, got faked into a pivot move into

the baseline and got lost and given up an easy bucket.

I think the lesson for me was that Bryant's not the fastest center and that KU is not going

to want to run a scheme where she's getting switched on to them, necessarily, but that

can be okay.

Like, when they had tie on a Jackson, they weren't running a switchable defense.

They were running a defense where Jackson was able to maintain in the post and be a

rim protector.

And I think that's what they'll do with Bryant.

So probably just a bad matchup and scheme in this specific game and setting for her.

She did have another defensive plan of guard where to her credit.

She did contest it well on a mis mid-range shot.

In general, I don't think it was the best game.

I can't help but wonder if KU would not be better off, well, not be better off.

I think it would probably be who of KU to find a starting veteran center in the transfer

portal and have Bryant kind of learn the ropes from a veteran center and be your energy

off the bench.

I think that could be a good thing.

But she is going to have a big impact for KU regardless of if she's starting off the

bench.

KU loses two, six with three players to graduation and Evans and Meister.

And Bryant, I believe, led the EYBL in rebounding.

And when you look at Kansas this past season, they were outside the top 300 nationally in

offensive rebound rate.

And they were sevenths about middle of the pack in the big 12 games in defensive rebound

rate.

So she can certainly help with both of those things, not the best performance, but I think,

you know, still high hopes for what she can do in lords.

All right.

Let's finish up here.

Things this KU team did as good and as bad as any bill self team during self's 10 year

at KU.

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All right.

Things that this Kansas team did as good as any team in the bill software and as bad

as any team.

Let's start with the good here.

From a game perspective, did you know KU actually had the two best individual turnover

rate games of the bill software?

They were number one was the game against Syracuse and the players era.

And number two was the Colorado game when jock von was the head coach up in Boulder.

So oddly enough, just two amazing games that have happened in the same year for waiting

turnovers for KU.

After good things they did, Kansas finishes number eight on defense.

I guess there's still some games like the NIT and the final four and everything could

have adjusted.

Maybe they, they, whatever.

But the eighth in on Ken Palm, it gives Kansas their eighth consecutive top 20 defense

on pop, which I think is instructional from the standpoint as you look at building this

roster.

I continue to say I want bucket getters.

I trust bill self to get the most out of the defense again, eight straight top 20

defenses.

It is the eleventh unit the bill self has had in 23 seasons that finished top 10 in

Ken Palm's defensive adjusted efficiency.

And if you were to take top 15, that number would grow even larger.

So I trust bill self to figure out the defense, especially if you can get flurry back, find

offensive shot makers in the portal.

KU was top 40 nationally in free throw percentage.

That's actually the first time that Kansas has been top 100 in the country and free throw

percentage since 2015.

It's actually the best finish ranking wise compared to national rankings.

A bill self team has ever had at Kansas.

That's pretty crazy with the free free throw shooting.

Unfortunately, it didn't help KU enough to advance in the tournament.

They were the number four two point defense in the country.

That is the best Kansas has been since 2020 led by DOKE, that team finished third.

And to that notion, KU time since 2013, this year, it was also the fifth time that

the bill self team has finished top 10 in block rate.

Unfortunately, this is the very first time that Kansas finished top 10 in block rate

under bill self that they didn't at least make it to the second weekend.

All the other teams made it to the second weekend, if not further.

What are some of the bad stats for KU that they did as bad as poorly as any team of the

bill self error?

Well, the double digit losses, both overall and if you're just talking about game score,

this was the most losses by 10 plus points in the margin that self has had in a season

at KU.

It's also the third straight season with double digit and 11 plus losses for KU.

The 60th ranked offense on Ken Mom, that is the worst of the bill self error.

It also becomes the fifth with a offensive adjusted efficiency of 50th or worse, including

three straight for KU.

Here's some other interesting numbers that are obviously negatives, but interesting.

KU ranked outside the top 200 in offense of rebound rate for the second time in three seasons.

Prior to that, Kansas had finished outside the top 200 under bill self.

No time.

Zero other occasions.

So they have to figure out the rebounding here in this new era of basketball.

Do they look for that in the transfer portal, right?

Outside the top 200 was KU in 2.0 percentage offense for the first time since 2021, which

that team didn't have easy ways to get buckets.

And I don't think a coincidence that both teams lost in the second round, right?

Also just the third time in the bill self error, they've been outside the top 200 and 2.0

percentage.

All three teams lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

So yeah, needing to make easier buckets and that can come in a couple ways, guys who

make buckets at the rim, but also better spacing.

Get more shot making on the outside, you get more respect on the outside.

You can open up the inside for a driving lanes for florey for whoever.

Last one here.

KU finished 340th in the country and turnover rate defense.

They did not force turnovers.

Kansas has now been outside the top 200 for three consecutive seasons.

It is also the worst ranked turnover defense of the bill self error and the only one that

he has had outside the top 300 in a season.

So I think in general, you just look at like the transfer portal, obviously the shooting

and the spacing are going to be very important.

Can you get Kansas extra possessions, whether that comes with the offense for glass, whether

that comes in forcing seals, I think those become important things that you're looking

at here too for KU.

But again, I go back to the number 8 straight top 20 finishes on defense for Kansas, not

the case with the offense.

Get offensive players and let bill self figure out the defense from there.

All right.

That'll do for this episode of Locked on J-Hawks.

You can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page.

Check out our bill self back episode.

Check out some of our player deep dives.

We're going to get to an Isaiah Johnson deep dive, one of the best players in the portal.

So check that one out later today as well.

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