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Duke Basketball: Get to Know the Kansas Jayhawks

By Kevin Connelly

OMAHA, NE - MARCH 23: Head coach Bill Self of the Kansas Jayhawks reacts against the Clemson Tigers during the first half in the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Midwest Regional at CenturyLink Center on March 23, 2018 in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
OMAHA, NE - MARCH 23: Head coach Bill Self of the Kansas Jayhawks reacts against the Clemson Tigers during the first half in the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Midwest Regional at CenturyLink Center on March 23, 2018 in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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It’s another Hall of Fame Coach and blue-blood program up next for the Duke Blue Devils. It’s the Kansas Jayhawks.

This was supposed to be Bill Self‘s least talented Kansas team, this was the year Kansas would get dethroned in the Big 12.

None of that happened.

Bill Self has done one of his best coaching jobs this seasons and Kansas continued their remarkable streak regular season Big 12 Championships and then went onto win the Big 12 Tournament.

Guards are big time in March, and there are not many better guards out there than Devonte Graham.

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Graham is a National Player of the Year candidate and the engine that makes Kansas go, averaging 17.3 points per game.

Graham is the Jayhawks best player, but perhaps their most important player is big man Udoka Azubukie. Azubukie is a monstrous 7 feet tall, 280 pounds.

He was coming off a knee injury, but after limited minutes in the first two rounds, Azubukie was back to his regular minutes in the win over Clemson. Azubukie is similar to Syracuse big man Paschal Chukwu in that both foul a lot.

However, Azubukie is the most efficient player in the country in terms of field goal percentage as he is 77.5% from the field.

The other bigs that Kansas goes to are Mitch Lightfoot and Silvio DeSousa. Lightfoot is very limited both offensively and defensively, but he is a body that Self runs out there to give Azabukie a breather.

De Sousa, on the other hand, has come on very strong late in the season and he may be the player Kansas puts in the middle of the zone.

After not being cleared by the NCAA until mid-January, De Sousa only started to receive steady minutes earlier this month. He is also very efficient from the floor, shooting at 70% clip, and averaging 7.1 points this month.

Kansas also has a slew of guards that can light it up. Along with Graham, the Jayhawks run out Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, Malik Newman, and Lagerald Vick.

All three players average double figures, Mykhailiuk with 14.8, Newman with 13.5, and Vick with 12.1.

Kansas shoots 40.5% from three, obviously with those guards leading the way. It’s Mykhailiuk at 45.1% from deep, then Newman at 41.5%, Graham shoots 40.4% from deep, and Vick with a not too shabby 38.3%.

Bill Self has already said Kansas will have to take “about 30” three-pointers against the Duke zone. So, Duke must be ready to extend the zone and defend the three-point line.

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