The versatility of the lineup at an all-time high with the redesigned Kansas basketball roster | History of the Tait

It takes 125 days before it really matters, and that should give KU fans plenty of time to come up with at least as many different lineups for the Kansas Men’s Basketball team 2021-22.

Fortunately, the KU’s current roster is filled with both the type of talent and the number of bodies that make such an exercise possible.

From five super seniors and four returnees to four newbies and 10 new faces, the Kansas line-up for the coming season will look very different from a year ago.

That is, of course, unless it is not.

With returning starters Ochai Agbaji, Christian Braun, David McCormack and Jalen Wilson all viable options for similar roles this season, a completely redesigned KU roster could look very familiar at the start of the games.

It only gets really interesting when anger and exhaustion set in and substitutions become necessary.

And I could imagine that KU trainer Bill Self and his assistants drool over the possibilities. Here are just a few of them, some of which are more likely than others.

My starting five

(As of July 6, 2021)

PG – Remy Martin

SG – Ochai Agbaji

3G – Christian Braun

4 – Jalen Wilson

5 – David McCormack

People copied Christian Braun a bit, but I just don’t see it. I think he brings everything into the starting XI that you could want in a player and I expect that he has improved his shot and physicality in the offseason, which prepares him for a strong junior season. That being said, I think the other four are anything but bans to start with.

Top 25 second unit

PG – Dajuan Harris

SG – Joseph Yesufu

3G – Jalen Coleman-Lands

4 – Cam Martin

5 – Mitch Lightfoot

This is one of those who would “rank in the top half of the Big 12 or finish in the top half” and at least four of these guys are likely to play significant roles this season. The only exception might be Lightfoot, but his experience and ability to block shots could help him take on a reserve role if Cam Martin and / or Zach Clemence aren’t ready for big minutes right away. Anyway, that back space is darn good, with two playmakers and a couple of shooters and Martin and Lightfoot big enough to do what they need to do on the glass. Looking at this team will give you a clear picture of why the 2021-22 Jayhawks are so highly valued this off-season. Four of these guys could play starting-type minutes and connect very well with that first session.

Let’s play big

PG – Christian Braun

SG – Ochai Agbaji

36 – Jalen Wilson

4 – Cam Martin

5 – David McCormack

Obviously this will never happen – 1. because the game has gotten smaller, not bigger, and 2. because Self probably wouldn’t be comfortable with these guys as his primary ball handlers – but Braun initiated the offense in places in the past and this Trio in the back room would give KU a size advantage over almost everyone. The big thing presented here is the idea of ​​playing Cam Martin and David McCormack together, something I think Self will consider at least a majority of the time, provided they are a match for each other and can do defensively what needs to be done to be outside at the same time.

Let’s play small

(aka the opposing ball handlers worst nightmare)

PG – Dajuan Harris

SG – Remy Martin

3G – Joseph Yesufu

4 – Ochai Agbaji

5 – Jalen Wilson

I love this look. And even if it’s more traditional with those three little guards and Wilson and McCormack on the floor, I think this could be a very dynamic line-up. Harris, Martin and Yesufu together could make life difficult for the opposing guards. And all three are good enough offensively – even if on the smaller side – to keep their presence on the ground from affecting KU’s bottom line. I don’t think we’ll see this lineup very often. But if the matchup is right and KU needs a defensive spark, I could imagine that this group is the group that plays together for 4-6 minutes and turns a game completely.

Top all-newcomer look

PG – Remy Martin

SG – Joseph Yesufu

3G – Jalen Coleman-Lands

4 – Zach Clemence

5 – Cam Martin

Talk about a pretty good harvest of newcomers. Four of the five were starters at their previous stops and the fifth – Clemence – was a top 100 recruit with offensive and defensive versatility. There are just too many talented returnees to expect Kansas to rely so heavily on the newcomers. But this line-up shows you loud and clear that the depth of KU is on another level this season. That should keep things competitive from start to finish and keep the guys fresh late in the games and late in the season too.

Wings Across America Tour

PG – Joseph Yesufu

SG – Ochai Agbaji

3G – Christian Braun

4 – Jalen Wilson

5 – KJ Adams

By the time Remy Martin became official in Kansas earlier this week, there was a real chance Yesufu would get a long look as KU’s point guard. In this line-up, which consists of five players who could thrive on the wing, Yesufu runs the point and the others run around with him all over the floor, discovering, slitting, getting out in transition and smashing the offensive glass with every possession of the ball.

Old heads

PG – Remy Martin (23)

SG – Jalen Coleman-Lands (25th July 15th)

3G – Cam Martin (23)

4 – David McCormack (22)

5 – Mitch Lightfoot (25 on July 14)

Much has been done about the ages of some of these guys – journeyman Mitch Lightfoot in particular – but this maturity and the presence of veterans help this team tremendously. Additionally, even if you played against the four oldest guys on KU’s roster, it would still be a pretty decent team. Having Cam Martin, McCormack and Mitch together would make it kind of clunky and leave this team vulnerable on the defensive. So that’s exactly how we’ll never see it. But there’s no doubt that Martin, Coleman-Lands, Martin and McCormack’s foursome could team up with Agbaji – a senior himself – to still field a fairly old and seasoned fiver and change the outlook in a rush. I know some have mentioned it before, but when you add those five other seniors you look at a marathon night with speeches on seniors night late in the season.

The youngsters

PG – Dajuan Harris

SG – Bobby Pettiford

3G – Kyle Cuffe Jr.

4 – KJ Adams

5 – Zach Clemence

On the other hand, this would be the youngest team that KU could put on the floor. And it’s much more likely that we’ll see this group of old men before we see this bunch. For one thing, I think there’s a good chance Cuffe, who has reclassified himself to be here earlier, will become a Redshirt. The other four could all play a role this season, but what exactly that looks like is not yet known. I think Pettiford and Clemence are becoming players that KU fans absolutely love. And Cuffe is ripe for his years and Adams is a physical mismatch waiting to happen. It’s just a matter of opportunity and how quickly all these guys adapt to the college game that will determine how much they’ll play in the 2021-22 season.

Bombs Away Bunch

PG – Remy Martin

SG – Ochai Agbaji

3G – Jalen Coleman-Lands

4 – Jalen Wilson

5 – Cam Martin

This is a pretty fun team and it’s not that far to imagine these guys out there together. Coleman-Lands is a 37% 3-point shooter in his career who has had two seasons of more than 38% shooting, including last season when he shot 39.5% from downtown Iowa State. Cam Martin shot better than 40% out of 3-point for much of his All-American stint in Missouri Southern, and Ochai Agbaji led the Big 12 at 3-point marks, finishing fourth in 3-point percentage in the conference. And then there’s Martin, who never hit a shot that he didn’t think would take, and Wilson, who is just as confident about letting it go. Place on the ground and let it fly would be the mantra with this bunch, and that’s why these Jayhawks should make a much better shooting team than the 2020-21 group.