2019 Kansas Jayhawks

The 2019 Kansas Jayhawks finished with a record of 26-10 (12-6), earning a 4-seed in the NCAA Tournament. They made the Round of 32 before losing. The team’s Sports Reference link is here.

OFFENSE

Dedric Lawson led the 2019 team on offense, shooting over 30% of the team’s shots while in the game yet still scoring at an efficient rate. He really took off after Azubuike got injured. Speaking of Doke, the junior contributed a strong offensive season in limited games, driven by efficient shooting and offensive rebounding. Frosh point guard Devon Dotson had a solid year, and showed an adeptness at scoring as well as distributing. Lagerald Vick started out red hot but cooled off some before leaving the team at the end of the year. In total, these players weren’t enough to lift the offense to the heights KU teams traditionally reach. The wings and bench struggled on this side of the ball. With Doke and Vick out at the end of the season, the offense settled in at an above-bubble team level, but only by 2.34 points.

DEFENSE

The defense was better than the offense, even after Azubuike was lost to injury. Marcus Garrett’s stingy defense proved him to be the most valuable KU defender, although other bright spots on the perimeter were Devon Dotson and Ochai Agbaji. Vick, Grimes, and McCormack all defended poorly. Overall the team was about an average KU-level defense; not great but not bad. The team was about 4.8 points per 100 possessions above a bubble-team’s defense.

Adjusted PPG +/-

The three most valuable Jayhawks on a per game basis were Dedric Lawson, Udoka Azubuike, and Devon Dotson. With Azubuike lost to injury, both Dotson and Lawson stepped up fine. It was other players who struggled to contribute. Quentin Grimes was especially bad on offense, and his defense wasn’t good enough to earn him the playing time he had. Charlie Moore was likewise a disappointment and produced similar value to Grimes on a per possession basis. Freshman David McCormack and Junior Mitch Lightfoot produced sub-zero value at the post position. The remaining wings–Vick, KJ Lawson, Garrett, and Agbaji–were all positive value players although none were exceptional. Losing Doke and some depth after Vick’s departure did hurt this team, but it was still a team that was capable of going further than it did.