The 2010 Kansas team, despite its untimely end, was the paradigm of a well-constructed roster. It had veteran leadership alongside young pro talent, a compliment of shooting to go along with interior play, stars who took over in the big moments to go along with role players who did the little things, and continuity that ensured everyone was on the same page.
Taking a look at its top 4 players, here are their value stats:
| Player | PPGAB | Per100 AB | WAR/36 |
| Marcus Morris | +4.14 | +9.61 | +5.29 |
| Cole Aldrich | +4.02 | +8.62 | +5.27 |
| Sherron Collins | +3.48 | +6.05 | +5.03 |
| Xavier Henry | +2.39 | +4.99 | +3.70 |
The final value stat, WAR/36 just normalizes the season WAR to a 36-game schedule so we can compare across seasons.
All four of these players would go on to play at least some in the NBA. Marcus Morris was a very underrated player who continued to improve and was a very efficient Jayhawk even by his sophomore season.
Now let’s take a look at the 2026 roster’s top 4 players, through 30 games of the season.
| Player | PPGAB | Per100 AB | WAR/36 |
| Darryn Peterson | +5.54 | +12.32 | +4.48 |
| Melvin Council | +4.03 | +7.15 | +5.89 |
| Flory Bidunga | +4.03 | +7.68 | +5.73 |
| Tre White | +2.39 | +4.46 | +4.05 |
What stands out is that, by all value metrics, the 2026 top four is as good or slightly better than the 2010 top four. Peterson’s WAR is a bit lower due to him being out of the lineup for 11 games, but other than that the stars of both teams are at worst comparable.
So why does it feel like the 2026 team is so much worse than 2010? Obviously this is due to the rest of the rosters. Let’s take a look at 2010’s role players to begin:
| Player | PPGAB | Per100 AB | WAR/36 |
| Markieff Morris | +1.22 | +4.00 | +2.06 |
| Tyrel Reed | +0.78 | +2.89 | +1.53 |
| Tyshawn Taylor | +0.26 | +0.65 | +1.37 |
| Elijah Johnson | -0.03 | -0.27 | +0.18 |
| Thomas Robinson | -0.69 | -5.52 | -0.31 |
| Brady Morningstar | -1.30 | -3.48 | -0.20 |
In total, these role players in 2010 had the following value:
+23.22 Points Against Bubble (+0.65 per game)
+4.46 WAR
Contrast this with the 2026 role guys.
| Player | PPGAB | Per100 AB | WAR/36 |
| Kohl Rosario | -0.31 | -1.54 | +0.25 |
| Jayden Dawson | -0.35 | -2.22 | +0.10 |
| Elmarko Jackson | -0.49 | -1.63 | +0.39 |
| Jamari McDowell | -1.51 | -4.87 | -0.63 |
| Bryson Tiller | -1.94 | -4.28 | -0.63 |
The cumulative totals for these five rotation players are:
-133.48 Points Against Bubble (-4.45 per game)
-0.52 WAR
This final table should contrast things nicely:
| Season | Stars PAB/gm | Role Guys PAB/gm | Total PPGAB1 |
| 2010 | +14.03 | +0.65 | +14.68 |
| 2026 | +13.96 | -4.45 | 9.51 |
Basically, 2026’s role players are spotting a typical opponent 4-and-a half points a game that the stars have to make up. Most nights they can, but some nights, when shots aren’t falling or things aren’t going well, this can result in an unexpected loss.
Back in 2010, KU could get some value from the likes of Tyshawn, or when it went to its bench was able to maintain a solid level of play thanks to the efforts of Markieff and Tyrel Reed. Even with the struggles of freshman T-Rob and Brady Morningstar, Kansas was an elite team.
- These totals won’t add up to each team’s season totals for PPGAB as these totals exclude coach technicals, walk-ons, and other non-rotation players (those playing fewer than 10% of possible minutes). ↩︎
Charting the Hawks 
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