What’s the Matter with Kansas?

Tipoff

On Monday, Texas and Oklahoma officially announced their intent to leave the Big 12 Conference for the SEC, shaking up the landscape of college sports in the equivalent of a magnitude-10 earthquake. The football-driven decision -- the news comes a few months after the announcement of an expansion of the football playoffs from the current 4-team field to 12 teams -- naturally leaves college basketball fans in a state of anxiety over the future of their favorite teams. Will the implosion of the Big 12 leave college basketball fans blowing in the wind? We might look to Kansas to find the answer.

Kansas University has not had a stellar football program, to put it mildly. The Jayhawks were 0-9 last season under head coach Les Miles, who was dismissed following allegations of inappropriate involvement with undergraduate students while at Kansas (of course, the losing record might have been a factor for the athletic department). KU has not won more than 3 games in a season since Mark Mangino left Lawrence more than a dozen years ago. While the Jayhawks have dominated the hardwood and carried the banner for the Big 12 for decades, they are not obvious additions for other conferences during this latest round of realignment.

Does Kansas have value for its basketball program alone? That is the question on the minds of several conference commissioners. No doubt, KU offers a prime opportunity for the Big Ten or Pac-12 to make a deep run every March in men’s basketball, the cash cow of the NCAA. That must have value, as the NCAA provinces payouts to conferences for success in the tournament. The current Big East has notably built a following and broadcast network as a basketball-led conference, so there seems to be something that KU can offer to other conferences or a new version of the Big 12. Watching how conferences court (or not) Kansas will be an interesting test of the value of one of the premier college hoops programs.

The Mixtape

The Field of 68 team puts out lots of great content each week. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights.

• On Thursday night, one of the biggest non-events in the world of basketball will take place, the NBA Draft. This year’s draft class has an exciting mix of everything basketball fans could want to see. There are the big-name freshmen one-and-dones (Cade Cunningham, Evan Mobley, and Jalen Suggs), intriguing pro prospects from the G-League (Jalen Green and Jonathan Kuminga) and overseas (Josh Giddey and Alperen Sengun), and even experienced college stars (Chris Duarte and Corey Kispert). After a long hiatus, Robbie Hummel returns to discuss Olympics basketball and the draft with Jeff Goodman. The pair talk about Robbie’s 3x3 experience, what’s ailing the US Men’s National Team, what the NBA Draft lottery teams should do, and draft sleepers.

• The Field of 68 team has been working the commitment corner. The latest to announce his college choice was Class of 2022 guard, Arterio Morris. The Dallas, Texas native joined Jeff Goodman to talk about his game, his top choices — Georgia, Kansas, Oregon, and Texas — and make the pick. And the pick was… Texas! New head coach Chris Beard and staff have been having the best offseason and the hits keep on coming. Morris broke down what made him pick the Longhorns, who he hopes to bring with him to Austin, and what he hopes to accomplish in college.

• Christy Winters-Scott continues to bring in the big names on Christy’s Court. The latest guest is the one, the only, Rebecca Lobo. The UConn legend finished her college career with an undefeated season and National Championship, was part of the inaugural WNBA season, was a member of the US Women’s Gold Medal team in 1996, and continues as one of the most famous voices of basketball behind the microphone to this day. Lobo shared her upbringing, basketball career, what it’s like being a mom of 4, and highlights from her Hall of Fame career.

• It’s late July, but the excitement over the upcoming men’s college basketball season is ramping up. Big-time names, including Kofi Cockburn (more on him below), Justin Champagnie, and Hunter Dickinson and many others have announced their decisions to return to college. Big-time programs, including Duke, Kentucky, and UNC should all be back in the national spotlight. For Duke, Coach K will be making his farewell tour while UNC will be guided by first-time head coach Hubert Davis. Kentucky has reloaded with a mix of experienced transfers and top recruits. Rob Dauster, Da’Sean Butler, and John Fanta explain why these storylines and more are reasons why the 2021-22 season will be INSANE.

Four Point Play

Each newsletter throughout the summer, we’ll check in with one of our podcast hosts and see what they’re up to in addition to producing compelling content for us at The Field of 68.

This week, we check in with Deon Thomas, the all-time leading scorer in Illinois men’s basketball history and host of the Champaign on Ice podcast (Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you access podcasts).

1. You are a Chicago guy, having graduated from Simeon Career Academy and of course left the University of Illinois as the all-time leading scorer in men’s basketball. For a long time, Illinois head coaches have struggled to recruit the best basketball players from Chicago. Simeon’s Derrick Rose and Jabari Parker, Perspective Charter’s Anthony Davis, and Whitney Young’s Jahlil Okafor are just a few of the recent examples of Chicago’s finest basketball players that chose to play out of state. It seems like Illinois head coach Brad Underwood has prioritized recruiting Chicago and the suburbs again with notable successes including former All-American Ayo Dosunmu. What has made Coach Underwood successful in bringing the Chicago kids down to Champaign-Urbana again?

• Let’s go back and mention John Groce and Bruce Weber. I like them a lot, but they did not put an emphasis on recruiting Chicago. The AAU coaches in Chicago could feel that. Coach Underwood has done that. If you remember his opening press conference, he emphasized recruiting Chicago and demonstrated that by hiring Coach Ron “Chin” Coleman. He reached back and brought in a native from Chicago to fill a void left by the previous two coaches. Taking what he said from his press conference to what he did to put that into action, he expressed how important recruiting Chicago has been to his program. Then they bring in Ayo Dosunmu and then Adam Miller after that. He’s put his actions where his mouth is.

1. Speaking of All-Americans, the college basketball world went on quite a ride when Kofi Cockburn announced his intentions to return to college but enter the transfer portal at the same time. Ultimately, he chose to return to Illinois. This puts U of I back in the national spotlight for the upcoming season. What does having the big man back mean for the upcoming season?

• To have Kofi come back, as you saw with the national rankings in the top 25, as soon as Kofi announced he is coming back, Illinois was ranked in the top 5. That’s how dominant Kofi is as a player. And then you surround him with those shooters on the wings and the point guard in Andre Curbelo. As good as the team was last year, I think the team will be even better this year. The recruiting class is really good and then there are two really good transfers coming in as well. Having Kofi there puts pressure on teams in the paint and on defense. Now, the main thing is building that camaraderie among the players to do what Coach Underwood wants to do.

1. The other big news in college sports is conference realignment. As a Big Ten person, what colleges would you like to see added to the conference and do you ultimately see this as a good or a bad thing for the conference and for college basketball as a whole?

• Let’s take this from the end to the beginning, starting with college basketball as a whole. It is going to hurt some conferences and benefit others. There is always the yin-and-the-yang and the rich getting richer. If you have Texas and Oklahoma and Kansas leaving the Big 12, that really hurts the Big 12. Speaking for the Big Ten, if you can bring Kansas, Iowa State, or maybe Missouri into the conference, that only helps. I tend to think the Big Ten is the best conference there is, though they didn’t look like it in the tournament last year. Is this a good thing for the fans? I think so because you are going to have big-time matchups most nights. If you are the college president from a Big 12 school, I don’t think you will be as happy.

And one!

1. I lived in Chicago for almost a decade and grew up in “Chicagoland,” that part of northwestern Indiana that is closer to the Loop than Rockford, Illinois. You’re a Chicago guy, of course. Let’s play a game where we list three iconic Chicago foods. You can keep two of them but one has to go: deep dish pizza, Chicago-style hot dog, or flaming saganaki cheese. What are you keeping and which one is never touched again?

• The saganaki cheese has got to go! There’s no way you are getting rid of the deep dish pizza or the Chicago dog. Don’t get me wrong, I love going to Greek Islands and getting that flaming cheese, but between that and the other two? Gotta drop the saganaki.

Stay tuned for upcoming episodes of Champaign on Ice with Deon Thomas. In upcoming episodes, he will welcome rising junior center and All-American, Kofi Cockburn, and senior guard Trent Frazier.

Stock Report: Big Ten Edition

Now that the transfer portal and NBA Draft decisions are mostly settled, we take a deeper look into a conference. Which teams are rising, which are holding steady, and which might be taking a step back heading into the season?

Rising: Purdue

• If you are looking for a sophomore breakout candidate, may I direct your attention to Jaden Ivey? The Purdue guard (and son of Notre Dame women’s basketball head coach Niele Ivey) opened a lot of eyes this summer as part of his experience playing for Gold Medal-winning Team USA in the FIBA U19 World Cup games. Ivey scored as well as played relentless defense, showing up all over the court when the games were on the line. Rising sophomore center and human skyscraper Zach Edey (7’4”) starred for the Canadian team that took home the Bronze Medal. Some of head coach Matt Painter’s best teams have featured a towering interior. Between Edey and returning senior Trevion Williams (just 6’10”), this edition of the Boilermakers should remind fans of those teams that featured 7-footers like Matt Haarms, Isaac Haas, and AJ Hammons. Few teams in the country can boast the amount of returning experience that Purdue will have at their disposal. The team from West Lafayette should be a Big 10 and National Title contender all season.

Holding Steady: Michigan

• There were many that doubted Juwan Howard’s ability to transition from a life in the NBA to being the head coach of a major college program. The Michigan Man proved in year 2 that he has what it takes to recruit and coach at the highest levels. The Fab 5 alum must have been ecstatic when rising sophomore center Hunter Dickinson announced his intention to return to college for another season. The big man will be relied upon to pick up the scoring and make life easier for the talented incoming player. The headliner of the recruiting class is 6’8” Canadian forward Caleb Houstan, a big wing from Florida’s renowned Montverde High School program, Houston has a smooth jumper and all the skills you want to see in a modern forward. Meanwhile, senior guard Eli Brooks will be there to carry the load with another newcomer, DeVante’ Jones. The point guard and former Coastal Carolina standout will be expected to pick up where former Columbia guard Mike Smith left off last season. Jones was the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year in 2020-21 and has experience playing either guard spot. Now that he is at a high-major program, he’ll have an opportunity to demonstrate to a big audience what makes him so special this upcoming season.

Falling: Wisconsin

• The headlines about the Wisconsin team entering last season noted how much experience the roster returned from a surprise Big 10 co-championship squad in 2020. The Badgers tied with Maryland and Michigan State to end the COVID-shortened season but returned nearly everyone to Madison for what shaped up to be a big letdown of a season. Not only did the team stumble to a 6th-place finish in conference, the offseason fallout included a mass exodus of all those seniors, save for Brad Davison. The news got ugly when an offseason expose revealed tense conversations between the players and head coach Greg Gard. The roster is shaping up to be devoid of a true point guard. Davison and incoming freshman Chucky Hepburn - have you ever seen a more Wisconsin name??? - will be relied upon to initiate the offense. If the Badgers are to compete this season, rising sophomore guard Jonathan Davis will be a major contributor. The La Crosse, Wisconsin native averaged more minutes per game than two of the starters and showed promise scoring inside and beyond the 3-point line.

Rising: Northwestern

• Head Coach Chris Collins holds the distinction of being the only coach in program history with an NCAA Tournament appearance. He also holds a 1-1 record in the Big Dance. In spite of that, he may be on thin ice in Evanston. After a magical 5th place finish in conference and NCAA Tournament berth in 2017, the Wildcats have failed to finish higher than 10th in conference standings. The 2021-22 season may be the last chance Collins has to hold onto his job by guiding Northwestern back to the NCAA Tournament. Fortunately, a few things are breaking in his favor. The top 6 or 7 teams in the conference are clearly head and shoulders above the bottom half. NU looks to be among the better teams in the bottom half. Northwestern will return most of their roster from last season. There is talent there between senior forward Pete Nance, junior forward Ryan Young, and junior guards Boo Buie and Chase Audige, among others. That roster took down Michigan State early in the year and played a ton of close games against the Big 10’s best last season, including a close loss at Illinois (73-66), at Purdue (75-70), at Penn State (81-78), and in the Big 10 Tournament to Minnesota (51-46). Improving on the offensive end and winning those close games could put NU back on the national map.

Holding Steady: Ohio State

• At some points last season, the Buckeyes looked like they might challenge Michigan and Illinois for a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Then came a close loss to Illinois in the Big 10 Conference Title game and a first-round upset to NCAA Tournament sensation Max Abmas and 15-seed Oral Roberts. The size-challenged Buckeyes squad was one of the best-scoring teams in the nation. A lot of that punch was provided by Duane Washington, Jr., who shot nearly as many 3-pointers as the next 3 players combined. Washington declared for the NBA Draft and recently announced his decision to remain. In Washington’s place, head coach Chris Holtmann turned to the transfer portal and scored the services of former Penn State point guard Jamari Wheeler and former Louisiana guard Cedric Russell. Neither will solve tOSU’s size problem, but both offer experience and a little bit of what the roster needs. Wheeler was an All-Big Ten defender while Russell is a certified scorer. More will be expected of big man EJ Liddell, who plays well above his size (6’7”) as one of the toughest and most versatile forwards in the nation. Expert more of the same from Ohio State this year with an elite offense but questions about the defense.

Falling: Penn State

• Things were looking up for Penn State under former head coach Pat Chambers as recently as 18 months ago. The Nittany Lions won the NIT Championship in 2018 and then reached as high as #9 in the AP Poll in February 2020 before things fell apart for the team (and basically everyone, right?). By October of that year, while sports fans were anxiously awaiting the return to the hardwood, Chambers was on his way out following revelations of inappropriate behavior, both physical and verbal. Interim head coach Jim Ferry led the team to a disappointing 10th place finish last season and then lost most of his primary guards, including leading scorers Myreon Jones (transferred to Florida) and Izaiah Brockington (transferred to Iowa State) as well as key reserve Jamari Wheeler to Ohio State. Replacing that talent will be quite the challenge and may take a few years. Ferry was not retained as head coach. The new man is Micah Shrewsberry, a former assistant of Matt Painter at Purdue with experience on the bench with Brad Stevens at both Butler and the Boston Celtics. Considered a rising star in the coaching ranks, Shrewsberry will have a challenge on his hands to begin his head coaching career.