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32.1%😬 The Core KU Stat You Need to See
The Harris-Adams-Dickinson and transfer portal dilemma plaguing the Jayhawks
Mike Vernon
January 05, 2025
🏀 KU Hoops lineup deep dive
💰KU-UCF: Pro Money and prediction
📝 Quick Links: New football commit makes great play
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EVERYTHING IN THIS NEWSLETTER IS BASED UPON WHAT I AM HEARING FROM PEOPLE I TRUST. PLEASE DO NOT MISTAKE THIS FOR FACT OR FOR ACTUAL JOURNALISM, WHICH HAS VERIFICATION STANDARDS THAT I HAVE NOT ADHERED TO. I DO NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY OF THE CONTENT.
KU’s Lineup Puzzle: Bill Self Stuck in the Middle?
Before getting into KU-UCF, let’s address the current state of the Jayhawks: Bill Self appears stuck between protecting his core system and trying to blend it with new transfer talent.
A deep dive into KU’s rotation reveals a team in seemingly impossible contradiction — both completely unsettled and entirely rigid.
The Core Conflict: Self is trying to figure out how to work AJ Storr or Rylan Griffen into the mix. To make it happen, he’s also relying even more on the players he trusts most.
The result has been a lack of experimentation while trying to find a true core for his team.
The numbers show just how unusual this all is.
KU’s Abnormal Lineup Patterns
KU’s most-used lineups (via cbbanalytics.com)
The data shows where KU’s lineups are in flux:
KU’s top six lineup combinations have each played at least 15 minutes together (out of 480 total).
KJ Adams and Dajuan Harris appear in all six top lineup combos.
Hunter Dickinson is in five of the six (Duke game).
The wing spot alternates between Storr and Griffen.
Storr and Griffen have played just 48 minutes together (KU’s No. 28 two-player combination).
By comparison, Zeke Mayo and Rakease Passmore have played 43 minutes together.
Adams, Harris, and Dickinson together account for 48.3% of KU’s total minutes.
Two key points stand out:
1) The Jayhawks don’t have a single, dominant five that logs major minutes together.
2) Almost all of KU’s burden still falls on Adams, Harris, and Dickinson while the other guys try to figure it out.
Comparing to Other Top Teams
Measured against seven other highly ranked teams (via Kenpom), KU’s heavy reliance on its core few players stands out.
The chart below shows the percentage of total minutes logged this season. Notice how Kansas’ two most-used lineups alone account for 32.1% of the team’s total minutes played—significantly higher than the next-closest team (Houston at 26.9%).
Comparing KU to other top programs (prior to Jan 4’s games)
While KU doesn’t have one main lineup, it hasn’t experimented much either.
KU’s “Top 2” lineups alone account for a larger slice of total minutes than the top three lineups of most of the other programs.
And for KU’s most frequent two-player combo…
Adams and Harris have played together for 61.9% of KU’s total minutes this year.
Only one out of the other seven programs has a two-player combination in all lineups that playing 15+ minutes (Duke: Proctor/Flagg).
The Takeaway:
KU’s rotation is somehow both undefined AND heavily reliant on a specific trio. You and I both know this is not where KU wants to be.
You might expect more experimentation after landing marquee (and expensive) transfers like Storr and Griffen. Yet their struggles leave Self returning to his more predictable trio of Adams, Harris, and Dickinson.
That push-and-pull, the hope that it’ll somehow click, has created this “stuck in the middle” vibe.
We’re approaching the decision point, where KU is going to have to more confidently move forward with its rotation.
And hopefully — a more dominant five-man group will emerge.
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KU @ UCF: Pro Money & Prediction
🏟️ Kansas @ UCF, 3:00pm CT Sunday
📺 ESPN+
To be clear: The following is just my interpretation of the betting market and a unique way to look at a game. It is in no way betting advice or suggestions.
💰 Analysis: Some Pro/Sharp Action on UCF.
Prediction🔮
The betting market liking a short home underdog against a struggling, highly-ranked team is no surprise.
UCF has covered four of its last five games. KU has covered in just one of its last five games.
The Knights have three strong guards and are well coached. But they also have a freshman center (a promising one), and an undersized four-man who likes to put the ball on the floor.
I like KU against a fast team when the Jayhawks have a front-court advantage like this. The Jayhawks have come out flat recently, and I expect that to change (that first half spread looks appealing).
👉 Score: Kansas 74, UCF 68
🏈 The Jayhawks landed a commit from 2026 DB JJ Dunnigan out of Manhattan, Kansas. Watch him fly across the field to tackle a top 5 QB in the Under Armour All-American game.
🏀 If KU needs a half-court shot, I think Zeke Mayo is our guy.
🏀 Gradey Dick became the fourth youngest Toronto Raptor to reach 1,000 points.
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