Jalon Daniels’ decision, KU hoops’ shooting concerns + more: Kansas Jayhawks Q&A
The Kansas men’s basketball team looks to bounce back on Sunday at border rival Missouri.
The No. 1-ranked Jayhawks lost at Creighton Wednesday.
“I mean, they just dared us to shoot, which was a good game plan,” KU coach Bill Self said. “Obviously, we didn’t exercise enough patience to still give our offense a chance to work a lot. They basically had four guys in the paint the whole time. So we know we’ll see that moving forward.”
The Jayhawks next face Mizzou in Columbia at noon Sunday.
Until then, it’s time for another Kansas mailbag. Thanks, as always, for the questions!
Is there any long-term concern about Shak Moore’s health? @NickSpringer29
I’m not a doctor, but I am a little bit concerned. Moore broke his foot over the summer, and the injury timeline was supposed to be 6-8 weeks. However, he appears to have suffered a setback.
Self said he might not be 100% this season, which I don’t think anyone expected. It looks like this injury will linger and remain something to monitor over the course of the season.
What do you think was the main thing that made the football team so much worse than expected? @The_NeillyC
The Jayhawks needed more consistency on both sides of the ball. Quarterback Jalon Daniels had a horrid start to the season and didn’t return to his more typical level of play until about game six.
The defense had a very up-and-down season. After holding Colorado to a season-low 21 points, KU allowed Baylor 45 — and 603 total yards — in a must-win game.
This KU team was laden with seniors and veteran leaders. But aside from a three-game winning streak, the Jayhawks didn’t consistently play good football in all three facets of the game.
You can’t make a Big 12 Championship playing the way KU played this season.
Bball is going to do this again, in 2025, huh? Take few 3s and give up a ton of 3s? @JAndrew_Cochran
KU’s struggles from deep should be a little concerning. I wrote about this a few games back, but the Jayhawks are shooting just 34.6% on 3-pointers and rank No. 329 nationally in 3-point rate.
KU’s 2023-24 squad was horrid at taking and making 3-pointers, shooting 33.6% and ranking No. 334 in 3-point rate.
This year, the Jayhawks’ hopes of making a deep run in March depend on their ability to make more 3-pointers, or at least shoot better on the low volume of 3-pointers the Jayhawks are currently taking.
Going back to the 2013-14 season, when UConn beat Kentucky for the title, just two national championship teams have ranked outside the top 200 in 3-point rate: 2021-22 champion Kansas (No. 287) and 2016-17 champion UNC (No. 306).
Will Daniels stay or not. Who do we get if he leaves. @SeanSlaby
This is the biggest question surrounding KU football right now. I wrote about it a few weeks back.
Here’s what I know: Daniels wants to be an NFL quarterback. If he had been healthy last year and enjoyed a decent season, I was told he’d likely have declared for the NFL Draft. Of course, that didn’t happen: He redshirted the year with a back injury.
The Jayhawks have about 15 starters and 30-plus seniors leaving, including all of Daniels’ starting wide receivers. I don’t think it makes sense for him to stay unless KU reloads with wide receivers from the transfer portal.
This KU squad will likely be in a bit of a rebuilding mode, so staying could be detrimental to Daniels’ long-term (NFL) goals. That said, anything can happen in the NIL era.
If Daniels leaves, I expect KU to bring in a transfer-portal quarterback. Current QBs Cole Ballard, Isaiah Marshall and the newcomer would then duke it out for the starting gig next season.
