Andrew White III was part of the Kansas University Class of 2012 basketball recruiting class, and Conner Frankamp and Brannen Greene came on board the following year, ensuring that the Jayhawks had an embarrassment of riches in terms of ultra-soft, three-point-shooting touches from the wing.
Except that nothing in life is guaranteed.
Greene begins serving a six-game suspension today. Four games into his Nebraska career after spending two years at Kansas, White leads the Cornhuskers with 16.3 points per game and is shooting .522 from beyond the three-point semicircle. Frankamp becomes eligible for Wichita State at the end of this semester. He left Kansas before the start of last basketball season over a desire to play point guard.
KU coach Bill Self always has believed in pounding the ball inside, but it’s not as if he hasn’t relied on three-point shooters to stretch the floor. Self had at least one player make 50 three-point shots in 10 of his 12 full seasons at Kansas. The lone exceptions: Last season and the season before that, both seasons ending with a 1-1 record in the NCAA Tournament.
Prolific three-point shooting projects to strong NCAA Tournament play.
Brandon Rush made 80 three-pointers and Mario Chalmers 73 for the 2007-2008 national-title team. In ’11-12, the year Kansas lost to Kentucky in the title game, Elijah Johnson made 69 threes, Tyshawn Taylor 58 and Conner Teahan 51.
Two games into this season, Greene (5 for 5), Wayne Selden Jr. (5 for 12) and Frank Mason III (3 for 6) have been hot from long range, and Devonté Graham has been cold (2 for 10).
Greene’s time in the penalty box shifts all of the burden of long-range shooting off the bench to sophomore Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, the 6-foot-8, 195-pound native of Cherkasy, Ukraine. In 28 minutes, he has made one of two three-pointers.
Now would be a nice time for Svi to have a three-day breakout performance.
So far, Self gives Svi a so-so grade.
“Counting practice and games, I would say not bad but not great,” Self told reporters in Maui. “He’s such a good shooter. Against Michigan State, he takes two shots off one foot, runners off one foot. He didn’t play to his strengths. In the exhibition games, I thought he played fine. Of course, he got hot in one game. He’s a terrific shooter. We’re still waiting to see the real Svi. I think there’s a lot more he can give us.”
At both ends.
“I think that from a team-defensive standpoint, he’s one of the best guys we have,” Self said. “I still think he can slide better … keep a guy in front of him, pressure, but keep a guy in front of him better. He has to guard talent. He’s gonna be terrific. We forget: Somebody said he’s still the 30th-youngest player in college basketball, and he’s a sophomore. He’s just young, but it is time for him to take the next step.”
Especially now that Greene has taken six steps backward after expressing his dissatisfaction with playing time in a manner that infuriated his coach.
— Tom Keegan appears on The Drive, Sunday nights on WIBW-TV.