The gang’s all here and the Kansas men’s basketball team is officially ready to begin preparations for the 2018-19 season, which officially opens in just 39 days.
That date — Sept. 28 — marks the arrival of Late Night in the Phog, KU’s first official practice of the season, with KU’s first exhibition game of the 2018-19 season (Oct. 25 vs. Emporia State) coming less than a month after that.
“Everybody’s back,” KU coach Bill Self told the Journal-World late Sunday night.
While a few KU players were around Lawrence already, the majority of the team returned to campus over the weekend to meet with the coaches and prepare for Monday’s first day of classes for the fall semester.
In the weeks leading up to the final Friday in September, the Jayhawks will run through the standard preseason work and, of course, Bill Self’s famed boot camp to ensure they’re ready for the start of the season.
“Individual and pick-up (games) this week,” Self said. “We’ll get more serious next week.”
While the fact that all 15 Jayhawks — 12 scholarship players and three walk-ons — reported to campus on time certainly comes as no surprise, there have been years when family commitments or travel issues have kept one or two players from arriving on time. The fact that they’re all here and raring to go represents good news for what will be an almost completely new team from the 2017-18 squad that ended the season at the Final Four.
Four freshmen — all with a chance at earning important minutes — and three transfers who are finally eligible again will make up a good chunk of KU’s rotation. Add to that a couple of veterans in Udoka Azubuike, Mitch Lightfoot and Lagerald Vick and sophomores Marcus Garrett and Silvio De Sousa, and it’s easy to see that the next few weeks could be as important as any all season for a team still trying to find out how to play together and learn the strengths and weaknesses of each player on the roster.
It’s a far cry from the days of the past few seasons when names like Perry Ellis, Frank Mason III, Devonte’ Graham and Svi Mykhailiuk returned year after year, bringing with them an element of certainty both for the rest of the roster and Self and his staff.
With that in mind, here’s a quick look at what each player should emphasize during the remainder of the preseason:
**• Ochai Agbaji -** All signs point to the freshman from KCMO being ready to contribute right away. Now is not the time for Agbaji to get timid.
**• Udoka Azubuike -** The summer was a nice opportunity for Azubuike to ease into more of a leadership role, but now is when it gets real. The work he does in the next few weeks as a leader can set the tone for how easily this team will follow the big fella when things get going for real.
**• Silvio De Sousa -** An already-skilled, tremendously gifted offensive player, De Sousa’s major focus during the preseason should be on rebounding.
**• Devon Dotson -** The starting point guard role is there for the taking and Dotson has all the tools needed to win it. The biggest area he needs to improve is in using his voice to be the kind of assertive and confident point guard KU is used to having.
**• Marcus Garrett -** Everyone will talk about the jump shot, but Garrett already has put the time to fix that. His most important job during the next five or six weeks will be to show all of these young guys and newcomers how doing the little things can put you in the good graces of the coaching staff in a hurry.
**• Quentin Grimes -** The hopes and expectations are high for Grimes and it’s never too early to start asserting yourself as the guy teammates want with the ball in his hands when the game is on the line.
**• Dedric Lawson -** A happy, laid-back dude by nature, it’s time for Lawson to flip the switch and get locked in on going after all of those goals he has for the upcoming season — Big 12 player of the year, Big 12 title No. 15 in a row, Final Four, national title, etc. Lawson, perhaps as much as any player on this roster, will play a huge part in delivering all of those, should they come.
**• K.J. Lawson -** K.J.’s going to play, and it’s up to him how much and where. The best thing he can do right now is really lock in on one aspect of his game — my pick for him would be becoming a lock-down defender — and show the coaching staff that that’s where and how they should use you this season.
**• Mitch Lightfoot -** The best natural leader on the roster, Lightfoot’s voice is one the coaches will want and his teammates will need to hear during the next few weeks. And there’s no doubt that he’s up for that challenge.
**• David McCormack -** Fresh off an overseas exhibition stint in Belgium, where he nearly averaged a double-double while helping his team finish 6-0, McCormack needs to carry that momentum into preseason workouts and bring all of the confidence from learning he can hang with other college players to KU’s practice gym.
**• Charlie Moore -** The best thing Moore can do is focus on trying to push Dotson every day and in every way. Doing so will be good for both players and will help firm up the point guard position.
**• Lagerald Vick -** By nature of his age and his position, Vick is the only guy on this roster who can say he knows exactly how Mason, Graham, Svi and even a guy like Wayne Selden worked and carried themselves. Others should listen when he does. Not known for being the biggest talker, Vick can pick his spots to speak up while continuing to try to school everyone in every drill the Jayhawks do at the same time. The latter comes naturally to Vick. The former will take some work, but comes with the territory of being the lone senior on the roster.
