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Rock Chalk Mailbag

Today's mailbag talks Wiggins, Wiggins, and Atlantis. Oh and football (and Wiggins)

By fetch13
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

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I know you didn't just ask that. Since Bensa is a friend, I will instead address the national media:

Are you effing crazy? Even with three games of horrible sickness added into his season totals, Wiggins is shooting at a 53.5% eFG clip, he draws 5.5 fouls per 40 minutes, he is the team's second best offensive rebounder, and he is the best perimeter defender in the country. Even with the new foul happy rules, Wiggins is committing fewer than 2 fouls per 40 minutes and when he decides he doesn't want you to score, you don't score. His offensive game isn't refined yet so he's not going to be Jabari Parker, but he's athletic enough to score off rebounds and in transition, so he's going to put up offensive numbers as well as wreak havoc defensively.

This might be the only worrisome thing. I assume it is because Self doesn't want Wiggins to get into repeated foul trouble, and also because he wants him to be a major contributor on offense, and it's tough to guard the opponent's best player and be a big part of the offense. No one in basketball does it. LeBron doesn't even do it other than brief stretches. That said, given the fact that Wiggins hasn't fouled a lot and isn't really an ISO guy on offense, it's time to unleash him on the other team's best player and watch them not score. Of course, Self is smarter than all of us so knowing him he has that trick saved for some of the bigger Big 12 games.

I wouldn't say harmful. The worst part is it seemed that more than just Wiggins was sick out there, so if any health stuff comes out of this that would obviously be bad long term. But other than that I don't really care. They should have won the tournament but they played 3 awful games in a ballroom in another country. Wiggins is the one who gets all the attention, but Kansas is really really young, and they're one of the least experienced teams in the country. Regardless of how they played, this gives them a bonding experience and some things to work on. I am not expecting this team to hit its stride until mid January or so. They have a lot of room to get better, and they're already pretty damn good.

This wasn't a question per se but I wanted to offer my thoughts on it anyways. People have been citing Embiid's plus-minus as evidence of how good he is, but two problems with that: first, it's a really small sample size. Secondly, it's freaking plus minus. Instead, lets talk about him shooting 71% from two despite being one of the highest usage guys on the team. Let's talk about him already being one of the best rebounders in the country. Let's talk about him having a block percentage of around 15%. Lastly, let's talk about how the first game of the season he looked like a guy who might only show flashes and be a good energy guy, but now looks like such a good go to scorer that if Kansas announced beforehand they would only throw it to him or Perry Ellis in the post and only those two could shoot, Kansas would still win 95% of their games.

As for most important, I think it's the two headed combo of Mason and Tharpe. Mason has been better at taking care of the ball, Tharpe has been a bit better defensively, but Tharpe might need to play more simply because he doesn't shoot as much. Percentage wise, Mason is taking the second most shots on the team, and has a 41.3% eFG (though to be fair, he is shooting 50% from two). That stuff kills a team. Of course, given the last point guard who took a lot of shots despite not being able to shoot, Frank Mason for 2014-15 Preseason Big 12 POY!

I think Weis definitely will be, so we can dispense with that right away. As for who should be, Weis probably should get another year given his cost and how bad the team was the last couple years. But after that I think it depends on what type of team the program wants to be. Given what he's done in Eugene, I think going after Scott Frost might be an interesting idea before Nebraska tries to grab him. Ed Orgeron just resigned at USC and if he doesn't catch on that might be a guy to go after.

The name I keep coming back to is Ken Niumatalolo at Navy. With all the challenges surrounding that program I have to think he'd be eager to make a step up to a BCS league. I got an in person look at the same offense this past weekend when I went to the Georgia Tech-Georgia game and I have to say I am impressed. Tech had maybe half the talent of UGA, and they were able to move the ball almost at will for long portions of the game. It's a great offense for a team with talent deficiencies, and Kansas definitely has that. They also should have the personnel to be able to implement it without a tough transition period. Cozart obviously can run, he's shown the ability to throw, and Freshman mistakes aside seems like a smart kid, which you definitely need to be to run that offense. I don't think they'd win a national championship with it, but they'd be a consistent bowl team, and that's enough for now.

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