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Twitter Mailbag #askRCBlog: August 1st

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It’s finally August, which means it is almost time for college football. Despite asking for questions on Twitter about football and basketball, people mainly wanted to know about basketball.

 

Well, I’d also like to throw Devonte Graham in the mix for the starting point guard spot. I’m going to give Frank Mason the nod at first but I think Graham will end up in the starting role. Frankamp still seems like he’ll end up being the No. 2.

Kansas really needs one of these three players to step up big time in the 2014-15 season if they want to make a deep NCAA run. We saw how incompetent Naadir Tharpe was at the point guard position and how far Kansas could go with him.

I think Mason, Frankamp and Graham all have higher ceilings than Tharpe.

Which isn’t saying a lot…

I think there are some quality pieces in the 2015 class. Players like Malik Newman, Diamond Stone, and Stephen Zimmerman. If Bill Self can land the package deal of Newman and Stone, that would be a huge get. Zimmerman would be a nice pickup, especially if Kansas loses Cliff Alexander to the draft.

Chase Jeter is another impact player in the class of 2015. We’ll find out where he goes next Monday.

Unfortunately, I think Chase Jeter is going to Duke. It appears he’s deciding between Duke, UNLV and UCLA at this point. Duke is the leader because of his relationship with Coach K. UNLV is in the mix because his father played for UNLV’s championship team in 1990.

I think it is between Kelly Oubre and Cliff Alexander at this point. Alexander has that TRob-like motor that everyone loves. Because Oubre will be sharing the ball with Selden, who I think will have a great year, Oubre’s role may be different than say Ben McLemore or Andrew Wiggins from the past two seasons.

That being said, I think Oubre has the killer instinct everyone wanted from Wiggins but it might not show as much until his sophomore year because of Selden.

Alexander will start right away and take over the void that Embiid left in the paint. Combined with his motor, I see him putting up a lot of points and getting a lot of rebounds. He’s going to be fun to watch.

Guess that depends on how you define “decent.” I think Kansas has a shot at winning multiple Big 12 games for the first time since 2008. I also think they have a shot at winning four games, which is also the most since 2008. I think you can consider this year a success if Kansas can win multiple Big 12 games and not get torched in more than half of the games.

Despite everyone’s criticism of Charlie Weis, I think he has the program moving in the right direction. Montell Cozart simply works better than Heaps given Kansas’ resources and I’m glad Cozart doesn’t have to complete with Heaps for minutes. If Cozart can put up some points, I think KU’s defense will give them a shot at winning some games.

If Kansas can somehow win their first three games of the season (Southeast Missouri, Duke and Central Michigan), Kansas might have enough confidence to string together three Big 12 wins and make a bowl game. TCU and Iowa State are two very winnable games since they’re both in Lawrence and they’re not very good.

Imagine Kansas going into Manhattan, Kansas for the chance at getting into a bowl game in the last game of the season.

I truly believe Kansas’ ceiling is winning six games this year and their basement is three games. Those three nonconference games will be the deciding factor, though.

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