Kansas kicked off its preseason last night with an 18-point win over Division II opponent Pittsburg State. While there were some ugly moments as there are in every exhibition, it was the first look Jayhawk fans received at many of the key newcomers.
Overall, head coach Bill Self didn't come away very impressed with his team's performance. He knows there are still a lot of areas in which his squad must improve.
"I thought for the first 17 minutes or so, I thought we played pretty well and looked pretty athletic and stuff," Self said in his postgame presser. "But we tried to play 13 guys equal minutes tonight. That's not going to happen; that number is going to go to 10. I do think that there were times we looked pretty good, but we shot it miserably, shot our free throws poorly."
Perhaps the biggest concern of the offseason was the big man situation and who would start at center. Charleston transfer Christian Reeves may have put those questions to bed in his Kansas debut.
The towering 7-foot center finished the night with a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double, adding four blocks in just 12 minutes of action. Self believes he was the most effective player on the floor in the victory.
"I thought he was our best player," Self stated about Reeves." I just didn't want to put him in, just because he hadn't been out there. After he got tight, probably after he started the second half. I thought his night was good enough, that he could be done."
Reeves, who spent the majority of the offseason recovering from shoulder surgery, was cleared for contact earlier this month and looks to be in great game shape. Right now, he has a clear edge over Paul Mbiya to start at the five when the campaign opens.
The player most fans came to watch was freshman Tyran Stokes, the top-ranked recruit in his class and a preseason All-American. Self wasn't necessarily wowed by Stokes' showing in his first appearance in front of the Allen Fieldhouse faithful, though.
"Average," he said about Stokes' night. "Other than Christian [Reeves], I don't know that there were any 'A' performances. I thought Tyran was okay, but I didn't think really anybody other than Christian, I would say individually, had a really good night."
Stokes is the superstar of this year's roster, but KU has considerably more depth than it has boasted in recent years. With the additions of Tre White and Melvin Council Jr. following recent court injunctions, there are now a dozen or so players with a serious chance to crack the rotation.
As Self noted in his press conference, he believes it's going to be a 10-man rotation when it's all said and done. However, he hasn't decided which players will fill those spots throughout the year.
"I don't think we're even in the batter's box yet. We're still waiting to get up to bat," he concluded. "We'll figure out who our best 10 is and then play our best 10. But tonight, I wanted to give everybody an opportunity to do that. It's a good problem to have. The best teams in the country, based on what all the scouts have been in and told me, said one thing about it: everybody's deep. So, everybody's ninth and 10th man are now not freshmen, they're now 22 to 23 year olds."
The Jayhawks will partake in a much more competitive scrimmage four days from now when Louisville and former KU standout Flory Bidunga come to town Wednesday. Kansas and Duke will also face off in the Blue Blood Classic on Oct. 25 to round out the preseason slate.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/kansas as What Bill Self Said After Kansas' Exhibition Win Over Pittsburg State.