20+1 KU basketball questions for 2017-18

photo by: Scott Chasen

Photo illustration by Scott Chasen

The 2017-18 KU men’s basketball season is right around the corner.

Before KU gets things started at home against Tennessee State on Friday, our staff came together to answer 21 fun questions about KU basketball. The topics range from things in pop culture to specifics about lineups and projected minute totals.

The entirety of the list was discussed on two recent episodes of our KU Sports Hour podcast. The links to those episodes are below.

Part 1: Questions 1-10

KU Sports Hour: Nov. 1, 2017

Part 2: Questions 11-21

KU Sports Hour: Nov. 8, 2017

Here is the list of questions. Feel free to comment your own answers below!

1. Pick the most important word for Billy Preston: Fouls, interior, rebounding or other (list).

Matt Tait (@mctait): Other (consistency)

Tom Keegan (@TomKeeganLJW): Other (versatility)

Benton Smith (@BentonASmith): Interior

Bobby Nightengale (@nightengalejr): Interior

Scott Chasen (@ChasenScott): Other (mentality)

2. Pick the most important word for Udoka Azubuike: Fouls, stamina, turnovers or other (list).

Matt Tait: Fouls

Tom Keegan: Other (underhanded)

Benton Smith: Stamina

Bobby Nightengale: Other (rebounding)

Scott Chasen: Fouls

3. Rank KU’s scoring leaders 1-5.

Matt Tait: 1. Malik Newman, 2. Devonte’ Graham, 3. Udoka Azubuike, 4. Lagerald Vick, 5. Svi Mykhailiuk

Tom Keegan: 1. Malik Newman, 2. Devonte’ Graham, 3. Billy Preston, 4. Lagerald Vick, 5. Udoka Azubuike

Benton Smith: 1. Devonte’ Graham, 2. Malik Newman, 3. Lagerald Vick, 4. Svi Mykhailiuk, 5. Udoka Azubuike

Bobby Nightengale: 1. Malik Newman, 2. Lagerald Vick, 3. Devonte’ Graham, 4. Udoka Azubuike, 5. Svi Mykhailiuk

Scott Chasen: 1. Malik Newman, 2. Devonte’ Graham, 3. Lagerald Vick, 4. Svi Mykhailiuk, 5. Udoka Azubuike

4. Over/under 26.5 minutes per game for Marcus Garrett?

Matt Tait: Under

Tom Keegan: Under

Bobby Nightengale: Under

Benton Smith: Under

Scott Chasen: Under

5. Who will have the quickest foul out (player, minutes)?

Matt Tait: Billy Preston, 14 minutes

Tom Keegan: Mitch Lightfoot, 14 minutes

Benton Smith: Udoka Azubuike, 9 minutes

Bobby Nightengale: Mitch Lightfoot, 6 minutes

Scott Chasen: Billy Preston, 12 minutes

6. What movie title describes what KU needs out of Devonte’ Graham?

Matt Tait: The Fast and the Furious (2001)

Tom Keegan: Walker, Texas Ranger (pilot, 1993)

Benton Smith: Step Brothers (2008)

Bobby Nightengale: Iron Man (2008)

Scott Chasen: Phone Booth (2002)

7. What player shocks KU fans the most and how?

Matt Tait: Lagerald Vick’s dunks drop jaws of KU fans

Tom Keegan: Lagerald Vick throws down a ridiculous in-game dunk

Benton Smith: Udoka Azubuike goes end to end and destroys a rim

Bobby Nightengale: Svi Mykhailiuk plays like a first-round talent

Scott Chasen: Lagerald Vick has a monster season

8. Assign a Halloween costume to describe Mitch Lightfoot’s season.

Matt Tait: U.S. postal worker

Tom Keegan: Jack Nicholson with an ax from The Shining

Benton Smith: Scream costume

Bobby Nightengale: Rocky Balboa

Scott Chasen: Headless Horseman

9. More technicals: KU basketball players, Bill Self or push?

Matt Tait: Players

Tom Keegan: Players

Benton Smith: Bill Self

Bobby Nightengale: Bill Self

Scott Chasen: Push

10. Who is KU’s most replaceable player between Devonte’ Graham, Malik Newman, Lagerald Vick and Udoka Azubuike?

Matt Tait: Malik Newman

Tom Keegan: Lagerald Vick

Benton Smith: Lagerald Vick

Bobby Nightengale: Lagerald Vick

Scott Chasen: Lagerald Vick

11. What will KU’s best late game defensive lineup be at the end of the year?

Matt Tait: Graham-Garrett-Vick-Preston-Azubuike

Tom Keegan: Graham-Garrett-Vick-Preston-Azubuike

Benton Smith: Graham-Mykhailiuk-Vick-Garrett-Azubuike

Bobby Nightengale: Graham-Garrett-Vick-Lightfoot-Azubuike

Scott Chasen: Graham-Garrett-Vick-Preston-Azubuike

12. What will be Bill Self’s biggest adaptation this year?

Matt Tait: KU shooting a higher percentage of 3s

Tom Keegan: Living with mistakes

Benton Smith: Playing bigs through foul trouble

Bobby Nightengale: Five-guard lineups

Scott Chasen: Malik Newman

13. What will Sam Cunliffe’s biggest play this year look like?

Matt Tait: Dunk-contest moment in a game

Tom Keegan: Put-back dunk in a game

Benton Smith: Late-game 3 on the road in Big 12 play

Bobby Nightengale: Dunk in warmups

Scott Chasen: First-half 3 in an early NCAA tournament game

14. Will Chris Teahan’s first FGM come before or after January 1?

Matt Tait: Before

Tom Keegan: Before

Benton Smith: Before

Bobby Nightengale: Before

Scott Chasen: After

15. Predict KU basketball’s worst day in the 2017-18 season?

Matt Tait: Day after Stanford game (Dec. 22)

Tom Keegan: Elite Eight loss

Benton Smith: Sweet Sixteen loss

Bobby Nightengale: FBI investigation resurfaces in college basketball

Scott Chasen: Non-conference injury

16. What odds would you have to be given to bet $50 against KU winning the Big 12?

Matt Tait: 50-to-1

Tom Keegan: 12-to-1

Benton Smith: 50-to-1

Bobby Nightengale: 11-to-1

Scott Chasen: 25-to-1

17. Which player’s success will hinder another’s the most?

Matt Tait: Malik Newman, Svi Mykhailiuk

Tom Keegan: Billy Preston, Svi Mykhailiuk

Benton Smith: Lagerald Vick, Svi Mykhailiuk

Bobby Nightengale: Svi Mykhailiuk, Lagerald Vick

Scott Chasen: Marcus Garrett, Svi Mykhailiuk

18. What anthem should Bill Self have for the 2017-18 season and why?

Matt Tait: Everybody (Backstreet’s Back), returning to the Final Four

Tom Keegan: Down by the River (Neil Young), Final Four in San Antonio

Benton Smith: I am a God (Kanye), Self has total control of the program

Bobby Nightengale: What is Love (Haddaway), “Baby don’t hurt me”

Scott Chasen: Everybody (Backstreet’s Back), KU’s best lineups will be 3-guard, 2-big

19. More losses for KU: vs. the SEC (Kentucky, Texas A&M) or in the rest of non-conference play?

Matt Tait: Rest of non-conference play

Tom Keegan: Rest of non-conference play

Benton Smith: Push

Bobby Nightengale: SEC games

Scott Chasen Push

20. What former Jayhawk and former Big 12 player from the streak would cause KU the most trouble to play against?

Matt Tait: Josh Jackson, Michael Beasley

Tom Keegan: Joel Embiid, Kevin Durant

Benton Smith: Joel Embiid, Kevin Durant

Bobby Nightengale: Joel Embiid, Blake Griffin

Scott Chasen: Thomas Robinson, Kevin Durant

21. Pick one player in the nation to add to KU.

Matt Tait: Miles Bridges, Michigan State

Tom Keegan: DeAndre Ayton, Arizona

Benton Smith: Miles Bridges, Michigan State

Bobby Nightengale: Michael Porter Jr., Missouri

Scott Chasen: Miles Bridges, Michigan State