North Dakota State Bison at Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Predictions: Exploring More Lineup Combos.
It's finally the time of the year where the Kansas Jayhawks get back into action on the court, and they will be doing it without some familiar faces. As we saw in the exhibition game last week, the Jayhawks have a lot of new players and returning players in brand new roles, and the Omaha Mavericks might just be a perfect team to shake off a little rust.
But just how well should you expect this team to come together tonight, especially without head coach Bill Self on the sideline? Can Kansas get off to a fast start and never look back? Or will they need more time to figure out exactly what they want to be against an overmatched opponent?
Do you disagree with our assessment? Make sure you read them all and then hop over to the Discord or on Twitter to share your own thoughts.
Kyle Davis
Check out our North Dakota State Preview for Kyle's full breakdown and prediction.
Brendan Dzwierzynski
Once again, this should be a relatively easy win for the Jayhawks. The last time these two squads faced in the Covid year it was anything but easy, but I don’t think David Richman’s group will be able to hang like that this time around. The trio of Jalen Wilson, Kevin McCullar and Gradey Dick looks like a core that can carry this team with relative ease while Bill Self is out, so to me, this game is more about the further development of some of the role players. Can either Adams or Udeh take a step forward at the 5? What will Bobby Pettiford do to follow up his strong debut performance against Omaha? In the end, this is the reigning national champions versus a team outside the top 200 in KenPom, so KU should roll to a 2-0 start whether the stars have huge nights or not.
Kansas 85, North Dakota State 60.
Derek Noll
Man, I totally forgot about that COVID game and basically that entire asterisk season, but I agree with everything that Brendan says above. I’d like to add that I want to see more Zach Clemence as well.
Kansas 80, North Dakota State 64.
Lucas Murphy
The Kansas Jayhawks welcome North Dakota State into Allen Fieldhouse. KU played at an elite level against the Omaha Mavericks. I’d anticipate a similar style of game against the Bison. Get Jalen Wilson off to a hot start and let the team work around him. I would like to see the bigs build confidence in this game as they prepare to play a very tall Duke Blue Devils team. I believe we will see another tremendous performance from freshman Gradey Dick.
Kansas 88, North Dakota State 62
Andy Mitts
Looking at these two teams, there really isn't anything at all that says the Bison should be able to stay in this game, but the Jayhawks are still very likely to be tinkering with lineups and trying to determine what their best chance is going into the game against Duke next week.
I expect us to see big performances from the usual guys, like Gradey Dick, Jalen Wilson, Kevin McCullar and Dajuan Harris, but I'm hoping to Ernest Udeh get a longer run tonight. He seems to be the best opportunity for the Jayhawks to develop a true big in the post, but he is going to need to have the opportunity to work through some struggles if they plan to have him rolling for conference play.
Kansas 87, North Dakota State 63.
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