Sports and Numbers

In this series of articles, I'm going to rate the players from KU teams of this decade.  I'll try to provide some context for the ratings.  A couple of important caveats to this kind of analysis: 1) I'm using season-ending boxscores, which means that the ratings don't account for how well a player performed against specific opponents, and 2) There is really no way of knowing whether a team with a power rating of 90 one season is the same as one rated 90 in another, although from top to bottom in college basketball, there probability isn't huge variability in team strength averages from season to season.

Kansas Jayhawks Men's Basketball 2004-05

Overall Record: 23-7
Conference Record: 12-4 (tie 1st)
Conference Tournament: 1-1 (Semifinalist)
NCAA Tournament: 0-1 (1st round loss)
Final Sagarin Predictor Rating: 89.37 (#12)

Season Totals

(sorted by total minutes played) 

Derived Statistics

(sorted by points per game) 

Player Ratings 

Player Analysis

The last hurrah for the heralded class of Wayne Simien, Aaron Miles, Keith Langford and Michael Lee left a bitter taste in their mouths and the mouths of Jayhawk fans nationwide.  Anointed #1 in the preseason, Kansas was shocked in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament by Bucknell.  Although KU would go on to lose again in the first round the next season, this was the one that hurt  the most.  This team had experience to go with talent.  Besides, it wasn't supposed to end this way for the workhorse, Simien.  Watching Simien's miss in the last sequence of that stinging loss was like watching the Christian Laettner miracle shot against Kentucky in a parallel universe where the shot bounces off the rim.

Once again, this was Simien's team.  He had the highest season-ending efficiency rating of any KU player since the '00-'01 season except one ... his own rating in '02-'03.  Simien averaged 20 PTS and 11 REB per game on 55.8 eFG% and solid FT rate of 41 (second on the team behind Darnell Jackson).  The impressive thing is that Simien did all of this while being the focal point of most every defense he faced.  He played with the heart of a lion and conducted himself as a true gentleman.  All Kansas fans should appreciate the incredible career of Wayne Simien.

In his senior season, Aaron Miles really elevated his game.  His much maligned shooting finally came around, and he shot an extremely respectable 56 eFG% (that's 11% better than the prior season) to go with 9.3 PTS, 3.5 REB and 7.2 AST per game.  He also swiped 1.7 STL per game and netted a solid 35 FT rate.  We always knew that Miles was an excellent point guard, but this was the first time his shooting enabled him to be a complete player.

The freshman, C.J. Giles, had a promising first season.  He averaged nearly 1 BLK per game in only 8 MIN/gm.  He shot about 52 eFG% and even averaged 2.4 REB/gm.  If not for an injury, he was to have become a starter.  Nevertheless, his mental focus and discipline always kept him from reaching his true potential.  Fortunately, the few minutes he did play his freshman season were overall positive ones.

Another freshman also had a solid debut season.  Alex Galindo was known to be a perimeter bomber, and he certainly made an impact from there.  Galindo finished with 53 eFG% overall and 39% on 3FG's.  He did just enough of everything else without too many turnovers.  It was a shame to see him transfer, since with more confidence and playing time, he really could have provided a spark from the perimeter.

Keith Langford had a bit of an up-and-down season.  He lost a lot of explosiveness due to a knee injury.  He couldn't play in the last two conference tournament games and scored only six points in the season-ending loss.  Clearly, he wasn't himself.  Given the unique skill set he brought, Langford's inability to play his best may have been one of the most significant factors contributing to KU's postseason disaster.  His overall efficiency this season was a moderate step down from the prior season.

Two players saw a surprisingly high amount of playing time.  Jeff Hawkins, the previously seldom-used redshirt sophomore, and walk-on Christian Moody earned a place in the regular rotation.  Hawkins shot a sizzling 67 eFG%, and Moody wasn't bad either at 58%.  Moody chipped in a fair number of REB (4.7 per game) but didn't play quite as efficiently as Hawkins overall.  Most figured these two would not play much beyond mop-up time, so the mere fact that they were in the rotation speaks volumes about their willingness to work.  It also pointed to Self's doubts as to the readiness of Sasha Kaun and Darnell Jackson, both freshmen.

Jackson didn't play enough for an accurate rating, but his efficiency numbers were much better than Kaun's.  Jackson shot a bit better than Kaun from the field, but the biggest difference was that Jackson made great use of the freethrow line.  His FT rate (FTM/FGA) was the highest on the team.  Meanwhile, Kaun was turning the ball over more frequently and missing lots of freethrows.

After a promising freshman campaign, JR Giddens came back to Earth with a mediocre sophomore season.  The big difference?  He shot about 34% on 3FG's versus 41% the prior season.  Considering that about two thirds of his shots came from behind the arc, that's a big deal.  Combine that with about a 50% increase in the number of turnovers per game, and it's easy to see how Giddens had a lackluster season.

Michael Lee was a critical role player, and he did a fair job of it most of the time.  He wasn't the most efficient player, but he shot around 50 eFG% and did a little bit of everything.  Meanwhile, Russell Robinson backed up Miles at the point.  But he didn't have it together this season.  After the time he was reluctant to enter a game during mop-up time, his role was significantly reduced.  In fact, he did not play in many games as a matter of Self's choice.  When he did play, his shot wasn't there (45 eFG%), and he even turned it over more often than he had assists.  Robinson had a choice to make in the offseason, and we all know the fortunate results of that.