Tom Keegan: Jayhawks should be better on glass

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas forward Carlton Bragg Jr. (15) wrestles for a rebound with Montana forward Jack Lopez (31) during the second half, Saturday, Dec. 19, 2015 at Allen Fieldhouse. Also pictured are Kansas forward Landen Lucas (33), Montana forward Fabijan Krslovic (20) and Kansas guard Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, right.

A school doesn’t win 12 consecutive Big 12 basketball titles without at least a little variance in relative strengths and weaknesses.

Take the case of Kansas and rebounding. In the first two seasons of the streak, in conference games only, KU ranked fifth in rebounding margin (+2.1) in 2004-05, behind Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas and Nebraska, and third (+5.9, behind Texas and Oklahoma) in 2005-06.

Now fast-forward to the most recent two seasons of the streak. The Jayhawks finished behind West Virginia and Baylor with a rebounding margin of +3.7 this past season, fourth the season before that with a streak-low +1.2, behind Baylor, Texas and West Virginia.

So winning the Big 12 does not require winning the battle of the boards on a nightly basis, but it doesn’t hurt, either.

The best team during the streak, the 2007-08 national champions who went 37-3 and prevailed in the only Final Four in history that featured all No. 1 seeds, had the greatest rebounding margin (+10.2) of any Big 12 team during KU’s active conference championship streak. The year before that, Kansas outrebounded Big 12 opponents by an average of 9.2 per game, starting a streak of eight seasons on top of the league in that statistical category.

One-third of the titles came in years Kansas didn’t lead the league in rebounding, so it’s obviously not a must, but on paper, at least, it looks as if the Jayhawks will rebound better this season than in the past two.

The starting backcourt returns, which means Frank Mason III and Devonté Graham are a year older and stronger. Mason in particular has added muscle, which should enable him better to withstand the pounding his body takes. Starting center Landen Lucas grows stronger every year and wiser in terms of knowing how to play physically without drawing whistles.

Even if the three returning starters don’t grow significantly as rebounders, it still leaves room for major improvement for the team as a whole.

Perry Ellis (16.8 points per game) and Wayne Selden Jr. (13.8) were the team’s two leading scorers last season, and they’re gone.

Ellis, a threat posting up, driving to the hoop and shooting from the perimeter (.438 from three), put tremendous pressure on a defense, but rebounding never was his strength when compared to other power forwards on KU’s always-loaded schedule.

Selden shot pretty well (.392 from three), finished strong with memorable dunks and brought defensive toughness, but never displayed much of knack for rebounding.

In a combined 60 minutes a game, the starting forwards averaged 9.2 rebounds.

If this coming season’s projected starting forwards, Carlton Bragg Jr. and Josh Jackson, combine for 60 minutes, look for them to average somewhere in the neighborhood of the combined total (13.3) Brandon Rush and Julian Wright averaged in 2006-07.

This coming season’s bench also projects to lend more help on the boards than last season’s.

Cheick Diallo was a productive rebounder but never acquired enough polish to his game to earn more than 202 minutes during a 38-game season.

Hunter Mickelson was a decent rebounder, but shot-blocking ranked as his best skill. Jamari Traylor rebounded better than Ellis, but not at an exceptionally high rate.

Mississippi State transfer Dwight Coleby knows how to translate his 6-foot-9, 240-pound frame into rebounding well. He averaged 4.8 rebounds, third on the team, in just 16.5 minutes per game.

Udoka Azubuike, a 7-foot, 280-pound freshman, appears to have more polish to his game than Diallo, at least based on sometimes-deceiving Bill Self Basketball Camp scrimmages. He certainly has a more developed body. His width and sure hands should translate to productive rebounding.

Any way you look at it, the Jayhawks should rebound significantly better than last year, when they rebounded well enough to finish ranked third in the nation in a year three teams (Villanova, North Carolina and KU, in that order) stood above the rest by a pretty good margin.