Udoka Azubuike should be more impactful than recent KU freshman bigs

photo by: Nick Krug

Blue Team center Udoka Azabuike brings down a dunk on Wednesday, June 15, 2016 at the Horejsi Athletic Center.

When center Udoka Azubuike joined Kansas basketball’s 2016 recruiting class in January, it certainly didn’t come as much of a surprise. Coach Bill Self and his staff routinely land big men from the high school ranks who bring to campus loads of hype to go their size and wingspans.

However, at the time, Azubuike’s commitment to KU didn’t conjure up visions of the 7-footer becoming an instant dominant force in the paint during the 2016-17 season.

In the midst of Cheick Diallo’s mostly unspectacular one-and-done campaign with the Jayhawks, and a year removed from the failed Cliff Alexander experiment, it was easy to assume a third straight year of mundane production from a freshman KU post player. Remember, even Carlton Bragg Jr., who had more of an impact last season than Diallo, only averaged 3.8 points and 2.5 rebounds in 8.9 minutes a game.

Lumping Azubuike in with other recent freshman post players, though, was unfair to the young big from Nigeria, who played his high school basketball for Potter’s House Christian Academy, in Florida.

Although Azubuike’s highlight mixtapes from his prep days didn’t look too novel compared to those of Diallo and Alexander before him, one can’t truly appreciate how dissimilar he is from his predecessors until seeing the colossal 16-year-old in person.

Sure, it was just a glorified pickup game last week for Self’s annual basketball camp, but Azubuike truly did play like “a monster” in the paint, scoring 26 points on 13-for-15 shooting while using his bulk to create space and then his raw strength to power the ball through the rim.

Perhaps it’s a stretch to say Diallo and Alexander were easy to defend in the post when they played for Kansas, but they wouldn’t qualify as difficult to stop, either. Azubuike has nearly 4 inches on Alexander and is 3 inches taller than Diallo. Factor in Azubuike’s reported 7-foot-5 wingspan and you have a physical specimen that could just as easily go toe to toe with The Hound from “Game of Thrones” as man the pivot for Kansas.

It is Azubuike’s borderline otherworldly combination of size and athleticism that both sets him apart from his predecessors and makes him more likely to discover immediate on-court success. Massive as he is — KU lists him at 270 pounds — the incoming freshman doesn’t lumber up and down the floor uneasily. Azubuike possesses the dexterity to keep his mountainesque frame smoothly in motion. Then he maneuvers nimbly in the post upon gathering an entry pass. Next stop: power dunk.

While every big man that comes through Self’s program doesn’t experience the same level of success, the coach’s love for utilizing the post isn’t lost on frontcourt prospects. The Kansas offense features post men when it is clicking, and that’s one major reason Azubuike chose KU.

“It’s just the style of play,” the
promising center said. “I spoke to
Coach Self several times, numerous
times, and was watching them play. My
style of play, my system of play, you
can’t beat that. I just think KU was
the best choice for me.”

In his first season of college basketball, it might be asking a bit much of Azubuike to replicate the freshman prosperity of Joel Embiid in 2013-14 — 11.2 points, 8.1 rebounds, 2.6 blocks 1.4 assists in 23.1 minutes. But the Jayhawks don’t necessarily need the youngster from Lagos, Nigeria, to produce at that clip, either. Kansas has Landen Lucas and Carlton Bragg Jr. to lean upon inside.

Azubuike won’t have to start from Day 1. In fact, Self feasibly could bring the gigantic teenager off the bench all season and the newest KU center still could have a more influential first year than Embiid, who played for a young, inexperienced team. Azubuike enters a contrasting situation, in which be should become a force on a deeper, more versatile roster.

Self already has told his next freshman big he’s going to be one of the best interior players to suit up for Kansas during the coach’s 13 seasons in Lawrence.

That’s a mountain of praise, for sure. Even so, Azubuike’s abilities just might outweigh his expectations.

— PODCAST: KU Freshmen make early impact during summer scrimmages