photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas forward Carlton Bragg Jr. looks to defend against a shot from LaGerald Vick during Late Night in the Phog on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2016 at Allen Fieldhouse.

It was just a scrimmage, one Kansas coach Bill Self dubbed “pick-up ball.”

But there still were enough reasons to watch and dissect what was happening on the Allen Fieldhouse floor Saturday night during the men’s basketball portion of the 32nd annual Late Night in the Phog extravaganza.

It’s dangerous — even silly — to read too much into what the Jayhawks displayed during the up-and-down, 20-minute game that got fans fired up and featured highlight-style offense. But it’s also impossible to ignore that some of what we saw on Saturday might actually be a sign of things to come during the 2016-17 KU basketball season.

With that in mind, here, in no particular order, are a few quick thoughts from KU’s first official practice of the new season.

The Jayhawks will play more pick-up games today and Tuesday before diving into a real practice Wednesday.

• It might be difficult to find him minutes, but there’s no doubt in my mind that freshman forward Mitch Lightfoot could play — and contribute — if needed. Lightfoot is long, athletic, ultra-aggressive and looks very comfortable in just about every imaginable situation. In many ways, he already reminds me of Hunter Mickelson and it took Mickelson a few seasons to reach the point he was at during his senior year. Whether Lightfoot is called upon for minutes this season or not, the young man definitely has the look of a future star and a guy I think fans will come to love.

• We all know that Frank Mason can score, and he showed that plenty during Saturday’s scrimmage, recording 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting. But for a good chunk of the action, Mason looked, at least to me, like he was much more interested in distributing and setting up teammates. With weapons galore around him on the floor at all times, Mason’s dual role of scorer and creator could really be key for this year’s team. Get this: Mason had eight assists the other night, nearly as many as the rest of the team combined. I hesitate to read too much into it, but based on what I saw Saturday night, I’m expecting Mason to be a score-when-required assist man this season.

• Maybe it was just the nature of the game — get up and down the floor, push the pace, hunt highlights — but I really thought the KU guards looked to emphasize attacking the paint on just about every possession. We know that won’t be exclusively the way things run with a Bill Self offense — high-low, get the bigs involved, play inside-out — but you can bet that the trust he has in his top three perimeter players to turn the corner and get to the rim whenever possible will be a big part of this season. As it was Saturday night.

• The numbers didn’t show the desired results, but I thought Landen Lucas looked much more aggressive on the offensive end than he was most of last season. Chalk that up to confidence. Lucas was not a stranger of the scoring column last season, but he became so skilled on the defensive glass and defense in general that his offensive contributions were often overlooked. Most of them came on easy buckets off of plays made by teammates or put-backs at the rim. But Saturday, you saw a glimpse of what Lucas might be able to do in the post. Again, the numbers don’t necessarily illustrate that point, but if you watched him, you saw a guy who’s not scared to operate on the offensive end when needed.

• Devonte’ Graham and Frank Mason have been and will continue to be absolute luxuries on the defensive glass. Mason has made a point of hitting the glass for years. So much so that KUsports.com’s Tom Keegan even sought to create a new stat for Mason’s defensive rebounding prowess. Don’t be surprised, however, if Graham, who is equally as adept in all the right areas, records more than a few of those new stats himself this season. It’s such a luxury for those guys to be able to go up and get it because when they do, they can immediately transition into the fastbreak without having to give the ball up.

• Josh Jackson’s first basket in Saturday’s scrimmage came 14:07 into the action. He still finished with nine points and five rebounds and showed that he can make a major impact any time he wants to. But he also showed that he’s more than happy to play within the flow of the offense. Self has said all along that Jackson is a guy who “gets it.” And few things illustrate that better than Jackson’s unselfish nature and ability and willingness to play with others. The best news? Three of Jackson’s five rebounds came on the offensive glass.

• Self mentioned this briefly, but you also saw it out there a couple of times if you were looking for it. The Kansas defense this season has the potential to be a nasty trapping team. With so much length, athleticism and quickness at so many positions, KU should be in the position to give teams fits if Self wants to utilize that approach. Just think about Jackson and Carlton Bragg trapping an opposing guard. Or Svi and Vick. Or Vick and Bragg. Or Jackson and Vick. The possibilities are endless and, even if Self only chooses to pull the trigger a couple of times a game, this tenacity could pay huge dividends.

• It was just a first look, but I’m wondering if Dwight Coleby is going to figure out that the best way for him to carve out a role on this team is to duplicate what Landen Lucas did in 2015-16 — play defense and rebound. Coleby, who is coming off of ACL surgery, had some decent offensive skills during his time at Ole Miss. But it’s highly likely that those won’t be needed at Kansas and the sooner he figures that out, the better his chances of playing will be.

• Good news for KU fans on the Svi front: The junior guard played 18 minutes and didn’t commit a single turnover. Given the style of the game and the fact that Svi turned the ball over often during his summer action with the Ukrainian national team, this qualifies as good news. He made just 2-of-7 shots (including 1-of-5 from downtown) but the shot will come. The better news was that he avoided careless turnovers and looked comfortable doing so.

• And, in case you missed it (and therefore would think I’m crazy for not including them), Carlton Bragg and Lagerald Vick were our featured Jayhawks from our Saturday night coverage, so be sure to click on each name for those links in case you didn’t check them out yet.