Kansas Jayhawks guard Gradey Dick drives around Baylor Bears forward Caleb Lohner during the second half at Allen Fieldhouse. — Kansas Jayhawks guard Gradey Dick (4) drives around Baylor Bears forward Caleb Lohner (33) during the second half at Allen Fieldhouse. (William Purnell – USA TODAY Sports)

Key to Stopping Jayhawks' Batman is Taking Out His Robin

There is no slowing Wilson, but if Hogs play role of Joker, stopping Dick almost guarantees shot at victory

Author:
Kent Smith
Updated:
Mar 18, 2023 12:05 PM EDT
Original:
Mar 18, 2023

In this story:

Arkansas Razorbacks

DES MOINES, Iowa – Take a moment to picture Brandon Miller in your mind.

Now add about 20 pounds of muscle and give him a softer, smoother jump shot from literally anywhere on the court.

While you're at it, make the players around him taller and much better shooters. That's what Arkansas faces today.

A team that isn't quite as strong on defense as Alabama, but dramatically improved on offense and more evenly balanced with a backbone made of decades of tradition.

Welcome to Kansas.

That this game exists as a possibility on the schedule is why Arkansas coach Eric Musselman values defense over offense at all times, because if he didn't, there would be no need to even roll the ball out on the floor.

But, he does, so there's a chance for the Razorbacks today, even if it's only a small one.

The leader of this Kansas team is Jalen Wilson, a rare homage to old school college basketball development who cut his teeth just up the road from where Anthony Black and Jordan Walsh were kicking off their middle school careers in Texas.

Much like the Razorbacks' Davonte Davis, Wilson is a rare NCAA Tournament veteran whose game took a dramatic leap this year as he became a man among fresh out of high school boys.

At 22, Wilson has a year on the planet and an extra season of college basketball on Davis. However, since Wilson didn't play as a freshman and the NCAA Tournament was cancelled in 2020, the two are equals when it comes to on-court college experience.

Davis' Jayhawk counterpart plays forward, but more in the same vein that the Hogs' Trevon Brazile and former NBA champion Dirk Nowitski were forwards. There's an inside element to his game, but it's his ability to get his jumper up with someone guarding him tight anywhere from mid-range to behind the arc that makes him special.

It was the refining of his shooting prowess that allowed him to make the impressive leap of averaging roughly 11 points his second and third seasons in Lawrence to a beefy 20 point average this season on 43% shooting.

There's also the 8.4 rebounds per game that wipe away any illusion that Wilson is here for the glory of putting up points in a SportCenter highlight reel while not having the grit to do all the little things that kill opponents.

That's exactly what he put up against Howard in a first round beatdown where the Jayhawks dropped nearly 100 points as the vice president watched her alma mater be rendered helpless in the first round.

But a team doesn't put up 87+ points at least once every four games if it's a one man show. After all, if one player is consistently putting up 20 points and a team pushed the century mark, there's 80% of the production coming from somewhere else.

In this case, the Robin to Wilson's Batman is freshman phenom Gradey Dick, a 5-star Top 10 ranked 2022 recruit out of the famed Sunrise Christian Academy. In a fitting twist, Dick has evolved along the lines of the Dick Grayson version of Robin and is on the verge his more mature Nightwing persona.

At the same height as Wilson and only 15 pounds lighter, Dick is a Wilson starter kit if there were any hope that he might stick around to finish filling out his body.

But that's not going to happen. Dick is everything a team could hope for in a freshman superstar in terms of offensive production.

He scored 23 points in 32 minutes the first time he stepped on the court in a Kansas uniform, including 4-of-6 from beyond the arc.

Dick shot 70% that night and never looked back. A week later he lit up Duke for 14 points on 55% shooting, topping 18+ points 11 times.

Oddly enough, even though there are several other high quality Jayhawks shooters who are going to present problems for Arkansas, Dick appears to be the key to stopping Kansas.

Wisconsin held him to single digits and lost 69-68 in overtime. Oklahoma held Dick to 8 points and lost, 69-67.

Tennessee limited him to seven and won, 64-50. TCU gave up eight and walked away with an 83-60 victory.

Iowa State held Dick down to seven while pounding the Jayhawks, 68-53. Texas suffocated him, allowing only six points in a regular season finale upset in a 75-59 blowout before replicating the feat again in the Big 12 Championship game in a 76-56 curb stomping.

Of the 11 times Dick was held to single digits, in all but two instances, Kansas either lost or was within four points of losing.

If the Razorbacks hope to win, they're going to have to play the role of the Joker.

In the comics, the most damaging thing the Joker did to Batman was kill Robin. And in this case, taking out Wilson's Robin is how Arkansas wins.

Only two teams have allowed Dick to get into a rhythm and survived. It's not a recipe for success.

And if anyone follows the recipe to the numbers, it's