The Pop-Punk Season in Review
Picking lyrics/songs to describe each rotation player's performance in the 2024-25 season.
There will be some analytical pieces reviewing the season over the next couple of months, but this newsletter and the next will be a little outside of the norm for the Substack. I hope you enjoy them!
Watching highlights of the 2008 championship run, an idea hit me to describe this year’s team in terms of lyrics or songs. As someone whose music tastes were formulated in between 2000-2010, the pop-punk boom in this time felt ripe for the picking. In this newsletter, I pick a song from a pop-punk (okay, there might be some stretching of the genre with a few of these) song lyric for each of the ten rotation players from this season. The idea was to pick lyrics that encapsulate both this season and the careers for the multi-year player along with an explanation on why those songs were chosen.
Dajuan Harris - Thnks fr th Mmrs, Fall Out Boy
One night and one more time
Thanks for the memories, even though they weren't so great
Harris was maligned for most of the latter part of his career at Kansas. The things he did well (distribute the ball, jump passing lanes on defense, set up and run the offense) he did extremely well. Some of the decisions he made and lack of consistently improving offense…not so much. That being said, most of the key plays in his career won’t be remembered positively by Kansas fans:
The attempted entry pass to Hunter Dickinson at the end of the Arkansas game this year.
The jump-pass that turned into a turnover at the end of the Texas Tech game this year.
The Arkansas tournament game where he had a ten second violation and took an ill-advised running hook shot with under a minute remaining.
Stepping out of bounds in the National Championship game when Kansas had a chance to truly seal the game.
What Harris did at Kansas is going to be a difficult legacy to unwind. He was the starting point guard on a championship-winning team and one seed the following year. However, the last two seasons will probably have a bigger impact on how he will be remembered no matter how unfair that is. In that case, the memories weren’t so great.
K.J. Adams - Perfect, Simple Plan
Nothing lasts forever
I'm sorry
I can't be perfect
Now it's just too late
And we can't go back
I'm sorry
I can't be perfect
Adams caught a lot of flak from Kansas fans over the last two seasons, but his last month at Kansas was one of the strongest stretches of his career. He laid it all out for the team. It’s even easy to argue that without his injury at the end of the Arkansas game, Kansas could have been playing on Saturday against St. John’s in the Round of 32. Adams certainly wasn’t a perfect player at Kansas. His shooting didn’t really improve over four years and that affected the offensive spacing these past two seasons. He didn’t hit the boards as hard as he should have for a player in the four position. That being said, he cared every single time he stepped on the floor and ended up being the leader of this year’s team through his effort. Adams would probably be the first guy to apologize for not being a perfect player or making perfect decisions. He unquestionably loved playing for Kansas.
Hunter Dickinson - In the End, Linkin Park
I tried so hard, and got so far
But in the end, it doesn't even matter
I had to fall to lose it all
But in the end, it doesn't even matter
One of the most divisive players among fans in Kansas basketball history, Dickinson was inarguably a statistically impressive player. The national perception was that he played dirty and pushed the boundaries of what was legal on the floor. When he didn’t play “dirty” or with that edge, Kansas fans called him soft. The roster construction around him was poor, but national media members state he’s “not a winning player”1 putting the blame on him. Dickinson was a cheat code near the basket and obviously worked to improve his extended shooting, post moves, and defense during his time in college. In the end, he never really had an opportunity at a National Championship and was (unfairly) villainized and blamed for his teams losing despite consistently being the most reliable offensive option for many of them. All in all, it didn’t even matter.
Zeke Mayo - My Own Worst Enemy, Lit
It's no surprise to me, I am my own worst enemy
'Cause every now and then, I kick the livin' s*** out of me
Mayo transferred to his hometown university to live out his dream playing for Kansas. He started off the season not taking enough shots, but that flipped after losses to Creighton and Missouri in December. He became more aggressive, and in turn, more confident. Despite the February lull where he received insane messages from fans,2 Mayo was one of the drivers of the Kansas offense this season. At times it felt like he was in his own head and lost some confidence. In other words, he was his own worst enemy. That wasn’t a problem at the end of the season, though. Over the last four games, Mayo went 19/33 (57.6 percent) from 3. The story of Mayo going to a mid-major and getting to come play for his hometown Blue Blood school was one of my favorite stories this season. For most of the year, he did exactly what Kansas brought him in to do.
Rylan Griffen - Complicated, Avril Lavigne
Why'd you have to go and make things so complicated?
I see the way you're acting like you're somebody else, gets me frustrated
Griffen was my favorite transfer that Kansas pulled from the portal last year. It felt like he was going to be a seamless fit into Self’s system.3 Instead, he had an up-and-down season and wasn’t able to find a rhythm in the majority of games, including the tournament game against Arkansas. The hope heading into the season was that Griffen would average between 10-12 points per game and use that as a springboard for a bigger role in 2025-26 and provide some continuity on the roster. Instead, there’s a chance he enters the transfer portal and further complicates the construction for next year’s roster.
AJ Storr - Misery Business, Paramore
I'm in the business of misery
Let's take it from the top
This was one of the song pairings that immediately came to mind when this idea started to form. While the rest of the song doesn’t fit, the idea that this season was miserable for both Storr and Kansas was one of the strongest themes this season.4 It felt like Storr was pressing every time he stepped on the court, often driving into traffic and turning the ball over and then losing his man on the defensive end by playing too aggressively on the perimeter. Storr took shots on almost 25 percent of the offensive possessions while he was on the floor. While that is probably around what should have been expected, he finished with a 92.7 offensive rating, by far the lowest of the main contributors this season. In the games where he was locked in (very few and far between), he was a difference-maker for a Kansas team desperate for a player who could create off the dribble. However, his defense kept him on the bench most games. It was a miserable experience for him, Bill Self, and the fans.
Diggy Coit - Sugar, We’re Goin Down, Fall Out Boy
We're going down, down in an earlier round
And sugar, we're going down swinging
I'll be your number one with a bullet
A loaded God complex, cock it and pull it
Coit was the one transfer who didn’t seem to need time to understand their role. He immediately came in firing from behind the arc and pestering players on the defensive end. At times it felt like he and Mayo were the only two transfers that Self liked. That’s why this song felt like the perfect choice for him. He was never afraid to cock it and pull it, and while he doesn’t have a God complex, he did show an unshakeable belief in his shooting ability during the entire season. Coit was fun to watch and brought in a dimension to the offense that didn’t exist when he was on the floor. He would be a fun player coming off the bench next season if he returns, but with an unexpected extra season granted due to the NCAA JUCO ruling5, it would be understandable if he transfers somewhere he is guaranteed more playing time.
Rakease Passmore - The Middle, Jimmy Eat World
It just takes some time
Little girl, you're in the middle of the ride
Everything, everything'll be just fine
Everything, everything'll be alright, alright
There were moments during Big 12 play where I wished Self had given Passmore Storr’s minutes throughout the season. Passmore was sometimes put in when Self felt he needed a defender to trust, which is a quick way to earning time. Unfortunately, there were still enough small pieces of his game that kept him from growing into a larger role as the season went along. Passmore came in as a four-star prospect with freak athleticism and feels like a player who could develop in the mold of past Jayhawks, but it could take some patience. He most likely understands that he’s in the middle of the ride that is his college career, and that he’ll likely be fine whether he chooses to transfer this offseason or stick around another year to see where he stands in 2025-26. Passmore has a lot of the traits for players you see succeed at schools in the SEC who has six Sweet Sixteen teams this season. If Self loosens up the style a little bit next year (it feels like he will), then Passmore could be dynamic piece to the Kansas roster moving forward.
Flory Bidunga - When You Were Young, The Killers
Can we climb this mountain?
I don't know
Higher now than ever before
I know we can make it if we take it slow
Let's take it easy
Easy now, watch it go
One of the most pleasant surprises of the season was Bidunga. The way he stepped up in the Duke and home Houston games gave Kansas fans a glimpse at his ceiling. It’s not as common for freshmen to step on the court and immediately look like they belong, but Bidunga was thrown into the fire against a very good Duke squad and helped close out Kansas’ best win of the season. When Adams got hurt in January, Biduga stepped into the larger role, averaging 11 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 blocks in 29 minutes. After that point, it felt like he hit a bit of a freshman wall. It would be fair for him to point to that four-game stretch as a reason he should have gotten more minutes over the last two months of the season. At the same time, his least effective games came after this. Teams began attacking him off the dribble, forcing him to defend quicker wings and highlighting areas where he needs development. If the lack of increased role does lead Bidunga to the transfer portal, then it will be extremely disappointing. If Bidunga is willing to take his time and spend the offseason at Kansas, then he could truly explode on the national scene.6
Shak Moore - Everything is Alright, Motion City Soundtrack
Tell me that you're alright
"Yeah, everything is alright"
Oh, please tell me that you're alright
"Yeah, everything is alright"
Moore broke into the starting lineup in the historic road win against UCF and stayed in that role through Kansas’ loss to Baylor. Kansas went 6-3 in those games including going 5-1 in games where he played over 20 minutes. Unfortunately, Moore was fighting a foot injury all season which limited his effectiveness and role during the season. If Moore had been healthy, he might have been able to give Harris breaks towards the end of the season while providing another defensive option against the quicker guards in the Big 12. Unfortunately, not everything was alright for Moore this season. The team suffered because of that.
Hopefully you enjoyed the change of pace for this newsletter. Were there any songs that you feel might have been better picks for any players?
Gary Parrish stated this in the Eye on College Basketball podcast (CBS’ college basketball podcast) after the games on Thursday.
I have no qualms about criticizing the play of college athletes, especially now that they are paid. That being said, direct attacks on any person is crossing a line. What Mayo received was
The Houston game at home showed exactly what Griffen’s ceiling was for this team. If he had played to 80 percent of that on a consistent basis, his addition would likely be viewed as a success.
Kansas’ worst season in 25 years ended up with a seven seed and a third-team All-American. We truly are spoiled.
The NCAA made a determination that years at junior colleges don’t count towards a player’s eligibility. Because of this, players who spent two seasons at a junior college have an additional two years at the Division 1 level.
A big piece to this is incoming five-star Darryn Peterson. He played in a tournament in Lawrence this past weekend and was asked who he was most excited to play with next year. His answer? “Flory.”