As a junior, Butler ever-so-slightly topped Mitchell in assist rate as the Bears went on to win the national title. Butler was forced to play point guard as a freshman as Makai Mason battled nagging injuries. Two years later, Baylor continued the trend with the Davion Mitchell/Jared Butler pairing. Virginia put up KenPom's second-best offense, Clark made one of the plays of the tournament in setting up Mamadi Diakite for the game-tying shot in the Elite Eight against Purdue and the Cavaliers went on to win the program's first NCAA Tournament Somewhere along the line that season, Virginia coach Tony Bennett set aside his favored blocker-mover system - one that paired two big men - in favor of a continuity ball-screen offense that pushed then-freshman point guard Kihei Clark into the lineup and usual point guard Ty Jerome to the two. In 2019, Virginia was coming off losing to No. Should the Jayhawks ride that pairing to success, they wouldn't be the only team to make such a change and reap the benefits. While Kansas' starting lineup this year features a bigger group with Ochai Agbaji next to Harris, the Jayhawks have leaned more and more on a healthy Martin, and with good reason: According to, Kansas' most efficient two-man lineup includes Harris and Martin together. Jalen Brunson (19.1), Ryan Arcidiacono (24.1)ĭavion Mitchell (27.7), Jared Butler (28.0) Shabazz Napier (30.8), Ryan Boatwright (21.2) Recent NCAA Tournament champions who frequently used two lead guards. "But that doesn't bother me much, the size differential, and that's the only thing that would bother me about playing two little guards." It takes two
"When you play two little guys, that can be a negative because teams like TCU, whose two-man is 6-6, that could be a potential negative," Self said. When Kansas goes with two lead guards this year, that has typically meant Dajuan Harris with one of either Remy Martin or Joseph Yesufu. Garrett earned national defensive player of the year honors by defending West Virginia center Derek Culver one game, then Iowa State's Tyrese Haliburton the next. When Dotson departed the next year, Garrett took over at point guard.īut Garrett, being 6-foot-5 with long arms, made that 2020 decision to play two lead guards easy. 1 before COVID-19 canceled the postseason, had a traditional point guard in Devon Dotson, while Marcus Garrett actually led the Big 12 in assists during league play. His 2020 team, which finished the season at No.
Almost all of his best teams have seen two lead guards together, from Frank Mason and Devonte' Graham to his last Final Four team with Graham and Malik Newman, who previously played point guard at Mississippi State before moving off the ball at Kansas. His 2008 national championship team typically saw Russell Robinson or Sherron Collins at point guard with Mario Chalmers playing at the two. Self himself has seen the benefits of going with two lead guards. And the more lead guards you have is positive, as long as one of them has got to be able to shoot."įour guards? For national title winners over the last eight years, guard play follows the lyric from the Marvin Gaye and Kim Weston song, "It just takes two." "I've changed my thinking, as long as one of them is big enough to defend a four and if one of them can be a lead guard. I have said all along, I would rather play four guards," Kansas coach Bill Self said after Kansas' Big 12 Tournament win over TCU. "I think if I had my druthers, I would play three point guards every day. That puts a premium on teams that can make the most of fewer possessions with efficient ball-handling, getting their teams into the right positions and taking advantage of the fewer transition opportunities and shooting. Tempo slows over the course of the season, often dipping during conference play and even more during March. But while having an elite big man certainly helps, for better or worse, the postseason has more recently been driven by guard play. The NCAA Tournament used to be dominated by the best big men in the sport.