Is McCormack better this year than he was last year?
This year was supposed to be different for David McCormack. His slow start to the 2020-21 season was attributed to learning to be "the guy" down low without Udoka Azubuike. When he turned it on in Big 12 play and ultimately earned 2nd team All-Big 12 honors, many people (myself included) just assumed that he had finally figured it out and would take off this year.
I spoke with McCormack at Big 12 Media Days this year, and he talked about the importance of taking on a leadership role on this team. He mentioned how important it was going to be to get going early in the season and build on his game in order to reach the goals that this team had. Everyone was ready for a big season.
And then the lull came that was all too familiar from last year. He didn't have a single double-double performance in the month of November. He had just as many games with single digit point totals as he did double digit totals in the non-conference. By all accounts, it was another slow start.
Then the inconsistency started. Against Oklahoma State, he broke out in the second half and finished with 17 points and 15 rebounds. Then he had two duds at Texas Tech and home against Iowa State. Big performances against West Virginia and Kansas State were broken up by poor performances against Oklahoma, Kentucky, and a Texas Tech game that needed two overtimes for him to get into double digits.
After the Kentucky loss, there were questions about whether McCormack was ever going to get it turned on this season. Those weren't helped by Bill Self's nonchalant announcement that McCormack has been dealing with a foot issue all year. That was news to pretty much everyone I talked to, as despite his foot surgery to end last season, we had yet to hear about any lingering effects until that week.
But since then, McCormack has been on an absolute tear. But it seems to have gone largely unnoticed, overshadowed by the controversy surrounding Remy Martin, the complaints about what people wish Dajuan Harris would be, or the fervor around the lack of playing time for Zach Clemence and KJ Adams after good performances in spot duty. So much so, that I was actually a bit surprised initially when Brendan Dzwierzynski, who joined me on today's podcast, mentioned that McCormack was arguably having a better season this year than last year.
After thinking about it for a few seconds, it made sense, but I had to follow up. Below are the numbers for this season and last season, courtesy of Bart Torvik:
David McCormack Season-by-season Stats
McCormack Season stats, 2021-22 season vs 2020-21 season
Bart Torvik
David McCormack season-by-season stats.
Bart Torvik
Looking at the above numbers, two things jump out to me: the rebounding numbers and the block numbers. You can argue that McCormack is the far and away the second best rebounder in the country, behind only Oscar Tshiebwe of Kentucky. That has been a huge key to many Kansas games, but many times that can go ignored when unlucky bounces off the rim don't allow for many opportunities for rebounding in the post.
Additionally, I'm not worried at all about the block percentage. McCormack's defensive game has been predicated largely on denying the opportunity for shots themselves, not getting into a position to block shots on his own. And his efforts there routinely lead to blocked shot opportunities for players like Christian Braun, Jalen Wilson or Ochai Agbaji, so it's not a huge concern to see his number dip.
With the rest of his offensive numbers staying relatively the same, McCormack has quietly turned into a better player this year than he was last season. That isn't something that Kansas fans should take for granted.
