Projected starting lineup:

Stat to know: Nick Timberlake played just 14 minutes in Kansas’ win over Kentucky in Tuesday’s Champions Classic. It was the fewest number of minutes in a single game for the Towson transfer since Jan. 23, 2020.

What we can learn: Let’s fast-forward to the semifinals and pretend an old Marquette team beats a young UCLA squad and that Kansas doesn’t play with its food in the first-round game against Chaminade.

That Marquette-Kansas game has a chance to be a straight-up banger. We know Marquette will double-team the post on almost every single touch. How does Kansas get creative against that? Hunter Dickinson is an elite passer out of double-teams, but Kansas’ lack of respectable floor-spacers is truly jarring. Timberlake is in a funk. KJ Adams isn’t shooting it and neither is Elmarko Jackson. Dajuan Harris and Kevin McCullar both have jumpers that come and go. So does that make it Jamari McDowell‘s time to shine? Bill Self has to sort all that mess out.

Marquette will put so much stress on Kansas. That never-ending pressure will make life tough for a team that is elite when it can get to the rim. Kansas thinks it has the best center, the best wing and the best point guard in the country. It’ll need them to play like it to knock off Marquette.

Bill Self knows what he has in Harris, Dickinson, Adams and McCullar, but he’s searching for a fifth guy he can trust. This is a huge stage for Timberlake, Jackson, McDowell or Johnny Furphy to make a case to be that fifth member of the trusted circle.