Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - ALERT: Kansas Jayhawks Pursue Serbian Center Mihailo Musikic - Is it BAD NEWS About Malique Ewin???

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is interest in a Serbian big man, and that should be pretty telling about where we're at in the off season for KU. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's going on Derek Johnson here? This is Locked on Jayhawks. And on today's episode of the show, we're going to get into some of the latest at the center position, Mustafa Chom staying at Michigan, Paul Mbia showing off and some highlights for KU. And we'll start right here with Kansas showing interest in a European big man and what it means for KU moving forward. So it was reported on Tuesday night by On 3 that Kansas has interest in Mihailo Musichich. He is a 7 foot 227 pound center from Serbia.

Starting point is 00:00:57 And we did an international Biggs episode profiling some Biggs that might make sense. at for KU or just kind of get some names out there. This was not somebody that I flagged as part of that. But, you know, honestly, the stats are pretty solid in general for Musa Kitch. He's playing over in the Serbian League, which is a decent league, the Adriatic League, again, kind of a decent league. And that's kind of like the Adriatic League is like you get the best of like the teams in like Serbia and Croatia and kind of the teams in that area.

Starting point is 00:01:27 But again, the stats are decent here. You're looking at somebody who in the 20s. 23, 24 season playing in the Serbian league, average like 11 points over five rebounds per game. Then in the 24, 25 season again, playing in that league over 11 points, over five rebounds per game on a really good efficiency numbers. And then this past season, playing in the combination of those two, he was an 8 point and about 5.7 rebound per game guy. So he's been relatively productive at a senior level overseas in Europe, but not the hardest league. but not the easiest league either. And that's a good thing when you're looking at production.

Starting point is 00:02:07 He's an older player, right? Now, there's some others who, you know, have kind of scouted him, maybe not as high on him. He has had to deal with a bunch of injuries in the past. That's something you have to worry about. We're going to do a deep dive episode on tomorrow's episode where we'll get kind of more into his game, his scouting board and everything.

Starting point is 00:02:26 So be on the lookout for that and thank you, every dayers, who will catch that one. And honestly, like, I don't even, know how this dude's going to be eligible to be completely honest like he turns he turned uh 24 in march which means he'll be 25 the following march and with the new five and five rule you're looking at okay once you turn 19 your clock starts and you have five years well he would be out of eligibility by that so i don't know maybe under the old eligibility rules maybe he can work it around that way that he can appeal to be under the old eligibility rules and be eligible that way?

Starting point is 00:03:03 I don't entirely know. But whatever, apparently, like, if you're KU, if you're kicking the tires on this, you clearly have to have some level of confidence that you would be able to get him eligible. Because you're already dealing with this Malik-Ewan situation where you have a good center that you're trying to get eligible. Why do you want to, like, if this is your alternative plan to that, why do you want to go down the same road of trying to find another center that you just hope is eligible, right? But I think, again, outside of the player himself, which again, we'll get to a deep dive on tomorrow's episode,

Starting point is 00:03:39 the interesting question here to me is this. What exactly does this interest represent for KU? Scenario one, does this mean that Malik U.N. is not happening? Because if that is the case, that is very bad news for KU., right? If you're going from Malik U.N., who is somebody who is somebody who, I think is a really adept offensive center, is somebody that I look at as coming in and would be probably a top four player on KU next season. And comparatively, when you look at Mahalo Musich, there's a chance he could be your fourth center.

Starting point is 00:04:17 You know, not necessarily saying that wouldn't happen, but there's a chance that it absolutely could happen. And so if this is the alternative to getting Malikyu in, because you've hit a point where you don't think it's going to happen, that is bad news because the difference in player that you're talking about here leaves you a little bit underwhelmed and would definitely mean that you have to have faith in what Paul and Bia and Christian Reeves are going to give you, which is ironic because if you're going after Malikian in the first place, it kind of signals to me that that might not be the case, right?

Starting point is 00:04:53 I think scenario two of what you're looking at here is if this is something, that maybe they're lining up in case they haven't heard by, you know, on the Malikyuan case by a certain date. And I don't know what that date would be. You start the school year in, in what, mid, late August, you know, if it's, if it's the end of July and you haven't heard anything on the Malikian case, do you say, okay, well, we're just going to have to make a move here, right? To where this is a backup plan, right? Because scenario one is, is it's a, you're doing this instead of Ewan. Scenario two is you're doing this in case the Ewan thing doesn't happen where, you know, when you hit that certain date, you say, hey, we're going to pivot and move to this guy.

Starting point is 00:05:37 That I can get a little bit more because, again, like I said, I think he's a worse option than Malik U.N. But it is nice to have a backup plan out there. And I am at least appreciative from the standpoint of saying that, hey, clearly if you're going after Malik U. and you understand there is more that you could add to this team. Why are we not hearing more rumors of other players or international, you know, kind of going after some of the players overseas. And some of it can just be because you're working behind closed doors. But it's nice to see him working, I guess,

Starting point is 00:06:13 and feeling like that there is actually a plan A, there's a plan B. And that would be nice about scenario. scenario two. Now, scenario three here of what this could mean, KU still does have two scholarships left. So it doesn't have to be an either or. It doesn't have to be Mahalo Musakich or Malik Youen. Theoretically, you could bring on Mihal Moussich and Malik Uin as long as you can get both guys eligible. And so maybe this should be kind of tying in scenario two with a slightly alternative version of that. Instead of it just being a playing backup plan, which in scenario three, it still is the backup plan in case you don't land you in,

Starting point is 00:06:54 but you take on, you know, Musa Kitch anyway. And you're basically saying, hey, let's just take this kid on now. We'd still have one scholarship open. We'll leave it open in case the Malikian thing happens. And if the Malikian thing doesn't happen, then we'll play with 14 scholarship players instead of 15. Or if it doesn't happen at a certain date, maybe then we'll kick the tires on somebody else. Maybe then we'll kick the tires on potentially, you know, reclassifying Javon Bardwell. That's not the worst idea in the world either, just from a standpoint of then it would give you the backup plan as the backup plan has happened, as opposed to just the backup plan is in the works. And then you still would have the scholarship to get him. The downside if you do that is I've kind of said like ideally, if you do want to use both scholarships, I think you use one on a big man, use one on a ball handler.

Starting point is 00:07:46 think KU's going to have more than enough wing minutes like Rosario will play on the wing. Dennis Parker will play on the wing. Stokes is going to play so much on the wing. Dawes is going to take up a bunch of four-man minutes, which is where you would get away with playing a wing at different points. So I think when you look at it, like having another ball handler, because right now you don't really have a bench ball handler unless you count Luke Barnett as that. I view him more as a shooter, but maybe you do. That would be kind of a nice thing to have, even if it's in a G. and G. and G. G. G. And, especially when you're counting on a couple of underclassmen there and then getting another center.

Starting point is 00:08:19 I think those would be the two positions I would look at. If you do this where you're basically saying, hey, one of them are taking Moosecich, the other one will take you and if he gets eligible, otherwise it's just going to burn away. That would not necessarily be using that in I think the most optimized way, but I would understand why you were doing it. Okay, scenario four.

Starting point is 00:08:37 And this one might be the most pertinent and most possible of what exactly is going on here. And that is that adding this guy is going to open up the opportunity for more moves, whether that's now or in the future, right? A couple different ways you can look at this. One, this is a guy who was with Megabasket. I think right now he's technically a free agent. But Megabasket is, you know, a pretty big team overseas in a decent overseas league.

Starting point is 00:09:09 If you can create some sort of pipeline, if this kid comes over and it leads to more contact over there, where you're getting, you know, more good players from the Adriatic League, like, that is a good thing to have if you are Kansas. But even more than that, it's the contact not just with the league or, you know, being able to establish some sort of, you know, connection with that league and that area of the world. It's the agent that you're talking to. And the agent here, apparently, for Miskovich is Misco Rasmatovich. And he is apparently like a big wig overseas. This isn't just your run-of-the-mill agent who's dealing with some guys.

Starting point is 00:09:49 Like this is apparently one of these guys who's like really powerful, has a lot of really good clients overseas. And so is this a scenario where he's saying, like Kansas is like, hey, we want to get in with the big guys. And he's saying, okay, I'll give you an opportunity. here's one of my guys a little lower on the list. Let's see how it goes. Let's see if he enjoys being over there. And then I can talk to my other guys about in the future, you know, possibly going to Kansas or is this situation of, hey, you scratch my back here. This dude's a free agent. We're looking for a home free. You scratch my back here. I'll scratch your back later.

Starting point is 00:10:24 And does the later come up in terms of, you know, next off season you're able to get a good player where he's going to help you out with that? does it come up, you know, where again, you have two scholarships open where you say, hey, we'll take this kid on if you also give us this other good kid that you're working with. There's some different ways that you could kind of do that. And working overseas, having the right relationship with the right agents is important as anything. So I think that's a big reason why you would be doing this as well. Now, if I said this, if I said that the offseason is going to be complete by adding this dude and Javon Bardwell, would you take it or would you roll the dice to say, no, I'm really hoping Malik U.N.

Starting point is 00:11:05 get eligible. I think the U.N. move would be the biggest move KU could make, but it certainly comes at high risk in terms of, is he going to be eligible? If you could add this dude to give you a little bit more center competition and big depth and add Javon Bardwell, who, again, neither one might be in the rotation, but maybe one ends up in the rotation, would you take that or roll the dice you decide on your own? All right, let's get to a little Paul Ambia hype coming from some of his recent highlights posted by KU. We'll get to that next. This is Locked on Jayhawks. Brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, the biggest stage in world soccer is here. And every match feels like it has the potential for a memorable moment.

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Starting point is 00:12:14 They had it closed off en masse. And by the way, shout out to Sam, who stopped me and said that he's an everydayer listening to the show. So Sam, thank you to you and all the other everydayers. But we're watching the game. And USA is leading one golden nun. It's an exciting game. Nonetheless, my wife turns to me right before US has taken the free kick that ends up being the goal that puts him up to zero and goes, who's taking this free kick?

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Starting point is 00:13:00 That's Fandual. the official sports partner at the Lockdown Podcast Network. Thanks you for joining us on the show. And again, shout out to Sam. Shout out to all the everydayers who, if you do see me out in public, you know, say something. It really does make me feel really cool

Starting point is 00:13:16 when you say you listen to the show or watch the show. It makes it feel appreciated. So shout out to you, Sam. Okay. And many others have done that as well. So I really do appreciate that. So Paul Mbia is, he's been fun to watch on the different highlights, right?

Starting point is 00:13:31 KU will occasionally like send out some highlights on social media from their different practices. And we get a small glimpse into what's going on at practice. It's funny because it'll be a, you know, five, 10 second clip. And they're practicing for, I don't know how long they practice for, two hours or whatever it is. And we just like take that one 10 second clip as gospel for like, who's performing well and who's not because it's all we get to see.

Starting point is 00:13:55 And we're star for content and anything that we can kind of go with right now. Well, Paul and Bia has had a couple highlights that have come. out like one was of him dunking or whatever which we're used to seeing i think we're going to see a lot of this upcoming season um but this last one i think got even more hype it was a video of paulambia uh making a really good pass from the top of the key and finding taylin kinney who eventually went in for dunk and that was just cool in its own because it's you're used to seeing the point guard past the center who dunks it it was the center passing the point guard who throws down the

Starting point is 00:14:29 dunk right and um you know if we do want to over exaggerate here like I mean, it's nice to see that Paul Mb-Bia, because you think of Paul M-Bia being this like raw center prospect, somebody who he's just going to grab rebounds, block shots, and throw down dunks. And I think that's mostly true and mostly what your plan for him is. I think it's almost proof of concept and shows you a little bit that, okay, those things are true, but he can be more than that too. He does have some touch. He does have some passing feel. Like this isn't just a prospect of like roll the ball out. hope that he, you know, blocks enough shots and grabs enough rebounds.

Starting point is 00:15:08 Like there is more feel and finesse to his game than he might get credit for. And so I think that was really good to see for KU, not that he's going to be, I don't know, Hunter Dickinson or one of these like really good passing big men that KU has. But we do know the best Billsuff offenses. The big men have the ability to occasionally throw it out of a double team. And like, like, Dope wasn't the best passer in the world. he started to learn as he got double teamed, like he started to figure it out and passing it out.

Starting point is 00:15:38 Like same with David McCormick, stuff like that, right? So that is a good thing for Paul Mbia. So it's just one clip, but it did show a lot of feel. And that's why it's a big deal, because that is something that felt like he was missing last year.

Starting point is 00:15:49 And so even though it is just one clip and one highlight, it does at least give a sense of like, okay, maybe he is more comfortable this year. Maybe he is improving from this year. Now, the one thing I am a little more skeptical on is anything we hear that comes out from right now practice of Polymia looks really good or

Starting point is 00:16:11 you know when he is throwing down a dunk and here's why Christian Reeves is not practicing right now he just had his injury he had his surgery and so he's not you know able to go through contact drills okay Davy on adkins is on the roster he's closer to like six foot eight six foot nine and at times he might be even playing with Paul Mbia. There's a lot of these reps and opportunities that Mbia is either playing against Adkins or even more so is playing against Grant Morgini, who's a true freshman coming in who basically is a, you know, a better version, a back-end roster player.

Starting point is 00:16:55 He's akin to what a walk-on was in the past for KU. So like, yeah, Paul Mbia should look good in that situation. Grant Mordini is going to be a lot smaller than Paul Mbia, you know, both from a physical size perspective, a wingspan perspective. So, yes, Paul Mbia should nominate. And, you know, I guess it's better than the alternative. It's better than hearing, hey, Paul Mordia's not taking that step forward. And you're like, oh, you're saying that and he's being guarded by Grant Mordini. That's not a good combination.

Starting point is 00:17:23 But so I guess if you're going to have it, you want him to impress. And it sounds like that's kind of been the case so far. But it's also not something where I'm ready to declare like, oh, Paul Mbias look good in practice so far, which I think has been the case. So let's just assume that he's taking the step forward. It could just be that he's being guarded by like this is part of why going back to, you know, what we opened the show with here talking about Mahilo Musich. One of the big reasons why it would be nice to add him to the roster is just getting another

Starting point is 00:17:53 center body in there who can at least hold up a little bit on Mbia and make his life a little more difficult in practice, give him a little bit better practice reps if that kind of makes sense, right? So anyway, I was curious. If I told you right now, Paul and Bia would average these numbers, seven points, six rebounds, one and a half blocks per game, not numbers that jump off the page, all solid. And I said that was in 20 minutes per game, right? So I mean, if you extrapolated that out to being a 30 minute per game guy, you're talking like 10 and a half points, nine rebounds over two blocks, like those are solid numbers, right? Would you take those numbers?

Starting point is 00:18:32 And I think I would, to be completely honest. I know it's not, again, like all big 12 numbers, but I was looking back and I think there's been a lot of talk, at least for me, of can the center position for KU as is right now, at least be Landon Lucas for KU, which was, yeah, okay, you're not getting the most points in the world here, but he's going to be a really good rebounder. He'll be a good positional defender. He'll be a good team player and connect. nectar, right? Can you be that? And when you look back to Landon Lucas's junior season,

Starting point is 00:19:04 he, which was on a one seed team that got the number one overall seed in the NCAA tournament, he played 18 minutes per game. You're talking 5.8 points per game, 6.8 rebounds per game, 0.8 blocks per game. So the numbers I just posed for Mbia actually slightly more points, little less rebounds per game, but almost double the blocks per game. So I think I would take that from Paul Mbia if you were to offer that. But that also would mean that you have to fill out the other 20 minutes. You know, with Christian Reeves, maybe you feel good about that. Even coming off the surgery, can you get Davian Adkins in there? Do you get a guy like, again, we were talking earlier with Musich. Are you able to find something else? But I think I would take that for Paul Mbia in year two and feel like that was improvement moving forward. But would it be enough, given the fact that the Kansas is going to be so reliant on him, at least as the roster stands right now? All right. Let's finish up a little bit more on the center position, Mustafa Chom, no longer an option for KU. What's up, Derek Johnson here? This is locked on Jayhawks. And unfortunately, one option that KU won't have at the center position, Mustafa Chom. So it was already announced that some of the returning guards, Elliot Kado, Trey McKinney, were going to be coming back to Michigan to be coached by Mike Boynton after Dusty May left for the Dallas Mavericks.

Starting point is 00:20:28 Well, the big questions were what would happen with really two guys that KU was interested in the portal. Mustafa Chom, the transfer center from Cincinnati and J.P. Estrella, the transfer big man from Tennessee. And as of when I'm recording right now, we haven't heard official word from Estrella. Obviously, there's some other players that potentially be of interest from Michigan, but with KU mostly needing a big man, those are the two that I think made the most sense. Well, one of those two is now officially off the board because Mustafa Chom, it was announced that he is officially going to be staying at Michigan. And it's not one that surprises me from the standpoint of, you know, it's not like these guys just went to Michigan because they just won the title. I mean, I'm sure that's a big part of it. It's not like they just went to Michigan because of Dusty May.

Starting point is 00:21:15 Again, that was probably a part of it, as was the title and the recent success. But you know what was another big reason why they went there because Michigan's got a lot of money and gave them. big contract deals. And whether it's Dusty May or Mike Pointing, those contract deals are still there. So with Chom, it makes sense to me that he would stay and it wouldn't surprise me if Estrella ends up doing the same thing. But I guess the longer we wait and are waiting on word from Estrella, you know, does that mean that the longer this goes, the more, you know, he's having agents working back channels to see what other offers or options are kind of out there. That would, I guess, be the hope if you're Kansas, because that would be a home run if you could

Starting point is 00:21:54 get him kind of late in the game, but that is officially one less option that KU could go to with Chom now staying at Michigan. Some quick other news nuggets to get to Rich Price, the former KU baseball manager, he's going to be inducted into the ABCA Hall of Fame come 2027. So good news there for Rich Price, who always super, super nice guy and, you know, well loved by many former Jayhawks and people around the program. And the last bit of news here was this came out that basically in a court document that Xavier is going to be spending like $14 million on their basketball roster this year, which is around the money that Kansas is spending on their basketball roster this year. Now I get it. Like KU has football. And Xavier doesn't have to worry about that.

Starting point is 00:22:46 So that makes it easier. But you also think of Kansas basketball being such a bigger brand than Xavier. And it's a good reminder that, okay, yes. like Kansas probably is spending top 25 money on their roster this year. But in no way are they top five, probably even top 10, maybe not even top 15 in terms of their roster spend. And so it's one thing to look at the roster right now. I'm like, yeah, I think they're like a top 15 team-ish,

Starting point is 00:23:12 which is kind of where I'm at right now with this Kansas basketball team. But like once you start judging it compared to the money that they're probably spending on the roster, I'm kind of like, oh, okay, well, I guess they're probably getting their money's worth and a little bit more based on what they're actually spending right now. All right, that'll do it for this episode of Lockdown Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe. And we'll see you next time with that deep dive on Mahalo Musichich right here on Locked on Jayhawks.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - ALERT: Kansas Jayhawks Pursue Serbian Center Mihailo Musikic - Is it BAD NEWS About Malique Ewin???

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