Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - BACK-TO-BACK #1 RECRUITS? Kansas Jayhawks to Host Tyran Stokes - Could He Reclassify into 2025?!?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Oh baby, Spring Bill is back at it again. Tyronn Stokes in the number one recruit in the class of 2026. They already have the number one recruit in the class of 2025, Darren Peterson. Could they get Stokes for back to back number ones and could he reclassify to play with Darren Peterson? You are Locked On Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. What is going on Derek Johnson here.

Starting point is 00:00:34 This is Locked on Jayhawks. Thanks for making it your first listen every day. Thank you that every day is catching each and every show where every finder podcast, whether it's on our YouTube page or anywhere you get your podcast. And on today's edition of Locked on J-Aux, we're going to be discussing Tyron Stokes, who is the number one recruit in the class of 2026. He's going to be visiting KU this week. Could he reclassify? What does it mean? You know, can't say backtrack number one recruits. We'll also get into some underrated transfer portal targets that are available.

Starting point is 00:01:06 And as my curse continues on, I'm sure multiple of the players will discuss, end up committing by the time you listen to it. Anyway, we'll also get to the latest off season news for KU. First, this episode of the show is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. And right now new customers can get $250 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins at Fandl.

Starting point is 00:01:25 You know, I would not be betting against right now, Bill Self working the spring recruiting pitches because Tyron Stokes is the number one recruit in the class of 2026. And he is going to be visiting Kansas this upcoming week. This according to On three and Mike Vernon and that with Stokes. This is a player who some people are questioning, could he reclassify into the class of 2025 join this year, would it be a future player? I'll say this from the start, whether this would be somebody who would join you in 2025 or 2026. Either way, it's really like cool possible news, right? And we'll see what ends up happening from it. But like he's the number one player in his class. So like regardless of if you were to get him to commit, he could join 2025 2026 2027 wouldn't matter, you'd be getting an awesome

Starting point is 00:02:21 basketball player now would be you know, newsworthy to discuss. So who is tyron stokes? Well, he is a six foot seven 245 pound forward, who might be like the perfect college for man. When you think of like, the ideal college for man, he's somebody who has enough power to play in the post has enough athleticism play on the outside has good feel has good touch, right, like, and he is a lot of these things. He's from Louisville, Kentucky originally. But right now he plays in Southern California at high school at

Starting point is 00:02:49 Notre Dame High School in Southern California, which is there in one of the better leagues in their CIF in Southern California. But this dude is a sick athlete. Like I highly recommend, you know, watching some of his highlights, you know, sometimes you see guys highlights at the high school level, it's okay, cool, like he made shots, and he did this and that, like, you know, it's of his highlights. You know, sometimes you see guys highlights at the high school level and it's like, oh, okay, cool. Like he made shots and he did this and that. Like, you know, it's fun to see some of the highlights,

Starting point is 00:03:10 but it's just like, okay, like I get it. He's a good basketball player, right? There are certain kids where their high school highlight reels are like different. And sometimes it's guards, you know, that have the kind of sauce to them. And then they're shaking and baking guys and doing ridiculous things. For

Starting point is 00:03:25 this guy, it's because he is this, this mix of like athlete power. That is really fun to watch, just get out and transition and throw down some of these fun dunks and see what he can do athletically. And like, I think when you're looking at a player comp, like it's hard, because there's not a lot of guys out there who are six foot seven, 245 pounds, but are also mega athletes. A lot of times the guys who are six foot seven,

Starting point is 00:03:50 245 is forwards, they're more bowling ball types, right? They're just gonna out-strength you on the inside. Maybe they're not the fleetest of foot, right? Maybe they're not the quickest, but that's not the case at all. And when you look at Stokes, when you just look at a picture of him, when you look at the highlights of him,

Starting point is 00:04:03 you wouldn't know that he's 245, I don't think like, he wears that weight very, very well. Like in the way that you'll you'll hear some comps of like Zion Williamson, which I don't know there are certain things where I can understand that. But like, with Zion, you knew that okay, he's 6667. But like you can tell this dude is big. He's whatever he was. I don't know what he was listed at 216 270 whatever with Stokes. You could convince you like if you didn't know the way you go.

Starting point is 00:04:32 Oh, yeah, like 6 7 to 25 based on the way he moves based on the way he looks out there. And so you see some of the stuff with Zion Williams in in terms of like like I think different in a lot of ways than Zion. I think Zion may be more powerful Zion more of like four or five. And now is somebody the now on the offensive end you want the ball in his hands. With Stokes, his offensive game also has power. It also has athleticism.

Starting point is 00:04:55 It also has athleticism for you know a do-jou 6'7 and has power of 245 pounds. It throws down awesome dunks. There are some of the similarities there. I think Stokes though maybe a little bit more feel in terms of his passing ability with Zion, maybe that even quicker first step, even though Stokes is a good athlete. But it's another level of power and athleticism with Zion. But like you can see some of the archetype there. You can see some of the archetype of like wings who have good feel and could do a little bit of everything. I think I saw NBA Draftnet compared him to like Karan Butler,

Starting point is 00:05:26 which I don't know. That feels like maybe you're trying to make a reach to be like a little bit of a hipster comparison. But nonetheless, he's still working on his shooting. He's still working on some of the intricacies of the game, but like his ability to handle the ball as the player that he is, his ability to pass as the player that he is,

Starting point is 00:05:46 that basically when you look at 6'7", 245, you think of a four man. I think of the defensive end, you know, that kind of works perfectly. On the offensive end though, you see a lot of his game and that's where the difference is with him and Zion's game, I think, especially like Zion mostly operated,

Starting point is 00:06:00 especially in college as more of a four five, like I said. With Stokes, you watch him and he has a lot of ways he operates like a guard, he operates more like a three who's a ball handler on the offensive end of the floor. He's got nearly a seven foot wingspan. So like that is obviously very helpful. scouting reports mentioned him playing with a high motor, having a good second jump, which makes sense when you watch his athleticism. He's a good

Starting point is 00:06:24 rebounder because of it. He played for Team USA at the FIBA Under 16 and Under 17 championships. In 2023 at the Under 16s, he averaged a little over 10 points, about five rebounds, four assists per game. So again, you see kind of the overall game with the loaded stats. This past summer, so I guess this past summer, 2024, the summer of 2024, he was in the FIBA under 17 World Cup, and he averaged 12.3 points, seven rebounds, five point six assists per game. Those are all really good numbers and really spread it out. That was over six game span. What makes those numbers though really crazy, he did all those,

Starting point is 00:07:00 like again, those are all like good numbers. There's not one that's like an insane number, but they're all good numbers, especially when you pair them together. He did all that in 18 minutes per game. So now think about if you're playing 30 minutes per game, you know, how does that equate out? Right? 12 points per game becomes, I don't know, 20 points per game, right? Seven rebounds per game becomes 10 or 11 rebounds per game. 5.6 assists per game becomes, you know, eight or nine assists per game. That's6 assists per game becomes, you know, 8 or 9 assists per game. That's what he was doing against world competition. He also starts 67% on 2s in that competition.

Starting point is 00:07:32 So you can't stop his power and athleticism inside. Like I said, you're still working on 3-point shooting, 4-14 from 3 in that event in 6 games. Only 55% on free throws. I think the high school ranks, he was in the low 60s on free throws. So, you know, the shooting is going to be the kind of the big, the big question there for him there.

Starting point is 00:07:48 But he's also a not like he's, he's not a non shooter either. And because he like, it's with Zion, like Zion had some games where he was able to hit some threes, but like he wasn't like this super high volume, like knock down three point shooter for Duke. It just still didn't matter. He was, if you were solely, it's like the same thing with your doka like every defense knew

Starting point is 00:08:06 that dope was gonna try to dunk on you or get in and shoot like a three foot hook. Didn't matter. He shows up 75% it's like with Zion, you know what he's gonna do. He's gonna drive he's gonna try to overpower you he's gonna get a big dog freezing unit offensive put back but it didn't matter. He was so elite at it. And that's kind of how you look at it with Tyron Stokes that he's so good at the things that he's good at, that it just doesn't really matter in some other areas. And this was an article from November, but NBA Draftnet that I mentioned earlier,

Starting point is 00:08:33 they listed like their top 10 high school prospects at that point in time. And one was, this is all high school prospects. One was DeBata, two was Peterson, three was camboos or they had him at or I'm sorry, they had him at three and then camboos are a for Nate and a meant at five. I don't know if you'd agree with the boozer thing and maybe with him being McDonald's co MVP with Peterson. Maybe if you were to redo that now it'd be Peterson one and boozer two or the Bodsa two and the other three and then you'd have him for but like, still, this is a dude who can, you know, change a season

Starting point is 00:09:04 for some team, right. And then this was interesting too. So we established the bottom line, like very good basketball player, right? This was a report according to according to elite hoops spotlight.com, that he announced that he's not going to be playing a basketball this summer. Now, what could be the reasoning going into that? Does he just not want to risk getting injured? Does he just not interested in doing it

Starting point is 00:09:30 and has other plans? Does he have an awesome trip to Europe? Possibly, who knows? It's also possible though that like, why else would you do it? It's like the Brian Winnhorst, why would you, right? Is it possible that he's planning on reclassifying? And so that's why he's not going to,

Starting point is 00:09:44 because he's planning on going into school in the middle of summer. Age-wise, he's planning on reclassifying? And so that's why he's not going to, because he's planning on joining a school in the middle of summer. Age-wise, he's not one of those guys who, if he joined a school in 2025, he wouldn't be eligible for the 2026 NBA draft. He would be, age-wise, he would be eligible for the 2026 NBA draft. So in theory, if he starts his clock one year earlier,

Starting point is 00:10:01 he can still get to the NBA draft, therefore getting paid by the NBA even sooner, and therefore getting to his second contract even sooner hitting free agency at a year younger, making more money, right? It's that second and third contract where you make your real money in the NBA. Now there's also maybe some smoke that he wouldn't reclassify. And that maybe it's just not going to be doable here. But like, I feel like this stuff usually gets figured out.

Starting point is 00:10:25 And it's also possible that like if his camp is, is, or there's some people saying that he's not going to reclassify, what are the chances that's being spewed from his camp as a negotiating tactic to be like, well, no, it's just not going to work out. Maybe if you can up that NIL offer just a little bit more, I'm not saying that's the case. I'm just saying like everything is on the table at this point in time with college basketball. Um, and you can also point to with reclassified players that like, yeah, there are some that have reclassed up and have struggled.

Starting point is 00:10:51 I think a lot of them are point guards. That's the position where I'm like, I don't think you should reclass up. Now, Ali Kado did it okay for North Carolina, but the wings and the forwards tend to not have issues there. Like, I don't know why the two guys I automatically think of as reclassing up are both Duke guys, Marvin Bagley, who is say all-American, and Cooper Flagg, who is the national player of the year.

Starting point is 00:11:10 So it worked out just fine there. I'm sure it'll work out for Stokes if that's what he decides to do. There's also an argument about what is the best, you know, division of funds for KU? Like, would they be better off getting Stokes for 2026, spread the love between him and Peterson, and then using your

Starting point is 00:11:25 NIL money on this year's roster on a more proven college basketball player. I think that you can maybe have that argument if it was like the 18th best recruit in the country, like, ah, you don't know for sure. He's going to be good. Just go out and get a all conference college basketball player. That's different when it's the number one recruit in the country in Stokes. A dude who could be a lottery pick, a dude who could be an absolute game changer and raise your ceiling to the nth degree right. And so even if he didn't reclass and this is just about recruiting for the class of 2026 that'd be pretty cool too because

Starting point is 00:11:54 Kansas would have an opportunity to get back to back number one recruits which as much as Bill Seltzer and able to land guys like Andrew Wiggins and Josh Jackson and Darren Peterson, they haven't done it in back to back years right and so that would be another step for the program that would be really cool to see. But of course, you know, he's from Kentucky, you'd imagine Kentucky Louisville in it. He previously played with AJ DeBansa. And there was some recent news about, you know, some stuff with him and BYU. And obviously BYU has been money bags to this point in time that like, they could probably bring him on if they wanted to. So who knows where this all goes. But yeah, if you can make it work, boy, would

Starting point is 00:12:29 that be a lot of fun. All right. We're some underrated transfer portal targets. Let's discuss next. Today's episode of Lockdown Jayhawks is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. The NBA playoffs are almost here and FanDuel is giving all new customers an incredible way to get in on the action. Right now, when you and FanDuel is giving all new customers an incredible way to get in on the action. Right now, when you join FanDuel and place your first to $5 bet, you'll get $250 in bonus bets if your bet wins. I love how FanDuel makes betting so easy. It's super easy interface, super easy to track your bets.

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Starting point is 00:13:27 Head to FanDuel.com and claim your $250 in bonus bets today. Thank you for joining us on Lockdown Jayhawks. Thanks for making it to your first listen. Thank you to every dayers catching all our shows. Don't forget to check out Lockdown College Basketball or Lockdown College Football for your second listen every day. Who are some of my favorite under the radar players still available in the portal, at least at this point in time, by the time you listen this, who knows? One of them could have committed, right? We did this with the top 10 list and then get committed, like

Starting point is 00:13:56 as we were releasing the episode. Let's start with Elijah Freeman. I don't know how deep I've gone on Freeman. He has a three four wing from Lincoln Memorial, which is a Division Two school. And he's a six foot eight wing. And I know maybe some Kansas fans are a little spurned like, oh, they brought in Kim Martin, who was like a really good D two player and that didn't work out. I am telling you in the same way that

Starting point is 00:14:19 a lot of people were like, I don't know about Zeke Mayo, because they brought in Nick Timberlake, the shooter from a small coverage, it's not gonna work out. And I was like, trust me, they're very different players. That is the case here too. You know, you look at it, Cam Martin was a really good D2 player because he was just, he was more skilled. He was bigger, right? He was with Freeman, you watch his highlights. This dude's throwing down dunks from a foot inside the free throw line. He's a very good athlete that would translate up to 19 points nine rebounds per game 58% from the

Starting point is 00:14:49 field 46% from three 80% at the foul line 98th percentile and D2 and effective field goal percentage 97th percentile over 1868 percentile the rating that dude's a stud and he's going to be a sophomore. So you have a bunch of years left with him possibly. So like, he is somebody who's very underrated to me. I think he's an incredible athlete. And I think he's good enough to make that jump. I really do. Especially after you see a guy like Bennett Sturtz come up and you know, be a what was he a

Starting point is 00:15:17 third team All American for Drake this past year. And I don't know that he's actually one of the 15 best players in the country. But like, he had a very good season and was on a team that, you know, made it to the second round of the tournament. So yes, I think Freeman is undersold a little bit. Moving to Freeman, more of a three, four type wing, moving to kind of a two, three type wing. I haven't talked a lot about Ali Diba.

Starting point is 00:15:37 He was at Southern Illinois before that Abilene Christian before that Chicago State. He's six five. He'll be a red shirt senior over 17 points per game for the Saluki's this year, one and a half steals per game. Good there. 49% from the floor. That's good there. 34 from three, just a bit below that. So that's okay. But he's 81st percentile for his position in offensive rebound rate, 61st percentile for defensive rebound rate, 63rd percentile free throw attempt rate, 54th percentile in Hakeem rate. So he just does a bunch of things like average to above average and 99th percentile

Starting point is 00:16:10 in his percentage of paint points per 40 minutes can really put pressure on the rim. He's somebody who, you know, if he was coming off the bench for you, I would really like him as a bench scorer to be able to come in and provide a little bit of punch. I think he's underrated in that way. And again, all of these are contingent.

Starting point is 00:16:27 Like when you're under the radar player, I don't think it's like, oh, I'm saying all these guys should come in and be starters or this and that. No, like some of them are role dependent. With Diba, I wouldn't want him to come in and be a starter, but I think he'd be a great bench piece and an underrated one at that. A guy who just entered, I forget if it was today

Starting point is 00:16:44 or yesterday, and he's another two three, although he actually played some four at some recent stops, though his stats tell you he may be better as a two three, but it's the Mari Monsanto played a UTSA Wake Forest and ETSU. Is it Monsanto like a sort of farming patent thing? I don't know. Anyway, eleven point one points per game, four rebounds per game, 42% from three on almost eight attempts per game. Also 93% at the free throw line. So at UTS today, he had a solid year.

Starting point is 00:17:16 Year before that, he was hurt at Wake Forest, but limited games played. Year before that at Wake Forest, when he was playing more games, he had a plus 10.3 on-off 0 rating, and the team was five points better defensively when he's on the floor too. So this is a guy who 91st percentile defensive rebound rate for his position, doesn't really offensive rebound, doesn't get to free-throwing. He's just a shooter on offense, and on defense he'll get your rebounds, he'll get your steals. In 6'6", 225, you can play him at the 2-4.

Starting point is 00:17:41 I think Monsanto would be kind of a great addition as a role player to any team. Let's go with Christian Davis next up. He is a three, four wing who recently are entered in from Bradley and he's somebody who his on off numbers don't like him that much. So I don't know, maybe that that bodes looking into a little bit more, but this guy was very efficient 52% from the floor, 44% from three, 83% at the free throw line, 91st percentile over rebound rate, 77th percentile defensive rebound rate, 93rd percentile Hakeem rate, and he did it on a 21st percentage usage rate, meaning that he doesn't need the ball. He's a good role player to have. He's six, seven. You can play him at three, you can play him at the four. He takes efficient shots.

Starting point is 00:18:23 He makes efficient shots. He rebounds the basketball well. And Bradley was a good team this year. Add Drake not been as good as they were Bradley would have had a good chance at making it to the NCAA tournament this season. So Davis somebody to keep an eye on. Corey Washington is kind of a two through four wing. If you want somebody who can play the two three, but also give you a bunch of rebounds, he can be your guy a little bit. And the

Starting point is 00:18:47 thing with with Corey Washington, coming from Wichita State is that you're not obviously it's not the big 12 or the SEC, but it's a smaller jump than it is coming from, you know, the me act or something like that. But 13.7 points 7.5 rebounds per game. The team was 11 points better when he was on the floor offensively. They were about five and a half points better when he was on the floor defensively. Just an elite rebounder. And he played two Big 12 opponents this season. Now it was bottom tier Big 12 teams in Oklahoma State and K-State.

Starting point is 00:19:17 But in those two games, 19 and a half points per game, 10 and a half rebounds per game. So I think he's kind of an underrated player too. Mr. Dean is somebody that um I don't know I think there was a little bit of talk about KU at the beginning of the portal opening doesn't seem like it's materialized at all maybe he hasn't committed yet because he's waiting out and Kansas like yeah if if he gets to this point maybe uh not really a shooter but six foot six two hundred ten pounds really good athlete 98th percentile fast break points, 100th percentile paint points per 40, 99th percentile in the team rate, and also a very good offensive rebounder.

Starting point is 00:19:52 Also very good at the rim, 57% overall. And the team was 10 points better with him on the floor offensively. They were 12 points better defensively with him on the floor. If he's coming off the bench and is kind of your Kevin Young, I kind of would love that as being like a wing who can play the three or the four or I guess even in a pinch like a small ball five, if like you have two or three bigs getting foul trouble in that situation.

Starting point is 00:20:16 Marcus Banks is kind of an interesting guard that I think has been undersold a little bit to a certain point in time. He's from UMBC, Odessa Community College before that, Western Carolina. 42% from three, eight attempts per game. This would be your diggy, coy, Jalen Coleman-Lands role.

Starting point is 00:20:32 And again, it's impossible to know, like does he want to be the star at some school, smaller school, or does he, is he comfortable with that role? If he would be, he would be somebody that I'd be like, yes, he would be perfect for that specific role. Let's go with a couple centers to finish up here because KU is in need of backup center. I've mentioned Matas of Vokeytitis, the center from Florida Atlantic. He'll only be a sophomore this season, which gives you the opportunity to sell him on the idea that, hey, you can be the backup big this year.

Starting point is 00:20:58 You'll get, you know, 10, 12, I guess, 15 minutes per game. And I don't know that you want to play next to Flory a ton, but if you need to do it for five minutes a game like fine. And then you can sell them on well Flory's ideally going to have a good enough season. He'll go pro after the year. Then you can be the starting center if you you know perform up to par but 10 points per game 68% from the field and he

Starting point is 00:21:22 can really score and he really rebound 95th percentile offensive rebound rate 82nd percentile offensive rebound rate, 82nd percentile defensive rebound rate, 71st percentile block rate. So that would be a nice thing to have kind of coming off the bench for you. And then let's go with another center, Maxim. I don't know if it's Logie or Logu,

Starting point is 00:21:37 but he is a transfer from Oregon State. Not a ton of stats there, so nothing I'm going to go over, but he did start because Oregon State had players leaving the portal before their crown tournament game. And he had 18 and 10 against UCF and now to be just a sophomore international player.

Starting point is 00:21:54 I think those are some good underrated transfer prospects to. I don't know if Kansas is going to have interest in any of them, but I think it fills specific roles on KU. All right, let's finish up latest news. Thanks for joining us on Locked on Jayhawks. All right, what is the latest news going on? Well, Melvin Council wrapped up his visit with KU and KU, you know, a seeming seemingly things went well, is he going to open it up to other schools? Who knows? But it seems like with

Starting point is 00:22:22 Council and Lee, like, I don't know if this is a situation of Kansas once one over the other, or they're just gonna take whichever one commits first over the other. But both players recently visiting to something to keep an eye on there. And then some other players who at one point, there was some publicly listed KU interest, which again, when you see those lists, you do have to take them with a grain of salt. And you don't entirely know what the level of interest is, if it's even factual. But three players who there was, you know, on one of those tweets

Starting point is 00:22:52 by a Joe Tipton or John Rothstein or whoever, the portal report or whatever about Kansas having, you know, contact or interest or whatever. Brendan Howsen, who is the transfer from Kansas State, really good three point shooter. He's going to Iowa, which probably makes more sense for him. I kind of said if he comes into Kansas and he wants to play the Janie Lynn Coleman lands role, Brandon Green role, where it's like, OK, you're the eighth or ninth guy. You might come in and, you know, play a little bit more if you're making threes.

Starting point is 00:23:20 And that's cool. But he'll get a bigger role at Iowa. So that makes sense. Vincent Brady, which was somebody who, that was kind of a one where it was like, oh, okay, Kay was interested in this guy. That's kind of interesting. And he is a shooting guard from Missouri State. 13 out points per game. Nothing really jumps off the page too much.

Starting point is 00:23:35 38% from three. That's a really good number there. But ends up going to high point, which tells you he wanted to be more of a primary player than probably what would have been a Kansas being the ninth or 10th guy, right? And then the last one here is Kumari McGriff, which there was a little bit of a reported Kansas interest and I don't know. So he goes to Kansas State. I think that's a good ad for Kansas State. You know, I don't think it's had the best

Starting point is 00:23:58 portal season to this point, but I do like the addition of McGriff there. And the thing about McGriff is he isn't the best rebounder in the world, but he's very active. He'll get you blocked shots. He'll finish at the rim. And a six nine you can play before you can play him at the five hit eight and three on four of 10 shooting the endstack. Like if he's a serviceable, they actually played against Kansas UNC Wilmington, I forgot about that he had 18 points and seven rebounds against Kansas did McGriff so he's somebody who

Starting point is 00:24:27 I thought okay he could have been a nice like backup big for KU if you want to play him for a handful of minutes he's he's mobile enough to do it next to Florida Badoonga you can play him as a backup center if you need to right I thought that would have made a little bit of sense but I don't think it was one that you know huge miss necessarily for KU I don't know if it is absolutely lockedhawks, you can find our show anywhere you get your podcast including on our

Starting point is 00:24:48 YouTube page way back with any breaking news, portal news, all the likes coming at you here on Lockdown Jayhawks.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - BACK-TO-BACK #1 RECRUITS? Kansas Jayhawks to Host Tyran Stokes - Could He Reclassify into 2025?!?

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