Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Bill Self Hints at ONE MORE ADDITION | Jayhawks Could Add Another Guard - Could it Be Nginyu Ngala?

Episode Date: July 22, 2025

Kansas Jayhawks Basketball: Bill Self's Roster Moves and Player Development InsightsCoach Bill Self hints at potential roster additions for the Kansas Jayhawks. Could it be Canadian guard Nginyu Ngala?Host Derek Johnson analyzes Self's comments on team size, defensive strategies, and player progress. Key discussions include the search for an experienced point guard, the team's improved size affecting defensive flexibility, and standout shooters Darryn Peterson, Kohl Rosario, and Jayden Dawson. Johnson also explores Elmarko Jackson's recovery and Rosario's comparison to Christian Braun.Tune in for exclusive insights on the Jayhawks' evolving lineup and how these changes could impact their performance in the upcoming season.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE at www.monarchmoney.com/lockedoncollege for 50% off your first year.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get ONE HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

Is the new Jayhawk on his way to Lawrence? Bill Self spoke to the media, had some interesting comments about another edition, possibly as well as some members of the current team that might be taken off in the off season. 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. Thanks for making it your first listen every day. Thank you, the everydayers catching each and every episode of the show. We are free and available anywhere you podcast including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the

show. And on today's edition of LOJ, we're talking a little KU basketball, Bill Self spoke with the media talked about making another edition possibly he gave some high praise for some key role players and some other notes from Bill Self that we get into on today's episode of the show, which is brought to you by game time, download the game time app, create an account and use code locked on college $20 off your first purchase with game time. Okay, let's start right here.

Bill Self spoke to the media and one of the, I guess, prevailing things that he said coming away from this was talking about possibly making another addition. Obviously, Kansas is hitting on 12 scholarship players at this point in time after the loss of Noah Shelby. Are they going to make another addition? Could they make two more additions? Well, I don't know that that's likely,

but could they make one more, right? And here's what Bill Self said. Here's a tweet from Henry Greenstein at the press conference earlier, said, Bill Self said he's open to adding another player. We're in the process of definitely looking into another. In my opinion, needs to be a guy that can at least run a team, play the point, maybe have some experience, shoot the ball. He later said it

would be an insurance policy player. So a couple things to note there, one, the insurance policy player thing, like that kind of tells you that, yeah, anybody we add at this point in time, probably not somebody that we're going to be expecting to be in the rotation, probably would be somebody that we would add, that would be, hey, this guy didn't pan out, or more realistically, this guy's in foul trouble, or more realistically, this guy's in foul trouble, or this guy's injured, and we have to thrust

him into a bigger role. But he's gonna help us in practice, he's gonna give us more of that insurance policy, right? The other part that was interesting, though, was him talking about, you know, somebody that can run a team that kind of tells you that it probably would be somebody that is more of a veteran type of player, somebody that can be a little bit older, somebody that people can count on. Maybe means you have a high basketball IQ. I don't know. Also,

then you get to the point, he says, play the point. Well, now we're directing into, okay, what position are they looking to add? Okay, point guard would kind of be the answer there, right? I think that kind of implies that they wouldn't be looking at adding a big I would be a fan of, you know, if you added another player adding a big man giving you more big depth, because they really still only have three bigs on the roster. And I think Kansas can be mostly playing with basically four perimeter

players around one of the bigs. So that can be okay. But I think it'd be nice to have a fourth big or having another guard, you do have a lot of guards still on the roster. But you know, you can understand adding even more and I guess you just steer into playing that way even more over the course of things. But yeah, that that to me kind of implies that if they do make an addition, it is going to be a guard, not a another big man. Also, the thing, you know, maybe have some experience,

shoot the ball, obviously, you want three point shooting. And that makes sense for that specific role. After you lost Noah Shelby, who is somebody who, you know, I guess has a little experience. He would have been a fourth year college player and definitely the idea of him was to be a good shooter, right? So this continues us on the offseason prowl. Just to begin with, like it keeps the dimly lit flame alive that like, okay, was Kansas ever going to have like now this Like now this like refuels the fire, rekindles it a little bit more to be like, oh, see, see, they are possibly interested in adding someone like we can continue on with our our offseason because it hasn't been long enough to begin with.

We have to keep it going with the rumors and who could Kansas be going after? But a lot of everything the Bills self kind of said there, it sounds a lot like a player that we just had a deep dive on. I think it was last Friday. Thank you, the Everdayers who already got that. And if you haven't already go back and watch it. G N'Gala, the point guard from Canada, who you know is a good three point shooter is a very quick, pretty athletic, shorter guard, but as an experienced player who's like in his mid twenties and, you know, has some experience just at a lower level, a different level. That sounds like it's pointing a lot of ways to him. And what I do find interesting there is I don't know if people remember this much, but there was a quote given by Bill Self.

This was the offseason that they landed Hunter Dickinson talking about, you know, we need a big man that's going to get us I forget the direct quote, but it's like we need a big man that can get us 20 and 10. And it felt very pointed at Hunter Dickinson turns out you ended up landing 100 Dickinson, that's who you got. And I'm sure there's more examples of Bill Self doing this sort of thing where I don't know if it's like, is it speaking it into existence in a certain standpoint? Maybe. Or is it like he has an idea that this could possibly happen? And he's kind of hinting at it, you know, this is, this is kind of what we need, because he knows that's what they're about to land and it makes for a fun story. I don't know what would be but you know, a lot of those things, again, if we pull up the quote, and it says, needs to be a guy that can at least run a team, you know, in

call it did that in Canada play the point he is a point guard, maybe have some experience he played four years or I guess five seasons with the COVID year in Canada. Shoot the ball. He's known for being a good three point shooter. And you know, being an insurance policy being a veteran type of player who would come in and you already have six guards like that sounds a lot like in Gala to me. I think the other thing that we could probably read from

this quote specifically is that it probably implies that there would only be one more edition if they do make one more edition right again, you go back to the beginning of this quote and it talks about he's open to adding another player when the process of definitely looking into another right. It doesn't definitively say we're going to add another player when the process of definitely looking into another right. It doesn't definitively say we're going to add another player. So there is no guarantee they do add another player, but it sounds like that range of

adding someone is zero to one, not zero to two. I guess at this point, based on the quote, I would be surprised they added two more players. I think it's either you're playing with 12 scholarship guys, which would be the current makeup of the roster or you're playing with 13 scholarship guys. And again, going back to the idea that I would probably be a bigger fan of if you did add another player, it being a big more so than a guard just because the numbers game, I guess if we're at a point where you're saying, okay, if we do add another player, if you do add a 13

scholarship player, it is going to be a guard. I don't think it's as big of a deal at that point to say if you end up adding him or not, because again, you have much more. I mean, you look automatically. Darren Peterson, Marco Jackson, Melvin Council, Jaden Dawson. That's four guards right away, who three of them are probably going to be starting. And all four of them, I feel confident are going to be part of the rotation and playing 20-ish plus minutes per game, right? That's four guys already. And then if you start factoring in,

you know, you do count Cole Rosario as a guard or a wing, I'd probably count him more as a guard, like that's another guy who could possibly play for you. I don't know if Jamari McDowell would be somebody out projecting the rotation, but that is another guard that you kind of have there in that same role. So it's not super important that Kansas does make this edition if they end up doing that. But I do think some of those, some of that quote, some of those specific points were very pointed

for Bill Self into a specific type of player. And also kind of gives you a little context that, okay, it's probably one more addition if anything. And if it is, it is gonna be somebody who, I'm not gonna necessarily launch into my expected rotation for Kansas coming into the year. Now, Bill Self also gives mentioned quotes talking about Cole Rosario, Paul and Bea, and many others. We'll get to those next. This is Lockdown Jayhawks. Thanks for

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Download the app. Last minute tickets, lowest price, guaranteed. Thanks for joining us on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. Don't forget you can check out Locked on College football or Locked on College basketball for your second listen every day. So Bill Self talked much more than a possible another edition for KU. One of the other things he mentioned, and again this is a tweet from Henry Greenside emphasizing how big the team is this year. The quote was, we did some testing the other day and I think Peterson with a six foot eight or six

foot nine wingspan is one of the shortest we have. And again, Henry is of the LJ world and kusports.com. That's fun that Peterson with a six eight or six nine wingspan is one of the shortest we have. Now, I don't know. Is that true? Because when when Elmarcos be shorter, it's Elmarco have like 610 wingspan. That'd be nuts. One of them, Elvin Council.

And does Dawson have a bigger wingspan? I don't know. I don't know. Maybe he wasn't referring to like the smaller guards. Maybe he was referring to like OK, Trey whites bigger and flories bigger and Columbia is bigger and Bryson Tiller has bigger arms and stuff and I don't know maybe Cole Rosario is bigger.

Maybe he has a long wingspan or something, but like. I'm struggling to get it. He's one of the shorter ones that kind of implies he be on the bottom half. I don't know, maybe is, but either way it's an exciting thing. It's something we've talked about in the offseason that this Kansas team has a lot of length, has a lot of wingspan

to it, and that is certainly the case that's going to make KU, you know, a better defensive team and is going to make them more of a problem for other teams. And he also added did selfie said I think we've corrected what we were deficient in in the past in regards to KU switching more and guarding differently. And that's something we, you know, are going to talk about this offseason and have talked about the saucy and the idea that KU is going to be more of a flexible defense.

Kansas finished, you know, as a solid defense last two years, even with some of their deficiencies, finished 20th and adjusted defensive efficiency two years ago, they finished 11th last year's like defense overall. Yeah, there were some warts that they had, but it wasn't a problem for KU. The offense was the bigger problem for KU. However, there were still some warts for the defense where they were kind of matchup dependent. If Kansas played a team like BYU, who could really space the floor can't set problems with it, right? If you had aYU who could really space the floor. Can't set problems with it, right? If you had a team who could really take advantage of like

ball screens with good guard play, that caused KU some problems. The teams who had two bigs like that didn't cause KU as many problems, right? It was kind of matchup dependent. The beauty of this year's team with all that length and wingspan kind of one through five throughout the roster is that you can be more switchable and you can you can adjust better to those types of teams that can kind of pace and space you or have that good guard play. So I think that's going to really help both schematically

with what Bill Zuff wants to do and just in general with making them a more solid defense matchup to match up like maybe they'll finish around where they were this past year of 11th. But I think it'll just be a more consistent 11th as opposed to like some nights. Kansas looks like a top five defense if they're playing, you know, I don't know, Houston, for instance, who plays do bigs or Duke, you know, but then other nights, Kansas doesn't look like a top 25 defense when they're playing like BYU, for instance. Right. I don't think it would be as inconsistent as this past year's team. is his past years team. The next quote that Bill Self gave that we want to talk about this tweet from Matt Tate at MC Tate.

Bill Self notes that the top three shooters on this team are probably Darren Peterson, Cole Rosario, and Jaden Dawson. He says there are others too. OK, obviously a lot of guys are going to shoot three. So makes sense there. But Peterson, Rosario, and Jaden Dawson, I think that kind of backs up what we thought. Like I think when we ranked our KU basketball shooters, we had Noah Shelby in the top four, and then those were other top four.

Shelby's obviously gone. So those become the easy top three. As I've talked about before, I think Rosario is going to be more of a streak shooter this year. As a freshman, Peterson, I have no idea Dawson. It makes sense. I expect him to be one of the best shooters on the team. But that exact quote was backed up by Trey White, who also spoke to the media and he listed Darren Peterson Dawson Rosario and then white actually I think listed himself which love the confidence. So that's a good thing that you're confident there as long as you have a rain it in don't be launching eight threes a game if you're a

33% three point shooter but like I think that kind of tells you that that's consistently the answer. Now, you could glass half full glass half empty. The glass half empty approach is that if it's consistently those three guys, is that because nobody else is emerging. And so it's like it has to be those three guys. Everybody else sucks at threes. You know, I don't think that's the situation. I think the glass half full is that those guys have been consistently shooting the

ball well and look like good shooters at this point for KU. And I think the one that it matters most for, because I expected Rosario to, you know, look like a good shooter for KU, right? Again, it might be a little streaky here and there, but I expected him to be a good shooter for KU. I expect Dawson to come in and be a good shooter. That is why Kansas gave him a scholarship to be kind of a 3 and D shooting guard, right? With Darren Peterson, that's the one where it is kind of that wild card. He shot well from three at this previous level. It's not like that was an issue

for him when you're as good of a player as he is. Like you're going to still be good at things, but you never know with freshmen. We talked about this before, guys come in and sometimes freshmen especially, like shoot Tyrese Maxey, I remember coming in, I should go back and look at this and get the exact number because I don't want to like guess and get it wrong. I'm pretty sure Tyrese Maxey his one year at Kentucky, who's like Tyrese Maxey is now like what NBA All-Star level player. Yeah, okay. He's got 29% from three in his one year at Kentucky and he was a good

score 14 points per game. So, OK, he's got 29% from three in his one year at Kentucky and he was a good score 14 points per game. So point being, players get better shooting the ball players get more consistent shooting the ball. That can be an area where if like Darren Peterson came in, he could average 18 points, six rebounds for assists per game on a steal in a block per game shooting 45% from the field, but he's at 31% from three. And it's like, yeah, it's not the worst thing in the world. But he wasn't a great three point shooter.

The fact that you have these reports from Trey White, the fact that you have this report from Bill Self, the fact that you keep hearing these stories about him getting late practice with Jacques Vaughn, that probably implies he's getting a lot of shots up, probably makes me raise the expectation for what I think Darren Peterson can shoot this year. Like, could he be a 38% three point shooter?

That would be pretty bonkers and would certainly help KU from the shooting perspective. I do wanna also get into some of the role players, so to speak, for KU, because I think there were some interesting conversations and comments from Bill Self talking about El Marco Jackson, talking about Cole Rosario, Paul M. Biales, get to all those next.

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Use code LOCKDOWNCOLLege at MonarchMoney.com for 50% off your first year. That's MonarchMoney.com. Code LOCKDOWNCOLLege for half off your first year with Monarch Money. Thanks for joining us on this episode of locked on Jayhawks again, don't forget you make locked on college football or locked on college basketball, your second listen every day. Okay, so Bill, so I've had some comments about Marco Jackson, some of the possible role players for Kate, let's start

with Marco. This again, tweet from Matt Tate said that Marco athletically, he's where he was before he got hurt timing wise, he still got a ways to go. So a couple different directions to take this one. Let's start with the athletically he's where he was before he got hurt. That is great news, especially because my big question for Marco was, okay, does having you know, the year off this basically being his third year around the program, second year of play,

does allow the game to slow down a little bit for him because you look at his first year, the issue for Omarco in the first year wasn't that he wasn't athletic enough. He was more than athletic enough. It was that the game was a little bit too fast for him. And he was probably thrust into a bigger role than he should have been because KU didn't have

as much depth to where, you know, you're kind of that situation of like throwing the child in the, that's probably like throwing the child in the. That's probably not a good analogy in the in the pool and letting them figure it out. You know, that's probably not good. But anyway, with El Marco, my question was, OK, is that stuff going to be figured out? But now the athleticism going to take a step down because he just is coming off a season ending injury. The fact you hear that great news that the athleticism could possibly be here. Now, I probably should have earlier in

this episode given the disclaimer that like sometimes in the offseason, Bill Self does. I don't know over exaggerate on certain things like I go back to Zach Clements being the most improved player that was given at the banquet like couple years ago. You know, so take these with a grain of salt, but still that is good news that if the athleticism is back, I have no reason to believe he can't be, you know, breakout player for KU this season.

When you're saying timing wise, he's still got a ways to go. There's a couple of ways to interpret that. Is that saying that, you know, going back to what happened his first year when the game was moving too fast? I don't think it is. Is it just saying that, you know, he's a little rusty right now, right?

He hasn't played as much team basketball, organized basketball, some of these guys have late because he just missed a year of being able to saying that, you know, he's a little rusty right now, right? He hasn't played as much team basketball, organized basketball. Some of these guys have late because he just missed a year of being able to do that, of not being medically cleared to do that. And I think that just makes sense. It's just kind of shaking the rust off and like, yeah, he's just still trying to, you know, get his timing down, passing to the guys and playing in a five on five setting. I have no worry that, I mean, if that's the case in July, like if that's the problem still in October, then we can talk about it. I'm not really worried

about that right now. I'm just more encouraged that the elitism is back for Marco. Okay this next one was talking about he said the team was incomplete until the signings of Paul and Bia and Corozario again this from that date needed another big and shooting and he said they were able to do about as well as they could to do with those two that late in the game added that both have looked good so far. So that's great news because with him be a you're counting on him to probably be your backup center. And with Rosario, I think the hope is that he becomes your, you know, consistently in the rotation

that he is your shooter off the bench, and that he can show a lot of potential and break out in a big way for you as a freshman. Now he added to this, talking about Cole Rosario, this is certainly one that's that could get headlines. He said, this is again from Henry Greenstein, Cole is a Christian Brown that shoots it better. But he's not as big and not as powerful yet. Because a Christian what like 6667 somewhere in that range had good power, obviously throw it down a lot of dunks and

stuff. Rosario maybe a little shorter and more like Brown more of somebody who could play the three or four and he's doing that in the NBA. Rosario more of a two or three so it's a little different but the fact he's in a better shooter. I mean Christian Brown came in right away and shot like 40% from three it was on lower volume it was more set shots. And I think you want to get a little more variety with Rosario. But like, I think that's the difference. I think Rosario can get his shots off in

more ways. I'm not expecting them to shoot that high of a percentage because it was more selective in year one for Christian Brown. But that speaks very highly. And if you remember, now, of course, are you actually higher rated recruit than Christian Brown? If you remember, though, that the first offseason that Christian Brown came in, he was, I forget if he was inside the top 100. I thought he was just outside the top 100 either way

like a near top 100 recruit, not somebody who comes in with McDonald's All American pedigree. And it's like, is this guy going to take a couple years to develop what's going to happen? And then he kept hearing stories in the offseason will self love us this kid, he's getting all the hustle balls, he's he's like rebounding really well for a wing. He's just like making winning plays. He doesn't need the ball in his hands.

I could see Cole Rosario fitting that in a lot of ways. And so if you remember, Christian Brown was a key bench wing. He was playing 18, 20 minutes per game off the bench for that team that was the best team in the country. Then he becomes a starter in year two. Then he becomes a all big 12 player and eventually first run draft back after year three. I'm not going to say Rosario is going to follow that path

because that's a really high bar, but it would not shock me if he follows that type of path of being somebody who is in the rotation this year and to playing even more minutes than maybe maybe right now I'm projecting him for 10 to 12 minutes per game. If you told me he's going to end up playing 18 minutes per game, wouldn't shock me. And then by year two, he ends up being an all big 12

player or something or is a starter for KU. Wouldn't shock me for Cole Rosario, but very high praise there from Bell Self. He also mentioned to me Calderon has been a surprise and he's been pleased with him. That just becomes interesting because Calderon and Rosario are in direct competition for minutes. Who's going to be the eighth man?

That's where that becomes very interesting. And then the last one was just kind of talking about Paul and Bea and kind of talking about how they didn't really recruit him the first time around. He goes to NC State and how it really worked out for Kansas and Bill Self and how he's been pleased as well with what Bea has been doing.

He said, we've been really pleased and impressed with him so far. Again, you can put the disclaimer on all these and say, okay, there are certain reasons he would give some quotes. Some quotes are gonna be to try to encourage a guy. Some quotes are gonna be the guys who maybe are further on the bench that aren't gonna get a huge role on this year's team.

But if he says something publicly about them, maybe it makes their camp feel like, okay, we're making progress here. That increases the chance that that player would stay after the following season. I don't know if that would be something or just keeping everybody happy before the season starts. Maybe that's part of it, right? Keeping everybody engaged so they stay as competitive as possible to make sure everything is as competitive as possible. There's underlying reasons that you could point to that say this stuff, but certainly seemed like a lot of good news from Bill's cell phone where the team is at

coming into another season for KU basketball. 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. We can like and subscribe to the show we're going to have on tomorrow's episode. Talking a little about the, you know, top strengths and weaknesses for the upcoming KU basketball team. And, you know, what are some areas that are still to be determined? We'll also later in the week get some more KU basketball content. We're going to have Phil Steele of Phil Steele Magazine to preview KU football. That'll be on next week's shows. So make sure

you're subscribed right here anywhere you get your podcasts podcasts including on our YouTube page, we can like and subscribe to the show. See you next time for another edition of Locked on Jayhawks.