Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Brice Dessert Would Give Kansas an ELITE Center Rotation: How He Fits with Bill Self & Flory Bidunga

Episode Date: June 6, 2025

Kansas Jayhawks Basketball eyes French giant Brice Dessert. Could this 7-footer with a 7'4" wingspan be the missing piece for Bill Self's squad?Derek Johnson breaks down Dessert's impressive stats fro...m France's top league, including his high field goal percentage, rebounding and shot-blocking prowess. The analysis covers Dessert's potential fit alongside Flory Bidunga should Self want to play two bigs, or as the backup to Bidunga. Additionally, the show covers the impact on Kansas' NIL budget and what the move could or would mean for other additions, specifically with international wing targets. Finally, the show also goes over KU's non-conference schedule and ranks the Jayhawks' five toughest games, highlighting key matchups against North Carolina, Duke, UConn, NC State, Missouri and more!Tune in for expert insights on how Dessert could reshape Kansas Basketball's frontcourt and their path to March Madness glory.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED 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)

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 Kansas needs a backup big still and maybe with the lack of success getting a wing to this point Do you just go all in on getting the best back of big possible? That's where Bryce dessert comes in to town a french big who's available to the collegiate level Could kansas bring him in how would he fit in if he were a jayhawk? You are locked on jayhks, 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. This is locked on Jayhawks.
Starting point is 00:00:37 Thanks for making it your first listen every day. Thank you everydayers catching each and every episode of the show. We are free and available anywhere you get your podcasts including on our YouTube page. You can like and subscribe to the show as well over there. And on today's edition of the show, we're doing a deep dive on Bryce dessert, who is I think I'm Americanizing the name it might be to say, based on the French pronunciation of what the name would be a bit to say, or like
Starting point is 00:01:00 something closer to that. But anyway, it sounds cool saying dessert. And certainly there's a lot of fun puns you can do with that. And he would be an elite backup center to have I don't say that cautiously, like he would be as good of any backup center, in my opinion in the country. So how exactly would he fit in with Kansas? What would it mean for the team and their offseason and roster approach and build and then we'll finish up with I don't know, I have latest news on there on the run now but might talk more about the non con schedule for KU and rank the
Starting point is 00:01:30 top five toughest games most interesting games in the noncon for KU first this episode of the show is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook right now new customers get $200 and bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins with FanDuel. Okay, Bryce dessert again I think in French probably pronounced a little bit differently, but the Americanized version, it is dessert and dessert is a French word. So I guess it could be pronounced that way. But he is a 22 year old center, he stands seven feet tall 245 pounds, that
Starting point is 00:01:59 seven foot measurement, whatever was most recently done at the measurement, whatever was most recently done at the Adidas Euro Camp, which he was just in like this past week and comes in at seven feet tall. And one of the best things you can say about this guy is his length, that he is just a huge center on the inside. So you're talking about somebody who has a near seven foot four wingspan that was measured at last year's Adidas Euro camp seven foot three and three quarters to be exact, nine foot three and a half standing reach. Like those are those are
Starting point is 00:02:33 really good numbers. And like for Badoonga, obviously is a little bit shorter than Bryce dessert. But I think the rumor for I've seen numbers on Flory's wingspan be like seven to seven four. So I don't know what it exactly is, but like point being, it could be even bigger than what Flory has. And Flory has a big wingspan and it would continue your trend where if the guys you have who can play the five, if you were able to land Bryce Desert, right?
Starting point is 00:02:56 Taylor has a like seven, two wingspan. Flory has like a seven, two wingspan. Desert has like a, again, almost a seven foot four wingspan. He would add to that wingspan and just a very big player overall. The standing reach at nine three and a half is usually you don't Kazabuka his standing reach at Kansas was at least this is what he measured it that one of his combines was nine foot one. Ryan Kalkbrenner last year from Crayton he was nine foot four so right around the same of dessert and obviously Kalkbrenner was year from Creighton, he was nine foot four. So right around the same of dessert.
Starting point is 00:03:25 And obviously Kolkbrenner was a giant center down low, like the wingspan being almost seven foot four. Miles Turner, who's in the NBA finals, he's his was seven foot four when he measured at the combine. So very lengthy center. Also, the fact that he's 22 years old, I'm not entirely sure what year he'd be in college, I think he would be I think how they work it is you would have two years left because I think they give them like one gap year,
Starting point is 00:03:47 so to speak, but then they count their clock after they get to 18 or whatever. So I think he'd theoretically be like a junior when he comes in, but I don't know how that works. I also don't know how it works with getting the players eligible and working transcripts, especially when you're playing like kind of professional, the, your previous stuff, I don't know.
Starting point is 00:04:06 The one thing that's weird is on NBA draft that it mentions him having an 18 inch standing vertical, which that's like insanely low. Like that is like, like Hunter Dickinson's in the mid 20s. Jani Broome got clowned for being in the mid 20s at the NBA draft combine. And that's like another level lower than that. Now you watch some of his highlights and I don't see that on tape. I'm not saying the dude is Prime Sean Kemp
Starting point is 00:04:30 or LeBron James or something like that with the way that he can jump. No, I'm not saying that's the case. When you watch his highlights, you just think he has like a normal jump for a guy his size. I don't see a guy who's only jumping 18 inches. So I kind of wonder if that,
Starting point is 00:04:43 because a lot of KU fans have seen that and been like, what? That almost seems so low that it seems like it's a typo or that like he was messing around and like didn't mean to. So I don't know that I'm buying into that necessarily. I would just say this, if you're talking about his, you know, athleticism, like if I'm watching his game
Starting point is 00:05:01 and going over some of his highlights, I would say he's a physical center, right? You see him being physical, willing to make and take contact. He's somebody who again, I wouldn't call him like a great vertical athlete. I wouldn't call him a horrible one either. Like there are times he throws down dunks. I remember like at times David McCormick, like David McCormick at Kansas wasn't an incredible vertical dunker, but he still had some,
Starting point is 00:05:26 or just vertical jumper, I should say, but he still had some fun dunks in there. You think the Villanova one in the final four, and that's how I viewed Dessert, except Dessert's probably even longer than what David McCormick was. Dessert also has a little bit of a post-up game. He goes to work quickly, which I think Bill Self will like.
Starting point is 00:05:43 It wasn't a lot of, okay I'm going to take it, I'm gonna take a couple dribbles, or I'm going to shake and then do it was a lot of like, okay, this is what I'm doing. And I'm going after it. And I'm doing it aggressively. And again, I think Bill Self would like that if he were a Jayhawk, a very, very good rebounder is what you're talking about here with Bryce dessert. And you there's one site that has like percentiles for how he ranked in his league, which I should
Starting point is 00:06:10 probably mention, you know, but playing in France, he's most recently he's been playing with Strasburg this past season, which is part of the top French League. And he's been part of the French, the top French League. The last this would have been his third straight season there the first year, a little less games played 14 games played really the last two years he's seen his, you know, minute totals and stuff go up. So he was with ADA blow East basket, and a spores blow East, which I don't know if
Starting point is 00:06:40 that's like their junior team or, or what on that situation. But on that team, let's see in the French league that year, they were one of the worst teams in the French league, but he was playing on the senior team as at that point, a 20 year old. Then this past season for Strasburg as a 21 year old, he played 29 games. And let's see Strasburg. I don't know where they are in the standings. Little bit higher up there, 12
Starting point is 00:07:10 and 18. The other team was worse. So they're 12th. Whereas the other team was a little bit lower. So again, not a great team. And the French league is not the Spanish League. It's not the Greek League necessarily, but it still would be one of the better leagues in the world. Like, I don't know, I'd be curious where it would rank compared to like Australia and some of those leagues. But yeah, 29 games played 18.3 minutes per game at 9.1 points per game 5.3 rebounds 0.6 assists per game point one
Starting point is 00:07:37 steals point nine blocks, and he did shooting 68.8% from the field. Now only 52.7 at the foul line has not made a three at a senior level of competition. So he's not a center who's gonna face up. He's not really somebody who's gonna shoot. Again, going back to those rebounding numbers, he was in the 91st percentile in the league in offensive rebound rate.
Starting point is 00:07:57 He was in the 89th percentile in defensive rebound rate. So just an elite rebounder. And he also is just an efficient score against 68.8% the year before with ADA Blue East basket, he was 72.8% shooting and overall this past season, he was 94th percentile in effective field goal percentage among the league. So effective score can go to work in the post with simple moves again, not the most
Starting point is 00:08:23 you know, expanded. He's not 100 Dickinson in the post, but he has at least has a little bit of something there. solid enough shop locker, right? Decent shop lock numbers actually shows some good even though he doesn't have the biggest vertical pop shows some good like agility, hip moving type athleticism for big men where if you don't want him switching on to guards all the time, but when he does, I mean, actually, he had really good numbers when he did it. Now, how much of that
Starting point is 00:08:50 is, you know, small sample size, and then the guy just missed the shot. But I do think he's shown an ability to do that. And if that was at the professional level, that would tell you that he should be able to do at the college level. So I don't think Kansas is going to switch him purposely onto a guard. But if he does happen to get switched onto a guard, it's not like a problem. Like if it were 100, it can say no got switched on to guard, not going to be the case. So that's kind of a good thing
Starting point is 00:09:15 for for KU and allows them to stay flexible on the defensive end. But yeah, just played in the Adidas Euro camp and 16 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks in the first game, the production fell off a little bit the next two games, two points, five rebounds, two blocks, and then six points, 10 rebounds, three blocks in the first game. The production fell off a little bit the next two games, two points, five rebounds, two blocks, and then six points, six rebounds, two blocks. But the rebounding is kind of consistent. And if you average it out over the three games,
Starting point is 00:09:34 that means he was playing about 18 minutes per game over the three games he played. He was scoring 8.7 rebounds over two blocks per game. And again, that's in like 18 minutes per game. That's good production. Now just one assist to eight turnovers. He's never really been a great passer. And that is something that you know, he is more of your your physical type center, who is going to be a good rebounder who is going to be a good defender. But he's
Starting point is 00:09:59 not somebody who, you know, necessarily oozes like with Flory Badunga. It's it's about the excitement. It is about the athleticism with dessert. It is more of the little things and the strength in the physical play of center. But I think those things will endear you to build self and I think he can be an elite option as a backup center and maybe even play next to floor. Let's get into as possible fit with KU next. This episode of the show is brought to you by FanDuel Sports
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Starting point is 00:10:50 And right now over at FanDuel, you can get some early futures on the college basketball season. Kansas is going at 17 to one. So right now you have Houston 11 to one, Purdue 12 to one, Duke 12 to one. Then it's a next tier, Florida at 16 to 1, and then it's a big grouping. Louisville, Kentucky, Michigan, Kansas, St. John's, UConn, all 17 to 1 to win the title.
Starting point is 00:11:12 I don't know, BYU, Texas Tech at 20 to 1, maybe those are of interest. Arizona at 30 to 1, Gonzaga, Illinois at 30 to 1, UCLA is 35 to 1. Let's see if we can get down here and see somebody who's I don't know, kind of silly to be down here. I don't know. Are you into what West Virginia has done in the portal? They're 200 to one over at fan duel right now. I don't know. Maybe you're a K State fan listening to this. You're just like, Hey, what's going on with KU? They're 150 to one to win the title. You can get all those odds and more over at fan duel.
Starting point is 00:11:40 And if you're new to fan duel, perfect time to sign up. Head to fan duel.com place your first $5 bet if it wins $200 in bonus bets, make every moment more with FanDuel, official sports betting partner of the NBA. Thanks for joining us on this episode of Locked On Jayhawks. And don't forget you can check out Locked On College Basketball or Locked On College Football for your second lesson every day. Okay, so I found this this from NBA scouting live, they did have a scouting port
Starting point is 00:12:09 on again, I don't know if it's dessert or dessert, but says in the scouting port again, NBA scouting live, decent low post score set solid screens, that's something there where like that's gonna endear you to build self and that's something he's kind of called out with some of his recent teams that they haven't had good enough screen setters. So you know, I made a little bit of a David McCormick like vertical comparison, maybe there's some land and Lucas comparison with that one.
Starting point is 00:12:30 Decent rebounder, which again, I think that's probably underselling it. Defender and shop locker solid motor. So those are all things that build selves get alike. Plus the fact that he's 22 years old, like it should be a quicker learning curve. Now on one hand, it's going to be a harder learning curve because you're coming over to America, you've been in. Now, on one hand, it's going to be a harder learning curve because you're coming over to America, you've been in France all your life, right? That's going to be a tough learning curve. But if
Starting point is 00:12:51 you can get over that aspect of it, the basketball side should come quicker than like some 17 year old coming out of high school, right? The scouting board from NBA scouting live also mentions can be passive on offense needs to improve playmaking face up and shooting game average athlete who struggles to defend quick guards and I will say this is something that that Armand Jovic who does really good work PDT scouting mentioned that he guarded Frank Mason who was in
Starting point is 00:13:17 that league and I think in the matchups where Frank was switched or he was switched on to Frank Frank only went one for six. Now again, did Frank get open on a couple of those and just happened to miss the shot that day? Maybe, but even if that would have happened with one of them, even if he would have shot two for six, that still would have been good defense by Bryce Dessert.
Starting point is 00:13:36 So that is certainly impressive. And especially if you're talking about, okay, he's coming over to play college basketball. Frank Mason was literally the best player in college basketball. His last time he was at Kansas. And's been what eight years since then. So Frank is an even better player now where he's playing professionally and getting to do it every day than he was when he was the national player of the year most likely and he still held him to that.
Starting point is 00:13:56 So that kind of tells you the ability that he can have. Now what would he add to the team? I mean first of all a backup big man. Kansas is looking that, right? Even if you think Bryson Tiller can give this team, you know, reasonable minutes and be a productive player for this team right off the bat, which I don't have any questions about the talent of Bryson Tiller. I think the big question is just, okay, he's been injured for a while.
Starting point is 00:14:18 Like, is he gonna have to shake any rust off? And then you're talking about being a freshman with Bill Self. Like, I don't know, you could convince me Bryson Tiller plays 10 minutes per game. You could freshman with Bill self like, I don't know, you could convince me Bryson tiller plays 10 minutes per game, you could convince me plays 20 I don't know. But even if you did get the better version of Bryce, Bryson tiller in that situation, even if he is ready to go and
Starting point is 00:14:37 you see the talent is using out, you still need more than two big men. And that's all you have with Florian and Bryson tiller right now. And so dessert would be somebody who could come in and give you that other big men give you more size, he would give you Flory insurance, right? What happens if Flory doesn't take the jump that I'm assuming and lots of KU fans are assuming he's going to like, I think Flory is going to take that jump. But what if Flory is the same guy he was last year, that would still be an effective player in a lot of different ways. But then there would be foul trouble in certain games, then there would still have certain issues and certain matchups.
Starting point is 00:15:07 And then maybe you just say, hey, desert, this guy's 22 years old, he's really good. We'll play them both 20 minutes per game, and it'll be kind of an even split in what we do there. Now, I'm not saying that's the likely scenario, maybe the more likely scenario would be, you know, floor is playing 25 minutes per game deserts playing 15. Maybe it's even, you know, you're saying, hey, we can play these guys next to each other for at least some short amount of time. And part of the
Starting point is 00:15:29 reason why is that dessert is such a good rebounder brings such physicality, length and strength that if you're in a matchup against two bigs, or you're in a matchup where Flory is because as athletic as Flory is, if Flory is matched up with more of a, I don't know, girthy big man, is he going to struggle to wall him off and keep him out of the paint? And then in that matchup you say, okay, Flory's our four, Desert is our five. And I know people aren't the biggest fans of too big basketball and I prefer more modern basketball. I prefer more of a wing at the four. And I think
Starting point is 00:16:00 for the most part, Kansas is going to play more of that way with Trey White at the fourth than any lineup. But I'm I understand and can see the vision in playing some too big basketball and a lot of good teams have actually played too big basketball here lately, whether you're talking about Gonzaga or some of these Arizona teams in recent years or some of these Duke teams in recent years. Like I'm not just talking about this team, Cooper flag. I don't really know that I view him as big, even though he is the size of a big, but like their seasons before, like Kyle Filipowski, he was playing the
Starting point is 00:16:26 floor for them, right? Houston has been playing two bigs. I forget if I mentioned Florida already, like playing two bigs. You can do it if you have the right two bigs to do it. And if you're taking advantage of the things that two bigs provides you. The problem is the past couple years for Kansas when they're playing two bigs or in some cases three, they're not getting the benefits of it the benefits of playing two bigs because they're going to be certain downsides. You're not as fast.
Starting point is 00:16:48 You don't have as much three point shooting, but you should be better defending the two scoring from two and I don't know blocking shots and rebounding the basketball. And so like, okay, let me go over to Ken Palm right now. Okay. So on Kansas this past season, they were good from two. They were above average, but they were 106 in the country. If you're going to play too big basketball, you better be like top 50, right? offense rebound rate, Kansas was
Starting point is 00:17:11 only 163 in the country. Okay, so that would be something where if you're going to play too big basketball, you would like that number again to be I don't know, top 50 top 80 in the country, something like that. The two point defense was good for KU that was top 25 in the country. But point being, if you're going to play too big basketball, you want to benefit from the things that make too big basketball good. And I think if you played Florian dessert, that would be as good of a
Starting point is 00:17:33 rebounding front court when those two are out there as there is in the country. So I think you would have that advantage. Maybe you play that 10 minutes per game of too big basketball. And that would then therefore allow you to give more minutes to with Tiller, Flory, Dessert, any of those three, any combination, maybe it's two of them, maybe it's all three of them, that you could get Dessert closer
Starting point is 00:17:53 to maybe 20 minutes per game, right? And Flory could play 25, 26, 27, 28 minutes per game, you know, depending, can he avoid foul trouble and stuff? That's how you work out the role a little bit better. And like I said, I think you can live in a world where you're playing some too big basketball. I just don't want it as the primary lineup, but I'm okay with it if it is something you use. And we know Bill self likes too big lineups, right? I mean, they're basically playing it the last two years just without some of the benefits. We saw him start you dope as a bouquet next to a bunch of other big men, right? Whether it was Diedrich Lawson, whether it was David McCormick, whether it was Landon Lucas. He started dope next to all of those guys. So if they do bring in Dessert, I think there would be a real argument
Starting point is 00:18:30 that Dessert would come in and be one of KU's best five players. And if that is the case, Bill Self's gonna find a way to get them on the court at the same time. Now, what he wouldn't add to the team would be, I don't know, more quickness, more floor spacing. He wouldn't add any shooting. He has, like I said, a little bit of post-up ability,
Starting point is 00:18:47 but he's not going to give you like an automatic bucket in the post every time now. He doesn't add more athletic ceiling. But overall, I would love this addition because at the very least, if he is your backup center, I feel like you have as good of a backup center as anybody else in the country if that was going to be the case.
Starting point is 00:19:03 But like I said, I also do think you could have some opportunities to play him next to Flory to maybe get those minutes up even more, if he is good enough to do it. The big question to me just kind of comes down to cost with all this. What is KU's Romanian NIL budget? How much is it gonna cost to bring in a player like this?
Starting point is 00:19:21 And how much does it cost to bring in other players? If you're at a point where you you can bring in a neoclass of dollars or a Marco or a dune of itch or whatever. And doing that disallows you from getting dessert. I wouldn't do this move because I'd rather have the wing for this K roster. But what if K you has already found out the price for of dollars and Henshaw and you know, any of these wings or guards that are available, that are really good targets, what if they found out the price already
Starting point is 00:19:49 exceeds what they can do to build the rest of their roster? At that point, then you get into a mode where you basically have to say, do we pivot? Do we find the best way to build out a roster? Just get the best player we can. And then we'll we'll try to get a backup wing, we'll try to get a backup guard who can shoot threes and fill out the roster that way, as opposed to saying, we're going to overspend on the best wing we can even if they're not worth it. And then we're gonna have to
Starting point is 00:20:14 underspend on a big why not just spend the good money on the good player, you know, even if it's not, you know, positionally the best way you can do it, maybe you just don't have that option to bring on one of those top wings. And if that is the case, I can understand that pivot because then you're just going for, you know, the player you feel like can make the biggest impact on your rotation. And at that point, then all for it. So if it, you know, if it is a hindrance from you getting one of those other players, don't do it. If it's not, or that's just not possible, and your best option is to get the best possible center and then get a backup wing, then I absolutely love this. And I think Dessert would certainly be a
Starting point is 00:20:52 very impactful player right away for Kansas basketball and in college basketball. All right, let's finish up here. We're going to talk a little KU basketball, non-conference schedule. What is their toughest games on the non-con slate? Thanks for joining us on this episode of LOJ. Don't forget you can find us anywhere you get your podcast. So, Ken's released the non-con schedule the other day. And just going over it real quick. Exhibition at Louisville, exhibition Fort Hay State.
Starting point is 00:21:24 Those are at the end of October. Then starting and starting November you have Green Bay, which that's going to be probably a big blowout. Good tune up for the first road game through actual road game, not the exhibition at North Carolina November 7th on Friday. Then back home against A&M Corpus Christi Princeton at home. Then you have Duke in the Champions Classic, which is being played later this year, November 18th. That'll be in New York City.
Starting point is 00:21:44 The players era tournament, which is in Las Vegas. I don't know how that's going to work out. There's 18 teams in the Champions Classic, which is being played later this year, November 18th. That'll be in New York City, the players era tournament, which is in Las Vegas. I don't know how that's going to work out. There's 18 teams in the field. There's a couple other big 12 teams, a lot of really good teams in the field. So you're gonna play good teams that December 2 will be against Connecticut. That was the newly announced one. December 7 is a Sunday that's against Missouri at the T mobile center. Then December 13 at NC State. That one certainly gets a
Starting point is 00:22:04 little more vibe now because Will Wade has turned that NC State roster into looking like pretty good team and the Darien Williams recruitment. And then Towson on December 16 Davidson on December 22 before winter break is how you kind of work things out here. So if I'm just going to go scroll over to Bartorvik, and again, rosters are incomplete right now. So it's not a exact science to say, you know what these rankings are. Let's see Green Bay is ranked in like
Starting point is 00:22:30 250 range. Kansas is right now on Torvik 16th, North Carolina is 15th. So that would actually be a really good game there for what it's worth on Torvik. It gives Kansas the 41st best offense in the country and the fourth best defense projected coming in. But anyway, that'll be a tough game at North Carolina. Let's see with with Corpus Christi. They are in the 200s. Yeah, 217th Princeton always tricky against an Ivy team. They're projected to be 177th there. Duke that'll probably be the toughest game on the noncon for KU neutral site. Their third on this that'll be a fun one
Starting point is 00:23:07 with Darren Peterson and the Boozer twins. So if I was ranking the toughest games, I think I would have the Duke game number one on the non con. I mean, it's tough to say like if I'm excluding the players there because again, in the players hypothetically, you could actually play Houston in a game that wouldn't count to the big 12. We just don't know the format yet. Why What if it's a what if it's tournament bracket and you end up playing Houston in a game that wouldn't count to the Big 12. We just don't know the format yet. Why? What if it's a what if it's tournament bracket and you end up playing Houston?
Starting point is 00:23:27 That would maybe be your toughest game at that point in the noncon, even though it'd be a team that you're going to play in Big 12 play. But I'm just not going to include that right now because we don't know who they're going to play. So Duke would be the toughest game, I think, in the noncon at this point for Kansas. Then it's a conversation. OK, North Carolina again ranked 15th in Bartorvik. NC State's 37th,
Starting point is 00:23:49 but I think they're gonna be even better than that. Plus that one is also gonna be on the road in a tough environment. Connecticut, I think is gonna be back to being really good this year. They're 11th on Torvik, and I actually think they're gonna be closer to being the top five, top 10 team this season.
Starting point is 00:24:03 Missouri got back to the NCAA tournament this year. They're 27th now on Torvix. They should be pretty interesting. Man, it's tough because you have the road environments that add to this as well, where it's like Connecticut is the second best team that you're playing in the non-con in terms of if you're looking on Torvik and by the way Towson is is Loki top 140 Davidson's just outside the top 150
Starting point is 00:24:30 But when you factor in the road environments and the fact that it's just the like second game of the season that at North Carolina game is gonna be very difficult. I think I would rank it. Yeah, one Duke would be the toughest Two Connecticut would be the second toughest Duke would be the toughest to Connecticut would be the second toughest. At North Carolina third at NC State fourth and then the Missouri game and the T-Mobile Center would be fifth at that point. I think those would be the top five to me toughest. Now that at the at Louisville game Louisville could be
Starting point is 00:24:55 really good this year. But again, that one doesn't count because it is an exhibition game. But yeah, those road exhibition games haven't gone well for K the last two years and honestly, they've been kind of a precursor of things to come in a little bit. So you hope the kids can show up in that one and make you feel a little bit better than the last couple years of exhibitions did for the Jayhawks. All right, that'll do it for this episode of locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your
Starting point is 00:25:17 podcast including on our YouTube page back at you. If there's any breaking news over the weekend schedule might be a little weird next week, I got to go out of town for a funeral. But you know, we'll have them coming at you at some point, somewhere or another right here with loj. See you next time for another edition of the show. And have a great weekend, everyone.

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