Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Comparing Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Players to Super Bowl 57 Kansas City Chiefs/Philadelphia Eagles

Episode Date: February 9, 2023

Comparing players on the Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team to players in Super Bowl 57 on the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, like KJ Adams to Isiah Pacheco and Jalen Wilson to Jalen Hurts along with so many more from Bill Self to Kevin McCullar.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at Linkedin.com/lockedoncollege Terms and conditions apply.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Place your first FIVE DOLLAR bet to get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Free Bets – win or lose! Visit Fanduel.com/LockedOn today to get startedFANDUEL 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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's Locked on Jayhawks, we're having some fun making some sense between some KU basketball players to some of the stars in the upcoming Super Bowl. Let's discuss, go into why. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Mark Johnson, you can hear me as well on Rock Chalk Sports Talk Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 on KLWN. And Lawrence, thanks for making Locked on Jayhawks your first listen every day, free and available wherever you get any of your podcasts. On today's edition of Locked On Jayhawks,

we're going to be having a fun one. We're going to be comparing some of the Super Bowl stars upcoming this weekend to some KU basketball players. And we'll tell you why as we go into each of those here on this edition of the show. On tomorrow's show, we'll do our KU Oklahoma preview. But first, this episode of Locked On is brought to you by Sportsbook, the official sportsbook of Locked On.

Make every moment more. Visit fanduel.com slash locked on today to get started with FanDuel. All right, I'll just start with this right off the bat for these player comps. First of all, I'm going to be comparing Eagles or Chiefs players. Nobody is Patrick Mahomes. No one is Patrick Mahomes. Patrick Mahomes is an alien all to himself. prompts um first of all i'm going to be comparing eagles or chiefs players nobody is patrick

mahomes no one is patrick mahomes patrick mahomes is an alien all to himself uh there is no player i i know you could just say oh well jalen wilson best player on ku patrick mahomes best player on the chiefs no uh no nobody is patrick mahomes if ku had a patrick mahomes on their team that player would be like like not even Zach Eady is Patrick Mahomes there is no Patrick Mahomes in college basketball it's just impossible to make that that comparison so nobody has Patrick Mahomes uh who Jalen Wilson is though how about we go with the other quarterback Jalen Hurts you know they both have the same first name that's good enough for me no uh but in in reality this i

think just kind of worked out so jalen hurts the quarterback for the eagles grinds it out he is um really a grinder with his ability to run the football on the opposing team you have those qb sneak plays where they have uh all the backs behind him kind of pushing him forward and he's just like big in the weight room and all this stuff he's kind of a grinder at times and he's improved a lot of his other parts of his game into this season which is why he was an mvp candidate like you looked at him being you know a really good college player and then being an effective player last season and helping the eagles get to the playoffs but he took that step up this year in his uh passing accuracy his passing acumen he's been one of the best deep ball throwers in the NFL

this season. And so you compare it to Jalen Wilson. Jalen was a guy coming in who had a lot of good things going about him. He's a really good grinder. He could grind his way to 15 points in a game and get you a bunch of rebounds. And it wouldn't always look pretty. Like sometimes it doesn't always for Jalen Hurts, but he's going to win you a lot of games and he's going to do what's necessary to win games. And like Jalen Hurts took that step in his passing game this season to make him an MVP candidate, Jalen Wilson took that step this year in his basketball game with his ability to hit outside shots. At least so far, he's shooting a little over 35% from three after shooting in the mid-20s a season ago. He's improved a lot of the other parts of his game to just make him more well-rounded

and now all of a sudden he was you know the comparison mvp candidate for jalen hurts his national player of the year candidate and sure jalen hurts was he really going to win it over patrick walms i don't know probably not i guess at one point down the end of the season he did become the favorite uh with jalen wilson is he going to win national player of the year probably not going to be zach edie but he's a candidate for it he's been one of the best players in college basketball this season and you know maybe if he's not considered the best he's certainly one of the better ones in the game so jaylen to jaylen jaylen wilson to jaylen hurts that is my comparison there comparison number two dewan harris equals i don't know i said super bowl stars i don't know how many

people are going to know this one but i guess if you're a Kansas fan, there's a better chance you know the Chiefs. Joe Tooney. Joe Tooney, the really good offensive lineman, comes over to the Kansas City Chiefs and Patriots a few years ago, makes a lot of money, and he has more than lived up to the contract. He's been just an absolute machine of an offensive guard. There's been games where, like the Cincinnati game in the regular season last year

where i think it was orlando brown gets like hurt in pregame and they had to slide joe tooney out to left tackle and he still had a a really good game pretty much whatever you need him to do he will accomplish it he's kind of a robot out there like he just kind of goes about his business he's not like a really boisterous guy, but he's really good. He's fundamentally sound. He makes all the right plays, like seems to always know where to be in the right situation. Like I said, no matter what you need him to do, he kind of faults into those things. Don't know all those same characteristics defined to Juan Harris.

Like he's not always the guy who's going to be getting the accolades. That would be like a Jalen Wilson. He's not going to be the guy who's going to be like first round pick. That would be like a Jalen Wilson he's not going to be the guy who's going to be like first round pick that would be Grady Dick but he is a guy in a lot of ways that really steers winning and that's been the case for the Chiefs interior of the offensive line like maybe you could just give DeJuan Harris the entire offensive line just in general because that is an unsung position and I think with what DeJuan does he is kind of an unsung player but quiet you don't always get credit for it an unsung player. But you're quiet.

You don't always get credit for it. But in a lot of ways, you're winning the team the game. So really, you could go the whole offensive line. But I kind of settled on Joe Tooney. I thought that was the best comp there. Grady Dick equals Devontae Smith. So Devontae Smith is the really good receiver for Philadelphia. He was their first-round draft pick a couple years ago

after winning the Heisman from Alabama. He's, you know, not the number one option because they have AJ Brown, who's really good too, but Devante Smith's about as good of a, a number two option as you could have in the NFL. And you look at Grady Dick,

like, yeah, okay. Jalen Wilson's the team's number one option, but he's a really good number two option. Both guys are really skinny i guess if you want to add like the the body comparison too if we're going to add the name comparison with jaylen wilson to jaylen hurts both guys are really skinny but they they're so efficient and they're

so elegant like davante smith elegant route runner makes these high point catches grady dick elegant and being able to drive to the rim and hit those you know reverse layups or hit his jump shot or uh the step backs and the fakes and i think what else is similar here not every game is going to be a grady dick 15 or 20 point game you know we've seen some games where he has eight or nine or ten points but then they're going to have some games where you have 20 or 25 points you know 21 against texas that's kind of the same for davante smith and part of it is that you're not that number but then they're going to have some games where you have 20 or 25 points, you know, 21 against Texas. That's kind of the same for Devontae Smith. And part of it is that you're not that number one option. You're also young players.

But like Devontae Smith will have games where he goes off for 100 plus yards. There's other games where maybe Devontae Smith has 40 yards because they're running in a bunch or, you know, A.J. Brown's taking over or whatever. He's not the first option. But when they're on, they can take over a game and both can make incredible highlight plays it's grady dick davante smith okay we're gonna do uh another one here we have plenty more but we'll do one more then take a break and then get to uh several more kevin mcculler equals jet mckinnon or trent mcduffie so these are very

different depending on which way we go with it. But I couldn't decide between the two. So I just decided to lump both in there. It might make more sense to go with Trent McDuffie because Kevin McCuller is known for his defense. He is a defensive player of the year finalist. He's one of the best perimeter defenders and overall defenders in the country. So maybe it makes more sense to go with the guy who plays defense, which is the case of Trent McDuffie.

You also have two mix. If we continue with the name theme, Mick Kohler, Mick Duffy, or I guess that could go with it, but Trent McDuffie, great defender. But if you've noticed the one thing that's alluded,

Trent McDuffie, he's been really good in coverage. It's being able to convert that coverage into interceptions. He's had trouble catching them. I think he was the player that the ball hit the helmet against uh was the broncos on the interception attempt he had the opening drive where he almost had the interception of joe burrow but just kind of dropped it he hasn't been able to convert it to interceptions no interception so far but he's played great coverage um that part is a little different like if we're if we're comparing interceptions the steals kevin mcculler

has been able to convert his great defense into seals he's been getting a lot of steals for this team but kevin mcculler if we're to change interceptions to basically an interception on defense is offense right that's how your defense turns the offense kevin mcculler hasn't always had a great time converting that great defense into offense the three-point shot hasn't always been there though the past you know three or four games he has gotten the offense going again scoring in double digits like every game scoring for like 16 against texas except for really the iowa state game so he hasn't always been able to convert it into that offense but still a great defender still great coverage and does a lot for

you on that end of the floor or i guess field if we're going with the football side of things. The comparison to Jet McKinnon I think is a little different. Jet doesn't rack up a ton of yards necessarily. He had that stretch in December where he was racking a bunch of touchdowns, but still not a ton of yards for Jet McKinnon overall in the season. But yes, he gets a ton of touchdowns. And if you view touchdowns as almost like the Kevin McCuller clutch plays that he's made at the end of games, hitting big threes against Kentucky and Oklahoma state and making

big shots at the end of games. That's kind of like the big touchdowns for jet McKinnon. He always doesn't have a lot of points. He always doesn't have a lot of yards, but he makes a lot of those big winning plays like the touchdown, like the, uh, pretty clutch shots. And he does a bit of everything too. And that's the case for Jet McKinnon. Jet McKinnon can run. He's really good out of the backfield, receiving the ball, really good in the screen game.

And he's a really good pass blocker for a running back. And sometimes you don't get enough credit for some of those little things, especially like the pass blocker as a running back. Kevin McCuller does a lot of little things well. Sometimes you don't get credit for all of them.

That's why Kevin McCuller could be jet McKinnon or could be Trent McDuffie. And either way, it's a Mick. So I guess that works out one way or another. Are we going to get some more of these player cops in just a second, but for this episode of locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by FanDuel sports book. This year,

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Maybe the floodgates have opened for him. He got his first career postseason sack against Cincinnati. Maybe they open up, although this one a little bit tougher of a matchup. Bengals offensive line, not nearly as good as this Eagles offensive line, which is probably the best in the NFL. And a lot of those reps are going to be going up against Jason Kelsey. So that should certainly be a great matchup there with Chris Jones in that interior.

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KJ Adams equals Isaiah Pacheco. This might be my favorite of all the comparisons. KJ Adams plays very hard, very, very hard. He runs hard. He does everything so physically. He's got gigantic muscles. Isaiah Pacheco, same way. Everything Isaiah Pacheco does, he runs so hard. In both these guys' cases, when they fall down, they get back up and they're just rearing at it, ready to go. So I love this one. Part of me honestly wanted to pick Blake Bell for KJ Adams just because

Blake Bell's nickname is the belldozer and sometimes KJ Adams plays like a bulldozer so I kind of wanted to pick that just for that reason but yeah Pacheco man he runs so hard he is a jackhammer he's so physical he'll take it right through the teeth of the defense has really good athleticism though despite how hard he runs and is a fast player for his position that's the case for kj as hard as he plays as physical as he is as strong as he is because he's playing as an undersized five he's really fast and he's really athletic and both kind of unheralded too like isaiah pacheco's seventh round draft pick out of ruckers kj adams you know four-star recruit you didn't know totally how he was going to get on the floor

is he going to be a three is he going to be a four is he going to be a five and they really produce for you and they're so pivotal to your success so kj adams equals isaiah pacheco the ku bench ku bench equals marquez valdez scantling now if you know with marquez Valdez-Scantling, he is obviously a very big, deep threat for the Chiefs. And in the AFC Championship game, he showed that he can do a little bit more. The Chiefs certainly needed him to do it, and he delivered because of the fact that the Chiefs had all these different receivers out. So it was very pivotal for him to do that, and he did just that. But for the most part, he has been kind of the,

over the course of his career and even in his times with the Kansas City Chiefs, he's been kind of a hit-or-miss player. Like, he's going to catch a deep ball, or maybe he'll have two catches for 60 yards in a game. Maybe one game he'll have one catch, or he'll have no catches. Maybe another game he'll have, you know, four catches. It's kind of hit-or-miss, and you get some great highlight plays. Like, some of the catches he'll make down downfield he's got insane athleticism and speed he stands at six five like

very flashy a lot of substance about why he can be like um a really productive receiver and make those highlight plays for you we've also seen him though phased out of some games drop easier passes and so on where sometimes the routine plays haven't been as routine the KU bench they've got some incredible highlights Bobby's game winner against Wisconsin the bench performance against Indiana with Zuby and Bobby the bench performance against Kansas State last week the bench performance on uh Monday night is all really good you've seen highlight games from like MJ Rice against Texas Southern, Ernest Uday against North Dakota State. You've seen some of those highlights that get you salivating over the bench

talent and the four and five stars, these McDonald's All-American, the KU has on the bench and some of these big men and the skills and talent they possess, Zach Clemens being able to hit a three. These things are so tantalizing. Like a 6'5 receiver runs a 4'4-40 and makes all these deep ball catches. Sometimes they get phased out of games. I think, to be clear, MVS is better than the KU bench. MVS has been probably more consistent than the KU bench has been,

though maybe the KU bench is kind of turning a corner here. But I think for the most part, this is a pretty apt comparison and that you don't always get 100%. I do think with MVS, this is a pretty apt comparison and that you don't always get 100%. I do think with MVS, it is a bit more scheme-related. If he is going to be a deep ball receiver, if teams focus more on preventing the deep ball and giving up more underneath, that's going to phase out MVS, whereas with the bench, it's just, did you play well or not?

But I do like that comparison. Bill Self, we've got a coach one, equals Andy Reid if Andy wins the Super Bowl. There is an if there. He's got to win the Super Bowl first. Now, as far as the demeanor of the coaches, like very, very different. Like Andy Reid is not going to tell you much in the media. He is, I don't know, just like not that Bill Self isn't a nice guy.

Like they're both people person. But like Bill Self is a very different type of hangout than Andy Reid, I guess would be the way of putting it. So if Andy Reid wins the Super Bowl with the Chiefs this weekend, then Andy would have, I guess, three Super Bowl appearances. No, I'm sorry. Four Super Bowl appearances with two Super Bowl wins. No, I'm sorry. Four Super Bowl appearances with one Super Bowl win. No, two Super Bowl wins.

Completely muddling this. Bill Self has three title appearances with two title wins. So they would be tied in wins. And you would have one more Super Bowl title appearance, I guess, because it was days with the Eagles. But honestly, that might be

where the comparisons end. But hey, I wanted to compare him to someone. The last one I have here is KU basketball fans equal Travis Kelsey, because Travis Kelsey is a KU basketball fan. Probably not. But when they're playing Cincinnati in a year, I guess, when they are in the Big 12 and they're playing them in basketball, he'll be rooting for Cincinnati. But that was very funny funny. I know a lot of K-State fans

were not happy with him rooting for KU in that basketball game. Also, KU basketball fans, they like to be loud. They like to influence games. They're the best crowd in college basketball. Travis Kelsey, the best tight end in the NFL. KU, the best crowd in college basketball. Travis Kelsey, the best tight end in the NFL. KU, the best crowd consistent home court in college basketball history. I don't know. Travis Kelsey, the best tight end in NFL history.

I don't know. You make the argument for both those things. And Travis Kelsey likes to be boisterous and have fun. So, boom. Travis Kelsey equals the KU basketball fans. We're going to finish things up here in just a second, and we're going to finish things up here in just a second, and we're going to be going over some of our,

in line with the Super Bowl, some of our favorite Super Bowl prop bets with FanDuel here on Locked on Jayhawks. Okay, we've got some of our favorite prop bets here with Locked on Jayhawks for FanDuel. I'm going to put together a Super Bowl parlay. They actually have a no-swe no sweat same game parlay going on on fanduel you can bet like up to ten dollars odds have to be plus 400 or better and they have to be at least three or more picks out of it and then if you lose you get some of your money back

you can check that out with fanduel um let's go with an anytime touchdown score let's go with an anytime touchdown score. Let's go with, you know, you go Isaiah Pacheco. I think they're going to run jet McKinnon at plus one 75 is interesting. Um, can areas Tony a plus 400 keeps nodding out to me, but that's probably just a individual bet I would make. Let's go with Isaiah Pacheco plus one 20 for Isaiah Pacheco as part of that. Then we're going to go, let's see, Patrick Mahomes. I think you're going to have to pass the ball a lot to win this game is over under for passing yards. It's two 92 and a half, but what I'm going to do for this, I'm going to do an alt passing

line. We're going to do Patrick Mahomes with 250 plus. Now let's go to 75 plus passing yards so that's minus 172 on fan duel and then we need something else we do isaiah pacheco 40 plus rushing yards we could do jet mckinnon receiving yards at 25 plus let's do that so if we have pacheco anytime score mahomes 275 plus all passing yards Jeff McKinnon 25 plus are all receiving yards that pays off plus 509 that qualifies for that parlay that's going to be my bet of the week for the Super Bowl but other props that I like probably going into this game I think that I like Pacheco and McKinnon to both be very involved in the offense. I think that it's tough to kind of get a read on which receivers are going to go off that specific game, especially because a lot of them are injured for the Chiefs. I'm probably avoiding a lot of that.

I do kind of lean toward the under. And then, you know, if you're looking for some of the fun props, like if you want heads or tails on the Super Bowl, do you? I don't know. I think the Chiefs Gatorade last time they won it was orange. So maybe you go with that because I feel like always blue and red are the most popular picks. So those are my suggestions. Always, I feel like, go the over on the national anthem. I feel like that's always good for an over.

Maybe that's a trap bet. I don't know. All right. You can catch any of our episodes wherever you get any of our podcasts. You can find me on Twitter at D Johnsonio. Subscribe to us on YouTube as well. You can hit us up with anything you want the show to talk about on Twitter with the DJohnsonRadio and give us a five-star review or a thumbs up if you're watching on YouTube because it certainly helps me out over here. And we'll have our

KU Oklahoma preview on tomorrow's edition of the show. Till then, enjoy and tune in to Rock Chalk Sports Talk later today. I am pre-recording this ahead of time, so I'll be out of town on Thursday, Friday. Nick will be filling in for me on RCST, but that schedule for the KU Oklahoma preview still will come out on Friday. Have a good rest of your day. Catch you later. This is Locked on Jayhawks.