Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Do the Jayhawks NEED Marko Radunovic? International Target Deep Dive: How Would He Fit with Kansas?

Episode Date: June 5, 2025

Marko Radunovic, a lengthy wing from Montenegro could be the solution for Bill Self and Kansas Jayhawks basketball as KU searches for one more game-changer to add to the roster.Breaking down Radunovic's game, his balanced attack and herky-jerky athleticism to go with strong shooting numbers this past season playing professionally. How exactly would he fit in with Darryn Peterson, Tre White, Flory Bidunga, Elmarko Jackson and more for this upcoming team?Plus, examining the newly released Kansas Basketball non-conference schedule and how loaded it is featuring Duke, North Carolina, NC State, Missouri, now UConn and more!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)

If Kansas wants an athletic wing who can be a possible game changer, shoots and threes, Marko Rudunovic is the possible game changer that Kansas and Bilsow are looking for. We talk about how he would possibly fit in with KU if they could afford him and bring him into Lawrence. 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 this is locked on Jayhawks thanks for making it your first listen every day. Thank you every dayers catching each and every episode of the show whether you find us anywhere you get your audio side of things or on YouTube, where you can like and subscribe to the show. And obviously, we are free and available anywhere you get

your podcast whether it is on YouTube or on the audio side of things. On today's edition of LLJ we're talking Marco Radunovic. He is a international target for KU in the off season. If he is somebody that KU could, you know, sway into coming to Kansas for the cost and the role, I think he would be one of the best available players for KU to possibly do that with. And in fact, if Kansas needs a game changer, do they almost need Marco Radunovic if they want to find that you know possible 1415 point per game score that Bill Self talked about. Today's episode

of the show is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Right now new customers can get $200 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins you can do that over at FanDuel. Okay, who is Marco Radunovic? How would he fit in with KU? What's his scouting part? Well, Radunovic is a 19 year old, he is a wing six foot six, officially listed actually, if you look at his, I don't know, online page, although I've seen different from from different sites, one side I've seen 198 centimeters, which will be closer to six six exact, I've seen another side that lists him at 200 centimeters tall, which would be actually closer to like six six and a half. So you're getting close to six, seven there. But regardless, like a

six, six wing, he's originally from Montenegro, where he was signed by his I think hometown team of KK podgerika. I don't know what the KK stands for. That might just be like, you know, in soccer, like you see FC all the time for like football club or whatever. If you look at the league, the Montenegrin, like pro a league, most of the teams are preceded by the letters KK. So that's kind of a common thing. But Podgerika, I'm probably mispronouncing that. But anyway, he was signed by them when he was just 16 years old.

And they were pretty good this season. They went 16 and eight, that was good for six among the 14 teams in the league. And like consistently, they've been a top 16. But I think going back in the standings, they've consistently over the last, you know, handful of years been between fourth to sixth. So like not the best team in the league, but they've been just solid all the way through.

And it's actually fun looking at the roster. Alex Ante to Kumpo, yes, the brother of, well, one of the brothers of Giannis Ant Tecumpo is on the team there. Jack Golke, the former Oakland Cinderella story three point just knocked down shooter who upset Kentucky in the first round of the tournament. He's on the team. That's certainly the one that I think I recognized the most and Xavier Rhodes is somebody who's from the Kansas City area. He was on the team at least at one point in time. So, you know, it's an interesting team playing in Montenegro, to say the least. But he's listed on some sites as a shooting guard. I view him at, you know, six, six, six, seven, basically a wing that you could play at the two or the three.

He has played a little bit of point and I know one site although This is unconfirmed. I'm not sure what the actual listing would be if this is, you know Kind of stretching the truth a little bit lists him with a seven-foot wingspan again I don't know if that's true or not But if that were true probably means you could play him at the four a little bit too, right if he is but at the very least I view him as somebody who can play the two and the three you look to his stats for KK podgerika. So he is 16 year old season that was the

2022 to 23 season between the games he played at the senior level and the junior league games that they had, which are like the under 19 raw versions of the rosters that they played, put up about 12 points per game only 32% from the field 15 for three, but again, he's 16 years old, 17 year old season. So now he's basically what would be a junior year in high school. He plays six games minutes go up about nine points, four and a half rebounds, physical percentage of 41, but the three points still

bad at 18%. But again, he's 17 years old. And this is a small sampleounds, physical percentage of 41, but the three points still bad at 18%. But again, he's 17 years old and this is a small sample size. The first season, eight games, this season, six games. This past season was the first real year where it was like he's starting to get inroads with the senior team and it's starting to show up in a very real way.

So this past season, his 18 year old season, he plays three games for the under 19 team for Podgorica. But the majority of his play was actually with the senior team, he played 23 games for Podgorica, which again is part of the league in Montenegro, the top league there. Now, the Montenegrin League is not as good of a league as like the Spanish League or the Greek League, or, I don't know, probably not even like the Australian League, but it's still a

professional European League. I'd be interesting comparing it to like college basketball, like how would it compare in that regard? Because in certain areas, it's going to be more difficult in other areas, it's probably not as talented. But point being, it's tougher than like high school ball. I feel confident saying that. So he plays 23 games, he starts 12 for the senior team. Now add up the totals between the senior team and the under 19 junior team that he played.

26 games played, he played 22.6 minutes per game, 11.2 points per game. So, you know, good numbers there, 11.2 points. If you basically just say he's averaging a point every two minutes, essentially, you would say, oh, if he's playing 30 minutes per game that's 15 points per game hey they'll sell if you want to 14 to 15 point per game score boom also good rebounder five and a half rebounds per game in those

22.6 minutes per game also good passer to assist per game in 22.6 minutes per game he did that with to assist to 1.8 turnovers per game so not the best assist to turnover ratio but he's also you know not not the primary point guard. And at least it is positive. Good stealing block numbers 1.2 steals per game point six blocks per game. Those would be good if you were playing 30 minutes per game, but he's again 22.6 where things really showed out for him this season was with the

efficiency and shooting the basketball, he wound up shooting 49.5% from the field this past season. And from three point range, he was really able to get it going as well. He shot 22 of 63 or 23 of 63, excuse me, on three point shots. That's good for 36.5% from three. He also shot 74.7% at the foul line. And so you basically look at him and say,

okay, he was taking, you know, two and a half three point attempts per game on a good percentage. But again, if you up the minutes, it ends up closer to maybe he would have been on pace to take closer to three and a half, four three-pointers per game. So I think you look at the stats and you just say,

it's very well rounded. He was able to score. He rebounded, he passed, he got steals, he got blocks. He shot well from two, he shot well from three, he rebounded, he passed, he got steals, he got blocks, he shot well from two, he shot well from three shot well the free throw line. What's not to like here about Marco Rudunovic, right? So you go and watch the highlights on this kid, I would say that he looks like somebody who plays well off the ball. And that's obviously something you

want to always check off if you're talking about a possible player that can come in and play with Darren Peterson, but it goes beyond that, right? Because Melvin councillisle can handle some on-ball duties. Marco Jackson can handle some on-ball duties. And so, you know, if you're Marco Rudunovic and you come to Kansas, yeah, of course, if you're one of the best players on the team, you're going to be handling the ball or initiating sets in the same way that, right, Kevin McColler was a 3-4, Jalen Wilson was a 4 for Kansas.

And they would have times where they were handling the ball, initiating the offense. But as far as being like the pure point card, that wouldn't really be a role that's available at Kansas. So can you play off ball and we're doing a bit shows that he can do that he shows that he can hit spot up threes he shows that he can cut off the basketball. And I think when you just again go through those stats, like honestly, if you're just if you're just like, stereotyping the stats, so to speak, I don't know, stereotyping has a negative connotation. So maybe this silly thing to say about stats, right? But you look at the stats and the stereotype would be he does a lot of things well, he's a well-rounded basketball player. That probably means he's going to be good without the ball in his hands.

Like that's a good thing to have when you were, you know, a well-rounded basketball player, I guess, right? He's somebody who on the highlights looks like an aggressive driver. I think he can get up in the air for a big dunk here or there. Just a really strong slasher might be the best way of putting it both in the half court and especially when he gets out and it kind of looks like a freight train running out in transition. I would say he's a solid athlete. I wouldn't describe him as a smooth athlete.

No, it kind of interesting. There are times when you watch the highlight where it's like, you know, sometimes you condition yourself that like a lot of the athletes look the same in the smoothness or something. He's a little more herky jerky in how he does it, but like in an aggressive violent way. So like, I still think he's a solid athlete,

but it's just different. It's not that smooth gazelle like running. It is kind of that like powerful, aggressive, like you can tell the style of play. You can tell the slasher mentality by the way he almost looks athletically, but he goes hard. He can get up high.

It's mostly two things to me, hard drives and that can be off the dribble. That can be transitioned. That can be on a cut that can End up in like a finger roll or a dunk and then it's spot up threes and both of them He does very well and that's what goes into that good off-ball play it's always tough to tell from highlights because There's so much context missing on what defense truly is and like can you stay in front of your guy all the time? Are you playing well in a team setting?

Are you switching and covering the role man if that's your responsibility, like, and teams run different defensive schemes. But based on just the highlights and based on the stats seems to be like somebody who is going to compete hard and fight for blocks on the defensive end, the steel stats look really good. And at the very least, if you do have good steel and block stats, it tells you that you are, you know, probably athletic, you probably have quick hands,

and you are at least willing to make an impact in one regard. He seemed to be a good transition passer. Like if you get him out on the run and he's grabbing and going, can be a good passer there. And he will gladly grab and go because he's a good rebounder.

And then he'll turn that in to the transition play where he was really good. Again, hard to tell the level of competition. It's gonna be better than high school basketball because it's still is professional basketball overseas. But again, some of the highlights you're seeing like rec center looking gyms with no fans in it. But it is the top league in Montenegro

and it's not just a pushover league. So how exactly would he fit in with KU? I wanna talk about that next. This is Lockdown Jayhawks. This episode of the show is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. The NBA playoffs are in full swing and every night delivers highlight worthy performances, major momentum shifts and can't miss moments. Whether it's a game winning shot or a breakout player, there's never been a better time to get in on the action.

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Iowa State's getting three and a half against Kansas State in Ireland. Kansas has given up 14 and a half against Fresno State. And also the over-under is sitting at 51 and a half. So that means they're expecting Kansas to win something like what? 32 to 18 somewhere in that range, you know, 32 to 19, 30 through whatever, somewhere in that range. So you can get it on that action and more over at Fandual.

Make every moment more with Fandual, the official sports betting partner of the NBA and the Lockdown Podcast Network. Thanks for joining us on this episode of Lockdown Jayhawks. You can make us your first listen every day. Thank you to the everydayers. Are you doing that? Catching each and every episode. You can make Lockdown College Basketball or Lockdown College Football your second listen every day. So one thing I do find interesting when you're looking at

Radunovitch is you do try to figure out, you know, again, what is the what is the the level of play here that you're talking about? And like, how good are some of these other, you know, teams that you're going up against and stuff like that. So if I just look at it, Bo Garica, the team that he was on, and I mentioned Jack Goulke being one of the notable names that is on the team. Well, Jack Goulke, who at this point is what like 24 years old, I guess I could click on his profile. He's 25 years old. Okay. He's a 25 year old at this point, like he is a veteran is Jack Goulke. He was a really good college

player. I mean, he had a very specific role, but he was a good college player on a team that pulled a big upset in March Madness. And so it's almost like the way I view this is because if you look at their rotation, Jack Goukhi played 14.7 minutes per game. Marco Rudunovic played 21.6. That doesn't always work that way that the guy playing more minutes is the better player. But like, clearly, to some extent, it can work that way, right? It's a simple way of looking at it,

but it can very much work that way, right? And so if you're talking about, he was ahead of the rotation of Jack Goukhi, like I almost, again, very different styles of play in what they do. Jack Goukhi gets on the court because he's a flamethrower from three. Marco Rudunovic does a lot of everything, right?

He's a jack of all trades and is good at a lot of different things. But point being, if you were to say that Jack Goukhi hypothetically got another year of college and entered the transfer portal. And in addition to that, he's added another year of playing professional basketball experience under his belt. So he's also a year better than when we last saw him in college when he was lighting up nets against Kentucky and the NCAA

tournament. That guy would be pretty interesting for a lot of teams to take. And now you look at Muradunovic and you say, Okay, well, he was technically better than him. And he's younger, which means that probably and based on, you know, some of the height and athleticism has a higher potential to get even better from one year to the next than where goal key would go. So that's just one way of looking at it as like, okay, where would this guy be? And, you know, how would he kind of impact things from that regard,

if he were there, and this guy's better. So that would be a good side. Now, how we'd fit in for Kansas, he would add certainly more positional size, he would add more versatility. That's something that Kansas is an excellent job at building the roster out with that they do have a lot of positional size, he would add more versatility. That's something that Kansas is an excellent job at building the roster out with that they do have a lot of positional size. They don't have, you know, a bunch of seven foot two guys, but they have a lot of players with plus wingspans have a lot of players with, you know, good size for their position that

they're not going to be really small at any point, I'm in Redunovic would fit in perfectly there, he would add more shooting to the team again, 36 and a half percent from three on two and a half attempts per game in 22 minutes per game, right? Those are good numbers for Rodunovic. And usually younger players are going to continue to get better shooting the ball. So you might be even better this year. So also a good rebounder. I mean, again, you're talking over five rebounds per game in 22 minutes per game,

where if you are playing closer to 30, you might be averaging seven rebounds per game. He is a good rebounder. He is aggressive, he gets his nose dirty. And so he would add that to the team. Now what he wouldn't add to the team would be more college experience, right. And at this point in time, if you're just all in on the international thing to get a game changer, then maybe this is a moot point because you're comparing apples to apples in terms of international players who don't have college

experience anyway. But do you want to go for somebody who's older than 19 years old so that you feel like they can adjust right away, maybe a little bit easier because they're more mature in the game. I don't know. Maybe that is something. I also in terms of what he wouldn't, like I said, again, part of it is going to be based on the wingspan. Could he play some four for you? I like to think that he could play some four for you based on the idea that he is a good rebounder, that he does still block shots, that he would be able to do that, especially in a versatile lineup where like Kansas has six, four, six, five,

six, six, six, six or something, one through four, where it is just kind of interchangeable with who's the three and who's the four in that specific lineup, but it's not a guarantee. And it's certainly not somebody who you just profile as a four. You profile him more as a two, three, who at times has played one for his club. I also don't know that, you know, if you're talking about what he wouldn't add, it's not a guarantee that he is somebody who, you know,

is going to be a star right away. Like with Neoclass, Avdolos, I feel like there's a higher floor there to me with Redunavich. I don't know, there might even be a higher ceiling for me and how I view him compared to a dollar. There are also different players, but I feel like with a dollar, it's it's it's a little more foolproof in terms of me feeling like it's gonna work. You could convince me Marco Redunavich comes over, and he could be a 15 point per game score. You could also convince me he comes over

and averages six points per game and you see some of the flashes, but maybe it takes another year or something like that. So that would be kind of the risk that you're rolling the dice with. Now at this point in time, given where the kids roster is, you kind of do have to roll the dice on something.

And yeah, to me, I would expect if Marco Radunovic came in, like I would lean toward the higher side of the outcomes, I would expect him to be a starter. To me, he would start with Trey White and they'd be kind of interchangeable as three, four men. You would have, that would be an awesome rebounding pair of wings. It would also give Kansas more shooting.

It would lengthen out their roster and the depth and the different types of lineups and versatility they could go out there and do. I, if I was like ranking the best KU basketball players, like number one would be Darren Peterson, two would probably be Floridou Nga. With some of these other targets, I've said that maybe they would be the second best player. I feel like Floridou would end up being second over Radunovic,

but there's a real world where Radunovic would be one of know, best players on the court. So definitely a take for me, the question just kind of comes down to money enrolled as we're doing of it want to be the alpha would he rather go to a smaller school where he can be option one, or a more guaranteed option to there's a chance he could be option two, if he comes to Kansas, but it's, it's a little more hazy than if you went to maybe a smaller school, right? The other question is the money. I mean, clearly Kansas has spent a big

amount of money already on the roster and with the football stadium and other things going on. There is a limit to how much they can spend and I still do think they have a good chunk to throw out there. But if it is a little more limited and you do stuff to worry about the buyout in international basketball, you know what if you have say three million dollars left for these final three scholarships and Radunovic needs three million to make it where he needs 2.5 and it's another

300,000 for his buyout. I Mean, you'd only have two hundred thousand left to bring on a backup big man in another spot and that might just not work out So if it does work out, I would love this edition for KU, but I guess we don't really know if it will work out based on some of those logistics. All right, latest news, KU Non-Con schedules out and more. This is Locked on Jayhawks. Thanks for joining us on this episode of LOJ. Again, you can find us anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page. Well, the KU men's basketball non-conference schedule is it's officially out and there was a fun announcement that Kansas is going to be playing a home and home with UConn. Now, Kansas is also going to be playing a home and home with Louisville. Now the Louisville home and home is an exhibition.

So they're going to be at Louisville in the Yum Center for this upcoming season before the season starts, I guess. And then the following season, they get them back at home for the exhibition game. As far as the Connecticut, that one is going to be a regular season game at the beginning of December, they'll get them in Allen Fieldhouse this year, even though they just had him in AFH a couple years ago, and then they'll return to Storrs, Connecticut, the following

season, where they'll play at UConn. So noncon schedule set though, and that was obviously the big new addition, because some of the other ones we already knew, but it comes to, you know, like, now we know they're going to be playing Davidson in late December. But now it just kind of fits in as another piece to the puzzle of what is once again, an unbelievably difficult non conference schedule for KU. I mean, you have to go at Carolina and at NC State now, which the NC State one became a lot more interesting, certainly

with Darian Williams and both in terms of making them better and the the recruiting battle for him. But with Will Wade there, I think they're gonna be a pretty good team this year. And then again, at North Carolina, you're playing Duke and the Champions Classic on a neutral site, which that's gonna be a lot of fun with Darren Peterson, the Boozer twins, and just I guess, two blue bloods as well. You also have the event in Vegas, the players event with NIL money on the line.

And like that is an insanely deep field. I don't know how they're going to work that because that's an 18 team field. So that doesn't totally work into a bracket again. I don't know how they're going to, you know, work the structure of that. But regardless, you're probably going to play some pretty darn good teams. You still have to play Missouri, who I don't know what they're going to work the structure of that. But regardless, you're probably going to play some pretty darn good teams. You still have to play Missouri who I don't know what they're going to be like this year because last year they were actually pretty good. They lost some players, but I think they have some interesting players back. So that one will be on neutral side. So you go on and on and on down the list. The schedule that you con to it is going to be

very difficult. It always is for Bell Bill Self. It always is for Kansas. And, you know, as we work toward more of a, you know, paying the players with the rev share and stuff, do we get to a point where like teams are just going to say, you know what, if I go seven and five in the noncon, we're going to schedule all high majors in the noncon, play all high majors in conference play, but we're going to make more money off ticket sales we're going to make you know i don't know if you get more money for being on espn as opposed to like espn too probably not but like

in some way does it benefit you more to play those and we further ourselves and not saying that i want this necessarily because part of the beauty of college basketball is the davids and the goliaths right kind of going up against each other but i do wonder if that'll be the case and not saying that I want this necessarily, because part of the beauty of college basketball is the David's and the Goliath's, right kind of going up against each other. But I do wonder if that will be the case. And Kansas has always played a tough noncon schedule, though, so that's no different there. And that won't be any different this year.

This news came out earlier this week. I just hadn't had a chance to touch on it yet, but that KJ Adams is going to be joining the KU basketball staff for the upcoming year. Some capacity. I don't know what it is. It might just be like a GA position. It's probably not going gonna be anything too crazy,

but I think it's a cool thing that like, KJ obviously cares very much about University of Kansas. You know, I've always said that any, any like, I've always thought it was dumb, the dislike of KJ, I guess. So we'll start there. I can understand some of the problems it created having KJ and Hunter and Dewan on the roster at the same time, right?

I think each individual players have said many times you could make it work with the right roster around them, but it didn't really work when all three were there at the same time. And so like KJ, for instance, he was the starting center on a one seed that if Bill Self doesn't have his health thing, I think they beat that Arkansas team in there in the second weekend. Who knows what happens from there. Hunter Dickinson went to the lead eight with Michigan. DeJuan Harris won a national title, but he had the right pieces around him. All of them could work given the right roster fits around them. It just didn't work together. But regardless of what you thought, and I always made the comparison that if you're mad that KJ Adams is playing this many minutes or doing this or that. blame Bill South not KJ Adams, because when KJ is out there, he

is hustling, he's doing things to try to endear himself and trying to do what he can do best to make it work. If you want to blame Bill, anybody blame Bill self because he shouldn't have been playing that role. He should have been playing maybe closer to the Jamari trailer role. That's on Bill self more than it is KJ Adams, in my opinion. But anyway, there was never a question in my mind that KJ wanted to win at Kansas, that he put his heart out there, that he had, you know, Jayhawks on his sleeve. And so if that guy's your assistant coach, great, right?

If that guy's going to be talking to other players and KJ seems like an outstanding human. If that guy's going to be, you know, a voice that other players can can go to to bounce off ideas or, you know, talk to or they felt like they got chewed out too much by the coach and they need somebody to level them out. Great. That's great for KJ. But beyond that, with how his season ended in the Arkansas game, this was similar like Perry Ellis, Torres ACL in the basketball tournament several years back and Kansas because he wasn't able to play internationally, just basically brought him on

board in some regard. I don't remember the exact title. But basically, yeah, you know, assistant coach, whether there's a made up title or whatever. And the big reason why was to be able to Yeah, you can learn from him and take his advice and stuff, but also just allow him to get like on staff to where he can basically have the amenities of KU med and rehab. And I think that's the big thing with KJ. So awesome stuff and hope KJ gets healthy and

everything here. But yeah, that'll do it for this episode of Lockdown Jayhawks. We'll see what happens with Marco Radunovic. More international deep dives coming up for you later on in the weekend. Plenty more KU basketball, KU football content coming at you. So make sure to subscribe right here to Lockdown Jayhawks anywhere you get your podcast including on our YouTube page. See you next time.