Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - EARLY HYPE: Tyran Stokes Ready to EXPLODE in 2026-2027 for Kansas Jayhawks As Possible #1 NBA Pick

Starting point is 00:00:00 The buzz is already going about Tyron Stokes being the number one picking the draft in 2027 and I am excited for what he can do in a Kansas uniform. 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 up, Derek Johnson? This is Locked on Jayhawks. We are brought to you by Fandual, the biggest stage in world soccer's here. Let there be goals on Fandual.

Starting point is 00:00:33 Visit Fandual.com to get started. now. And on today's episode of the show, we're going to break down a little bit on comparing Javon Bardwell, five-star commits stats at OTE to Colorsario, fueling in, should he reclassify. We'll also get into this five-and-five lawsuit from some players in Ohio. And if they get eligible, would any of them make sense to Kansas? And we'll start right here with the Tyron Stokes' buzz already starting ahead of the 27 NBA draft. The 26 draft is passed, and they've already started to look ahead to the 2027 when i say they the the draft nicks of the world the um you know mock drafters and and everything uh that look ahead to this stuff right and i've seen a couple already

Starting point is 00:01:17 that have come out i think i've seen three so far and all of them have had tyrant stokes in it the number one spot um the one that i give most weight to most value to is from san vassini and the athletic i think he does outstanding work and you know um that's why i put extra value to it but It has him number one, and it's not just that it has him number one. It's some of the write-up that Sam gives in this mock draft. Now, some of the mock draft, or the write-up and all this stuff is talking about how the class of 2027 or the draft in 2027 is much weaker than the draft in 2026 and how this does become a little bit more of a project and a chore to get there, right? But that can almost work as a good, you know, because as good as, as as good as, as good as there was the, how much is he on the court, as good as Darren. Aaron Peterson was on the court when he was out there for Kansas, there was an element of it where it was like, if you get Darren Peterson in a normal season where like there's not a billion freshmen just going off, just imagine how much more impactful and how much of a leg up that gives you versus last year because there were so many good freshmen. It's like, oh, okay, well, Darren Peterson was was really good when he was on the floor for KU. But this other school and this other.

Starting point is 00:02:34 school and this other school also have freshmen making that type of impact. And so I do wonder if in a week or draft class, does having the number one guy actually in a weird way have almost more impact? Like, I don't know. I feel like I'm talking myself in circles in like a dumb way here. But like if you do have a, if you have a guy who goes number one just out of default because it's not a good class, that's a different conversation. But if you have a dude who like legitimately is worth going number one in a draft and then the rest of the draft is down compared to previous years, doesn't that give you an even bigger leg up from having theoretically the best player in the country from some of those other years?

Starting point is 00:03:12 So I'm not going to read this entire blurb. You should go subscribe to the athletic and check out Sam's work yourself, but mentions he's the most talented player in the class. It does mention that he has a seven foot wingspan. So, you know, we knew Stokes has good size and stuff on the perimeter for kind of a three, well, that wingspan clearly allows him to play the four as much as you want. And he mentions how he's explosive and able to work and stuff, but he says he's more skilled than you expect.

Starting point is 00:03:41 High level passing reads, his jumpers improve to. It says he can impose his will with his strength and athleticism. He's a killer rebounder, big time playmaker on defense. I like seeing that because you look at Keanu Dawes, who is an awesome rebounder, but Dawes isn't really a rim protector. And I think Paul and Beal will be a rim protector at the five. I think Reeves will give you rim protection at the five. But if Kansas goes to any small ball lineups where Stokes is in at the four and Dawes is in at the five,

Starting point is 00:04:10 Stokes is the one who can provide that defensive playmaking with the off ball rotations over getting blocks. Similar to like when Zion Williamson was at Duke playing the four, you know, he would provide a lot of that rim protection, right? And I think this is good to bring up too because I think some of the rub on Tyron Stubb, that he's misunderstood and stuff and it gets taken the wrong way. But I found this a very interesting quote from Sam. He says showcases all the attributes of a winning player outside of his wild decision making.

Starting point is 00:04:41 So, you know, too many turnovers at time, right, or having a silly foul. But like, he is a winning player overall, right? And this is kind of the one of the last quotes. Again, if it all comes together for Stokes next season at Kansas, he could run away as the top pick. he's that talented. And again, there's more in it. So check it out and more players and everything.

Starting point is 00:05:05 But that has to make you feel excited. Now, obviously we know because we've seen other guys, for instance, Darren Peterson or shoot, man. I mean, some of these are silly this early on in the season or in the off season because like I remember Marco Jackson when he was coming into Kansas was being seen as like a first round pick after his freshman. And like, you know, sometimes it gets overblown some of that stuff. but I'd rather have those expectations for Stokes than not have them, you know, and that does seem to be a mind that I genuinely, you know, trust in evaluations and stuff with players to be high on him is obviously a very good thing, right? Now, if we're looking through the rest of that mock draft,

Starting point is 00:05:45 it is interesting because some other notes, no other Jayhawks are projected. Sam only went through the first round and then he kind of had like a short list of like other guys to watch. So it wasn't really a full 60 player mock draft or like a top 100 board. But I think that's an interesting question. Who would be most likely if I told you that Kansas wound up having two players drafted in the draft in 2027? Who do you think it would be?

Starting point is 00:06:10 And part of the calculus that makes it maybe less likely is now with five and five, like, you know, even if somebody has a good, like for instance, Keanu Dawes was the first guy that I thought of for this question. but if he has a good enough year where people are viewing him as a potential second round pick but now with five and five he can have one more year, he's going to make more NIL money to come back to Kansas at that point for his fifth year than he would be a second round pick. But then again, we saw like Henry Vassar,

Starting point is 00:06:38 just they screw it and go off and give up some money just to get his NBA career started. And maybe certain guys are done being in the classroom and everything and you can understand that. But no other Jayhawks projected. I do think Keanu Dawes, I'm expecting him to have a good enough season. And if Kansas is a top 15 team, top 12, top 10 team in the country,

Starting point is 00:06:59 and Dawes winds up being KU's second best player and he's putting up, you know, 13, 14, 15 points per game with 8, 9, 10 rebounds per game. And he's shooting in the mid to high 30% from three, which I think he can do this year. Again, 37% in Big 12 play this past year and he's honing in on it in the off season. I think he could end up being a guy that's viewed as like a second round draft pick. next season. And like if you remember, like if we go back to like February, Trey White and Trey White was being viewed as somebody who like could be a late second round pick, you know, in the NBA draft. And then he kind of had his fall off to the end of the season. So if you were just completed the season strong, there's a chance he would have gotten drafted.

Starting point is 00:07:38 I mean, as it is, I don't think it would have been that crazy if he was drafted. So I think that would be the one that I would look to. I think when you look at Kinney and Blyden, they're both smaller guards. So probably going to have to be in school for a little bit there. I think the other one you would look to is Cole Rosario. Now, will he have the opportunity this year? If he does end up working his way into the starting lineup, maybe it's a conversation. And obviously, there's a lot that would be needed in his game. But like, you know, Johnny Furfie got drafted off of potential athleticism and three-point shooting. You know, Johnny Furfee didn't have any like half-court game or off the dribble game, but it's the potential. It's the athleticism.

Starting point is 00:08:16 It's the three-point shot. It's the potential to be a three-and-d. And so that, that's where you're at with Cole Rosario, that if he kind of breaks out this season, maybe he's viewed in that realm. Do we go there with Paul and Bia? He certainly has the length to at least get it done if he has that kind of a season where you view him as kind of a dark horse for that. And then I don't know, would it be one of the other kind of young players or freshman you'd have in. But Dawes would be the immediate guy I would go to followed by Rosario. But overall, even though Kansas wasn't littered throughout the list, Big 12 was loaded with talent again. The top 10 in Sam's mock features three players from the Big 12, which was tied.

Starting point is 00:08:50 side with the most with the SEC, two from international and then one each from the Big Ten and Big East. Arizona, interestingly enough, three players projected in the lottery, Caleb Holt, Mo Krivus, and Yvon Karchankov. Now, again, we're going to have players break out that you weren't expecting that ended up going higher. Some guys are going to fall off a little bit. There's always a freshman or two who is expected to be a first round pick who just doesn't quite come together, right? So you don't know who that's going to be. But I find that interesting because Arizona had a great year and they lose all these players, but then you look up and they're like, oh, but they have three projected lottery picks. You'll, they're still going to be pretty good. And then the last note that I had on

Starting point is 00:09:27 this was Dami Sar projected a late first, which he had kind of an up and down first year, had a good defensive year. The offense didn't really come around. And I find that interesting from a standpoint of more so, I mean, one, yeah, of course it would have been nice for Kansas to get him, but he wanted to go to Duke all along. So nothing Bilsoff could have done. The thing with some of these international guys, it feels like sometimes they come over. And it is more of a two-year thing. And so if that ends up being the case for Domey Sarr, why can't it be the case for Paul and Bia, too, right?

Starting point is 00:09:57 All right, let's continue on a little bit here. What are some of the options available for Kansas if this Ohio lawsuit for the five and five goes through? We're going to break that down and what it kind of all means. Next, this is locked on Jayhawks. All right, so today is brought to you by Fandual Sportsbook. The biggest stage in world soccer is here. And every match feels like it has potential for a memorable moment.

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Starting point is 00:11:28 Okay, so if you missed it, obviously the five and five passed from the NCAA. And now there's already a class action lawsuit from some of these players in Ohio to say, hey, I like this should count for the guys who were just four year players. And I can sympathize because this class of players should be what, the class of 2022, right?

Starting point is 00:11:50 Yes, so the class of 2022, they would have been the first class, after COVID. So the class of 2021 got a free year because of COVID, right? Because the season after COVID, they said this year won't count to your eligibility if you decide to play. So class of 2021 got a free year. Class of 20 got a free year. Like all the people who went through COVID got a free year. Class of 2022 or class of 2023 will all be players who are going to be, I guess, four year players this year. So they'll get the five and five. Class of 22 and 22 is the one that's getting screwed and all this and isn't getting that year. So I don't know why they just didn't

Starting point is 00:12:23 say, like, it would have been one extra class of people just to be like retroactive and be like, hey, we're going to allow it for the guys who, you know, we're four year seniors this year to have a fifth year, right? So they're, and this will be very interesting because it could open up a world of more potential transfer portal options if this does win in court because then there will be precedent for other players to be like, hey, I should get my retroactive fifth year too and then maybe there's a bigger player pool for Kansas. If we just want to look at the players that are part of this class action lawsuit in Ohio, I find that interesting. interesting. Some of the players that don't make sense,

Starting point is 00:12:56 Philippe Bolivon, Boroviccanin, I don't know. One, I can't pronounce the name, but two, I think you'd just go back to Xavier. MJ Collins and Colby King would be going to Cincinnati with their head coach from Utah State. So that stands to be a big potential impact on another team in the Big 12 this year. Chevalier Emery was 0th percentile nationally in two key defensive metrics. So no on that. Chris Carroll is a high-scoring, strong-shooting wing. but, you know, KURDS Stokes, Parker, Rosario,

Starting point is 00:13:26 like I think when you're looking at using the final three scholarships, Big Man, and another ball handler, those would be what you're looking at here. Caden Powell and Josh Reed are Power 5 Biggs, but I don't think either ever entered the transfer portal. So I guess if they got another year, they'd be back at Baylor and Penn State, to my understanding. And then Donovan Brown couldn't get run for UMass, so obviously not a Kansas thing there.

Starting point is 00:13:47 I didn't have anybody in the tier of compete to be a starter or most likely rotation player. But I do think there's some players you could bring in from this lawsuit if they do win that could at least compete for the rotation or maybe spot minutes. The first one I think of interest is Sean Phillips. Now, this would, I guess, complete the trade for Bryson Tiller because Phillips was from Missouri and that would feel kind of gross to have a trade between Kansas and Missouri of players. Personally, I'm not really a fan of Phillips game.

Starting point is 00:14:18 So why is he on this list? Well, KU could use another big body and they had some interest last off season, right? KU did have interest last off season. So clearly there was some sort of connection, right? And here's the good for Phillips game. He's seven feet tall. He's super experienced. He's got strong offensive and defensive rebound rates, good, good, you know, block rate, 94th percentile block rate.

Starting point is 00:14:38 So you're looking at this. You're going, oh, seven footer with good rebounding and blocking, like sign me up. Well, here's the bad. There's really no offense. He did shoot 68 percent, but it's like all dunks and lobs and everything. Like he's not somebody who's going to create anything. And he's one of those guys where it's like, it's just kind of empty calories sometimes with the stats, the raw stats. The analytics very much dislike him.

Starting point is 00:14:58 So like on Evan Miyakaa's website, he was ranked the 121st best player of 138, qualified in the SEC among, if you just look at the offensive rating on Evan Miyakawa, he was 135th of the 138. He fouls a ton. He turns the ball over a ton. his career on off net ratings per 100, which have all been at power schools. You're looking at Arizona State, Missouri. Negative 21, negative 19, negative 13.6 and negative 3.7. That means when he is on the floor, his team is that many points worse per 100 possessions

Starting point is 00:15:35 when he's out there. So I'm not in here, but Kansas, if they're able to get it cheap, if the UN thing can't work, I guess this is fine as an insurance option for somebody that KU has had communication. with before. Jalen Quinn, he is a six-foot-three guard who was the first team all at Missouri Valley conference pick last year, almost 20 points per game, four rebounds, three assists, shot 46% from the floor, 34 from three. He's a fun player. Now, he's not very good on defense. In his two previous schools, Drake and Loyola, Chicago, those have been ones that have spurned KU out of the transfer portal. So that would be a little bit scary there, right? But if you're just adding somebody who,

Starting point is 00:16:13 when I look at Quinn, you'd be adding him to be like your eighth, ninth man, to be just like a pure score off the bench when he plays. I think that'd be a fun one. But as an all Missouri Valley Conference player, I feel like he'd have better options. There'd just be a question for him of, does you want to make more money to go to the Blue Blood and be part of the team? Or does he want to go somewhere and be a starter, right?

Starting point is 00:16:33 Then you look at Javon Bennett. I think Kinney and Blyden would probably beat Bennett out. But, you know, if one of the youngsters struggle, like maybe Bennett could compete. for the job. I definitely view him as being in the top nine in the competition, right? And when you look at Bennett, he is 5'10, kind of be that diggy court role, right? You're talking 16 points per game, three assists per game for Dayton last year.

Starting point is 00:16:58 He shoots a lot of threes, shooting over 35% from three over the last three seasons combined. He played well against BYU this year, 22 points. He had 19 against Marquette, did only go three of 15 against Cincinnati. But the defensive metrics actually rate out really well despite the size. Now, he could just, you know, if he gets eligible, go back to Dayton, be the guy. But if he's coming back to cash in on a year, you know, it makes some money to be KU's eighth or ninth man. So that would be one I'd look at. And then Malik Messina Moore, he's not the most efficient player out there.

Starting point is 00:17:30 Below average on two point shots, below average on three point shots. Does have a career 37% from three, which is higher. So I don't know if that was just played better competition last year after transferring up to Xavier or not a bad shooting year, but also solid ball handler, 94th percentile assist to turnover ratio. He had strong on-off numbers. He had strong metric numbers. He's six-five.

Starting point is 00:17:51 If you're looking for just another ball handler who can add more depth and play multiple positions for you, if again, he'd be interested in being your eighth or ninth man. If this suit goes through, then that would make sense as well. And then you look at Christian Henry and Zaire Wells. I think both those guys would be guys that you would look at as like roster fillers, kind of the Gingola role. Like there's different levels for me. There's the diggy coy roll, which is like your small little guard who might just come in and shoot some threes.

Starting point is 00:18:15 And maybe they're part of the rotation that game. Maybe it's a very small role of the next game, just depending if they're going or not, right? The Jalen Coleman Land's role is very similar. It's just more of like a shooting guard wing type as opposed to Coit used more of the point guard. And then you have your Geng Ging Ging G. And Gala role. The Gingalal role is basically be another ball handler, help you out in practice, be kind of that same type of player who could, you know, hit some threes and stuff, but you're not going to even get spot minutes. You're just going to be back end

Starting point is 00:18:44 of the roster, right? And that's, I think, what you're looking for there with Wells or Henry. Again, this would have to go through. But if this does go through and a lot of these people are going to be looking for a place to go, you know, you probably make, like I said, like a lot of these schools are going to have most of their roster and their budget allocated for. And if you have an opportunity to make a couple hundred grants to come to KU to, in some of these guys cases, compete to be like an eighth or ninth man and play spot minutes on what could be a pretty good team like you know that'd be interesting to me at least right all right let's uh finish up a little bit here we'll continue on with the conversation of should giovon barwell reclassify because um i want to compare

Starting point is 00:19:20 some of the o tecestats of him to rosario to kind of get an understanding of what level are we talking about here if you were to join college basketball right away this is locked on j hawks what's going on locked on j hawks here and uh don't forget we'll have a bonus episode coming out today just talking kind of a little KUK State Sunflower Showdown well ahead of time before that one comes in, what, October, right, with Christian Rao from Locked on Kansas State. So make sure to check that one out. It'll be up in your feed later on your Monday as well.

Starting point is 00:19:57 Okay, so I continue to now that the five and five is a thing and that Javon Bardwell, who turned 19, I want to say back in January, this upcoming season, whether he plays high school ball or whether he enrolls early and gets to KU, this year will count against him in eligibility, right? So I'm just like, why not just reclassify and come to KU right now? Because even if he's not going to get paid as much in NIL this year as he would next year,

Starting point is 00:20:29 he's probably still going to get paid more in NIL this year at Kansas than he would at a high school. So I think it makes sense. But one thing that I've kind of said is, you know, are we so sure that Javon Bardwell can't be a rotation player. And here's part of it too. If the idea is that he should wait a year because in 2027, he'll have a better chance to be a starter, play a big role, and then he won't transfer after that. Well, guess what? Cole Rosario could still be back in 2027, who he'd be competing with. Dennis Parker now has another year with the five and five, who he could be competing with. Do you think that Kansas ain't going to bring in any other, you know, freshmen or transfers on

Starting point is 00:21:08 the wing that you'd be competing with? I mean, so the way, the way. I kind of look at it is if he's going to be good enough to be a starter in 2027, why can't he at least be a rotation player this year? And he would raise your ceiling and everything. So anyway, I wanted to take a look back at just out of comparison from, you know, Cole Rosario was playing in OTE. Javon Bardwell was playing in OTE. And it's interesting. Bargwell actually, and so these stats are based on for Bardwell, this is his last two seasons combined playing at OTE, whereas for Rosario, this was just his last season playing OTE before he came to Kansas. Bardwell, 17.4 points per game, Rosario 15.2.

Starting point is 00:21:46 So you give a check to Bardwell there, as you would in the rebounds, average a little more, a little over one rebound extra per game, 6.4 to 5.3. But then Rosario actually has the advantage in like the rest of the categories. More assists per game, but neither huge numbers there, 1.7 to 1.1. Much better turnover numbers for Rosario, but I think that comes with the role. Bardwell ends up with the ball in his hands a lot more,

Starting point is 00:22:07 whereas Rosario, again, more of kind of an offball player. the steals in heavily favor of Rosario 1.8 to 1.4 with the blocks also in favor of Rosario. I will say this. I think the rub to me is that Bardwell will be the more pestering defender, even if Rosario ends up getting more stocks. I guess if that makes sense. Field goal percentage is pretty even like 45.8% for Rosario, 45 for Bardwell, free throw percent. The big difference to me is the Rosario shooting, right? Rosario shot 30.4% from 3. It was streaky.

Starting point is 00:22:41 He had some bad games that tanked it. Then he has some of the big performances in the Adidas next gen. But he was also 84% at the line. And a lot of times free throw shooting can be a kind of a relator to, you know, what your touch is and what scouts project you. Like if you're a bad free throw shooter, but you're shooting well from three on low volume, a lot of times scouts will be like, you know, Yeah, I don't know if I buy that three-point shot. Whereas if, you know, you are shooting lower, but you've continued to shoot well at the free-throw line,

Starting point is 00:23:14 it does tell them that, you know, you do have good shooting mechanics usually or good touch to at least one range. Can they fix something from three? And that's something that Rosario has over Bardwell. It's not just the Bardwell only shot 22% from three over the last two seasons at OTE. It's the Bardwell is a 68% of the foul line. So when you're projecting it out, you're projecting Rosario to be much better on free throws than Bardwell also.

Starting point is 00:23:37 So the way I look at it is this. I think both are very good athletes. I think Bardwell probably has a little bit more, I don't know, like wiggle to his game would probably be the way of putting it, certainly with the ball in his hands. I think Rosario might have even more vertical to his game and maybe even more like straight line speed in just general. Bardwell has a little bit more size, I think, than Rosario. I think Rosario is going to be more of an offball play. player, Bardwell, more of an on-ball player. Like I said, I think the defense is different.

Starting point is 00:24:12 I think you get better point-of-attack defense from Bardwell, but you get better off-ball team defense from Rosario. So there are some differences. But I guess the point being like, the stats aren't that different. Again, both of them are within range and field goal percentage. The points are right there. The rebounds are right there. I guess the way that I look at it is this.

Starting point is 00:24:32 Cole Rosario didn't wind up in the rotation last year for KU if you're just looking at the last couple months. of the season, but he certainly had every opportunity to do so because he was a starter for the first what, six games of the season. So he did everything he needed to be a part of it. It just didn't have the performance in game. And so if Javon Bardwell is similar to that, but seemingly has a higher ceiling, you know, why is Javon Bardwell ranked a five-star recruit and Rosario was a four-star recruit? You know, I know that's not the be-all end-all, but it might matter a little bit. And does that mean or is that indicative at all that like Javon Bardwell could come in and potentially beat out

Starting point is 00:25:12 Corrador. Now Rosario does have the one year in the program, but you know, it wasn't a year good enough that like you'd say it's impossible. Could Bardwell come in and beat out Dennis Parker? Like as much as I like Dennis Parker's game and think he's going to do well and be in the rotation, we do know how the transfer portal is gone for Bill's Health and KU. Usually there's at least one that doesn't work out. So I remain steadfast that I hope Javon Bardwell reclassifies, I think it would be a good idea for all parties involved. And I really wouldn't eliminate the idea of him even being in the rotation, if that were the case. All right, that'll do it for this episode, Locked on Jayhawks.

Starting point is 00:25:49 You can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page, we can like and subscribe to the show. See you next time.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - EARLY HYPE: Tyran Stokes Ready to EXPLODE in 2026-2027 for Kansas Jayhawks As Possible #1 NBA Pick

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