Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Elmarko Jackson and Nick Timberlake Lead Ultimate X-Factor Position for Kansas Jayhawks Basketball

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked on Jayhawks, we finish up our KU basketball position previews with the shooting guard preview ahead of late night in the fog this Friday in Lawrence. You are locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Derek Johnson. You can hear me as well Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. on KLWN in Lawrence with Rock Chalk Sports Talk. Thanks for making Locked on Jayhawks your first listen every day. We are free and available wherever you get any of your podcasts.

Starting point is 00:00:42 You can also find our show, like and subscribe to it on our YouTube page as well. On today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, we are previewing the KU basketball shooting guard position. How important are Marco Jackson, Nick Timberlake? Are those guys going to be not just to this position, but overall to KU and how successful they are this season, especially after the arterial Morris news, which certainly has an impact on this specific position. So let's start right here. Who is in the group of the shooting guard position for KU? Well, obviously there was the arterial Morris suspension.

Starting point is 00:01:15 And then that last week turned into, he has been booted off the team. He would have been somebody who could play one minutes and two minutes for you. And I think he would have played a lot of minutes at the two, but obviously he lost that privilege when he did the horrific thing thing i guess that he's being alleged to to have done right um so he's off the team so that no longer is a thing now uh there was a question the other day is bill self had a press conference ahead of late night in the fog this friday about if they'd consider maybe bringing somebody in for the uh like the christmas break if you remember they did

Starting point is 00:01:45 that with like sam cunliffe back i don't know five six years ago something like that where they brought him into transfer like midway through the year that could be something maybe they try to do this year and um obviously with the new transfer rules if sam cunliffe would have you know had that happen now because if you remember he had to redshirt after he transferred in at December break and missed the second semester and then the first semester of the next year. Now, because that would have been his first transfer, he would have been eligible right away, I believe,

Starting point is 00:02:14 at time of that break in December. So they'll probably try to bring in another body. I guess that wouldn't shock you. I guess it's not impossible that they don't either, right? But maybe it does become somebody who is a guard and impacts this two slot, who knows? But obviously that changes things up in terms of how the minutes get allocated. So Nick Timberlake is part of this group. 6'4", 195-pound senior. He is a sixth-year senior, so very experienced player, which is going to be kind of different than some of the other guys I mentioned as part of this

Starting point is 00:02:44 position group. 36 minutes per game at Towson last season. So he played a very big role at Towson a year ago. We mentioned some of the stats before, about 18 points per game, over 40% from three each of the last two seasons at Towson. Very good shooter. And you're going to be asking a lot of him this season. And some of the questions about the KU shooting and how good they would be from beyond the arc, you know,

Starting point is 00:03:06 part of that was supposed to be, well, our Terry O'Morris could be a pretty good shooter. When you look at how he finished last season and you know, now, now you no longer have that. So there's more going to be counted on Nick Timberlake, El Marco Jackson,

Starting point is 00:03:19 six, three, 195 pound true freshmen. He's a top 25 recruit in the country. Unbelievable. First step, unbelievable athleticism and speed. This guy who you were already going to be counting on to play a big role, but now without Artario Morris, you're going to be counting on him to play a much bigger role.

Starting point is 00:03:37 And the, I don't know, sink or swim nature of this season for KU is probably going to be very dependent on this position more than any other position. And it's because of those two guys with Timberlake and El Marco, you had a little bit more leeway when you had arterio in here in theory that it's like, well, maybe two of the three will live up to the potential, or, you know, maybe one of them will be really good. And then the others can be good depth pieces. Now you're counting on a couple of newcomers there with Timberlake, who's a six-year senior but transferring up, and Elmarco, who's a true freshman,

Starting point is 00:04:11 to get acclimated with Big 12 basketball and with KU basketball and everything. And I think both of them can do it, and I'm very high on what Elmarco Jackson can be this year. There's just more pressure on that possibly hitting. Jamari McDowell is a 6'4", 180-pound true freshman. He was someone who was possibly a redshirt candidate, but now with the Arterium news, I would be pretty surprised that they did redshirt him.

Starting point is 00:04:33 He'll, I don't know, maybe get some spot minutes for you here or there. I got a chance to hear from some of the KU basketball players earlier this week ahead of late night in the fog, and that was somebody that Kevin McCuller mentioned, or I can't remember if it was, it might have been actually KJ Adams, mentioned as being really impressed with in how they've done so far with Jamari McDowell. So maybe there actually will be a role for Jamari McDowell now

Starting point is 00:04:56 in Plants and Minutes as the two. And then maybe you even throw Johnny Furphy into this mix. I think Furphy, for this team specifically, is going to play the three and the four. But I guess it's not crazy if you were to say, you know, Kevin McCuller and KJ Adams out there, we're going to throw Furphy in. And by height wise, McCuller would be more of the two in that lineup. But in terms of what you'd be asked to be doing, which in that specific lineup, Furphy would be more of a shooter. He would come to be in as the two. So maybe he could get some minutes here at the two position.

Starting point is 00:05:26 He's a true freshman, by the way, an update on the KU basketball roster like two weeks ago or a week ago when we did our small forward preview, he was six, eight, two Oh two. Well, I rechecked the KU basketball roster. Now it hasn't listed at six, nine, 202 pounds. So maybe he got in and maybe did their actual measurements. And we know across the country in college usually it's one of those things with those measurements where it's like oh if a guy's

Starting point is 00:05:49 listed at 6'4 he's actually 6'2 you know like you get that kind of bump there so who knows what that actually means but that doesn't mean that Furphy is an inch taller than they thought he was going to be you know whether he measured at 6'7 and a half and they gave him 6'9 or you know maybe they thought whatever um you got good size there and and maybe even more than you might have thought. But overall, that means from this group, from Timberlake down through Jackson, McDowell, and Furphy, that means you have three true freshmen in this group of shooting guards, and all of them could play to varying degrees. At the very least, you figure out Marco Jackson's going to have

Starting point is 00:06:23 a pretty sizable role on this team. And then you have the one sixth-year senior senior which is kind of a funny dichotomy to where you know if you average out the you know years in college basketball between the four you end up with a player who's you know kind of in between a sophomore and junior because of the six years for Nick Timberlake but there is that that dichotomy of you have as old as you can be versus as young as you can be, and you don't really have anything in the middle. And in the case of all these guys, all four of them are newcomers. And that becomes a very interesting process and transition

Starting point is 00:06:58 that you have to deal with, right? So you look at every position that KU has. You look at the point guard position, ultimate experience with DeJuan Harris, right? You look at the wing position or the forward positions, Kevin McCullough or KJ Adams experienced. You look at the center position, Hunter? To where every pretty much other position has a lot more experience, at least the front of it, the starters, than this one does. Now, Timberlake, if he's going to be your starter, does have the experience, but because he's making the biggest jump up, like Parker Brown has played power five basketball before at Missouri.

Starting point is 00:07:40 Hunter Dickinson obviously has. There are a lot of questions I think more about this position and how everybody translates over and because of that and because of how much you need the shooting and because you don't have a lot of depth on your team this is the ultimate wild card and x-factor position for KU basketball this year if you end up getting good play from these guys from Timberlake and El Marco I mean cut down the nets right if it is shaky and the transition stuff for Timberlake and he struggles defensively and maybe the shooting's a little more inconsistent because you're still getting comfortable

Starting point is 00:08:13 and El Marco shows a lot of freshman flaws early on maybe this team ends up underperforming to where the thought of in the preseason right so there is there is a lot, I think, on this position, and I am confident that Timberlake and Jackson are going to have good seasons for you. But certainly there are more questions about this position than probably any other position you have, in part because of the Arcario Morris booting off the team. We're going to get on to our minutes projection

Starting point is 00:08:39 for how we have things divvied out here for this position, and then we'll get into where we think this position ranks compared to last year in the Big 12, in the country, all that coming up here with Locked on Jayhawks. First, this episode of the show is brought to you by Bird Dogs. Bird Dogs make you look good. They make you feel good, too. They have the stretch khaki shorts designed to fit slimmer through the thigh and leg area, giving you a truly sculpted look. So it's going to look good. And they look like they're perfect for going on a date, which I've done golf, which I've done work, which I've done, or just sitting back, maybe, you know,

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Starting point is 00:10:15 We promise you that. On to our minutes projection for this shooting guard position. So let's start with Nick Timberlake. I got Nick Timberlake getting 20 of the 40 minutes at the two position. So let's start with Nick Timberlake. I got Nick Timberlake getting 20 of the 40 minutes at the two position. Now, if you remember back to the projections at the three, I had him getting five minutes per game. So that means total, I've got Nick Timberlake up to 25 minutes per game. I think before the arterial Morris stuff, you could have convinced me this was 15 to 20 for Nick Timberlake, because I do think there have been some, I don't know,

Starting point is 00:10:46 early things he's had to overcome in making the transition up from Towson to Kansas. So I guess the way you're looking at it now is can he be the Isaiah Moss role? Isaiah Moss wasn't a great defender for you, but he tried hard on that end, and he was a good floor spacer. And even then, like Isaiah Moss, like as much as he was a floor spacer and even then like Isaiah Moss like as much as he was a floor spacer and could get hot from from outside and from three-point range in his time at Kansas he uh like a lot of times I don't know you see guys get better three-point shooting and I think part of that in college is just your growth but it's also the the comfortability

Starting point is 00:11:23 playing in an arena and at the same school and in the same system. Because Moss went from like 36% as a freshman at Iowa, 39% as a sophomore, 42% as a junior at Iowa, to all of a sudden at Kansas shooting 34.8%, which was his worst of any four years. Now, he also shot the most threes in a season and per game by a solid number at Kansas than what he did in any year at Iowa. So that's part of it too. But I guess my point is this. I think Nick Timberlake, the numbers, the percentage will probably go down. Better competition, new system,

Starting point is 00:11:56 new familiarity. Can that number still be around 37, 38% on high volume? If that can be the case, that's great. So yeah, 20 minutes at the two for Timberlake gives him 25 total for El Marco. I'm doing the same thing. I'm giving him 20 minutes at the two. Um, and that will allot the entire 40 at the two. And then I also had him getting five minutes per game at the one. So El Marco Jackson is getting 25 minutes per game. And this is, uh, you know, with El Marco, he could be a really good defender for you. He could be, give you extra ball pressure out there. But a lot's going to come down to what are you hitting shooting wise, right? Like, are you able to hit 30 or 32%? And I think

Starting point is 00:12:38 when you look at the battle between Timberlake versus El Marco to start, I'm not sure it matters that much. As I said here, I have both getting 25 minutes per game. So realistically, they're both playing that big role. And there could be certain times where you throw out a closing lineup with DeJuan, El Marco, and Timberlake next to, you know, Kevin and KJ or Kevin and Hunter or KJ and Hunter, right? Based on kind of what's going on. I guess Kevin would probably be out there no matter what outside of, you know, injury or foul trouble. So I don't know, I guess right now I'd lean toward Timberlake starting, but I don't think it really matters to be honest at the end of the day. Now, could either of these numbers differ? Could Timberlake be down at 20 and Elmarco be at 22 and you get some minutes to

Starting point is 00:13:18 fit in for Jamari McDowell or some more minutes for Johnny Furphy? Yes. Could whichever one, you know, takes off with it the most, the opportunity with Timberlake or El Marco, could they get 30 minutes per game? And then the other one gets 20 instead of 25. Like, yes, absolutely, that could happen. I do think that Jamari McDowell at this point will play spot minutes. When I'm doing these rotations, this is not me saying that,

Starting point is 00:13:40 oh, this guy's never – if I don't give him minutes, he's never going to play. No, it's just me saying that's how I envision the rotation in a close like big 12 game. Once we get to the point where maybe you're cutting things down a little bit more in the non-con, especially McDowell could play five to 10 minutes per game. I think once you get to conference play, there will probably be some games that are McDowell plays five, six, seven, eight minutes in the game. And then there will be maybe about a week in between where he doesn't play again, right? Like you're just going to play probably spot minutes here or there, is my guess, with Jamari McDowell.

Starting point is 00:14:08 And that could be based on injury. That could be based on foul trouble. That could be based on we need another guy to come off the bench and try to hit some shots for us, and we think you can come in here, and you're going to come in for two minutes. And if your first three goes in, you're going to play five more minutes. If it doesn't, then you're getting the quick hook, right? Sometimes it's that difficult for bench guys, but I think that'll be the case. And then,

Starting point is 00:14:27 yeah, you could see Johnny Furphy playing maybe here or there, but I gave all his minutes at the three and four because of the fact that I think Kevin McCuller and KJ Adams could really cannibalize those three and four minutes, but not quite have a backup where there's enough time for somebody to come in, but not enough time for a lot of people to come in to where that's where I gave him all his minutes. But I think for the most part, I do expect it to be pretty hefty for those two guys with Nick Timberlake and Elmarco Jackson. And to that notion on all of this, that makes both of those players, the X factors for KU, you know, MVP will be, if you want to talk about value, it could be DeJuan or Kevin McCuller, could be Hunter Dickinson, best player for KU, probably Hunter Dickinson, best defender,

Starting point is 00:15:11 DeJuan or Kevin McCuller. But in terms of the X factor, the guy that's going to change the outcome of this season for KU with those known commodities, whether it's the floor or the ceiling, it is what you get at this two play. And maybe you don't need both Timberlake and El Marco to be great. Maybe you just need one of them to be good and the other to just be a decent role player, a decent bench player. Maybe that's all you need, but you need it at the very least from something. You cannot afford at this position to get two guys who struggle kind of throughout the season with the kind of lack of depth that you now have,

Starting point is 00:15:45 not just this position, but kind of overall throughout the roster. All right, let's get on to is this group better or worse than last year? Where does it rank in the Big 12 and in the country? First, this episode of the show is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Snap into the action this NFL season with FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. Right now, new customers can get $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place a $5 bet. That's $200 in bonus bets, win or lose.

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Starting point is 00:17:04 FanDuel, an official partner of the NFL. Finishing things up, where does this group rank if you're comparing it to last year and how do they rank maybe in the Big 12 or in the country? Well, last year, you played Grady Dick a ton of minutes, and then you had some minutes for Joe Yassafu and Bobby Pettiford kind of splattered around. I guess MJ Rice, I don't know if you would be classified as a two when he was playing, but basically this. Your backups who came in at the two really struggled and had some shortcomings for you,

Starting point is 00:17:34 but your starter ended up being a top 20 pick in the NBA draft and was really good for you. It's going to be hard for Nick Timberlake to be nearly as good as Grady Dick. I do think you could make the argument that Nick Timberlake can give you similar shooting numbers because you got true freshman Grady Dick and six-year senior Nick Timberlake, you know, as an older experienced player, Timberlake will probably be harder to phase out of a game because of his movement off the ball, being more experienced, how to deal with being face-guarded. It was probably a little better than where Grady Dick was as a true freshman, just in terms of the years he's played. Grady Dick had a higher ceiling and better overall player, but you could make the argument that because Dick over the last month and a half, two months,

Starting point is 00:18:22 is around 34, 35% on three-point range. You could argue that maybe you get more from Timberlake from just that specific skill set. Obviously with Grady, though, he got more athleticism. I think probably, I don't know, timeliness on getting steals on the defensive end. Not that he was a great defender, but not that Timberlake's known for that either.

Starting point is 00:18:44 Dick at least had more size, probably better rebounder, and had a bunch of offensive rebounds. So this is not me to say that I expect Nick Timberlake to be better than Grady Dick. I think Grady Dick is a better player. I'm just saying for that specific role, if he is the fourth or fifth option on the floor

Starting point is 00:18:57 at any given time, can you at least just be a better three-point shooter who has more variety to it in a six-year player versus one-year player? Yeah, that's entirely possible. clearly though Kansas is expected to have a big upgrade over Yesifu and Pettiford as the number two or number three options at the shooting guard so you do improve there even though you don't have a ton of depth if you're just cross comparing it you would go okay Dick uh better than Timberlake Elmarco much better than Yesifu. At least that would be kind of the hope.

Starting point is 00:19:31 Maybe you would even say, you know, in terms of fit, McDowell would be better than Pettiford because having just a guy who would be a three and D player would be more beneficial at that two guard position. Maybe you'd even say the same thing about like Furphy over that. So your depth is actually probably better here than it was last year, or your backups are better. But because Grady Dick played a majority of the minutes, if you're worse for 30 minutes but better for the other 10, that still makes this unit worse than last year. That said, Grady Dick coming into the year,

Starting point is 00:20:01 if you talk to some people, they almost thought that it was going to be a two-year thing. And then all of a sudden he broke out and had the great game in the Champions Classic. And it was like, no, he's going to be a one and done. Who's to say that Elmarco Jackson, because you look at some mock drafts and Elmarco Jackson is being seen as a first round pick, is being seen as a top 20 pick, is being seen as a lottery pick. If you get a season from El Marco Jackson where he plays like a lottery pick and earns that designation as a top 20 guy, that probably means you got similar play between El Marco and Grady Dick. Now, all things are not equal, right?

Starting point is 00:20:37 There's a difference in how they would do it. With El Marco, it'd be a lot about athleticism. With Grady, it would be a lot about the three-point shooting. And for this team specifically, they need that three-point shooting so it is different from that aspect but if Elmarco Jackson plays to that level where you're saying well both guys were top 20 picks and you have Nick Timberlake whereas last year you didn't have that other guy maybe you could argue that this unit could actually be better than last year but that leaves a high bar of what you need from Elmarco Jackson if you want to be as good if not better than last year's position group was,

Starting point is 00:21:06 I guess, because this group is the ultimate X factor. I think the floor is much lower than last year's two position, just because now, you know what happened with Grady Dick, but the ceiling could actually be higher for that reason. If both those things hit now, how does it rank in the big 12 and in the country?

Starting point is 00:21:20 Well, if you're looking at some of the top two guards in, in big 12, I guess it depends with text is like, do you consider looking at some of the top two guards in Big 12, I guess it depends. With Texas, do you consider Tyrese Hunter or Max Ace Miss the one? Whichever one of the two, that's a good player, though, but one of them isn't.

Starting point is 00:21:36 LJ Cryer, really good two-guard now with Houston, previously Baylor. Jacoby Walter, he might play some three in Baylor's lineup because they might have like three guards with Dennis and Walter and another guard out there. But if you do consider him more of a shooting guard, which I think might be his natural position, he's going to be really good, really talented player. Raekwon Battle at West Virginia had a really good year at Montana State. And then you have Jabal Shedd.

Starting point is 00:21:56 I guess he's more of a point guard with Houston, but if he shifts over with Cryer, I guess. Again, I think Ray J. Dennis, Tyler Perry, they're all ones. Like I'm really high on what Tyler Perry's going to do, but I think they're all kind of ones. So I mean, around the conference, you could very easily, like if Amarco ends up being a good player, Nick Timberlake's a quality role player, you'll probably have one of the top four or five shooting guard positions in the Big 12. And given that this position is more of your X factor, I think that's going to be good enough and just okay for you. But again, if the ceiling does hit and a Marco does look like that lottery pick and

Starting point is 00:22:27 Nick Timberlake is hitting 38, 40% from three on high volume, maybe you will walk away at the end of being like, yeah, we have one of the better ones in the big 12 and in the country. I thought a little for this episode of locked on Jayhawks. We'll have more basketball talk as we get to a preview of late night in the fog later this week.

Starting point is 00:22:43 We'll also get to our preview of the KU UCF game, but we'll see you next time with locked on Jayhawks. Have a great rest of your day later.

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Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Elmarko Jackson and Nick Timberlake Lead Ultimate X-Factor Position for Kansas Jayhawks Basketball

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