Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - EURO COMMIT: Jayhawks Earn Pledge from Mihailo Mušikić - What Does Serbian Center Bring to Kansas?

Starting point is 00:00:00 KU got a commitment from a seven-foot Serbian big man in Mahilo-Musikic. Let's break down his game what it means for Bill Self and KU. 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 going on? Derek Johnson here. This is Locked-on Jayhawks. Thanks for making your first listen every day. And on today's episode, we're going to break down Mahalo Musich.

Starting point is 00:00:32 We'll break down his fit with KU. his superlative scouting report and just get into some basic info here on what is his game. And let's start right there. It was reported earlier today by Mike Vernon. And then the Jayhawk. Slant ended up sending something out that officially Serbian big man, Mahilo Musichich, has committed to Kansas. That mentioned in that tweet, he must qualify be deemed eligible before arriving on campus. And that is a big if because Musich is going to be 24. 25 years old during March madness of next year.

Starting point is 00:01:09 So I don't know how that works with the five and five. I mean, well, I do know how it works with the five and five. It doesn't work. But I don't know if maybe the birth date is wrong or if maybe, I don't know, Kansas has some sort of other work around to try to get him eligible. So we'll wait and see on that. But it has been quite the journey to get here for Musich. He was born in Serbia and he played for the mega basket youth system starting

Starting point is 00:01:35 in 2018. That is one of the bigger clubs over there, ended up winning the Junior ABA League, which is the Adriatic League in the 2020 to 21 season playing at the junior level, where he was averaging 15 points, nine rebounds per game. And think about it this way. Paul M. Beal was playing for the French Junior League. The Adriatic Junior League is probably about similar competition. I would actually almost argue the Junior Adriatic League is better than the French junior league. Mbia probably had a little bit better stats, but that was also years ago for Musich.

Starting point is 00:02:09 Now, there have been some people who have mentioned that, and part of it's been he's had some injuries he's had to deal with, but the Musichich's game, like we go back to some of his youth levels, he was seen as a pretty high end prospect that his game has plateaued a little bit, so we'll see if he can get a restart at Kansas, because he did participate with the Serbian national team in the U-16 levels, the U-19 and U-20 levels, and actually during the U-19 World Cup, he put up big numbers and had some good games against some now guys who were, you know, starring in the NBA.

Starting point is 00:02:41 Like he had a game against Canada and a young Zach Edy. I'm trying to think how old Edy would have been at that point. I don't know. Edy probably would have been like 19 years old, something like that. But Musich in the game against Edy, who had 12 points, 12 rebounds that game. Musich had 25.6 rebounds and four assists. And here's the other fun one. He got to play a game against Victor Wembe Nama in that competition.

Starting point is 00:03:06 They were playing against France in the semifinals. And Musich ended up having nine points, three rebounds, seven assists. Really good passing game for him. Now, Victor Wemeyama had just one point three rebound, didn't play a ton in the second half. He had foul trouble. I do believe Victor Wemianama would have been like 16 maybe at that point in time. He was probably, I don't know what his height was at that point.

Starting point is 00:03:28 It probably wasn't seven to four yet. So it wasn't Wembeñama. you see now, but it was cool to kind of draw that and see that at one point in time, you know, he was out playing Wembe Njama and Zach Edy, right? Now, in the U-20 European Championships, he helped his team win a gold medal, average 11 points, three rebounds, two assists over the seven games. And he started to get some senior league appearances on a two-way contract on loan with OKK-Biograd in Belgrade, and then eventually made his senior league debut in the Adriatic

Starting point is 00:04:01 league for Mega Basket in 2022. Now, over the last couple of seasons, he's played in kind of a mix of the Croatian League, the Adriatic League, the Serbian League with some different clubs. I don't know if it's trades or if it's loans or signings or whatever it is, but all of them over his last couple of years have come at the senior level of what you're talking about here. So playing against other adults, you know, the 25, 30-year-olds who are playing professional basketball. And most recently during the 2025 to 2026 season, Musich played in 29 games. He had 23 starts across the different competition,

Starting point is 00:04:38 where he averaged 8.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 0.8 blocks, and 0.3 steals per game. He shot 52% from the floor, only 20% from 3. He had a much better 3-point shooting season the year before, and 71% at the free throw line. Now, if you look at the entirety of his professional career, so if you're talking junior leagues, senior leagues, everything since he's basically signed in the program,

Starting point is 00:05:05 he's played 20 minutes per game over the over 100 games played, averaging over eight points, four and a half rebounds, a stock per game on 51, 29, 64 shooting splits, right? But he's now a seven foot. I've seen some places 225, another place, 230, center who is 24 years old, set to turn 25 in March of 27 again that could be

Starting point is 00:05:28 wrong who knows but if that is right that means he's older than KJ Adams out of comparison but to that notion I have zero clue I would be eligible going back to that I personally expect him not to be because with the new five and five part of it was going to be cracking

Starting point is 00:05:44 down on this and he doesn't seem to fit into the eligibility but again maybe KU has a rabbit in the hat maybe there is you know the the reported birth date online is maybe different than what is actual. Who knows, right? Obviously, this will have an impact on the KU roster,

Starting point is 00:06:02 the potentially does have an impact on the rotation. That will get to later in the episode, as we will more on the scouting report of his game and everything. But I do want to mention this before we go to break and get into more of his scouting report. It's also important to note that his agent, Musick's agent, is basically like a kingpin agent overseas. He is like a very powerful agent who has connections to a

Starting point is 00:06:23 a lot of guys overseas. And so one nice additive of this addition, at least the hope to me would be that this is opening the door on something that can become a pipeline for Kansas down the road, especially as we've seen, you know, you look at Illinois last year, building a final four team off of this. Arizona always has international. I mean, they kind of built the final four team off it too. They had some, you know, American guys like Burries and Pete.

Starting point is 00:06:46 But Crevis and Karchenkov, who were going to lead this year's team for Arizona, too, or overseas additions. Gonzaga has had so many. from you know, Shemekarnowski to some of the other guys they've brought in. So let's get more into the scouting report here of Musichich and his kind of superlatives of his scouting report next. This is locked on Jayhawks. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by Indeed.

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Starting point is 00:07:39 I mean, you just think about how chaotic like the transfer portal is for all these teams. How nice would it be if you're Bill Self or you're the GM of one of these teams to have like an Indeed for the transfer portal, for players for for, hey, we need this position. Like you have to have these prerequisite skills. Like have you made this many. threes or whatever. You spend less time searching, more time actually interviewing the candidate to check all the boxes, less stress, less time, more results. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is a job for Indeed sponsor jobs. Listen to the show, get a $75

Starting point is 00:08:10 sponsor job credit to help get your job, the premium status. It deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast. Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast now. Support our show by saying you heard about it unlocked on Jayhawks. Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply need to hire. This is a job for indeed sponsor jobs. Thanks to joining us here on Lockdown Jayhawks. All right, what is the superlative scouting report for Mahilo Musichich. And if you want a different scouting report or a further deep dive, we did a deep dive on Mahilo Musa Kitch's game.

Starting point is 00:08:45 So go back and check that out. You can subscribe to the show, whether you're listening or whether you're watching on YouTube. If you just go on our channel and type in Mahilo Musich, it'll pop up all the past videos that we've done on him. So you can go check that one out already. and thank you the everydayers who already did. Okay, best skill for Musigich.

Starting point is 00:09:05 Honestly, I think it's the passing. I was going back and actually watching that. And I'm going actually post on my Twitter account at D. Johnson Radio. Some of the highlights from him when he played against Wemby in that game. Now, that was a while ago. That was like six years ago. So he's a different player in a lot of ways than he was. But like, I was watching that game.

Starting point is 00:09:22 He had seven assists and he's like diamond people up. You look at some of the numbers this year in the Serbian league among qualified centers. He was in the 82nd percentile in assist rate. It's a really good assist rate. And among the centers who were in front of him, only one player had a better turnover rate. So he's an efficient passer. He finds open guys. And it's interesting because that's not really a skill that that the current KU centers have on the team. So he brings a different skill set there. My favorite stat here for Musich, again, going by the qualified centers in the Serbian League, which there are 44 of them. He was in the upper half of qualified centers in true shooting percentage, total rebound rate,

Starting point is 00:10:06 assist rate, turnover rate, block rate, points per shot, O rating, D rating, net rating, and PER. So he's just a well-rounded player. That is a good thing to have kind of coming in. Now, my favorite advanced stat, he was in the 80th percentile in win shares among those qualified centers. And he accomplished that in playing just 17 games with a club. If you look at the top 14 in the league, 12 of the 14 played at least 25 games. So he was able to accomplish a lot of win equity for his team in lesser games that shows kind of the impact he was able to have.

Starting point is 00:10:49 The best game he had this past season, March 8th against Red Nicky, he had 17 points, did not miss a shot from the field. He was 5 of 5 from the Florida. he was seven of nine at the foul line. He had 11 rebounds, three assists, and two blocks. And then two games later, he actually had 13 points and 17 rebounds. So probably one of those two, probably the first one against Radnicki.

Starting point is 00:11:11 Biggest question here, I think he needs to get stronger. This goes for, you know, the youth level. This goes for recent highlights from last year. He, there were times where he's like trying to post up and he just couldn't, he just couldn't push down for more positioning and space on the block. There were times where he's trying to set a screen and it doesn't do the damage that you're hoping for it to do. There's times where he's pushed out of the way going for a defensive rebound, or there's times where somebody's backing him down in the post and he gives up too much

Starting point is 00:11:43 because he's not strong enough necessarily. My worry here is this, though. He is almost 25 years old. So just to begin with, there's probably not as much. you know, weight development you can do. But second off, you know, Kansas is still trying to get him eligible. By the time he would join the Kansas roster, like how much time are you really going to have to put him through like a weight training program and to add weight and stuff like that? So I don't know how much that is going to improve. That might just be something you have to deal with.

Starting point is 00:12:16 The other one here is injuries. He's had to deal with some injuries throughout his time. And I think you see if you go back and watch his highlights from the, because I don't think he has highlights out from the 2526 season. I think his most recent highlights are from the 24, 25 season. But if you go watch the highlights that are available from the 23, 24, 24, season, and then you compare them to watching his highlights from the 24, 25 season, right? The 24, 25 seasons are the more recent of the two highlight years, he looks pretty athletic. He's throwing down a lot of dunks. he's able to move really well.

Starting point is 00:12:57 He has a little bit more vertical pop. He has a little bit more twitch to him. If you watch the 23-24 highlights, he looks like he doesn't have like any vertical. He looks, he's not dunking anything. He's laying everything in. And I can't help but wonder,

Starting point is 00:13:10 was that the difference of one of his injuries that he did suffer? And that becomes important, not just because he could miss games. And KU already has some of these questions about depth at the center position with the Reeves injury and, you know, so forth. But if that is the difference for him, him of what he looks like when he is hurt versus when he's not, it's an unplayable guy versus somebody who might be able to be in the rotation is kind of the difference there.

Starting point is 00:13:34 So can he stay healthy? And what are the questions there? Biggest strengths here, like I said earlier, he is a really good passer. He does have a little bit of a face-up game from the center position. And I think just in general, he brings different skill set to the table than the KU centers have. Like you look at it, Bia and Reeves. It's pretty similar in terms of be a big dude. who's going to grab a ton of rebounds,

Starting point is 00:13:56 block some shots, make your dunks. You know, there's some limitations of maybe the passing or the offensive game, not really much of a shooter from either guy. Well, it's very different here because with Moose Kits, you're talking about somebody who is a really good passer. You're talking about somebody who can shoot the three ball and can shoot in general.

Starting point is 00:14:13 You're talking about somebody who does have a bit of a face-up game, who does have a bit of a hook shot and a counter move to that hook shot with kind of a step through after he fakes the hook shot, right? He's not the most consistent shooter in the world, but he still can shoot it at least a little. So it is nice for KU that at the very least they can have a different option, whether they want to use that in practice for scouting reports

Starting point is 00:14:32 or if they need it for a specific matchup. I should also mention that I did kind of like on tape. Again, it's not the same level of athlete as he's going to be facing in the Big 12 playing in the Serbian league. It might be stronger dudes he's playing or more like, you know, dad's strength because it's older guys, more physicality. But it's not going to be as. as athletic. In the Big 12, it'll be faster guys he's going up against. But in the Serbian league,

Starting point is 00:14:59 when he was switched on to a guard or a wing on the perimeter, he was able to stay with him pretty well. So he was able to be pretty switchable on defense. Now, again, what does that translate to at the big 12 level? Is it switchable on fours and fives? Is it switchable on three through five? But I did like some of the mobility and switchable on the defense event. My KU player comp here is a mix of Zach Clements and Mitch Lightfoot with a few differences, right? So you wind up with, I got a flying here who's just like bothering me um okay so zach clements um had a bit of the face-up game and ability to shoot three so we didn't really see it at kansas but it was the potential to do so and that's kind of the case here with musich right he has the potential to shoot threes but it doesn't

Starting point is 00:15:38 always come around statistically but he does have that but he has some of the strength concerns and interior concerns that clements had and some of the sometimes you can knock off the block for a rebound uh the mitt's lightfoot comparison i think comes from but he does have a little bit of a post game and he is an older player, right? And then I think he's probably more mobile defensively than those two guys, but he has less shot blocking than either of those guys, if that kind of makes sense. So that would be my KU player comp here for Musich. All right, let's finish up. What is his potential role? What's his fit with KU that next? What's going on, Derek Johnson here? And what is the potential fit and role for Mahalo Musich for Kansas? First of all, you look at the center position

Starting point is 00:16:27 for KU. And I think Paul M. B and Christian Reeves are the two guys you look at. at the most. Davion Adkins, probably going to play the four and the five for KU as an incoming freshman and does seem to be impressing some of the coaches early on in his freshman tenure. Then you have a guy like Grant Mordini, more of a developmental player, don't really expect him to hit the floor outside of, you know, blowouts and late game situations there. But now you add in Musich to the fold. And so in general, this lengthens your center rotation, right? Let's say Reeves does have to miss a couple games early in this. season. Or let's say that shoulder injury nags throughout the season and it becomes something where he has to miss some games in the middle of the season just because he's he's dealing with shoulder shortness, right? Now you have another center that you can go to should you need it. And you have, you know, also the element of this, which is okay. But, you know, if Reeves is missing game and then what if another center gets in foul trouble, you have to have somebody else that you can kind of go to there, right? One of my favorite parts about this edition, though, is I think Paul M. Bia,

Starting point is 00:17:30 needs this. When you look at Paulumbia, I am under the expectation. I still think Paul and Bia, I'm going to have him ahead of Musa Kitch in the rotation, right? I think in healthy Christian Reeves, I'm going to put ahead of Musa Kitch in the rotation as well. But if Musich comes in and gets to practice earlier than Reeves does coming off the injury, maybe there is a chance that Musich could be ahead of Reeves. And maybe there is a chance that Musich could be playing 15 minutes a game for you, 20 minutes a game and be your backup center. I wouldn't totally discount that. But I think as of right now, I'd probably even put Davy on Adkins in front of him just from an athletic standpoint, ability to play multiple positions and now familiarity playing in the system. So I am viewing this more so right now as a

Starting point is 00:18:08 reserve big man, but where it matters even in being a reserve big man is the Paulumbia effect. Right now, Paulumbia, who is more of a raw big man and needs valuable practice, practice reps, to be the best version of Paulumbia this season. Right now, Paulambia in practice, I'm sure there's sometimes where he's going up against Davy on Adkins, but because Christian Reeves can't go, there's a lot of times that Paul and Bia is drawing the defense of Grant Mordini, which again, like, I like Grant Mordine is the developmental ad that you had for the back end of the roster,

Starting point is 00:18:40 but is that this skinny freshman coming in who's, what, three years younger than Paul Mbia? Is that really the best test for Paul Mordia right now? Is that really the best way for Paul Mbia to develop his game and get better against likewise? And so that's where I like this edition. Even if, even if Musichich doesn't end up being part of the rotation, even if he's not somebody who really plays for KU, if he just helps the development level of Paul Mbia,

Starting point is 00:19:09 who is probably for me, for my money, your starting center right now, that's worth it on its own, right? Now, the not worth it part is what does this mean about Malik U.N? Is this an indication that the Malik U.N. thing ain't happening? You do still have another open scholarship. So maybe this is just, hey, take this commitment now. take what you can get now. And if we add Malik Ewan and this kid wants to decommit because of it, then we're totally

Starting point is 00:19:33 cool with that, right? Maybe that's a possibility, you know, but is it an indication that you had to move on from the Ewan thing, whether it be money or not expecting him to get eligible? That would not be good news for KU. So we'll break down more of what this exactly means for KU, but I do think right now I'm not viewing him as a rotation player for Kansas, but one that can still have a big impact on KU if he can help Paul MBA develop. All right, that'll move for this episode of Lockdown, Jayhawks.

Starting point is 00:19:58 You can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. See you next time.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - EURO COMMIT: Jayhawks Earn Pledge from Mihailo Mušikić - What Does Serbian Center Bring to Kansas?

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