Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS | Could Kohl Rosario START for Kansas Jayhawks Basketball This Season?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Get that Cole's cash ready because Cole Rosario could end up being a starter for KU of basketball. We're going to break down the candidacy, the legitimacy after a latest article kind of pokes at it possibly being the truth. 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 a bonus episode locked on Jayhawks. And we're going to be talking today. Could Cole Rosario be a starter for KU this season after coming in as a freshman? I'm McDonald's All-American, but I don't know. Could the hype surpass that point for Cole Rosario? And thank you to every dayers catching each and every episode of the show, whether you're making your first listen or anywhere you get your podcast or on our YouTube page. Thank you for tuning in to us here on the show. So there was a recent article in, in The Athletic by C.J. Moore. It's called six college basketball freshmen who impressed this summer and could surprise in 2025 to 2026. And as you would expect this or talking about this today, Cole Rosario was one of those six players. There's also some fun quotes from Bill Self. Some of that will get to. Highly recommend reading the article yourself. I'm not going to get to

Starting point is 00:01:25 everything in the article. And you can do that by subscribing to the athletic. I mean, it's worth the price just for for CJ's work alone. But anyway, it makes sense when you think about there being a need on this team for shooting and you think about who are the best shooters on the team. One of them probably is going to be Darren Peterson because he's just going to be like the best at everything on the team. But besides that, who are the best shooters on the team? You know, Jaden Dawson, I guess maybe Guy and Gala and Colrosaria. It feels like those would be the next three that you would kind of talk about in some form or fashion.

Starting point is 00:01:55 And with Ingala, I don't know that the expectation is for him to be a rotation guy. So then you're talking about Dawson and Rosario being the best shooters on the team among rotation players. Again, maybe Sands, Darren Peterson. We'll see where that goes with all of this. And so from that standpoint, if you're looking at somebody to be a complimentary piece to what this lineup can offer and having three-point shooting be one of those things, Col Rosario certainly comes to the top of the list. So I want to break down some of those Bill self-quotes, what the candidacy would look like and what it means.

Starting point is 00:02:25 in terms of for other players and who he is competing with for that specific role on this bonus episode of Locked on Jayhawks. We are brought to you on today's episode by Monarch Money. Most people can name all the financial accounts or even what they're worth, whether it's 401Ks, properties, or investments. And when you don't have that full picture, you can end up leaving money on the table. That's why there's Monarch Money. It's an all-in-one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together

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Starting point is 00:03:56 I probably did not know that he is quite as bouncy as he is. I probably didn't know the level of competitiveness that he has. And then he later goes on in a different quote. He says he's definitely going to play when asked by CJ if he'll end up being a starter. And he said, and probably play a lot. So that was kind of a non-answer. And I think Gay was a non-answer just because Bill Self doesn't know. I think it's an open competition still, obviously.

Starting point is 00:04:22 Like I think Jaden Dawson, I think I'll Marco Jackson, Melvin Counsel. I think those guys are in the running to, you know, be starters along with Darren Peterson, Trey White, and Floyd Bidunga. And so, you know, it's going to get determined how these next couple of months of, you know, practice and everything go that it's not just set in stone. But the answer, he's definitely going to play and probably play a lot. That certainly leans on the side of maybe he's closer to me and start. Like, we've had conversations about, is Cole Rosario going to be a part of the rotation?

Starting point is 00:04:52 Is he going to be the eighth man? I think that quote certainly makes you feel like and certainly tells you that it's he is part of the rotation. He's going to be part of the rotation. That's kind of a given. The he could play a lot part kind of makes it feel like it's closer to the idea of him starting than it is, is he going to be at the back end of the rotation? That's how it certainly feels and comes across to me. And I just like the more I think about his game and what he brings to the table, I can't really help but think of guys like, you know, if we're talking freshmen here, Zavier Henry, Grady Dick, Johnny Furphy, O'Chag-Baji, Christian Brown, guys who were kind of these,

Starting point is 00:05:34 you know, shooting guard wing type players who earned roles as young players. And maybe, you know, I shouldn't look at Zavia Henry and Grady Dick here because both those guys are, you know, McDonald's All-Americans and eventual high NBA draft picks. But like all of those guys are guys that earn. playing time as a freshman and big playing time as a freshman and especially in the case of like Furfee and O'Chai over the back half of the season. Obviously, because O'Chai, that was his only choice with getting the red shirt pulled. But by kind of starting to take off and by being like solid wing shooters who did at least something else well, like all of them had flaws as a freshman,

Starting point is 00:06:12 like Grady Dick had some flaws on the defensive end. Johnny Furphy had some defensive flaws or, you know, I guess half court creation flaws. could say like with o chai and christian brown like they weren't asked to create offense they were asked to kind of just hit open shots for the offense side of the ball right they weren't complete players but they were theoretically good shooters i mean i think in the case of all young players um you're going to be inconsistent shooting the basketball like um and so that's probably kind of my view of colvers are you like there's probably going to be games where he goes 0 for 3 or 0 for 4 from 3 there's probably going to be other games where he goes you know three for 5 or 4 for 6 or whatever right

Starting point is 00:06:49 And so all of them had some flaws, maybe some inconsistent defense in some cases, maybe not complete offensive games or whatever, but they had shooting potential, even again, if it was in and out from night to night as a young player, to pair with, say, like in Christian Brown's case, to pair with good hustling and solid rebounding for that position, to pair with Otrack Baji's athleticism and defensive potential, to pair with Johnny Furfey's athleticism and rebounding ability, to pair with Grady Dick's rebounding ability, and at least playmaking on defense, right? He did a good job of getting steals and stuff. And so it's not hard to see Rosario as having some of those. In fact, a lot of those traits as somebody who can be it,

Starting point is 00:07:31 you know, at least when he's at his peak, a good shooter, somebody who can be a good rebounder for a guard, somebody who's going to hustle, somebody who's a good athlete. And when you look at some of those players, Oachabashi, he wound up playing 26 minutes per game his first year. He started 16 of his 22 games after he got that redshirt pulled. Christian Browns, started five of the 31 games. So he still did get five starts as a freshman, 18.4 minutes per game. And if they didn't have Jose Amos that year, like it probably ends up being a lot more there, right?

Starting point is 00:07:59 Johnny Furfee started 19 of 33 games that he played in, played 24 minutes per game. And part of that was because Kevin McCuller gets injured, but still played a lot. So point being, there's just a lot that I think Bill Self values that Cole Rosario has and that we've seen this archetype kind of work wonders and play big minutes, even as a freshman. And so obviously competing for the starting role doesn't just come down to him. It comes down to who you're competing with, how those other players perform. So I want to get into that next, but it definitely does feel like a situation where I think in my last minute's projection, I had Rosario around like 10, 11 minutes per game.

Starting point is 00:08:34 That's definitely going to be soaring up, if not projecting him to be a starter. So I want to break that down a little bit more. This is Locked on Jayhawks. Today's episode of the show was brought to you by a fan dual sports book. the NFL season is almost here and Fandu is making sure you're ready for kickoff with a can't miss offer right now new customers can bet just $5 that's right just $5 and if your bet wins you'll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app that's a lot that you can use on college football for the weekend NFL for the weekend baseball's about to be getting into the postseason here you can even get early futures on the KU basketball season Darren Peterson's going off at plus 850 to win the the Wooden Award, you can get Kansas to win the national championship of Fanduel at 20 to 1 odds. You can, even if you, I don't know, you think Samaya Nichols is going to like ball out, you can even bet on the Kansas women's basketball team to win the national title over there as well.

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Starting point is 00:10:30 Use promo code SH College 5 for 5% off your first order. That's SH College 5% off your first order. Supplyhouse.com, real people, real service. Thanks for joining us on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks again, bonus episode. So when you look at Rosario, I think part of it, is he going to start or not, is going to depend on what Bill Self wants? Is he going to go with the best five? Is he going to go with, is he determined that he wants another wing out there type player? Does he want shooting?

Starting point is 00:11:03 Does he not care? Because there could be a situation that, you know, Trey White's at the four, floor, he's at the five. Peterson basically at the one defensively. Maybe he's more of a three. But regardless, that leaves two starting spots. And could there be a world where Bill Self plays Melvin Council and Marco Jackson is both starters? Yes, absolutely there could.

Starting point is 00:11:22 Maybe he says, though, you know what, I would like to have the shooting. We're going to start one of whoever wins out on the competition of Jaden Dawson versus Col Rosario. And then we'll have one of Melvin Council and Marco Jackson for the other ball handler that's out there for KU. And then the other guys will clearly play off the bench. that would certainly make sense. Maybe it's a situation where, you know, do you go at the best five?

Starting point is 00:11:45 Do you go with defense? You go with athleticism. Do you go for the shooting? Do you go for the fit? What if Col Rosario just ends up being one of the five best players on the team in addition to being a good fit? And so I think I kind of went from, you know, it's Colerzario versus Samis Calderon for that eighth spot in the rotation to now kind of having more of a conversation of

Starting point is 00:12:04 Colerzario versus Jaden Dawson, who's going to win out there? because I think it seems like it's a real competition to where if Rosario wins that out, then it just comes down to just Bill Self, you know, want to start more of that type player or more of another ball handler. Is it a fit thing again? Is it just who's the better overall player between him and the other kind of lead guard with counsel or El Marco, whichever loses out between those two? So the way I almost look at it too is that between Rosario and Dawson,

Starting point is 00:12:34 I think the idea is going to be get them a combined 40 minutes. You know, maybe they're both great and maybe it ends up being get them a combined 50 minutes, you know, or maybe one of them's struggling and it's getting combined 35 minutes. But like, give or take, I think the idea is going to be, okay, give them combined around 40 minutes. And then if you're giving them combined 40 minutes, that guarantees one of them is on the floor basically at all times. And I guess there could be some crossover, but it basically guarantees that you're going to have a game's worth of at least having another shooter on the floor. And that's helpful for the spacing of the offense and making life easier on just a lot of the other play. players. Obviously, if you look at it from a standpoint of Rosario versus Jaden Dawson, I think

Starting point is 00:13:13 Dawson's the more experienced player. He has the more college proven defensive side of the ball. He also is the more proven three-point shooter, the more consistent three-point shooter. I think Rosario's sealing of a three-point shooter might be even higher. Rosario, I mean, Dawson's a solid athlete, but Rosario is another level as an athlete. Rosario also gives you more rebounding and even more athleticism, which is going to help in the open court. So the more you start talking yourself into some of the traits, there is a world where, and we might be in that world right now, where Rosario ends up starting, at the very least, he's ahead of Dawson. I think right now I'm kind of leading to a point where it's like, yeah, maybe it ends up

Starting point is 00:13:48 being 50-50 between the two, but it feels like the arrows pointing up for Dawson, or for Rosario, excuse me. And it wouldn't shock me if Cole Rosario is like not a starter for the first game of the season, but similar to Furfi, similar to Ochai, you know, obviously different reasons there. but for whatever reason, come, and I guess you would say similar to Isaiah Moss, come January, come late December, Bill Self says, you know what, this kid's starting to get it. He's a good fit because he helps us with three-point shooting, and now he's going to be a starter. So I think if you gave me, I don't know, like a single-digit number of over-under starts for Cole Rosario. Like Christian Brown had five.

Starting point is 00:14:28 If you told me over under five starts for Cole Rosario this year, I think I would actually take over. I don't know that I'm going to predict it for the first game of the season, but definitely comes season's end. I could see that being the case. It feels like his stock is just kind of skyrocketing, which I think is a good thing for KU, right? You want your players who are good shooters and somebody who has high potential and could raise the ceiling of this team like Colorsario to perform

Starting point is 00:14:50 because it does just that. It raises the ceiling and the potential of this team. That'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere here, podcast, including on a YouTube page. Don't forget check out our Wings preview where we talked a little Trey White. We also have a football episode coming at talking a little KU Wagner. So check all those out anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page. We'll see you next time with Locked on Jayhawks.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS | Could Kohl Rosario START for Kansas Jayhawks Basketball This Season?

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