Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - JAYHAWKS PORTAL TARGET: Emmanuel Ogbole Can Help Kansas DOMINATE Rebounding in 2026-2027

Starting point is 00:00:00 Emmanuel LeBole is a rebounding, shot blocking center from Rutgers, who might have another year of experience now, is in the transfer portal. Does he make sense for Bill Self in Kansas? 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 here? This is Locked on Jayhawks, another transfer portal deep dive as we continue on with some of these five and five players who could potentially be eligible.

Starting point is 00:00:35 And Emmanuel Abolet is our latest one. He is a center from Rutgers. We're going to break down his game, his scouting report, potential fit with Kansas should everything, I guess, work out there. So let's start here. Abole is a 6'10, 270. I saw 260, some places, 270 and others. But he would be eligible because of the possible 5-and-5 ruling. I do believe he is one of the ones that did enter the transfer portal with possibility,

Starting point is 00:01:05 potential to get eligible. So that would not be one that you would have to worry about. You know, would he have to sue for that specific ruling even if he gets eligible anyway. He's originally from Nigeria, which, you know, Cayuse had a lot of success bringing over big men with African roots, whether it was, you know, Joel Embed or Yudoka as a bouquet, or I know you just transferred, but you got a pretty good couple of years out of Flory Budunga. And Abolet was originally an unranked recruit out of high school, joined Monro. community college. That is the same school that Melvin Council attended. When counsel was in his second year there, Abolet was in his first year there. So they crossed over

Starting point is 00:01:44 one season and they were actually the top two scores on the team that year. He went for like 12 and 8 per game. And he used that to get a couple power five offers, Rutgers and Seton Hall ends up going to the Scarlet Knights after just one year at the junior college level. And immediately in his first year for the Scarlet Knights, back end rotation player, kind of, I don't know, fringe rotation player, I guess you'd say 10 games played his first year. Then he grows into being a 23 game player with 15 starts in year two. And then this past season had his best year in 2025 to 2026. He had 30 starts, played 34 games, logged 19 minutes per game,

Starting point is 00:02:22 and he averaged 4.7 points, 6 rebounds, 1.2 blocks per game, while shooting 60% from the floor. Now, the metrics aren't great, which it's not going to be. helped because of the fact that Rutgers was not a very good basketball team this year, right? Like, that's obviously going to be something that is going to hurt some of your team metrics when you're not in the right context around you. He was in the 24th percentile in RAPM. He was in the 48th percentile in win shares per 40. He was above average 62nd percentile in PER and 67th percentile in wins above replacement player, right? So those are at least a little bit better there. The team

Starting point is 00:03:03 impact wasn't great. Rutgers was actually a tad over three points better per 100 possessions when he was off the floor than when he was on it. So they were actually worse when he was on the floor. So that's a little bit scary in terms of what we're talking about here. I do think, though, when you look at his specific archetype, his specific role, what you're asking him to do. I do think it fits in better with a better team, which is what you would be asking him to do at Kansas. So break that all down and what those exact strengths and weaknesses are as part of his scouting report next. But this is one that, you know, you're looking for center depth. If you're Kansas, you know, the Christian Reeves injury, you don't know what's going to happen with is Mahilo Musich going to get eligible or not.

Starting point is 00:03:45 This is the type of player you could bring on would probably be a cheaper addition if you have a limited budget. If you're Kansas, who would be experienced and at least be able to have a couple good skills, rebounding and defense, that makes sense for a backup big man. So let's get into that scouting report a little bit more next. This is Locked on Jayhawks. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by Kalshi. And before season even kicks off, everyone's making predictions. Who's going to win the division? Who's going to make the playoff?

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Starting point is 00:05:31 Thanks to join us here on Lockdown Jayhawks talking to Manuel Abolet today as somebody that seems like Kansas does have a little bit of interest in. Again, are these players all going to be eligible? I do believe he did enter in the portal at least so you would have that going for you. And you look at the strengths for Abolet. He is an excellent rebounder and defender. And if you're just like, hey, that's all I care about from this. Like, KU is clearly taking a money ball approach to the center position this year. You didn't pay Flory Bedunga, so you'd have more money to get guys like Tyron Stokes, for instance.

Starting point is 00:06:10 And you're just saying, hey, like, let's not worry about getting an All-American at the center. Let's just get role players who can be really good rebounders and rim protectors and defenders. And then we'll get the scoring and the creation and the offense from our one through four. Well, he fits right into that billing because Abole was in the 97th percentile in offensive rebound rate this past season. And he was also in the 91st percentile in defensive rebound rate. So an elite rebounder at both ends of the floor, we already have talked plenty about that Keanu Dawes is an elite defensive rebounder. You know that you have some other good rebounders on the team,

Starting point is 00:06:45 whether it's Christian Reeves when healthy or Tyron Stokes, the fact that you would be adding even more on the defensive glass, the fact that you would be adding maybe your best offensive rebounder on the team, makes it super exciting for KU to play, you know, continue to play too big basketball, or not necessarily too big, but just big basketball in general and be able to win the possession game, right? But he's also a good rim protector. 90th percentile block rate this past season.

Starting point is 00:07:10 He can chase down blocks. He gets blocks as a weak side. He gets blocks as the primary defender. It's a highlight where guys trying to hit a hook shot over him and he just stuffs it away. Very good shot blocker. And he also, I would say in general, like defensively, seems to move pretty decently, laterally.

Starting point is 00:07:29 I'm not saying that you'd want to switch him onto guards or wings, but enough so that I would be. comfortable using him in like a hard hedge or an icing ball screens type of defense if that's what Bill Self would want to roll with, right? He also finishes well at the rim. He was at about 71% at the rim this past season with 60% of his makes assisted. Out of comparison, Florey was at 72.5% at the rim with more 65% of his makes assisted. So it's really not all that different in terms of your interior finishing that you'd be getting from him as opposed to what you had last year with Flory and a big reason why he dunks the basketball a lot.

Starting point is 00:08:07 That one's not as much as Flory, but he did leave Rutgers with 27 dunks last season and did that playing just 19 minutes per game. He would have finished third on KU with that many last season. I wouldn't say he's the quickest Twitch Leaper or athlete in the world. Take him a second to load up, but, you know, he definitely has enough hops and power combined with his frame to throw down some fun dunks. I think the big swing skill here for Abolet is going to, going to be the post-up game because in the 2024 to 25 season, he was in the 64th percentile,

Starting point is 00:08:41 so above average, in adjusted efficiency on post-up scoring. This past season, he was only in the 13th percentile. So he went from being above average to being bad at it. Can he at least be average if you were KU and you were to grab him? You know what you'd be getting with the rebounding and the defense, but that would be kind of a nice boon to at least have another average player to throw the ball on the block to. Now, some of the weaknesses for a bull lay, you don't have much offensive game to speak of in general.

Starting point is 00:09:08 I mean, only 4.7 points per game in 19 minutes per game. He turns the ball over too much. He was in the 11th percentile in turnover rate for forwards. He is not a good free throw shooter when he gets there. I mean, you're talking a guy who's, you know, like in the mid-50s in terms of free throw percentage. He was only in the 19th percentile as a big cutter and roller, so it wasn't great in pick and roll.

Starting point is 00:09:30 though that can be like pick and roll is a two-part system right like that could be on the guards that could be on the guards for you know not throw in the right pass for instance he was also just in the fifth percentile in inside out game and the eighth percentile in high low game so very very bad offensive numbers would be the best way of kind of putting it right um i think in general when you watch him you don't really get a sense for a player that has like super high feel and in general like evan miacalla for instance the offense of BPR rating, he was in just the third percentile in terms of impact offensively among qualified Big Ten players. And he doesn't really have much range to the offensive game either. It's three combined shots, or I'm sorry, zero combined shots on long midrange plus threes. It is 20 shots in the short mid range where he only went two of 20. Pretty much all of his makes are coming at the rim on dunks, on layups.

Starting point is 00:10:28 So the offensive game is very, very limited, but you're getting a lot in terms of the rebounding and the defense. The thing that scares me is that if you're getting so much from the rebounding and defense, why were some of the team metrics on the defensive end negatives for him? That I do not know. Maybe that's just a team contextual thing that Rutgers was a disaster. So what would the potential fit and role be if a bully can find his way to Kansas? We'll get to that next.

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Starting point is 00:12:34 you know, if you plug him in to Bart Torvik, Kansas goes from being the number nine team in the country on Torvik to being the number nine team on Torvick. So they don't move at all. They actually slightly, their overall rating goes slightly up just a little bit, but there still would be number nine there. To point being, it wouldn't be a huge game-changing move. I still think it would be very helpful because Kansas is at a point where like even a depth move helps them at center with the kind of uncertainty of what the start of the season will look like for Christian, Reeves. I know they're saying he'll be back in October, but what if there was a setback? And then it's not even, even if there's not a setback, that's back in October, you know, what if he has to shake Rustoff? Or what if for the first month of the season after coming back, he's not the same guy because again, he's getting back used to to playing with it, right? To where he's not fully himself again till January. Like, wouldn't you like to have another option to go to, especially knowing that your backup center basically is Davy on Adkins, a true freshman who seems like he performed pretty well to this point in time, but he's also undersized

Starting point is 00:13:37 and he is still just a true freshman at this point in time. So it makes sense even if you view a bole as he's going to be behind Christian Reeves when healthy in Polymia, he'll be our third center. He won't be appearing in every game anyway. He still helps you out, avoid the, you know, the tribes and tribulations of a season through injury or foul trouble or just if you need something in a specific matchup. So I think it's a helpful move. The big negative against a take like this is that if you're taking a bolay, is that indicative that you either swung and missed or is it indicative that you

Starting point is 00:14:13 don't have the money to go out and get like a game changing big man? Like for instance, we did our deep dive on Jackson Kohler the other day. I mean, I would love Jackson Kohler. And if you're getting a bolay, that means you're not getting Jackson Kohler because you probably didn't have enough money to do it. Or he, you know, picked one of these other good screen. tools. And so from that standpoint, it's a negative, even though adding a bolay is an overall net positive for Kansas as a team. Is that going to, if that kind of makes sense there.

Starting point is 00:14:41 I will say this, in regards to some of the team metrics not being great for a bully, it doesn't bother me much. And here's why. When you look at a bolay's role, like, it's one thing if a player is your lead creator or your lead guard or something like that. And it's like, oh, you're putting up 18 points per game and the stats look really cool, but you look at your team metrics and it's like they're bad, like the team is worse with you on the floor and stuff. That might be a little bit of a cause for concern because it's like, are you just putting up empty calories? Are you just putting up numbers for the sake of numbers? The reason I don't count it against a bolay is because when you're on a bad team and you're a role player, right? Like he's not the one creating offense.

Starting point is 00:15:22 He's not the one scoring. He's not the one carrying the load. You are going to be more dependent on what is around you. And so because he's not surrounded by a bunch of, you know, all NBA talent, so to speak, or all Americans next to him, his role of being a good, like, imagine this, I guess. If you have a player who's like, Landon Lucas, for instance, Landon Lucas was perfect for a KU needed in the 2015-16 and 1617 season. They had Frank Mason, national player of the year in the 1617 season. You had Josh Jackson.

Starting point is 00:15:53 You're before you have Wayne Seldin. You have Devante Graham both ears. you had enough scores and creators. So you needed somebody who didn't always need the ball in their hands, but could do the little things to help those guys, rebound, defend, et cetera, right? But if you would have put Landon Lucas on some team who is a bubble team, does it make a big enough impact to all of a sudden turn that team into a top 25 team? No.

Starting point is 00:16:17 But it has a huge impact on a winning team who needs that piece. And that's how I view a bully. On a team like Kansas, I do think he'd have a bigger impact than he had on a team like Rutgers. because he would be fitting, like, that's what you would need for him. You would just need that specific role. Whereas at Rutgers, it was like, well, we need more from him than just that specific role because we don't have enough good players around him, you know? So I do think this would be, like I said, a nice addition.

Starting point is 00:16:40 It would just be like, oh, that means you didn't get this guy or that guy. But the rebounding would be freakish between Dawes and a bolet if you had it. It would also be nice because Dawes is not the best room protector, and so a bolet playing there would certainly be helpful. And I do think it would be a real competition between a bolet. and Paul Mbia because I think Mbia would still have a higher ceiling than a Bolle, but you know, you could argue a Bolle is a more proven player right now. And there's a chance of Bolle is still good enough to come in and be a starter for Kansas.

Starting point is 00:17:12 I would probably still lean Paul Mbia starting because he's now had the full summer and a full year last year with Billsuff system and everything. But I'd definitely include him in the competition. That's for sure. All right. That'll do it for this episode of Lockdown, Jayhawks. You can find a show anywhere you get your podcast. including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show.

Starting point is 00:17:29 Don't forget to check out all our episodes here on LJ and see you next time.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - JAYHAWKS PORTAL TARGET: Emmanuel Ogbole Can Help Kansas DOMINATE Rebounding in 2026-2027

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