Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Jayhawks Portal Visit: Kansas Should Be ALL-IN on Terrence Hill Jr. from VCU

Starting point is 00:00:00 Sounds like KU might finally have a transfer portal visitor, and it's one of the most efficient, interesting, exciting guards in the transfer portal. 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 with another episode of L.O.J. And on today's episode, Terrence Hill Jr. is one of the best guards in the train. for portal. He's going to be visiting KU. So we're going to be breaking down his game, potential fit with KU, scouting report, and we'll start right here. He'll, uh, has obviously a lot

Starting point is 00:00:43 of interest from KU because there's going to be a visit, at least as of right now, happening on Monday. He has another visit scheduled to Tennessee this week. Now, that one becomes interesting because Day Day Day, Aims, who has since committed to Tennessee, we did an episode on Day Day Day Ames recently, um, had visits for KU and Tennessee and he ended up committing to Tennessee. So could this be a situation of, hey, now they got aims. KU can have more free run at getting Hill. You want to get this one done as soon as possible because Hill is a six foot three, 180 pound combo guard who went to VCU out of high school. He's been there for two seasons. So he'll be a junior in the upcoming 2026 to 2027 season.

Starting point is 00:01:25 And his first season with the Rams, he played sparingly, 23 games limited playing time. But year two, this past season, was one of the best play. in the conference and one of the best, I guess, six men in the country. I think he won the Atlantic 10, like, six men of the year. But honestly, like, he's one of those guys who he would come off the bench to start. He would finish the game, you know. So I don't know, like, just evaluate it this way. He is one of the best players in the portal to me, one of those guards in the portal.

Starting point is 00:01:56 He exploded on the scene this season. 15 points per game. He averaged 2.7 rebounds per game, 2.8 assists per game. And the scoring is the big thing that jumps off the page, 47% from the floor, 37% from three, 84% at the free throw line. And that 37% from three, it came on about six takes per game, which is obviously very good volume to get to when you're talking about how often are you shooting threes. When you watch this kid's highlights, too, of some of the threes he's able to make and take, it gets even more impressive and even more of a, yeah, that'd be fun to see in a KU uniform here.

Starting point is 00:02:34 But he had seven games this season of 20 or more points as the team six man. His season high came in the NCAA tournament when he had 34 on super efficient basketball against North Carolina to help lead that crazy comeback that they had to win their first NCAA tournament game. And he was playing his best basketball to finish the season two. So like this is also the case of a, you know, he's still a younger player, right? Two seasons of college basketball, one really as the main guy. It seemed like he was trending in the right direction that makes you think he's continuing to get better and will this offseason into next year. Over 17 points per game in the Atlantic 10 tournament, and he did it on 21 of 39 shootings.

Starting point is 00:03:16 That's above 50%. And then the NCAA tournament in the two games, obviously great a bit by the 34 against Carolina. But even if you include the game against Illinois, a game that VCU did not score many points, he still averaged 25 and a half points per game in the NCAA tournament on over 50% shooting, not just from the field, but from three point range. So his postseason numbers this year were excellent. And he was also fine scaling up in competition. He has 22 career games against Ken Palm top 100 opponents.

Starting point is 00:03:48 He still shot 55% on twos, which is good for a guard and 37% on threes in such games. So you're continuing getting check marks and passing these tests as you go through with Hill. The metrics are really good to 88th percentile on RAPM. that featured being strong on both sides of the ball. This one's fun. 99th percentile in win shares per 40 minutes. That's pretty good. How about being in the 98th percentile in PDR and wins above replacement player?

Starting point is 00:04:16 So I mean, metrically, this is, you know, one of the most interesting players in the portal. As far as when you look at the on-off grade, it's fine. It's solid. It's a plus five net rating. The team was five points better per 100 possessions than he was on the floor, which sounds like a number that's like, okay, that's cool, like whatever, move on. when you start thinking about that a little bit more, it actually becomes really impressive. So again, I've talked about this before.

Starting point is 00:04:39 Like I like to look at on off net rating. It can tell a bit of a story, but you do have to realize there's some context around it. If you have an all American at center, they're going to have probably a good, you know, on off rating. But what if their backup is a walk on or like a walk on level player? Don't you think the on off rating is going to be even better? You know what I mean? Like it's one thing if your backup is, I don't know, okay, like you've gone,

Starting point is 00:05:02 for example, Yukon wins the title in 20, 23. Adama Sonogo is the final four MOP. His backup center was Donovan Klingin. You know, I don't know this is off the top of my head, but I would imagine Sonogos on off numbers, you know, they're probably a positive because he was a good player, but were they that big of a positive? Because when he's coming off the floor, they had a guy who was a future top 10 pick in the NBA draft coming in for him.

Starting point is 00:05:27 So the difference of when he was in and out is not as much. So you can be an average player, but if your backup, is horrible. Your on-off numbers are going to look better than an All-American who's coming off the bench for like a future first round pick behind him. Think of the years where Kansas had T-Rob behind the Morris twins, right? Like it's going to be harder to distinguish there. But think about this. This is a kid who's coming off the bench as a sixth man. So to imply that he had a plus five net rating means that he is doing that in comparison to the starter. He's not doing that in comparison to some backup, some developmental player.

Starting point is 00:05:59 He's doing it in comparison to the starter on an NCAA tournament team. So I don't know. I just kind of like that. But I liked what I saw on paper, like when I was initially like plugging in stats and into my kind of Google sheet of what I was looking at with some of these players. After I prepped this one even more after I dove deeper into Terrence Hill and after I watched the highlights, this is legitimately one of my favorite combo guards that I have done a deep dive on.

Starting point is 00:06:26 I don't know, maybe something in the show. That might be hyperbole. Like, I'm sure there's somebody I'm missing off the top of my head. But he's, like, thrown half-court lobs. He's hitting threes from seven feet behind the three-point line. He's hitting them from the half-court logo. He has an incredible step-back. He has counter-moves to the step-back where when you over-emphasize, oh, he's about to step back on me,

Starting point is 00:06:46 he'll turn it into a drive and score a lay-up on you. He has fancy finishes around the rim, switching hands. And the thing is, a lot of times when you have those players who are incredibly, I don't know, gifted and able to do those things, Sometimes they're in shot chuckers. They're not very efficient. That's not the case with Hill. He's also extremely efficient.

Starting point is 00:07:04 I need this guy in a KU uniform. We'll see if Bill Self can close it out when he comes to visit early this week. Let's get more into a scouting report and specifically what the fit would be. Obviously, you can tell this would be a take for me, but what exactly would it look like for KU next. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by Fan Dual Sportsbook. The NBA playoffs are here where every possession matters. Every matchup is magnified in every game can swing a series. And right now, FanDual is giving new customers a great way.

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Starting point is 00:08:41 Head to TurboTax.com slash local to find a store near you and book your appointment today with TurboTax. Thanks here for joining us on the show here. And what are the scouting report strengths and weaknesses for Terrence Hill? Let's start with the strengths, scoring efficiently. Again, 15 points per game for him. and he didn't just score, but he did it so efficiently. 91st percentile, in effective field goal percentage for guards, 95th percentile, if we're looking at true shooting percentage.

Starting point is 00:09:10 And it comes together from, you know, it's not just like, oh, he's just like incredible at this one thing and it's carrying the day. It's just like everything. Like he has an elite two point percentage. He has a strong three point percentage on high volume. It's just the ability to score from everywhere. According to CBB shot charts, you're talking. 63% at the rim.

Starting point is 00:09:31 That's very good for a guard. 60% on short mid-range. That is stupendous. That's kind of like that floater area. 52% on long mid-range. That is bonkers. If you're a 52% long mid-range shooter, again, there's a bonkers number.

Starting point is 00:09:47 Like Peterson, I don't know, I probably go back and look at this, but off the top of my head, Peterson was shooting in the mid-40s. And Peterson's a very good mid-range shooter. now Peterson didn't have the best finish to the season in the mid-range or, you know, most KU players dent in general. But like, you know, he was obviously a very good mid-range shooter. Okay, Peterson here on long mid-range, 42%. This guy shot 52% on long mid-range.

Starting point is 00:10:16 Now, again, it's worse competition, but like he went off in the NCAA tournament. Is he going to shoot 52 again? No, but what if it's 47? That's still incredible, especially for, you know, I'm a proponent, get more shots at the rim and from three and stuff like that. like play the analytic game, but Bill's health will let them roll with the shots from the midrange. So if you're going to let them do it, might as well be good ones, right? And then 37% from three, which this is cool too. Like a lot of guys you'll see like they're really good from like three zones or in Trey White's case.

Starting point is 00:10:42 Like it was mostly like the one corner, right? Or they're good from two of the five zones, the two corners, the two wings and the tops. You have five zones from three, right? Maybe you're good at four. His worst, I'd say that like tongue in cheek, his worst, three-point shooting zone was a 32%. So his worst zone was as good as like, for instance, another Terrence, Terrence Brown, who's in the portal who I think had KU

Starting point is 00:11:09 in his final six. Terrence Brown shot 32% from three for the season. That is the worst zone that Terrence Hill shot from three this season. This dude's just a monster scoring the basketball. He's also a pretty good passer. I think you would look at the 2.8 assists per game and go, okay, he's more of a score than a passer. And he is more of a score than a passer.

Starting point is 00:11:27 but I think he's a better passer than you would get credit for for seeing that assist per game number. 87th percentile for assist rate, 93rd percentile for assist turnover rate, and he ranked in the 88th percentile as a pick and roll passer. So I think there's more there than you would expect. He had, I think, like, six games with five or more assists, I think game with eight assists. So like, it is in there that he can be a good passer as well, right? And kind of combining those two, like the scoring efficiently and the passing, it's the ability to be a good driver and turn that into either points or passes out for somebody else to get a point.

Starting point is 00:12:01 97th percentile in rim attacks, 91st percentile in attack and kicks. That is a good combo of being able to drive and score or drive and pass out. And you also score off the ball. You're wondering, okay, is he doing this all on the ball? No, he can do it off the ball too. 90th percentile as a perimeter sniper, which is, again, defined as basically a shot that you were taking that would have. or does count as an assist, right? Would have if you missed it, does if you made it, count as an assist.

Starting point is 00:12:29 So basically somebody passing the ball to you, but you can also play on the ball too, 81st percent down dribble jumpers. So this is in very advanced, efficient scoring player that is as a lead of those things, as I can remember for a portal target that we've talked about, right? Now, some of the weaknesses here, he's not a great rebounder. Now, you can argue, okay, well, you know, he's a guard, so like whatever. Right. Some of the better guards in the Bilsuff era have been able to get you a four or five rebounds per game. But that's not obviously a deal breaker, just something you work around, right?

Starting point is 00:13:04 You just not get steals. Kansas was bad at forcing steals this past season. He would not help that. He was in the 20th percentile on steal rate. So it would actually get even worse for KU. So that's something you would have to kind of deal with, right? And in general, like building off of that, what is the level of defense here? I don't entirely know. It's hard to tell what a guy's. defenses from highlights. It's hard to tell. I can look at the team metrics and say, okay, this one's good, this one's bad, like yada, yada, yada. Once, if KU gets any of these players like commit, I'll actually go back and like watch an actual game so that you can get a better idea of that stuff. But I guess in general, if he's even just a neutral defender,

Starting point is 00:13:42 like it's whatever, you know what I mean? Because the scoring is just that good. So I've said this before. Like, this is clearly a take for me. How much of a take? What are we talking money wise? How would the fit be potentially with Taylin Kinney? We'll get to all that. that next. Don't forget you can check out the Everydayer Club to get the ad free version of the show Lockedonpodcast.com slash every day or locked on podcast.com slash everydayer. Okay, so what is the

Starting point is 00:14:06 fit? The fit is him coming in starting and being the guard next to Taylin Kenny. I think Kenny has really good passing abilities and vision that I think it would work just fine. And like I said, I think Hill is a little bit of an underrated passer that you'd

Starting point is 00:14:22 have more than enough passing from the one and two positions. I think you'd have as much shooting from the one and two positions at the same time as KU's had in a long time on the floor together there. I think you would have two guys who can score and create buckets for you off the bounce at the one and two, which would be really exciting. And I also think Hill would provide a little bit extra burst and agility from the guard position over Kinney. Now, the question would be, what is the defensive end? I just continue to say this, though, like, as long as you're not like, Like if you're like in the fifth percentile or something defensively, that's a problem.

Starting point is 00:14:57 But like if you can just be even below average, Bill Self's going to figure out enough on the defensive end to make it work. And this is the type of guy I would be all over. I don't know what the cost is going to be for a player like Terrence Hill. I'd imagine it's expensive, but I can't imagine it's, you know, the range of what, I don't know, whatever the top guys are, Duke Harris or Floor Bidunga or some of these players are going to get in the portal. I would be willing to pay it, you know, whatever that cost ends up being. you know, I don't know. Is it going to be two? Is it going to be three?

Starting point is 00:15:26 I don't know. Like, pay it because this dude is an absolute shot maker. And this is the type of player to me to where like I came into this going, okay, I kind of had him like statistically in the same tier as like a player like Isaiah Johnson. Now you know that I loved Isaiah Johnson, obviously his sense committed to Texas. I'm in the same tier when I had Johnson ranked higher for my personal just thoughts of things. After doing this deep dive and you could say, oh, maybe this is just aftermath, sour grade. Johnson picked Texas and Hill is visiting Kansas.

Starting point is 00:15:56 But I'm being completely honest. Like I do think to me, I actually would after diving into this, take Hill over Johnson and be comfortable with that. And I'm going to go even a step further on this. If you bring in Terrence Hill and he is, you need to make more good additions just in general because they have so many spots to fill. But if you told me right now, Terrence Hill is being brought in to be your leading score, I would have no qualms or issues with that.

Starting point is 00:16:21 That is how confident I am in Terrence Hills game. I loved what I saw. So we'll see if Kansas can close the deal. All right, that'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe. See you next time.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Jayhawks Portal Visit: Kansas Should Be ALL-IN on Terrence Hill Jr. from VCU

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