Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Jayhawks Portal Visit: Terrence Brown Scored 20 a Game in the Big 12 | Would He Work for Bill Self?

Starting point is 00:00:00 KU got familiar with Terrence Brown when they played him at Utah. He scored about 20 points per game in the Big 12. He visited KU. Does this one make sense for the Jayhawks? 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 Locked on Jayhawks. We're going to be breaking down Terrence Brown on today's episode of the show.

Starting point is 00:00:32 The Utah transfer put up about 20 points per game in the Big 12. just visited KU. We'll get into his potential fit with KU, scouting report, strengths, and weaknesses. And we'll start right here with Brown, who is a bit of a smaller guard. He comes in at 6'3, but I don't know, maybe he's closer to 6-1, 6-2.

Starting point is 00:00:52 175 pounds, certainly a skinnier player. It was unranked out of high school coming out of Minnesota by 24-7 sports. And he goes to Fairleigh Dickinson. Wasn't on the team that upset Purdue. He's on the team, I think, after that. But he had a good first year. He was on the all-NEC rookie team right away, put up almost eight points per game.

Starting point is 00:01:09 Then his second season at Fairleigh Dickinson saw him blow up for 20 points per game, five rebounds, three assists per game, 45% from the field, 30% from three and 80% at the foul line. He won the conference's most improved player of the year award. He got first team all conference honors, and he turned that into an opportunity to play in the Big 12, where he went to Utah, and he put up again, very big numbers. He ended up being all Big 12 honorable men. in this past season, averaging 19.9 points, 3.8 assists, 1.4 steals per game on 45% from the floor, 33% from 3 and 78% at the foul line. He had some big games, as you'd imagine. 10 games of 25 or

Starting point is 00:01:50 more points, including highs of 36 against Weber State and the 33 that he put up in the Kansas State game. He also in the Kansas game had a really good start to the game. Kansas couldn't guard him in the first, I don't know, 10, 15 minutes of the game. And then he couldn't make anything after that. He ended up in the Kansas game with 16 points, but it took 17 shots to get to those 16 points, 6 of 17 from the floor. And in general, that was kind of a common theme for him. He did struggle a little bit more against top tier competition.

Starting point is 00:02:21 So for Brown, he has 20 career games against Ken Palm top 50 opponents. 15 of those 20 came this season. And he shot 46% on twos, which is, a little lower than you would like on twos, even from a guard, and then only 26.5% on three-point shots in those top 50 opponents. The metrics, solid to good, depending on what you're looking at, 73rd percentile in RAPM, 66th percentile in wind shares per 40, which was 86 percentile on offense, only 13th percentile on defense.

Starting point is 00:02:54 He was in the 96 percentile in P.E.R. for guards, 82nd percentile in wins above replacement player. The on-off numbers are not grand. and, you know, unlike his teammate, Keanu Dawes, who we just did a deep dive on and thank you for checking that out if you already have, who you could point to, okay, Daws was on a bad Utah team, but he was a good player on a bad team. He had a really good on-off numbers did Daz. That wasn't as much the case for Brown. Utah was only about two points per 100 possessions better when he was on the floor. If you're just looking at Big 12 only play, there were about one point

Starting point is 00:03:25 better per 100 possessions when he was on the floor. So Daz certainly had a bigger impact on Utah than Brown did, for instance. And this is a guy who visited North Carolina on Monday. Now he comes to Kansas. Sounds like he has another visit scheduled after this one. This is a tough one for me because the advanced stats are not in love with him. I have real questions about the lack of efficiency and the lack of defense, you know, and when that make it a bad matchup with Bill Self, right?

Starting point is 00:03:57 But also when you look at his downhill attacking style and offense, that is a good match for Bill Self. Then again, he's also not a great three-point shooter. And that continues to be year in and year out an issue for KU in roster building. Then again, that doesn't seem like something that Bill Self is too worried about. It seems like that's something that us, you know, the fans and the people are more worried about than he is. And then again, there's also the standpoint of like, am I just overthinking things here? I want bucket getters. He put up 20 points per game in the big 12. Maybe I shouldn't overthink it. And right now in a point of desperation for Kansas where it's like, anything. So I don't know. I'm back and forth here. Let's dig a little deeper in the scouting

Starting point is 00:04:35 report. What should we do with Terrence Brown? This episode is brought to you by Indeed, workplace chaos, deadlines stacking up, inbox overflowing, and the one position you have to fill is still sitting open. When the pressure's on and you need the right hire, this is a job for Indeed sponsor jobs, which helps you reach the people who actually fit where you're looking for the right skills, experience, location. So you're not just hoping that the right candidate stumbles across your post. Companies like yours in the minute I've been talking to you have made 27 hires on Indeed, according to Indeed data worldwide. So if you're hiring, spend less time searching and more time interviewing candidates who

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Starting point is 00:05:37 Need to hire. This is a job for Indeed, sponsor jobs. So for you and check out the Everydayer Club. If you want to get the ad free version of the show, you can do that at locked on podcasts.com slash everydayer. Our strengths and weaknesses for Terrence Brown. I think the first strength you see when you're watching him is the speed and the quickness. This is a fast guard. He has a very quick first step. He's able to get by guys and he's able to use that to get to the rim.

Starting point is 00:06:03 We saw that really give KU issues in the early part of the game. when these two teams met. He's very speedy and quick guard. Those have typically worked well for Bill Self. Scoring the basketball is obviously strength here, right? He in 99th percentile in points per 40 minutes. He really gets buckets in transition play. He does so very efficiently too.

Starting point is 00:06:23 He does so he scores points by attacking the hoop, using that quickness to get there. He's in the 97th percentile for frequency, how often he does rim attacks with a 63rd percentile efficiency on them. So, you know, above average efficiency on a, very high volume. Overall, he's, he's not super efficient, but he's not like not efficient either. I guess if that makes sense, like he's in the 45th percentile, an effective vehicle percentage, a slightly below average, 58th percentile true shooting percentage. Basically, he can grind for you

Starting point is 00:06:53 to get buckets. And I think there is an element of that that you would think gives you a higher floor. Then again, you might think, okay, well, if the floor is high, why did Utah, you know, go 11 and 20 or whatever they were, right? So I don't, I don't know. He does. does get to the free throw line a lot, and that is a big skill. And he puts the opposition in foul trouble. He had a 76 percentile free throw attempt rate. So, you know, top quartet of college basketball. This one even more impressive, though, 98th percentile was brown in player fouls drawn per 40. He puts them in bad positions because of his quickness, and they end up getting a reach and foul or they get a shooting foul. It doesn't just send him to the line. It gets them in foul trouble.

Starting point is 00:07:29 And that can certainly be a good thing for you, right? He's also a solid passer. 93rd percentile on assist rate. So really good number. there. He does have a bit of a higher assistive turnover ratio than some of the other guards I like, but it still is a fine number. And when you look at it, he does his best work passing on two things, driving kicks, which is good because he's able to get into lane a lot with his quickness, 95th percentile inefficiency on driving kicks. And he also rates out really well as a pick and roll passer. And then the last thing here is one that I don't really view him as a plus defender, but one thing he at least does on the defensive end is get steals.

Starting point is 00:08:07 74th percentile on steel rate. He would have finished third on KU this past season and steel rate. Kansas needed to get more steals this past season. So he would at least help you there. Now you look at some of the weaknesses. He does need the ball in his hands to a heavy amount. He had a 99th percentile usage rate the last two seasons, one with Utah, one with Fairleigh Dickinson.

Starting point is 00:08:27 And I guess you could say, okay, maybe that goes down a little bit of Kansas, but that's been how he has accomplished to this point. the ball's going to be his hands. And that can be okay to a certain standpoint. Like you want a veteran next to Talen Kinney, but do you want it in the hands that much? And then what happens like, like right now with the KU roster the way it is where it is kind of in question of like, what is this roster going to look like? There's so many open spots.

Starting point is 00:08:52 It actually can be a good thing to add a player with a 99th percentile usage rate because it's like, oh, we don't know who's going to be on this roster. Okay, well, at least we know he can, you know, get them buckets, right? But what happens if you do add like a Tyrant Stokes, for instance? And now you have another ball handler with Tainlin Kenny and you're like, hey, we don't want you to have that high of usage rate. Because we want the ball in this guy's hands and said, does that become kind of a problem? And you look at it, he's never been like a great off ball player. He was only in the 19th percentile frequency as a perimeter sniper.

Starting point is 00:09:20 So that's kind of a big question. And then this goes in line with that too as far as being an off ball player. He's never been like the best three point shooter. I think 33% on catch and shoot. He shot 32.7% from three last year in general, which was a career best. So maybe the thought is, can he keep improving and get it up to 34, 35 percent? Or is the career number of 29.4 percent going to be more applicable, right? He's also not a big volume three point guy.

Starting point is 00:09:46 He's only in the eighth percentile for guards in three point attempt rate last year. Like out of example, he took 3.1, three point attempts per game last year. DeWan Harris's final year at Kansas, he was taking two and a half per game, right? Now, he's also not a good rebounder, so you're not getting much there. He's also not super efficient at the rim. I think you see this in the lack of size and specifically the skinniness, maybe not as strong finishing at the rim. CBB analytics has him slightly below average nationally for guards finishing at the rim.

Starting point is 00:10:14 If you look at CBB shot charts, they have it even worse with an at the rim mark that is close to what Melvin Council provided this year for Kansas. Again, there's some differences in what they classify at the rim between those two. CBB analytics also has them slightly below average and field goal percentage if you're just looking at layups at over 52% that would have only ranked sixth on Kansas this past season, which was an area that KU wasn't even good enough to begin with, right? He also struggled in the floater area. He does take a lot of mid-range two.

Starting point is 00:10:43 So that kind of goes into the efficiency stuff, right? And then he's not a good defender. Like he will get steals, but in general, he has not been a good defender. Now, I guess could you make the argument that, you know, playing in bigger, more meaningful games for Bill Self? Does that get you to try a little harder on the defensive? And it's entirely possible. So, you know, maybe you can.

Starting point is 00:11:01 can get a little bit of a boost there, but it's not going to be plus defense. We'll just put it that way. Okay, so is this a fit overall? Is it a take? I don't know. Like anything feels like you take at this point for KU. We'll get to that next. If you've ever opened your bank account and thought, where did all my money go? Well, you're not alone. Keeping track of subscriptions, spending, and bills can get overwhelming fast. That's where Rocket Money comes in, helping you take control of your finances all in one place. It tracks all your subscriptions in one spot and can help cancel the ones you don't need with just a few taps. It automatically categorizes your spending so you can actually see where the money is going.

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Starting point is 00:12:31 right and again like with dawes you had really good on off numbers at utah brown didn't right i also found this super interesting uh when looking at utah if you look at these 16 two player combinations when two players were on the floor together for utah that played at least 300 minutes together right 16 different combinations where they had duo playing together for that many minutes the brown daw's duo wasn't even in the top three for utah daz was in all of the top three actually top four once you extended to this one, but none of them included Brown. Right. So you're just kind of wondering what's going on there. The other thing I worry about is this. Is this a better passing version of AJ Store? Right. And you do get more steals. You do get more assists. You do get more

Starting point is 00:13:19 passing in general. So that makes it better than AJ Store. But it's also a smaller version of that. But that didn't work for KU. AJ Store when he was at Wisconsin, so the year before he came to Kansas, was in the 99th percentile for usage rate. Brown, last year at Utah, 99th percentile usage rate. AJ stores last year at Wisconsin, 48% on two-point shots. Brown's last year at Utah, 48.5% on two-point shots. Both of them very good at getting to the free throw line. Store 91st percentile free throw attempt rate or free throw attempts per 40 minutes.

Starting point is 00:13:50 Brown, 97th percentile in free throw attempts per 40 minutes. Both of them around the 32 percent mark from three. Both of them not known as great defenders. Now, again, with Brown, you get a last. little bit more passing and you do at least even if he's not a great overall defender do get some steals involved there to at least buoy that a little bit right um and maybe you could also argue that like did a j store not work at kansas because he wasn't a bill self guy probably a little there but also did a j store not work well at kansas because of what the role k u was asking him to do and i think that's

Starting point is 00:14:21 part of it too k u pretty much i was asking a j store to be a complimentary player like an off ball player to Hunter Dickinson and DeWan Harris. Well, the beauty, or I guess the lack of beauty, right now KU doesn't have a roster, and KU doesn't even have the guy who you'd be like, well, this is who the offense runs around. Right now, if you brought in Brown, the offense would be running around Brown. And so maybe it works a little bit more there. So I do have real questions here. And I do think that if Terrence Brown is your guy and your leading score, I don't know that

Starting point is 00:14:51 I'm expecting a huge season from KU, but also right now KU just needs players. and KU needs players they can score. And KU needs guys who can be buckets. So this is a take for me right now. I would rather bring on, like, say, Terrence Hill or I don't know, the Alex Wilkins one is a tough discussion because the level of play. The Blyden kid from Toledo, I would take him, though KU doesn't seem, you know, to be kicking those tires.

Starting point is 00:15:15 I don't know. There's some players I would take over this. But given the circle that KU was operating under, I guess this is a take to me. It's not one I'm going to be super excited about if they do. to sitting there like, again, trying to overthink it 20 points per game in the Big 12 and KU just needs players at this point and they're running out of options. So it's almost like a begrudging take, I guess. So yeah, that's where we're at.

Starting point is 00:15:36 All right, that'll do it for this episode, Lockdown Jayhawks. You can find all our other deep dives and player episodes right here on L OJ. See you next time.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Jayhawks Portal Visit: Terrence Brown Scored 20 a Game in the Big 12 | Would He Work for Bill Self?

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