Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks 2023 Transfer Targets: From Hunter Dickinson to Nicolas Timberlake and More

Episode Date: April 4, 2023

Taking a look at where Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball sits in the transfer portal right now, from what types of players Bill Self and staff is looking for to what players there has been reported interest in and what players they have met with (Jamille Reynolds), done a zoom (Graham Ike) or scheduled a visit (Nicolas Timberlake). Plus, some big names popped into the portal recently from Hunter Dickinson to Max Abmas and LJ Cryer, all immediate top priorities for KU.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's Locked on Jayhawks, we dive deep into the transfer portal. Who's visiting? Who have they already met with? Who are the top targets and who would be the dream transfers for KU to have in, at least as of now, before the transfer portal gets even more wild and wacky? You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hear me as well on Rock Chalk Sports Talk, Monday through Friday, 3 to 6 p.m. on KLWN in Lawrence, your flagship station in Lawrence. Thanks for making Locked On Jayhawks your first listen every day.

We're free and available wherever you get any of your podcasts. On today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, we're going to be diving into the transfer portal. UConn wins the title. We are now officially into the off season of college basketball. It already has been for a few weeks for Kansas, but now it really ramps up. And we saw yesterday in the transfer portal really ramped up with some of the entries of the names

i don't know maybe there's going to be some more big entries that come out um because i'm recording this tuesday morning by the time this even posts or by the time you listen to this to where it could you know add some more names or could change some stuff up maybe there will be some new visits uh scheduled for ku by the time that you listen to this it it's all going to move rather quickly in certain regards other areas might be you know a month or two before uh you hear commitments from certain players like we had kevin mccullough remy martin toward the kind of uh middle to end of may and you're also waiting on you know possible nba decisions So it's going to move fast and slow at the same kind of period of time.

And so what I want to go into here, we're going to like, what is KU looking for? Player targets that either they're going after or just kind of a recap of different media outlets that have said, oh, they've heard from Kansas, something like that. And then maybe who my favorite would be at the top to finish things off. Let's start with what KU is looking for here. I think at this point in time, so you obviously have DeJuan Harris, KJ Adams back as starters, Ernest Uday, Zuby Adjafar right now are back at the center position.

At the moment, Kyle Cuff is back for you as a backup guard. Now, that doesn't mean that Kyle Cuff ends up sticking around. What if he sees KU bring in a combo guard transfer, and now he knows, oh, no, DeJuan Harris, Elmarco Jackson, and the combo guard transfer are in front of me. Now I'll transfer out. You don't know what's going to happen there. But I guess right now, like, we haven't seen him transfer out,

so maybe that means he's leaning towards sticking around. And I will say, you know if if he does end up leaving it opens up a scholarship and gives ku some options in the transfer portal but if he ends up sticking around like there's nothing wrong with that i think uh the idea that you know so many people are are upset with the transfer portal but then as soon as as a player would be like no you know you know, I want to prove you wrong. I want to try to compete and work my way up. And, you know, I like being here. I want to be someone who proves myself on the court and that I think I'm better than I've been able to show because of a red shirt and an injury the next season that I want

to prove you wrong, that I want to be a competitor. There's nothing wrong with that. That should be applauded, if anything, in this day and age. I don't think there's anything wrong with the transfers and the transfer portal, but it should also applaud the players like that that are willing to stick around for that. So if Kyle Cuff wants to stay, I think that's great. But anyway, so as of right now with those five players, then the four freshmen you bring in, that would leave you with three scholarships. Grady Dick obviously going pro. We haven't heard yet from Jalen Wilson.

You assume he's going to go pro. Kevin McCuller, there's starting to be some talk about, like, could he come back? Now, I still assume that he's going to go pro. I still have it heavily weighted that I would assume he's going to go pro. But maybe that is more of a conversation now that we should be having. And maybe we'll have an episode later on about the pros and cons for him of going pro or coming back to school at kansas um but that means that you could have three scholarships means you could have two if hypothetically kevin were to return so if you

have three scholarships and kevin does go you're going to be looking at for sure bringing on a wing maybe a combo guard or somebody who at the very least if they're a combo guard can play minutes at the two that can take up some of those wing minutes because you've been playing a lot of wings at the two and then a big man now if kevin does come back do they go after a wing i i don't know at that point you'd only have two scholarships it's hard for me to say they wouldn't still go after a wing though because you're losing a lot of firepower on the wing but some of the bigger transfers that entered yesterday are kind of combo guards so i almost view it as like you know bill self maybe ideally now he would like

to play three big wings next to a point guard. But you know he is going to be flexible with the roster. Then I think it's more just about get the best players and then adjust the lineup from there. So like you saw LJ Cryer and Max Ace miss enter the portal yesterday. If originally you were like, you know, I'd like to give that scholarship to a wing who can score for us and rebound. But then you're like, but man, those are like two of the best players in the portal and they would help us with shooting and scoring you just say okay we'll just go with that and we'll go back to maybe the two guard lineup that we've been comfortable playing you know maybe in the mid 2000s so um i think it probably is a bit dependent on just get the best players you can and then adjust from there but i don't think it's going to be a situation where it's like you're going to bring on two centers or or whatever um so i do think when you look at the the wing minutes those two

through four positions you could be playing el marco jackson for 20 25 minutes at the two if kj adams moves to the four he could be playing you know 20 minutes at the four position maybe a few more minutes at the five as well um so that would mean that you realistically would have about 80 minutes does marcus adams take any of those does chris johnson take any of those just where you really don't need as much wing minutes as you would have thought like when you see all those possibly you know two or three players going with Grady Dick Jalen Wilson and Kevin McCuller your immediate thought is wow we're gonna need three wings to replace them you might only end up needing one realistically with the minute allotment that comes from the current roster construction that this team could

have which does make it okay that you could bring on a wing a center and a combo guard who can play two minutes or you can bring on two wings but um i do definitely think they would bring on one wing for sure if kevin's gone it would get more interesting if if he were to come back i think stylistically um you're looking for players who can just score for you at the center position that might be a little different i think at the center position they that might be a little different. I think at the center position, they're mostly looking for guys that can come in and push the young centers, Ernest and Zuby, and maybe can be a mentor to them, be a little older guys, because they didn't really have that this past season.

I would like, realistically, if you're going to bring in a center, this is just me speaking, somebody who can score back to the basket, because in my eyes, think ernest dude and zuby edgifer can be competent enough and if they take a step forward next season can be really good at both the rebounding rim protection portion of things uh we heard there you know that there were some issues with setting ball screens for those guys and you know maybe getting lost in on the defensive side of the ball at times being in space and stuff. You want to have somebody who can be a back-to-the-basket scorer for you.

So for me, if you're going to bring on another center, that would be the trait that I would be looking for. I think at the wing position, you might be looking for somebody who's versatile, can defend a little bit, can rebound, can play up in size if they do have to play on the four. I do think it's important they have to be able to hit threes. That doesn't necessarily mean they have to be able to hit them at a 40% rate if you're bringing on someone who's playing the four, but they have to be able to hit them at low 30s percent, something like that. If you're bringing on a combo guard, it better be somebody who can knock down threes if you're not going to bring on a combo guard and you're going to give that other scholarship to another wing it better be somebody who can knock down threes and that's the biggest thing to me with just all this what

i'm mostly looking at that kansas brings in via the transfer portal get guys who can score the basketball whether that's they're able to shoot really well or they can create their own shot off the bounce those were two things that were in in totality for this past year's kansas team and you saw the result and i know there's going to be certain guys where it's like yeah they're really good on offense but i don't know how good they are on defense guess what kansas has dewan harris kj adams earnest due day for rim protection next season Zuby is a backup for him protection. That is a good base defensively to where even if you have, you know, a bad defender to in that lineup with them.

Sure, it might not be a top five defense, but it still should be like a top 10, top 15 defense in the country. You need scoring. You can take a hit a little bit on the defensive end. And the teams with better offenses are the ones that like UConn was a good defense they were top 20 but they were top five offense so like i i just view that as being more important uh for instance two years ago you had the base of having marcus garrett and yudoka azubuki defensively not saying they have that this year but you added isaiah moss who wasn't a great defender but he could hit threes for you because

you needed more offense on the court that's how i view this team just get offense and worry about the rest later because i do think you have enough insulation on the defensive side of the ball all right um i also think i'll add this in there i think they're mostly looking for power five guys i think there are some some exceptions or power five is the wrong word whatever it is like power six that includes like the i think power seven 7, I don't know, Big East. Like AAC I think is close enough on that that would be fine. There might be some exceptions, but I think mostly they want Power 5, guys. Anyway, this episode is brought to you by Built Bar.

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whoever will just say like this player is heard from. And then it's like a list of like 15, 20 schools. And you'll see Kansas pop up on some of those. Here's some of those that, that you've seen Caden Shedrick, who I do think KU has like real interest in. I don't know where he would slot in terms of the center options that KU is

interested in, but it's certainly one that I think they're, they're going after. He is a good rim protector, a good rim runner. He had good synergy numbers in his points per possession in post-ups, but it's a very limited sample size. So it's not as much as game,

but he also didn't play as much as virginia toward the end of the season he got more run he had 15 and 13 in the ncaa tournament i think he would be a he's not the the type of center i would go after because i would want a back to the basket pure score but he could be a good like he would be the tarik black to joel embiid he would be that i think to earnest due day of helping him develop and showing him some good things to do. So I think that would be a good pickup for KU. Davion McKnight from Western Kentucky. He's kind of a combo guard, not a great three-point shooter, so I don't know the fit totally.

I think when you're looking at some of these combo guards, they have to be guys, though, that are comfortable where if they happen to come off the bench, can they be a scoring guard for you off the bench and are they content with that? Because if, in the end, it is dewan harris starting next to el marco jackson you know the the backup guard has to be okay with that but obviously they come in with the expectation that you tell them yeah you're going to compete with el marco jackson for that other starting spot

but you know you would hope that would be the case dj horn is one that's kind of interesting from arizona state he's's a guy who can create his own shot not the most consistent three-point shooter but you think maybe in a better system where maybe he's getting more shots created for him those numbers would go up a little bit so he's one that that I've kind of circled because he fits the billing of being able to create his own shot TJ Bomba Washington State he's kind of in the ilk of the Kevin McCullough Remy Martin he's testing in the NBA draft process but but he's entered the portal. And if he decides to come back, you know, we'll see what happens there.

I think that he's the type of guy who can hit threes really well. He can drive in a straight line drive. He's a solid defender. He could just be a really good role player on a good team, which I think would be kind of perfect for KU. Dalton Connect is a Northern Colorado transfer who is like a 6'7 wing. This one you would be taking a bit of a risk

on how he translates up to the high major level, but really good shooter, can score in a myriad of different ways. Certainly interesting because it would fill wing minutes for you. There was some reported reaching out or whatever to Reese Dixon Waters, who was the sixth man of the year in the Pac-12. Not a great shooter at USC, but can score if he's content coming off the bench,

then that could be okay. Back to that earlier conversation I was just having about Marco and DeJuan for KU, but also is he transferring because he wants to be a starter? You don't totally know all that. Now, I will say, before I continue on with this, when you see those lists of like has heard from or reported interest received interest there's no idea what level that is that could just be the the phone the coach said like hey we were just monitoring like if you had any interest and they could be way down on the board for kansas of where

they're going i've also seen this before where in the past there's been like transfers who you know put kansas on their finalist list of like three or four, even though Kansas had no contact with the kid just to try to make their decision look more, I don't know, get more publicity maybe would be the word to put around it. So do take all this with a grain of salt. Yeah.

Kwasi Reeves, like that was reported interest. That's one that I don't know how hard Kansas is pushing for for but talking about kind of a bigger guard wing type they can play up and down the lineup jalen cook for tulane there's a guy that can create his own shot and score a lot i don't know that the fit is super great uh with him and dewan and being a smaller guard and uh would he be content possibly coming off the bench in that scenario? I don't know, but certainly a very talented kid that would be very good for KU. Walter Clayton Jr. is a kind of transfer crush of mine. I don't know that it's trending toward KU being the school.

Just going to St. John's with his former coach, Rick Pitino, or going back home to Florida seemed to be like the likely options there. But he's a really good shooter, 95% on free throws. I guess there was some reported interest there but you know i don't know that that one's being pressed super hard cario aquendo was somebody who was there was some reported interest from georgia athletic guard scores high numbers but not a great three-point shooter so to me i don't view that one as being too logical there um caleb mills he he played at Houston, then at Florida State. He is just kind of a, he would be a transfer that,

it's kind of like mashed potatoes. It's not like a super sexy transfer, but he'll come in. He would play good minutes for you, defends pretty well, pretty good three-point shooter. Doesn't jump off the page in a lot of areas, but he would just be a solid pickup for you. So that one I would kind of buy into as being like maybe a, you know, a second tier target for KU.

That would make some sense. As far as some of the targets that there have been reported meetings or zoom calls or scheduled visits to this point. The first one is there is a scheduled visit upcoming this weekend for Nicholas Timberlake. This guy is, is near the top of the list for me in terms of guys. I would take, as I said, you know, I don't know the Timberlake profiles This guy is near the top of the list for me in terms of guys I would take. As I said, you know, I don't know the Timberlake profiles to being the best defender

for you, but you should have a good insulation and defense with the rim protection of Uday Zuby with KJ at the four with DeJuan Harris leading the point of attack at the point guard position with having some athletic freshmen coming in that, you know, should be able to at least be solid on-ball defenders with their athleticism and length to where I'm not as concerned with the defense, especially on a Bill Self-Coach team. This should have the insulation to at least be a top 20 defense next season. So how are you going to figure out the offense? That's the most important question to me. Timberlake is arguably the best three-point shooter in the portal. He can hit him off movement. He can hit him off the catch. He can hit him off a few dribbles. I think that would be so valuable for KU. Now, Grady Dick is obviously a better talent than Nicholas Timberlake.

That's why he's going to get taken as a lottery pick, and Nicholas Timberlake is not. Nicholas Timberlake, though, is a six-year player. You could make the argument that Nicholas Timberlake next season would be a more impactful player than Grady Dick for Kansas. And I don't want that to sound like blasphemy. Here's why. Grady Dick, again, better potential, better potential. And if Grady Dick were to be a six-year player like Nicholas Timberlake, obviously you would assume he would be better. But one thing that plagued Grady Dick this year and he's a freshman in an unbelievable season as a freshman it took Ochagbaje till his senior year to figure this out right you don't fault the kid it's just hard playing college basketball as a young player and learning the intricacies of not

just making the threes but getting open for them and you know moving off the ball and dealing with being face guarded some of the tough things that he didn't see at the high school level. Nicholas Timberlake, I don't really have those questions. So there are certain areas that you could actually get a better three-point shooter from in this. Like Grady Dick shot, I think, like 36% in conference play. You know, Nicholas Timberlake is a really, really good shooter. He is like at the top or toward the top of the list if you're going to bring on a scoring winning for me. He's kind of a two-guard type.

So that is one that's very interesting with his visit scheduled. Primo Spears put KU in his list of, I think they're scheduling like a Zoom meeting or something for Tuesday or Wednesday. He was in the final four, or KU was in the final four for him. I think that's interesting. He cut it down to the final four before having like the Zoom meeting. I don't know that that fit is great.

He would have to possibly sit out a year. the final four before having like the zoom meeting um i don't know that that fit is great he would have to possibly sit out a year the ncaa said they're going to crack down on these second time transfers he's not a graduate they're not going to give out waivers if your coach was fired so i don't know what the waiver would be for him he might have to sit out i i don't know we'll see how the ncaa approaches that but um he's he's just a good guard overall but he's kind of more of a point guard. I don't know if it's great there. Graham Ike from Wyoming, a Zoom meeting.

That one sounds like maybe there's other schools that are more likely for Ike, but he is certainly someone who I said back to the basket score. I mean, he was at Wyoming, and he averaged 19 and 10, basically, put up big numbers against Trace Jackson Davis in thecaa tournament he would be a huge get for me um and that was a wyoming offense that their whole offense was posting up so that would be a big one jameel reynolds that caught some people off guard they had a uh in home with him the temple big man but this one makes sense to me because he's the type of center that can come in compete with ernest and zuby he might start he might know, they average like 11 and 6, kind of modest numbers on a not great Temple team.

But you watch some of the film, shot over 60%, good back to the basket game. Got a little bounce to him, big dude. I think he would be a good change of pace to have coming off the bench, you know, behind Ernest Duday that can be a back to the basket score and would give you more big man depth. So I wouldn't hate it. You know know if you have the option Graham Ekay or Jamil Reynolds or

you know another guy we're about to get to here shortly then yeah you take that but I don't hate it as a backup option Gleif Battle is also something very interesting seems like KU may be cooling a little bit on this um and there have been a lot of thoughts like oh he's going to go to UCF or whatnot but can create his own shot we talked about this with nick short last week really good score he would make a lot of sense for ku and then there's three guys who we haven't seen a ton of reported interest necessarily or they just entered the portal but i'm sure ku does have interest and they are reaching out in some way and these are the three to me biggest portal entries hunter dickinson the big man from michigan now there's a an article from uh the maryland 24-7 sports that said uh like kansas was basically a school to watch out for and i don't

know they might like have the ire of hunter dickinson that'd be great to go to dick from from dick to dickinson and he would be such a perfect fit for ku because you could play him next to kj he shot 42 from threes on limited attempts last year that you could have that balance between the two elite post score, which would be great for Bill South can pass out of the post. That would be about as perfect of a fit as you can imagine. So that's one to watch LJ Cryer transferring for Baylor. I don't know the interest for him to come into KU, but Hey,

he would solve all of KU's issues. Being somebody who can grade his own shot, hit three point shots from the outside and Max Acemas, the same thing for Oral Roberts. Both those guys to me are on the same tier. Like Acemus has the better numbers, but Cryer also played in the Power Five. Acemus played at Oral Roberts. But if you could get any of those three,

that would be a gigantic, gigantic haul for you in the transfer portal. And with just those names of Cryer and Acemus entering yesterday, maybe there's going to be more to come for ku but those are the main three to me that i'm certainly circling in addition to probably nicholas timberlake let's finish up with my favorite targets this is locked on jayhawks so my favorites right now of the ones that they have had meetings with or zooms with nick nick timberlake is my favorite or will have visits i guess because his visits upcoming um he would be number one for me uh graham ek would probably be number two but without a doubt if you if you just had the option let's say this was just like the grocery store and you had your option of you know what are you picking up for dinner tonight um to me option

number one would be either lj cryer or max a smithmas. I don't know which one I would totally go with. I guess Cryer because you don't have to worry about jumping up to the Power 5 level and how would that work out. And also that would be funny to make Baylor fans mad. So yeah, probably Cryer would be number one for me. He would solve a lot of your scoring questions. But also, I don't know, you could convince me Hunter Dickinson because you do get into the question of, well,

are you going to play three little guards together with El Marco, Cryer, and Duan? And maybe you could because he's a good enough defender. El Marco with his length and athleticism, you know, you could play him at the three for minutes of the game and have LJ Cryer at the two. And heck, Baylor played those three little guards together. So I don't think that would be that crazy to be able to do that but Dickinson would be such a

perfect fit for KU Bill Self wants the back to the basket big again and somebody you can run through the post well how about Hunter Dickinson who legitimately like we have not seen a transfer I don't think that's come in and been like yeah if he goes to the right situation he could win national player of the year Hunter Dickinson comes to Kansas He could put up 19 and 10 on a top 10 team and seriously win national player of the year, which would be crazy because then that would get in the argument of, could this one-year player get his jersey retired at KU? If he won national player of the year, like, how would he not, right? But that's a story for another day, and you have to get him first before you do any of

that. And then, of course, there's so many others that are interesting that, that may be reported interest hasn't happened yet because do keep this in mind. The Kevin McCuller one kind of came out of the dark. Kevin McCuller was going through the NBA draft process. We hadn't really heard much. And then all of a sudden he popped out like a, a thing on Twitter that was like,

I'm going through the draft process. If I decide to come back, I'm entering the transfer portal and I'm between Gonzaga and Kansas and it was just like out of the blue all of a sudden Kansas is a finalist for this kid so they like to work in the shadows a little bit so keep that in mind there could be some players out there who you think are good transfers who you haven't seen like oh have they set up a visit or do they have interest in and they might have interest and you just haven't heard about it or maybe a player that you know maybe is entering the portal and is making that known through back channels but hasn't officially done it yet.

So keep all that in mind. There could be more names to come, but certainly some interesting ones to keep an eye on for KU already. And yeah, if you get one of Dickinson, Cryer, Ace, Miss is a home run win to begin with. All right, that'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. We'll be back I think on Thursday. We're not going to have a show on Wednesday. We'll have some KU football spring catch up and

then KU football spring showcase preview. You can find our podcast wherever you get any of your podcasts. You can give us a subscribe on YouTube as well. See you next time on Locked on Jayhawks.