Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Adds Mississippi State Transfer Shakeel Moore Post Elmarko Jackson Injury

Episode Date: June 6, 2024

Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball added another transfer portal player in former Mississippi State Bulldogs and NC State Wolfpack combo guard Shakeel Moore. How Moore wound up at KU quickly after Elmarko Jackson suffered a season-ending injury. Deep dive on Moore featuring information, stats, his scouting report, what he brings to Bill Self's team, how he fits with Dajuan Harris, Zeke Mayo and more.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInThese days every new potential hire can feel like a high stakes wager for your small business. That’s why LinkedIn Jobs helps find the right people for your team, faster and for free.Post your job for free atLinkedIn.com/lockedoncollege. Terms and conditions apply.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning GUARANTEED That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – with any winning FIVE DOLLAR BET! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started. eBay MotorsFrom brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to bring home that big win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.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)

On today's Locked on Jayhawks, following the news of Elmarco Jackson being out for the season, Kansas went to the portal, fetched themselves some Shaquille Moore, a transfer guard from Mississippi State. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Derek Johnson. You can give me a follow on Twitter at DJohnsonRadio, and you can find the show, it's called Locked On Jayhawks, anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page

where you can like and subscribe to the show. Now, you already know that if you're listening to the show, but spread the word and give us a five-star review. Give us a thumbs up if you could. It certainly helps on our end of things. So we're going to be talking today, Kansas Jayhawks basketball making the addition of Mississippi State transfer guard Shaquille Moore after they lost El Marco Jackson to the season for an injury.

We're going to talk about what went down. We're going to get a deep dive on Shaquille Moore, including a scouting report and how exactly he fits in with Kansas. First, this episode of the show is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply with GameTime. So what happened? What went down? Who is Shaquille Moore? Well, Shaquille Moore is a 6'1", 190-pound guard originally from Greensboro, North Carolina. He was most recently for three seasons with the Mississippi State

Bulldogs program that was after a year at North Carolina State. He announced around 4 p.m. Central Time on Wednesday about his intentions to be a Jayhawk that he's going to be transferring in to Lawrence. And things moved quickly. Elmarco Jackson got hurt on Tuesday in a camp scrimmage. Ended up having an injury that is going to keep him out until, or I guess for 12 months. Now check out that bonus episode. We did a bonus episode just detailing Elmarco Jackson's injury, what that means for him, what it means for KU in the offseason, all that sort of stuff. So you can check that out anywhere you get your podcast

and with our YouTube page in conjunction with this. And so KU worked really fast because that happened last night. They had to get the medical stuff and the MRI and everything. Obviously, there had been, it seems like, some sort of prior contact with KU and Shaquille Moore. So this wasn't just a, hey, this guy just got hurt. Hey, you want to come to our school? And he was like, yeah, let's do it. Right. Like there had been previous contact and stuff. And this probably led to, you know, if you're Shaquille Moore, maybe you get the call from KU and KU,

you know, they're looking for another player, maybe a backend rotation player. And you're sitting there like, yeah, I'm interested. It's KU. I'll probably get good NIL money, but I want to wait and see if there's something else out there at a big school or, you know, a power five school that has a bigger role than maybe what you're offering. But now that El Marco got hurt, maybe there's more role to be offered. You know, it becomes maybe more appealing. And so then at that point you're like, yes, I like the brand. I like the NIL. I like like this and that like i'm cool coming to ku um and so for kansas like after the injury to marco jackson you're down to two ball handlers with dewan harris and zeke mayo like yeah maybe rylan griffin can bring the ball up or play some point guard in a pinch or something but um you had two scholarships open anyway and

you could use another player. You know, why not go out and bring on another ball handler? And that's kind of what you perfected here with Shaquille Moore. As far as Moore's story to where he is now, he, out of high school, was the number 125 recruit in the country. That was as a four-star recruit according to 24-7 sports as a transfer he was graded as a three-star recruit and a 89 graded three-star who is 275th overall and he is listed as a combo guard obviously an undersized combo guard at six foot one but an undersized combo guard you, I wonder if Bill Self has

ever made that work at a really high level. Hmm. I can't think of any examples. Oh, wait, there's like a billion of them. So that's obviously a good thing for KU. He wound up going to, I guess, an in-state school for him in NC State, his freshman season, which that freshman season was the 2020 to 2021 year. And he played 25 games as a true freshman, close to seven points per game. He shot 34.4% from three-point range that season. Then in year two, he decided to transfer. And I'd imagine for a lot of guys, I mean, his senior year of high school, basically, he's getting recruited probably off Zoom. Like that's when COVID is actually happening. So a lot of guys probably ended up, I mean, obviously everybody transfers like every year. So it's no different, but like, I'd imagine it was a

different transfer process for a lot of guys after experiencing a freshman year in the 2020 to 2021 season, because for a lot of of them like maybe going to that school a it was different being on a school campus when covid was happening and um you didn't get as much of the college life as you would have wanted but also like your visit experience and your recruiting experience was different that you might not have got everything that you might have expected when you went to school so i ended up transferring and in two, he goes to Mississippi State, which at that point, because of the COVID year not counting the first year, he's a second-year freshman. And he averages 8.7 points per game, three rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.6 steals per game

on lower efficiency shooting, under 40% from the floor, 31% from a three-point range. So then year three, his, I guess, third year sophomore year at Mississippi State, all of a sudden Chris Janz comes in, the former New Mexico State head coach, who's a really good head coach. And Mississippi State ends up making the play-in game of the NCAA tournament, which, you know, it's not a Mississippi State program that is making it to the tournament that often. And they get to the play-in game against Pittsburgh. He averages 9.8 points per game, three rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.7 steals and has 41-27-77 shooting splits. He had three 20-point games that season including one against the top 10 Tennessee team and obviously they go to the play-in game and lose a close game. I think they had like an

open shot to either tie or win the game at the buzzer and they just missed it. And that Pittsburgh team ended up winning their first round of the NCAA tournament game, I think over Iowa State. Then last season, he was a fourth year junior and he helped the Bulldogs get an eighth seed in the NCAA tournament before they lost to Michigan State in the first round. He netted 7.9 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.2 blocks per game on 47% from the field, 36% from three on lowish volume, and 70% at the free throw line. So I guess his worst steal season there. But efficiency-wise, it was his most efficient season, so kind of plus minus there. But in total, you're talking about a very experienced point guard, combo guard for KU to bring in. You're talking 124 career games played at the collegiate level. You're talking about 68 career starts just in his time at Mississippi State. For instance,

Jalen Coleman-Lanz, prior to coming to KUU because he played 39 games at Kansas specifically but prior to coming to KU Jalen Coleman lands had played in 133 games Shaquille Moore has played in 124 games now there's a reason Jalen Coleman lands was in like his eighth year of college because a lot of the seasons he was there he maybe got hurt or something or he didn't play in a full season which allowed him to keep extending his career. But yeah, that's a very experienced player. And he's scored over a thousand career points, 1,042 career points for Shaquille Moore. And he's been a really good defender on that,

that 2022 to 23 team that made the playing game. He earned Naismith defense player of the year watch list. So which that was the top 15. So basically he was that season deemed to be one of the 15 best defenders in college basketball. He's a thousand point per game career score. So you added some experience. He added some defense. Let's talk more about the scouting report, what he brings to the table.

Get more into this deep dive on Shaquille Moore in just a moment on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. First, this episode is brought to you by GameTime. GameTime makes getting NBA finals tickets or whatever tickets you're looking for even faster and easier. Prices on the GameTime app actually go down the closer it gets to tip off. With killer last minute deals, all-in prices, views from your seat, and their lowest price guarantee, game time takes the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets. You get featured seat views of all the different seats. So you're scrolling through and you can see what your seats are going to look like. You can even switch to the stadium view where you can just be like, you know what? I like sitting in the corner or I like sitting on the sideline. Let's see what the cheapest tickets or the best tickets are available in each section.

You can do that or the panoramic view from your seat in the app before you buy. They have the lowest price guarantee or game time or credit you 110% of difference. And with the game time ticket coverage, your purchase is covered with the most flexible customer service policy in the ticketing industry. Take the guesswork out of buying NBA finals tickets or again, whatever you're looking for with game time. Download the gameTime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase.

Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N-C-O-L-L-E-G-E for $20 off your first purchase. Download GameTime today. Last minute tickets. Lowest price. Guaranteed. Alright, thanks for joining us here on Locked on Jayhawks. Again, if you're looking for just the episode on Marco Jackson,

we had a bonus episode with that as well that you can check out here anywhere you get your podcasts, including on our YouTube page. Thank you to the everydayers tuning in to each and every show. So let's continue on with our deep dive, a scouting report, some synergy numbers on Shaquille Moore, and then we'll finish up how he fits in with the team. One thing I found interesting with Shaquille Moore, he in the postseason specifically,

maybe this is a little bit of his regular season too. Honestly, there is some truth to this, but in the postseason, very hot or cold, like it was one of the two. So he had in year two of his career his first year at Mississippi State he had 15 points in the SEC quarterfinals really good but then he had just six points in their next game which was the first round of the NIT um the next year he had 13 points in the second round of the SEC tournament against Florida. That was followed by only two points on one of 11 shooting against Alabama in the quarterfinals. That was followed up by 14 points in that play-in game of the NCAA tournament, the first four game of the NCAA tournament against

Pittsburgh. So you're up and down again. He had nine points on four of seven in the NCAA or in the SEC tournament against LSU. Then that was followed by two points against Tennessee, what ended up being an upset quarterfinal win over Tennessee this past year. But then you only had five points on a two of seven in the loss to Michigan State in the NCAA tournament. Kind of a microwave type player where I don't know that you can count on super high scoring totals each and every night, but I think that's okay when you have it from a bench role.

It's one thing if you have a starter who's giving you two points some nights and 15 points the next night. But when you have somebody who's coming off the bench and doing it, it's okay because when you are coming off the bench, it's like, well, you're almost coming in as a conglomerate where it's like some nights is going to be my night, some nights is going to be somebody else. And if Kansas does end up being deep, and I think Kansas has a lot of scoring options, Hunter Dickinson, A.J AJ Storr uh Ryland Griffith like right

you just go on and on down the list that you don't need to be a top tier score every night and that was the case with like think back to like Jalen Coleman lands or Mitch Lightfoot or I don't know a lot like if you want to go even further back with KU like you think about a guy like Mario Little like there were a lot of nights where you, guys who have come off the bench for KU, maybe they only give you two points. Maybe they only give you four or five points, but every so often they had their night going and they gave you 10 points. They gave you 12 points.

They gave you 15 on the road in a big game and helped you win a game. Like Brandon Griffith or Brandon green, excuse me, had like a, what was it like 17 points or something to help Kansas went on the road at Georgetown. Just like kind of out of the blue, you know? Sometimes that can happen for bench guys, and that can be okay because that can just dictate your playing time if you're a bench guy or you're

more of a role guy. Like, if you're on that night, you'll play more. If you're not, you just won't play as much. You can't really do that as much as starters. That actually can be okay. That said, maybe a tad concerning, he has only shot 28.4% from three in 74 career games against Ken Palm top 100 opponents. You'd like to see that number be higher. It's only 43.7% on two point shots in 46 career games against Ken Palm top 50 opponents. That's not a good number. But in my estimation, I view this more to be like a defensive addition. I think he's a

really good defender. Who's going to be more of a role player, more of a gives you another ball handler out there that won't need to do a ton offensively because of all those guys you have, you have Hunter Dickinson, you have, I mean, KJ Adams could be averaging 10, 12, 14 points per game. I don't know. AJ store is probably going to get you 15 plus points per game. Like I said, like Ryland Griffin's a score. Zeke Mayo is a good score, right? You don't need him to be giving you 10 points per game. And he's going to get more open shots with like Mississippi State as great of a defensive coach as Chris Janz has been. I don't know that he's known for having like you watch Mississippi State. Sometimes they look like

they're stuck in the mud offensively. He's going to get a lot more open shots here. So I think that's going to help as well. And I should mention that Moore did finish 24th in SEC only plays, the top 25, in effective field goal percentage. He shot 51% on twos, nearly 80% on free throws and 35% on threes in SEC only play. So if you go off that, that's a very efficient player, right? So I'm not really worried about it to be completely honest when you look at some of those other numbers. Here's some synergy numbers of note. 67th percentile on catch and shoot opportunities. So good. 26 of 72, that's 36% on catch and shoot threes. That'll play. He was also 16 of 36, that's 44 44 on unguarded catch and shoot threes so again if you're talking about okay you're gonna get more open threes at kansas than at mississippi state

you shot him really well that's a good sign now i will say the year prior he only shot 27 on catch and shoot threes and only 30 on unguarded catch and shoot threes so a little bit of inconsistency here what exactly are you to get? If you get in the middle of those two, which would be, I guess, like 32% on catch and shoot threes and 37% on unguarded catch and shoot threes, I think you'd probably take that. 61st percentile in a spot-up shooting, he went 20 of 57.

That's 35% on spot-up threes. The year before, though, only 26% on spot-up threes. So, again, you're kind of getting different tales between the two years. He was in the 42nd percentile as a pick-and-roll ball handler, but in the year before, he was in the 68th percentile. So kind of interesting. Last year, like this past season, was a good spot-up shooter, but struggled a bit more in pick-and-roll.

The year before was really good in pick-and-roll, but struggled a bit more in pick and roll year before was really good in pick and roll, but struggled in spot up shooting. So again, just kind of the intricacies of game. He was in the 43rd percentile in transition play. He was an 82nd percentile on sort of limited possession on cuts, but that's something he does well. 32nd percentile with his runner. So that's something you watch highlights. You'll see him hit a lot, but it wasn't an ultra efficient shot for him. He was in the 62nd percentile at the rim and 64th percentile layup. So even though he was a smaller guard at six foot one, at least that's what he's listed at. You know, sometimes we talk about this all the time, like that could mean he's five 11 or six feet tall, but that hasn't stopped them from being a fearless finisher. I think a lot of that's

because in athleticism, good leaper, he's quick, he's able to get to the rim well. And so he's been a solid finisher at the rim and on layups. And so that's something that you like to see. Also a 76th percentile defensively. And that's what I talked about earlier. I view this as a defensive first guard. Yes, he has moments where he can go off scoring and if he can shoot it like he did last year and he can be a spot-up shooter like he did last year, that'll be great. But I view this as a defensive first guard who gives you extra depth and another role player. Year before, he was in the 87th percentile defensively. You mentioned he was on that Naismith watch list for the defensive player of the year award. And the year before that, he was in the 64th percentile. So like every year at Mississippi State, he's been a good defender. And the last two years, you could argue an elite defender.

So overall, I would say his biggest strengths, A, I mean, he's been on winning teams, which you always like to have that. Like it's always interesting when you bring on a kid where it's like, oh, they were 280th on Ken Palm. They went 10 and 25. And like he averaged 12 points per game. But how good was the team? No, he's been on winning teams.

You don't have to worry about that. He's a good athlete. As i mentioned good quickness he gets downhill that helps him play strong defense that he's able to stay in front of guys and use that to hound guys and up until this past season get a ton of steals but there's also a lot of highlights of him dunking i'm not even joking when i say like i don't't know why I would joke about this. This would be such a silly thing to joke about. He is the best sub six foot three dunker of at least 15 years in the KU Bill Self era. And it might be even further than that

because the numbers I can go back and find on Bartorvik only go back to 2010. But the most career dunks by a Bill Self player who is six foot two or below since 2010, Devontae Graham has eight of them. I'm sorry, he has nine of them in his career. Last season, Shaquille Moore had eight of them. Shaquille Moore has 28 in his career. Kevin Kohler last season had nine. Johnny Furphy had 11.

He only had one less than Kevin. He had three less than Furphy, and he's given up five, six, seven, eight inches to those guys. Shaquille Moore is a really good athlete. He's a really good dunker. We're going to see a lob from DeJuan Harris to Shaquille Moore. That'll be a lot of fun. Also, his defense, biggest strength here. And I've already talked about some of the individual numbers, and I'll add I'll talk about his steal ability which I think is a part of the defense but it's also

separate because sometimes you can be good at getting steals but not a great overall defender sometimes you can be a good defender and good at getting seals right I think he's good at both uh but um he had eight multi-steal games last season and last season he didn't even have you know as many steals as a lot of his other past seasons when he's really ramped up the pressure. But Kansas last season, they finished 207th in the country in forcing turnovers. So adding more of that is obviously a huge positive. But here's the team defensive ranks of the teams he's been on. I already mentioned the synergy numbers on defense looking really good for Shaquille Moore.

I talked about the Naismith stuff, which may be more of the coaches, eye tests, whatever. I don't know. Here's the team defense ranks. NC State was only ranked 87th, but they were top 20 in steel rate, and that was also his freshman year. Here's his years at Mississippi State, 46th, 9th, and 22nd. Those are the team defensive rankings for Mississippi State, which obviously he's not been a historic basketball powerhouse. He's been on some really good defenses, and he's a big reason why. And if you're talking some of the big weaknesses, I guess you wouldn't say he's a true point guard for his career. He averages two assists per game compared to 1.6 turnovers per game. Turnover numbers are, you know, it's at least it's not like three assists to 2.8 turnovers where it's like he's turning over a lot. Maybe that would more indicate that he's been more of

an off guard. So he just hasn't had the chance to get the assists, but I don't view him as like a true point guard, more of a combo guard, but Bill stuff has success with those. And that's fine because KU has Dwan Harris, who's going to play 30, 32, 35 minutes per night as the true point guard. I'm more so view him as, I guess it'll be a competition. Who's going to be the backup point guard. Who's going to play those, you know, five to eight minutes as the backup point guard does get split up does go to Zeke Mayo does it go to him either way um he'll get playing time and so will Zeke Mayo um but I don't know that he's a true point guard I guess but he is somebody who can handle the ball and be a combo guard and that's really all you were looking for what is the real shooting level that's going to be the biggest question for me

again 36 percent from three last year is great only Only 2.4 attempts per game. That's less than what DeJuan Harris averaged last season. He did take 4.1 per game the year before that, but it was only 26.5% from three. So it's tough to tell what exactly you're going to get there from three, and that'll kind of determine how successful he is. And then I think whether he hits the floor or the ceiling of what his role ends up being at KU. And then the lack of size,

but that's not as prevalent in college. And he's, I don't know, athletic at the very least let's, let's talk more about how he fits where he figures to play in the rotation, all that sort of stuff on this episode of locked on Jayhawks. All right. Finishing up with this episode of locked on Jayhawks discussing Shaquille Moore, how he fits with the team. I think he can play the one or the two. I know I said he's not like a true point guard,

but if you're squeezing in four minutes with him playing the point guard, I think that's fine. Like we saw Joey Asafu play point guard minutes in relief for KU a couple years ago. But I think mostly you're playing probably the two. Now, he did actually log over Mississippi state's final five games. So, I mean, you're talking about five games, a thousand minutes that go out to all the different players. You're talking about a 5% of the minutes that they allocated at the three were him at the three. So I guess that would mean what the five percent of 200 minutes I'm doing some

math on the fly here so you're not talking about like a ton of minutes but you're talking about enough sizable and it's not that he was necessarily a true three it's that they played a three guard lineup a three small guard lineup and we have seen Bill Self do that in the past so could you throw out a lineup with DeJuan Harris next to Shaquille Moore with Zeke Mayo out there too? And because Zeke Mayo is like 6'4"-ish, you could have him defend the opposing three and have Moore defend the opposing two or the opposing one

and Harris defend the other one, whichever you kind of need to do there. You could play that lineup for a handful of minutes in a given game. What if you needed that against Houston, who we've seen play a lot of those three small guard lineups together, and that helps you defend them or helps play offense against them and handling the pressure. Or that's a lineup you want to throw out. You know, if you want to instigate ball pressure, or if you want to just say, Hey, more, go out there and guard this guy 94 feet and tire him down. You know what I mean? Like, I think you can throw that out for certain periods of time, but for the most part, he'll be playing at the one and the two. Overall, I'd assume if the guys

set in the rotation are DeJuan Harris, AJ Stork, KJ Adams, Hunter Dickinson, Ryland Griffin, whoever the backup center is, Zeke Mayo, that's seven guys. That's not necessarily an order. That's just seven guys. Would the eighth guy be Rakees Passmore? That's entirely possible. Could it be Shaquille Moore? Also entirely entirely possible could both play and they go nine deep also entirely possible um it's interesting because the keys pass more more of a wing shaquille moore more of a combo guard point guard type but they are in competition for minutes for each other because both could get minutes at the two both could get minutes technically at the three because of if they do play that three-guard lineup.

So there is going to be a competition there. There is going to be a competition for him and Zeke Mayo who can take over those backup point guard minutes. But there will be overlapping minutes for some of those guys at the two. So something to keep an eye on. And part of it too will depend, again, is Bilsav going to play eight deep? Is he going to play nine deep? We will wait and see.

I am expecting him to, like if I had to make a projection and I want to start maybe doing this assign roles to guys of past KU players under Bill Self I would almost put the 2007 to 2008 Roderick Stewart role on this one um now maybe I would, okay, I'll put it this way. I think the floor here for Shaquille Moore is maybe the shooting doesn't come around and maybe he's more of a Joe Yesifu a couple of years ago where he's not playing every game, but he's playing a good amount of games, maybe 70%, I don't know, 75% of the games. I'd have to go back and look what he played for the national title team, right? And some games that he would play, he'd give you 10, 12 minutes a night.

On a higher end, maybe he's giving you 15, but then there are going to be some games where he's just not playing. That's probably the floor here for Shaquille Moore. Then the ceiling is maybe he does play 20, 25 minutes a night. The three-point shooting is coming along. He's a really good defender. He's fitting well with everything. And then somewhere in the middle is kind of what I'm saying here with Roderick Stewart in that role. I don't know that I expect the Roderick Stewart role of eight starts,

which is what he got that season. I do not remember that. That was partially because of Brandon Rush's injury. Now, I don't expect that to happen with Shaquille Moore here starting those games. But let's just look at it this way. Roderick Stewart played in a ton of games for KU. He played almost 12 minutes per game. He gave KU good guard athleticism and kind of a relief role. And again, the ceiling maybe ends up being a

little bit higher for Moore. Maybe the ceiling, maybe it's a few more minutes than Roderick Stewart. Maybe it's closer to 13, 14, 15 minutes per game, with, again, the ceiling closer to 20, 22 minutes per night. But I think that's kind of what I'm looking at here, and I think that is a valuable role for this team. And it also makes a ton of sense because he is a one-year guy. When you view it this way, I know KU is going to be losing DeJuan Harris and Zeke Mayo after the year,

but you fast-forward to 2025-26, assuming El Marco will be back and healthy and fully good to go, you have him. KU's also recruiting kids to play point guard in 2025-26. They're looking at some of the most elite prospects in the country who would play point guard for them. So you don't want to block that. And at this point in time, there are less portal options available than there would be if you fast forward to next March slash April. So you'll have more options available at those point guard spots. So it made a lot of sense to bring somebody in who is a one-year player here for KU.

All right, that'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcasts, including on our YouTube page. And by the way, yes, Kansas does still have a scholarship left and can make another move. We will see if they end up doing it and to what degree that would be. I just saw Bo Aldridge, Catrallius Aldridge, who had some, I don't know, there were some rumblings last year with him decommitted from Arizona State. I don't know if that means anything. Whatever, maybe we'll have a conversation on that.

More player deep dives to come. Make sure you subscribe to the show anywhere you get your podcasts. Make sure you check out the El Marco Jackson injury podcast as well, but that'll do it for us. We will be back on Monday barring any other breaking news. See you then with LOJ.