Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Makes Cut for Transfer Riley Kugel + Kugel Deep Dive + Mayberry Back

Starting point is 00:00:00 Kansas didn't make the Final Four, but they did make a Final Four of Riley Kugel in the quest to get better for next year. We deep dive on what Kugel can bring to 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. I'm Derek Johnson. Give me a follow on Twitter at D Johnson radio. Thanks for making locked on Jayhawks. Your first listen every day. We are free and available anywhere.

Starting point is 00:00:35 You get your podcast and you can find us on our YouTube page where you can like, and subscribe to the show. Certainly if you could, it helps us out on our end of things on today's edition edition of Locked on Jayhawks, we're talking Riley Kugel, who is a transfer portal player from Florida. Highly touted player

Starting point is 00:00:52 in terms of having some interesting past production. Put a final four out there already, and Kansas is in the list. So we're going to get to our first player offseason deep dive for this offseason. Before we get into any of that and the info on Riley Kugel, how he would fit with KU, and also a little KU women's basketball news too,

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Starting point is 00:01:40 quote, excited to announce the four schools that I've decided to focus my attention on during my transfer process. I'm appreciative of other schools who considered me for their program. And then it was a graphic with a picture of him. And it said Final Four. And it said Arizona, UConn, Kansas, and Houston. So that's a pretty powerful list of four teams. Also noticed he said focus my attention on during the transfer process.

Starting point is 00:02:04 I'd imagine that's not something where it's like, okay, he, you know, it's probably going to take some time. Uh, UConn is still in the NCAA tournament. You know, Houston's still in the NCAA tournament. Arizona just lost yesterday. Probably going to take some time to set up some visits and go through everything you want to go through. So I don't think this is going to be like an immediate thing next week. Maybe Kansas does have an advantage because those others are in the tournament, except for Arizona just lost. And lost and um maybe they can get a quick visit and get it done on the visit I don't know but he's a six foot five 207 pound guard slash wing he was actually listed as a shooting guard in high school um he's also listed as like a point guard on his transfer page on 24-7 sports I view him more as

Starting point is 00:02:41 like a two three man uh he even played the wing and the three and even a little bit of four ball as a freshman of Florida. This year he was like a two and a three and he came in from high school as the number 56 overall recruit and the number four shooting guard on 24-7 sports rankings when he was a freshman, not this past season, but the year before at Florida. So I actually did a wing offseason target preview for Kansas yesterday. And obviously that's a list that's constantly getting added to. I actually didn't have Riley Kugel on that list. And let me explain why.

Starting point is 00:03:19 He lost a little bit of favor with his coach at Florida, Todd Golden, and didn't seem to take it all that well coming off the bench. I mean, in talking to people who covered Florida and in listening to some NBA draft podcasts that kind of talk about this stuff, they said he didn't really handle it well, which tells me that at the time when I was putting together the list, I was like, well, if you're bringing him on, you better be darn certain that he's a starter because I don't know how he's like, if he didn't handle coming off the bench, well, which a lot of guys don't, that basically means wherever he transfers to, he's not going

Starting point is 00:03:53 to want to come off the bench, which means it's a very peculiar or a very particular fit. I think would be the better way of saying it for Kansas. Doesn't mean it's a bad thing or it would be a bad fit or that Kansas shouldn't want him. It's just that when I viewed it as, OK, well, hypothetically, if you bring KJ and Hunter back and you have Dwan Harris back and what if Furphy comes back? Then at that point, you only have one starting spot left. Are you ready to guarantee it this early in the portal? So I didn't have him on there. I think from a pure talent wise, he and now that we know Kansas is interested and he's interested in Kansas to a certain extent, I put him on my tier two. So if you remember my tier one guys are like immediate starters and all league level guys, tier two guys are, they're probably going to start.

Starting point is 00:04:35 But it's, you know, they're not necessarily expected to be like all big 12 first team or anything like that. Now with the funny part of this is if Riley Kugel would have transferred after his freshman season at Florida, he would have been a tier one guy. Wherever he would have ended up, he would have been thought of as, yeah, he's going to be this all-league player for you, and he's going to be a starter. Now, I think you bring him on and you expect him to be a starter, but his freshman year was that 2022 to 2023 season. That's how I'm earned all SEC freshman team he averaged about 10 points three rebounds

Starting point is 00:05:05 per game on 45.6 percent from the floor 37.6 percent from three so very good efficiency on both of those and those numbers went up in SEC play he finished the season strong he averaged 12.6 points per game in SEC games that was most by a Florida freshman since Bradley Beal and then in just a month of February and March, so February on, over 12 games, he finished the year averaging 15.3 points per game. So he finished on a high note where it was like, oh, he's a freshman, finished on a high note. He wound up in the 77th percentile for pick-and-roll ball handling efficiency, according to Synergy, 57th in spot-up shooting, so still above average there, 82nd percentile in jump shots, including 82nd percentile in catch-and-shoot opportunities, and 86th percentile in guarded catch-and-shoot opportunities, and 86th percentile in dribble jumpers.

Starting point is 00:05:58 This is a guy who could take tough shots, he would make tough shots, and he had a lot of different ways that he could score the basketball. And so much so that he was kind of a 2024 early NBA draft darling, like a guy who every year there's the players like Ocha Agbaje a couple years ago where it's like, yeah, maybe he's going to be like an early second-round pick, and he just emerges the next year in college basketball, and now he's a first-round pick. Now he's like a lottery pick or borderline lottery pick. And there were a lot of people suggesting that maybe that would be Kugel this year, that after the way he finished his freshman season, he would carry that over into sophomore year and then all of a sudden be like this first round pick or top

Starting point is 00:06:31 20 pick in the NBA draft this year. But things didn't click as much in year two. He shot under 40% from the field. He shot about 31% from three and his efficiency numbers, you know, took, took a dive. He dropped off from the being in the 77th percentile to 39th percentile in pick and roll. So that's a big difference there. You go from being good to below average. He dropped from 57th percentile above average in spot up shooting to this past year, 25th percentile in spotup shooting. So, you know, poor there. He went from 82nd percentile in jump shooting to 36th percentile in jump shooting this year. So, you know, the shooting kind of fell off, including a dip to 30th percentile in catch and shoot. We mentioned those was in the 80s. And 16th percentile in guarded jumpers after he was 86 the year before.

Starting point is 00:07:23 The dribble jumpers actually stay solid, 59th percentile, still above average. But that's also a big drop-off from 86th percentile in guarded jumpers after he was 86 the year before the dribble jumpers actually say solid 59th percentile still above average but that's also a big drop off from 86 percentile so like all the efficiency dropped was it a mental thing uh coming off the bench being asked to do something else you know maybe you're not getting along with your coach and maybe it's a little bit harder to um have the proper mentality going into it i i do think there was a little bit of, because when you look at the number of guarded jumpers that he took, it was about the same, the same percentage of his shots, basically 47% of his shots, both years were guarded jumpers. And that was about the same. So it wasn't just like his shot selection went way down. It was about the same. It's just one year he was making them in the 86th percentile. The other year he wasn't, you know, 59th percentile in dribble jumpers, 16th percentile in guarded jumpers, right?

Starting point is 00:08:08 So one year he made them, one year he didn't. And it's almost like a big home run hitter who's going to strike out a ton in baseball. Like some years that home run hitter is going to hit 230 with 40 home runs, have a lot of strikeouts. And then there's going to be another year where, you know, you're talking about, I don't know, them hitting 200 and maybe they get demoted to AAA and then they, you know, only have 20 home runs or something like that, or 25 home runs, right? Because it's two feast and famine. And maybe that's what it's like when you live on the margin like that, where, you know, you don't know if, or you don't know when you're taking that many contested shots I mean tough shots it's going to be more fickle whether they're going in or not right but anyway

Starting point is 00:08:50 due to the struggles in Florida being better this year they had more talented players so other players they got to go to this year when he was struggling where the coach is like hey we'll sit you down he did get benched by Todd Golden about midway through the year and he had some games where he looked pretty dejected off the bench. Game Theory podcast with Sam Vecini, who does great work for The Athletic. A few weeks ago on their podcast, they kind of called some of his performances off the bench selfish. He hit a low point of playing three and six minutes in back-to-back games at one point. But even then, there's still the positives. Like he dropped 25 points in a game against Baylor.

Starting point is 00:09:22 He had 24 points in a game against Wake Forest, 22 in a game against Auburn. He had 11 points in the NCAA tournament, which is solid numbers off the bench. So I think to kind of sum it up, this is a kid with a really high ceiling that fits your offensive needs. You need somebody who can create tough shots and make tough shots. And yeah, if they're always not the most efficient, it is at least nice to have one of those guys in your roster. Look at like Remy Martin, for instance, and his efficiency was a little bit better here,

Starting point is 00:09:50 but he can also play as an off guard. He can play as a secondary ball handler. He can play as a wing. There's a lot of ways that this would fit for Kansas, but there are definite risks involved as well. Let's get into how exactly he would fit for KU on this episode of Locked On Jayhawks. This episode is brought to you by the spring cleaning champions Manscaped. This season,

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Starting point is 00:12:08 It was described to me by Brandon Olson of Locked on Gators as a being kind of a gambler on the defensive end where he's going to go for steals and blocks. What times is he going to get them? But then at other times, it's going to leave you in uncomfortable situations. And sometimes he gets too aggressive and fouls too much, especially in like double bonus situations where it led to a lot of unnecessary guys going to the line. And so overall on synergy, if we're looking to add the kind of analytic or the number approach into this, his freshman season, he was in the 35th percentile for defense on synergy. His sophomore season, he was in the 38th percentile. So got a tiny bit better, but both of those are below the national average so I think kind of what you're expecting

Starting point is 00:12:46 here is a below average defender that you hope with a year under Bill Self and you know wanting to bounce back here can get up to even average because what he can give you on the offensive end is going to overcome that and when you have you know DeJuan Harris to help be kind of a countermate in the backcourt like you know you do need more of an offensive guy whilst DeJuan Harris to help be a kind of a countermate in the backcourt. Like, you know, you do need more of an offensive guy. Wells DeJuan can be more of the defensive guy. You know, looking for somebody who gives you an offensive punch, which he did in year one. I mean, he still made tough shots in year two, but more efficiently in year one, he can create them. He didn't have a lot of creation of, you know, key moments and key situations this year. And maybe that is a perfect backcourt mate for DeJuan Harris. You know what I mean?

Starting point is 00:13:27 Where it's like DeJuan is this low-volume shooter who shoots high efficiency, at least from three. He obviously struggled on layups and everything. He's a good passer. He's a good defender. Doesn't really take bad shots. With Riley Kugel. Sometimes you might view it as a bad shot,

Starting point is 00:13:50 but he's going to make a lot of tough ones and bail you out of a lot of tough situations like late in shot clock or in a tough situation late in the game. But also maybe not as efficient, maybe not as good defensively, but maybe like the two of them morph together. And that is kind of a perfect compliment to each other. They're the yin to each other's yang, so to speak speak and so I think also like when you're looking at this if you do make a move like this the beauty of Kugel is that you can play him at the three you can play him at the two so like it doesn't stop you and what you want to do if you're built off the rest of the offseason you bring on Riley Kugel and you know the next good player who just wants to come to your team

Starting point is 00:14:22 is a wing you're like okay great we can play Kugel at the two we can play this wing at the three you know boom we're good to go and if furphy comes back we can play one of the wings at three one of them at the four you know again it all depends on the kj and hunter stuff but that's the point with kugel or you can be like oh hey look there's this really good combo guard or this really good other point guard who wants to come here too okay great we'll play the really good uh combo guard point guard next to duan harrison's two and we'll play riley kel at the three. And that is part of the beauty of this. I do think though, because Kugel was not like a super high volume three-point shooter either year and wasn't that efficient last year, it definitely makes it more important

Starting point is 00:14:57 that the next edition you would make, whether it would be a two guard or a wing, definitely has to be more of a high volume high efficiency three point shooter but still it leaves you with a lot of options for what you want to do um i think you can expect to see him start if he does come in though and i i think uh yeah like i said i i would almost view this as like kansas bringing in their their two guard even though it would open them up to kind of doing whatever but you know i think the point being with kugel having some hiccups this year and having some questions about the efficiency and maybe the defense and how he handled things with todd golden and with

Starting point is 00:15:36 florida and everything and how much would bill self love some of those traits and love the gambling on defense and the shot selection maybe not quite as much although i think think the shot selection is less prevalent for me. If you're trying your butt on on the defensive end, like I don't think he cares as much about anyway. But this would be a high talent swing. This is a very talented basketball player that you hope hits and certainly would help fill some gaps in terms of being a scoring type option. A guy who can hit tough shots for you, a guy who can hit tough shots for you, a guy who can create tough shots for you. Those are things you need if you want to be in the national title discussion again. And it's not just going to come from one player, but this would be a start.

Starting point is 00:16:15 And certainly the list of schools has to make you feel more comfortable because yes, I know you could easily point to like Nick Timberlake last year, his finalists were what North Carolina, UConn, and Kansas. That's a great list too. And that didn't totally work out for Kansas. But here's the thing. Not everything's going to work out. And not everything's going to also be great.

Starting point is 00:16:34 You know, like there's going to be some middle ground where things don't work out, where things do work out against the grain both ways. You can't preclude yourself when one bad situation happens from being like, oh, well well that prevents me from doing this ever again you know this guy has some questions I'm never going to bring on a transfer who has some questions again no you have to continue to bank that you're going to be the one who adds a little bit more to their game and you're going to get the best out of them and the best of Riley Kugel is a really good basketball player and there are a lot of great coaches

Starting point is 00:17:02 and a lot of great programs that are interested in Riley Google. And some of those other ones on that list, like Yukon and with Houston, with, you know, Kelvin Sampson, those are hard nose basketball coaches. So if Riley Google,

Starting point is 00:17:15 you know, if there was any bad blood with Todd golden and stuff, and that was part of the benching and maybe they didn't get along, who knows exactly what all went on there. You don't immediately go sign up for one of the biggest hard-ass coaches with like Kelvin Sampson who's going to coach you and make you grind it out. You know what I mean?

Starting point is 00:17:34 So I think that is a little bit, I don't know, in a certain way, it almost adds to the scouting report as a positive for what you're talking about here. And so that makes me think that this kid can absolutely figure it out and get back to where he was. And honestly, if you're looking for a good comp in this situation, I don't think this is a good comp in terms of how both players play because I think there are a lot of differences.

Starting point is 00:17:57 And I'm going to bring the name up now, Caleb Love. And Love is more of kind of a point guard, combo guard. Kugel, I again view as more of like a 2-3. There are a lot of differences in their game, but there are some similarities. Caleb Love is somebody who at times is going to make you like, oh, why did you take that shot? But he's going to make a lot of tough ones too.

Starting point is 00:18:15 And I know Caleb Love, this is probably bad timing for this because he just had a really bad game in the sweet 16 for Arizona where he went like four of 17 or four of 18 or something like that and kind of shot him a little bit out of the game. But guess what? Arizona was one of the best teams in the country this year, and they made it to the second weekend. And yes, that was not a great game from Caleb Love. But Caleb Love had some fit issues at North Carolina. He had that great year that helped lead him to the title game, and then he had a big dip down year in efficiency, and then he transferred out and ended up winning Pac 12 player of the year for arizona so could something similar happen with kugel where he gets back toward his freshman form and you kind of are talking about a similar thing you know i i don't

Starting point is 00:18:54 think that's unheard of so uh yeah i would definitely say riley kugel is a take and would be a nice pickup for ku if they can get him all right let's uh finish up here ku women's basketball got some player personnel news that in just a moment. This week's March Madness bracket highlight is brought to you by our friends at Nissan. Each week, we're picking one team that stands out, a team that's pushed it further than the rest. Just like any of the all new 2024 Nissan SUVs, these guys were able to take it to the next level. The NC State Wolfpack. They're obviously this week's Nissan Rogue. This team absolutely surprised us with a powerful performance. Emphasis on the word powerful with DJ Burns down low in their first two games of the tournament.

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Starting point is 00:20:03 Finishing up with some KU women's basketball news, and that news is that wife at Mayberry, who's one of the starting guards for KU, has announced she'll be back for her, I guess, COVID season, her extra season, her super senior year next season for KU. This is a big deal because Kansas was set to lose four starters if Mayberry decided to move on because four seniors around Smi Nichols. Now, good news for Kansas is arguably their best player was a freshman. You could have arguments there. Tiana Jackson's so important. And, you know, there's a guy Franklin and Holly Kerskieter, all the career accolades and everything

Starting point is 00:20:32 like that. But now you have a veteran backmate or a backcourt mate for her with Wyvett Mayberry. I think that'll be very huge for KU. I believe they're roommates. So like, you know, that'll be good for, I'm sure, leadership and everything like that. So Maya Nichols takes another step forward. There is a lot that Brandon Schneider is going to have to do, I would imagine, in the transfer portal this offseason because KU women's team, just like the men's team, the bench really struggled. There was a big drop off from the starters to the bench.

Starting point is 00:20:59 So they're going to have to add some key players. I do think there were some bench players who were young, like Laia Canessa, who was a young player who I think was injured to start the year and then came on a little bit later. And from Spain, like she showed some flashes. I could see her taking a big jump in year two as a sophomore and everything. But they're going to have to add some pieces. But that's now a nice new place that you have two or five starters back, and you could argue Samaya Nichols maybe next year is –

Starting point is 00:21:24 we're talking a big 12 player of the year candidate. If she takes that next step up after we already saw her play at such a dynamic level here in year one. All right, that'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. We were originally going to do an early offseason big targets list. We'll get to that on Monday. Of course, if there's any other players like a Kugel who narrows down their list, we'll get to some of that stuff as well. This has been Locked on Jayhawks.

Starting point is 00:21:45 Make sure you subscribe to the show anywhere you get your podcasts, including on our YouTube page. See you next time with LOJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Makes Cut for Transfer Riley Kugel + Kugel Deep Dive + Mayberry Back

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