Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Offseason Guard Breakdown + Transfer Portal Targets

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked on Jayhawks, it's off-season time. Who are some guard targets in the portal that KU could look into? 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 social media at D Johnson radio. Thanks for making locked on Jayhawks. Your first listen every day. Thank you.

Starting point is 00:00:31 The everydayers out there tuning into each and every episode of the show. And on today's edition of locked on Jayhawks, we're going to be talking some portal targets for KU at the guard position. Specifically, some portal targets for KU at the guard position specifically. We will also get to a Wings and Big Man discussion coming up later throughout the week. So make sure you subscribe to the show anywhere that you get your podcast in on our YouTube page. Let's start right here. Before we get into the actual targets, and I'm going to divvy these up, and obviously this is going to be kind of the Wild West

Starting point is 00:01:00 because there are going to constantly be names that are added into this, and we are still so early in the portal. mean we're still in the sweet 16 like there's still going to be more guys who enter into the portal and then there's late entries that come into the portal uh it's going to be absolutely bananas there's going to be guys committing all this sorts of stuff so we will update this uh along the way as we go and also keep in mind there will probably just be like a good guard that enters into the portal even between me recording this and from when it actually airs, which is going to be kind of interesting. But anyway, first of all, before we get into who Kansas could add, we'll make this first segment pretty short. What does Kansas have coming back and what could they be looking to add at this position specifically?

Starting point is 00:01:41 Well, DeJuan Harris is going to be back for one final season. That we know. And so then it becomes about, I know there's been a bit of polarization in terms of DeJuan and some people liking him, some people loving him, some people not liking him and not liking having a scoring point guard. Whatever you think about DeJuan Harris, just know this. It does not matter if you think that they should add a point guard who should make DeJuan a backup because that's not going to happen. Bills off is not going to make him a backup. It doesn't matter what you think. That is not going to happen.

Starting point is 00:02:10 So start thinking about it from the standpoint of who are guards that can complement DeJuan Harris, who are guards that can play next to DeJuan Harris. And I know that's a smaller portion of the fan base and not one that I agree with, but point being, Bills off is not going to all of a sudden make him no longer a starter. Anyway, Nick Timberlake we know is gone for sure at the guard position. You are adding an incoming freshman in LeBaron Phylon, who's kind of a combo guard. He's ranked pretty highly, so there could be expectations he could come in

Starting point is 00:02:37 and make an impact right away. Then again, we just saw with Elmarco Jackson, who was ranked even higher than Phylon was for his specific class, that didn't automatically transition right away. So we'll kind of wait and see what happens there. Elmarco Jackson can come back for his sophomore season. Will he decide to transfer and try something else? I don't know.

Starting point is 00:02:55 Jamar McDowell, he can come back for his sophomore season. Same thing. Will he transfer and try to find more playing time elsewhere? Or it sounds like with Bill Self, the whole way through the season was kind of echoing that, yeah, he's going to be long-term like a good role player for us. Well, if that was echoed to Jamari McDowell when they brought him in, then this doesn't go against any of those expectations. So it kind of depends what those two guys want to do. And part of this is going to also depend how Bill Self wants to play this year. Does he want to play DeJuan next to three wings, similar to what they did in 2022 and 2023?

Starting point is 00:03:25 If so, then maybe you don't need a starting level combo guard slash another point guard to play next to him in the portal. And then maybe the types of guys you're looking at in the portal are more of guys you feel comfortable coming off the bench. Then again, if you want to play, and this is what my preference would be, and I think honestly, it might be Bill Self's preference. When you look at him adding Artario Morris last off season, I think the idea was that Marco or Artario was going to start next to DeJuan Harris.

Starting point is 00:03:51 You were going to basically have that combo guard type next to DeJuan Harris. And so if you view it from that standpoint as, yeah, he was going to do that last year, I think we go into this off season saying he's going to try to do the same. He's going to try to add a combo guard who can start next to DeJuan Harris, at the very least play the end of the season, Remy Martin role where he was getting, you know, 20 to 25 minutes a night as the backup, but kind of a co-mate that he could play with DeJuan Harris or close instead of DeJuan Harris. So obviously if you lose on Marco Jackson or Jermarie McDowell to the portal, you probably add another player to fill one of theirs roles, but here's kind of how I view it.

Starting point is 00:04:26 Starting point guards, DeJuan Harris, could play around 32 minutes a night, maybe more. Starting two guard, you have a transfer portal addition, could be 25, 30, 32 minutes a night. It just depends how good the player is. And then you have your main third guard that backs up both guard positions, the one and the two. So basically you have three guards who would be playing two spots, essentially, that you would give the one and the two. So basically you have three guards who would be playing two

Starting point is 00:04:45 spots, essentially, that you would give the most of the minutes. Now, your fourth guard could still give you five, 10 minutes a night, but for the most part, it would be those three guards. I think you look at one is DeJuan Harris, one probably a transfer portal addition, and then one of them, a winner between a competition of LeBaron Phylon and Elmarco Jackson. And then maybe the fourth of them or Jamari McDowell is hypothetically that fourth guy that's getting spot minutes here or there. If you do bring back Elmarco Jackson and you have McDowell back too, then maybe McDowell becomes a redshirt candidate, which I think was actually the plan for this year.

Starting point is 00:05:16 But then they ended up being so thin that you couldn't kind of end up doing this. Now, as far as what you're trying to add and the common theme that we're going to try to go with, not every player I'm going to list here in this upcoming portal targets is going to hit each and every one of these, but we're going to try to hit at least a good majority of these. You're looking for athleticism. So that's at the guard position. You're looking for quickness. You're looking for speed.

Starting point is 00:05:37 You're looking for scoring ability, ability to create your own shot off the dribble, ability to make tough shots, ability to hit three-point shots and give this team a bit of extra spacing. Any of those and all of those that you can check off makes you a better fit for this team. And I think from Bill Self's perspective, obviously you'd prefer it to be at least not a sieve on defense, right? Like if you're an average defender, Bill Self would love you to be a great defender, but at least be average so you're not just completely

Starting point is 00:06:04 a mess out there that Bill Self is wanting to pull you every two minutes. Ideally, the guard is like six foot two, six foot three or taller because if you're playing next to DeJuan Harris, you don't want another short guard. Then again, Remy Martin was under six feet tall and you made that work. So I don't think that one is for sure, but I think it would be ideal if you're going to play that kind of two-guard lineup for both those guys to be, you know, six foot two plus, which DeJuan is like six one, six two. I also wonder if Bill Self leans into more power conference guys and power conferences is a little bit more flexible in basketball because, you know, Big East is power conference. That's not the case in football. Like there are certain conferences like the American Athletic Conference where it's pretty

Starting point is 00:06:43 close to being a power conference in basketball. You know what I mean? So I think he maybe leans that way, but maybe it's not precluded to that. All right, let's get into those targets, the top targets available, and then maybe some targets that could slide under the radar a little bit on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. Bracket already busted, tired of the same old daily fantasy grind where you make a roster

Starting point is 00:07:07 cross your fingers hope for the best or losing on the last leg of your pick them entry introducing better together the first cooperative daily fantasy platform where teamwork triumphs talent and you can play with your friends and not against them pick more or less on a real-time player stats strategize with your partner to boost your odds, and climb the leaderboard together. So grab a friend and join the social DFFs movement. Download Better Together Now from the App Store and sign up using promo code LOCKEDON

Starting point is 00:07:38 for a chance to win your share of $1,000 in cash prizes. Remember the code LOCKEDON because winning alone is fun, but it's better together. We're also brought to you by Fire TV, your destination for sports from live games to highlights to in-depth analysis. Fire TV offers amazing viewing experiences with smart TVs, as well as the Fire TV Stick that you can plug into your existing TV that provides access to millions of movies and TV episodes,

Starting point is 00:08:04 as well as free and live TV. Whether it's opening weekend for baseball or the college basketball tournament, you're going to want to have Fire TV recently created their Fire TV channels let you dive into all the game analysis, highlights, and more to keep up to date on all the latest in the world of sports, March Madness, NBA, MLB, and lots more. Not to mention great news, entertainment, gaming, travel, cooking videos as well. Check out Fire TV channels on Fire TV and Alexa devices. If you haven't checked out Fire TV channels, you should. To learn more, visit www.amazon.com slash locked on fire TV.

Starting point is 00:08:49 So we have four tiers of players and how we're going to do this. We'll start with tier one and tier two. So I'll explain the tiers tier one of transfer options available right now are guys that I view as immediate starters and not just immediate starters like all-league types right away. That they're not just coming in with, and I'm not saying they can't be all-league if they're not in Tier 1. I'm just saying the expectation if they come in from Tier 1 is that they would be all-league right off the bat. And so a perfect example of this would be Hunter Dickinson last year would have been a Tier 1 transfer pickup for Kansas Hunter Dickinson last year would have been a tier one

Starting point is 00:09:25 transfer pickup for Kansas, right? If you would have added like Graham EK, who had a ton of production, like he probably would have been a tier one transfer pickup and how I kind of viewed this for Kansas. As of right now, I actually don't have anybody in tier one for Kansas. Now, I thought about putting this guy in tier one. He's kind of, for me, borderline between tier one and tier two, but let's get to the tier two guys. There will be more guys that are added to the portal. I just didn't have anybody who I was like, yeah, if they get added to the team, they're going to automatically be like an all big 12 first team projected pick kind of right off the bat, but our tier twos, which tier two for me, I listed as probably a

Starting point is 00:10:02 starter. So that that's kind of like with Remy Martin, right? Remy Martin, honestly, Remy Martin would have came in as tier one, but ended up kind of being tier two, where it's like, well, he's playing starter level minutes in the games that did play at the end of the year. But, you know, he was kind of coming off the bench. So like, there's a chance you could come off the bench and still make a big impact, but most likely you're going to be a starter and a good chance to have a big impact and be a really good player. So the first one here is Zeke Mayo. He officially entered the portal today. Zeke Mayo is originally from Lawrence High. I saw him play in a state tournament game. It was his senior year and they lost in like the state quarterfinals. I'm pretty sure the dude had like

Starting point is 00:10:38 16 straight points or something in the fourth quarter, finished with like 40 points, but the team lost, just fell a little bit short, but he's been unbelievable since he hit the ground running, was on a team as a freshman that ended up making it to the NCAA tournament. He's been to the tournament now several times at this point. He was the Summit League Player of the Year. He's 6'4", is a combo guard, so he got good size there. He is somebody who puts up 20-plus points routinely. He's somebody who shoots the three ball really well, 39% this year for his career, 38.8% from three on almost 600 attempts through three seasons. So he's putting up a lot. He's a good rebounder for the guard position, good passer,

Starting point is 00:11:18 and especially as kind of an off guard in what you would be asking him to do. The questions there would be the defense side of the ball and the athleticism and coming from the Summit League where it has been a little bit harder for guys to play up, but I think he is everything that Kansas would need. You're looking for shot creation. You're looking for somebody to make shots. I think he'd be a perfect complement for DeJuan Harris. Another guy I have in there is Kanan Carlisle. He's a six foot three guard from Stanford. Played one year there. He has three years left to play. 11 and a half points per game as a freshman after coming in as a top 60 recruit in the country. Efficiency number is not great, only 32% from three, but over four attempts per game.

Starting point is 00:11:52 So you like to see the efficiency. Usually that's one thing that really rises as players go from freshman to sophomore year. It is in sophomore to junior. It is their three-point percentage. And the free throw percentage is good. The attempts show he has confidence in it. He was also 74th percentile per synergy in his defensive grade. He was 70th percentile in isolation scoring, 82nd in spot-up shooting.

Starting point is 00:12:14 Kanan Carlisle, good defender, 6'3". I think he's going to grow a lot in year two. And I think he would be an excellent complement as well. And that would be a really good defensive backcourt too with DeJuan Harris Harrison Carlisle. Not as much shooting though in what you're getting there, but I do think better than the numbers indicate. Colby Rogers, this is one that today,

Starting point is 00:12:32 according to Tobias Bass of The Athletic, Kansas has reached out in some form or fashion, but he spent two years at Cal Poly, one at Siena, most recently at Wichita State. He's 6'4", checks that box, only one year left to play, but 16.5 points per game for Colby Rogers. Really good shooter, 41% from three, including the year before. He was 43% from three, both years over six attempts per game. Only 51st percentile in defense, so he's about an average defender, and that was in the AAC, so it goes down a bit in the Big 12, but this dude is an elite shooter, 87th percentile in spot-up shooting,

Starting point is 00:13:06 86th in guarded catch-and-shoot, 85th percentile in unguarded catch-and-shoot. So he can make them contested. He can make them off the dribble a little bit. And he would also be a good – and because he's at least an average defender, like with Nick Timberlake, he came in as a bad defender. Well, he's at least an average defender here. He'll take it. Meachie Johnson, there's talk that he could end up at Ohio State

Starting point is 00:13:28 going back home where he originally was, but he just put up 24 points in the tournament game for South Carolina. Six-foot-two guard, over 14 points per game, four or six seed in the NCAA tournament. Efficiency is not great, kind of an above-average defender, but he is somebody who can get his own shot, so I like him. Doug McDaniel, this one you have to worry a little bit about the size, 5'11 from Michigan. He'll have two years left to play though. So that's always an added bonus. Over 16 points per game, almost five assists,

Starting point is 00:13:54 37% from three on almost six tries per game. He's a good shooter. Another guy who can create his own shots off the jumper, 76 percentile in dribble jumpers, also 94th percentile in guarded jumpers. So you're looking for guys that can make tough shots. Doug McDaniel can do that. If you add him, do you have to worry at all if you have a lineup with Doug McDaniel and Hunter Dickinson that you would basically have 40% of your starting lineup possibly at that point would be from a Michigan program that the last two years hasn't made the tournament?

Starting point is 00:14:22 Is that worrisome at all? I don't know. Jacoby Gillespie from Belmont. He has two years left to play last two years hasn't made the tournament. Is that worrisome at all? I don't know. Jacoby Gillespie from Belmont. He has two years left to play after two years there. Over 17 points per game, over four assists, 56% from the field, 39% from three on over four threes per game. He went eight of 17. That's 47% versus Ken Palm top 50 teams.

Starting point is 00:14:40 Small sample size, but that's at least encouraging. He was in the 85th percentile defensively. So this is a good defensive guard, again, at a smaller conference. He was in the 96th percentile for pick and roll efficiency and 91st percentile for dribble jumpers on 72 tries, which is actually a good number there. So he's one that I think I've seen that Kansas had some sort of interest in and I think could be a nice transfer up from Belmont, even though Kansas hasn't had a ton of success with doing that, but a lot of other colleges have. Kim Carter, this one was weird. I don't know if this is going to happen coming from Kansas State. Maybe I shouldn't even talk about it. How often does that really happen? He's a good athlete. Efficiency wasn't great. He was

Starting point is 00:15:19 kind of a chucker, but obviously K-State had a good defense and he was part of that um but can you make him more efficient and he had a big jump from last year to this year can he have another jump next year i don't know maybe uh malik mac he was the like freshman of the year in the ivy league six foot one guard from harvard he'll have three years left to play that's a plus over 17 points per game for him 41 from the field 34 from three on high volume and yeah he does have like a maryland tattoo on his wrist and so people are just assuming he's going to go back home where he's from to maryland probably going to happen but if uh he is somebody who performed better against top tier opponents he had 18 points against boston college he had 27 points at indiana

Starting point is 00:16:00 he had 20 points against that yale team who won a tournament game. Not a great defender yet, but he was 73rd percentile in scoring in isolation settings. And a young player, I like him to make that jump up. Isaac McBride I put in here, but I don't need to go into it a little bit more because based on how he left Kansas, I don't think he's going to come back to Kansas and expect more. But hypothetically, if, I don't know, no bridges were burned and everybody found that amenable, I think he'd be a really good player for Kansas. Averaged like 20 a game last year at Oral Roberts and can certainly get his own shots. Now, if I'm picking specifically, if I'm like, which one of those do I want the most?

Starting point is 00:16:34 It's probably Zeke Mayo and Colby Rogers just because, you know, I want the shooting. I want the shot creation. It felt like that was missing from this Kansas team this year. But you can't go wrong with Cannon Carlisle, who I think is going to – you look at the stats, again, the efficiency is not great, but I think it's going to project to be a lot better next year, and you also get the defense. So I still wouldn't hate that one either.

Starting point is 00:16:56 But still more targets that are going to be coming, including our next two tiers. Let's get to that in a moment here with Locked on Jayhawks. Before we do that, I did want to mention also, you might be wondering, like, there have been some good guards that have entered the portal, like Kobe Johnson, Ortega Owe, Terrence Edwards Jr. I counted some of these players for wings.

Starting point is 00:17:14 So if there's a certain player you think is maybe a good guard, but they might be kind of a wing, assume they'll probably be on wings, which will be on tomorrow's show. 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 Michigan State Spartans can only be described as a pathfinder. They've been thrilling to watch and really created a lane for themselves after knocking off Mississippi

Starting point is 00:17:50 State in the first round. Even though they did drop to North Carolina in round two, Tom Izzo able to get another win as a worse seed than his opponent. Many question if they even deserve the spot in the big dance, and yet they found themselves into the second round before falling in that game. Take the Nissan Rogue, Nissan Pathfinder, or Nissan Armada and go find your next big adventure. Shop NissanUSA.com. Passion, drive, and patience are what brings home the winning trophy is also what keeps your ride or die alive. eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to peak performance from superchargers, roof racks, exhaust kits, LED headlights, and more. Whether you're into speed, power, or style, eBay Motors has got you covered. With over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die, you'll always

Starting point is 00:18:34 find exactly what you're looking for. And with eBay Guaranteed Fit, your parts guaranteed to fit your ride every time or your money back. Because with eBay Motors, you're burning rubber, not cash. With all the parts you need at the prices you want it's easy to turn your car into the mvp and bring home that win keep your ride or die alive at ebaymotors.com eligible items only exclusions apply ebay guaranteed fit only available to u.s customers so we're going to get on to our tier three and tier four and keep in mind i am going a little bit fast through some of these names. So I apologize for that. But we only have a limited time here.

Starting point is 00:19:07 And there are a lot of names in the portal. Also, there's more guards, I think, than some of these other positions. And I think that's more of a position of need. So going through some of these, it's going to take a little bit longer. I will be doing more deep dives on specific players. And then we'll do my favorite five or favorite 10, whatever it ends up being. Once the players get like, if there's an official offer out or there's a visit out there, we'll try to get more of a deep dive on the specific player and go more in depth on that

Starting point is 00:19:33 player. This is more, I guess, kind of surface level stuff. So our next tier is tier three. This is a possible starter, but at the very least it's a rotation piece. So these are guys that I viewed as, yeah, if you came in, I don't know if you would start right away. You very well could. You'll be in competition with it with Elmarco Jackson and LeBaron Phylon should Elmarco come back. So you'll have an opportunity.

Starting point is 00:19:55 But it also wouldn't be crazy if one of those guys started over you and then you came off the bench. But either way, you are a part of the rotation. So you're good enough to make an impact on this team and I thought about making this guy tier two he was close for me but I'm going DJ Davis first he's a transfer from Butler three years at UC Irvine one at Butler where Butler the Bulldogs had a pretty good year last year with Thad Mata one year left to play 13 and a half points per game over three rebounds two and a half assists over steal 43 percent from the floor 35 from three so you know

Starting point is 00:20:26 you like to see it 38 40 three but high volume 5.8 per game 95 at the free throw line for dj davis and over this four-year career he's looking closer to 37 from three and 89 at the free throw line and what gets me is he had go off potential and i think that can be really important for a team if you are someone especially that's coming off the bench, or if you are, you know, one of the fourth or fifth starters, do you have the ability to just go off and take over a game when some of your other starters aren't, aren't feeling it because he had nine games this year with 20 or more points, including in some big moments in the big East, he had 22 points and 21 points in the two separate games they played against UConn,

Starting point is 00:21:06 and he went to combine seven of 14 from three against the defending champs. Honestly, the more I think about it, this guy should be tier two, but I think what knocked it down for me, he's only 39th percentile on defense. He's only six foot one, so you wonder about that, but I find it, I don't know, very interesting how good he was in spot-up shooting. Not really as much of an ISO shooter, 43rd percentile there, but he is a really good scorer if you could add him to the unit. And if he was playing a Remy Martin role where he's giving you 20, 25 minutes as a co-starter slash bench guy, I think he'd be very, very good in that. Corrin Johnson is a six-foot-two guard from Washington. He has two years left to play, so bonus there.

Starting point is 00:21:46 Over 11 points per game. He obviously was at the power level, 44% from the floor, 37% from three, three and a half attempts per game. He actually came off the bench. He won the Pac-12 sixth man of the year for Washington, and 55 of his 60 games he played for Washington came off the bench. And that can actually be a plus because in today's day and age of the transfer portal, when you're looking for players, there are going to be some players who don't want to come off the bench.

Starting point is 00:22:12 And maybe he's transferring because he wants to become a starter. Maybe he's transferring because the coach got fired. Who knows? But if he is comfortable coming off the bench, that almost makes him more appealing to me because it's like you do have to add some players on your roster, not just the players that you want to make an impact in the starting lineup but you need to add players who are comfortable coming off the bench and aren't gonna you know make headaches for the staff and the rest of the players that oh woe is me I'm coming off the bench if you find somebody who's comfortable doing that that is such a boon to have on your team only 35th

Starting point is 00:22:41 percentile in uh defensive rating on synergy but 93rd percentile in spot-up shooting, and then Korn Johnson would be a nice addition. Dante Maddox Jr. Again, this is another guy I thought about making Tier 2, kind of a flex between the two, but he spent two years at Cal State Fullerton, two at Toledo, averaged 15.5 points per game last year, 40% from three on five and a half attempts.

Starting point is 00:23:02 And for his career, he's over 40% from three on 444 tries. Also 79th percentile on defense, albeit against the Mac. And according to Sam Kayser of 24-7 High School Hoops, not related to 24-7 sports, he has heard from Kansas. And also 97th percentile in unguarded catch and shoot. Not as much of an ISOo guy but i think with the translation that ray j dennis had last year from toledo to baylor you it really gets your eyes going and what dante maddox could bring to the table i think that would be a good get jamal

Starting point is 00:23:34 mashburn jr he's got the name with uh you know former nba lineage with the dad over 14 points per game had to create his own shot a lot but but not very efficient. 36% from the floor, 32 from three. Was it 38% from three the year before? Also 66 percentile in defense on synergy. So that's well above average at that point in time. But not really ranking well in efficiency. But he is a guy who can get his own shot. Started his career at Minnesota, so he is a high major level player. J.P. Pegues, I believe is the the pronunciation from Furman, is in here too. He

Starting point is 00:24:05 has one year left to play. 18 and a half points, almost five assists, 42 from the floor, 36 from three on seven and a half three-point attempts per game. He had 22 in their conference semis against that Samford team that nearly beat Kansas. The thing that has me a little bit lower on him, because the stats would tell you maybe he's a tier two um is that he went just six of 24 combined in their two nc double a tournament games last year he had 11 and 10 points in two games 54th percentile in defense and he was only 15th percentile in guarded catch and shoot which yes you are looking for somebody to hit unguarded ones if they're going to be the fourth option hypothetically around hunter dickinson and duan and whoever else, right?

Starting point is 00:24:46 But also Kansas needs somebody who can hit tough shots and that's not quite the case, but he still has a good enough production that I think you'd be an interesting at. And then that brings us to tier four. Tier four is our bench player tier, which this could be a couple things. For some guys, it could just straight be a bench player. Like you're a rotational player. Like you're a outside of when Kevin McCuller was hurt and Nick Timberlake was starting you're what Kevin McCuller is this year where you're basically the seventh guy and you're gonna play

Starting point is 00:25:12 handful minutes and get some shots up or you're a developmental player these ones will go a little bit quicker on sincere Parker absolute lightning score at St.. Dude averaged 16 points per game and 21 minutes per game. Only 12th percentile on defense, but ignore that. KD Johnson from Auburn. He's somebody who has made Auburn fans pull their hair out at times because he takes some tough shots at inopportune times. But I think if you're comfortable having him come off the bench, I've seen what Jaden Bradley, the transfer from Alabama,

Starting point is 00:25:41 who wasn't like a great shooter, has done for Arizona. He's a bench guard for them who comes in and just applies pressure, plays great defense, and he's a good facilitator. I think with KD Johnson, if you brought him in with the idea of, and he was comfortable with this, of playing 15, 20 minutes a night off the bench and just being a hellraiser defensively and a ball pressure defensively guy who can hit the occasional shot and can hit the occasional off the dribble shot. I mean, for his career, he's at 10 points per game on 31% from three. So not horrible. Then I would actually be very much okay with that. Connor Segan at Wisconsin, bad year this year, only three points per game. I don't know what happened there, but as a freshman,

Starting point is 00:26:17 it was like 12 points per game on 36% from three. Doesn't have good defensive ratings on synergy, but that'd be a great bench shooter. And he two years left to play gibson jimerson great name that sounds like a key and peel sketch guy uh he'll be in his sixth year college experience a plus from st louis 36 from three last year but career is at 14 points per game in five seasons almost 40 from three he's basically a slightly better defensively less donkey more consistent from three at a better conference level version of Nick Timberlake, if that kind of makes sense. So I guess that one doesn't hurt, but yeah, maybe me saying that, I don't know. Alston Mason, former Blue Valley Northwest guy, actually played with Landon Brown, the youngest brother of the Brown family, so maybe a connection

Starting point is 00:27:00 there. Missouri State started his career at OU, so had that high major talent. Last year, 17.5 points per game at Missouri State, 35% from three, 54th percentile on defense, so kind of above average there. And he was in the 77th percentile in spot-up shooting, 85th percentile in catch and shoot shooting. He's 6'2", so I think that one will work. Jaden Stone is 6'4", from Detroit Mercy. Now that's a college that they just run high tempo, and they just kind of chuck.

Starting point is 00:27:26 So 21 points per game. It comes on 31% from three. But Sunrise Christian Academy kid, also from Australia. Not sure if there's any connection there with Johnny Furphy. Only 12th percentile on defense, but 70th percentile in isolation scoring on solid volume and 35% from three in his career. So definitely want to watch there. Layton Blocker didn't play a ton at Arkansas last year, on solid volume and 35% from three in his career. So definitely want to watch their laden blocker.

Starting point is 00:27:45 Didn't play a ton at Arkansas last year, but a guy that you were kind of in on to some extent at the high school level, former four-star top 40 recruit out of sunrise Christian. So that's one that maybe could be more of a developmental guy. Leland Walker at Eastern Kentucky. He was a four-star according to ESPN and he went to Eastern Kentucky. Now he's unranked by 24, seven and rivals.

Starting point is 00:28:04 That's kind of weird. Only 30th percentile in defense but somebody who averaged 15 and a half points per game for Eastern Kentucky last year 34 percent from three former highly recruited by at least one side there in two years left to play I don't know maybe kind of interesting I want to mention this guy real quick Primo Spears I don't know it'll be on his fourth school in four years. And his previous three schools all went 30 and 65 the years he was there. But Kansas kicked the tires on him last year. And for his career, he's at 13.3 points per game. If he's comfortable coming off the bench, which he did all of last year, then maybe that's something because it seemed like the big reason why Kansas kind of halted the brakes on him was,

Starting point is 00:28:43 hey, you're a two-time transfer and we don't know how that's going to work. Well, now it's just open game. You can transfer as many times as you want, and boom, you're on the roster, and you don't have to worry about sitting out. So maybe they'll kick the tires again on that. But after another kind of May year at a different school, I guess Florida State was above 500. They were 17 and 16. But I did want to bring it up because they at least had some level of interest last year. Like I said,

Starting point is 00:29:06 that was going quickly through some of this stuff. We'll get more in-depth on players as we go along here. Tomorrow will be a little bit easier because there's not as many names on the wing list. We'll get to our big man list of transfer portal targets for KU. This has been Locked on Jayhawks.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Offseason Guard Breakdown + Transfer Portal Targets

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.