Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Basketball One of Two Finalists for 5-Star Forward Mackenzie Mgbako

Episode Date: May 11, 2023

Class of 2023 5-star forward Mackenzie Mgbako has narrowed his list down to two schools: the Kansas Jayhawks and the Indiana Hoosiers. Where are things at for KU and Mgbako, what to expect, and what's the impact of if he picks Bill Self versus choosing Mike Woodson.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, Mackenzie Mbako, top 10 recruit, five star. He's down to two schools, Kansas and Indiana. Let's discuss. 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 hear me as well, Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. on KLWN in Lawrence with Rock Chalk Sports Talk.

Going on with RCST Trivia right now. That's a good time. Thanks for making Locked on Jayhawks your first listen every day. We are free and available wherever you get any of your podcasts. You can also find us, like us, subscribe to us on YouTube with Locked on Jayhawks. On today's edition of the show, Mackenzie Mbako is down to two schools, so we're going to be discussing the timeline here, what to expect,

when to expect in a decision, um, what happens if he picks KU versus what happens if he does not pick KU all that on today's episode of the show. So we'll start with this, uh, Andrew Slater tweeted out. And if you don't know who Andrew Slater is, he's, you know, he's, I don't know. I would almost call him a recruiting guy. He's not like a recruiting insider or anything from the standpoint of like, he's to break all this news but he is a recruiting insider in terms of like he just has relationships i don't know if he works with like the grassroots circuits or what but

very in the know like he has legit relationships with a lot of these different players and the players families or handler or whoever it is um and he sometimes will you know be used as um somebody who can give them good information right or can help them make a decision so uh he is very much in the know of this stuff and um i believe he's he's tight with the mckenzie and bacco like family their party kind of so to speak and uh all along like he's been kind of sending out stuff about you know the visits and stuff like that well he tweeted out yesterday that's down to two schools that it is down to kansas and that it is down to indiana um first of all in the pictures of of him being at the visit at kansas he's wearing the like it's the it's not like the like this like a cotton t-shirt under it like maybe you

used to see with like the pa Pierce's of the world and stuff. But he is wearing like the skin tight undersleeve. And I would just say there's been a long list of really good KU basketball players who wore t-shirts underneath their jersey. I mean, heck, I mentioned Paul Pierce, who's one of the greatest basketball players or one of the most accomplished NBA players who happened to go to KU of all time. Think back recently, like Sfi wore sleeves under.

And I mean, so all for it. If McKenzie Mbaka wants to wear a T-shirt, wants to wear sleeves underneath his jersey, because there have been a lot of great ones that have done that. But yeah, so he's down to two schools here. Originally, he had visited three. He was supposed to visit four. St. John's, then Kansas, then Indianaiana was supposed to visit louisville on friday um he will not be visiting louisville now i think that tells you the decision is soon now i again if you're like

oh he just visited indiana last like don't look into that at all because here's the thing nick timberlake visited kansas then he visited UConn, picked Kansas. Hunter Dickinson visited Kansas, then he visited Kentucky, then he visited Villanova, picked Kansas. Don't read into when the order of the visits occurred. And I think Kansas feels like they're in very good shape here. I mean, I don't know. I guess we don't totally know what's going to happen.

You never really do with recruiting. A lot of weird stuff can happen. But I think Kansas is in a very good spot here for McKenzie and Baco. And obviously, again, that doesn't guarantee it. So we'll talk about what happens if they do land him, if they don't land him. But I think the fact that he canceled his visit for friday and means that he doesn't have any other visits scheduled you can obviously eat that and say well a decision is coming soon now how finalists were announced yesterday um does that mean we're going to get

a decision later today does it mean we're going to get a decision on friday does it mean we're going to get a decision this weekend no idea but I would be shocked if we haven't heard a decision by, let's say, the end of next week, and that feels way too long. I feel like most likely we're going to hear a decision for this in the next couple of days. I feel like, I don't know, that's not me knowing anything. That's just based on the timeline and trying to connect dots here. Do you narrow your finalists to two?

Do you cancel visits? You know, take some extra time to decide, okay, by the time we get to whatever, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, it'll have been, you know, multiple days, almost a week since you've been on your last visit and had all these days to kind of figure everything out and decide. And if there already is a lean one way, then it makes it even easier to possibly make that decision.

So I think KU is in a good spot here, and I would expect the decision really anytime soon at this point in time. All right, let's get into what happens if he does pick KU versus if he does not in terms of the impact for the Jayhawks and the roster construction. But first, this episode of Locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by Built Bar. Are you looking for a delicious snack but don't want all the sugar and calories? Then you need to try the best protein bar ever, best tasting protein bar ever with Built Bar. It's going to help you with eating healthier, not eating, you know, some bad snack for you during the day, but it's still going to fill you up, and it tastes good too. It's covered in 100% real chocolate, real dark chocolate, and they have unbelievable flavors. Any of these things sound good to you because they should. Churro, peanut butter

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Well, I think, first of all, it would round out the roster. It would not complete the roster. You have 12 scholarship players, essentially, in what we're envisioning it to be and right now you have 10 scholarship players under roster whatever you want to call it between the two transfer additions you've done with timberlake and dickinson between the four freshmen you have coming in with johnson mcdowell jackson and adams and then you have four returning players um no three returning players, right? I feel like I'm missing someone.

Oh, I missed the transfer of Artaria Morris. There we go. So three returning players, Dwan Harris, Ernest Uday, KJ Adams, and then your three transfers coming in. So that gets you to 10. So at this point, if you add McKenzie and Baco, there's your 11th player. So you'd have one more scholarship. It would not complete your roster construction necessarily, but it feels like it would round out the roster in terms of being the

cherry on top. Realistically, McKenzie and Baco, if you land him will be the final like rotation piece that you get. If you add another player with that other scholarship, it feels like that would be more of a developmental player, a long-term player, maybe somebody for depth,

maybe somebody for, you know, added just in case of emergency it feels like this would be the last move to really kind of supplant the rotation and a player that would compete to be in that rotation and or start right he would be the final rotation piece he would also be kind of the the cherry on top right you already have yourself a nice ice cream sundae whether mckenzie and bacco picks you or not, you're going to have a really good team. And part of the discussion, the decision for him is, do I want to go join this really good team and maybe not be option number one or number

two, but still have an opportunity to make a big impact on a really winning team? Or do I want to go to Indiana and be maybe the number one or number two guy, right? I'm going to have more opportunity, but the team might not be as good. And, you know, that's something that every kind of player and recruit has to struggle with, what they think is best for them, what they think is best for their pro potential, what they're going to most enjoy, all that sort of stuff. But obviously for Kansas, they're going to be like even without Mbaka right now, they're number one on Bartorvik. Now, if you add Mbaka, they get even better.

They do. They go up from being the number one offense to being the number one offense with a wider margin. They go up from being the number four defense to being the number three defense. So they do get better with Mbaka, but he is the cherry on top. You can win a title without McKenzie Mbaka. You can win a title with McKenzie Mbaka. You can win a title with McKenzie Mbako. Gets a little easier if you have Mbako,

but either way, you're in that discussion. So he is the cherry on top. He's not necessarily a necessity like maybe Hunter Dickinson was to get to that discussion, but he's a luxury. And boy, would he be a great luxury. I don't mean for what I've said the last minute or two to discount,

you know, oh, it's not that important. You get them. No, it's very important. You get them. Don't you want to increase your margin for having a better chance to win a title, even if it only increases your chance of winning it all by 2%? Those extra 2% are worth it in an NCAA tournament where every little percentage, every slim margin matters in a single elimination tournament. And he would be such a perfect fit for this roster in theory for what he would do we did our mckenzie and bacco deep dive i don't know a week or two ago check that out i think it's titled how mckenzie and bacco would fit in with the kansas jayhawks you can find that wherever you get your podcast or on youtube um he is somebody who

expected to come in and be a really good shooter. And he's 6'8", low 200 pounds. I think ideally he's playing the four for you, but he is still a five-star prospect at 6'8". Could you get away with playing him some at the three? Absolutely you could. So you would be able to kind of tinker between lineups of playing three little guards sort of or playing, you know, two little guards and two wings, which would be nice.

You could have that flexibility based on, you know, what works best for you, who you're going against that game, the matchup, whatever. You could also add the shooting of McKenzie and Baco. Now, you never totally know how freshman's going to translate, right? It worked with Grady Dick, didn't really work with MJ Rice, and, you know, with, like, you go back, Quinton Grimes, he was a top-ten recruit. Like, the shooting was very hit or miss. I almost feel like that should be the expectation of McKenzie and Baco

when he comes in. Like, he'll probably have some games where he goes off from three. He'll probably have some games where he really struggles in three. It'll be the inconsistencies. That's what we see a lot with freshmen. But if he's another option, at least out there that the defense has to guard and respect as being a good three-point shooter, that is the scouting report on him. Then that opens up the spacing and helps out Hunter Dickinson inside. It helps out KJ Adams or whoever else that you're playing them with. So because of his

shooting potential, you look at all the scouting reports. That's one of his big things that makes him a really good fit his versatility his ability to play minutes at the three or four which is what you're really looking for here that makes him a really good fit and then it doesn't hurt that he's a good rebounder right i mean you could you add mckenzie and bacco now you have kj adams who's a really good offensive rebounder not a great defensive rebounder but that was more so with him as the five where he was boxing out the five man and trying to let other people get the rebound now with hunter dickinson at the five i'd imagine kj will get better as a defensive rebounder but if you have kj who's a great offensive rebounder hunter dickinson who's a good rebounder on both ends kenzie abaco is a good rebounder on both ends this could be a really good rebounding kansas team and now that's one way to

make up for if you're only an average three-point shooting team, you just get more possessions by being a better rebounding team. He also should give you more athleticism. Never bad to have athleticism. They should have that in spades next season if you add Mbaka. You think about the speed and the quickness of Artario Morrison and Marco Jackson. Nick Timberlake has a little bit of bounce to him, too. KJ Adams is a good athlete, right? Like Ernest Uday coming off the bench, good athlete.

Any of the freshmen you bring in, Marcus Adams, Chris Johnsonari mcdowell like those guys are good athletes so uh you had him and it only adds to your athleticism um and so yeah he would just be kind of a perfect fit for you and everything you're looking for to kind of be that cherry on top of the roster at this point in time i think it would also further cement them as i was kind of talking about as the preseason number one right now. I think right now you probably will see certain people like, I think John Rothstein had Kansas at number four in his latest one, like behind Michigan state and Duke.

And I forget the other one right now. You'll see some places like Bart Torvik has them number one, even without him, but you'll see some places that maybe do still have Duke in front of them or one of those other schools to where they are in that one to four range pretty consistently at this point in time you add McKenzie and Baco I don't really think it's a debate at that point I think at that point you are just the number one team right like that's going to be pretty consensus across the board like sure maybe it'll be more one to two range as

opposed to one to four now where you still might have some people being like, no, but I love this Duke roster. But I think more consensusly, you will see them as number one. And how much does that really matter? As I was talking about, I think every inch that you want to gain, you go for. And preseason number one isn't the be all end all. It's not everything that matter to me. I think the 2018-19 team, they were either number one or number two in the preseason poll, and that didn't work together. Now, it took some stuff happening,

Leggero Vick getting kicked off the team, and Yudoka Azubuke being out for the season after like the ninth game of the year, for all that to come together and everything not to click there. And clearly there were some pieces on that roster that ended up being on the next year's team that were good enough to be the number one team in the country. So on paper, it doesn't always correlate with you

know everything else but i mean you'd rather have it on paper right you'd rather be expected to be good because just because that does leave the opening for you to underwhelm to expectations it's it's like the the phrase for kansas you know no pressure no diamonds if you're not expected to be good that's not ideal because that means that you didn't do something right so uh yeah i think that would be the case pretty clearly it would just kind of further cement them as that number one or number two spot and then they would still have a scholarship open what would they do with it i don't know but i think it would further cement to the idea that okay you have if you look at the the three guards you have with duan el marco

and arterio morris then you look at nick timberlake as with DeJuan, El Marco, and Artario Morris, then you look at Nick Timberlake. As far as just players that you feel like are going to be in the rotation, you're already at four right there. KJ Adams, that gets you to five. Hunter Dickinson, Ernest Uday is the backup center. That gets you to seven players as part of the rotation. Mackenzie Mbako would get you to eight. Now, typically we see a Bill Self team,

maybe over the course of the regular season, play nine guys. Maybe a tenth guy will come in for a few minutes as they're mixing matching at the beginning of the year. But realistically, during the regular season, it's nine guys. Once you get into the thick of things during big 12 play and the NCAA tournament, it's really eight guys with maybe a ninth guy coming on. And sometimes it even gets down to seven guys with an eighth guy coming on. So realistically, if we say eight is the rotation, you add in Baco, as I just mentioned, there's an eighth guy coming on. So realistically, if we say eight is the rotation, you add Mbako, as I just mentioned, there's your eighth guy. Now, what would that mean for, I don't know, Chris Johnson,

Jamari McDowell, and Marcus Adams? I don't know. Could they expand it out one extra shot? Possibly. But that would kind of just be the final piece, so to speak, I guess would be the pickup there. Let's finish up with Locked on Jayhawks. What happens, though, if he does end up picking Indiana? So if he ends up picking Indiana and Mackenzie Mbako ends up not going to Kansas, what would that mean for KU? I think at that point, even though as much as I said,

you would still with or without him will be a national title contender. It still would be kind of a huge loss because you look at who's available at this point and there's not a ton of other options to go to on the wing. Look at the available freshmen. I think among the top 40 freshmen available right now, the only ones that are available are Mbako and Ron Holland. And yes, ideally, you could be like, well, if we missed Mbako, let's do everything we can to get in on Ron Holland.

And if that worked out, then that'd be great because Ron Holland is very good. But it sounds like Ron Holland might be going to like Arkansas or the G League Ignite. And that, I don't know how much of a chance KU would have there. Then you look at the transfer portal. Most of the three and four options are gone. Do you, do you bring in a guy like Grant Nelson from North Dakota state? Who's more of a true power forward center type. And you just play two slow bigs next to each other. I don't know that that's the best thing to do necessarily. Do you go out there and bring on a guy like dj rodman the son of dennis rodman who's like this six six uh wing type who's really good at shooting threes transfer from washington state right like there are a couple options out there but there's none nearly to the level of what you would expect

or the potential with mckenzie and bacco and there's not a ton of them left at this point and who knows what the nba draft guys if anybody comes back I don't know if they have to enter by uh you know May 11th or what the deal is with that but um it would be a big loss in terms of just well the options are kind of depleting there for you to have that cherry on top um you still would have the pieces to win it all you just basically this commitment is you wanting to have your cake and eat it too and you would basically at that point just have your cake and not be able to eat it right does that make sense like uh this is kind of that that push you over the top type of move so if he ends up picking indiana it's probably because of maybe he has a relationship there with

mike woodson or maybe it's just about the opportunity for the bigger role there um because he comes into kansas and you're competing for a starting spot. He might end up starting over KJ Adams. He might start next to KJ Adams. I don't know, but he has to compete for it, right? It's not like just a given necessarily. The Indiana, it feels like it is more of a given that he would probably be a starter. So you would understand that.

But then at that point, going back to the idea of, you know, there's not a ton of other options out there at this point. KU would still have two scholarships open to fill with not a ton of other options to go to, which, you know, seems like not a lot of them are wing or those three, four options available for you. And so at that point, you almost wonder if KU would just go all in on, you know, like developmental players or something like that and how that would work out with the scholarships that if McKenzie Mbako doesn't pick Kansas, there's not those logical candidates or that logical candidate to try to fill that last roster spot. And at that point, you could even say rotation spot, but I think probably you would just be like, well, Marcus Adams would just fill into that. and that would make some sense um but with imbaco

you're talking about a top 10 recruit with adams you're talking about what the 45th recruit in the country to which i'll have something coming out on this later but um guys who are not like top i think it's top 25 or top 30 recruits under Bill Self. It is very rare that they are like starting a bunch of games or, you know, playing a bunch of games or something like that. So, yeah, it's not the end of the world if he ends up picking Indiana. But certainly it feels like there's not a ton of other options out there. And this is the opportunity to kind of get over the hump. That'll do it, though, for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. We'll be back on Friday's episode.

We're going to do a deep dive on Flory Badunga, who is visiting KU. He's one of the highest rated recruits for the class of 2024. There's been some talk about could he reclassify? Could that be the last scholarship they would use? I don't know how realistic that is, but we'll discuss on next episode

of the show. You can find Locked on Jayhawks wherever you get any of your podcasts. You can like, and subscribe to us on YouTube. You can also hear me as well. Rock chalk sports talk Monday through Friday at three o'clock on a KLWN and Lawrence. Thanks for making locked on your first listen every day. We'll see you next time on LOJ.