Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Preview: An Incomplete Roster Led by Darryn Peterson & Flory Bidunga

Episode Date: June 19, 2025

Kansas Jayhawks Basketball: Rebuilding a Dynasty? Bill Self's squad faces a critical juncture after recent underperformance. Can the Jayhawks reclaim their Big 12 dominance?Locked on Jayhawks' host Derek Johnson joins Locked On College Basketball host Isaac Schade to dissect Kansas' roster changes, coaching dynamics, and challenging schedule. They explore how incoming stars like Darryn Peterson might reshape the team's fortunes. The discussion covers Bill Self's adaptability, Jacque Vaughn's potential impact, and the Jayhawks' daunting non-conference slate featuring North Carolina, Duke, and UConn. Johnson offers insider perspectives on Kansas' evolving strategy and potential dark horse status for the upcoming season with Flory Bidunga returning.Will the Jayhawks' new pieces fit together for a return to national prominence? Listen for expert analysis on Kansas' path back to the top.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGEfor $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply. Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE at www.monarchmoney.com/lockedoncollege for 50% off your first year.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.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)

The Jayhawks haven't dominated the Big 12 in typical fashion the past couple years. It's time for Kansas to be Kansas again. You are Locked On Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey there, what's up? Happy Thursday. Welcome into the Locked On College Basketball podcast. The only daily national college hoop show out there. I'm your host, Isaac Shade.

You're joining me at the place to get your college basketball content every single day. It's all part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Thanks so much for making us your first listener watch to get your Thursday going the right way. Wanna remind you that you can catch every episode ad free on Amazon Music. Today's episode is brought to you by Monarch Money.

Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKDONCOLLege at MonarchMoney.com for 50% off your first year. Want to say a special shout out to all the everydayers here with us today. All the great members of the Locked On College basketball discord as well. It's great to have you. Today on the show. We're just taking a big fat rock chalk Jayhawk look at what's going on in Lawrence right now. Just a couple of

hours up the road from where I live in Joplin, Missouri and joining us to help unpack that is the great host of Lockdown Jayhawks. Mister Derek Johnson, DJ. It's great to be with you buddy. Excited to talk Jayhawks and that's what we're gonna do today. We're gonna look at at these back to back seasons of historically uncharacteristic results that we've seen from the Jayhawks. Can Bill Self get things back on track? Is Jaques Vaughn coming in? Is that an indicator of things to come? We'll look at the interesting personnel goings on, including like, hey, there's some more roster spots to fill out here. And then we'll look at the schedule. The non con is out for Kansas

and we know the big 12 opponents as well. So we'll make some predictions. Derek, let's start there though. I want to see Kansas get back to being Kansas. Like what a crazy streak of dominance it had been. What in your opinion has led to these atypical results the past two seasons? Well, if you want to talk from a personnel standpoint, I think you could view it a couple of ways. One was a lack of fitting roster. Another one, you could look at it as misses in evaluations of your talent. So the first end of that is the lack of fitting roster.

We saw Dewan Harris as the starter on a national championship team. We saw KJ Adams as the starting center on a team that was a one seed that you know, I know they lost in the second round, but that had Bill Self been healthy, maybe they make it a little bit further. I know UConn was standing in their way if they make it past the second round. But then you also look at it in Hunter Dickinson and like he was a very productive player who in his freshman season of Michigan went to the Elite Eight and But then you also look at it in Hunter Dickinson and like he was a very productive player

who in his freshman season in Michigan went to the Elite Eight and was on one of the best teams in the country. Each individual player was a successful player if you put the right pieces around them. But I don't think they fit together. When you had KJ next to Hunter, it clogged up the lane and took away some of Hunter's effectiveness.

But also, you know, from KJ's perspective, he was a good defender who, you know, brought certain things that maybe got taken away in other ways by having Dewan Harris on the floor, right? Because with KJ, if he's a non-shooter, you have Dewan, who's not really a big shooter either. It's just all of those pieces, you can make it work in any way you want, but it was tough for those guys to work together, I think. So that's part of it. The other part is the misses and you can go back to the high school recruiting ranks where they missed on guys like Zach Clements and Kyle Cuff and even the guys that, you know,

like looking back, Zuby Ejiofer would have been a hit, ended up transferring away and having success at St. John's. You had some of the misses from the transfer portal. It seems like Bill Self has struggled a little bit there with whether it's finding the right guys. I think they've tried to change it up a little bit this off season or finding the guys that fit what he wants, right? It just didn't really work with AJ Stor and Ryan Lynn Griffin and Nick Timberlake and some of these guys. So I think a lot of it is a little personnel decisions, but kind of in different ways. Man, it's so, I love that take on it, Derek,

because it's like, it felt like all the individual pieces were there. I'm like, man, Ryanland Griffin was great in Tuscaloosa. How did that not translate? Timberlake coming over, I was like, oh, that's gonna, he's just gonna fill it up. Furfy was a late edition, obviously, but once he got going, he was more,

but it just took a while because of his late summer edition. And so I think you're right. Like it's just the individual pieces made sense. It was just a roster fit issue and that was a big bummer. So then my question, Derek, and I know we want to get to personnel more heavily in the second segment. So if this is the answer to this question,

say pass and we'll get to it. But how do the Jayhawks remedy those issues? Well, I think they made a concerted effort in the off season, looking more for fit than necessarily just getting the most talented guy, the highest ranked guy in the recruiting rankings, right? Finding somebody who is going to fit into a specific role, and I think more than just fit into a specific role,

trying to find somebody that would be in the Bill Self circle of trust. Like, that is a very real thing. If you're not in that circle of trust, you're going to have a quick hook in games. And so, like, we saw that for instance, Griffin and AJ store, where like, if because they weren't in that circle of trust, and it's like, what else are you bringing to the table besides scoring, if they made a big mistake, like if you made a mental mistake, not being in the right spot or

making a mistake on defense, maybe you know, you should have box somebody out and got a rebound, he didn't, they were straight to the bench, right? Like it wasn't really a three strike approach. It was usually a one or two strike approach to getting that quick hook. And then that just kind of felt like it led to a lack of those guys having, I don't know, like a positive mentality coming in. Like you just don't have the same confidence. You can understand that a little bit as a player.

Looking at what we've done in the portal this year, it's almost been a little bit less focused talent and less focused on just fine. Like you could make the argument this team needs more shooting. In fact, I think they do need more shooting based on where the roster is right now. But is basically it's almost like he's steering into what like Michigan State did last year. Louisville, St. John's did last year, whereas it's like, I don't think they're gonna be that poor three point shooting, but they're the thing we do really well. And I think Bill Self is like, you know what, if we have a below average three point shooting team, but we have dogs, we have guys that I can

trust that are going to defend that are going to be two way players that aren't just going to be one dimensional players, he's going to have a much better time. He's going to have much more time and it's going to be more to his identity, which his identity has worked in a lot of previous seasons of college basketball. I think so critical to what you said there is what we're seeing in this portal era. It's not about teams that have the best five individual players. It's about teams that can get the best five. I've taken to saying it recently just because they don't have a name doesn't mean they don't have game right like just

because it's not the sexiest guys in the portal doesn't mean you can't put a great talented group together that has all the right pieces in the right fit. So I love that from you DJ. I want to ask you about the head of the snake here, or I guess the head of Rock Chalk, as it were, because in my opinion, Bill Self is one of these singularly best coaches, like X and O's, personalities, managing all of that in the nation. But we've seen these couple back to back years. You mentioned the health scare a couple of years ago.

I'm still, man, like that just still shakes me when I think about it. Do you think that coach Bill self can get this thing back on track or is bringing in Jacques von kind of a signaling of what's to come in the next couple years? Well, I think he can get it back on track. Like I'm not gonna count against him. I'm not gonna. It is funny. I know it's more of the trend based on what has happened. It's also funny because looking back to the season two years ago when they got blown out by Gonzaga in the second round, like Kevin McColler was an All-American and he was out for the last, you know, several weeks of that season.

So I trust in Bill Self to get it figured out. Now, are they going to be back to being a one seed this year? That kind of remains to be seen. But I think he'll get it figured out to some extent. Now, does the way things are going in college basketball, does maybe that wear thin on you if you already are having some health stuff and you are a little bit older?

It might, it might. And maybe, you know, we are on the shorter timeline of how long Bill self-coaches this team. Maybe it's a year, maybe it's three years, maybe it's five, maybe it's seven, I don't know. Maybe he has so much fun this year coaching Darren Peterson. He's just like, I want to do this forever, right? So anything is kind of possible there.

As far as the Joch Von pickup, I think it's great. I mean, I know he wasn't the most successful NBA head coach, but just to be an NBA head coach, there aren't a lot of those jobs. Like you have to do something right to get one of those jobs. And we've seen plenty of college basketball coaches struggle at the NBA level and come back and have all sorts of struggle at the NBA level and come back and, you

know, have all sorts of success at the college level. To get a former NBA head coach as an assistant coach in college basketball, that's a home run for Bill South. Is it going to be the coach and waiting coach of the future? I've always heard that the athletic department at KU adores Jock Vaughn, and that even before this move that he would be considered for that future replacement. So I definitely think it's a possibility. I don't know that it would be the lead candidate, but I certainly think now that he's an assistant,

it certainly ramps up the opportunity that it could happen. And certainly, you know, you're a North Carolina guy, like getting to see what it's done with Hubert Davis. I'm sure there's been a little bit of mixed results. I go to a title game. You have a one seed another year, but you've also had some some lows with that. And obviously every situation is different. But yeah, I think it's a possibility. I don't know that I would make it the favorite to happen either. Yeah, that's really well said.

And it's an interesting like this is in my mind, the fourth notable time It's an interesting, like this is in my mind, the fourth notable time an NBA assistant or, you know, in coach Vaughn's case, coach Vaughn, that's weird to say still, a head coach has now come to the call of drinks. We saw with Kevin Young last year coming to BYU from being an NBA assistant. We've seen it now at Utah with Alex Jensen, a former Utah player coming back to be their head coach at Florida State with Luke Laux coming from being an NBA assistant to the head guy. And we see it here with Jacques Mon obviously coming to be an assistant, not the head man.

But yeah, I think it definitely has to track as a strong possibility. At very least, even if he stays on as an assistant to just help Kansas culture be a thing going forward. All right, great stuff there from DJ, love that. Now, part of getting Kansas basketball back on track as we've already talked about is having the right personnel in place. Have coach self and the staff been able to do that.

And I think there's a couple of slots left we still got to figure out DJ. We'll look at all of that mix coming up here in just a second. Right after I tell you about Monarch Money, do you ever check your bank account and wonder where did all my money go between dining out, online shopping, entertainment, trying to get tickets to be in Allen Field House for a big game?

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So join us. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKDONCOLLege at MonarchMoney.com for 50% off your first year. Again, that's MonarchMoney.com code LOCKDONCOLLege for half off your first year. DJ, I wanna talk now about Kansas personnel, because as you said, there've been some misses

in the transfer portal, guys, that maybe we thought would be able to just burn it up from outside, haven't been able to, other various things as well. So, you know, now we gotta start thinking about does this version of the Jayhawks have that right personnel in place? Several things to talk about, you know, El Marco Jackson hopefully coming back from injury well,

Flory Bedunga deciding to come back out of the portal, but I think where everyone wants to start is hearing about Darren Peterson, who for some people and some recruiting services has jumped over AJ DeBansa to be the number one player in this class. And so that's my question to you, Derek Johnson and Darren Peterson be the best player, the best freshman, excuse me, in America.

I think absolutely. And honestly, the expectations are are scaring me because they're so high but I'm buying into them too. I mean that game where Darren Peterson played DeBonse and they played each other a couple times last year but the one that everybody remembers is the one where DeBonse had like 50 points I think it was like 48, 50 somewhere in that range and Peterson had 61 and that was just an unbelievable and Peterson hit the game winning shot to move him past. I'm so excited for KUBYU. I don't know why they didn't schedule it twice. That's neither here nor there. But I think Peterson has that opportunity. He is just such a good competitor. He's

such a complete player in everything he does. And sometimes you have to be a little trepidatious with things because sometimes Bill Self gets a little excited with some of his offseason speech on players. And whether it's saying something that, I don't know, ramp them up or if he actually believes, I don't know. But he has continuously, and this is something he's said multiple times now, whether it was when he signed or recently, that he is the best incoming freshman that he's ever multiple times now, whether it was when he signed or kind of recently, that he is the best incoming

freshman that he's ever recruited to Kansas. And I mean, he's had Joel Embiid, he's had Andrew Wiggins, he's had you know, Josh Jackson was great as freshmen in Kansas, they've had other players who, you know, were McDonald's All-Americans, top 10, top 15, top 20 recruits who ended up being NBA players, right? That is very high praise. So yes, the hype meter is off the charts for Darren Peterson. I love that. And like, I know he gets all of that attention, but for a while, I've kind of liked Bryson Tiller. I know he fell off a little bit,

but but is he maybe being slept on a little bit because DP is so high in the rankings? So the short answer to that is it depends. And the reason why is I think the player itself, I like Bryson Tiller a lot, very skilled big man. I know a lot of people have mentioned like the ideal setup is he kind of is like one of the Morris twins that the Bills self had where he was flexible, kind of like forward center type that you can play.

The big thing for Tiller is to be about kind of basketball experience and injury. So tiller is coming off a ankle injury. He actually joined KU mid semester from OTE and took like a redshirt. But he hasn't played organized team basketball, he's not going to be cleared till the start of July. And it's been like over a year since he's been like on the court with like a real setting of basketball, not just like individual drills or workouts or something like that. So the big question is, obviously, you're

freshmen. So there's that hump that you have to get over. And then you just haven't played basketball in a little bit of time. But I do think from a skill standpoint, like, whether it's this year, whether it's in the future, I do think Kansas has something there with tiller. but yeah, it seems like some people are kind of pumping the brakes on it a little bit this year just because there is a lot to kind of overcome coming into this season. Interesting. Well, another guy who has had maybe a post hype sleeper is

Elmarco Jackson, a name that a couple of years ago, you know, everyone was high on coming into the year, wasn't able to really, another one of those guys with Timberlake in that season, that wasn't able to really fill it up like maybe we thought, had that unfortunate injury ahead of last year, speaking of tiller and injuries, what is kind of your hope and prognosis

for El Marco to step back in and hopefully really help this team? So El Marco was a really good defender as a freshman, but yeah, the other stuff, the game was way too fast for him. to step back in and hopefully really help this team. So Marco was a really good defender as a freshman, but yeah, the other stuff, the game was way too fast for him. He struggled shooting the basketball and everything. I always thought Marco would be a really good player by year three, but now we have that big injury in between

where it's like, do we have to delay it another year there? But I think he'll have a big impact on the rotation. There was a recent article with CJ Moore in the athletic where he talked to Bill Self. And Marco was killing it in the summer workouts last year in the summer practices, enough so that Bill Self said that he was in line to start on last year's team. So I guess he would have started over Rylan Griffin is maybe the estimation of how we

take that. But that means that maybe he was making that jump last year. Now, the big question is coming off a season ending injury. Does that offset the improvements that he's made where it's like he has to shake off the rest of the injury, even though he's a better player. So that'll be kind of interesting where that comes in. But I do think there's a big role for him on the team. I would expect him to play more than 20 minutes per game. I think he'll be a good defender. He's an athletic guard. The swing skill is going to be, I mean, one, does the game slow down now? But where's the shooting at? If he can shoot even 34%, he's such a good athlete that I think that

kind of opens up the rest of the game for him. And look, for me, perhaps one of the biggest gets is like keeping guys you've already got. And you mentioned the North Carolina for me last year for Carolina Seth Trimble went into the portal ended up coming back and I've I know like what a get that was for Carolina and so in that same vein I've been so excited that ultimately Flory Badunga decided to come back to Lawrence man I think that is massive and that's almost like getting a portal guy because you thought for a minute that maybe he wasn't going to come back. First off, can commentators please finally get his name right this year? I don't know how many variations of the doing, but do you know,

like, come on, man, but do go, let's go. But like, we've had this long lineage of phenomenal Kansas bigs, whether it's just like, dope getting like 70% from the field or whatever it is. Can Flory step up in that sort of a massive way to really anchor this team inside? I think he can. It's gonna be a little different because like the Doak comparison, people love that one because it's a big man who block shots, rebounds,

and you know, just dumps everything inside him. But they're different players in a lot of way. Doak was so strong. He was such a big dude with Flory. He's this freak athlete, like physically speed wise for the center position, agility wise, jumping, stuff like that. It'll be very interesting how it works

and like, can he avoid the foul trouble? Right now, Kay you only has two big men on the roster. It's Bryson Tiller and Flory Budunga. Now they have three scholarships open. So they're gonna add one maybe two big men still at this point in time. But I think he's gonna make a big leap. I think when you saw last year when he was in the starting lineup, when he got more opportunity when KJ Adams was hurt, there were some moments where you watched him and even before KJ was hurt,

there were some moments where he would have where he's like, oh, this dude is different. And it wasn't always consistent. But sometimes that's it for freshmen. Sometimes freshmen show flashes, they're just not consistent. So I think Flory is going to be a stud and like, the guy that I've been kind of copying it to is you go back to the 09 Kansas team, which had it was after they won the title, they had a Sean Collins step into a bigger role, he becomes an All-American

that would be kind of your Darren Peterson as a guard. And a bigger role. He becomes an All-American. That would be kind of your Darren Peterson as a guard. And Cole Aldridge went from McDonald's All-American who barely played on a loaded title team to all of a sudden being the starter, being a all-conference player, an all-defensive player in the country. And that's kind of the duo that I could see that twosome becoming for KU. Man, that would be good.

Well, and like one of the biggest issues is like you. You talked about Wani earlier and his lack of shooting, but man, what a mainstay he was of just being the engine that made this team go and just his ability to share the ball that that in some ways for me is like who steps in and does that? Is that Marco? Is that Marco? Is that Darren? Is there somebody else on the roster that can step in and just be the glue that holds it all together? Who is that DJ?

Well, so from like the assist leader, they've made it clear Darren Peterson is going to be handling the ball. He's going to be the point guard. You know, they say really your position is who you guard. So I think defensively Peterson, he's six five with a six 10 wingspan. He'll probably be guarding threes, but offensively he's gonna be the point guard. Now you have multiple other point guards.

So Marco Jackson, Melvin Council are on the rosters. That's they have other ball handlers, but that's been the best Bill Self teams. They have two or three ball handlers that they can play at one given time. As far as being like the glue guy specifically, I think Jaden Dawson is somebody I looked to who was a good three-point shooter,

good defender at Loyola Chicago. I think he'll kind of fill in in a lot of different ways for you. I think Trey White will be a little bit of a glue guy in terms of like he's not your traditional glue guy, but like he's a really good rebounder. He can defend a little bit. Like he just does a little bit of everything,

kind of a Swiss Army knife. I think those are the two guys that I look at and then Melvin Council as well who is somebody that you know, I don't know how efficient of a scorer or a shooter he's going to be but I think Bill Self is going to love him because that dude loves to compete and he defends his butt off and he's an athletic point guard that Bill Self has kind of comped to Tyshawn Taylor.

Oh man, that's a good throw. Man, Tysha, just all those names. That's great stuff. So we're gonna keep our eyes on, how does Kansas continue to fill out this roster? Will it be domestic guys? Will it be somewhere international? We'll have to watch and see what's gonna happen there.

But as Derek said, there are scholarships available. And so we will watch and wait and see how the Jayhawks round it all out. All right. Here's where we got to get to, to round off the show. We recently got the non-conference schedule announced by the Jayhawks. The big 12 recently put out the conference pairings. And so we know who Kansas is playing this year. Maybe not necessarily when and who and how, but man, it's going to be a lot of fun.

So we'll make some predictions and look at the schedule coming up in just a second. Isaac Shade, Derrick Johnson, the host of Locked On, Jay Hawks, we're talking Jay Hawks today. We've talked some personnel, we've talked about getting to Jay Hawks, back to being Jay Hawks and just making everybody think about playing for second in the Big 12. Where I wanna flip to now, Derrick,

is looking at the non-conference schedule. I love this exhibition game at Louisville and the Yum Center on October 24th. That's going to be great. The actual non-con schedule, remember the Big 12, after one year at 20 games is coming back to 18 everybody, so we'll keep our eyes on that. There's Green Bay in Allen Fieldhouse, so we'll see a little Doug Gottlieb coming in. That'll be fun. The return game at North Carolina the first Friday of the season, just like last year in Allen Field House, A&M Corpus, Princeton, who will be thankfully for the Jayhawks without Zavian Leeds now at Florida versus Duke in

the in the Champions Classic. We'll love that matchup. Players era TBD on that, but that'll be three games in Vegas. U Yukon coming to Lawrence, Kansas. I'm excited for that one on December 2nd Mizzou Obviously a T-Mobile in Kansas City as we always get a game at NC State Towson coming to Allen Fieldhouse and then wrapping it up with Davidson. So Derek I just want to ask you first about those obviously we don't know the opponents yet for players era, but of the 13 games, how do you like the mix of by games and high major teams and, you know, the strength and difficulty of this non-conference schedule?

Oh, I mean, I love it from a perspective of just getting to watch the games. Like, how could you not love playing these more difficult schedule? I know I know you want your team's record to be good and everything, but it is an entertainment product and don't you want to see your team? I mean, I just think back to that North Carolina game from last year too. How great of a game was that? I mean, it was high scoring.

It was back and forth. It went down to the final possession. You have two Blue Bloods and college basketball. That was awesome. We need more of that, and so it's awesome. On campus, like they're playing. Yes. Through campus games. that's the thing.

I wish the Duke game was was not just I know the champions classic this year, but I think back to last year when they decided to play in Vegas, like I want them to do a home and home and maybe that'll be coming at some point too. But yeah, they're absolutely great when it's campus. Man, good stuff there. Yeah. And as I mean, all these kind of blue bloods, you can in my opinion is in that blue blood conversation now. And so like at least three of those historic blue blood

teams that Kansas is playing each and every one of them now going to NC State in the first year of the Will Wade era. That's another true road game there. That'll be a lot of fun. And so looking forward to that. What do you think about UConn coming into Allen Fieldhouse? I think the Huskies should be back a little bit from where they were last year,

and so that should be a great game. Oh, yeah, I think that'll be a good one. I mean, they played two years ago, and Kansas actually beat UConn. And again, just one of those things where it's like, Kansas last year, even though they had a down year at Billself, got the worst seed they've ever gotten in the NCAA tournament under self,

they beat Duke, who, you know, for some you could argue was the best team in the country last year. And then the year before that, they beat UConn, who ends up winning the title. That was the game. Donovan Klingon's dad was mad because he got sat up there pretty high in Allen Fieldhouse. But yeah, it was a great game when they first met. And this is part of a home and home. Now they'll be going to stores coming up after this season as well. But yeah, that'll be a really fun one. That NC State one, too, adds a little bit of extra intrigue now because it seemed like Darian Williams was like it was like, oh, he might be going to Kansas.

I thought so. Yeah. And then NC State ends up winning him out in the end. So now that one, I think, becomes a little bit more interesting, too. Plus, it's always difficult to play on the road. Yes. Speaking of which, I love that the NCAA is allowing these great high level exhibition games that they don't have to be secret scrimmages anymore. And it's a great way to test yourself against other high level opponents, which is another true road opportunity going to the Yum Center against what I think is going to be another strong you Louisville squad. Pat Kelsey did a great job there in year one.

What do you just Derek at the at the like big picture level about these types of exhibition games going to test yourself on the road? Yeah, it hasn't worked out for KU the last two years in terms of like they lost both games. They got crushed at Arkansas last year. A little beat up coming to the game and then they lost a closer one at Illinois. But honestly, it kind of like looking back on it kind of showed that yeah, maybe this team's not as good as because they were preseason

number one. But I like the opportunity. I think it tests you early in the season and I think that'll be an awesome test specifically because of Louisville. I do think they're gonna have one of the best back courts in the country this year. And the five-star freshman, Mikel Brown, that dude's a stud. And that's going to be a really fun matchup with, I don't know how much they'll be guarding each other

specifically, but certainly with teams who switch, which everybody does now, you'll see some matchups with Peterson and him. So I'm really excited for that one for sure. And that place is going to be popping. So that's going to be a really good one. Yes. Oh my word.

That'll be great. Okay. So I know we don't know the three games of the players era festival, but assuming, you know, winning the by games Green Bay, A&M Corpus was called Princeton a by game Towson and Davidson. Let's call that five and oh, how do you predict right now? As we look at it, Kansas will fair in the other games.

So Truro game at North Carolina, Duke and the champions classic, Yukon, the border battle with Mizzou and at NC State. What do you predict for those five games? I think if you look at the at North Carolina and at NC State game, if you were to say they split between the two, I think you'd be okay with that. So that would put you a one and one there. With the Yukon game at home, the Duke game on neutral,

Missouri game on neutral, I think two and one would be reasonable there. A one and two wouldn't be shocking again. It kind of depends. Like is Kansas gonna end up being a top 10, 15 team or are they gonna be closer to like 20 to 25? Because then you're probably going want to do in that situation. But I think realistically, three and two, two and three

in that five game stretch is not crazy. The players era, again, we have no idea because I don't know who they're going to be playing. It's also weird because there's other big 12s who are like, what if Kansas plays Houston in the players era? Like, I don't know. That's going to be really weird with all that stuff happening.

So I think if you can get out of the non-con with three losses, I think you'd feel really good if you're Kansas. The tough thing to think here is like, there's a very real chance it's less than that. Because I mean, what if they do go only one or two losses? Because as much as these last two teams that they've had haven't been up to that kind of Kansas standard that we're used to, they still were really good

through the non-con. It was more in conference play when they fell off. Like again, they beat UConn, they beat Duke, they beat Michigan State last year in the Champions Classic. They beat a lot of these really good teams in the non-con. It was more after non-conference play when it kind of fell off a little bit there. So it would not shock me if they only lost one or two games there.

But yeah, I guess my official prediction would be three. Okay, I like that. So potentially 10 and three record coming out of non-con play. I agree that like I would feel great about that. If I was Kansas, I'm just a quick look at the the Big 12 schedule again. We have the matchups the matrix, but we don't know when and what order and and all of that so home only games for the Jayhawks by you. That's good news Utah TCU Baylor Sensei and Houston also

very good news for the Jayhawks away only UCF tough to go down to Orlando, Arizona State, the Pokes Texas Tech. That's going to be tough West Virginia and Colorado. The home and away games are Arizona, Iowa State, and then of course K-State as well, who landed Mr. P.J. Haggerty out of Memphis. Derrick, as you saw this Matrix come out, I think this was the end of last week when it came out. What were kind of your initial thoughts about the Kansas schedule? Yeah, the first one was, again, like a mistake not to have the the BYU game be the

one you do twice instead of the Arizona one, for instance. They should have done the Arizona home and home last year. But that's, again, just kind of weird. I do think Kansas got a little bit fortunate with who they played home versus who they have on the road. Now, notwithstanding the teams they play home and away because again, sure sure Iowa State's probably going to be pretty good and you know Arizona is probably going to be pretty good, right? I mean K state at least has some talent that will make them interesting.

But you look at the teams are playing on the road. Texas Tech is really the only road team they play in Big 12 play of the teams they only play once that you look at and say definitively they're probably going to be a top 1015, even 25 team in the country. Like I think West Virginia will probably be solid, but like I don't know that anybody's going out on a limb to be like, yes, they are for sure a top 25 team.

And most of those other teams were bottom half of the big 12 teams versus you look at the teams you're getting at home. It's like, yeah, you'd rather have to play Houston at home. You'd rather have to play some of these teams at home. So I do think that was a little bit fortunate for KU. And I think it comes out in a positive way, but yeah, that KU BYU ticket, I am already circling that one. I mean, as loaded as we talked about the non-con is, I think that's the game I'm most excited for this season. Yeah. Yeah. I agree with you. I said the same thing when Andy and I talked

about this last week, like BYU and Houston, two probable top five teams and you only got to play them at home. I know that doesn't help like with net stuff, but you don't need a ton of net stuff cause it's the big 12 and a loaded non con. And so that's ultimately a really helpful deal. All right, DJ, anything else you want to say about these Jayhawks as we get ready to get out of here? I do think they're being slept on a little bit. The roster is not complete. They're looking

internationally. They're scouring the transfer portal again. I don't know that they're going to get a game changer at this point, but I think Peterson is going to be that good. I think Flory is going to take a jump. I think Bilsoff is going to be good. I don't know that I'm expecting one or two seed. I made that 09 nine comparison with Flory to Sharon and Cole the flurry and stuff. They're the Darren Peterson to run and you know that team got a three seat that team won the big 12 over Blake Griffin in Oklahoma. So to me right now I'm looking at this team somewhere in that like three to five seed range depending on certain outcomes but we'll see

what the rest of the portal is to offer. That's a good word. All right, gang, thanks so much for joining us here today. Please make sure you go check out Derek's great work on Locked on Jayhawks every day. Follow him on social media at D. Johnson Radio. Why? Because this dude, you've heard his voice. It's like butter. And so Derek's covering lots of great stuff.

Man, like what you cover so much stuff there. Where all can people find that? Yeah, just at D. Johnson Radio. That's probably the easiest way on Twitter. But yeah, Locked On Jayhawks, same way you get this stuff. Anywhere you get your podcasts and on YouTube. Man, so good. Gang, just like we were saying about Locked On Jayhawks,

if you haven't subscribed to Locked On College Basketball, both on video and audio, make sure you do that right now so you don't miss any of the great content. All summer long, yes, we are here with you. If you've not joined the Logton College basketball discord, we'd love to have you there as well. It's free to join in that link is in the show notes. As always, I want to say apologies to the lawyer family.

Let's go wild popes, shouts to McBrewins and until tomorrow. Peace.