Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Transfer Portal Target Deep Dive: Arthur Kaluma + Self Wants 'One More'

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked on Jayhawks, deep dive into a potential portal target. Would they dare? Arthur Columa. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Derek Johnson. You can give me a follow on Twitter at DJohnsonRadio, and you can find me here with the show with Locked on Jayhawks anywhere you get your podcasts, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show

Starting point is 00:00:36 so you're always catching all of our stuff here. On today's edition of LOJ, we're having another player deep dive of a player in the transfer portal that maybe KU could kick the tires on. And that would be one that would be a little bit weird because that is Arthur Kaluma, who objectively is one of the better players remaining in the transfer portal. But anytime you have somebody who is transferring from one of your rival schools, it gets a little weird having that discussion. So let's get into that discussion.

Starting point is 00:01:05 If it makes any sense, scouting report, would they actually do it possible fit with KU and the latest news in the off season from bill self speaking yesterday at a golf event or a couple of days ago about wanting to add one more and kind of backing up everything that is going to go into this episode or future episodes about, you know, adding another player first, this episode of the show is brought to you by this episode or future episodes about, you know, adding another player.

Starting point is 00:01:25 First, this episode of the show is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Let's start with information on Arthur Columa. So Columa is a 6'7", 225-pound wing, slash 4, slash 3. He is originally from Glendale, Arizona. He spent three years at Creighton and then he was most recently with Kansas State last season, two years at Creighton. And he was listed as a four-star transfer and 19th overall by 24-7 sports. So, you know, this is

Starting point is 00:02:06 one of the better transfer recruits that is available in the country. He went through the draft process this year. That's his second time going through it after he went through it, you know, last year as well. And it was kind of similar situation. Last year, he was on Creighton, went to the draft process, and then entered the transfer portal, ended up transferring after the draft process. This year, entered the draft process. He's in the portal right now, and so could transfer again post-draft process. And there was some reported interest last season, to what degree, I'm not entirely certain, about Kansas and Arthur Columa last year. But obviously Kevin McCuller ended up spurning the NBA draft a year early and ended up coming back. There is a real chance if Kevin McCuller would have ended up staying

Starting point is 00:02:56 in the NBA draft in 2023 that Arthur Columa might have been a Jayhawk. I don't know. Maybe Grant Nelson would have been a Jayhawk. I don't know. Maybe neither of those happened, but it's entirely possible that would have been a Jayhawk. I don't know. Maybe Grant Nelson would have been a Jayhawk. I don't know. Maybe neither of those happened, but it's entirely possible that would have been the case. And again, I don't know how far the line Bill Self got there in terms of contact and stuff,

Starting point is 00:03:15 but there was some reported level of contact. Now, so far this portal season, there has been no reported contact or interest, but maybe by already establishing those back channels last year, that stuff stays more quiet this year. I don't entirely know. Anyway, he came into college at Creighton as a top 50 recruit and a four-star player on a team that ended up losing to Kansas in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Shout out to the 2022 national champion Kansas team, right? And if you remember, Arthur Columbo went off in that game against Kansas in the second round.

Starting point is 00:03:51 Kansas playing against Creighton. Ryan Kalkbrenner had just gotten hurt in the first round of the postseason. And so Creighton was forced to play more of a small ball five, which basically Kansas said, hey, we're not going to be able to guard everybody from beyond the perimeter knowing that we play a more traditional big man. We're going to take our, we're going to, you know, risk it and leave Arthur Columa open. And Arthur Columa, who was shooting in the mid-20s from three percentage-wise, ended up going off from three-point range.

Starting point is 00:04:20 He ended up with 24 points in the game in what was nearly a Creighton upset over Kansas. He ended up averaging 10.4 points, 5.4 rebounds per game, pretty good numbers for a freshman on a team that made the second round of the NCAA tournament. Then in year two at Creighton, his numbers did rise, not a gigantic degree, but they did go up 11.8 points per game, six rebounds per game as a sophomore. His three-point shooting percentage went up from 26.5% as a freshman to 31% as a sophomore. And that was on that Creighton team that made the Elite Eight and nearly went even further. I mean, they barely lost to San Diego State on that foul call in the Elite Eight. And then at that point, you're playing in Florida Atlantic in the semis. And then you did beat UConn earlier that year. Maybe you've been the one team that wouldn't have lost by a billion points to UConn in that tournament I don't know so uh clearly was a good team and had real production and was a starter on that team then he transfers this past

Starting point is 00:05:14 season which it's honestly like looking back it's so weird to go from an elite eight team at Creighton to that Kansas State team that didn't make the NCAA tournament this this past season and I get it there's more stuff involved in this NIL opportunity, whatever else. Sometimes you just have the wrong people in your corner telling you stuff. I don't know if that was the case here. I mean, Kansas State, for what it's worth, was coming off an Elite Eight too. So, right, when you're looking at when he was in the transfer portal, it's a little different.

Starting point is 00:05:38 But he ended up averaging 14.4 points per game, seven rebounds per game, two assists. That's really good production for those three. 0.8 steals, 0.5 blocks per game on almost 49% from two-point shots, 34.5% from three. That's on four and a half three-point attempts per game. He was 42.7% from the field overall, and he was at 74.7% at the foul line. So, you know, I wouldn't say like super efficient numbers from Arthur Columa this past season,

Starting point is 00:06:11 but I wouldn't say those are like non-efficient numbers, I guess, in a way either, because he did get the three-point shooting up a little bit. Like we've talked about this before. Kevin McCuller had a 56.4 true shooting percentage though that number for what it's worth was down to 51.2 percent in conference only games which you know again he was playing through some injury and stuff like that which is obviously going to impact some of those numbers but Arthur Columa had a 54.8 percent true shooting percentage

Starting point is 00:06:42 and in conference only games he was 25th in the big 12 with a 55.1 true shooting percentage. So by, you know, conference play, he was actually more efficient than what Kevin McCuller ended up being. So not, you know, I don't know.

Starting point is 00:06:56 It was, it was better than maybe it looks as I guess what I'm saying for his career though, he's only at a 31.2% mark from three-point range. That's on 3.8 attempts per game. So that's solid volume, but that's not solid efficiency. That's below average. But the number has gotten better every season, which makes you believe he is getting better.

Starting point is 00:07:18 I mean, that's what a lot of these kids, they stay in college and they get better at their game from year in to year out, right? And so there's reason to believe that he is more of the guy that he was this past season or that he could even get better from this past season because he went from 26.5% as a freshman to 31.1% as a sophomore to 34.5% as a junior. And it's not just a case of, oh, you know, he was only taking one or two threes per game and it's just one year he, you know, got a little bit luckier. He had a five-game stretch where he made an extra couple of threes, and it was low volume.

Starting point is 00:07:48 The volume's gone up each and every year for him. 3.3 as a freshman, 3.6 as a sophomore, 4.5 as a junior. So the volume's going up, the efficiency's going up, and that leads me to believe that as a senior this next season, I don't think it would be crazy for him to be a 35, 36% three-point shooter on four to five attempts per game. And that's well above average to say the least. That's good. He's also a good defensive rebounder. He rated top 25 in Big 12 only games in defensive rebound rate. He was strong at drawing fouls. He was top 10 in conference games and drawing them per 40 and free throw rate. And that's part of the reason this true shooting percentage was so good.

Starting point is 00:08:26 I would describe him as an inconsistent player. He scored 20 or more points on six occasions last season. So Willie went off. He had 18 or more points on nine occasions last season. But he also had five games where he scored single digits. And he had 10 games of 11 or less points. So you have kind of a third of the 18-plus point games. You have a third of the 11 or less points games.

Starting point is 00:08:51 And then you have a third of kind of somewhere in the middle. And that's how you end up averaging what you average. But it's not the same as a guy like Frank Mason, who every game was between 15 and 25. You know what I mean? It's just a little bit different there in what you can count on. So some of the synergy numbers on Arthur Columna, 64th percentile in spot-up shooting,

Starting point is 00:09:09 including 32 of 95 or 33.7% from three on spot-up threes. So about average there. 60th, well, I guess, you know, above average in terms of all spot-ups, but on threes specifically. But 60th percentile catch and shoot, including 46 of 127. That's 36.2% from three on catch and shoot threes. He was also in the 80th percentile in unguarded catch and shoot threes going

Starting point is 00:09:36 45.7% from three. Now we saw KU play K-State twice. Tyler Perry could create a lot of stuff. Kaluma could create some stuff, right? They had some guys that could create some stuff right they had some guys that could create some stuff but that was not a pretty offense to run to watch last season i guess is a way that i would put it um if you're putting them in a kansas offense that is getting them more unguarded threes whereas with k-state it felt like the team was taking a lot of guarded catch and shoot threes now i think some of that was shot selection from Kaluma and Perry and some of these guys.

Starting point is 00:10:05 Like, it wasn't all just coaching, not drawing up plays. Some of it was shot selection. But if you're getting more unguarded catch and shoot threes, I mean, he shot 46% on those, and that would transfer better at Kansas probably. 13th percentile of dribble jumpers, so did not do well off the dribble. 31st percentile in runners, did not do well there. Second percentile between short to 17 feet so did not do well on basically again like floaters and whatever 47th percentile

Starting point is 00:10:32 layups that's at least like average 64th percentile transition good transition player 20th percentile as a pick and roll ball handler so you just wouldn't really ask him to do that at Kansas which I don't think you'd need him to because you have enough options there 76 second excuse me 72nd percentile offensive rebound put back that's something that he was he was good at 54th percentile is a cutter so that's something you could work with 100 Dickinson and Duana at your least average at it 19th percentile isolation so again uh that was something he was asked to do more at K-State and it wasn't ultra efficient in his two years at Creighton he was a good post-up player too and a good transition player, but he was bad at spot-up shooting,

Starting point is 00:11:11 but he was much better at it last year at Kansas State. He also, this is interesting, 87th percentile defensively last season on synergy, 87th percentile. He was oddly in the 12th percentile his sophomore season at Creighton, but you go back to his freshman season at Creighton, he's in the 82nd percentile. He was oddly in the 12th percentile his sophomore season at Creighton, but you go back to his freshman season at Creighton, he's in the 82nd percentile for the Blue Jays. So he has two years of registering over 80th percentiles defensively. So for my money, I do view him as a solid defender. And I think what's interesting is his percentile finishes have actually done better when he's played the three than the four, even though I

Starting point is 00:11:45 almost view him as more of a modern four. But here's the team defensive ranks of the squads he's been on. Now, this doesn't all say about him, but I do think it correlates that you can say, okay, no matter where this guy goes, they've had good defenses. So I don't think you can say he's a bad defender, right? K-State was 25th. Creighton was 14th and 19th in his two seasons. I think he's a good defender and there's a lot to like here. Certainly there's some inconsistencies and some shot selection stuff, but I think you can make it work. Let's talk about that possible fit with KU on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks.

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Starting point is 00:13:16 L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N-C-O-L-L-E-G-E for $20 off your first purchase. Download GameTime today. Last-minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right, Arthur Columa fit with KU. So this I think was interesting. Columa at the NBA Draft Combine measured in with a 7 foot and a quarter inch wingspan. That is a lot of wingspan. And at 225 pounds, Like he really can play the four

Starting point is 00:13:47 well. And you see that reflected in, in some of the rebound numbers. And I think some of the defensive numbers, um, in, in why he can be really good on both of those things. But obviously, like we kind of pointed out, like in some ways he did better as a three, I think offensively, it's better if he's the four, I think defensively, I don't know, maybe it doesn't matter as much. But for KU, if you're bringing on a player like that, it's nice to have that versatility because you don't know, are you going to end up having to play him in a lineup next to KJ Adams where he is playing the three? Or are you going to basically have him play some minutes at the three and then he can be the backup for to KJ Adams and yes KU has players that can play four minutes KJ is going to play some four minutes

Starting point is 00:14:30 you could play Zach Clements at the four again not a fan of that um AJ Storr can play four minutes but he's not a great rebounder could play Ryan Griffin at the four but he's a little you know skinnier and not like six foot eight or anything like that. He'd be better playing the two and the three. So you have guys who can play the four, but the ones that are going to be primary fours, it's like KJ and that's kind of it. So this would possibly give you an opening there to have more of a true four, I guess, in that sense, and another wing on the roster. But the question would be, where is the role allocation here for Arthur Columa?

Starting point is 00:15:17 You know, I think it's interesting. Again, I mentioned he's a top 20 transfer on 24-7 sports, but I'm not sure he would be one of KU's five best players. You know, okay, so you have, and maybe that's not even part of the discussion. I don't know. Maybe you can have a discussion about who is the better player, DeJuan Harris or Arthur Klum. I would argue DeJuan Harris, but if you want to say based on these stats and this and that, but whatever, it doesn't matter because they're not in competition with each other. DeJuan's playing the point guard. So anyway, I don't even know why I brought that up. But point being, if you have DeJuan Harris and Hunter Dickinson who aren't even in competition with Arthur Coloma, let's just talk about the wings. So you have Rylan Griffin and AJ Storr. I'm not sure those two aren't better players than

Starting point is 00:15:55 Arthur Coloma. I kind of lean toward them being. Again, maybe in a vacuum, you can say, well, Coloma brings more defense and rebounding than a guy like Rylan Griffin. But because the three-point shooting is so important and so important for this roster, Griffin, I just have that higher, you know what I mean? And then it becomes a conversation of KJ Adams versus Arthur Columa. And again, you can have those conversations about what's the better fit for the roster, what is Bill Self going to do, all those sorts of things. I don't know. But if you end up with a discussion of saying, well, if Arthur Klum wants to come to Kansas, he's going to have to come off the bench. Is he okay

Starting point is 00:16:29 accepting that role? Now, maybe it's not that blunt. If you're Bill Self, it's a conversation of, hey, listen, we can't guarantee you a starting spot. We have a lot of good players that you're going to be in competition with. And if you don't win out on that competition, but we're going to give you the opportunity for the competition. We will give you that avenue there. And if you don't win out on that competition, but we're going to give you the opportunity for the competition. We will give the avenue there, but if you don't win out on it, you're going to be coming off the bench. Now you're still going to play a role. You know, if you're sixth or seventh band, you're still going to get 20, 22, 24 minutes per game coming off the bench. You're still going to play a role on this team, but you're not going to be starting. Now, maybe you start, maybe I do decide at the end of the day that it's better for us

Starting point is 00:17:02 midway through the season or before the season starts that we want to play you at the four and store at the three and Griffin at the two and we'll have KJ come off the bench. But again, we don't actually know if that's going to happen or not. And it's been a struggle for me. And obviously it's been very polarizing for KU fans about the idea of would they actually have KJ come off the bench versus the crowd of Bill Self like never does that sort of stuff. And like, you I guess from my standpoint both kind of sides of the coin so to speak so um but would he make KU better is the other side of this yes he would and so from that standpoint it is a take I know it's really weird to take somebody else from uh a school that was you know at your rival school and stuff but KU brought on Parker Brown that was at your rival school and stuff. But KU brought on Parker Brown, who was at Missouri.

Starting point is 00:17:47 And this just happens now. You saw it with Aiden Holloway, who went from Auburn to Alabama earlier this offseason. I don't know. I don't love it. Because that's part of college sports is the rivalries and the ingrained dislike of, of the other university and like rooting for your players and against the

Starting point is 00:18:09 other players and all that sort of stuff. But as much as I don't like it, it's kind of a thing of the past. And so if he makes your team better and he's willing to accept that role, because that's part of this too, like whenever we're saying, is it a take it's under the guise that the player is willing to come in and understand that, yeah, I might be in a smaller role than, you know, I might be if I transfer to, I don't know, some lower level, uh, power five or something like

Starting point is 00:18:34 that. Um, but yeah, if you, if you accept that, then yeah. So I, I still remain steadfast that like, I'm, I'm a popular guy kind of through and through at this point. And there probably is a good argument to be had about, you know, why mess with the ecosystem, just bring on a developmental player. And I can be open to that argument at this point, if it's not like a perfect 100% fit. But I think there is enough here as being like a really good defender, being a good rebounder can play the three or the four that you could say, yeah, it would make sense if they did end up kicking the tires here

Starting point is 00:19:06 on Arthur Columa. All right, let's talk the latest news with KU, because Bill Self had some interesting comments earlier this week. Welcome back into Locked on Jayhawks. Thanks for making this your first listen every day, and thank you to the everydayers who are tuning in to each and every episode of the show. We'll have another football Friday.

Starting point is 00:19:26 At this point, we are down to three episodes a week. Obviously, if there's any big stuff or breaking news, we'll try to get you more episodes during that week. But we're going to be three episodes a week for the remainder of this month in kind of our off-season mode. So Bill Self spoke with the media, and he said he would like to add one more. Here's the full quote because I think you can take this in a couple of ways. If you just see the quote of, I'd like one more, that could

Starting point is 00:19:51 be anything. And that is what he said. But he said, I'd like one more. I think that with Zach and El Marco, they're good enough to play a lot of minutes, but I'd like to have a little bit more depth to be honest with you. So we're still looking. If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out, but I like where we're at. So there's a couple different things that you can look into. And I should probably mention this too. The question that was asked was asked about, you mentioned wanting eight starters, which is a comment he had earlier in the off season. Do you feel like you have that? And his answer was, I'd like one more. So there's a couple of ways you can take this, because if you take this as a direct reaction to, do you have your eight starters? I'd like one more. Does that imply that the other player he

Starting point is 00:20:35 wants to add is good enough to be one of those eight starters? Because if then that is the case, then you are talking about more of a, I guess, big splash player, like an Arthur Columa, like a Wuga Poplar, right? But if him saying, I'd like one more, and then he circles around and says, I'd like to have a little bit more depth, to be honest with you, and he was more so talking about, I'd like to have one more that can just be kind of eighth, ninth man, just give us more depth just in case,

Starting point is 00:21:03 then that is, again, a different conversation. That's more of the Jalen Coleman lands role so I'm not entirely sure what he meant by that also interesting as part of this quote though that I think that was Zach and Elmarco they're good enough to play a lot of minutes now what does a lot of minutes mean for for Bill Self at Kansas that could mean 20 minutes a game I don't know 15 minutes a game but like that I think is very I think that's more interesting to Zach Clements, honestly, than Elmarco Jackson. Like Elmarco would not shock me if he's playing 15, 20 minutes a game.

Starting point is 00:21:29 With Clements, it becomes interesting just because for Zach Clements to get 15 to 20 minutes a game, that means he is playing the four. So I think just very interesting quotes that we'll have to take into mind for the rest of the offseason here from Bill Self. All right, that'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcasts, including on our YouTube page, where you can like and subscribe. We'll see you next time with LOJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Transfer Portal Target Deep Dive: Arthur Kaluma + Self Wants 'One More'

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