Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Get Arterio Morris Commitment: Why It's a Bad Idea

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's bonus Locked On Jayhawks, Arterio Morris picks Kansas. I'm going to tell you why I'm not too fond of that decision. You are Locked On Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. You can hear me as well monday through friday 3 to 6 p.m on klwn in lawrence with rock shock

Starting point is 00:00:32 sports talk you can find locked on jayhawks wherever you get any of your podcasts you can also subscribe to us and find us on youtube uh the news today or i guess breaking now as of Friday evening, is that Arterio Morris, the 6'3", 190-pound guard who will be a sophomore this next season, former five-star transfer from Texas, has all the accolades you can imagine coming in from high school, picked Kansas over DePaul. I don't love it for KU. From a basketball perspective, Arterio Morris has very high potential to be a very good basketball player for Kansas. I have no doubt in my mind about that. And I wouldn't be surprised if Artario Morris ends up being, you know, at some point an all big 12 player, even an all American level player at Kansas, like Bill Self can get that potential out of a kid who, you know, was listed as the number 16 recruit in the country, a five star that in one of the

Starting point is 00:01:23 evaluations said he could end up being the best lead guard of the class, right? It's not crazy to think. The reason I do not like this is the off-the-court stuff. And I think if you are Kansas, you are constantly in a position, you can use your scholarship on a lot of great players. There's a lot of good players out there. Why does it have to be the one who has the off the court stuff? Now we talked a little bit about this on Friday's episode. We talked a little bit more about this. Check out the arterio Morris deep dive. Um, but I guess first things first, what happened here? So arterio Morris, uh, ended up picking between seemingly Kansas and DePaul.

Starting point is 00:01:59 There were some rumors that it was going to be DePaul. Then kind of last minute, seems like something swayed and he ended up picking KU. Now you wonder what is the idea for him. Obviously he goes from a place at Texas to where he, I don't know, probably would have had a very big role on this year's team when Serge Ibari-Rice graduates away. Obviously they added at Max A. Smith.

Starting point is 00:02:20 Who knows if they would have added or not added him if Artario Morris would have stayed. But Serge Ibari-Rice gone, Marcus Carr gone, Tyrese Hunter testing and everything. He comes into Kansas and there's no guarantee he's going to be a starter. I'd imagine it'll be a competition between him and Elmarco Jackson for the starting two role. Maybe Timberlake will play some two minutes. Maybe Timberlake starts at the three, play some three. We'll kind of find out. So he ends up picking Kansas. He is a 6'3 guard. Last season as a freshman, 12 minutes per game.

Starting point is 00:02:47 He shot 41%, 33% from three, 79% at the foul line, four points per game. You add him on the Bart Torvik roster cast, and it doesn't change them at all in terms of their standing of where they are. They're the same team in terms of ranking with or without him so again is the baggage kind of worth it we'll get more into the fit and how he'll fit in i think on monday's episode i kind of want the weekend just to debrief on this and uh think more about it and look into more stuff on that in that regards um obviously you you have questions about the shooting but you don't have questions about anything else good defender and all that

Starting point is 00:03:22 sort of stuff that he'll be able to work in and KU will be able to make everything fit. And they'll play a lot of El Marco and Artario Morris at the two. You'll probably play a lot of Nicholas Timberlake at the three. Who knows? Maybe you'll even get some lineups with DeJuan, Artario Morris and El Marco Jackson. And then, you know, I don't know, whichever one wins out on the backup point guard minutes for those five to eight minutes a game behind DeJuan between El Marco and Artario. We'll pick up some extra minutes that way. That'll be the usage. We'll get more into the fit again on Monday's show. Here is the reason why I am not a fan of this move.

Starting point is 00:03:54 Because again, from a basketball perspective, three years left to play, great potential, Bill Self type of player, good defender, good athlete, all those things. Here's the story from the Austin American Statesman from last summer. Incoming Texas freshman Artario Morris was arrested by Frisco police in early June and charged with misdemeanor assault after a physical altercation with his ex-girlfriend, according to police reports. According to an arrest affidavit obtained by the American Statesman, Frisco police responded to a domestic disturbance at 5 30 PM on June 2nd. Morris told officers that he lived nearby and drove to Caden Barnes residence

Starting point is 00:04:24 to have a face-to-face conversation as opposed to text messaging. Barnes' sister let Morris into the townhome. He then went upstairs to speak with Barnes, who was sleeping at the time. Barnes told police that Morris, quote, grabbed her by the left forearm slash wrist and pulled her up off the bed, according to the affidavit. Morris grabbed a Barnes sports bra near her chest and pulled, causing the strap to make what a police described as a three-inch long abrasion on her neck, according to the affidavit. Morris initially denied there was any physical contact, according to the affidavit. Presented with Barnes' allegations, Morris then, quote, altered his initial statement, end quote, to police, the affidavit said. He was then placed under arrest and charged with assault, causing bodily

Starting point is 00:05:03 injury to a family member, which is a Class A misdemeanor in Texas. Class A misdemeanors can result in a maximum one-year jail term and a $4,000 fine. Denton County jail records show that Morris posted a $3,500 bond and was released June 3rd. All right, let's get more into that in a second here. Real quick, Locked on Jayhawks brought to you by Bilt Bar. Are you looking for a delicious snack but don't want all the sugars and calories? You've got to try Bilt Bar, the best tasting protein bar out there. They're covered in 100% real chocolate.

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Starting point is 00:06:16 if it goes to court what if he does go to jail you know what i mean like you know how bad of a look that would be at that point for ku if he goes to jail at that point now who knows if that's going to happen i it does seem like it's trending in the direction that everything's going to kind of slide here and he's going to be okay I I don't know um and if he does get off free is it going to be a situation where Kansas just points to and says well court of law said that he's totally innocent so what should we have anything to do with it here's my problem with that sports teams don't operate on the same way as the law the law is a 100 like you have to be without a doubt to be convicted sports are a privilege playing at the university of kansas is a privilege it is not a rite of passage and so

Starting point is 00:06:57 when i see this and again kansas can bring on so many other players with the scholarship it's like really really this is what you're going to do. And Kansas doesn't have to operate under the same. Like there have been guys who have been kicked off for less than domestic assault from the Kansas basketball team. And that's what's head scratching here. Bill self has taken that stuff seriously in the past. So I'm not trying to say that he's let stuff slide or anything like that.

Starting point is 00:07:20 Like he's taking it very seriously. There've been players kicked off the team, Jr. Giddens, LeGerald, Vic, Brandonon green basically you go down the list for doing stuff and so i don't know if they're viewing this as well it wasn't under our watch as long as he doesn't do it under our watch you know because we're trying to help him give him a second chance all that stuff right so you don't know how this is going to play out it would have made more sense for ku to wait a little bit longer and then even then I probably would have been kind of out on this because we know in the court of law, a lot of times this stuff can get, um, it's hard to convict people,

Starting point is 00:07:51 I guess, to be the way of putting it. There's also talk about like videos that are, are not out there scrubbed from the internet or whatnot. Uh, what did it have to do with this situation? Did it not have to do with this situation? Right. Um, just a lot of stuff that you don't love around this circumstance. If you're KU, why bring this? Why bring this? All right. We're going to take one more time out and then finish up.

Starting point is 00:08:11 This is locked on Jayhawks. So again, don't love this at all. You have all the questions. Now that KU is going to have to answer in this regard. And it's just a, it's a headache. It's a distraction from what this team could be.

Starting point is 00:08:30 You know, it's it's a lot for a kid who does have a very high potential, but also is a chance to be a bench guard for you. What does this mean for the scholarships? Again, we'll get more into that on like Monday necessarily. But, you know, if they want to create more room and add still Jalen Tyson and Hunter Dickens, and I'm sure there's ways they can, they can get around working that. But I mean, this is just kind of a gross thing to me to feel about for, for KU. And I talked on Friday's episode about how, yes, I do believe in second chances. And I think that's very important, but does that second chance have to be a KU, right? Like, is there a better way to do the second chances?

Starting point is 00:09:05 And also, like, doesn't feel like there's a lot of remorse here to really want a second chance. You know what I mean? Like, it feels more like the situation of like, well, there's no wrongdoing here. So why would I have a second chance? And that makes me feel worse because like different stuff. So, again, I hate like comparing crime and stuff. But like, for instance, Jalen Wilson had the DUson had the dui learned from that became a better person uh became you know somebody who advocates against stuff like that and became a leader on the team he used that second chance

Starting point is 00:09:36 into being a better person i don't know i don't know man um i absolutely hate this i hate that we now have to when we're discussing the team, this is going to get brought up nationally. This is going to get brought up in ESPN broadcasts and stuff. This is going to be something that follows them in a shadow. This is going to be something that, you know, is kind of a black cloud that hangs over you a little bit. And I just, I really don't get it.

Starting point is 00:10:01 There are other good guards out there for you to go get. There are other good players for you to go out there, other good wings to go get. Like, why? Why? That's all I want to know. Why? Is it just because you go to basketball?

Starting point is 00:10:12 Yeah, there's the answer. All right, that's going to do it for Locked on Jayhawks. Not a super happy episode, I guess, with your bonus episode here on a Friday. We'll be back Monday. I'll break down the fit and everything. I just didn't really want to get into it today. All right, Locked on Jayhawks. Have have a good one find us wherever you get any of your podcasts

Starting point is 00:10:27 at d johnson radio on twitter and subscribe to us on youtube later

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Get Arterio Morris Commitment: Why It's a Bad Idea

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