Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Recruiting Recap: Jaylon Tyson Visits, Arterio Morris Picks, Hunter Dickinson Looms

Episode Date: May 1, 2023

Recruiting recap of the past weekend for the Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team from Jaylon Tyson visiting to Arterio Morris picking to transfer to KU and some busy notes for the week ahead for Bill Self as Hunter Dickinson's decision could be looming and a possible visit with Mackenzie Mgbako could happen. Plus, how will Kansas deal with the scholarship numbers?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, it was a busy weekend as far as the transfer portal goes. Available players for KU basketball. Let's recap everything that's happened over the past couple days. Look ahead to what's possibly upcoming here this week. Could we have a Hunter Dickinson decision? Mbako, the five-star freshman recruit, is he going to be visiting? KU lands a commitment. Jalen Tyson wraps up his visit.

Lots to discuss on today's edition. You are locked on Jayhawks. Your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day. Johnson, you can hear me as well. Monday through Friday on Rock Chalk Sports Talk, 3 to 6 p.m. on KLWN in Lawrence.

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 and subscribe to us on YouTube. On today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, we're going to be breaking down a lot of the recent news or things that have happened around KU basketball with all of their different recruiting news or transfer portal news, whatever it is, maybe some stuff to look forward to. Is there a new player that's available now that would make sense for KU?

First, this episode of Locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, the official sportsbook of Locked On Jayhawks is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, the official sportsbook of Locked On. Make every moment more. Visit FanDuel.com slash Locked On today to get started. So we're going to start here with our kind of weekend transfer portal, recruiting roundup, whatever you want to kind of call this. Then we'll get into what's upcoming or what could be next this week. And then we'll finish up with a new player who hit the open market, I guess, that you could say that, I don't know, maybe of interest for KU. So the first thing, obviously, Artario Morris picked KU on Friday. I had a quick reaction to that afterwards on Friday. I also did a deep dive of him a couple weeks ago.

I don't want to get too much more into it because we have talked a lot about it on this show. On court fit, like really good player. I have some questions about the off court stuff that is documented. So what's the saying? If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it. So we'll just leave it at that. Primo Spears, because of that, obviously, he ends up picking Florida State, which makes sense. KU fills up one of their other combo guard positions,

one of their point guard positions. And so Primo Spears, you don't have room on the roster for him. So you pick it up. And to where this leaves KU basically is you'd be pretty surprised if they brought in any other combo guard types. At this point, it's pretty much with their scholarship allotment, big man, wings, like that's going to be what they're looking for at this point in time. Now, Jalen Tyson wrapped up his visit over the weekend for KU,

and it becomes interesting because just looking at the scholarship count for KU, right, you have one open scholarship essentially at this point, right? So you have the returning players with dewan harris kj adams ernest dude and zuby edgifer right and then kyle cuff so you have five players returning right now then you have four incoming freshmen with chris johnson and now you're up to nine players right and if you're only gonna have 12 scholars because of the uh self-imposed sanctions then that leaves you with three openings at that point in time and with those three openings um you now are bringing on two transfers nicholas timberlake and now arteria morris that leaves you with one scholarship in theory well if you're recruiting

hunter dickinson you just have to visit with jaylen tyson do you have to wait on the hunter dickinson decision before you go out and get Jalen Tyson? Theoretically, by the numbers, by the math, yes. But I'm here to tell you, KU is going to figure out the scholarships. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. They will figure it out, and you will move on from it later.

There are lots of ways they can go about it, right? Whether it is somebody like a Kyle Cuff at that point transferring, because now there is another combo guard in there. Now, I don't necessarily expect that to happen. I think he enjoys being on KU and everything and more power to him if that's what he wants to do and he wants to try to fight his way up the ladder. I'm never going to dis a kid for doing that. I think in today's day and age of college basketball,

where you have all these kids wanting to transfer for that immediate playing time, and I don't ever blame someone for doing that but i think it should gratify the players who do want to stick around and try to battle it out a little bit more now nonetheless um who knows maybe that's still on the table maybe it's not maybe one of the freshmen that you have coming in there was the chris johnson scrubbing of all his ku social media was that something of note was it nothing right was it just a teenager that something happened, right? I don't know. Could you open up scholarship that way? Sure, of course you could. So there's multiple ways you could just do it that way. There is the avenue of, and I don't know, this would be pretty

brash if you did it before the NCAA came out with their, the IRP, their final resolution on KU, but basically where you had a kid be a walk-on in scholarship levels but you're using nil money that they're getting a paid scholarship now i have no doubt in my mind that that is something that ku is going to do at some point that a bunch of other schools are going to do at some point that other schools already have done at different points in time i do wonder though the logistics of it for kansas until you get the irp decision because what if the irp goes wait you have like 14 scholarship players on your team, which means one or two of them is basically a walk on that you're paying with NIL money. And yet you said last year that you're self-imposing these sanctions, which included the loss of

scholarships. So you're basically skirting around your own self-imposed sanctions. We're going to hammer you with more stuff, right? It would have to come after their decision possibly although technically kansas doesn't have to really release that information of who's on scholarship who's not and also some another way they could kind of work around this they technically they said the way that it was worded was that there was a loss of three scholarships over three years they did not clarify which year they're going to lose the scholarships. Normal math would be, okay, they'll lose one every year. But in theory, if Kansas had enough of these good players that

wanted to come into Kansas, they could be like, well, let's just kick it down the road a little bit. And so let's, you know, not lose any scholarships this next year. We'll have a full 13 and then we'll lose one the next year and two the year after that. And the year that we lose the two, even though that sounds harsh to be like, ah, we're only going to have 11 scholarship players, that would be a year that you do the workaround where you basically have a walk-on, be getting NIL money to be the payment. So it's like you have a 12th or maybe even go further down the line and get a 13th guy. So there are lots of ways that they can work around that.

So just because Artario Morris picked KU, I don't think that discludes at all Kansas from still trying to and hoping they're going to get Hunter Dickinson and Jalen Tyson. And, you know, you could add even the extra, like, positive or outlook of, oh, what if Kevin McCuller comes back too? And now Jalen Tyson's already committed and Hunter Dickinson and Kevin McCuller. How would you figure out that scholarship? Again, they have ways that they will figure this stuff out so don't worry about it don't get it worked out basically is the uh underlying sentiment there so Tyson

wrapped up his visit though um I I don't know what the plan is there uh let's actually get into that what's upcoming what's what could be on the ledger next for KU? Maybe this upcoming week with some interesting stuff. First though, this episode of locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Make a fast break to FanDuel during the NBA playoffs, because right now new customers can get a no sweat first bet up to $1,000. That's $1,000 back in bonus bets.

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Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Tennessee, and Virginia. 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 in Arizona, 1-888-789-7777. Or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut, 1-800-9 with it in indiana 1-800-522-4700 or visit kansasgamblinghelp.com in kansas 1-827-5050 for 24 seven support in Massachusetts. Visit Maryland gambling help.org in Maryland. 1-877-8 hope and why or text hope and why to 4, 6, 7, 3, 6, 9 in New York. 1-800-522-4700 in Wyoming or visit www.1800gambler.net in West Virginia. I back into it here with locked on Jayhawks. What is upcoming?

What could be on the ledger this week for KU? So they get the commitment from our Terry Morris. Jalen Tyson wraps up Primo Spears picks a different school. Well, Hunter Dickinson, I believe, finished up his visit with Villanova. So now it's just decision mode. How long is that decision going to take? I have no idea, but it does seem like he's done with visits. You would think it is going to be something where, like, coming in the next week or two,

that sounds like a reasonable timeline here. Now, Dickinson has been very tight to the chest with information. Like, there's been the occasional thing that's come out from his own party in his own podcast that he does, but for the most part, he's kept it pretty tight. I think part of that is intentional. Um, it's just kind of smart business to be completely honest, the way that he's handled this to try to get the NIL money up from all these different schools, in my opinion, um, and you know, more power to him for doing that now. Um, I, I would imagine all five of those schools that he visited whether it was an unofficial like with maryland and georgetown is i think it was just like an

unofficial visit because i'm pretty sure he lives like you know 20 minutes away so just you know went over and oh boom here i am right so maryland georgetown kentucky villanova and kansas uh with villanova kentucky and kansas being the three ones that he visited. Those are, I would assume, the main ones that are in the race here, and I don't think anybody else is going to kind of emerge at this point in time. Who are the favorites? If I'm completely guessing, and this is just based on other industry sources or looking around, it feels like Maryland, Kansas, and then I feel like Kentucky is the ultimate wild card here.

I never knew from the get-go if this was a ploy to get that NIL money up or if Kentucky was a real thing. So I don't know, maybe Kentucky would throw in their Kentucky, Maryland, and Kansas, but I say that watch, you'll go to like Georgetown or Villanova. You just don't know there. There's not a ton of information out there. That said, I do kind of get the sense that you're, yeah, you're going to get that decision probably in the next week or so. I think there was, I forget if it was on his podcast or where he said in an interview maybe with uh the 24-7 sports guy with maryland um i think jeff erman is his name and he kind of talked about that like yeah he's he's almost ready for this to be done and that he

it's been kind of a stressful process and all that stuff so maybe that would make you think it's gonna come this week that now those visits that stuff. So maybe that would make you think it's going to come this week, that now that his visits are done, like with Nicholas Timberlake, right? He finished up his visits. I'm trying to think he committed to Kansas. I want to say on Wednesday. I believe that's right. Like Wednesday afternoon.

So who knows? Maybe we get a similar timeline here to Hunter Dickinson now that he is done, but we'll be on the lookout for that. And if we do find out about something, we'll have a locked on Jayhawks, whether it's a bonus episode or a full episode, probably both at that point, whether he does pick KU or does not. I think also with Jalen Tyson, it feels like to me the decision doesn't seem to be super imminent,

like in terms of this week or something, like not quite the same timeline as Hunter Dickinson. Now, who knows? That could be back to the scholarship talk. Maybe Kansas doesn't want to play the musical That could be back to the scholarship talk. Maybe Kansas doesn't want to play the musical chairs game with figuring out the scholarship openings. And maybe it is for them going, well, if we don't get Hunter Dickinson, we'd love to have you. And so he has to wait on that. But again, I do think Kansas would like, I don't, I don't think they are

dependent on each other. I think they are independent decisions, in my opinion. So I think that with Jalen Tyson, he had the Cal visit. It sounded like he liked it a lot. I had the KU visit. I'm sure it went well and everything. KU has a lot to offer, and typically visits go well. So we'll see if he's just like, I got to decide between these two schools or if he decides to take other visits.

There was some talk that Auburn was trying to set up a visit. I one of the former texas tech assistants one of them's at cal i think another one or something like that is is at auburn now so we'll see if they end up getting a visit if other schools get a visit if more schools open things up to try to get involved in this if he doesn't end up taking other visits then you probably get the sense that, maybe it would be a quicker decision because then at that point, you're basically deciding between two schools. I will say it's funny when you look back in the past, how a lot of these things go, you know, this has been more spread out decisions, I guess, that have come KU's way, right? Nick Timberlake was a week or two ago. Gosh, it feels like a month ago at this point. Hunter Dickinson is, I don't know, maybe going to be this week.

What if Jalen Tyson ends up being in three weeks? What if there's somebody in the draft? Everything's been spread out. In some years past, it feels like all this stuff would avalanche at the same... They get one commit one day, the next day they get another commit, the next day they get another commit. It would just all funnel in to a short period of time,

but maybe that'll be something that happens there. Now, the other one is of interest is Mackckenzie imbaco he is the five-star freshman we'll have a deep dive on him later this week uh top 10 recruit basically every look like number seven to number nine kind of range um really good player stretch four athletic four type that could probably play a little bit of the three has good shooting potential but were the numbers there i don't know uh there was a release from adam zegoria that he was visiting saint john's and that there were four schools that he planned on visiting including saint john's and one of them was kansas so i i think the imbaco visit is supposed to be this week

some of that scheduling stuff we saw it it with the Harrison Ingram one. We see it all the time. Things get delayed. Things get moved around. So we'll see. But it sounds like Kansas has enough interest, and he has enough interest to at least visit Kansas. And who knows if they're the frontrunner or not

or if it is one of these other schools. But the fact that you're one of the four he's visiting does make it a big deal here. And of the four schools that were the schools he was going to be visiting, I think it was St. John's, Indiana, Louisville and Kansas. What's notable there? Well, Indiana, Louisville and Kansas are all Adidas schools. And so if you have this kid in Embaco who was committed to a Nike school at Duke, sometimes you have the questions with these, you know, grassroots, high-level, five-star recruits, like,

are they almost funneled into a specific shoe brand? Well, with Mbako, I think you can clearly see that's not really the case, which makes – it's helpful for Kansas, right? You're not going to get an all-out Nike kid. You're just not, right? It's just kind of how recruiting goes sometimes. So that is good news for Kansas, and he'll be visiting. get a all-out Nike kid you're just not right it's just kind of how recruiting goes sometimes so that is good news for Kansas and he'll be visiting and gosh could you imagine if KU

landed commitments from Tyson Dickinson and Mbako again no idea how they'd make it work scholarship wise but not worried about it because I know they would figure it out that would be a pretty darn remarkable team that's the ultimate dream at that point for landing all three I don't necessarily think the odds would be in your favor to do that but you are set up pretty well where if remarkable team. That's the ultimate dream at that point for landing all three. I don't necessarily think the odds would be in your favor to do that, but you are set up pretty well where if you can get, you know, two of those three, I mean, if you just get Dickinson, it's a success on its own, but if you get two of those three, like if you don't land Dickinson, but you land Tyson and Mbako, it sucks, but that's still a really good haul. So Kansas set up pretty well right now in the portal.

We're going to finish up here with a new player hitting the open market as far as college basketball recruiting goes. We'll discuss that next. So the newest player to hit the, you can't call it transfer portal, he was a freshman or was going to be a freshman to hit the open market, I keep saying, is Ron Holland. he is a five-star recruit he is listed as the number four player on the 24-7 sports composite uh he was committed to texas so this is i mean this is a big deal this kid hits the market for two reasons one because it gives another option for kansas to try to kick the tires on

that gives them another elite player that is available, right? It also hurts one of the teams you're going to be competing with in the conference. So kind of both good things here for Kansas. Is he a real KU option? I don't know. In theory, you're talking about like a six foot eight forward type who is known for being uber athletic, could probably play him at the three or the four and kind of think like the way that i've read the scouting reports now i could be totally off on this i'm thinking like a josh jackson type with maybe a little bit less guard skills than jackson has just based on the athleticism though in 6-8 and how he would kind of play that four position for ku switchable defender like he would be a very good player for Bill Self the shooting is the question mark there how realistic is it though like KU wasn't seen as I think it was Arkansas

and UCLA that he chose Texas over um I want to say there were a couple others I don't know it's maybe Kentucky I feel like that's probably just a good guess in general if Kentucky was in it uh but the G League Knight was also somebody that um, and it's very interesting because Texas obviously had the decommitment of their other five-star crew, and he ended up going to, I believe, the G League Ignite to play professional basketball. So I wonder if this could be the same thing. If the G League Ignite didn't get as many kids committed from this class yet, and they were going, shoot, we're losing out to a lot of these guys on NIL money.

We got to up our bids, and maybe they're able to get something done here so that could be indicative that he did say when he decommitted texas was still on the school list that he's considering basically he's just reopening his recruit i would imagine in part because it's different coach than he probably committed to to begin with with rodney terry so i don't know how likely this is for ku but theoretically it's never bad to have more options out there. And he plays the four position. He's really athletic. He's switchable on defense and he has super high potential.

Those are all things that should at least be a little bit interesting to KU. So I'll be interested to monitor where that one goes. It does feel like to me though, that I don't know, maybe the things are more progressed along. So maybe that's just why. But that things feel more realistic for Mbako than they do for Holland. And I don't know how realistic or how, I guess, probable would be the right word Mbako is. But it feels like that percentage would be higher than the Holland one.

Again, though, that could just be because Mbako is a few weeks past the point that holland is in terms of when he decommitted all right so uh lots to look forward to this week with uh ku basketball related news uh but that's gonna do it for this episode of the show you can check out anything with the locked on jayhawks podcast wherever you find any of your podcasts you can also find us like subscribe to us on youtube have a good rest of your day we'll see you on next episode