Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - KANSAS PORTAL TARGET Deep Dive: All-Around Washington State Wing LeJuan Watts a Fun Fit with KU

Episode Date: April 11, 2025

LeJuan Watts could be the Kansas Jayhawks' next game-changer. With impressive stats from Washington State, including a 55% field goal percentage and 42% from three, Watts stands out as a versatile wing option for the Kansas Jayhawks basketball team. Could his power and passing skills be the missing pieces for Bill Self's squad?Explore Watts' potential fit with the Jayhawks, his strengths in post-up scoring, and his remarkable assist rate. Derek Johnson breaks down how Watts might complement players like Tre White and Flory Bidunga, while also addressing concerns about his three-point shooting volume and turnover rate. The episode also touches on other transfer portal targets and provides a KU baseball update.Tune in to discover how Lejean Watts could reshape the Kansas Jayhawks' strategy and impact their upcoming season.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Turbo TaxReady for stress-free taxes and the most money back, guaranteed? Head over to TurboTax.com today and get matched with your Expert. Only available with TurboTax Live Full Service. Real-time updates only in the iOS mobile app. See guarantee details at TurboTax.com/guarantees. Supply HouseJoin the Trade Master program today at SupplyHouse.com/TM and start ordering plumbing, HVAC, and electrical supplies with just a few clicks. Plus, use promo code SH5 for 5% off your first order. That’s SupplyHouse.com!Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY 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)

Still five scholarships to fill for Bell Self. LeJean Watts would be an interesting fit for KU as a powerful wing with some good passing ability. We deep dive into this possible transfer portal target for KU. You are Locked On Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, of the Locked On Podcast Network your team every day What's going on Derek Johnson here, this is Locked On Jayhawks. Thanks for making it your first listen every day Thank you that every day is catching each and every episode of the show We're free and available wherever you get your podcast including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe To the show. And on today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, we're doing another Kansas portal target, potential portal target deep dive LeJean Watts, who is I think a very interesting all around option

for what KU could bring in on the wing and for Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks. So we're going to get into the scouting report, the strengths, the questions for Watts game, how he would potentially fit in with KU. And then we'll also finish up with a little bit on some of the latest news around either KU athletics or around the rest of the transfer portal with some other entries and stuff like that. On today's episode of the show. Let's start off with Watts. So to be clear, at this point in time, it doesn't sound like there's been

at least public contact between KU and Watts. So to be clear, at this point in time, it doesn't sound like there's been at least public contact between KU and Watts. Now, is that something where, you know, KU is focusing on other players? Is it something where he's out of their price range? Is it something you know, where, in terms of like, the price range is being allocated in other directions? Is it something where KU is just not that initially, is it something where KU is very interested, but they're trying to keep it under wraps similar to you know, with

Jayden Dawson, we didn't really see anything break on that until he was officially committed to KU. So hard to tell exactly what's going on. But Watts is a six foot six 233 pound wing. He can also play a little bit of point guard for you if you want to go with some booty ball point card, but mostly a three four. I think I like him best as a four we'll get into why here coming up. But he'll be a junior too. So you're getting multiple years

out of this kid potentially like I said before, on a previous episode. In today's day and age with the transferal you can bring on a freshman, a sophomore, junior, senior, you might still get one year out of them regardless, but 13.7 points per game for Watts this past season for Washington State. The year before that, he was at Eastern Washington and made the seamless transition up to the Cougars,

which obviously was not in act 12, no longer a thing. So it was in the WCC now, still an upgrade from Eastern Washington. You know, you're still playing in Zaga and St. Mary's and Santa Clara and some solid teams in that league, San Francisco, but obviously not a power league, but still at least a solid league, 13.7 points per game, 6.7 rebounds per game, 4.4 assists per game. Very good passer.

Also a little over steel per game, 1.1 per game there and half a block per game. The shooting efficiency is what really sticks out here with Watts, 55% from the field this season. Also 42% from three and then 73% of the foul line. That leads them having a 59% effective field goal percentage and just a little over 62 and a half percent true shooting percentage. Both of those are very good. Now the one thing is the,

you've taken over four free throws per game, so that's fine, but the three point attempts, there's not a lot of them 1.9 three point attempts per game. So you're not getting a ton of volume there, but he hits the ones when he is open. The on off numbers not great team was half a point better with him on the court on offense. They were about seven and a half points worse on the floor when he was on defense. I do think a little bit, you know,

this former teammate that came over from Eastern Washington with him and ended up getting injured after the sixth game of the season. Cedric Coward has blanking on the name there for a second. He got injured early in the season, and I think that made it that Watts

had to do a little bit different of a role where maybe he had to play a little bit more on the wing, maybe Watts had to do a little bit different of a role where maybe he had to play a little bit more on the wing maybe he had to play a little bit more three that maybe hurts you a little bit there but I do think this is an overall good player his bar torvik transfer grade of 3.1 is kind of like above average it's solid there and I found this one interesting too his top comp based on the stats in the big 12 is Joshua Jefferson at Iowa State who's a really good player for Iowa State who plays the four. And that's kind of what I'm talking about here. I think Watts is at his best when he is a playmaking for essentially for you. I think you some George kneeing a little

bit to his game in that regard of being like a you know, he's not the tallest guy is not the lengthiest guy. He's not the most athletic guy in the world. But he does have a little bit of those things and he has good strength. He has good basketball IQ. You know, he can be a matchup problem for you. He's a good passer. If he's in at four, if he's in at three,

maybe question some of the athleticism. So what about some of the strengths? His power, as I mentioned, listed over 230 pounds and that's at six foot six, right? And you see it in the game. There are some guys who are strong and powerful, but right and you see it in the game. There are some guys who are strong and powerful, but you might not see it in their game. He uses it to his advantage. He uses it to keep guys off him. He uses it to keep guys on his hip. He uses it to power down in the post.

He's also a good footwork in the post, but the combo, the footwork and the power led to him being an 88th percentile and post-up scoring. So very good post- up score. And for Kansas team where, you know, how many post up scores are they going to have? I don't know, Bill self likes to throw it in the post if he can. I do find that certainly a little bit intriguing there. He's also very good defensive rebounder, not the best offensive rebounder, which makes sense. I

say it all the time. Usually the best offensive rebounders are the springy athletes, the quick twitch guys who can get up there and find a way to quick their way around the boxout. The most defensive rebounders are the ones that are strong, good at boxing now, good at getting positioning. And so he is a good defensive rebounder. He was in the 68th percentile for defensive rebound rate. He also gets the foul line a good amount, 70th percentile in free throw attempt rate. And then he was able to convert them at a good enough clip 73.4% at the free throw line this season. Even though he might not be the most athletic player in the world,

you will see some athletic you know, it's not like this. He's not a he's not like a credit card jumper. He can still there's some fun dunks he's thrown down. He still was able to score in fast break 95th percentile and fast break points per 40 minutes for Watts. So really adept at scoring in the open floor. He scores on the interior. Part of that is the fast break. Part of that is his strength to be able to drive. Part of it is his post-up game. Part of it's his floater game. But basically 90th percentile and points in the paint per

40 minutes. So he's able to get you shots around the rim and in the paint at a high level. And that leads them being a very efficient basketball player, 87th percentile and true shooting percentage, 79th percentile in effective field goal percentage, and he does it with, you know, a little bit of everything. He's solid in the paint. He's solid in the mid range. He's got good touch there. He obviously is solid at hitting those free throws,

which account for some of that. And he's really good at the rim, which again, that's where that strength comes in. He was 69.8% at the rim this past season, which put him in the 70th percentile. That's a really good number for kind of a forward, but also very good passer 99th percentile in assist rate is Watts for his position. He can fit it into some tight windows to bounce passes. Working off a ball screen he scores well off ball screens to so I mean, that gives you the opportunity to do like

four or five if he's in at four or four or five ball screens, which make it something that Kansas is doing a little bit with you know, KJ Adams and Hunter KJ Adams and Flory or whenever they were able to get some fun dunks off of except in this situation, your foreman actually does have the ability to shoot a little bit more. I think that would be interesting. He also can play without the ball though. That's obviously important when you have, you know, Darren Peterson on your

roster, 79th percentile in catch and shoot 60th percentile in spot up so he can do just fine in those situations. And the three point efficiency is a strength to 42%, even though it is on low volume. Now the big questions here, that is one of them, three point volume, even though he's 42% from three, because the volume is so low, you know, and that could very easily, if he's only taking two per game,

he's, you know, one bad month away from that next season shooting 30% from three or shooting 33% from three, right? And for a Kansas team that needs three points shooting, you know, we've already talked about the Trey White isn't a super high volume three point shooter and Flory's obviously not a three point shooter. How many guys can you afford on one roster that are either low volume

or low percentage three point shooters? That is a real question you have to ask here. He also has a high turnover rate, even though you get it back with the assist, like his assistant turnover rate is still good. But the turnover rate ranks in just the ninth percentile, it is literally last in the country for his position in raw turnovers per game, just the actual turnovers per game. So he does turn it over a little

bit too much. But I think he was asked to do a lot at Washington State have ball in his hands a lot. Obviously, if he were to come to Kansas, he would still get some of those opportunities, but there would be less than Washington State because you have Darren Peterson, and some of these other players who would have the ball in their hands. So that could go both ways, right? Would he be comfortable operating in that way, but also at the same point of time, if it lowers the turnover numbers, but you still get the benefit of his

passing ability, then maybe you're cooking with something that right. He also fouls a little bit too much 25th percentile and fouls per game game which maybe is a question if you know if he's your four and flory is your five and to be clear I'm saying him at the four you would basically have Trey White at the three so those would be kind of interchangeable but with Watts if he's getting in foul trouble and floor is getting in foul trouble that becomes a little

bit of a problem for you on the defense and then not the most athletic guy in the world right he's he's getting in foul trouble and floor is getting in foul trouble that becomes a little bit of a problem for you on the defense end and then not the most athletic guy in the world right he's he's a good enough athlete I don't think he's a bad athlete he's just not like a great athlete necessarily but he knows how to use his body he has good strength he has good footwork to account for this but yeah he's not the quickest he's not the fastest he doesn't have the highest vertical in the world and so you know that is

something that I think you maybe have questions about how that relates to defense. He wasn't the 70th percentile for steel rates. That's good. Only 26 percentile for block rate. The on-off numbers are obviously not very good on the defensive end of the floor and his previous stop at Eastern Washington, they were not good at defense at all.

So I do think there are some limitations to that side of the ball for him. And, you know, if you get matched up with a team who has a more athletic player that he has to guard, you know, how would that kind of work out? But I do like the idea if you're playing him more at the floor, some of those athletic limitations go away. And the fact that, OK, if you do get a more athletic guy who can drive by him, you have a rim protector back there with Florida.

But I guess how exactly would he fit in with KU? I believe he is visiting Texas Tech this weekend. So again, I don't know the interest from KU and we'll see if he gets out of Lubbock with or without committing but how exactly would he fit in with KU if Bill self were to kick the tires on him. We'll discuss that next. This episode of the show is brought to you by Turbo Tax. This is a message from sponsor into a TurboTax.

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the four. I think from an offensive perspective, he can play three just fine. And you can actually use that to your advantage if he's in at three on offense of posting up smaller players. But on the defensive end, I like him more at the four. And yeah, like I said, with Trey White and him, it's kind of interchangeable with two wings in that way. But I think defensively, Watts gives you a little bit of strength and physicality that you like Flory on the inside with his athleticism and jumpiness,

but you do maybe have questions about the strength. And Watts would provide that and be a good pair next to Flory in that way. He's also a good passer, so I think he'd be able to hit Flory on lobs. He also has, you know, a floater game and a mid-range game, and obviously he's been efficient, even though it's lower volume from three, that you can play him next to Flory and feel good about that.

And then Trey White, I think, is more athletic, that you're fine with him being a three on defense. I would have more questions about Trey White as a three on the offensive end, but again, because Watts has more offensive package to him, you almost inverted right? Watts is basically the four defensively. He's basically the three offensively. And, you know, white defensively is the three and offensively maybe he's more of the four, right?

Especially since he's the better offensive rebounder. So I think there's ways that you could make that work in a very real way. I like the fact that he's a good passer because as you're looking for players to build around the roster, okay, somebody who can keep the ball moving and is willing to be an unselfish player like that is a fit in a lot of different ways. And as we went through some of his strengths, there are a lot of things he does that would help cancer just mentioned the power

the defensive rebounding you're losing 100 Dickinson who was an elite defensive rebounder at the center position, you need other guys to step up and be good defensive rebounders for you. Kansas didn't get to the free throw line enough. Well, Watts did a good job of getting to the free throw line last season, Kansas struggled in scoring in fast break over the back half of last season. Well, he scores a lot in fast break, and gives you a little bit of that. He gives you some shooting at the four

position, right? He can play off ball a little bit like those are all great things that I think you would fit in well. And give you more of a wing on the roster and in a way that because wings are so versatile, if you are playing a team who's huge, hypothetically, like you add another center in the transfer portal to be Floria's backup, if you really had to, you could play Watts at the three and play another big guy at the four and Floria at the five or Floria at the four and another big guy at the five, right? If you really wanted to match with that size and physicality

in another way, because you have that options here. Now, the things that it wouldn't quite solve is the three-point shooting. White basically getting about two three-point attempts for game. Watts is basically getting about two three-point attempts for game Watts is basically getting about two three point attempts for game. If that was your starting five, where you basically three through five are only getting from the starters for three point attempts per game. That's a lot to be made up for by guys like Jayden Dawson and Darren Peterson and the guys off the bench.

Marco isn't necessarily known for being the best three point shooter. At least as of yet. I guess for all we know, that's all he got to work on. Will he have the Achilles injury and maybe he's going to come out shooting 35% for three? I don't know, but that would certainly be the biggest question if you brought on a guy like Watts. And then also where it's felt like KU has prioritized athleticism and the portal so far, like Daden Dawson, solid athlete, Trey White, good athlete, bringing back Flory, obviously great athlete at the center position. This would be a

little bit different than that. But is that okay? Is it like is it good? Like, do you want to keep staring into that? Is it better to keep staring into that make that your theme? Or is it okay to have like one, you know, curveball when you keep throwing fastballs at this one thing? I don't know. I don't know what the answer is to that. In terms of team identity, like I don't know what would be better in that way. But the biggest thing that I think I like here is something I mentioned at the start, his ability to post up. Because think about it. What is maybe the, I don't know, hesitation is too strong of a word. I think

Flory is going to have an awesome season for KU. But what is the biggest concern? Again, like that's too strong of a word. What is the biggest like thing that you're questioning about? Is Flory going to be able to do this this season? Like I think it'll be a good enough rebounder. I think it'll be a good enough shot blocker. I guess you could say, you know, can you stay out of foul trouble? Like how many minutes are you going to get?

Are you going to get 25 a game? Are you going to get 28? Are you going to get 30? Right. Those are questions you can have. But for the most part, like I think Flory is going to have a great season this year as sophomore for KU. The one thing you question about is how much of a back to the basket game, how much of a post game does Flory Badunga have? I do think he had, I obviously most of his makes were dunks and, you know,

offensive put backs and stuff at the rim. I think he has a little bit more to his postgame than he gets credit for, because one, that was his specific role at Kansas. Two, there were some times where they did throw him the ball in the post and he was able to, you know, I think of a lot of the moves where he was able to kind of outmaneuver a guy like off a dribble or off a pivot foot where he kind of like angled around him and then went up for a dunk or layup or something like that.

Like I think he has more there than he maybe gets credit for. I'm not saying he's, you know, Hunter Dickinson or Perry Ellis on the block or something. But I do think he had more there than you give him credit for. And with another off season in front of them, I think he's going to have more of a post game than you might think. Is it going to be as much as Hunter or David McCormick? I don't know. Probably not that.

But I do think there's more than he gets credit for. basically is the bottom line of what I'm trying to say there. At the same point in time, if that is kind of a question, why not bring a guy in like Watts, who does give you that post-up opportunity, right? There's nothing that says Bill Self has to throw a post-touch to the actual center. We saw him do it on occasion with some of his bigger wings. Like obviously, one that comes to mind for a lot of people is Christian Brown doing it a couple of times in the national championship game against North Carolina's smaller guards. Having Watts would give you that option of your Bill South to be like, hey, we can throw in the post.

And again, like I think Flory is going to have more post game than say the team a couple of years ago that had KJ, Ernest and Zuby with freshman Ernest and Zuby like I think it'll be more postgame from Flory than that team. But if you really want to expand on that then LeJean Watts. So I do think he'd be a very interesting fit for Bill Self and Company. Let's finish up your latest news KU baseball and portal entry that has certainly peaked mine and some KU fans interest. and some KU fans interest. I think strong is here on locked on J. Ox and thanks for making us part of your day,

wherever you get your podcast. So a little portal news. One, there were some reported interest from Kansas in a guard from Missouri State. And before that, ooey pooey, which is a high UPY Vincent Brady, who is a six from Missouri State. And before that, Ooy Pooey, which is a IUPUI, Vincent Brady, who's a 6-3 shooting guard. This, according to Jamie Shaw, Kansas had some interest there. Now, again, is this one of those that's just boosting up the list?

Could be. But this somebody who's 38% from three over four three point attempts per game. Maybe that would be your guy that you look at and say, OK, that's your Jalen Coleman lands role, right? That's your diggy quite role. So that one was certainly a little bit interesting there. The guy who entered the portal today on your Thursday that has gotten some interest from, I think, some KU fans and including myself is Terrence Arseneau. And Arseneau was one of the players in the rotation for Houston this year. Basically, their their first big off the bench was Javier Francis.

And then basically their first like player or their first like non big, I guess their first guard was Malik Wilson. And then they're essentially their eighth guy, which was really their first like wing off the bench was Terrence Arseneau. And Arseneau came in as like a top. I want to say he was like a top 40 top 50 recruit in the country and he was like I remember listening to some draft stuff that going into that year that like oh scouts are raving about

what this guy's doing in practice and then it didn't come to fruition because he got injured. He I figured the injury was he was like torn ACL or something but it kept him out for the season and so you know he's had to kind of work back from that. Obviously the numbers don't jump off the page but the fact that he was playing for Calvin Sampson at all and was in the rotation if our team that went to the national championship

game speaks highly of them and I think the former prospect pedigree the further he comes away from that injury tells you that there's maybe more meat on the bone than the production that was there. He certainly would be an interesting players KU needs more wings somebody could play the three or the four he shot the three ball well again low volume, but he did shoot it well. Certainly one that I'm kind of keeping an eye on and

maybe we'll do a deep dive on on the later episode. And then KU baseball also played since we last did a KU baseball update, they played against Nebraska lost a close one Nebraska has been pretty solid this year seven to five was the final score there. So that snaps K use long winning streak, but it doesn't snap K use big 12 winning streak, which at this point in time is a six game winning streak. Now, if you're just counting big 12 games, and they're gonna put that back to

the test on the road this weekend, they're gonna be at TCU for Friday, Saturday, Sunday, then they'll be back home on Tuesday against Wichita State. And then it's the big one next Friday, Saturday, Sunday. So April 18th, 19th, 20th, Kansas hosting Kansas state. And those are two of the teams who are at the top of the big 12 standings. And then after that, they'll, they'll get a chance to get some revenge is they're going to go up to Lincoln to

take on Nebraska on a following Tuesday. So some interesting and fun games upcoming in the big 12 slate for KU baseball who's been killing it and hopefully they keep doing just that. All right that'll do it for this episode of Lockdown Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcast including on our YouTube page and we'll see you next time if anything breaks over the weekend we'll get to that at some point over the weekend and so make sure you subscribe to the show anywhere you get your podcast on our YouTube page. See you next time.