Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - KANSAS PORTAL TARGET Deep Dive: Melvin Council Jr.'s Athleticism Great for Bill Self

Starting point is 00:00:00 Melvin Council Jr. is an uber athletic guard. What do you fit in with KU? Let's talk about this KU Jayhawks Transfer Portal Target. You are Locked On Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part 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,

Starting point is 00:00:33 wherever you find us, whether it's on YouTube or anywhere that you get your podcasts on an audio platform. And on today's edition of Locked On Jayhawks, we're going to be doing another transfer portal target for KU deep dive. That would be over one Melvin council junior, who is a very athletic guard coming from most recently St. Bonaventure before that with Wagner, we'll get into a scouting reports, strengths questions about his game, how he would fit in with KU. And then we're going to finish up with a little bit on Hunter Dickinson had some interesting

Starting point is 00:01:02 comments about the NIL situation at KU that I wanted to touch on at the end of the show here on Locked on Jayhawks. All right, let's get right into it with Melvin Council Jr. Who is he? He is a six foot four, 180 pound guard. He will be a senior question mark this upcoming season. So last season, his most recent was at St. Bonaventure at the Atlantic 10, which again, we've talked about, like, you know, it's not the it's not the big 12 or the big East, but like the A 10 is basically at the premiere of the the non power conferences, so to speak, right. And prior to that,

Starting point is 00:01:38 he was at Wagner, that was a Wagner team that he helped guide to the NCAA tournament, they got a 16 seed won their first four game, and then lost to North Carolina in the first round from there. Prior to that, Council was at Monroe Junior College. And so this is where the whole like, the whole thing about getting an extra year from the junior college level from the NCAA. This is where I'm a little perplexed because it's this idea that you get this

Starting point is 00:02:04 extra year right, whether it's D idea that you get this extra year, whether it's D2 kids or NAIA kids or junior college kids, whatever it is. But where I'm perplexed is, wait, is it just one year or is it just any year they're at Juko? Because if the whole idea was the court basically said them being a Juko prevented them from being able to earn NIL at the NCAA Division I level, what would prevent a kid from being like, yeah, but I was in JUCO for two years. Both those years, not just one year,

Starting point is 00:02:30 both those years shouldn't count to my eligibility. So I have no idea how that's going to work out with the ruling. So there's a very real possibility if neither of those years count. At the very least, we know an extra one's around, which gives counsel, will make him at least one more year this year. But there's a chance that if you can get that to be the ruling that he'd have two years at whatever stop he ends up going to next, which maybe it ends up being Kansas. So this past season for St. Bonaventure, which was a solid team, I mean, he went to the NCAA tournament with Wagner, you like to see that

Starting point is 00:02:58 that you're winning at your previous stops. St. Bonaventure was a team just outside the top 120 on Ken Palm, which is pretty good for an A 10 school. They won 22 games this year. So like, you know, you're winning games, right? 14.6 points per game, 5.4 rebounds per game, really good numbers there for a guard. He was mainly the point guard for St. Bonaventure, but obviously has the size that you know, if you wanted to play him at the two, I think you could 5.4 rebounds for him 4.1 assists per game. This is really good here.

Starting point is 00:03:25 2.1 steals per game, also 0.4 blocks per game, which is solid for a guard. The field goal percentage, 43 and a half, about middle of the pack there from some of the other guard targets we've been looking at. Three point percentage is on the lower end though. 29.9% on 3.9 attempts per game there. The free throw percentage though, good, 81.9%.

Starting point is 00:03:44 Free throw attempts, lower end though, 2.1 per game. Effect The free throw percentage though good 81.9% free throw attempts lower end though 2.1 per game. effective field goal percentage true shooting percentage. Those are on the lower half of things among the guard targets we have for KU. The on off numbers very interesting for him because he's a plus 16.6 on the on off offensive numbers, which is insanely good, but the defensive numbers, the team is about 10 points worse defensively with him on the floor. That said, they were a really good defense. So you know, maybe it just came down to the guy that he was coming into a point card was like all defense and no offense. And so it inflates the offense numbers, deflates defense numbers, and maybe things are a little closer there. I would value counsel as being you know, a good defender when you look at the steals and the blocks and everything. And then Torvik gives him a 2.9 on his transfer ratings.

Starting point is 00:04:30 Player who, you know, again, helped St. Bonaventure have a top 80 defense, good rebounder for a guard. I mean, if we're going to get into his strengths here, I think you have Lettuce-ism is the one that kind of sticks out the most here for counsel and that leads to a lot of those things like the rebounding ability but he's really able to get up and down the court at a very high level really able to show it in transition where he is in the sixty-ninth percentile for points per possession. He's also in the eighty-first percentile for fast break points per forty minutes. It's

Starting point is 00:05:03 the speed. It's the speed, it's the length, it's the finishing package at the rim that he shows to be in. Like you're seeing some fun dunks out of him too. Like it is real athleticism that would translate up to Kansas. And it feels like that, like athleticism in general. We've been doing a lot of these deep dives.

Starting point is 00:05:20 That has been a, not a constant theme, not every player, but it's been a pretty regular theme with some of these, which you look at like Trey White, who gave you a broad board like Marco Jackson on the roster, Floyd Badoonga on the roster. It feels like for so many years, Bill Self's been like, Oh, yeah, we weren't as athletic as the other team. And then sometimes it's just like, oh, they didn't completely change their athleticism next offseason. This does feel like

Starting point is 00:05:42 there is a little bit more changing of a tide and council would fit in, in that way, if that were the case. But I think that athleticism also helps him on the glass. 62nd percentile in offensive rebound rate, 80th percentile in defensive rebound rate. It's a very good rebounder for a guard. Helps on the defensive end of the floor. Now there is a chance that like I said, you look at the on-off defensive numbers, not great. St. Bonaventure overall as a team had a good defense. So you know, is that noisy? What to think of that? I don't know the defensive numbers like on the steals the team rate, 92nd percentile, Hakeem rate block plus steel

Starting point is 00:06:15 right there. Those are all those are impressive, but it does make you wonder when you have an athletic kid, is he somebody who is more of a gambler on the defensive end that like, he's basically the corner that is going to give up a couple big catches, but he's also getting to pick six in the game, right? And maybe that's an okay strategy. You have for bedoonga behind you. We'll see who Kansas gets is another big man behind him. But like, if you have a really good shop locker

Starting point is 00:06:39 on the interior and flurry doesn't hurt to be a guy who's going to gamble and try to get a big steal here or there that's going to lead to easy points on the offense events. From that standpoint, I would certainly be a nice fit with the way KU as defense around him. Maybe he is an elite defender. I'm not entirely sure. It also with the athleticism, I think helps him get into the lane. You see a lot of plays where he's splitting double teams working off a ball screen. Overall 57th percentile

Starting point is 00:07:04 in points per possession on ball screens, but. He is 94th percentile in paint points per 40 minutes. For guards, he's also in the 90th percentile on isolation scoring points per possession, so you want more guys for K you can get their own bucket off the bounce and create well this is a guy who has

Starting point is 00:07:23 been able to do those things and it's almost like a little bit with, you know, I'm not saying he's Devon Dotson. But like with Devon Dotson, he was a sub 30% 3.0. Gosh, he was right around there. His last year at KU, right around 30, 31, 29%, something like that. His last year at KU, right off the top of my head. But he was so good at driving. Even if you played off of him, it did not matter. He was so quick. He was so athletic that even if you played off him, that was just the head of steam for him. Like it didn't matter. And there was a little bit of that, I think to council's game where it's like, okay, if you stop respecting the three, he just now has a head of steam and he knows

Starting point is 00:07:57 how to take advantage of that. And that is a special skill to have. And I do think he has that. Also good in those pick and rolls on passing to the big man. I mean, over four assists per game. A lot of them were to the big man, which you like to see because you have a lob threat and a pick and roll rim threat off a screen in Florida. But doing I think that would be a good match here for council there. He's also also a marathon man. We know Bill self loves to play his guards lots of minutes if he trusts him. Well, 40 minutes played each of the last four games for council at St. Bonaventure. And eight of the last nine games he played at St. Bonnie, he played 40 minutes in the game.

Starting point is 00:08:33 He played 37.1 for the season and at Wagner the year before, 35.8. So obviously he's in great conditioning and that is something Bill Self would love, right? And also it tells you that like he that means he does a good job avoiding fouls, which for somebody who's averaging over two seals per game, that is a good balance to walk to be able to do that defensively, while still, you know, not

Starting point is 00:08:54 getting in foul trouble necessarily and not overdoing it, right. And I also think he does a pretty good job in spot up 58th percentile points for possession on spot up. Again, that's not all just catch and shoot. That's sometimes catching and shooting. That's catching off a spot up and then driving in on closeout. He also was good at free throw line, 82% on free throws. So that's helpful for KU,

Starting point is 00:09:15 especially if you're trying to close out games late. And then here's the one thing, like I think there've been some player comps that have been going around. Tyshaun Taylor, for what it's worth, the big 12 comps on CBB analytics from this year. The number two comp is Caleb Love, which you can see that maybe a little bit.

Starting point is 00:09:31 Bigger guard who's athletic, you know, it doesn't always shoot great from three. The top big 12 comp though, this one will just, I don't know, it put my mind into a pretzel. Darian Williams, the like point forward for Texas Tech, I don't know, that one is absolutely wild to me, which by the way, K, you should go after Darian Williams, the like point forward for Texas Tech. I don't know. That one is absolutely wild to me, which by the way, KU should go off to Darian Williams. Anyway, I think comp I've seen some KU fans throughout

Starting point is 00:09:52 there's Tyshawn Taylor for this kid, which makes sense. He's a taller guard, he's athletic. That was the case with Taylor, who was good at getting steals, right? And I think with Taylor, maybe a little more inconsistent from three, shot a better percentage at the end there than Council did coming in. But also Council, I think the one thing he does better

Starting point is 00:10:09 than Taylor did is there were a lot of, maybe more the head scratchers for Council or sometimes the shots. Because if we're getting some of the questions here, he was only in the eighth percentile in off the dribble shooting. So there were a lot of times he was, maybe not taking the best off the dribble shots

Starting point is 00:10:24 or taking contested pull- ups that weren't going down inconsistent shooting games. He was just three of 16 in the finale. He had six games where he shot below 35% from the game, but then had 10 games where he shot 50% or better. So you're talking about inconsistencies and you saw that in the NCAA tournament in 2024 with Wagner when he had 21 points in the first four on 10 of 18. And then against Carolina, he had 18 points, but it came on 30% shooting at six of 20. So he's just in the

Starting point is 00:10:51 44th percentile and effective field goal percentage, 31st percentile and three point percentage, 19th percentile and three point attempt rate, 37th percentile and shooting percentage. And the shooting has been inconsistent. It hasn't know, you wanted to get better at whatever his next stop is. And so that's kind of the pull your hair out type moments that you can have during the in for him with Taishan. I think sometimes it was more about the turnovers that you would have the pull your hair out type of moments. Well, that's interesting because council doesn't really do that. He actually is in the 76th percentile and turnover rate. So he voids him and he's in the 92nd percentile in assist to turnover rates. So he, despite his speed, his athleticism, like he's not getting out of whack, so to

Starting point is 00:11:33 speak. He's also oddly enough that despite the fact that he's so athletic, he gets to the rim, he works in transition only in the 15th percentile and free throw attempt rates. Maybe that goes back to the shot selection. Maybe he's settling for jumpers a little bit too much. Maybe there are times where he's not seeking the contact as much and is using, he's so fast that either he's getting transition buckets untouched or like splitting defenders and getting there untouched, or he's just taking it out or something. I don't entirely know there. But what would his fit be with KU? Let's discuss that next.

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Starting point is 00:13:27 know. Anyway, we're going to get to more what is the fit for council and then we'll get to some of this NIL stuff with KU. So I think the fit with council is certainly interesting because, you know, at this point in time, like, Darren Peterson, I lock him up as a starter. Trey White, I kind of lock up as a starter in Florida. But I lock up as a starter. And with Trey White, it could be the three or the four. But I feel good about him.

Starting point is 00:13:51 So now would it be the craziest thing in the world if Trey White ended up being your sixth man in the same way that like I thought Ryland Griffin and AJ Stor would be starters for KU? I guess that's entirely possible. And you never take anything for granted. But I guess like lock lock. Darren Peterson and Flory would be your two close to a lock then if we want to view it that way, it would be Trey White for me.

Starting point is 00:14:09 And then outside of that, I think it's open. And so that leaves you with a couple of different ways you can go if you're Bill Self, right? I think right now Marco Jackson and Jade and Dawson would be in line to start, but there's still five scholarships to go. So we'll see what happens here. Basically that means with Bill Self,

Starting point is 00:14:22 you can bring in another guard to play next Darren Peterson. And then you have Dawson at three and white at the four, right? You can bring in a four man and play white at three Dawson or El Marco at the two or you can bring in another three and play white at four, right? So many iterations you can go with this that Melvin council could obviously if he picked KU start right and then your back court would essentially be most likely Peterson next to council.

Starting point is 00:14:46 And then again, this would just be based on this point. Dawson at the three, White at the four, Flory at the five and then your sixth man would kind of be a Marco Jackson. And then at this point in time, your first big off the bench would be like Bryson Teller or something like that, right? And again, many scholarships together that stuff is going to change

Starting point is 00:15:04 and constantly have have new data points to kind of evaluate there. But with counsel, I think the fact that he was good in isolation scoring, you want more guys to get buckets, he was really good athlete, you want more athleticism, you want more transition play after that tailed off for KU in Big 12 season, good transition team in the noncon, bad transition team during conference play and to finish out the season.

Starting point is 00:15:28 He would certainly help with that. You look at the defensive numbers, right? If you're looking for more players to be two way players and to give you a defensive punch around Aaron Peterson, he would certainly help with that. We also know that Bill Self is not, you know, as shy to have players who are good with like in that floater range in the paint, right? Because that's okay. You took a lot of this past season.

Starting point is 00:15:52 Well, he was in the 85th percentile in the paint in terms of that little floater range this season shooting almost 50%. And I will say his corner threes were 35.9% on 1.2 per game 54th percentile. It was above the break where he struggled more at 27 and a half percent. So maybe you know, you use that a little bit more in terms of how he goes about a KU plus with another year of school who knows maybe he goes up to mean a 31% three point shooter and maybe I don't know it's a little bit more like Marcus Garrett at that point in time, right? Even though I think the comp would again kind of go more toward Taishan Taylor. But I think I think this is a good fit for KU. I don't think

Starting point is 00:16:28 it's a great fit in terms of you wanting more shooting there. But at the same point in time, we've talked about this before. Like, do you just hit a certain point with the transfer portal where you just want Bill self to get his guys and get guys that you know he's going to trust and by their playing style, you know he's going to play them and give them that trust and give them those minutes and that it's better to be everybody on the same page than have the potential of being like, oh, but this guy's going to help with the shooting. And then it just doesn't work in the other areas, right?

Starting point is 00:16:58 And so from that standpoint, it does make a lot of sense with Council. And I do like those other areas. It really is just the shooting. Obviously it does put pressure if your starting lineup ends up being, you know, Peterson, counsel, Dawson, white and flurry that okay, white, not a high volume three point shooter, counsel, not super high volume or high efficiency, flurry, not a shooter. You put a lot of pressure on just how much shooting could Jayden Dawson provide just how much shooting could your bench pieces provide just how much shooting could Jayden Dawson provide just how much shooting could your bench pieces

Starting point is 00:17:25 provide? How much shooting could El Marco provide for you as another guard? And what level is Darren Peterson going to shoot as a freshman, right? I've talked about this before, like, if you told me Darren Peterson is going to shoot 3840% from three, it wouldn't shock me because he's an unbelievable player. But also we see freshmen come in all the time. And even when they're good players, eventually 33 34%, from three, a lot of times that's what we see increases they stay in college.

Starting point is 00:17:48 So that's where you start to wear down wear on it a little bit. But again, if you're giving me the option of just give me the bill self guys, and then you don't have to kind of worry about it. For the rest, like, that's not a bad place to be either. So this would be a take for me. I think he helps in enough ways. I think he helps in enough ways. I think he's an exciting player. He's an athletic player.

Starting point is 00:18:09 And I guess, you know, it's maybe a little bit easier. Like if you're talking about what type of bench pieces can you go out and get, off the top of my head, I don't know, I could be wrong with this. I just, I feel like it'd be easier to find a good three-point shooter off the bench in that specific role than it would be to find somebody who's like an uber athlete to come off the bench. You know what I mean? Like, I feel like teams having a seventh or eighth man who can come off the bench and hit a couple threes, that happens a lot more than having a dude who comes off the bench who's 6'4",

Starting point is 00:18:42 is one of the better transition players in the conference or whatever and is able to soar up for like a dog like that doesn't come off the bench that often. So maybe it does make sense here. And like I said, you have another ball handler. You'd have somebody else who can grade off the bounce. You have somebody who'd be a marathon warrior in terms of his minutes played somebody who could get steals which I mentioned that earlier. I love that fit with somebody who can be a ballhawk and get steals when you have Flory Padunga behind them. That I do like this fit. And if this does end up happening, I have a very interesting kind of theory about the roster build for Bill South Pole gets that if he ends up picking KU does seem like

Starting point is 00:19:19 they're targeting into some point. Alright, let's finish up here. NIL game for KU. Hunter Dickinson had some interesting comments on it. So I'll touch on those next. Thanks for joining us on locked on Jayhawk Starrick Johnson here and we will have plenty more transfer portal content coming at you here on the show. So if you missed it, I guess it was yesterday two days ago, whatever it was. If you missed it, I guess it was yesterday, two days ago, whatever it was.

Starting point is 00:19:58 100 Dickinson was on the it was like the field of 68 show with like Jeff Goodman and John Fanta and a bunch of, you know, national college basketball media personalities and stuff. Right. And he had a bunch of stuff to talk about. There was a lot of controversial stuff and a lot of things that got people into media wars over and yada, yada, yada. Anyway, I got a I got a message from someone who listened to the show. So shout out to Kurt for for this and idea on the topic here. Kind of wondering like, okay, those were interesting comments from Dickinson because he also mentioned the NIL game for KU. And he mentioned that, you know, he didn't think you had, you know, this extravagant NIL game. I'm kind of paraphrasing here. I think the term was he said it like maybe top 25 or outside top

Starting point is 00:20:32 25, something like that. And what actually is the NIL game? And that he supposedly gave up $100,000 for KU to be able to go out and land AJ Store for them to improve the roster around him. So a couple things because it is interesting and it's like, oh, well, I don't know that seems kind of it seems. I don't know that I believe Kansas doesn't have like a top 25 NIL game. Now maybe you could make the argument like, do they have the number one NIL game? No, I don't think that's the case.

Starting point is 00:21:04 Do they have a top five? Maybe, maybe not. Are they in good shape and would it shock me if they are like top 10? No, it would not. And here's some evidence to the contrary of like the comments. And I get it. Like this stuff is privatized. So I guess Hunter Dickinson would have a better idea.

Starting point is 00:21:20 And I'm sure I don't know, do the teammates talk about it? Is that a faux pas? Do you bring that up with your teammates do you not I have no idea but here's some evidence I would provide to the contrary that Kay you does have a good NIL game Kansas got Florida back he entered into the transfer portal the idea was to get more money and Kay you ended up outbidding the other teams to give him more money to come back to Kansas. That is point number one.

Starting point is 00:21:48 Point number two, Kansas getting Hunter Dickinson to begin with, and for back-to-back years, they've had one of the top ranked transfer portal classes coming in back-to-back seasons coming into this year. That doesn't happen unless you have a lot of NIL money. Then this is probably the biggest one. I should have led with this year. That doesn't happen unless you have a lot of NIL money. Then this is probably the biggest one. I should have led with this one. Number one reason why I think Kansas has good NIL game, Darren freaking Peterson, because Darren Peterson, yes, I'm sure Adidas is helping in some way. He's probably got some big deal with Adidas and stuff. Hey, he was still footing some of that

Starting point is 00:22:20 bill, right? And it was public what AJ DeBansa is getting from BYU. And I don't remember off the top of my head, but it was like $5 million, something like that, right? Right in that bull park. Okay, so AJ DeBonsa, who's the number one recruit is getting 5 million. And you're Darren Peterson, and that becomes public. Do you think Darren Peterson is only getting two? I don't, especially when some places are like you see Draft Express, early mock draft comes out and Darren Peterson is going number one. I don't, especially when some places are like you see draft express early mock draft comes out and Darren Peterson is going number one. There's a case to be made that Darren

Starting point is 00:22:49 Peterson should be getting the same amount of money as AJ DeBansa or that it's at least close. Right. Like maybe if enough places have them as the number one recruit and maybe it's just different because BYU is throwing around all this crazy money that it makes a difference. Okay. Well, if he's making five, Peterson's making at least four or at least three or something, right? Like, whatever that number is, Taron Peterson is probably making a lot of money. So that is further proof that I think they're okay there. Here's the other thing. KU has some really rich donors.

Starting point is 00:23:16 And some of them are ones that have names on buildings. Others are not. They have people in the tech industry and the oil. KU has some very rich donors that have shown time and time again, they will pony up for the right situation. Now, these people who are very rich donors, they don't get rich by just handing out their money for nothing, right? They're going to want something in return,

Starting point is 00:23:41 or they're going to be smart with their investments in a lot of ways. That's why they got rich and that's why they stay rich, right? So they're smart with their money. So they're not just going to be, hey, Bill Self, I'm just going to write you a blank $20 million check every year. No, that's not how this works. But Kansas has shown time and time again, hey, we need this new football stadium. David Booth, you want to write a $50 million check? Okay. You know, show me the vision. Boom, I'm in right. You know, I'm not gonna write you a blank check. Oh, hey, Bill comes calling. I think we got a great chance to land X player, but I need 200 extra thousand dollars done right. It's

Starting point is 00:24:15 those things that make this a little bit different. And here's the other part of the last part of this that I'll say that makes me think Kansas is good at a L game. Agents are constantly leaking Kansas on their clients interest list to bump up the bidding. Why would they do that if Kansas didn't have deep pockets? Why would these agents and these players when they're saying, oh, I have interest from all these schools and sometimes there is real interest, sometimes there's not, list Kansas,

Starting point is 00:24:40 but if you're not trying to get up the bidding. Like it'd be like an MLB player reaching free agency and being like, well, you're gonna have to get up to bidding. Like, it'd be like an MLB player reaching for agency and being like, well, you're going to have to pay me more. The Oakland A's have been calling. It's like, wait, what? Well, then I don't have to bid that much more. It's the A's. Like, I'm probably going to outbid them.

Starting point is 00:24:56 No, it'd be like the equivalent of being like, oh, the Yankees and the Dodgers are on our tail. You know, when you see Kansas and Duke or Kansas and Carolina, whatever, I don't know who else has good NIL games. There's a reason for that, right. And so here's, I guess, my theory on on this whole thing. Because, again, where does Kansas say they top five or the top 10 or the top 20? I don't know. But I do feel like Duke is on another level. We've seen some recent articles kind of come out about that,

Starting point is 00:25:27 but like maybe it's not that budget, but I think the budget's pretty darn good for kids. So here's my theory about why Hunter Dickinson amassed that point because again, he's lived it. So in certain ways, he does have a better perspective than a lot of us on it, but like, think about this. If he did give up money to AJ Store, maybe it's because honestly,

Starting point is 00:25:46 I don't know, is there any chance that it's being framed that way? And the actual story is Bill Self said, hey, if you're going to come back, that's cool. But based on how this last season went, we can't give you more NIL money. So because we need to build the roster around you. And maybe he came back and was like, okay, well, I can help with the roster. Here's this, right? Or was it a demand of, hey, we're out of money and we're not going to get AJ store. We need you to give up 100,000. Those are two completely different conversations. So I don't have the answer to that.

Starting point is 00:26:16 To be completely honest, and I think the other part of this is, you know, the money that is going around now for players, as opposed to one two years ago when Hunter Dickinson came into KU, or even last year, is very different. Because of the revenue share, and also things are just exploding on the market this year, you're hearing rumors of players getting, you know, as much if not more money who are more like role players than maybe what Hunter Dickinson was rumored to get when he came to Kansas. So that can be part of it too, right? If you're Hunter, you talk to other players who are still

Starting point is 00:26:47 in college basketball, you talk to agents or whatever, and you're like, wait, that guy's getting that much and I only made this much. Well, that must mean that Kansas doesn't have as much money as other people. You could understand why that would be the logical dot-to-dot connection there, even if that's not the case. And it's just that no, the market has risen for everybody now. And if you were in the transfer portal now as a junior, you know, he would be getting the benefits of that as well. So I those are my kind of two theories on that. So again, maybe there's some truth in this, maybe KU's NIL game is only, you know, top 20 or top 25 or top 15 or whatever. But like

Starting point is 00:27:19 at the end of the day, I do think no budget is strict here in terms of it. This being money that's given by boosters. Like theoretically, in one given season, Kansas could have the 24th biggest NIL budget. And then in another year, they could have the seventh. And in another year, they could have the second. Another year, they could have the 30th. Because here's why. If there is an unreal player available, Bill Self is going to be like,

Starting point is 00:27:42 hey, I think we have a shot for this. I'm going to call up my top donors and be like, Hey, I really need an extra million to bring in this guy. And he can be an All-American and you know, maybe the donors like, okay, sign me up, right? Let's do it. Versus if Bill Self is like, Hey, I really want this role player. But he wants to make he wants, you know, half a million more than than what we were planning to give him and we don't have the funds for it.

Starting point is 00:28:04 And the dog's like, Yeah, I don't know, I don't want to pay for that for a guy that is going to be the seventh guy and has a chance of falling out of the rotation. Right. So some years based on the roster, you have both the opportunity to recruit and have the roster is going to be more expensive. And that's what makes this different too, that some years maybe you do have an NIL budget of your roster is 25th. And then in other years, maybe it's fifth, right?

Starting point is 00:28:27 So the reality to me is, is KU has a good idea of what the market is or should be. And so they let role players go to not overpay there, but will make any money amount happen if it's the right player. For instance, they let Diggy Coyk go. But you think of Darren Peterson was thinking about leaving, and he was like, I really got to have 200,000 more dollars. You think Kansas versus if Diggy Coyt goes, I really got to have 200,000 more dollars.

Starting point is 00:28:56 And even if the NIL budget is tapped, don't you think Bill Self could fire that up with donors to get Darren Peterson to stick around, as opposed to that conversation going with Hey, we need diggie quite stick around. So that's why the NIL budget thing also isn't really a thing because it's not really a budget. And it's a moving target each and every year and based on each and every player. But I don't know, just a theory there. That's all for this episode of Locked on J-Hawks. You can find

Starting point is 00:29:21 our show anywhere you get your podcast including on our YouTube page. We'll see you next time with some more transfer portal talk.

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