Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - KANSAS PORTAL TARGET: Jack Karasinski is an ELITE SHOOTER | Does He Fit Bill Self's Jayhawks?

Starting point is 00:00:00 One of the best shooters in the country, let alone shooting big men, is in the transfer portal. Does it make sense for Kansas? You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Going on, Derek Johnson here with another episode of Locked on Jayhawks. Thanks for making it your first listen every day. And on today's episode, we are going to break down the top 10 freshmen's seasons of the Bell Zelfera. We'll also get into the scouting report on Jack Kerosinski,

Starting point is 00:00:38 who is a bomber from the outside. One of the best shooters in the transfer portal. Does he make sense for Kansas? We'll get into all that on today's episode. I'd start right here. This one comes from Logan Matherly on Twitter. So shout out to Logan for the recommendation here. And Kerosinski is a 6'5-215-pound forward. He, you would see that size and you would, you would see that size, would think he's playing the three and the four. For Bellarmine, he was playing the four and the five. So becomes very interesting, like if he were to transfer up, does he continue playing the four, five? Does he just focus on being a four? Can you play him at the three, four? Those are kind of interesting questions. But he's going to be a fifth year senior in the upcoming season with one year left to play. So a one-year

Starting point is 00:01:25 grad transfer edition here for whoever gets him. This guy who was an all-state selection, his final years of high school basketball in the state of Michigan. And he ends up going to William and Mary out of high school. He played 29 games as a true freshman with modest numbers. Then in year two, he was limited to nine games. He had an injury. I'm assuming that's why he's able to get another season here, medical redshirt. So then he transfers to Bellarmine, who's been kind of this upstart program that moved up from the D2 level, I believe, and has been pretty good. And he puts up 15.4. points per game in that year. So kind of the breakout season on 53% from the field, 39% from 3 and 77% at the foul line. So that's really good shooting splits on over 15 points

Starting point is 00:02:13 per game. And then this year he gets even better of 21.7 points per game for the nights. He also averaged 4.7 rebounds per game. And he did it on 56% from the floor, 42% from 3 and 81% at the foul line while taking 5.7 3s per game. This is one of the the best shooters that you're going to find in the transfer portal, one of the best shooting bigs you will find in the transfer portal. And that becomes, I guess, interesting for Kansas, right? If you are getting Florida and Bill Self, and yes, we are continuing to just wait on that news. What is going to happen here for KU? But as you look at it, it's like, oh, if you had a really good shooting big man next to Florey, that could be really fun. You have the defensive Florey with the

Starting point is 00:02:56 offense of a really potent foreman. Part of the reason I like Deshaun Good. So, you know, this becomes kind of interesting. So let's dig a little deeper here, right? Also incredible consistency from Kerosenski. He had one game with six points. Every other game, he had 14 or more points, including 19 of his games where he had 20 or more points. Who knows, you know, you're not going to be asked to be the guy scoring like you were at Bellarmine as you were at Kansas. But I guess it's something where having the consistency like is certainly appreciative, because, you know, because I think we saw this year, there were a lot of KU players that weren't consistent. And it became, you know, you'd get into some key game.

Starting point is 00:03:39 Like, Trey White had some good games. Trey White had some stinkers. Bryson Tiller had some good games. Bryson Tiller had some stinkers. Melvin Council had some good games and some stinkers. There were a lot of inconsistencies on Kansas this season. And so having a player potentially like Jack Kerosenski would be interesting because he was so consistent. And he also finished the season on an absolute tear.

Starting point is 00:04:00 Here are his last seven game point totals. 30, 23, 31, 23, 33, 38, 31, 23. This dude is just a light-up score and shooter, and he performed well against high majors. 23 points, 8 rebounds in a game at Georgia, where he was 10 of 17 shooting. He had 18 points and five rebounds at Kansas State in a game where he was 6 of 9 shooting. Against Notre Dame, he had 17 points, 4 rebounds on 6 of 9 shooting. and then against Kentucky, he had 24 points and four rebounds on six of nine shooting. So just an elite shooter, right?

Starting point is 00:04:37 And in his five games that he played this year against Ken Palm top 100 teams, he shot 81% on two point shots and 44% on three point shots. Even if you take his entire career in such games, top 100 opponents, you're getting up to 14 games now, 68% on twos, 34% on threes over the course of his career. So again, like even translating up, I have no questions about how the shooting is going to translate up that this is going to be one of the better transfer shooters that somebody is going to pick up. And the offensive metrics look really fun to kind of boot and as you would kind of expect here. 94th percentile in offensive RAPM, 100th percentile, so at the very best, in offensive win shares per 40, 99th percentile in P. and 98th percentile in wins above replacement player.

Starting point is 00:05:30 And so as we're going through this, like if you were listening to the show, whatever that was a year ago, two years ago, when Kobe Brea was in the transfer portally, obviously ended up going to Kentucky, that was like one of my like my favorites and ended up having a great season in Kentucky,

Starting point is 00:05:44 helped them make the Sweet 16. And I thought his shooting ability would have paired perfectly, you know, when you're trying to pull shooters around Hunter Dickinson, right? And that ended up. not happening. From a shooting perspective, this one is getting me almost as excited as the Kobe Bray one was. Here's the potential issue, though. He's in the 0th percentile, so literally as low as it can go, meaning he is dead last nationally in defensive RIPM and defensive windchairs per 40. And that is

Starting point is 00:06:15 what becomes a big issue for a couple of reasons. One, we know Bill Self will easily bench guys if they're not playing defense. And so you won't necessarily get the ability to shoot threes. And also, if you're not playing defense and you're going into the lineup, tougher to find that rhythm from shooting the ball. Also, here's the other thing. If you bring on kind of a Kobe Brea level player, who is like an elite three-point shooter, but maybe you question on the defensive end, it's one thing when that player's a guard. It's another thing when that player is a big man, which you kind of have here with the guys playing the four and five, where they have to be kind of the backbone of the defense. The other thing is this. What is Kansas?

Starting point is 00:06:51 this is defensive scheme going to be? If they're going to continue to want to switch everything, Krasinski doesn't make sense. He's not very switchable defender. But if it does become something where KU switches up the defensive scheme and you can kind of work around it and say, hey, we're going to give up defense because we know we have Flory next to him. If you bring him back at the center position, let's just go all in on offense. Then it starts to make sense. So it's a super interesting conundrum and player here because he's clearly a good player and he's an excellent score. The versatility to play the four and the five, I think is intriguing, though. I think KU, given the size, he would be primarily a four, which I think, again, works because ideally, if you're Kansas, you're getting Flory and

Starting point is 00:07:29 Mbia back, which again, we don't know for sure, but ideally, that also means he is highly dependent on KU getting those players back or having that archetype of center. But I think it also works with the archetype of a center who, like, this is the type of player where if, if, like, if Hubert Davis was still in North Carolina and he went out and got like an Armando Baycott prototype and brought this kid in to play the Brady Manick role, like that kind of makes sense to me as well. Now, if you don't have the right roster build, it might not make as much sense.

Starting point is 00:08:04 And there's also the question of his mobility. Is it enough to defend opposing four men? You know, I don't know, there are a lot of difficulties that would come on that end. So let's get a little further into his game. And then we'll get into the top. 10 freshman seasons of the Billsoff era next. This episode's show brought to you by Robin Hood. What if sports are traded like markets?

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Starting point is 00:09:07 a registered futures commission merchant and swap firm. Episodes also brought to you by TurboTax. It is tax time, but for a lot of us, old way to doing taxes, is a lot. Trying to book an appointment. That's always not the most convenient with your work schedule or life schedule. You're sitting in a waiting room with a stack of papers, emailing back and forth, wondering if they really get your situation or if everything came through. But this year, you're getting a major upgrade. Into a TurboTax now has an in-person location nationwide. You can meet face-to-face with a real tax expert, and your documents get uploaded straight to your TurboTax

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Starting point is 00:10:11 interesting names in the portal. We'll continue to roll through them as the portal is going to be open up next Tuesday. Obviously, we're awaiting news from, you know, lot of things going on with KU and we'll get to those when they do happen. But right now we're just kind of in a holding period. So knocking out some potential portal targets. And don't free you can check out the everyday or club. Use code March.

Starting point is 00:10:28 It's locked on Jayhawks. Dot supercast.com. Get the ad-free version of the show. Our strengths and weaknesses for Jack Kerosensky. Let's start with the strengths for Kerosinski. Three-point shooting is certainly one of them. Career 37% from three on four tries per game. But again, this past season, almost six tries per game at over 40%.

Starting point is 00:10:45 He is an excellent three-point shooter. He's also a really good cutter and off the ball player. And that's what you see sometimes. When you become a really good three-point shooter, can you find other ways to beat the defense if they over-emphasize your three-point shot? He was in the 95th percentile in efficiency as a perimeter cutter. He was in the 87th percentile as a perimeter sniper. And so just finding the knack for when to cut and get an open layup for your team every now and then just to get an easy bucket because they're face gardening you or something. That is a nice skill to have.

Starting point is 00:11:16 this is what I you know he he's the ultimate off ball player he was in the 0.3th that's not a word percentile for frequency of dribble jumpers basically he doesn't need the ball in his hands he doesn't take shots that he own he created himself which you know on one hand you would say okay but I you kind of need that on your team so it would mean that you need some guys that can do that but he's not somebody who's going to need the ball in terms of if you get another good scoring guard next to Talen Kinney, you're not going to have to worry about are there too many guys that need the ball in their hands? He can play off of them because that's what he does to a elite level. He's also just in general, like such an efficient player, 93rd percentile, effective

Starting point is 00:11:59 field goal percentage, 98th percentile in true shooting percentage. And the shot chart is beautiful. It is like average to good to great in like every zone at the rim, both sides of the paint, both baselines, mid range, the free throw line elbow area mid range. straight on threes, wing threes, and one of the corners. Oddly enough, one of the other corners, he has, he didn't shoot super well this year, but like every other place he shot really well. And that almost makes you like shot proof to where it doesn't really matter where they drop a play or where you're positioned.

Starting point is 00:12:31 It makes it harder to scout you because it's just like, oh, it doesn't matter where he is. He's going to make the shot, right? He also doesn't turn the ball over. He's solid at getting to the free throw line, which that you don't normally see a ton of if you're like a big time jump shooter. So that's a nice skill to have. He also, just in general, like you put everything together, 98th percentile in on-off O rating to where, you know,

Starting point is 00:12:55 even you look at some of the defensive issues, he's still an extremely positive player overall just because how elite he has been on the offensive end of the floor. And you look at some of the weaknesses here. Rebounding is one of them. And again, he's playing the four and five for Bellarmine. Is this something where if you play him at the four, it helps a little bit more,

Starting point is 00:13:12 but only in the 20th percentile on offensive rebound rate, only in the 55th percentile on defensive rebound rate. So that becomes an issue too because we know Kansas struggled a bit rebounding in basketball. Now, if you're going to throw out this kid at the four and Florey at the five potentially, I don't think that solves the rebounding issue that KU would need. It solves some of the offensive issues. It gives you another three-point shooter, but it doesn't help the rebounding. And then you get in a conversation of, okay, what if you play him at the three to overcome some of the rebounding stuff?

Starting point is 00:13:40 And that's like, okay, but he's not going to be athletic enough to play the three, right? And then that all circles into the defensive conversation, right? Those horrid defensive metrics that we talked about, they were worse with him on the floor there than they were without him. So it's not even a situation of just like, oh, Bellarmine was that much of a disaster defensively. It's like, no, they were worse when he was on there too. He had just a 15th percentile Hakeem, right? So he's not getting seals and blocks. Again, bottom of the barrel and some of those defensive metrics.

Starting point is 00:14:08 And, you know, do some of the bad defensive metrics indicate it was maybe problematic to play him at the five and that he'd be a little better playing as a four potentially because it's six, seven, two, fifteen. He was, you know, maybe part of the reasons some of the defensive metrics are so bad is because if he's being asked to play the five at that height and he's not a great rebounder, it's going to look bad. And so maybe playing at the four, it's a better defensive system for him. I don't know. That's entirely possible. But either way, those are not great numbers. In fact, those are very bad numbers. And so that's kind of where I'm out with this. like it is tempting it is tantalizing looking at the shooting and i think from a standpoint of like if you

Starting point is 00:14:46 could convince him to come in as a bench stretch big man who can just give you like like imagine if you brought tiller and flory back and you brought this kid in to be your backup at the force and then you have it in b as the backup five this kid is the backup four that you wouldn't be reliant on but it'd be nice to have the three point shooting off the bench uh and if the defense and the rebounding is struggling he can take a see for a little that is probably how it would work for Kansas, but given the defensive issues, given how well he played and how well he played against high majors and how he will fit in better to other systems and other schools who will probably be able to promise him a bigger role than how he would fit in at KU, I'm imagining

Starting point is 00:15:28 the cost and the role are going to be better at another school as opposed to as it is at Kansas. And, you know, that might not be for the worst in the world for both parties when you look at how Bill Self might handle this type of player with some of those holes in the game. And then you look at, you know, how Bill Self has traditionally used big men, even the big men who can shoot threes. It's usually like, okay, you're taking two, maybe three, three-pointers a game. And so are you even going to fully actualize what his best skill is? So I like the player. I'm going to be intrigued where he goes. But I don't know that it's the best fit for KU.

Starting point is 00:16:06 Let's get to our top 10 true freshman seasons of the Bill Self era next. Today's episode is brought to you by Indeed, workplace chaos, deadlines stacking up, inbox overflowing, and the one position you have to fill is still sitting open. When the pressure's on and you need the right hire, this is the job for Indeed sponsor jobs. Indeed, sponsor jobs helps you reach the people who actually fit where you're looking for with the right skills, experience, locations. You're not just hoping the right candidate stumbles across your post. And in the minute that I've been talking to you, companies like yours made 27,

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Starting point is 00:17:07 Unlocked on Jayhouse. That's indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions applied need to hire. This is a job for indeed sponsored jobs. Thanks you for joining us here on Lockdown, Jayhawks. Hit us up on Twitter at L.O. underscore Jayhawks. Let's get to our top 10 true freshman seasons of the Bill Salfera. So we're going true freshman seasons.

Starting point is 00:17:28 So Ben McElmore, the Jalen Wilson red shirt freshman seasons. Those aren't applicable here. Otherwise, they would have been on the list. And these don't necessarily have to be one and done freshman. These are just freshman seasons in the Bill Southwerexas. Faira. A quick honorable mention here. Devon Dotson, I got very close to putting on the list, J.R. Ginnens, Tychon Taylor, Kelly Ubre, Johnny Furphy. Honestly, you could probably honorable mention Sylvio DeSosa for the impact he had in helping that team make a final four.

Starting point is 00:17:55 If O'Chai would have had a full season instead of getting the redshirt pulled halfway through, he might have wound up on this list. But you'll see why it gets difficult to put some of these guys like Dotson's averaging like 12 points per game his freshman year. But number 10 is Sharon Collins. Now, Collins not as many as 12 points per game, 9.3 points per game. about three assists, 59 true shooting percentage, which is really good. But he's also, he's also in a situation where he's joining a back court with Mario Chalmers and Russell Robinson. And so it's different than the Devon Dotson one, for instance, who's getting the keys to the car right away. So you're going to have more opportunity to put up stats. I think Collins' impact is

Starting point is 00:18:30 probably bigger. And also you look at that Kansas team, Collins was a freshman on. They make it to an elite eight. And if not for a billion missed layups, who knows what happens that year for KU. Number nine on the list is Dorell Arthur's freshman season. I went back and forth between Arthur and Collins and, you know, you're talking about that same year, but 9.8 points per game, 4.7 rebounds per game, 2.4 stocks per game, really good, 56 true shooting percentage, a bit below Sharon. What was interesting, Sharon Collins had 3.6 windchairs accumulated that year. Derell Arthur at 4.8. So by that number, you have a big advantage to Dorel Arthur. And again, maybe that just kind of comes down. to the usage in terms of the other guards that were around Charon.

Starting point is 00:19:14 But I have Arthur in at number nine, Sharon in at number 10. Number eight on the list is Mario Chalmers freshman year. 11.5 points per game, almost four assists per game. It average like 2.7 steals per game. 58 true shooting percentage. So again, in that line, that's good. 4.6 win shares.

Starting point is 00:19:31 Chalmers was really good as a freshman for KU. Obviously, they ended up losing in the first round of the NCAA tournament and didn't go as far as they wanted to. but that team got really hot at one point in the season, and Chalmers hit the ground running right away for KU at that position. Number seven is Xavier Henry, 13.4 points per game, 4.4 rebounds per game, two stocks per game. He's one of the more slept on, I think, freshman for a couple of reasons,

Starting point is 00:19:57 but 59 true shooting percentage. That's as high as we've talked about. Sharon was the other one there. 4.9 winchairs. Here's a couple of reasons I think he was slept on. One, the efficiency was incredible. I mean, the three-point shooting he provided, just a super efficient target for KU to go to.

Starting point is 00:20:12 I think the other reason it's slept on is that you always think of Sharon and Cole first. And then it's almost like the second thing you think of is the young guys who were the next wave of players like the Morris twins, Tyshaun Taylor, who were on that team that became the next wave for KU. And he almost gets lost in the shop, especially because they lose in the second round. Like Zavagia Henry had a great freshman season. Again, it was efficient. He averaged good numbers. if he would have been the second option as opposed to the third option behind Sharon and Cole. He's probably closer to 15, 16 points per game.

Starting point is 00:20:45 So, yeah, I've always thought that he was one of the more underrated ones there. Number six on the list is Grady Dick, 14.1 points per game, 5.1 rebounds per game, 1.7 assists, 1.7 stocks. True shooting percentage is 58 and 4.9 win shares per game. Now, with Dick, it was interesting on the defensive end. It wasn't always the prettiest on defense, but he did have a, knack for getting steals. So it was like the defensive playmaking was good, but you could see some of the youth at times, but, you know, he had some big game. He had a double double in the NCAA tournament.

Starting point is 00:21:18 As the season went on team started to face guard him and KU struggled to find an answer for kind of dealing with that, but Grady Dick had a really fun season, hitting threes, throwing down dunks. He was a really fun player for KU. Into the top five, you might have thought like, oh, Brady Dick's a lot to be the top five with, you know, what he put up. Well, Brandon Rush had an excellent first year with Kansas, 13 and a half points per game. five point nine rebounds per game two assists per game he was 56 and a half true shooting percentage 4.8 win shares and with Brandon Rush you're getting the two-way factor too right like where he's coming in he's playing good offense he's playing good defense he's

Starting point is 00:21:50 efficient shooting the basketball like he just he was just amazing from from the jump for KU so he's in a number five our top four are all guys who were one and done's number four on the list is Joel Mbid and this is where it gets hard to rank when you start missing games, right? 11.2 points per game, 8.1 rebounds per game, 3.5 stocks per game, 66 true shooting percentage, 3.4 win shares. I mean, he was so good. If Joel M.B. stays healthy and leaves Kansas on a run in the NCAA tournament. I don't know. They make the Final Four. They make an elite eight or something like that. He has big numbers to go along with it. We could be having if he was like the best player during that run, which he was for

Starting point is 00:22:36 KU over the last couple months of the season. the conversation that he was the best, right? And obviously he went on to the best in terms of like NBA career afterwards with what he's done and winning an MVP and everything. But once you start factoring in, you know, missing games and stuff and obviously it wasn't his fault, but it's just, you know, you don't get the NCAA tournament run. That certainly hurts there. So that's in a number four.

Starting point is 00:23:01 Number three is Darren Peterson, 20.2 points per game. That's the most of a freshman, 4.2 rebounds per game, two stocks per game, 58 true shooting percentage, three and a half winchairs. And again, this is one where, you know, if we're just saying, like, if you're just having a draft of taking these players during their freshman season and building a team of KU players, like Peterson and Mb are probably going one and two in some order. But Pearson played 24 games. And so it's hard when you look at like Andrew Wiggins, for instance, who's playing mid-30s games. I don't know how many Wiggins played, 34 or something, who knows, 35, I don't know. And being like, you. You know, you're playing. You're playing mid-30s games. I don't know.

Starting point is 00:23:35 and being like, you get 11 more games out of Andrew Wiggins than you get out of Darren Peterson. Which season are you taking? Even if Peterson, you know, to me was Peterson in a per game basis, I think was better than Wiggins. But because of the availability, you're looking at Wiggins, 17 points. Wiggins is my number two. Six rebounds per game, 2.2 stocks per game, 4.9 win shares. That's just kind of why I have that. And both loss in the second round as well.

Starting point is 00:24:02 You know, Peterson was a little better in the NCAA tournament. it, but I don't know. That would be an interesting question. If KU would have beat St. John's, does that hop Peterson above? I don't know. There's a good question. Number one, though, is Josh Jackson, 16.3 points per game, 7.4 rebounds per game, three assists per game, 2.8 stocks per game, just filled up the stat sheet, 56 true shooting percentage, 4.9 win shares. He was a beast for KU on both ends of the floor. Him and Frank were an unbelievable duo on that team. Obviously, know, didn't end up having the NBA career that I think a lot of us thought he was going to have and as a deal with many off the court things. So that hasn't been great. But in terms of his time at

Starting point is 00:24:44 KU, and sometimes I'll go back and watch the high. Like the level of ease he had looking like a pogo stick, springy athlete was incredible. He was so good for Kansas. Yeah, man. And his ability to kind of slide into the four role, but basically be like a shooting guard who's playing the four with his size. I have Josh. vaccinated number one on that list. All right. Let me know if I forgot anybody at L.O. underscore Jayhawks on Twitter. All right. We're going to have another bonus episode, KJ. Lewis Deep Dive. So check that one out later.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - KANSAS PORTAL TARGET: Jack Karasinski is an ELITE SHOOTER | Does He Fit Bill Self's Jayhawks?

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