Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Seeks to DOMINATE Fort Hays State | Will Kohl Rosario Emerge & Bryson Tiller Explode Again?

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked on Jayhawks, we preview KU's final exhibition game. What do we want to see, including players like Bryson Taylor, Cole Rosario performing well to kind of back up or overcome what they did in the first exhibition game? 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. And thank you the everydayers catching each and every episode of the show. We are free and available anywhere podcast, including on our YouTube page where

Starting point is 00:00:42 you can like and subscribe to the show. And on today's edition of L.O.J, we are breaking down the KU Fort Hay State second exhibition game. A little bit of a different version of a preview today, given the competition. We'll get into a bit of the scouting report of the opponents, but kind of what we want to see from Kansas in this game and their final, season tune-up. We'll also get in segment three, fun little interview with Kevin Flaherty, of Payheed, who we're going to be comparing all the KU basketball players to barbecue. So stick around for that later on in the show. Today's episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the GameTime app,

Starting point is 00:01:15 create an account and use code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase with Game Time. So KU takes on Fort Hay State Tuesday night game, their final exhibition game of the season, and then they'll play their season opener the following Monday. against Green Bay, and then it gets really tough from there. You're playing at North Carolina, and then you've got all that, you know, incredible slate of games after that would Duke and Yukon and the players era, and on and on and on with some of the difficult games coming up in the non-con schedule for KU. And so this is kind of your final tune-up, and I think that is in a lot of ways,

Starting point is 00:01:48 like an opportunity for certain guys to back up what they did in the first game, certain guys to, you know, perform better than what they did in the first game. and it's a game more so this one that I think you'll see more experimentation with the different rotations, with the different lineups, with who's out there, with whom, that'll just be a little bit different. I don't know that you'll be able to take this game verbatim to be like, hey, they played this many minutes for this guy, this game, that's going to carry over to the regular season. A lot more experimentation, I think, in this game for Bill Self than, you know, maybe some of the

Starting point is 00:02:25 other games, right? And so, you know, it is kind of your final tune up to kind of figure things out for the last time. And maybe for guys who might not be playing as much in the regular season, maybe it's your last opportunity to prove that you should be playing more or maybe just an opportunity to get in there a little bit more and try to make some memories and cool highlights for yourself, right? I'll be interested, like, are we going to see the same starting lineup for KU and this one that we saw in the Louisville game? I'm just kind of expecting we do, but would it be a shock if,

Starting point is 00:02:56 with how good Bryson Tiller was, that would be the guy you kind of point to. Like, sure, you could say, would Jaden Dawson or Marco Jackson usurp Cole Rosario because Rosario didn't look that comfortable? But I don't know. If you're going that far out on a limb to start Cole Rosario in the first game at Louisville, are you really changing after one game when he's going to have a good opportunity for a confidence booster against Forte A state? I wouldn't think so.

Starting point is 00:03:21 So if you were going to make a change, I think it would just have to be because Bryson Tiller was that good. Like, are you interested in starting a two big lineup with Tiller at the four with Flory at the five? And then you're starting at that point, Trey White at the three with counsel and Peterson. I'm not really expecting it to happen, but it wouldn't be a shock with just how well he played. And I'll say this too, like maybe in the back of Bill Self's mind that's something he does want to eventually go to and that is eventually starting lineup, especially if Tiller continues to play like that. But does it make as much sense to do in this game where you are going have such a size advantage anyway to where like do you want to see your guards play out in space

Starting point is 00:03:59 a little bit more i don't know what we'll wait and see and like i said whether cole rosario is starting or not which again i'm expecting to him to here whether he's starting not he's going to play a lot of minutes and play a big role on this team so wouldn't it behoove you to start him in this game and not have him lose some confidence by already pulling him from the starting lineup um in a game where he should have a good opportunity to do well right so i think from that standpoint I'm not expecting it, but again, if it was Tiller, it would be probably more so just earned in that way. Now, what are some things I want to see from KU in this game against Forte-State again? This is a game that you should overmatch them, right? Just from talent, size, speed, not to

Starting point is 00:04:39 take anything away. Like, we're seeing kids from transfer up from NAAs who had great success, who were doing really well in the exhibition season. We've seen it before with kids transferring up from D2 that have had really well. Like, I don't think people realize how good some like D2s and NIA schools are. But point being, this is one that you should still, like, completely overmatch them. And I do want to see Cole Rosario show some stuff. He looked uncomfortable in the Louisville game, certainly shooting the ball. Now, you did see some of the moments of, like, the hustle plays. He got like a hustle offensive rebound. He made a couple plays where he was diving on the floor, like out of deflection or something on the defensive end. So you saw some of that stuff that endears him

Starting point is 00:05:18 to build self beyond just what he's going to bring as a shooter. But the shooting is obviously a key component to his game and how much you want him to be playing at Kansas that even if he is a streaky shooter like I don't know there's different like some of the misses he just didn't look comfortable right first game maybe nerves you want to see that some of that out of him right play with more confidence hit some shots see it start to go down show your stuff a little bit more so you have a little more proof of concept going into the regular season I would love to see kind of a slump buster game from col Rosario and yeah I go out there and hit a look a couple of three reason this one. I also want to see Bryson Tiller back it up because as great as

Starting point is 00:05:58 Bryson Tiller was in the first game and as much as I'm starting to drink the Kool-Aid and the hype about what he can be. It's until you start stringing them together, which we just haven't had the opportunity to see it, you don't really know. And so this is a game where, yes, it's not going to be as important taking away what you did in this game is Fort Haystake game or is the Louisville game. Because you have such a size. advantage in this one, you should dominate as well. So I want to see Tiller back it up, and that is the thing with young players with freshmen and he's a retro freshman, is the consistency aspect. Can you be consistent to? Then it's just like another level that you're

Starting point is 00:06:41 going to be able to come into the game with. So I want to see Tiller back it up and show some more strong flashes to further believe that not just like, you know, this dude can be a key player on this team, but like he does have future in the NBA. right um i want to see some other players hit some threes it was the darren peterson show it was awesome to watch he was hitting a bunch of threes and obviously like yes i want to see more darren peterson in this game because we're not going to get that many games of darren peterson to soak everything up that you possibly can from the games you're going to get from him right absolutely but in the louisville game there weren't a ton of made threes outside of darren peterson and so i want to see some other players

Starting point is 00:07:20 that goes back to Cole Rosario, but it goes beyond some other players. I want to see some other players step up and hit some threes, just kind of show that, hey, you have some other guys who can be able to step up because really through the Louisville game, the late night in the fog, which still is a small sample size. Outside of Aaron Peterson, not really been able to see much from three point range overall as a team. I want to see some, the couple players maybe step up in half court scoring. We'll get into the Fort Hay State scouting report. I'll say this, you know, even though Fort Hay State is not going to be one of the better

Starting point is 00:07:49 teams KU will play. Fort Hayes State actually, like, they might actually be better than Green Bay, like legitimately, who you're playing in the season opener. If Green Bay is anything like they were last year, Fort Hay State is a better team, like legitimately. And the area of the Fort Hay State is better at is the defensive end of the ball. They've been the number one point allowed per game team in D2 the last two years. So they're going to play a grind, they play more of a slower style, but they play good defense. And for a Kansas, this offense that I at times will have questions, who are the half court scores besides Darren Peterson. You actually might get a good opportunity to learn a little bit about that in this

Starting point is 00:08:29 game. So I want to see a little bit of that who steps up and figures that stuff out. And then, yeah, just seeing some of the different lineups, seeing some of the different rotations. Like I said, it's not going to be the be all end all in terms of who's playing how many minutes and how that carries over. But certainly, you know, it'll be another piece of the puzzle, so to speak, that you add on with the Louisville game. It just gives us another. data point to go to. And then we can have our final minutes and rotation and starting line at projection before the start of the season heading into that first game with Green Bay. Let's get to our opponent scouting report, what Kansas needs to do well, some interesting things

Starting point is 00:09:04 that they could do that challenge Kansas or possibly could, I don't know, make certain things a little bit more of a known for Kansas to come away from this game. Let's get all to that next. And then a little what KU players are what barbecue foods to conclude on with Locked on Jayhawks. Today's episode of LOJ is brought to you by Fanduel. The NBA is back, and there's no better place to get in on the action than with Fandual, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of a game or want to ride the hot hand, Fanduel has live bets on everything from who's going to score next to fourth quarter

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Starting point is 00:09:58 the official sports betting partner of the NBA and the Lockdown Podcast Network. Thanks for joining us on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on a YouTube page or you can like and subscribe. We just had our biggest takeaways from the KUK State game and a KUKState recap over the weekend.

Starting point is 00:10:16 We had a KU-Lew-Lewville recap over the weekend. So make sure to subscribe to the show and check those out if you haven't already. Thank you for todayers who already did. Okay, Fort Hayst State comes into this one. Like I said, I actually think this is a better Fort Hay State team than at least on paper. We'll see year two with Doug Gottlieb at Green Bay. Like, I don't know a ton on the roster yet. I haven't started looking into Green Bay. I'm sorry on that. But preseason, Green Bay is 324th on Ken Palm. Texas A&M Corpus Christi will be the game after North Carolina is 266th. There's a chance because some of the best D2 teams, I'm not saying they would, you know,

Starting point is 00:10:49 it'll be top 50 in the country, but some of the best D2 teams are better than a lot of low majors. And so there's a chance Fort Hay State is not one of the even two worst teams that you play on your schedule this year, given the fact that this is a team that made it to the Division II tournament in the D2 NCAA last year, 22 and 10 a year ago. Now, they do replace some key players. So there's a chance, this is the worst team you play because I don't know, you know, it'll just depend what they're replacing with, but they won the MIA tournament.

Starting point is 00:11:17 That's a very difficult conference win. Washburn was a team who made it all the way to the, I don't know if it's called Final Four at the D2 level, but the national semi-finals, and they ended up winning the M.I.A. tournament, not Washburn. Washburn won the regular season. But then a Forte State made the Division II tournament. It was the ninth appearance for them under their head coach, Mark Johnson. He's in his 25th year. And they added some interesting transfers. Now, they have eight returning players, but most of them are more role players. Only one returning starter. Kyle Grill, average, 11.6 points per game. He was an all-conference honorable mention pick a season ago. But a lot of returning role players, the one returning starter, some interesting transfer additions for them. They added a transfer edition who's a former local Lawrence kid. They added a transfer edition from Northwest Missouri State, who obviously was the spot of Ben McCollum. I'm not sure if they've been keeping up similar to where they were before he or since he left. But they were picked second in the media poll for.

Starting point is 00:12:18 fourth in the coaches pull for the MIAA coming into the air, which would indicate that, you know, they have relatively high hopes again to possibly make it to the Division II national tournament. Four strengths for them, Forte-A State led Division II in points allowed per game last season and the year before. Last year, they gave up just 59.9 points per game. They do play at the slowest tempo. So that'll be something interesting that in an exhibition game, when you want to get as many reps as possible, that's kind of the beauty of the Louisville game, you're not going to get as

Starting point is 00:12:47 many reps in this game. Now, the plus side of it is it'll give you practice, whereas Louisville gave you practice against tempo against teams who press, against teams who pace and space. This will give you more against an execution team against team who does want to slow it down because you're going to face teams with different tempos throughout the year. So I think it actually works out that KU gets two very different flavors in the exhibition season. They do avoid turnovers. Again, part of this is taken off of last year, different personnel, but you know, same type of system just 9.3 turnovers per game last season so very good there they were the 86 percentile in the division two in turnover rate offensively they're also in the 91st percentile

Starting point is 00:13:26 in defensive rebound rate last season so a very good defensive rebounding team and then they were really good at corner threes um overall from three they were solid 35 and a half percent solid not like you know elite but solid but on corner threes they were elite 42 percent last year on corner threes again different personnel, but maybe that's something they teach. Maybe that's part of the system. So certainly something to keep an eye on from Fort Hay State in this game. Four weaknesses for the Tigers coming into this one, athleticism difference. I don't know.

Starting point is 00:13:55 They might be an athletic D2 team, but when you compare them to Kansas, who I think is going to be one of the more athletic D1 teams, you would think Kansas has an athleticism differential there. The height difference. The tallest player for Fort Hay State is 6 foot 9. Then they have a 6 foot 8 player, and then everyone else is 6, 7, or 6. smaller they do have good positional size kind of throughout especially you know at the d2 level like i call n a i a games and so like if you have versatile guys who are six four six five six six

Starting point is 00:14:23 six seven like that really plays and does really well because a lot of times if you are a seven footer you're going to the d one level like that can be one of the differences there they're really good basketball players but that can be one of the differences there you are going to have the height advantage and the length with florrie and tiller and bia and stuff like that um and then uh you know for Fort Hay State, they're not really a team that scores in the fast break. They don't crash the offensive glass. I do think both of those are schematic things for them. I think both of those are, hey, we don't want to send numbers at the glass.

Starting point is 00:14:55 We don't want to, because we want to just send those guys back to defend in transition and not give up transition points. So that becomes actually an interesting matchup and something we can find out from Kansas, who I think is going to be a good transition scoring team. Can you still score on a team who puts numbers back in transition? and then with them not crashing the offensive glass, you want to see KU dominate on the defensive glass after not doing so against Louisville.

Starting point is 00:15:18 But they also don't score on the fast break, just Fort Hayes State. So that's more of kind of a tempo thing, one to keep it down. And then the last thing here is their overall offense, just 66 points per game last season. They had low rating numbers. They weren't the best offense of the country.

Starting point is 00:15:31 They were the best defense. So that's kind of things that are not. A player to watch for them. Juju Ramirez, he was a former Bishop Seaberry player and one, Well, they would have won the state title. If you're very confident saying that, I think they were undefeated. Maybe they had one loss to like an upper level team.

Starting point is 00:15:47 It was the COVID year. And they had an awesome team. If you saw some of those Bishop Seaberry games when Juju and some of those other guys were there, really, really good team. And he ended up going to like prep school. I think his last year of high school. And he was at St. Anselm last year. He averaged 12 points per game. He's a good player.

Starting point is 00:16:05 He's listed at 6'9. So he's grown since when I last saw him at Bisholm. ship Seaberry, but he's kind of like a point forward type, like he can handle a little bit, he can slash, he can score, he can shoot it a little bit, like good player who actually, if he is playing the five for them at six, nine, and then I don't know if he'll be playing the four or the five. I think it's Seaberry. He was playing the four, but that'll be kind of a fun matchup because if you're KU's five, you have to defend in space again, which is kind of similar to the Louisville game, certainly. All right, we're going to finish things up here

Starting point is 00:16:35 with shift in gears, having a fun conversation. We caught up with Kevin Flaherty. of Paheed, who joined us on Big 12 media days last week. And we compared all the KU basketball players to different meats of barbecue. Kevin loves his barbecue. So we'll get to that next and have a little fun to finish. This is Locked on Jayhawks. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by GameTime. College football is back.

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Starting point is 00:18:03 All right, I'm here with Kevin Flaherty. Does great work with Pay-Heed podcast. You've probably seen them on Twitter. Always does great stuff with KU. One of the things that you might know or might not know about Kevin, he's a barbecue connoisseur. And I always trust Kevin with barbecue opinions. That's the state of least. So we're going to kind of mix.

Starting point is 00:18:20 We're in Kansas City for Big Told Media Days. Why not mix the barbecue with the KU basketball? So I'm going to have Kevin compare foods of barbecue with KU basketball players. So I'm going to give you the meat. All right. You tell me what KU basketball player is. Let's just start with the, I don't know, to me the quintessential meat you think of with barbecue. I guess there's two, you know, maybe for from.

Starting point is 00:18:39 Texas, you think brisket? I'm going to go with ribs, though. Who is the ribs of this basketball league? Yeah, I'd agree with you. I do think ribs are the quote-unquote backbone, right? Of any barbecue meal. And so I'm going to go with Flory Bedunga because I think that when you look at this roster and sort of the way that their bread is buttered, it's going to be on that defensive end. And so I think that Flore is going to be sort of the foundation behind that, having a guy that can defend pretty much anywhere on the court, you feel a lot better about him, you know, getting out onto the perimeter and defending than he would, obviously, with Hunter Dickinson. He's a guy that can

Starting point is 00:19:18 fight through screens. And he's a guy that you can also play drop with and is going to give you a lot of rim protection. He's going to rebound the basketball. And so all of those different things, I think that the ribs of the Kansas Jayhawks meal are, it's Flory Bedunga. Okay, pulled pork. Who is the pulled pork of Kansas basketball? You know, pulled pork. is one of those things where it's got a little bit of spice if you get a Carolina stuff, right? You got that vinegar. You got that vinegar with it. You know, that really brings out the pulled pork. And so I'm going to go with Melbourne Council. I think, you know, that whole, you know, if you're not, you know, a dog, your dog food, I think that that pulled pork kind of

Starting point is 00:20:01 fits him because he's going to kind of bring that extra edge that you want and have sort of that vinegar flavor to this team. I think he's a guy that opponents aren't going to particularly enjoy playing against when you look at the defense, the way that he's going to attack the rim on offense. I would say pulled pork probably

Starting point is 00:20:21 is probably Melvin Council. Okay, sausage, that's my wife's favorite for the different meats. And I think of places like Chef Jay, Harp, a lot of good place in the local area that are like customizing the sausage. So you can get created with this one. Who's the sausage of King you back? Yeah, I think the sausage is Trey White.

Starting point is 00:20:38 The reason that I say that is that, like you said, sausage can be anything. I went down to... Like a pizza sausage before, blueberry. Yeah, they've had blueberry white cheddar, something that Harp does. They do taco sausage. I actually went down when I was in Austin, when KU played down there, the very last time in Austin, went to a barbecue place out there. They had Frito sausage, and I kid you not, like, it tasted like Frito. And so I think the versatility that Trey White brings, he's going to be a guy that fills in a lot of different blanks, depending on what you need.

Starting point is 00:21:18 He's going to be a good rebounder. He's going to be a good defender. He's going to give them some shooting. He's going to give them some passing, some screen setting, all of those different things. And so sausage can kind of be what you want to make of it. And so I think Trey White kind of fits that mold a little bit. Barbecue isn't just the meats. It's the sides, right?

Starting point is 00:21:36 You can get different sides, mac and cheese, beans. I don't know. Do you have any comparison for, if you want to pick a side to a specific player, makes it a little more open? Okay. So, Chef Jay has a bacon and blue cheese potato salad. And potato salad's good typically, but it's also something that I think can really get elevated depending on what you do with it. And so when you look at that bacon and blue cheese potato salad, I'm going to go with Col Rosario because I think he's a guy that has upside, right? he comes in and you can see a roll for him where he is a guy in the rotation, does some nice things, whatever, but there's also that upside to what Cole Rosario could bring. When you look at, you know, hey, this is a guy that is really good in transition when he can get out. He's a guy that's going to be a big part of their shooting and whether that

Starting point is 00:22:27 works out. And so I like Cole Rosario is a guy because, again, potato salad by itself, not that it's bad, but it's got a roll, right? But you can take it up another notch. So I think Col Rosario is kind of that side. Would you have somebody for like banana pudding? I feel like that's the classic barbecue dessert. I don't know who would be on that. The funny thing about it is I don't do banana pudding. That's like one of those things that I don't do.

Starting point is 00:22:51 And there aren't any key players that I'm going to say there aren't any key players that I particularly dislike. So I'm not going to mention anybody for that one. I'm trying to think who I would give banana pudding to it because pudding is one of those things that can be kind of boring. I think the banana spices it up. Yeah. And it's also something where it's like, I don't know, you think of that being like a home recipe that's brought down. So I think of somebody who maybe has been in the program a little bit longer.

Starting point is 00:23:16 I don't know. Maybe it's El Marco Jackson. You don't have a lot of options there. El Marco, it feels like banana pudding is a polite dessert. Like, it might be your grandma's recipe. I feel like Marco Jackson's a very polite kid. You know, he's got some potential to maybe add a nilla wafer in there, give it a little crunch.

Starting point is 00:23:30 El Marco's got a chance to, you'll kind of jump up and have a big season this year. I like that, I like that a lot for multiple reasons. but one of them is, I think a lot of people sleep on dessert when they get barbecue. Like you get this big tray of meat. You get this big tray of meat, and sometimes you forget, hey, you can also get dessert here. And so sometimes dessert gets forgotten. And I think, O'Marco Jackson's a guy that because he sat out last year, I think he's somebody that people are sleeping on a little bit when you look at this year's team.

Starting point is 00:24:02 And so I do like that pick quite a bit because I do think that. don't like banana pudding. I do like Elmarco. Not a banana pudding guy. We didn't mention Darren Peterson. So do you have some sort of barbecue dish you would compare to Peterson? My favorite bite in barbecue, burn ends are not far down, but my favorite bite in barbecue. And it's hard to find a great one, especially in Kansas City, is a beef rid. And so, you know, down in Texas, there are more places. But even then, it's a little more rare than sort of your your standard barbecue fair. And so for me, when you're looking at the rareness, the uniqueness, the fact that, in my opinion, a beef rib is the best bite. And barbecue, you know, it's succulent.

Starting point is 00:24:47 I'm not trying to say Darren Peterson's suck. But his game is maybe succulent. But no, I think Darren Peterson is one of those guys that, you know, is really going to hit in sort of a different level than your traditional fare for so many different reasons. And so like a beef rib on your plate, I think he's going to stand out from the rest. Love that. He is Kevin Flaherty. Where can everybody find your work on social media and with the Payheed podcast? Just let everybody know. Yeah, you guys can follow me on Twitter slash X, I guess, at Kay Flaherty. I still don't know what to call it. KSN. And then find my stuff throughout Kansas Sports Network. We have the Pay Heat podcast, obviously, with your good friend, Nick Springer, and also do the verbal commitment

Starting point is 00:25:32 podcast where we talk a lot about local high school prospects and high school football. So, fine. This dude has a wealth of knowledge, so make sure you're checking them out. This is Locked on Jayhawks. I'm Derek Johnson. We'll be back for more. All right. That's going to do it for our episode today of Locked on Jayhawks.

Starting point is 00:25:48 Thank you to Kevin Flaherty for joining us. Thank you to you for listening or watching along. Don't forget you can find us anywhere you get your podcast, including on. our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. And we'll be back at you to recap whatever happens in the KU exhibition game with Forteaste State. See you next time for another edition of LOJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Seeks to DOMINATE Fort Hays State | Will Kohl Rosario Emerge & Bryson Tiller Explode Again?

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