Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Showing Interest in USC Transfer Desmond Claude - Would Bill Self Make the Move???

Starting point is 00:00:00 Kansas is reportedly showing interest in Desmond Claude about a 16 point per game score in the Big Ten. What would he bring to KU? How would he fit in with the team? 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 to every day. I was catching each and every episode of the show. We're free and available anywhere you get your podcasts as well as on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. And on today's edition of the show, Desmond Claude, we're going to deep dive into him because KU is reportedly showing interest in Claude and getting to his scouting report, what he would bring to the table, how he would fit in with KU. Also we'll finish up with little KU football, Kian Burnett, who might have been the starting

Starting point is 00:00:55 tight end for this year's upcoming team is leaving KU football entering the transfer portals. A lot to talk about on today's episode of the show. It's brought to you by Amazon and the Fire TV Stick 4K. Turn any TV into your Xbox. No console needed. Head to amazon.com slash fire TV locked on to learn more. So Desmond Claude is a transfer from USC

Starting point is 00:01:21 and this was posted by Joe Tipton earlier on Twitter. He said USC transfer Desmond Claude, one of the top guards in the portal, is visiting Florida on Thursday. Sources told on three sports, also considering North Carolina, Kansas, and Virginia, the six foot six junior averaged 15.8 points, three point five rebounds, four point two assists per game this season. 15.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists per game this season. So Claude is an interesting player because he is 6'6", but I don't even know what position necessarily to classify him

Starting point is 00:01:53 because he played some point guard for USC this past season. Now, before he was at USC, he spent two seasons at Xavier where he was on the All-Bing East freshman team as a freshman, and then his sophomore season, the stats went up, impact didn't each was last two years Xavier and USC both teams were right around slightly below 500 were still both inside like the top 60 top 70 on Ken bomb so he wasn't on you know good teams either year but he wasn't on like horrible teams either for whatever that's worth but with Xavier he was more of like a two three like one of your Xavier he's played like three four even so you

Starting point is 00:02:31 could theoretically slot this guy into anywhere between one through four um kind of an interesting fit for how Kay you would want to use him but we'll get to that uh in a moment what about his scouting report so he is a six foot'6", 205-pounder, again can play guard or the wing position. He will be a senior this upcoming season. Coming off the year at USC where he averaged almost 16 points, 3.5 rebounds per game. He was over four assists per game and then he averaged just.6 steals,.2 blocks per game. Field goal percentage good, 48.2%. Three- point percentage not so much at 30.7% on lower volume, 2.3 attempts per game. Free throw percentage was solid 76.4%. A lot of

Starting point is 00:03:13 free throw attempts to 5.8 free throw attempts per game. The effective field goal percentage only 51.4%. That's slightly below average there, but the true shooting percentage was actually really good 57.1%, big reason why, was his ability to get to the free throw line and knock him down at least a decent clip there. The odd off numbers like him, the USC was about six and a half points better offensively when he was on the floor this past season.

Starting point is 00:03:37 They were about six and a half points better defensively when he was on the floor this season. You go back to his last year at Xavier, they were several points better offensively when he was on the floor. They. You go back to his last year at Xavier, they were several points better offensively when he's on the floor. They were almost a handful points better defensively when he's on the floor that year at Xavier too. So, you know, the big usage the last couple of years,

Starting point is 00:03:54 it has stopped, but he's had a good impact when he's been on the floor. Bart Torvik gives him a 3.2 on his scale there. His last year at Xavier, he was a 3.3. As we go through the strengths and weaknesses, I will mention two things that I would say I wouldn't put in the strength column or the question column, I guess,

Starting point is 00:04:15 but I would, you know, I'd put in, I guess, the neutral column. One is rebounding. So three and a half rebounds per game isn't a ton, but he was being asked to play some point guard at USC. 33rd percentile offensive rebound rate, 62nd percentile defensive rebound rate, the year before Xavier, the O rebound rate was better, the D rebound rate was worse. I think he's just probably about, if he's playing the four for you, then yes, you have

Starting point is 00:04:37 questions about the rebounding. If he's playing more of the three for you, then he's probably an average to below average rebounder, but I don't know, it's probably still more than you were getting from like Ryland Griffin and AJ store to that degree. But you know, he is somebody who also is not the best athlete in the world. And I think that's part of the reason why he's not the best rebounder in the world. I don't think he's a bad athlete. I just don't think he's a somebody outclassed being on, you know, a great athlete either.

Starting point is 00:05:04 Honestly, some of his highlights, if you watch them, some of his like transition plays, how he scores or drives to the rim will remind you a little bit of just the body of watching Jalen Wilson. The difference there is Jalen had more weight than Desmond Claude had. Jalen also probably had,

Starting point is 00:05:20 I mean, Jalen was listed two inches taller than Claude is. And also Jalen Wilson was an excellent rebounder, and Claude is not that. So there's some key differences between those, but there is at least some interesting parts of it there. The strengths to Claude's game, he gets the foul line a lot. We mentioned the 5.8 attempts per game. He's in the 90 second percentile for free throw attempt rate.

Starting point is 00:05:44 So that is something he does very well. And honestly like that's just a big part of his game. It's rim pressure in general, getting to the free throw line and scoring inside. 95th percentile in paint points per 40 minutes. But honestly, his best area was kind of that floater area. He shot 48 and a half percent in that area that is according to CBB Analytics listed as in the paint

Starting point is 00:06:07 Which at the rim for CBB analytics is within four and a half feet of the rim in the paint is in the paint But outside of that four and a half feet. So a lot of times those end up being either like really mini jumpers or For the most part it's floaters, right and so with Claude, 79th percentile in that area that tells you two things though. One, it tells you that, okay, going back to the athleticism question, a lot of times guys who aren't as good of athletes

Starting point is 00:06:36 aren't gonna be as explosive finishers at the rim. It's only think about DeJuan Harris, for instance, right? DeJuan had to settle for a lot of floaters. And so you see that. But the good news for Claude is that he was very good at those shots. He was also very good in the mid range, 47.4%, which is an 85th percentile nationally.

Starting point is 00:06:55 So he is able to stretch it a little bit there. And that is the one thing that I am interested in here because we'll get to the questions and part of that will be the three point shooting. But I will say this, is there potential for him to be a better three point shooter this upcoming season? I mean, a lot of times people look to like, how do you shoot on floaters and free throws? Because if you're good at both of those areas, that usually means you have good touch. And that's not everything with three point shooting. But a lot of times if you have good touch,

Starting point is 00:07:23 if you get the right, you know, form or enough practice, eventually the numbers are going to show themselves out. And so you do wonder for a guy who's shown to be a good shooter from mid-range, floater range and the free throw line, is there more potential for what he could shoot at the free throw line similar to how Jalen Wilson shot a better, from three in his final year, than he did obviously the year before, right? Could the end up being a 33 or 34 three point shooter? That would kind of be the question here.

Starting point is 00:07:53 But he can just kind of get you a bucket, right? I mean, if you're wanting K, you'd have more of those. Well, 72nd percentile points per possession in isolation, also 73rd percentile as a ball screen handler, and then position versatility. Like that is a plus that you would be bringing them in and you could play them as a backup point card you can play them as a as a three play was a four if you need to a little bit here and there. The versatility is nice

Starting point is 00:08:16 to have now some of the questions that three point shooting that we just mentioned with Claude he has never really been a great three point shooter so far in his collegiate career Whether you're looking back to the time of Xavier or whether you are looking to the time at USC So his first year Xavier 1.2 attempts for game very low volume only 29% from 3 second year is a beer 3.3 attempts for game, but only 23.9% this year USC his best in terms of percentage, but still just 30.7% it was on 2.3 attempts per game.

Starting point is 00:08:49 Now you watch some of the highlights. He was a little more confident in taking them if guys went under ball screens or if he was left open on spot up. So you know, at least he's causing defense to be respectable, but ninth percentile in three point attempt rate. And obviously the percentage wasn't great either. So that's the big question there. Again, is there more potential there?

Starting point is 00:09:05 I think there is, but what is that potential? Is it 32% on two and a half attempts per game? How helpful is that for a team that needs three point shooting? I don't know. The inconsistency is also another big thing here. He had eight games with three or less made field goals. So it wasn't consistent when he was scoring.

Starting point is 00:09:22 There were also two games where he went 0 for. He had an 0 for three game, he had an over nine game. He scored just one point against San Jose State. He scored just one point against Oregon. He also had four points against St. Mary's. He also though had six games of 25 or more points and he had two games of 30 or more twice. So inconsistencies there, right?

Starting point is 00:09:41 And that might drive Bill Self a little mad. Then again, Kansas just got through a season where Zeke Mayo was a starter all year long and he was a little inconsistent home and road. But, you know, even though he was a starter all year long, I'm sure that was a little bothersome for Bill Self along the way. Too many turnovers on high usage for Claude.

Starting point is 00:09:59 I mean, very high usage, 94th percentile. How does that translate over if you come to Kansas where you have Darren Peterson? And then the turnover issue, 16th percentile. How does that translate over if you come to Kansas where you have Darren Peterson? And then the turnover issue, 16th percentile for turnover rate. He does get a good amount of assists or did last year at a point guard at USC, but still 46 percentile assist to turnover rate.

Starting point is 00:10:15 And if he's not being asked to be the point guard and get as many assists to Kansas, do you just get the turnovers without the assists? And then there's a lack of defensive stats. I will say for this one, I'm not entirely sure how to view Claude as a defender because, okay, he does have good length, that should at 6'6", make you a good defender. And again, if he's not the best athlete in the world, that's going to hurt you a little on the defense end. But the team stat, like the on-off

Starting point is 00:10:39 numbers, good for him on the defense end. By on-off numbers, he's a good defender. If you look at like defensive wind shares, if you look at defensive BPM, all say he's a at least solid defender on that end of the four. But then there's not much production of stats. 16th percentile Hakeem rate, a combination of block and steal rate. So like, I don't know what to think.

Starting point is 00:11:01 Is he, is it a combination of the two? Is he an average defender that's just positionally solid, but he doesn't get chaos stats? Or is he just not that good of a defender and he's just happened to be along with some other guys who are good defenders that raise some of his, you know, stats when he's on the floor. So I don't know what to think

Starting point is 00:11:16 about the defensive end of the floor. But how would he fit in with Kansas? That's a big question. Let's get to that next on Locked on Jayhawks. This episode of the show is brought to you by Game Time. Game Time makes it fast and easy to get playoff tickets or baseball tickets or whatever you're looking for right now. Even when demand is sky high, prices on the app actually go down

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Starting point is 00:12:13 Download the Game Time app, create an account and use code LOCKEDONCOLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply again. Create an account. Read the code LOCKEDONCOLEGE. L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N-C-O-L-L-E-G-E for $20 off. Download Game Time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price, guaranteed. Thanks for joining us on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. Don't forget to make Locked on College Football or Locked on College Basketball your second listen every day. Alright, so Desmond Claude, some interest from Kansas. Again, is it real? Is it

Starting point is 00:12:44 agents trying to drive up price? I don't know, but certainly would make sense for kids to at least kick the tires here, right? So the fit, I do think that you go back to his fit as Aver, where he's playing more on the wing, as opposed to USC where he's playing as a point guard. Now maybe his experience playing more as a point guard at USC means wherever he wants to go.

Starting point is 00:13:02 Like he wants to be more as a ball handler. And theoretically, he can be a ball more as a ball handler. And theoretically, he can be a ball handler as a secondary guy off of Peterson, but you start to get to a point where you're like, okay, you are you already have, you know, El Marco Jackson, and Melvin Council are going to be those secondary ball handlers off Peterson. So do you really want him as an a you know, I think you're better off there with him on the wing at the three or the four. The question is, if you

Starting point is 00:13:28 play with the four, I don't think you have enough rebounding there. So you almost have to play him at three, which might be fine because Trey White is a really good rebounder. So if you have Trey White at the four and Claude at the three, that can work okay because Claude can score a little bit and White can rebound. But then the issue that you run into there is do you have enough spacing? Because then you're talking about between white and Claude combined, you're getting like four and a half three point attempts per game on like 31%. Right? Not a lot of shots per game from three between your two wings. Not a lot of percentage between the, I mean, four and a half attempts per game at 31%. Like that's worse than what Jalen Wilson did his last year

Starting point is 00:14:07 at Kansas just individually. So that would be the big question there. Now, what he would add to the team, obviously getting into the free throw line. Kansas did not get to the free throw line enough last year. And if you're not gonna be a good three-point shooting team, how can you take advantage of that? You can be a better rebounding team.

Starting point is 00:14:21 You can be an elite defensive team. You can force turnovers and you can get to the free throw line at a high rate. So he would help with that if that is where you wanted to steer into and just try to say, hey, we're gonna be this lengthy team that is super switchable, has a bunch of guys between six five and six nine

Starting point is 00:14:36 with long wingspans. We're gonna be going on the defensive end. We're gonna attack the rim. We're gonna get to the free throw line a bunch and try to have success that way. That's what he would add to the team. You'd also give the team somebody else who can get their own bucket. But if you're having less spacing, is he going to be as effective doing the things

Starting point is 00:14:52 that he was good at last year at USC, for instance? That's a real question. One that we saw not translate well for AJ Stor. I think he probably also just gives you more of that versatility, whether it's positionality, or just talking about more guys that can switch and have good length all over the floor for you. But what he wouldn't add, obviously, it's the three point shooting. Obviously, it's the rebounding in what you're kind of talking about as the main ones for

Starting point is 00:15:19 those. So, you know, I think like bottom line, if this was like two years ago, and Desmond Claude was in the portal and Kansas had interest, I would have seen some of these flaws that we've talked about. I would have seen some of these strengths that we've talked about too, and just been like, okay, this makes sense for Bell Self.

Starting point is 00:15:36 And you would have just trusted Bell Self to be like, you know, there's some inconsistencies here, but he's gonna get more, he's gonna get the best out of him. He's gonna, with some's going to get more, he's going to get the best out of him. He's going to, he's going to, with some of those high swing games, he's going to be able to squeeze more of those out of him and have those.

Starting point is 00:15:53 But after these last two years have transpired, it has almost become more of a, you really got to be wary with the fit here. And for that specific reason, I almost feel like even though this move would have possible high potential, like I said, he has shown good touch in these other areas that makes you think, what if as his final year, he does shoot 34% from three on three and a half attempts per game, right? Would that be enough to move the needle a little bit and help with one of those

Starting point is 00:16:20 deficiencies? And, you know, the high potential for what he could bring to the table would be very interesting. But it also has a higher, I think, swing and miss rate than the other additions KU. Like, the ceiling on Claude is higher than the ceiling on what Jaden Dawson could be at Kansas. But the floor, I think, for the fit of Jaden Dawson and what he is, I think is higher than what Claude would bring to the table. Because the floor is what we just saw this past year with like AJ Stor, right? And the ceiling is obviously the good things that he brings to the table. But for that reason where you're sitting in a spot where it's like, you might have one more splash

Starting point is 00:16:59 play based on, you know, NIL money and the allotment of minutes and all that sort of thing, that this almost comes down to if you bring on Claude, it basically means you are no longer pursuing the other players that would be that splash play. And so when I look at Darian Williams, when I look at RJ Lewis, we were originally going to have a deep dive on today, but then this Claude news came out, but we'll get to that eventually. When I look at Jameer

Starting point is 00:17:28 Watkins, who we had a deep dive on as well, which that one we were a little, you know, more shaky on than Consensus. But even then still, I would take all three of those guys over Desmond Claude from the fit for KU. The problem you run into here though, if you're Bill Self, is what if Claude does like, and again, he's visiting Florida Thursday, so he might just walk out of Gainesville committee. But let's say he was super interested in committing to KU. Let's say he was like, Hey, I want to come there. What do you do if you're Bill Self? Do you do you take the, let's say the bird in the

Starting point is 00:18:01 hands worth more than two and a bush? Something like that. Do you take what would be a known commodity or do you roll the dice and say, but I like those other players better? Even knowing that any of those other players could A, pick another school or B, stay in the NBA draft. That's quite the risk you would be taking. So what do you do in that situation? I honestly think I would roll the dice if I was Bill Self just because I

Starting point is 00:18:30 Love the idea of Darian Williams that much and I do like Lewis and Watkins a little bit more than Claude that at least You have you know There's three options right a couple that you have a chance to strike out on if the Claude thing doesn't happen But you know, I guess I could understand if it did happen where they said that we have to play the safety game. Like we don't know what's gonna happen with those guys. And you know, I don't think clots a bad option. It's just a risky one for KU if they were to bring them on.

Starting point is 00:18:55 All right, let's finish up. Kian Burnett is transferring out of the program for KU football. What does it all mean? This episode of Locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. The NBA playoffs are here, and FanDuel has given new customers an incredible way to get in on the action. Right now, when you join FanDuel and place your first $5 bet, you get $250 in bonus bets

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Starting point is 00:20:04 Anyway, you'll get your episodes. We will on tomorrow's episode of Locked on Jayhawks, which thanks for tuning in. Anyway, you'll get your episodes. We will on tomorrow's episode, have a little cross comparison. We're gonna be comparing the next couple of days, some of KU basketball's transfer portal additions to recent transfer portal additions they had that maybe didn't work out. Just see if, you know,

Starting point is 00:20:20 these are gonna be better fits on paper coming in. Also on Friday, you're not gonna wanna miss Friday's episode, we're gonna have our episode, our yearly episode of If Bill Self-Retired Today, who are the top coaching candidates to look at for KU Basketball. So make sure you subscribe to the show,

Starting point is 00:20:35 anywhere you get your podcast and on our YouTube page. All right, so Kion Burnett is transferring out of the program. This stinks for Kansas and I'm sure this was unfortunate for the coaching staff. I don't know if it blindsided him. It was certainly late in the portal game. Technically the portal had already closed. The news came out afterwards,

Starting point is 00:20:50 but he would have had to get it in before it closed. It's just the publicity of it came out afterwards. So if you don't remember who Keon Burnett is, he's a tight end who was originally at Arizona and was a four- star recruit, played, you know, each of his first two years, he had his best year this past year, at Arizona in 2024, when he had 18 catches 217 yards in a touchdown, that was an eight games, he got injured as

Starting point is 00:21:14 well. So could have been even more production from him. But he ends up entering the transfer portal picks Kansas, and it was a big deal for KU, right? You had lost basically three tight ends over the last couple of years, right? With Fairchild a couple of years ago, and then coming into this year, Cardell and Casey, and Deshaun Hanekah, who transferred in last year, was coming off as season ending injury.

Starting point is 00:21:35 So Burnett represented a high ceiling as a former four-star recruit who really started to show it last year. He also represented raising your floor by raising your team's depth and making you feel like if Hanukkah doesn't come back 100% healthy, you would have a go-to starter in Burnett.

Starting point is 00:21:52 And even if Hanukkah did come back healthy and beat out Burnett, you would just feel really good that you had two stud tight ends, which we know Kansas likes to use formations with multiple tight ends out there. Now, when you look at Burnett, I think this is unfortunate

Starting point is 00:22:04 because I thought he would have had a good season with KU. I don't know why he's leaving this late in the game. Is the glass half full approach that maybe Hanukkah was beating him out and he feels like he was gonna be at the second string tight end. And so the glass half full approach would be that Hanukkah is coming back from the injury really well

Starting point is 00:22:21 and he's looking really good. That's the hopeful response to this. But it's possible Burnett, even if he would have been the second, he would have played a lot. It's also possible this is just a money play, who knows with the way things are in the NIL game, or maybe he was homesick, right?

Starting point is 00:22:36 I mean, he's originally from Southern California, Arizona, not far away. Probably was a lot easier to get home. Maybe he's just homesick and wants to go home. So I don't know why exactly he's leaving, a lot of possible reasons it can happen. But the end result now for KU is it puts a lot more pressure on Hanukkah to come back from that injury.

Starting point is 00:22:51 It puts a lot more pressure on Leighton Keurer to fill in because right now he's probably the second string. And then it puts a lot more pressure on, was a combination of a walk-on and Quentin Connelly. Although I don't know with the new rule, is he going to become a scholarship player? I don't know how that works. But you have other players who are young guys who,

Starting point is 00:23:08 with Jaden Ham, we've been waiting to emerge, and with Carson Bruhn, who read Trudy last year, can he be the lasting gift that Henny Kodalicky left you? So, can one of those guys emerge to be your third title? Because Kansas plays three tight ends, and then if one of them gets hurt, who's the fourth string? So I do wonder if Lance Lightfold will attack the transfer portal for a tight end at this point.

Starting point is 00:23:32 I think it would make a lot of sense if you can get someone to multiple years too. I think they would check multiple boxes for you, but that becomes a quick position that you have to kind of, you know, scatter for at this point in time, late in the game. I also wonder the result though of this being that, you know, we saw the this point in time late in the game. I also wonder the result, though, of this being that, you know, we saw the bowl game that Jim Zabrowski called the plays for.

Starting point is 00:23:50 And like all three of the big receivers for KU, Grimm, Arnold and Skinner had their moments and helped contribute in big ways of that game. Do we just see because Kansas brought on some interesting transfer portal receivers, do we just see them now as a result of this, run less to tight end sets and run more one tight end sets where you have an extra receiver on the field, or you have an extra, you know, running back on the field. That might make some sense. And maybe that's a response that they have to do.

Starting point is 00:24:18 But I guess it'll depend if they can land another tight end in the transfer portal. All right, that'll do it for this episode of Lockdown Jayhawk. So you can find our show anywhere you get your podcasts, including on our YouTube page. We'll be back at you tomorrow to do a little KU basketball talk. And the next day as well, the little Jayden Dawson and Melvin Council talk

Starting point is 00:24:36 right here on Locked on Jayhawks.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Showing Interest in USC Transfer Desmond Claude - Would Bill Self Make the Move???

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