Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Transfer Target Samage Teel Would Provide a Scoring Punch for Bill Self and the Jayhawks

Episode Date: May 12, 2025

Can Samage Teel be the Kansas Jayhawks' next transfer portal addition? As the Kansas Jayhawks basketball team eyes potential roster enhancements, the spotlight turns to Samage Teel, a standout transfer from Indiana State. Known for his scoring prowess, Teel's potential fit with the Jayhawks is dissected, considering his impressive stats and the defensive challenges he might bring to Bill Self's KU team.Explore how Teel could complement Kansas' existing lineup, featuring players like Darryn Peterson and Flory Bidunga. The episode also covers the latest transfer portal updates, including Dame Sarr's visit to Lawrence and Malik Thomas' decision, alongside a KU baseball update highlighting their Big 12 performance in a series win over the BYU Cougars baseball team.Will Teel's scoring ability elevate the Jayhawks' game? Tune in for an in-depth analysis and discover how these developments could shape Kansas' season.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Amazon Fire TV Stick 4kDid you know your Fire TV is also an Xbox? Turn any TV into your gaming and entertainment hub with Fire TV Stick 4K devices — no console required. Head to Amazon.com/firetvlockedon to get started. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription and compatible controller required.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year.WayFairAfter the holiday hustle, there’s nothing like giving your home a little TLC. Give your home the refresh it needs with Wayfair. Head to Wayfair.com right now. Wayfair. Every style. Every home.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

Kansas needs some more three-point shooting. Samajay Teel, a transfer from Indiana State. Kansas reportedly has interests. Does it make sense? How would he fit in with the Jayhawks? You are Locked On Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked On Podcast Network,

your team every day. What is going on? Derek Johnson here. This is Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. What is going on? Derek Johnson here. This is Locked On Jayhawks. Thanks for making it your first listen every day. I think you're every day are catching each and every episode of the show. You can find us on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show.

And we are free and available everywhere that you get your podcasts. On today's episode of Locked On Jayhawks, we're gonna be breaking down Samajay Teel. He is a transfer from Indiana State who can really shoot it, who can really score it, what he makes sense for kids is some reported interest from a bit ago with KU. Where does that put the Jayhawks now he's still

available in the portal again, all that how you'd fit with the KU and the latest portal news, right? What's going on with Domestika? What's going on with, you know, elsewhere around the portal for KU KU baseball update all that and more coming up on today's episode of the show, which is brought to you by Monarch money take control your finances with Monarch money use code locked on college at Monarch money.com for 50% of your first year with Monarch money. Okay, so Somage

teal he is a six foot 285 pound point guard from most recently Indiana State. He's kind of been all over. He was at Presbyterian before that. Before that he was at Winston Salem, which I believe is a Division Two school. So it leaves up for interpretation too. Like would he be a senior this upcoming season? Would he have multiple years left? Because the D2 stuff does count does not yada yada yada. But point being back on March 27th. So I mean, this is over a month ago at this point in time, right? Like five, six weeks ago, John Rothstein tweeted that Teal is receiving interest

from Kansas, South Carolina, Baylor, Florida State, Washington State and Arizona State. Now, since then it's been kind of crickets. And I find that very interesting because again, that was a long time ago. That was on March 27th. And again, it is been kind of crickets. And I find that very interesting because again, that was a long time ago. That was on March 27th. And again, it is crickets since then. Now is this situation where he has to get cleared

because of his years at D2? I don't totally know how that works, but is it something where he's holding out for a bigger role and he wants to wait for these teams to have a better idea and a better clear picture of what their situation is based on once the NBA draft process comes and goes and you know, players make decisions, are they gonna come back?

Are they gonna stay in the draft? Are they gonna transfer? Are they gonna pick the X school? And then it leaves certain schools in a situation where they're like, okay, maybe I'm gonna pay more for this kid coming in. Or maybe it clears him up for understanding what specific role his new team would be on.

I don't know. I don't have the answer to that of why it's been kind of cricket since then, but this a player who at six foot two averaged about 17 points per game at Indiana State this past season out of the Missouri Valley Conference. He averaged over four rebounds per game over five assists per game. So just good raw numbers there. One point two steals per game point two blocks per game. He also shot forty seven point three percent from the field. That is also good. The 3-point percentage, solid.

34.7% on good volume, 5.5 3-point attempts per game. And then the free throw percentage, 78.7% again solid there, 4.4 attempts per game, which is pretty good for a guard. 55.1 effective field goal percentage. That's good. 59.2 trist shooting percentage, also good. So again, that is good. And I think by all accounts and all measures, you go through those numbers and say, okay, this is a very good offensive player, a proficient offensive player. Here's where the trouble comes into these stats here.

The on-off defensive rating is 10.6 points worse per 100 possessions when Teal was on the floor for Indiana State. So the defense was much worse when he was out there. Overall, the Torvik grade of transfer rating was a plus 3.3. And you look at the strengths overall for this kid, even though he is a good scorer and can shoot,

getting to the free throw line is a big part of his game. 71st percentile in free throw attempt rate this past season for Indiana State. So again, he's able to get to the free throw line at a good rate and for a kid's team that needs more of that, okay, that's a good thing to kind of have there. He's a good transition score,

83rd percentile in fast break points per 40 minutes. And also when you're looking at scoring efficiency in terms of points per possession in fast break, he was 80th percentile in fast break short. And so this guy who is good at transition scoring, scoring inside, he's a guard that I mean, maybe this would just go with the idea of having a guard who can score in transition, get to the free throw line, you would think that

guy is going to be pretty athletic, right? Well, 87th percentile for guards at paint points per 40 minutes. So you look at all these three things, and the theme there is that he puts pressure on the rim in a lot of different areas, which you could say, okay, well, maybe that's a bit redundant with a guy like Melvin Council. But what I think is a little bit different here is that Teal is going to give you more from a shooting efficiency. And I think that scoring efficiency is a strike. Now we're getting into the questions. Defense is going to be one of of those and that's what's different about him and counsel because counsels know this very good Fedder.

But anyway, with Teal, 84th percentile for field goal percentage, 86th percentile for two point percentage among guards, 66th percentile for three point percentage. So that's still solid to good. And again, it's coming on good volume. 64th percentile for free throw percentage. So again, kind of above average to good there.

87th percentile for true shooting percentage. So again, kind of above average and good there. 87th percentile for true shooting percentage. So again, you look at all the way across there, you're talking an efficient player. And specifically, if you're talking his best areas, really strong floater game. He was in the 87th percentile for in the paint on CBBA analytics and also above the break threes. 38.2% on above the break three

is what ranked in the 78th percentile. So very good from that non-corner area. He also shot almost 37% on deep threes this past season. So he really has good range and can stretch out the floor and create more gravity and spacing for your team. He has a good crossover. If you watch some of his highlights,

really good crossover ability. He can shoot off the dribble. He can shoot off that crossover into step backs, whatever it is. 71st percentile in points for He can shoot off the dribble. He can shoot off that crossover into step backs, whatever it is. 71st percentile in points per possession too, off the dribble. So he's somebody who can get a bucket for himself off the dribble.

And he's also 75th percentile for points per possession on catch and shoot, and 80th percentile on spot up. So you're talking about the ability to play on the ball if you need him to create a bucket or play off the ball with both the spot up and the catch and shoot, which is good to see in terms of, okay, if you're adding another guard, if you're KU, you want somebody who has the ability to, yeah, get you a bucket and shoot threes, but also be able to play off the ball. And he's

shown that ability. The other big strength here, he's also shown solid defensive rebound rates, bad offensive rebound rates, but good defensive rebound rates for a guard. How much does that translate over from Missouri Valley to the big 12? You know, it probably takes a little bit of a knock, but that is something to be a positive there. And some of the questions for some Ajay teal for coming in the adjustment in competition. He began his career at the division two level. What is the reason for that? I don't know. I worked his way up the Presbyterian and Presbyterian finished 271st on Ken Poms. They weren't very good. Then he goes to Indiana State this year. And they barely

finished inside the top 200. So like he hasn't been, you know, on an elite team or on a team who's playing big 12 caliber, right? And he said just 11 career games versus Ken Poms top 100 teams in two seasons at the divisional level between Presbyterian and Indiana State. We got a fly coming in here if you're watching on YouTube. Anyway, just 43% on twos and 25% on threes in those games against the 11 Ken Palm Top 100 teams.

Now he did go six of 11 from three in three games over the last two years versus power five opponents. So, you know, that's nice to see that that was the case, but not always the case for some of those games. Now it's not that he can't do it. And specifically in the role that I think Kenny, you would ask the pressure falls off a bit, right?

It's one thing if you're playing a top 100 team and you're on a team that's not very good and you're the primary option or the one of the top two options on the team. If you're on Kansas, you know, you become not the top two or three or four options on the team to where, okay, you're gonna get more open shots than maybe you were

in that specific role on the team you were on. Anyway, also I don't view him as a good defender. He is, again, the odd off defensive rating, very bad. The odd off defensive rating of being almost nine points worse when he was on the floor for Indiana State. He also was in the 41st percentile for Hakeem rates and not getting like a ton of blocks of steals. He was only in the fifth percentile for defensive RAPM,

which is basically a, it's, it's even be analytics. It's like an all in one metric He was only in the fifth percentile for defensive RAPM, which is basically a, it's CBP analytics. It's like an all in one metric that incorporates like individual box score stats on court play by play. Basically it's a way to, you know, try to measure some defensive numbers and didn't write out well there. Also in defensive wind shares in the 23rd percentile.

So like you go across the board here, some of these numbers you can explain away, some of these numbers you can, you know, not put too much credence into, but when it keeps, like when you have all of these defensive numbers that are not backing itself up on your way, that probably tells you kind of what it is. I will say at the very least,

if you're talking about this guy being in the diggie, Coit roll, Coit at the very least was, you know, what five eight, five nine, I think Coit was better at probably pressuring the ball than Teal is, but like Teal is 6'2", and that matters a little bit that you at least have that height to withstand certain things that Coit couldn't. The other big question here is the turnover issues for Teal. Fifth percentile in turnovers per 40 minutes and also 21st percentile in turnover rate.

He did counter it with good assist rates and good assisted turnover rates though. But that was him being the point guard. So if he's not being the primary ball handler when you have, you know, Darren Peterson and Melvin Council and Marco Jackson, he's playing more off ball. Do you get the turnovers without the assists? That kind of becomes the question there.

But honestly, a lot of comps, if we're talking about him playing the diggie coit role to diggie coit, a player you have questions about on the defensive end, but can do some good things on the offensive end quite probably a better shooter. Teal probably a better driver. But I think there's some interesting comps there. And that leads us into how he would fit in with the team. I think there's some interesting similarities to

diggy quite there as well. So we get those get to those on the other side. quite there as well. So get those get to those on the other side. This episode of the show is brought to you by Monarch Money. Ever check your bank account and wonder where all my money go between dining out online shopping and entertainment. It's easy to lose track. That's where Monarch Money comes in your personal CFO, giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch Money isn't just a budgeting app, it's a complete financial command center. You can track all your accounts,

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Use code LOCKEDONCOLLege at MonarchMoney.com for 50% off your first year. Thanks for joining us on Locked on J-Arch. Don't forget to make Locked on College football, Locked on College basketball your second lesson every day. We'll have more portal content coming at you later throughout the week. The NBA draft commines getting ready to start up. The early entrant withdrawal deadline or whatever is coming up at the end of the month.

So it feels like we have not had a lot of like definitive news, more so than rumored news lately to kind of talk about here. But I think some of that stuff is coming up and it's going to be coming up soon. So you're not going to want to make sure. Well, you're going to want to make sure you don't miss any of the shows moving forward here

with a lock on Jayhawks. All right. What would some smudge a teal add to KU? I think he would add getting to the free throw line, right? 71st percent down free for temporary. Kansas didn't do a good enough job of that this past season. If you're talking about Kansas wanting to add even more rebounding, he rebounds the ball well for a guard.

So that's a positive to bring to the table there. Scoring just in general and shooting, right? Like those are things that Kansas really needs at this point in time. He's not as elite of a shooter as a guy we're gonna talk about in an upcoming episode or maybe a couple other targets in the portal, but he's still a good shooter and a good driver that he is a more complete, like,

if you're talking about a scoring guard off the bench, he would be somebody who could score in a myriad of ways, right? And so it is a little bit different than to Yee Koi from that specific role, but it's the same in terms of being a possible microwave score off the bench, that you could be like, okay, if you're on this game, you're gonna play more if you're off this game, you miss a couple shots early, you know, you're you're making a mistake on defense, okay, this probably isn't going to be the game that you're out there for as big of a time, necessarily. But the fact

that he was, you know, 75th percentile points per possession on catch and shoot tells you that he should be able to, the 34.7% from three on five and a half attempts per game. I would almost think that playing off ball, especially if he is the fourth or fifth option on the floor next to Darren Peterson and you know, Flora Badunga and whoever is on the floor at that given time for Kansas,

I would think that percentage would go up at Kansas, right? It's showing that he has been good off the catch and off the ball, that he could shoot 36, 37% for you. That Kansas in the specific role, you would be asking him to kind of accomplish. Now, what he wouldn't add to the team is more defense. The good news for Kansas is I do think they've built a good defensive infrastructure.

And you look at the players that they've added so far, the players that they have coming back like Florida, but Dunga, there's potential for this team to be a very strong defensive team. So you can take a swing on a guy who maybe have a little bit more questions on the defense event because he's going to add some more offense and this team needs more offense and more shooting, I think, to complete the roster at this point in time. But yeah, he wouldn't add more, you know, defense to the team. He wouldn't add more size to the team. I think so far they've done a really cool job of building a team that has a lot of positional size.

Like they don't have that 100-inch in, Yodoka Azabuke, seven foot, 280 pound dude in the middle. That is just a brick wall to move. But they have positional size and length and every position. Flory, even though he's not, you know, seven foot 280, he does have like a seven two wingspan and can jump out of the gym.

And every player, Darren Peterson at six five with a six 10 wingspan, Trey White at six seven, you just have positional size versatility of guys that are switchable and have length all throughout. He would not add to that. And you do wonder, okay, going back to the defense, even though you've built a good defense, if you have one guy who's six two and not a good defender

and everybody else is like six five, six six, six dot 10 and has plus wingspans and stuff, what other teams just relentlessly attack him in switches and on the defensive end of the floor, that kind of becomes a big question there. I also don't think it completely solves the three-point shooting. It would make Kansas a better three-point shooting team.

But like I said, you know, even if I think he shoots 36, 37% of Kansas on a couple of attempts per game off the bench, that doesn't completely solve the three-point shooting. But as far as how exactly he would fit on the team, yeah, I think it'd be that Jalen Coleman-Lance, Diggy, Coit roll. Now Jalen Coleman-Lance was more of like two, three wing,

whereas Diggy was more of like a one, two guard. And from that perspective, I think Teal is more of the guard type. So he'd play more like the Diggy Coyote role, but like, yeah, it can be boom or bust, right? Like, I mean, and you look at what Teal did, he had 15 games of 20 or more points at Indiana State with a high of 36.

So like he can have a microwave game. And we saw that when Deekoy was having microwave games, like, ooh, he's gonna play more. He might play 30 minutes in that specific game. But also, Samajitil had six games of single digit scoring. He had seven games of zero made threes. And so in that specific role for Kansas, if he comes out and he starts out for three from three,

makes a defensive mistake, he might only play eight minutes. And that's specific. And obviously for some Ajay Teel, like that could be the holdup, has he not committed to Kansas or some of these other schools because he wants a bigger role?

Is it about an NIL? Is it about just waiting and seeing and wanting kind of the perfect situation and knowing that you can be patient with some of this stuff? There's a lot of different reasons for why you would do that. And I don't exactly have the answer for why,

specifically for him. But, you know, if you are Kansas, you need another three point shooter off the bench. You need somebody for that specific role. I think you feel comfortable with your top three like lead guard, so to speak, who could play the one or the two is either combo guards or the lead point guard with Darren Peterson, Marco Jackson and Melvin Council. Obviously Obviously Jayden Dawson, a guard as well, but I view him more as like a two, three wing type. And I think you would view Teal as being kind of the fourth

guy to that group of like guys who can be a lead ball handler or be an off ball for you. And yeah, for Teal's case, be that eighth or ninth man and kind of very, are you in the rotation? Are you not based on how you're playing that specific game? But I do think you would add enough, it's punch to the team. And I think they need one of those

when you have four scholarships left at this point, you're looking to add a stud player, you're looking to add a backup big, maybe a developmental player. And then yeah, somebody like this, like some Ajay Teel. So yeah, I think it'd be a solid add for Kansas in that specific role. What about some of the latest news though

in the transfer portal for KU? What's going on with Dom Esar? We get to that next. Thanks for joining us here on Lockdown Jayhawks. And again, you can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. And so Samaj Teele still available on an upcoming episode, we're

gonna talk about John Bugs III, who is another interesting guard in the portal who reportedly at one point in time again has some sort of interest from KU and he is you know maybe less of a driver but more of a three-point shooter. So we'll get to that on an upcoming episode. But also Domene Sarr wrapped up his upcoming, or not upcoming, his recent visit with KU. And as we talked about, four scholarships still left for Kansas at this point in time. I think you're looking at, yeah, backup big, developmental player, maybe that Diggy, Corey, Jalen, Coleman, Lanserol, or maybe you go with a second backup big, right? And then the other spot is reserved for like that difference maker, possibly, if you're Kansas, right? And that could be Darian Williams, they can be Argent Lewis,

that can be Jamiro Watkins, that could be Damme Sarr, that could be another international player that we don't even know if all these players stay in the draft and avoid Kansas and you're left looking for somewhere to go and you have to go back international, whatever. But Damme Sarr would fit that billing. And these guys being projected by, you know, a lot of people as a potential first round pick in 2026, he's already, you know, removed himself from the draft combat and stuff. So he's not going to stay in the draft this year, but he wrapped up his visit to Kansas.

Obviously, he hasn't committed, at least as of yet, as I'm speaking right now and recording this. And I know some kids fans might be panicking a little bit. They're like, oh no, he wrapped up the visit and didn't commit. And there are some guys where that is the case. It's like, if you don't land them on the visit, you ain't ever landed them. Right. And that can kind of sometimes be a sign. There's other times where that's not the case at all. You know, like I think about me. I want to say, I don't remember this for sure. It feels like so long ago at this point, but with Hunter Dickinson, I want to say, I don't remember this for sure. It feels like so long ago at this point,

but with Hunter Dickinson, I want to say he visited Kansas and visited other schools. I don't know. There was all sorts of smoke with Hunter Dickinson, one where it was like kept under wraps and like weird stuff would leak. Where it's like, is this true? Is this not?

And he ended up picking KU. That was a long process. So I'd imagine he visited Kansas and then there was time between him picking. Cause like that one was drawn out a little bit and Kansas ended up winning that recruitment, right? process. So I'd imagine he visited Kansas and then there was time between him picking because like that one was drawn out a little bit and Kansas ended up winning that recruitment, right? There's other situations too where this happens where Kansas gets a kid to visit. Maybe he visits another school and ends up picking Kansas or you know maybe he visits Kansas and goes back home and

waits a few days and tries to decide, right? So I'm not reading into, oh, he just got done with the visit and hasn't decided. And think about this too, like, if you were a kid from, and I don't know where Samajetil, because again, he, he's born in Italy, but he was playing basketball for Barcelona and Spain. So like, I don't know where his like home is at this point where he would consider that to be, but you know, it's a big adjustment to go from playing in Europe

to playing in the United States. And so that's a big adjustment to go from playing in Europe to playing in the United States. And so that's a big decision to have. So like, why wouldn't you take your time and factor in everything and think about this? So I'm not saying they're getting him or not. I'm just saying like, I'm not reading into, I'm not reading between the lines of, oh, he didn't commit right when the on the visit or right when the visit ended. Like he might end up in Kansas. He might not. I'm not reading one way or another into that too much. Somebody else I brought up on a recent episode. I forget if it was Thursday or Friday, but talking about Malik Thomas,

somebody that I thought that would make sense for Kansas to get involved with because he's a good shooter. And if you don't land one of these kids like Sarr Williams, maybe he makes sense, but he ended up picking Virginia. So see you later on that one. And then the last piece of news here, little update, I guess you would say, KU baseball bounced back.

Last we talked, they lost to BYU, they lost, what was it, four straight Big 12 games, but they bounced back. They won on Friday night, taking down BYU, and that was when they were celebrating senior night. So able to get a senior night win, that's always fun. And that win also gave them a school record for wins in Big 12 play, so that was fun. And that win also gave them a school record for wins

in Big 12 play, so that was cool. And then they followed up on Saturday, they got up early and then they gave up the lead, and then they had a ninth inning comeback walk-off winner and ended up, I believe that broke a record for regular season wins for KU, just overall in terms of Big 12 plus, you know, regular season in the non-con.

So that was cool to see that they did that. And cool to see that they bounced back winning two of three. And now it sets up this upcoming week that there's a lot of teams jockeying for position in the Big 12 standings to where I believe the top four, I think they changed up the Big 12 tournament format where it's like single elimination now. I could be wrong with that, but the top four, I think they changed up the big 12 tournament format where it's like single elimination now, I could be wrong with that, but the top four get like a first round by

and right now Kansas is tied third with TCU. Both teams are 17 and 10. West Virginia is in first in 19 and six. Which that adds another layer of interesting part here because West Virginia in first, that's who Kansas plays in their big 12 finale next week on the road. So if you if you you know sweep West Virginia they have to sweep them to have a chance doing this but if you sweep West Virginia and then Arizona State only

wins I think two of three you would be big 12 regular season champions which would be really really cool but that would be a tough thing to do to sweep a team who is in first and big 12 on the road. So, you know, either way though, looking to do some damage because I, like I said, tied with CCU for third, which would really be the top four spots. And then Arizona and Kansas State are only a game back at 16 and 11.

So you want to secure that top four spot. You could really use a series win at West Virginia. And that would also boost your resume. It would boost your RPI in a big way and help you with seeding in the NCAA tournament. But at the very least, you want to at least steal one on the road this week in Morgantown. But still good bounce back at BYU just to make it feel like you're playing better

and start to re-hit that momentum as we do get closer and closer to the postseason here in the KU baseball season. All right, that'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page. We'll see you next time for some more trades for Portal Talk baseball season.