Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kerem Konan the Latest International Target for the Jayhawks AND the Big 12's Big Kansas-BYU Blunder

Episode Date: June 12, 2025

Kansas Jayhawks Basketball and Bill Self eyes international talent. Could Turkish center Kerem Konan be the missing piece for KU's frontcourt to play behind and/or alongside Flory Bidunga?Host Derek Johnson analyzes Konan's professional career, impressive mobility and potential fit with the Jayhawks. Johnson breaks down Konan's rebounding prowess, and pick-and-roll capabilities, while highlighting areas for improvement. The discussion shifts to how Konan might complement Kansas' existing roster and contribute as a valuable role player alongside Bidunga, Bryson Tiller, Darryn Peterson and more.Tune in for an in-depth scouting report on this intriguing international prospect and hear Johnson's take on a controversial Big 12 scheduling decision that impacts Kansas' upcoming season as they will not play the BYU Cougars and AJ Dybantsa twice during the 2026 regular season.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGEfor $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply. Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year.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 is being linked to Kerem Konan, an international center from Turkey. What would he bring to the table for KU? How would he fit in? If they could actually make one of these international signees work. 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,

every day. We're catching each and every episode of the show. We are free and available anywhere you get your podcast. And you can find that again, anywhere you get your podcast or on a YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. And on today's edition of locked on Jayhawks, we're talking Kerem Conan, who is a forward four five man, I guess you could say former wing from Turkey who's playing for one of the best clubs in the Turkish Basketball

League, which is one of the best basketball leagues in the world. And as Kansas continues to look for back a big as Kansas continues to look for impact talent as Kansas continues to look internationally backup biggest Kansas continues to look for impact talent as Kansas continues to look internationally, he becomes the next latest name kind of linked with KU that we're going to dive into how he plays overall and how he would possibly fit in with KU. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by game time. Download the game time app, create an account and

use code locked on college for $20 off first purchase with game time Okay, so Karem Conan. I believe that is the the way of pronouncing it. He is a 20 year old forward though He will be 21 years old by the time the season starts because he turns 21 in October So basically 21 year old which I'd imagine that means that he could be like, I don't know, a sophomore or a junior, I two or three years of collegiate eligibility would be my assumption. With how that work he's from Turkey. And he's

playing for one of the best teams in the Turkish Basketball League. So he was began his professional career at the age of 17 in the 2021 to 22 season, playing with Bessiectus, Ecriptix, Ecripix, and also Tofus, the UA team there, which I don't know if that was a loan out to the Belgrade League or what, but he's been with Bessiectus, Ecripix, Ecribex, whatever it is, as part of the Turkish league to some standpoint, ever since

then for really the last four seasons. And he started his career, if you look at his like real GM page, it lists him at six foot six tall and as a small forward. However, if you look at some of the more recent sites, some of the more recent placings or have his more recent measurements, he's now six foot nine. And he is now more of a power forward center type, he's more of a four or five man. I guess you could say, okay, if he was a small four

at one point, then maybe you could play him three through five. Well, I guess theoretically that's true. After watching some of the tape and diving into this guy and looking at maybe a lack of three point shooting or dribbling much like that, that's probably not an opportunity. He's a four or five.

And I think more realistically, more ideally in the college game for KU, I think you'd be mostly a five that you could play maybe a little bit at the four. But we'll get into that as part of some of this stuff. But again, six foot nine overall now is his height. So if you were hoping, okay, hey, if can slants a Bryce Desair, or one of these other guys like to get a seven footer in there, right? Well, it seems like maybe Kansas going to steer into more of having the under seven foot centers, if that would be the case, and they would bring him on.

Definitely, though, seems to fit the billing of in the case of like Bryce Tiller, even though he's 6'10", is like a 7'2 wingspan. Florid Bidunga, like 6'8", 6'9", but he is like a 7'2 wingspan. And that kind of seems to fit the billing of Conan. I don't have an official wingspan measurement. I haven't seen one anywhere. But if you watch some of the film, especially if you see some of the block shots that he has,

he looks like somebody who has a plus wingspan. I would venture to guess it's at least a seven foot wingspan. That is a total guess. I have no idea, but it looks like at the very least a plus wingspan. So you go back to the beginning of his career at the professional level, eight games wingspan. So you go back to the beginning of his career at the professional level,

eight games played in his first professional season, which again, he's splitting time between the Turkish league and the league in Belgrade, which is obviously a much worse league. Then his second year, he plays nine games and he's splitting time between the junior league and the ABA and the Turkish league again. Really starts to ingrain himself, I guess, with the senior team in his 19 year

old season, which was the 2023 to 2024 season with Pesikdis Ekrepiks. And between all the competitions they played in, which again, ESPN released an article of the top, I think there's 12 leagues around the world outside the NBA. The Euro League was number one, which is an amalgamation of all the best teams in the league. So that makes sense. But number two was Spain number three was Turkey. So it is one of the very best leagues in the world. And between all the competitions

they played in, which were the Turkish League, they played in the Euro Cup, they played in the like Super Cup, the Turkish Cup, they have all these different things they're playing for right. 61 games played in the 2023 to 2024 season as a 19 year old. He played 14.1 minutes per game. He averaged four points 3.1 rebounds per game point five assists point five steals point three blocks point six turnovers per game he shot 57.2% from the field. He shot 32.3%

from three and shot 48 percent at the foul line. Obviously the three point shooting gets you a little excited. Like oh thirty two. It was 10 of 31. So it wasn't a ton of numbers. Free throw shooting does not get you excited going 31 of 65. If we look at some of the more advanced numbers for what he put together, I only have the numbers for the actual Turkish League and the Euro Cup. This is over from three steps basket. But if you look at Conan's numbers in the Turkish

League that 19 year old season, he was in the 82nd percentile for effective field goal percentage 73rd percentile in true shooting percentage is a rating was really good 115.7. And his overall net weight rating was plus 12 and a half that was in the 50th percentile. So about league average there, which considering he was a 19 year old in a professional league, that's pretty good. Only in the 15th percentile and assist rate.

So, you know, not a huge numbers there, but he's also a big man. So that makes a little bit of sense. If you look at their their mixed defensive rating, mixed team defense, he was in the 88th percentile. So by that one made metric, he looked good on three-step basket. He was in the 82nd percentile for rebounds per game, 76 percentile rebound rate, 86 percentile in D rebound rate.

So he's a very good rebounder that year, and he wasn't somebody with high usage. You look at his performance in the Euro cup that year, and just kind of more of the same, like above average effective field goal percentage, the net rating was actually negative for that one, the defense though, read it out well, the rebounding rated out well, then you go to this past season, right, that

again, all of his 20 or 19 year old season, this past season, so the 2024 2025 season for Conan, he's again playing with basic dis it crepix. And again, through all those competitions, 52 games played 12 minutes per game, 3.1 points, 2.7 rebounds, 0.6 assists, 0.3 steals, 0.4 blocks, 0.4 turnovers. But the field percentage goes way down.

49.1% from the field, 18.2% from three point range, and 62 and 1.5% from the free throw. And so at three point range and 62 and a half percent From the free throw line so at the very least the free throw shooting went up the three point shooting went way down He only attempted 11 of them went two for 11 from three point range This past season through through all their competitions that they were playing in now one possible I don't know the reason why this could be good and this is part of the reason why I don't know that he suited to play as much before I think you want him playing more the 5 one of the

big differences on the basic this equippics roster this year compared to the year before when Conan shot better from the field is that the maybe there was a little bit more spacing that year because I'm looking at the roster this year and one of the big man's that played he was a little bit more spacing that year because I'm looking at the roster this year. And one of the big men's that played, he was a center who played 15 minutes per game, was just ahead of him in minutes per game. But there were times where they were playing

next to each other is Jeroz Plavcic. And I don't know if you remember Jeroz Plavcic. He was a big man center for Tennessee, who is probably more known for just his physical defense and borderline screens and stuff like that and borderline just physical play overall than anything else. And so he comes into the team and I think that hurt the spacing for Conan. And you look at Conan's shot chart, he's not really taken many shots outside of the paint.

Like if I look at this year in the Turkish league only play, he made zero shots in the mid range. He was two for four from one corner from three, but the majority of his shots came inside the paint. This is according to three step basket. If I look at his time in the Euro Cup this season, it's more of the same. Most of the shots are at the basket. He made zero mid range shots. He attempted a couple threes, but he didn't make any. So again, that's the three step basket.com. So I don't know if

that has all the data in there. But that's pretty telling. This is a guy who plays inside for the majority of his game, a little similar to if you were to play him next to Flory, it would have two guys who have to fully operate inside the paint. And I'm not sure how much that works. So I think you want him mostly as a five. Now you look at the stats this season and what he put up during Turkish league play.

He wound up 49th percentile and effective field goal percentage. So about average there, but considering he's a big you'd like that to be better. That said again, if we're talking about possible reason why, maybe it was the lack of spacing. He was a plus six net rating. So that's solid. His rebound, his defensive numbers, I guess, was in the 56th percentile. spacing. He was a plus six net rating. So that's solid. His

rebound, his defensive numbers, I guess, was in the 56th percentile, his rebounding numbers, again, 80th percentile offensive rebound rate, 74th percentile for defensive rebound rate. So I think that kind of tells a little bit of a tale of his game and what he brings to the table. But one of the highlights show how he fit in with KU. We'll get to all those next on Locked on Jayhawks. highlight show how he fit in with KU. We'll get to all those next on Locked on Jayhawks. So the show is brought to you by Game Time. There's nothing like

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Thanks for joining us on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. Don't forget you make Locked on College Football or Locked on College Basketball your second listen every day. Okay, Kerem Konan went over some of the numbers. Basically kind of a recap there. Didn't shoot super well from two or at the rim basically this season. I think part of that was because of the lack of spacing. He's somebody who can shoot a three here or there, but you know, not really going to make them super high often. Not a great free throw percentage, great rebounder so far and somebody

who can, you know, get the occasional shot block. It's interesting. I've seen some people be like, you know, oh, he's definitely a better shot block locker than if they would have brought on Bryce to say, And if you look at the numbers, they're actually pretty similar and how many blocks per game they're getting. Now, if you look at the highlights, shop blocks that Conan gets are a lot more exciting and how he does them. But what about what those highlights showed? So I would just say, he seems like somebody is a like, maybe the best way I could put this is he is a he's a fearless fighting mobile player, like might be a best way of

kind of describing that in a short way. So he cuts well off the ball. He can receive alley oops pretty well doesn't always dunk them sometimes they're laid in right. I think from a vertical standpoint, I think from a vertical jumping standpoint, I would say that if he's in a standstill or doesn't have like a big run up, he might be below average jumper. But if he does get a run up, if he does get a running start,

if he does get to jump off two feet, maybe after a couple steps, he's a good jumper. So maybe you just average that out and say for his position, he's just like a fine jumper. He's just like an average jumper. But athleticism is more than just jumping. And I think he also can make up for that a little bit with his wingspan. I think he's a mobile player at the very least. Now, I've seen some highlights of, you know, him being switched on

to a guard and him being able to stay with it. I've seen other highlights where he's been switched on to a guard and the guard is blown by him. And then I've seen other highlights where, you know, he switched on to a guard and him being able to stay with it. I've seen other highlights where he's been switched on to a guard and the guard is blown by him. And then I've seen other highlights where you know, he switched on to a guard and the guard got the edge on him and seemed like was going to blow by him. But then because of his fight and hustle and length, he was able to kind of close the gap and then pin a block off the backboard. So I've seen a cut of all over there, you really I think see the

mobility on the offensive end of the floors where I saw it right on those cuts. You see it in the transition game on the offensive end where the combination of him running hard and transition with having good fluidity and mobility, like from that standpoint, he does look like more of a four. And so if you're playing him at the five, you're getting even more of that speed advantage by kind of doing so. I think you see that in pick and roll. Like, I was not really impressed with the screens he said didn't really seem like he's setting very good screens that might rub bill self the wrong way but he was still even without doing that like he was a really good threat as a role

man in pick and roll he was still really somebody who was able to score well in pick and roll because they kind of the combination of the mobility fluidity and a little bit of his finesse game I would say that again you go back to the strong motor part of this like seems to have a very strong motor Seems to fight very hard for rebounds the stats would obviously back that up seems to fight really hard for offensive rebounds I think the best compliment I could give in that way is that if I was the opposing, you know Four or five man that was in charge of guarding Conan in a

given game, where I knew I was gonna have to box him out on the defensive end every game, I would be a little like, I'd be like, crap, not this matchup. He would be one of those guys who would bother you, he would be one of those guys who was like, you can never not box him out, or he's gonna get the offensive rebound on the one time you don't do it. It's kind of that endless hustle type of thing. And so that is a really good skill that he has.

I would say, you know, some of the assists per game numbers aren't huge or anything like that. But you see some interesting passes on some of the highlights that show some interesting, you know, passing vision IQ and creativity with this passing game. Like I said, the block numbers aren't huge, like point four blocks per game in 12 minutes per game. I mean, that equals out if you were playing 30 minutes per game, he'd be getting one block per game. So like that's fine block numbers, especially for a foreman, right? There's a solid block number, especially at a pro level. It's not, you know,

Jeff withy or anything like that. But the blocks that he does have, who they're fun to watch.. I recommend going watch the highlights on some of those blocks. They are pins off the backboard, they are chased down blocks and transition where he's hustling back to get a guy. They are really fun blocks that I think show the combination of length, mobility to catch up to some of these plays, and hustle to just, you know, have a want to to get back on defense and make some of these blocks.

And so I do think if you watch some of the highlights, like you'll see on some of the highlights, like, oh, here's a post up score for him or here's a spot up shot where he made a three. I think overall, though, the stats would kind of tell you for the bigger, bigger sample size. Both those things are still a work in progress. I guess it is nice to show that he theoretically can and that he has shown it on tape, especially against professional league. But they're not things that I would count on either as being, you know, strengths to this point in time. So how exactly would he fit in with all of that into K? Well, again, I think you I mean, you could theoretically play him for five. If I was

saying you could play for you at the for with Desair at the five. I mean, Desair wasn't shooting, you know, threes at all. So the fact that Conan, you know, isn't shooting them reliably or shooting mid range shots, like I guess, theoretically, you could get away with that. And you just have an awesome rebounding front court that, yeah, you probably could play, you know, a handful of minutes of Conan next to Florian maybe a handful of minutes of Conan, next to Bryson tiller, where, you know, once the minutes of Conan next to Florian maybe a handful of minutes of Conan next to Bryson tiller where you know one's the four and one's the five and that could be a fun

lineup there with what you're doing in that regard but I think Conan also represents somebody who would be able to come in and give you a backup big minutes right he's he's gonna be 21 in October so he's gonna be a little bit more experienced than bringing in you know if you're reclassified a freshman or bringing in a young player like that right he's playing at a high level professional league where he knows what it's like to

come in and play a specific role on a team and be a role player. And for those reasons, it makes it a good fit. The idea that, you know, it almost feels like more and more and I don't know who the second leading point per game guy is going to be on this KU team, right? I think the odds on favorite for the leader would be Darren Peterson. It almost feels like at this point, like, hands is basically saying it. And it's interesting because I say this and Bryson Tiller is like a skilled big man who

can definitely score in a lot of different ways. But it seems like if you would be going for a Conan, you would basically be saying, yeah, the majority of our center minutes between Florian Conan are going to be guys that we're just we don't have to run a play for them, right? Sure, there's going to be plays where they catch lobs and they seal off their guy and get an easy bucket or they get a drop off dunk. But for the most part,

those guys are going to be getting points in the flow of the offense. They're going to be really good rebounders. They're going to help us block shots. They're going to be mobile to where we can switch in a lot of different ways and we can be a very versatile defense. That would be a very fun way of playing. And I'm not saying Conan

is is flurry like flurry is I think, and even another level of you know, athletic and jumper, and and some other things, but and potential and stuff. But it would allow you to play in similar ways, regardless of which one is out there, which which I think is would certainly be a benefit to a lot of the players in not having to change up your styles when it's one guy versus the other, right? I think that would probably be a benefit to KU. So if I was comparing Konan to Bryce Desair,

I would definitely prefer Bryce Desair, but it seems like that's just not going to happen for KU from an eligibility standpoint. And so if that is the case, okay, who's next guy up on the list? Well, seems like Conan would be a decent fallback option for KU to go to. I wouldn't be quite as far as with, you know, DeSere to be like, okay, you try to find this guy 20 minutes, even if it means playing too big basketball. If this is more of okay, he's playing 1012 minutes per game. That makes sense to me, right? Or it's like, again, you could play four or five basketball, but I wouldn't be a, it wouldn't be as much of something where I'd be like, yeah, they should do it to

get this guy minutes as I think you would need to if it was the other way around. But still, I think this would be a good addition for KU. I don't think it would be the game changing huge impact. One that KU probably needs, but I don't know if that be the game changing huge impact one that KU probably needs, but I don't know if that's out there at this point in time, as we discussed on previous episodes. So I think at this point, you are just going to kind of have to fill out your roster with role players and hope those role players

can, you know, fit as best as possible. And the Darren Peterson is that mega stud and Flory does take that leap and maybe another player takes that leap, right? Maybe it's Omar Kodjaxson. Maybe it's one and maybe another player takes that leap, right? Maybe it's on Marco Jackson. Maybe it's one of the transfers who takes a leap forward in addition to coming on to KU and you're going to kind of have to hope for that internal growth. But you know what I know we've kind of lost sight of that. A lot of past years and build

self time at KU. It had some players takes pretty big jumps and have that internal growth. So as long as you can have that, it can be okay. But yeah, creme Conan Conan. Yeah, it's easy to take. It's a just be a solid edition for KU. I want to talk about a big 12 basketball blunder from Brett your mark and a lot of bees, I guess as we continue on by not matching up KU and BYU twice. Thanks for joining us on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. I think this was a big mess up by Brett Yourmark and the Big 12 office. And then I say Brett Yourmark because he's the commissioner of the Big 12. I don't know how much he has a hand in the Big 12 schedule. But clearly Brett Yourmark like cares a lot about basketball and has wanted to expand the reach of basketball and college basketball in the Big 12 and done some different things there. And he is kind of a basketball guy with some previous ties, like the Brooklyn Nets

and Jay Z and those sort of things, right? And I have a hard time believing that like, why? I guess I just don't understand. So this was, this was from John Rothstein earlier. It said, source Kansas will play Arizona, Iowa state and in state rival, Kansas state, twice in big 12 play during the 2025 to 26 season. Makes sense that you would do I would Kansas State,

you know, being your in state opponent. I mean, Iowa State makes sense as well because that one's like, I guess, like regionally close and stuff. The Arizona one, why not just make it BYU this year? Like I get it from a standpoint of, okay, Arizona is one of the other big brands now in the Big 12. And Kansas is obviously the big brand in the Big 12. So you want to match those up. But this is not the year to do that. Like BYU and Kansas gives you an opportunity to match up the number one and number two

recruits in the country as many times as possible. And you're only going to do it one time. Now, you're only going to have one of those teams play at home. I mean, the opportunity for you to do it twice and then hope that they meet in the conference tournament as well, that's going to draw national eyeballs, especially when you're not just talking about number one versus number two recruit. You're talking about number one versus number two recruit in a class that is supposed to be very good at the top. And then on top of it, in the previous matchups that we've seen between AJ DeBonsa, who's now going to BYU and Darren Peterson, who's obviously at Kansas,

both of them have exploded for some awesome performances. Like, DeBonce had like 50 points, Peterson had like 60 points, and the last time they met, like, it has been awesome. So why would you not schedule that twice? That is a huge gaffe by the Big 12. That is a huge mistake not to schedule that game twice if you're Brett Yourmark and the Big 12 office.

I mean, in my opinion, that would have been the biggest. I don't know, most marquee from from just like a right, right. Maybe it won't matter as much in terms of how it impacts the college basketball regular season, right? Like you could argue, okay, this team playing that team will matter more, yada, yada, yada. Although BYU is supposed to be really good this year, and Kansas at the very least should be top 25. From just a neutral fan, from getting the non college basketball fan to watch from getting college basketball

fans of other schools to just be interested in the game and see some talent like that would be as marquee of a matchup as you could have any time. So why would you not do that twice? I think that's a big flub by the big 12. And it's honestly something that I just kind of almost, I almost like assumed that it was just going to happen because it made too much sense to happen. And that's been, I don't know, I would say a common gripe of mine with with the current office in the big 12

that like, I think Brady Ormark does a lot of really good stuff and is aggressive and has been very helpful for the big 12 realignment and, you know, staying on the front end of things and, and having a good vision and stuff. But there are also times there's just like, either Oh, you missed a big opportunity there. Or a lot of times, or it's just like the idea goes too far. And it's like, why are we obviously the game didn't end up happening. But it's like, why are we playing a basketball game in Mexico with Houston and Kansas? And it's like, you flip

to that again, the game didn't end up happening, it got moved away. But it's like, so you're going to focus on playing a game in Mexico between Kansas and Houston. But then you're not going to focus on the easiest thing to focus on, which would be playing the number one verse number two recruit in the country twice this season. Are. It's almost like you're jumping to the, you're going to college and instead of enrolling in communications 101, you're like, okay, the first class I'm taking communication 601. I'm ready for the graduate level class. You know what I mean? It's like,

can we focus on the basics? We can have the graduate level stuff in there too, but we got to do the fundamentals. We got to do the basics too. I don't know. Just a small grip of mine. But anyway, that'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere. Get your podcast, including on our YouTube page, where you can like and subscribe to the show. See you next time for another edition of LOJ.