Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - KOHL ROSARIO RECLASS: Kansas Jayhawks End Commitment Drought by Adding Athletic Shooting Guard

Starting point is 00:00:00 Cole Rosario is a Jayhawk. He's reclassifying. Kansas got him. We haven't done a commitment video for KU Hoops in over two months. I don't even know what I'm doing. We're going to discuss his game, break him down, what he brings to the table, where he's going to fit in with KU, all that and more both now and for the future coming up in just a second on Locked on 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.

Starting point is 00:00:37 This is Locked On Jayhawks. Thanks for making it your first listen every day. Thank you to every dayers catching each and every episode of the show. Thank you to you for tuning in. We're looking for moments like this moments where player commits to KU it's been so long, they finally got another commit. Cole Rosario is a Jayhawk. He's reclassifying. We're gonna be breaking it down on today's episode. Again, thank you, the every dayers catching

Starting point is 00:00:57 each and every show anywhere you podcast or on our YouTube page. And if you already caught our Cole Rosario deep dive, if you haven't already caught that one, go back and watch it because we brought up even more stuff. We're going to bring up even more today on Cole Rosario. So there will be plenty of new information here, but good groundwork and some good base info on Cole Rosario there that you can find right here with Locked On Jayhawks. So we'll get into how he fits in with the team, what he brings to the table, potential role both now and in the future for Cole Rosario on today's episode, which is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances

Starting point is 00:01:30 with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKDOWNCOLEGE at MonarchMoney.com for 50%. That's half off your first year with Monarch Money. Okay, Cole Rosario, he is a four star guard in the class of 2026, or at least he was in the class of 2026 because as part of this commitment to KU, he is reclassifying into the class of 2025. He recently just visited Lawrence. He had a long list of schools he was going to be visiting. Visited a couple of them.

Starting point is 00:02:00 I think Oregon was one that he did a couple of weeks before. Visited KU and then all of a sudden a bunch of the other visits were off. And what is the reason for that? Well, turns out it's because Cole Rosario must love the KU visit enough and they did a good job closing him. And in an off season where we had questions

Starting point is 00:02:15 and we've been wondering, okay, what's going on? Why are they missing out here? Why are they not closing on this or that? They closed and due credit for that one with being able to finish this one off. So that means he will join the roster for this upcoming season. Now the thing that I'm not totally clear on is can he just join right now? Or does he have to wait till the start because summer school has already started?

Starting point is 00:02:36 Does he have to wait until August begins for the start of the official school year to enroll? I don't know how that works, to be completely honest with you. But obviously, he had a lot of schools that were interested in him. He was kind of a late riser here. It sounds like Duke was going to try to take him in the class of 2026, not 2025. Obviously, Oregon had the visit, he had a bunch of those other good schools that, you know, were having him visit. So he was that when you're top 50, you're in the country like, you know, I don't need to really get to the offer list and be like, Oh, well, he had these offers and yada yada yada. I should also mention

Starting point is 00:03:11 like sometimes when you have a player reclassify up, like the initial thought is, Oh, are they going to be ready? Are they only 17 years old? Like how much of that? This is his natural age. This is his natural age. He was a junior year in high school was his 23 to 24 season, which means this past year, the 24 25 season, he was basically a senior in high school when he played for OT. So this is his natural progression to come into college. Now, he's originally from Florida, though, he then played Moravian prep for a couple of seasons there. And then most recently,

Starting point is 00:03:41 like I said, this past season played overtime elite. I guess KU is just getting an overtime elite pipeline, right? Samiz Calderon, Cole Rosario, and Bryson Tiller. Now all fit into the bucket of KU players that they've been able to bring over from overtime elite. Is that a good thing? Is that a bad thing? I don't know. There's clearly a lot of talent there, but also it's not like... It's unorganized makes it sound like the league is unorganized. I don't want to make it sound like that, but it's like sometimes the level

Starting point is 00:04:07 of basketball is unorganized in terms of like the highlights because you watch these plays where they have these like they're like, there's some sort of like foul rule where basically it allows you to get a five on four fast break. So it ends up being like a weird level of basketball to say the least, but this guy has been on like winning teams with over or overtime elite to where like everywhere he's gone, he has won games. And that's something you really like to see, especially when maybe your question, okay, what is the level competition there? Anyway, 24 seven rated him a 93 graded four star. And that was

Starting point is 00:04:39 their latest update, which was just like, I don't know, a week ago, something like that. In the class of 2026. He was boosted up to the number five shooting guard. Before that boost, he was right around the top 100 on 24 seven sports. So again, kind of a late riser with where he comes up and that pushed him also to number 55 in the 24 seven sports composite. Now I'd imagine if other sites updated the rankings as well,

Starting point is 00:05:00 he probably ends up maybe even a little bit higher, maybe a smidge higher on that as well. But if we just take his composite score from the class of 2026 and move it into the class of 2025, again, he was the 55th rated player by that in 2026, he would rank him as the tied 58th player in the class of 2025, excuse me, so this class that he's moving into,

Starting point is 00:05:22 which makes sense because kind of the thought process has been the class of 2025 is better from high school rank, at least certainly at the top, than the class of 2026. So basically a top 60 recruit, even with three class unclear, like I said, when he'll be able to join the team, certainly would be nice if he is able to join now. I think there's a lot of comparisons though. let's say he can't join till August to Johnny Furphy when he came to Kansas, right? And obviously, Furphy was an international player. Rosario is not. Furphy was more of a three, four wing. Rosario probably more of a two, three type of guard slash wing. The games are a little bit different, though there are some similarities, right? You're talking about good athletes kind of on the

Starting point is 00:06:03 wing who profile as being, you know, good shooters and transition players and dunkers, right? Like that is something that they definitely do share. And both of them have like good rebounding numbers from their previous stops. So there certainly are like some comparisons that you can kind of make between the two. But going back to Furphy, like if you remembered,

Starting point is 00:06:22 it wasn't just the Furphy missed summer basketball, which is potentially what is gonna happen here with Cole Rosario before he joins KU. It's that Furphy also missed their trip down to, you know, I was afraid if it was Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico, because I know they went to one and then they played the other, you know, wherever they were. But regardless, he missed that trip, but he was still able to come on and was still a rotation player by the start of the season. Now that is a little different because that team was was certainly a more thin roster, right, than this one probably will be when it's all said and done. Like I still think they're going to, you know, add another player to. So it's a little bit different there to getting in the rotation

Starting point is 00:07:02 in night one. But like the downside there is there is is clearly for few was one of the most talented players on that team He ended up being you know top 40 pick in the NBA draft But he wasn't a starter till January and it took like injuries for him to get into the starting lineup now Could that just be because he's a freshman could that be because you had like guys like Kevin McColler who were in front of him? Yeah, like those things kind of line up in a lot of ways but I guess point being like It wouldn't shock me if okay Cole Rosario isn't playing a huge role right away Just because he has to get you know in tune with everything and then all of a sudden

Starting point is 00:07:37 Maybe you do get to January and he's playing a bigger role and he's in the rotation a little bit more then again If you're not getting that opportunity early on as young freshmen, will you get that opportunity later? So I do think my expectation is he can be a role player that he can be a rotation player on this year's team, but it's going to take three point shot falling and some things that we'll talk about here in a second. But I do think like I said, there are some comparisons in that area. But more than anything here, and I guess to now that I think about it, like, what did Johnny Furphy finish in the rankings? Because I want to say Furphy was kind of a similar, like he was a late riser. I know that like he was somebody who kind of took off, where he's like, okay, we think he's going to be in the class the year following. And then he ends up like reclassifying up and he has like a really good like it was like his summer or something. OK, he ended up on 24 seven sports, the number 35 player in that class, and he was number 69 on the 24 seven sports composite.

Starting point is 00:08:32 So honestly, there's some comparisons to with the ranking. But anyway. I think more than anything, like at this point, like Kansas needed a win, you know what I mean? Like they needed to see the ball go through the hoop. They needed, they needed a, in baseball terms, a swinging bunt and then all of a sudden you get your confidence up and then all of a sudden

Starting point is 00:08:52 the next one's a rope to double off the wall and then boom, all of a sudden you hit home run. Like they needed to get in the positive new cycle again. And whether that's just a fan thing or, I don't know, just the building, recruiting momentum and positive momentum as a team, like getting the fan base reinvigorated again about like where things are going in the off season. In a lot of ways,

Starting point is 00:09:11 fans are going to get excited no matter who you add, right? You could add Mr. Potato Head and we're going to talk ourselves into like why it'll work. You know what I mean? So it's just a good thing to get into and to be clear, Cole Rosario much better than Mr. Potato Hut. I am taking Cole Rosario and that one on one matchup every single day of the week. But point being like, you now have 12 scholarship players, you still have two spots to go. But I don't know why like two spots left with 12 scholarship players. That sounds much more complete and like much more doable of a process than it did

Starting point is 00:09:42 when it was like, oh, three scholarships left only 11 scholarship players. And this is a good ad to this a good ad for now. This is a good ad for the future. So let's break down Cole Rosario's game, get you a scouting report potential fit with KU potential role with now and in the future in a moment on lock on Jayhawks. We're brought to you by Rukiet. You've probably heard of Viagra or Cialis, maybe you've even tried them, but if you're looking for something beyond the usual pill, it's time to be Rouguiette ready. Rouguiette ready is a next-gen prescription treatment designed to amplify arousal in the

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Starting point is 00:11:01 be prescribed under federal law but are not FDA approved and do not undergo FDA safety, effectiveness or manufacturing review. Please visit the Rouguillet website for full safety information. Thanks for joining us on this episode of Lockdown Jayhawks and thank you for tuning in to the show anywhere that you get it. Don't forget you can check out locked on college football or locked on college basketball for your second lesson every day. And we can find that as well. Similar places. Okay. So Cole Rosario is

Starting point is 00:11:36 now officially a Jay Auken. It's just feels like to where we've gotten here, like if people are still going to be holding their breath until like they see Cole Rosario in an actual KU Jersey. All this recruiting this offseason has happened like in their first exhibition game or playing like at Louisville or something like that. But anyway, you look at Cole Rosario stats. So like I said, he was at Moravian prep before he came over to overtime elite and at

Starting point is 00:12:04 Moravian prep, he played his sophomore and junior years of I guess high school ball there sophomore season of varsity ball. He averages 16 and a half points per game in 25 minutes, 5.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.3 steals. Then his junior year, he averages 25.2 points in 25.3 minutes. That's pretty darn good efficiency. 6.1 rebounds per game, 1.7 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.1 blocks per game. And he does it shooting very well.

Starting point is 00:12:32 He shot over the two years combined, 49% from the floor. He shot 37% from three, and he shot 78% on free throws in those two years combined. So obviously very good shooter in those settings. Then he goes to overtime elite here. And in the regular season, again, playing for what was one of the best teams, YNG Dreamers in the overtime elite league, and he was able to, you know, shoot, get up a lot of threes, I guess would be the way of kind of putting it here.

Starting point is 00:13:06 So in the end, he ends up playing 29 minutes per game, he averages 15.7 points per game, he only had one game in single digits in which he had just two points, oddly enough. But he overall was a very good rebounder, he averaged 5.6 rebounds per game, including 2.8 offensive rebounds per game. So somebody who, you know, clearly showed athleticism and getting offensive rebounds

Starting point is 00:13:29 there. He also averaged 1.8 steals per game and 0.8 blocks per game also averaged almost a dunk per game, which again shows kind of the athleticism there. Overall the assists per game were 2.1 more of an off guard, which I think he profiles as Kansas, excuse me, 71% on two point shots. Most of his twos are end up being dunks or transition plays, but shows you he obviously is a good finisher. And again, the athleticism to be able to get up.

Starting point is 00:13:57 Now the three point shooting is only 27%. So that certainly rings out and it's like, okay, isn't the idea to bring in a good shooter only 27%? The interesting part though is he shot 8.2 three point attempts per game, which is a lot a lot like there are some like, here's a game with 14 years 1212. Like he got a lot of three point shots up and what that tells you is his team viewed him as the best three point shooter in the team and they were going to get him a lot of those looks in a refined down roll.

Starting point is 00:14:27 He's not going to be averaging eight three point attempts per game at Kansas and where you're playing off Darren Peterson is going to attract a lot of help from the defense and you know, yada yada yada. You're going to get more open looks and probably shoot a little bit better. But also he shot really well to kind of finish the season and had some some peak games. I think streaky three point shooting would be a way of describing of describing it right here's a game with 0 for 6. I'm looking at one 3 of 12, one of 9, 0 for 4, 0 for 5, 4 for 14. But then you also see games where he goes 3 for 8 or 4 for 9 or 3 for 6 and then we'll get to the playoff games here in a second. But somebody who you know I think is a streaky three-point shooter which isn't uncommon for a lot of young players. Then in the playoffs as I mentioned

Starting point is 00:15:12 plays really well 26 minutes per game 13.6 points per game in the playoffs to go with 4.9 rebounds per game. He also averages 1.6 steals, 0.3 blocks per game. Again shoots very well from two 72% on 2s in the playoffs. And this is where the the playoff shooting comes in. He shot 41% from 3 in the playoffs for OTE. Now again, it's streaky though. He goes 6 of 9 in their first playoff game.

Starting point is 00:15:37 He also went 3 of 4 in their second to last playoff game. He also though has a, between the 6 of nine and the three of four collectively, you're looking at two of 13 in four games between those two where he did really good and then his final game he goes one of three. So point being he's a streaky three point shooter is kind of what that tells us now he also played OTE plays this like Adidas next gen and what they do is you have some of the best like clubs from overseas have some of their young players come over and play against like OTE and it's a good opportunity for scouts and

Starting point is 00:16:10 you know agents and yada yada to to kind of get an eye on on some of these players so he played three games there and that's where he really blew up 15 points per game 3.3 rebounds 2.7 steals 2.3 assists per game he shot 44 from% from the floor, 42% from three, and 69% at the foul line. Obviously, you know, limited sample and all those, just being three games long. But again, you see kind of the spike shooting, so to speak, right?

Starting point is 00:16:38 You're talking about somebody who in those games, he had one game where he had 30 points on six of six from three and 10 of 10 from the floor. But again, if you're talking streak shooting, the other two games he played, he went two of 13 combined from three, but because he went six for six one game, it's an over 40% three point percentage.

Starting point is 00:16:56 So it's kind of complicated when you talk about his three point shooting, because it's inconsistent. There are gonna be games where he can't miss, there's gonna be games where, you know, he just can't knock it down. But in the certificate role, okay, you might be asking him to play that might just be okay I'll get to that in a second here I think we do look at the biggest strengths though of Colbert's Arios game It is the shooting potential right because even among all the streakiness

Starting point is 00:17:19 You're talking over his if we want to like widen the sample size as big as possible you're talking over his if we want to like widen the sample size as big as possible, two varsity years at Moravian prep, plus the year at OT regular season and postseason plus the three games at the adidas next gen event that is combined 178 of 515 from three that's good for 34.6% so about 35% and he's doing it on high volume, right? That suggests he should be a good three point shooter. But again, I say potential, because for a lot of young guys, you'll see inconsistency early on in their career, three point shooting, something they get better as their career goes on. And so you might have a little more inconsistent version of it

Starting point is 00:17:59 this year. But if he stays down the road, you know, by year three, he might be one of the best shooters in the conference or in the country or something like that, right? And again, the fact that he attempted so many, that's a good sign, but it's a good sign that the team viewed him as a big shooter shooter. It's also if you're taking that many means

Starting point is 00:18:14 you're getting them off in a lot of different areas, both in terms of where you're shooting them on the floor, or you're shooting from the corner above the break at the top of the arc. It shows that you have a good diversity where you can make threes. It also shows that you can probably make them in different actions. Can you make them off the catch? Can you make them off the dribble? Can you make them, you know,

Starting point is 00:18:30 curling off a screen? Right. It shows you can make them a lot of different ways. And also shows you that if you're taking that many threes, the other team is clearly going to circle that underline it. You know, on the scouting report, they're like, don't let this guy get open from three because he's taking this many threes, right? So it's going to be harder to make those in that setting. And again, in the role that he might play at Kansas, that might not get as emphasized, right? He's also a good athlete, 23 dunks in OTE.

Starting point is 00:18:56 You see the block and the steel numbers. You watch some of his highlights where he's able to go up, where he's able to finish the traffic. It's apparent, good athlete. Seems to make a defensive impact. Now again, I don't know how much that's going to translate. Year one of college basketball. A lot of times we'll see guys who are good athletes, but they struggle

Starting point is 00:19:10 in year one of college basketball defensively because it's the off ball stuff. It's the knowing where you need to be. It's being the good team defender. Can he figure that stuff out? But you see some of the steel and block numbers. They do look good and suggest that when you combine his athleticism and size, he obviously has potential to be a good defender. The biggest questions though, I think coming in again, it's what is going to be the level of three point shooting coming in right away? Is he going to come in and shoot 32% or is he going to have a couple games where he goes three for four or four for four, but has some other games like where he goes over three

Starting point is 00:19:39 and over four and over three successively in the next game is four for four? Or are we talking he's going to be a 37% 3-point shooter and some of the 3-point shooting showed at the end of the season is going to become even more consistent with another year of play and it's just going to be one of the best if not the best 3-point shooters on the team. Also the adjustment from playing at OTE again some of the weird rules it's not always the most you, conducive basketball to what he's going to play with Bill Selfand in college and stuff. And I think just overall, like, is this more of a three or four year player where you're not

Starting point is 00:20:14 going to see the fruits of your labor, labor till year three? Or is this a player who you could see that impact right away in year one? Or is it going to take till year two? Like those are the big questions for Kansas team that does have spots open minutes available. And I kind of figure him to play some of those. So we'll get into what his potential role could be for KU next. This is locked on Jayhawks. 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

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Starting point is 00:21:17 That's monarchmoney.com, code LOCKDONCOLLege for half off your first year with Monarch Money. Thanks for joining us on this episode of the show. Again, don't forget to check out Lockdown College football, Lockdown College basketball for your second listen every day. Okay, so how would Cole Rosario fit in with the team? I think he would continue to add to the trend of positional size versatility, you know, everybody's like six, four and above essentially, I

Starting point is 00:21:42 know Marco is six, three, but he has a big wingspan. So pretty much everyone has good positional size, right? And some sort of good level of athleticism should be a good transition team. If you're Kansas, I think he does add shooting to the team, right? Even if it is streaky, having someone with the potential to go off from three is still worth something. And it also makes the other team respect him in a real way because they can't let him get hot that specific night. So like he does create a level of spacing and gravity for your team, whether he is on that night or whether he's not.

Starting point is 00:22:18 And then also there's the level of it where it's like, let's say he is a really inconsistent shooter and let's say that is his biggest attribute he bring into the game. He would just be in the D. D. Koi, Jalen Coleman, the hands role at that point in time where it's like, OK, if you start over to you, I'd only play eight minutes that game. You might only play four minutes that game. Right. And if you do start, you know, three for three or two for three or whatever,

Starting point is 00:22:39 maybe and, you know, or maybe it gets even better than that. Maybe we're playing good defense. Maybe do play 20, 25 minutes in that specific game. That's what that role kind of entails if you're hitting or not. And so from that standpoint, if he is an inconsistent shooter, it doesn't matter as much because if he's not shooting well,

Starting point is 00:22:56 he's just not gonna play as much in that specific game. And if he is, he's gonna play more. So you're gonna get more shots up. So I would think he had shooting as far as what the, the floor outcome is, like what's the low level, the low end outcome here for what his role looks like. And again, this is just year one, right?

Starting point is 00:23:14 I'm not talking long-term, just in year one. I think, you know, maybe he did the floor situation would be he comes in, he didn't play summer ball with the guys. He's not, you know, he doesn't have the same chemistry that the other players who were here in summer have playing with each other yet. Maybe he's a little more inconsistent shooting the three ball.

Starting point is 00:23:31 And it takes him a little bit more time to get adjusted. And because of that, you end up behind Darren Peterson, Melvin Council, Marco Jackson, Jaden Dawson, for sure his guards. And then what happens with the competition with a guy like Jermari McDowell for his competition as another guard possibly, right? Like that becomes the big question. The floor outcome would be you end up behind him because he's more experienced. He's been in the system now. This will be his third year. And you're kind of just a spot minute guy who's on the outside of the rotation.

Starting point is 00:23:59 The ceiling outcome, the best case scenario, what I think could happen here is he is one of the best three point shooters on the team coming right off the bat. And because he is still a good athlete, like he does other things besides shoot the three ball well, right, he is getting you some steals and at least hustling and playing hard on the defensive end. And we know he can be a good rebounder as well. And that there is a little bit of that Johnny Furphy ish, you know, I idea to it where you can really see the potential both for future and he can help you, you know, right now in a couple

Starting point is 00:24:36 different areas. And from that perspective, I think the ceiling would tell you that yeah, okay, I would view it as like, okay, Peterson counsel, Dawson, white, badunga, Jackson backup big, that would be seven guys. You know, you're you're you're the eighth guy for Kansas, which at that point is, you know, it could get 10 to 15 minutes per game, right? And maybe it's even more, maybe it's 18 minutes per game, right? I think the middle ground role is kind of the Jalen Coleman lands diggy court role where it's like

Starting point is 00:25:01 some games you're playing 15 minutes, others, you're playing five. And that might be the most likely in the end here. But I do think there's a role for him, whether it is that Jalen Coleman-Land's role or that consistent eighth guy on the team type of role. And that's just the now role. When you're talking the future role, that is honestly where I think it gets even more exciting because Cole Rosario is the type of player, good athlete, hustles, rebounds, shoots the three ball, that develops really well over his time at KU, that starts as a role player and turns out to be an all-big 12th player by,

Starting point is 00:25:35 you know, whatever it ends up being, year two, year three, year four at Kansas. So I really like this game both for now and especially the future if I'm Bill Selfin,'m Kansas. And obviously, that's why they brought him in. So anyway, that'll do it for this episode of Lockdown Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. We'll have plenty more content coming at you about the repercussions of this edition for KU, what it means for the rest of the offseason, what do they still have to do from here? What do they still need to add to the roster? We'll

Starting point is 00:26:03 get to all that on upcoming episodes. Make sure you subscribe to the show. Let's get that up to 4,000. And thank you for tuning into the show anywhere you get your podcasts or on our YouTube page. See you next time for another edition of Locked on Jayhawks.

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Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - KOHL ROSARIO RECLASS: Kansas Jayhawks End Commitment Drought by Adding Athletic Shooting Guard

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