Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - NCAA Ruling CHANGES EVERYTHING: 5-Star Javon Bardwell SHOULD Reclassify & Join Kansas Jayhawks NOW

Episode Date: June 25, 2026

Kansas Jayhawks face a pivotal decision as the NCAA's new 5-in-5 eligibility rule pressures five-star recruit Javon Bardwell to consider reclassifying. With Bardwell's eligibility clock ticking, could an early move to Lawrence give Kansas a game-changing edge—and how might it impact the Jayhawks’ lineup and future prospects? Derek Johnson spotlights Bardwell’s potential fit, KU’s remaining scholarships, and enticing international guard options such as Marc-Owen Fodzo Dada and Omer Kutluay. The show breaks down Hawk Talk highlights, including Jeremy Case’s updates on Paul Mbiya and roster strategy, while also covering KU baseball news—Dan Fitzgerald’s Coach of the Year award and top prospect GT Taylor decommitting. How will these roster shifts and emerging player storylines shape the Jayhawks’ trajectory in the coming season? Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub   Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!   Odoo Great organizations win because operations matter. And that’s why you should get Odoo. Try for free today at https://Odoo.com/lockedon.  Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast   FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. From the opening whistle to the final kick, Let There Be Goals on FanDuel.Visithttps://FANDUEL.COMto get started now.   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) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The new 5-and-5 rolling from the NCAA means Javon Bardwell should probably reclassify for Kansas. 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. On today's episode, we're going to break down some of the latest news, some interesting quotes from Hawk Talk that we'll get to, as well. well as with some KU baseball news. We'll also get to some of the top international guard options should KU want to kick the tires on those.

And we'll start right here with why I think this new ruling from the NCAA, the new five and five means that Javon Bardwell, class of 2027, five star commit to KU, should reclassify and join Kansas for this upcoming season. So we did a bonus episode talking about this, the five and five, what it is, what it means for KU in general. and highly recommend checking that one out. But basically to re-sumorize there, the NCAA is passing this. They're calling it the age eligibility.

I think officially they don't want to call it five and five because they're saying that like, well, there's this than that that could prevent it from being. But like, basically the idea here is this. Your clock starts either when you start enrolling in your school, right? So you get five years once you enroll. Or once you turn 19 years old, and then that upcoming, you know, I guess semester or whatever when you would be enrolling in college is when your clock would start. And that's the thing with Jvonne Bardwell.

He is of an age where if like no matter whether he plays this season for KU or not, he will have four years remaining after the 26 to 27 athletic or academic calendar, right? So meaning that if Javon Bardwell joins Kansas for this upcoming season, if he reclassifies into the class of 26 and joins Kansas this, you know, for this upcoming season, he'll be a first year player this upcoming season. And then at the end of the season, he'll have four years remaining, right? For the next year and ensuing seasons versus if he doesn't reclassify and stays in the class of 2027 because he is 19 or will be at that point. Or I think already is or whatever. Basically, his clock will have been that he won't join.

joins KU, he'll only have four years remaining anyway. So you're in a situation now where this isn't just a do you reclass, do you not? You're in a situation now where it's like whether you go to KU this year or not, that year is counting against your collegiate eligibility, right? So that I think complicates things in this decision. And I guess you could say like bottom line at the end of the day, you're a five star recruit, your top 20 kid, like you're going to have expectations that you're not going to be in school for all those years. You're going to have expectations to be a one and done or be a two and done or at worst be a three-year player that then goes to the NBA.

But it doesn't always work that way. I know we want to live in that world. And ideally it does work out that Javon Bardwell comes in and plays so well that he's a first-run draft pick. That would be great for all parties involved. Like we saw Wayne Selden be a three-year player for KU, right? I mean, we've seen guys Justin Jackson at North Carolina, ended up winning a title.

He was like a McDonald's All-American who had to do. stay all four years. We've seen guys, O-Chag-Baji, right, turn into a four-year problem. We've seen guys have to stick it out all four years. So why wouldn't you want that capability just in case? You never know. What if you came in and then you got hurt and you wanted those extra years, right? It'd be nice to have just in case. So given that this year is going to count against him for eligibility regardless, I would rather account against him for eligibility why he is at while he was actually on the team at the university of kansas right um i mean i get it the bryson tiller experiment or whatever you want to call it for kansas this season um it ended in turmoil with

him getting benched and not playing well in the tournament and you know transferring away to your bit rival in missouri and there were a lot of ups and downs in bryson tiller's game this season but given where we were in the off season last year of what we talked about with bryson tiller where we were like is he going to be in the rotation is he not going to be in the rotation like we didn't really know for him to actually turn out to be a starter for you is actually kind of a good outcome from where you were in the off season and yes bryson tiller didn't really play for kansas in the one semester he was here before that where he was taking a medical redshirt but he was at least around the program got to know the playbook a little bit, got to know relationships with the staff and Bill Self and

be there every day. And I can't help but think that didn't help him at least a little bit. And so why wouldn't it do something similar for Javon Bardwell? Like couldn't it in theory set him up to have that understanding and relationships that his second year at Kansas, which would be his first year if he just stayed in the class of 27, would be set up for something? Like, could he be a Ben McElmore type player where it's like you red shirted your first year and then you just break out in that second year, you know? And here's the other thing with reclassing and joining now. Like, I'd imagine he's going to make more NIL money if he comes to Kansas than doing another year at the prep level, right? I don't know.

Are they getting NIL money at the prep level? Who knows? Maybe some of the top high schools, but it's not going to be Kansas money. Even if it's Kansas money of, hey, you're a back end player on this team. We're going to give you a couple hundred thousand dollars. I can't imagine that's how much you're going to make. at the prep level, right? So from the individual perspective and his personal benefit, that would be one reason to potentially do it, right? And then if you're looking at it from a standpoint of like Kansas has

two scholarships left, let's say one of them they're going to try to use on a big man and the other is just going to be either, you know, another ball handler or whatever player they can get best or just somebody that can be a veteran or whatever it ends up being. Any player you add with that, that other at this point, I guess barring some, you know, player who sues the NCAA for eligibility and gets eligible in his really good player. Any other player that's available right now that you're adding is the ceiling that they're providing going to be as good as the ceiling of Javon Bardwell?

I get it. He might not be part of the rotation right away, but the ceiling of it working out is better with Bardwell than some guy who was in, you know, the Northeastern Conference for four years and then is looking to come over after averaging 16 points per game. The ceiling is higher with it clicking and working with a guy like Bardwell. right? And then you look at what is one of the biggest weaknesses right now for Javan Bardwell. I think to me it is the jump shot. He's a great athlete, really good at driving,

really good in transition. He can be a pesky defender. One of the big questions is going to be the three point shoot. Like maybe he can improve the jump shooting at the prep level at a lower stakes and you know, you're going to get more game reps at the prep level than you would at Kansas. But you're probably going to get more practice opportunities at Kansas. You're probably going to get more opportunity. I mean, they live where there's a basketball gym in there. their dorm. You know what I mean? Like guys have the facilities at Allen Fieldhouse. You have the shot back stuff. Like you're going to be able to get up more shots at Kansas with probably even better instruction, right? That I think you're going to be able. I mean, think about the amount of

players we've seen improve their jump shot in their time at Kansas, right? He also has a good relationship with Taylin Kinney. You know, they've played together at the prep level. And he was on the visit when Tyron Stokes came out when Taylor and Kenny came out. Like they seemed to already have a good relationship. So why not just, you know, make that a thing, right? And the beauty of this is he would be a ceiling razor without affecting the floor, you know, again, if he's not part of the rotation, it doesn't really affect the floor. But if you winds up being part of the rotation and you have a five-star recruit who has some real potential in athleticism, it does raise your ceiling, right? And so I think obviously the biggest risk is this. The biggest risk of him reclassifying is this, even if,

even if you were telling him as part of the reclassification process, if you were telling him, hey, we don't know how much you're going to play this year. There's a chance that you could reclassifying to this year and you could wind up being our ninth man to where you're going to play spot minutes. We'll try to get you in there,

but you might not be playing more than, you know, 10 minutes per game. And it's, but we're going to take care of you financially. You're going to have an opportunity to get better in the building, the year's going to count against you for your collegiate eligibility anyway just come in here be a part of the team and if it works out you know talent wise you are good enough to be in the rotation you know and it's one thing to say that and then if you're givon bardwell you go yeah i understand i can do that but in the back of jvonne bardwell's head because he's probably an ultra competitor he's going but i'm going to beat some of those guys out so it won't matter and then you actually go through

the year and you're not playing as much as you want or you hope and you get to the end of the year and you're like, well, that wasn't very fun. That wasn't what I hoped it to be. And then you transfer away. And then you're in a situation where you're Kansas where you're like, well, shoot, if we would have not reclassified and we would just had him for this next year's team. But here's the part of that that to me doesn't make sense. If Javon Bardwell is good enough to come in next season in the class of 27, I get it would be with another year of, you know, development. But if he's good enough to come in next year and be a starter on next year's team, then why can't he be good enough to come in and at least be your eighth man this year? You know? And here's the other thing.

With the five and five passing, Dennis Parker Jr., who would be at his position, competition for him, has another year now. So he'd be back for another year when Bardwell comes in anyway. Colorsario still has eligibility regardless. So like you look at it and like that competition's not going away. And OTE's ending. He's looking for a new place to go. I don't know if he's already picked a new prep school or something like that to begin with. But like, just bring him in now.

I think it'd be good for all parties involved. I really do. All right, let's get to some potential international guard options that are available. If Kansas does want to kick the tires on those, this is locked on Jayhawks. Our episode is brought to you by Odu. Running a business shouldn't feel like you're trying to connect a bunch of systems that were never designed to work together. One app for accounting.

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So if KU does decide two scholarships open, you know, I think adding a big man with one of those if you do fill them makes the most sense. But if they decide with the other one, hey, let's fill it. Let's bring in another guard. And I think that would make some sense because Taylin Kinney is just a freshman. Leroyd-Blyden, I think he's going to have a great year. Still just a sophomore coming over from the Mac, but KU doesn't have a ton of ball handlers. So would it be good to add another ball handler, even if it's your ninth or tenth man,

even if it's a G&Gallor role, even if it's for practice? I think that would make some sense for KU. So who are some international names? you know, to maybe note, not that KU's had any contact here or anything, but, you know, just in scouting and taking a look here. Mark Owen Fodzo Dada, that is quite the name. That's basically four names in one, but he is a six foot three guard with a six foot 10 wingspan.

Originally from France, he actually withdrew from the NBA draft this year. He'll be 20 in November, but played in the top French league, which is really impressive, where he averaged six points, two assists per game, and 14 minutes shooting 49%. the fact that he was even on the senior team as younger players, impressive. And then in the Adidas Euro camp where he's going up against guys more his age, he put up in an absurd. I mean,

16 and a half points per game, which you're like, why is that absurd? Because he only did it in 19 minutes per game. That is absurd with two and a half rebounds, assists, and two steals per game. This dude would be a legit starting level guard.

He operates really well out of pick and roll. He's a solid athlete. This would be the type of. player that you brought in, and it would make me think Taylin Kinney would be coming off the bench. So maybe that one doesn't make sense, but a name that I at least wanted to toss out there. In theory, Gene Montero would be there too, but I think he signed a deal with Olympiacos, which gets him out of there. Meanwhile, the next tier of players would be strong international players that need some development, but if they hit, they can right away at least play a role.

Omer Coutlier, who is a 6'4 Turkish guard, he's in the Real Madrid organization, is a good organization there. He won't turn 18 until March of next year, so younger player. And playing for the youth team for reality, average 10.5 points, 3.6 assists, one and a half steals per game on 40% from three. At the next gen tournament,

where, again, you're going up against guys more your age. He was putting up 12 points, five assists per game with a 4 to 1 assist to turnover ratio, shot well from all levels of the court. Honestly, more quickness than you would think for a bigger guard, but needs to add some strength. really like his patching touch and his handle too. This would be, I think, a fun addition if you could have it,

somebody who I think would compete with Kinney and it'd be kind of up in the air who would be the starter. I think probably still lean Kinney, but I think there's a world where Cutlea ends up, you know, at least being that guy or being in the rotation. Joaquin Taboata is another one, six foot three, Uruguine Guard, just turned 19 in June. He is playing for a junior team in the Spanish League as well,

which did get some senior appearances too. But for the junior league, 17 points, 5 rebounds, three assists per game. He was one of the top scores in the league, 47% from the floor, 35 from 3, 76 from the foul line. He's a good passer. He's got a sweet lefty stroke,

can really shoot off the catch, off a screen, or off dribble, so you can really get it off in different ways. I wouldn't call him the most explosive athlete, but he's not a bad one either. I think his skills kind of lie elsewhere, but there still are some, you know, highlights of him dunking or getting a chase down block or something like that. So those would be guys that I would expect if you could get them would be a part of the rotation and would be good additions.

Now, if you're looking for more players that need development and I don't know, maybe that next tier of player where it's like, yeah, like those guys, I feel confident would be in the rotation. These ones would be like they'd maybe be more fringe of the rotation if they can make it. Mate Katashvili is a six foot four guard from Georgia. the country, not the state. Doesn't turn 18 until November. He's on a Spanish league team. I think he might have been put on loan to Bologna at some point, but played well at the Adidas Eurocamp,

5.3 points, 50% from the floor, 40 from 3 and 15 minutes per game, 3.7 assists per game, which, again, 15 minutes per game, really strong passer. He can hit a lot of flashy passes. Really fun watching his highlights and loves the throw no-look passes. Behind the backers, has really strong dribbling moves to get out of tough situations.

I think I would describe him as like a crafty player with excellent anticipation and passing skills. So he'd be a fun player to add, especially because he's younger, that he could continue to grow into that position. And then Max Gaspah, he is a six-foot-three guard who will be 21 come January, played 24 games at the senior level in Spain

and the Euro Cup with 10 more games played at the junior level. And between those three competitions, 45% from the floor, 34% from 3, 5.7 points per game. He just agreed to a release. least from his club. So he's available. Again, the fact that you're a younger player playing on a senior team speaks well to your development. I think any of those would be good additions. Now, this last one that I'll get to would be more of just a developmental player that I think you would bring in with

hope that they could turn into something in year two or year three, right? And that is DeVetus Buka, who is a six foot five, six foot six guard. He's 19 years old from Lithuania, played almost all his games at the senior level, but in Lithuania. And, uh, you know, you know, lower numbers playing at the senior level, 3.4 points, two rebounds, one and a half assists in 14 minutes per game on lower shooting numbers. But playing against guys, his age at the Fiba U18 Eurobasket, he was a 12, 6, and 5 guy. He's not the quickest guard in the world, but he's a bigger guard who can get shots off over others. He can hit pull-ups.

He can play one through three. Honestly, like, he reminds me of a guy that would go to a mid-major. And by the time they're a junior or senior, he just like is averaging 20 a game and makes the NCAA tournament. at a mid-major and he's just like given the business to whatever, you know, power school he ends up going to. So it might be somebody who takes a year or two to develop into it, but I think has a high potential for what he could turn into. All right, let's finish up here with some of the latest news.

We heard from some of the KU coaches at Hawk Talk. Let's get to that and more. This is Locked on Jayhawks. Once again, you can join the everyday air club to get the ad-free version of the show at locked on Jayhawks. dot supercast.com. That's locked on Jayhawks. That's supercast.com.

So the KU coaches, Bill Self wasn't there. I think he had like knee surgery or something. So unavailable, I guess. But there was a Hawk talk and it was Jeremy Case, the first half, Jock Vaughn, the second half. Jock got to talk a little bit about Darren Peterson and, you know, complimentary of that stuff going on there. Jeremy Case, I don't know, the most notable thing to me was,

I guess two notable things. Like he mentioned the jumps of Paul and Bia and Corrosario, something we did an episode on on Monday. day and think of everydayers if you already caught that one and how important it is. But talked about that he feels like they're taking that jump right now. So that's good news for KU. The other bit that he said, and this was just super, it was stupid. Let me see if I can pull up the full quote because the full quote will have to do this

justice. It was basically like a, well, yes and no. The full quote of what he said was I would, in regards to the roster, you know, are they done? They have 13 scholarship players. you can max out of 15. Here's the full quote. I would say yes, we're finished,

but there's always a chance that something could pop up and maybe we add something because we do have two roster spots available. So basically, if you just caught the first part of that, I would say yes, we're finished. You'd be like, oh, well, I guess KU's not going after Malikio, and I guess KU's not going after any other players. They're just done with where they are. But then the second half of that, it's like, maybe we add something

because we do have two roster spots available. I just don't understand. I don't know. I guess what that tells me is that, and I don't even know that this is telling anything, this doesn't feel like news, is that they're not just going to add to add to, like they're not going to just add two players to fill 15 guys.

They're going to say, hey, if we can get Malik Ewan, we'll add him at center. If we can't, we're not going to add anybody. If we can get this player to fill this scholarship, we'll add him. If we can't, we're not going to add the next best guy

because we don't think he's good enough. So I don't know. I guess that's how you would take that. I'm just kind of confusing. Anyway, mentioned Darren Peterson going to the jazz. He goes at number two. I think that's probably for the best. You avoid having to, you know, ball watch a little bit with, with Tray Young and being in Utah, like probably going to be easier for him to just kind of hoop and do his thing. So we'll see what he does now off in the NBA.

And then finally, some KU baseball news here, Dan Fitzgerald was named the Baseball America Coach of the Year. what an honor that is. I mean, a national coaching award and well-deserved to in what he was able to do this season for Kansas, unbelievable year. And it might not be the last time he wins one of those awards. Now, apparently, KU's top-ranked freshman recruit was like, no, I don't want to play for the coach of the year. Who knows what goes into this, right? It could be a bigger offer from another school or whatever. But G.T. Taylor has decommitted from KU baseball. Who is G.T. Taylor. Why does this matter? Well, GT Taylor was KU's like top high school recruit coming in. Like somebody who I thought was good enough to come in and potentially be a starter for KU right away as a freshman.

That's how good this kid is. And we'll see what ends up happening if it's a situation of, you know, like I said, getting offered more money to go to an SEC school or one of these other schools or what exactly the situation was. Or, you know, maybe KU feels like, you know, they're able to get some Juko guys or some players back that are going to make it tougher for him to get on field and they were honest with him and he said you know what i'm going to go look somewhere i no idea what would lead to it but uh obviously hurts to not get him back or to not get him in the first place because uh it seems like he's going to be a good player uh for a lot of years in college baseball all right that'll do for this episode of locked on jhawks you can find our show anywhere

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