Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - OPPORTUNITY: 5-in-5 Lawsuits Mean MORE PORTAL OPTIONS for Kansas Jayhawks & Bill Self

Episode Date: July 16, 2026

Kansas Jayhawks basketball weigh potential transfer portal coups as new eligibility lawsuits shake up the NCAA landscape. Could standout forwards like RJ Godfrey and Stephon Payne boost Kansas’ frontcourt, or will budget constraints force the Jayhawks to seek hidden gems for roster depth? With Keanu Dawes and Paul Mbiya poised for bigger roles, the competition intensifies as Coach Self’s squad eyes late additions. Derek Johnson breaks down key targets—including Chauncey Wiggins, Anthony "Pig" Johnson, and Brock Wisne—examining their fit and impact on Kansas’ rotation. Women’s basketball options surface, highlighted by Sisy Aleko’s possible arrival. The episode also covers Dylan Schlotterback returning to anchor KU Baseball’s infield and Mario Chalmers joining Jayhawks Hoops for TBT action. Can Kansas capitalize on these late transfer twists to solidify their lineup ahead of the upcoming 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!   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. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to 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.

There's some interesting new pieces that could be hitting the transfer portal if another one of these five and five suits gets, you know, passed through or another injunction. Do any of them make sense 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 up, Derek Johnson here in today's episode of Locked on Jayhawks brought to you by Fandul, the biggest stage in world soccer's here. let there be goals on Fandual visit fanduel.com to get started today and on today's episode of the show potentially some more candidates for KU to go after in the transfer portal because another one of these legal suits is coming down for players to try to get an extra year of eligibility.

So if you missed it, there was a suit in Ohio where around like 15 players, I mean, you could sort of say they won the suit. It's actually being appealed right now by the NCAA. So we'll see what happens with the appeal. And that could be very interesting to all this. But as of right now, basically they won the injunction that they'd be able to have the extra year. And then they'd have to revisit it later. But by the time the NCAA revisited it, it would be like past the season, right?

Now, again, that's getting appealed. So we'll see what happens there. But using that as precedent, some other players in other states are starting to create legal action as well. right and so uh georgia and colorado were kind of the two big ones that entered into the fray and because of that you end up with some more intriguing players um that are potentially going to be available in the transfer portal should they be able to win their eligibility in the same way the kids from ohio did pending this appeal right so i wanted to kind of take a look at this kansas still has one scholarship open at this point even um after the commitment from

Mahilo Musakicich. They still have one scholarship open, so it can still add another player. The addition of Musa Kitch is interesting because if it's indicative that, hey, they don't have a ton of money, so they had to settle for Musikich, maybe none of this applies because maybe they don't have the money to do anything. But you could flip it and say that, you know, they knew they had two scholarships open. Maybe they were saying, you know, Musikich is going to kind of be a, like, like you, you can get the commitment right now.

just take it and then try to add another player with that other scholarship at some point here. And if the Musichich thing ends up happening, great. It at the very least, you know, gives you kind of a backup plan here and, you know, still go out and try to get somebody else. And there's no guarantee that Musicich is going to even get, you know, eligible or be able to come over for KU anyway, right? So let's get into some of the most interesting players that could potentially be available in the portal as part of this. The first big one is RJ Offrey. He is a 6-foot-8, 230-pound forward. You can play the 4 or the 5.

Average 12 points, over 5 rebounds per game, 61% shooting for a Clemson team that was in the NCAA tournament last year. He had a 99th percentile RAPM was 96th percentile in win shares per 40, 93rd percentile in PER and an on-off net rating. Clemson was like 16 points better per 100 possessions when he was on the floor. He was also in the 93rd percentile in postup scoring efficiency on a very, very high frequency of doing so. This would be somebody I'd be all over adding. Like, forget the music hit you add, add this dude nonetheless. Now, what complicates it is that Godfrey at 6,8, 2.30 is maybe a little bit more of a 4 in a 2 big set. You can play him at the 4 or the 5.

And where it complicates it is that you're expecting a lot of minutes from Q, on new dawes at the four and i expect big things from dawes at the four is there a world where you could steer into hey if godfrey gives you 20 minutes at the four does gives you 20 minutes at the four you play each of them you know five to 10 minutes at the five to where you're playing kind of small ball action for 15 to 20 minutes a given night and you can play them together a little bit and then the other you know 20 to 25 minutes you give to a traditional center do you just take the best player you can here and Godfrey should he be eligible and kind of make it work. That'd be certainly interesting, but it would be a little bit complicated for KU. The next guy up here is

Chauncey Wiggins. He is a 6'10, 225 pound, more of a four man again. He spent three years at Clemson, then a year at Florida State where this past year with Seminoles, 13.3 points, four rebounds per game in 28 minutes. He's a strong. stretch big. You're talking 39% from three on 186 attempts last season for his career. He's almost 38% on over three tries per game. This should just be getting another, you know, three point shooter in the building. And it would be somebody that, you know, again, he's not the best rebounder defender. Could you theoretically, if you want to steer into playing as big of a lineup as possible, could you play Wiggins at the three with Dawes at the four and a center at the five? I mean,

if you want to steer into playing as big as possible. Offensively, you can make that work with Wigan shooting, but is there enough speed and versatility on the defensive end? I don't know. Personally, I don't think this would be the best fit in the world, but he's at least a productive player that maybe you kick the tires on. This next one, I'd be very intrigued by Stefan Payne. He is a 6'9-235-pound big man who went to smaller schools for his first three years of college.

He goes up to Seton Hall last year in the Big East and ends up splitting time with Najee Heinz. Now, if you don't know who Najee Hines is, he was a really productive big man for Seton Hall, but it wasn't playing huge minute totals, but was really productive in the minutes that he played, analytically, you know, very highly rated player and parlayed that into a big NIL check and an opportunity to be the starting center at Yukon this next season. Well, Stefan Payne was the guy that was split in time with him, because Stefan Payne's pretty good, too. He averaged six points, six and a half rebounds per game, two stocks per game, and that was in about 20 minutes per game.

So if you extrapolate that out to playing 30 minutes a game, he'd be averaging nine points, 10 rebounds, three stocks per game, right? Definitely more of a defensive piece than an offensive piece. Like he only shot 52% from the floor. He'd like to get higher,

not a good free throw shooter, not super efficient in the pick and roll. He can go to work on the post a little bit, but it's not a super diverse game down there. But his defense and his rebounding make him worth it. He was in the 98th percent. in defensive windchairs per 40. He was in the 97th percentile in offensive rebound rate.

He was in the 90th percentile in defensive rebound rate. And then he was in the 92nd percentile in each of steel and block rate amongst Biggs. So if you're just looking at having all the centers that you can bring in that can block shots, grab rebounds, and play defense, that's kind of the idea with Mbia and Reeves. I think that's the idea with Stefan Payne as well, except the beauty here is, well, is while with Mbia, it's, hey, he's grown a lot. He showed some good stuff in the tournament, but there's still questions here of how it's going to work with Reeves.

How is it going to work jumping up in competition? You don't have that question with pain. He just played 20 minutes a night on a big East team and was productive and had some really interesting stats there. I would be all over adding this. This would be my favorite from this group would be adding Stefan Payne because he's somebody that if he comes in, it wouldn't shock me if he was your starter.

And if he comes in and Paul Mbier, ends up starting over him. I think that's a great sign about what Paul M. B is going to do this season, if that were to be the case. And then another interesting one potentially is Anthony Johnson. I think he goes by Pig Johnson. I actually fell in love a little bit with his game. I got to call one of his NAA tournament games a couple years ago when he was at Cumberlands,

and he's a six-foot-three guard, goes to Arizona State last year, where he averaged over 13 points, over three rebounds, 1.3 steals per game. He shot 45% from the floor, 33 from 3, and 3. and 76 of the foul line. But he had a 90th percentile RAPM on the season. Arizona State as a team during Big 12 play was 12 points better per 100 possessions when he was on the court as opposed to when he was off the court. So he's having a clear impact.

He was in the 79th percentile for rim attacks. He got a lot of transition opportunities. He was a solid pick and roll passer. This is the type of ad that would give KU another ball handler, another score, another insurance piece in case of, you know, one of Kinney or Blyden needing more time. And sure, you could argue that, are you better off investing that type of money in a big man?

But if you're believing in Musichich, then maybe you say, hey, get another ball handler, get another score, get another veteran player. And Anthony Johnson certainly wouldn't hate that, a guy who had success at the Big 12 level. Now, in theory,

Jamichael still well would be of interest to here. And he's part of this. But I think previously he said if he's coming back, it's going to be another year at UCF. And then the other name that's kind of biggest part of this suit is Cade Tyson, who's awesome at Belmont. He was kind of unplayable at North Carolina, fell out of the rotation. And then you put up great numbers at Minnesota because of the field attempt at the blue bud, because the lack of open minutes on the wing, because I would assume he's just going to go back to Minnesota.

If he gets another year, I didn't really include him either. But Payne, I think the most interesting one to me there, if he were to get that year of L. What about some other names that maybe aren't as front line as some of those guys, but could still maybe come in if KU is looking for another back end edition to fill out that 15th man. We'll get to that next. Today's episode is brought to you by Fandual. On the biggest stage in the world,

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the official sports partner of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Thanks you have for joining us here on Lockdown Jayhawks. And continuing on with this conversation of, you know, players that potentially could get another year of eligibility here, right the Ohio case started things off on the right foot and now Georgia and Colorado trying to do more and obviously there could potentially be even more right so for Kansas still having an open spot left and potentially too if Musicketts can't get eligible you know you still have the opportunity with the potential Devon Vardwell reclass um maybe you have an opportunity with one of these kids

maybe it's it's somebody you know further down the line and if these guys are all able to get eligible all the teams who've already filled up roster spots right that gives less teams that can bid against you um there might not be the right spot for certain kids so like this could be a little bit of discount shopping for k you which is good because i think they need the discount with uh kind of the lack of funds that they have available to him but uh the next up on this list is brock wisney is a 6 foot 9, 245 pounds center. Four seasons at Northern Colorado. Put a really big number, 16.2 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists per game,

shot 57% from the floor, 34% from 3 this past season. Not really rim protector. I would be very worried about him against more athletic opponents that are also bigger. And the defense might be a bit of a problem. But I'll say this, like the team metrics were actually good last year for him, obviously in a much different league. He was only about an average rebounder, though, against lower competition. But I think, you know, what he loses defensively, he gains offensively.

He was in the 78th percentile or better in offensive RIPM, offensive windchairs per 40, PER, on off O rating. He just does a lot well offensively. He doesn't really have to be pigeonholed in one thing. He can post up a little, he can rim attack a little bit, even off the bounce a little bit. He can cut. He can hit a set show. He's an excellent passer for a big man. If you just want to add another big man, even after adding Musichich, who can kind of be more of this face up and passing guy, which is kind of the idea of Musichich to be the yin to the yang of the power and the rebounding and stuff of Reeves and Mbina, then you could go this direction as well.

I think after adding Musich, though, doesn't really make so much sense. But let's say Musich doesn't get eligible and Wisney is able to. it's clear you're going after that archetype of player with Musichich, so maybe Wisney would make sense if Musich can't get eligible. The next one is Chas Kelly, the third. He is a six-foot-three guard who played for Georgia Tech in Boston College. Most recently with the Yellow Jackets, he played 17 minutes per game, 4.3 points, 1.6 assists, 38% from three.

Obviously, very modest numbers as I go over those, right? But I think the idea for me here, and this is going to be the case for the next couple of guards we talk about. So Chas Kelly, the third. Jefferson de la Cruz, Mnagro, and Jaquan Sanders, all three of these guys that we're about to talk about fall into the same category. Does Kansas want an insurance policy of a ball handler, right? You're expecting Taylin Kinney and Leroyd-Blyden to play big minutes for you,

if not both be starters, if not both be, you know, stars on the team for KU. You don't have much ball handling behind that. Can Luke Burnett handle the ball, I guess, a little bit? I know Tyrant Stokes will be handling the ball a lot, but you don't have a lot of just other play. And you don't even have like the Gengala, which is like the Gengala is not going to be part of the rotation, but Gengala is going to be the ball handler for the scout team

when you're getting ready in practice. KU doesn't really even have that. And so would it make sense to go out and get a veteran ball handler, the handler that even if they're not in the rotation, can be your 11th or 12th man and help kind of man the offense for the scout team, right? And at the very least, be a veteran who maybe can kind of, in and hit a three if they have to in spot minutes or something like that, right? Could you add a cheaper ball handler just to round out the roster and give you more

insurance and coverage there? I think that would make some sense, right, to where it's somebody who night in, night out, not going to be part of the rotation, but on a given night, if they have to play 10 minutes for you and be a ball handler, like, that's fine, right? And so Kelly being a good three-point shooter, being a veteran player, I think that would make some sense. With De La Cruz, Monegro, he is a six-foot three guard, played for several mid-majors, most recently Cal State

Fullerton, where you put up 12 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.3 assists compared to one turnover per game. Again, same idea here as Kelly, just a different type of player, whereas Kelly, more of a three-point shooter. Monegro's better on two-point shots than three-point shots, only

31% from his career. But he gives you more rebounding, he gives you more proven production, scoring production, albeit at a lower level. But he was in the 87th percentile on attack and kicking. He was in the 85th percent in transition to again same idea there as is for this next guy juquan sanders um he is a six foot four guard who averaged 11.7 points and 3.6 assists per game shot 34% from three for florida

a and m this past season that one an even bigger jump up in terms of competition from a low major but um i think if i was ranking those if again you decide that hey you get to this decision a couple ways. One, we don't have enough money to add another needle mover. So we just want to get our 15th scholarship guy, be somebody who, like I said, is not going to upset everyone else. They're a veteran player. They can be our, you know, 10th, 11th, 12th man, somewhere in that range, can operate the practice squad? If they have to come in for spot minutes in a given game, can they handle a five to 10 minute stretch in that specific game? That's all you're looking for here. and you're looking to get it done on the cheap to fit into your budget.

So theoretically, if any of Chas Kelly, De La Cruz, Mnagro, or Jaquan Sanders is willing to sign up for that. And again, you've passed on the point where you're like, hey, we can't afford an LJ case. And we can't afford, you know, some of the guys I talked about in the first segment like Stefan Payne. And you just say, hey, let's just do this. Then I think I would rank it as Kelly won De La Cruz, Monegrore, two, and then Sanders. number three, if that's where you were kind of looking to do. Meanwhile, there's also some women's basketball players who are filing as part of some of these suits. And I did want to at least bring up this one because I think KU could use

one more addition here, right? Like they had a couple decent additions in the portal off season so far. And obviously the biggest thing for KU women's basketball is just going to be the continued growth of their young players, right? Like Samaya Nichols taking another leap, right? I think more so, Julia Davis was already a star. Can she become like an All-American level star, right? Some of the other young players, whether it's ones they've brought in in this incoming class or in the last couple of years, can they take another step forward? That's going to be the biggest thing for Brandon Schneider's team this year.

But if you are looking to add one more and from Kansas perspective, you lost some post players, some of the players you're going to be counting on this year are really young players. Would it make sense to go after a sissy Aleko if she gets this year of eligibility? She was at Eastern Michigan last year. She's a 6 foot 2 forward, and she put up 17.6 points, 9.9 rebounds per game, shot 49% from the floor. She's an excellent defensive rebounder.

You're talking 95th percentile on defensive rebound rate. If you're Kansas and you want a veteran big man to help sure up that position and to just give you a little bit more sure thing as you're hoping Sidney Bryant can be something this year. But you know, you want a little more proven production. if Aleko gets that extra year, I think that would probably be worth adding if you're KU wins basketball. To my knowledge, they have some open spots on the roster, but not 100% how that all works or what, you know,

or they tap that on NIL and stuff like that with the woman's side of things. Let's finish up a little bit more on KU baseball and some exciting news for the KUTBT team, all that next on Locked on Jayhawks. Thanks you have for joining us here on Locked on Jayhawks. And some of the latest news as Dylan Schlaugherback, is also going to be returning for KU baseball this upcoming season. And so he didn't announce or anything on social media. I don't even know if he has social media,

but it was a kind of run it back video. There have been several other KU players who have kind of gone to social media to announce, but there was a video, you know, run it back one last time. And he was a part of that video. So the exciting thing here for KU, obviously they've made a lot of good, you know, Juco or D2, D3 editions, whatever it is with some of these players. And we're still waiting on, you know, some decisions with our, of these guys are they not after they were drafted into the MLB.

I think the biggest question is what's going to happen with Jake Berkland, who's a 19th round draft pick committed to KU out of Minnesota State from the D2 level. Like, what's he going to do? That's kind of the biggest question for me. But the Schlaugherbeck announcement of him coming back is really exciting because you look at the infield for KU and yes, you do lose Josh Dykoff at first base. And obviously Tyson LeBlong, I'm expecting him to sign after getting drafted in the second round, but you can have a lot back on your, you know, inside the diamond.

Augusto Mungariata, you've got your two other, you know, pieces on the infield outside of first base with Kate Baldrige and Dylan Schlaughterback. And then we'll see what happens with the shortstop position, right? But that's a lot of familiarity back on the infield side of things. That'll be really helpful for KU. And I do think with Dylan Schlaugherbeck, he was a solid player for KU this year. I think he can take another step forward. When you look at some of his Juko stats and stuff like that,

I think there's another level of power he can get to. By the way, don't sleep on his brother, Gavin Schlaugherback, who had a medical redshirt last year, so he didn't play. Because in 2025 of the Juko level, Gavin, his brother, who's like a catcher, can play, I think, multiple different positions in the outfield, infield, he can even pitch. But that dude had, you know, a 451 on base, 590 slugging.

And he had a medical red shirt last year. don't sleep on, you know, the two schlaterbacks having a big impact on KGU baseball this upcoming season. The last bit of news to get to here is Mario Chalmers, who is going to be joining Jayhawks Hoops for the TBT. Again, it's a three-game series. The first game is happening. I believe it's at the gym where Washburn plays. And then I think game two, that'll be game one, I believe. Game two will be in Manhattan.

And I think game three goes to, I forget if it's whoever sells more tickets or how that's determined or maybe it's just being played in Manhattan. I can't remember. But point being best of three series, Michael Beasley is going to be playing for the K-State team. We already knew Frank Mason, Marcus Garrett, some other former Jayhawks are going to be on the team. Chalmers becomes a pretty big addition.

Obviously, to be interesting, though, because Chalmers is a little bit older, what will be the minutes load, how impactful will he be? Certainly it doesn't hurt to add Chalmers to any roster from adding experience. I'm sure he can still stroke it. So if you've ever dreamed of a KU back court

where Frank Mason is playing next to Mario Chalmers. You're about to see a little bit of that dream in action next week when KU's Jayhawks' Hoops team gets going at the basketball tournament. 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 where you can like and subscribe to the show. I'll have some Football Friday content coming out for you on Friday. I also released another substack article this time reviewing film on Yassine Willis.

We're going to break that down on Friday. as well as our KU defensive tackle preview. And we'll get to any breaking news throughout Friday and the weekend that comes as well. See you next time for another edition of LOJ.