Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Paul Mbiya Asks Out of NC State - Could He Be the Center Solution Bill Self and Kansas Needs???

Starting point is 00:00:00 A one-time Kansas international target, Paul M. Bia, committed NC State. He's since asked out of his national letter of intent. He's available again. Could the Kansas Jayhawks find him as their backup senator to Florida Badoonga? You are Locked On Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas 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

Starting point is 00:00:35 thanks for making it your first listen every day and thank you that every day is catching each and every episode of the show we are free and available anywhere you get your podcasts including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show and on today's edition of LOJ we're breaking down Paul M. Bia who is once again available as an international target for Bill Self and KU what he would bring to the table potential fit with Kansas also getting some of the latest news on this episode

Starting point is 00:01:00 of the show which is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Make every moment more new customers can get $200 in bonus bets right now when your first $5 bet wins. That is with fan dual sportsbook. Okay, so Paul and Bea was somebody that you had previous contact with at one point in time. And this was from Dushan London of the athletic this was just yesterday. Congolese big man Paul Mbea has requested a release from his national letter of intent at NC State.

Starting point is 00:01:30 A source tells 24 seven sports. Mbea instantly becomes one of the top available big man. And again, you know, going back to the idea that Kansas at least at one point had some level of interest in Mbea. This was back from April when the same guy, Dushan London of The Athletic, tweeted this Congolese big man Paul NBIA will declare for the NBA draft. He will also consider the college route and is in the process of setting visits

Starting point is 00:01:57 to NC State, Kansas and Kansas State. Obviously, a lot has happened since then. He's pulled out from the NBA draft. He committed NC State, he's now taken out of his national letter of intent. So a couple things here. One, was this something where it's worth circling back around if you're Kansas, and clearly you had some level of contact where maybe that speeds up the process a little bit

Starting point is 00:02:19 here. Maybe that allows you to, I don't know, like get, get in with Paul and be a little bit quicker than maybe some of these other recruits like that would obviously be something that would be helpful for KU if they could speed along the process because they are kind of behind the process at this point in time. news here. This was from the other day, the Trump administration resumes processing visas to foreign students but demands access to social media accounts for government review that was on the Associated Press. I guess it's good news in terms of that process has begun again bad news if they have something on social media that would prevent them from from coming over which I have no idea and I'm not going to go through the process of scrubbing these kids social media accounts. Nonetheless, Paul M. Bia is one of the top available players and I think it's interesting to and we'll answer the question later. Between the three bigs now that that are kind of I guess linked

Starting point is 00:03:13 to KU because there was also a report from Joe Tipton mentioning Kansas and Oregon as the teams this go around now interested in M. Bia. For Kansas, we've heard some links with a gay Damir who we had a deep dive on. Thank you, every day or if you already caught that one, Kerem Conan from Turkey. Again, thank you, every day or if you already caught that one. And now Paul and Bia. So we're gonna rank these three after we discuss what he brings to the table and

Starting point is 00:03:36 you know how he potentially fit in with Kansas. So more about Paul and Bia. His full name Paul Kabanga M. Bia. He is from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and didn't begin playing organized basketball until he did so at the NBA Academy in Senegal at just 17 years old. So this is a raw player, hasn't played a ton of basketball, which means, you know, there's gonna be maybe more of a learning curve on small things, footwork stuff,

Starting point is 00:04:05 but also that the ceiling is maybe a little bit higher once he does learn those things. And if he can figure those things out sooner, it makes that ceiling and floor all the much higher. But he's now played three seasons of professional basketball, most recently in France where, you know, he's been kind of playing with like some of the youth teams in France, I guess. And I will say the fact that he was signed at NC State maybe makes you feel a little bit better about him getting eligible. Like maybe he already is eligible. Maybe that's what that tells you. Or maybe he just signed and then they still had to figure that stuff out. I don't know. I will say like you might be wondering, OK, why is he leaving NC State though?

Starting point is 00:04:44 I don't know if it's like they just brought in a transfer from Wyoming. Was that in response to they knew MBO was gonna leave? Or was this response from India? There was some rumors scuttlebutt going around from the NC State side that he wanted more money, which maybe goes in line with like, I don't believe that. I don't think it would be something where it's like, oh, he, he got money. And then somebody, I guess this is possible. Like, it's possible that a Kansas or an Oregon be something where it's like, oh, he, he got money. And then somebody I guess this is

Starting point is 00:05:05 possible, like it's possible that a Kansas or an organ went to him and was like, hey, this is how much you're getting there. We can give you more than that if you come out of the portal. That's entirely possible. And that stuff happens all the time. In fact, that almost happened with Florida Badoonga, right, but he ended up coming back to Kansas. So it does happen all the time. Another possibility, though, is like, what if NC State, and this is if that

Starting point is 00:05:26 rumor were true. What if NC State was like, hey, you can make this much money off NIL. And then they found out that he wasn't going to be able to make that with the clearinghouse stuff that they were going to deny the what the market value was worth for him. And so now, the money he's actually asking for would actually be he just wants the rev share money, which would be guaranteed, as opposed to the I don't know those are just spitballing and certain ideas. But again, the idea he was signed with NC State does make me think maybe the process of being able to get him over. Now he's 20 years old now. He is going to be 21 next April. So he would be in middle of April. So he will be 20 years old for the entirety of the upcoming college basketball season. Recently measured six foot nine and three quarters. So if we

Starting point is 00:06:14 want to round up and call them 610 with a seven foot six and three quarters wingspan at the BWB global measurements. He also had a max vertical of 26 and a half inches. That's not a great vertical there. But like I also, going back to like when we talked about Bryce Desair, the vertical was so low because that's a max vert. I don't know that I buy that.

Starting point is 00:06:35 Anyway, 26 and a half though still with a seven foot seven wingspan essentially. I mean, probably safe to assume his standing reach is over nine feet tall, I would assume there. So I mean, you're still able to dunk on, you know, over an 11 foot rim at that point in time. It also is something where he had another place where he measured at and I forget the name of it. And I don't know how

Starting point is 00:06:56 there could be different measurements, you would think there would be the same but one place where he measured with like a plus 11 on his wingspan or was like a 7879 wingspan. So point being, this dude would have the longest arms on the team on a team that has a bunch of players who have plus wingspans and really good wingspans. This kid would bring it to the next level in the wingspan that he would bring to the table. As far as his stats. So he goes from the NBA Academy in Africa gets signed by Farah v Rio. I don't know, I probably

Starting point is 00:07:26 totally butcher that that's in the basketball Africa League. When he's just 17 years old, he plays five games, not much to talk about. Then when he's 18 years old, he gets a shot with espores as well, which is in the French League. And I I don't know if that's like the French main league or I think it's the like the youth league in France. I think the main French league is called like the Jeep elite league. I don't know if Jeep, the brand sponsors it or what, but I'm pretty sure LNB Espoirs is the like French youth league where it's like French under 21 league or you know, it's basically like the academy league for France,

Starting point is 00:08:03 I'm pretty sure. So he's 18 years old there, plays 15 games, 19 minutes per game, 11 points, nine rebounds per game, 1.3 blocks, 1.1 steals, good numbers are 67.6% from the field, 50% at the foul line. So when you're looking at the French League, the French League is a good league, it's not quite the, you know, Greek League or the Spanish League or the Turkish League, but it's still a good league. But you're talking about the French Youth League, which I don't know how that would

Starting point is 00:08:33 relate. Does the French Youth League equate to playing in the Atlantic 10 or something like that? I have no idea. I have no idea, but it's not the senior league. So it is important to bring this up. We've been talking about, when you're talking about Kerem Konan, and the numbers are closer to three points per game or whatever, it's like he's playing on the senior league and a really tough team.

Starting point is 00:08:52 This is not quite that, but he still has a lot of high potential. So this past season, he plays with his spores, Asvel again, which again, I think is the under 21 league for France. So more of the young players getting together. But he also plays some games with Asvel Basket, which I believe is the senior team. And so with the Esports team, he plays 23 games, he starts 20 of them. Over the 20 starts and 23 games played for the youth team, he shoots 69.6% from the field, it's basically 70% from the field. 52 at the foul line. And he averages, let's see, 11.7. Oh, that's rebounds per game. Holy cow.

Starting point is 00:09:33 15.3 points per game, 11.7 rebounds per game, three blocks per game. Really good numbers. Again, it's at the youth league. If we're just looking at the numbers he put up with the senior team between the six games of Euroleague, the four games at the senior league, and the one game at, I don't know, some other event they played. That's 11 games played at the senior team for him this past season.

Starting point is 00:09:51 He totaled, let's see, 8-12 rebounds. So you're a little over one rebound per game. And he scored seven points, so like half a point per game on three for six shooting, there's not a lot there to come away with. And I think that tells you that yes, he is a little bit more of a raw prospect that has stuff to work on. But could he come in right away and play minutes at the backup center for Kansas? Yes. And the length plays right again, like basically seven, seven links been kind of a minimum years for you. So how

Starting point is 00:10:21 would he fit in with KU? What exactly would he bring to the table on this team? And how would he fit in with KU? What exactly would he bring to the table on this team? And how would he rank among the other center targets that KU has internationally? We get to that next with Locked on Jayhawks. Thanks for joining us on this episode of the show. We are brought to you by FanDuel Sports. But the NBA playoffs are wrapping up here. The NHL playoffs have wrapped up and you might think that oh, what's going on right now, you don't have to worry about that. Because I mean, if you're like

Starting point is 00:10:50 me, you might be into you know, betting some of the golf tournaments right now, you might be into you know, putting together a Cape Harley or hit parlay or who's gonna hit a home run in an MLB game. But you might be interested as well in some futures betting, whether it's a future bet on the college basketball season that's going to come. I mean, right now you can go over to FanDuel and you can scroll to Kansas who's 17 to one to win the NCAA title or you can go look at college football and see that Kansas

Starting point is 00:11:15 and week one versus Fresno State. I think the line dropped. I think it was 14 and a half at one point. It's now 13 and a half for Kansas over under 51 and a half. If you think that's going to move one way or another, boom, get in early on that over at FanDuel. And right now, if you're new to FanDuel, it's the perfect time to sign up. Head to FanDuel.com, place your first $5 bet.

Starting point is 00:11:32 If it wins, you'll get $200 in bonus bets. Make every moment more with FanDuel, official sports spending partner of the NBA and the Locked On Podcast Network. Thanks for joining us on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. Again, don't forget to check out Locked on College Football or Locked on College Basketball for your second listen every day. I was just on Locked on College Basketball.

Starting point is 00:11:52 We posted that episode to our feed here. Thank you to every dayers who already caught it and our double dayers who are catching that episode and our regulars as well. But you can also find that on Locked on College Basketball where we kind of previewed the KU basketball season even though it still is kind of an incomplete roster at this point in time. Okay, Paul Mbia, maybe he adds to the roster for KU. So in watching some of the highlights,

Starting point is 00:12:13 it's funny because if you watch like the pick and roll highlights of Ege Demir, Demir like, I'm trying to think how to put this. Demir seems like he has, I don't know if the word is like determined or aggressive. Maybe the best way I would put this. Damir looks like he has a plan when he is in pick and roll. Like he looks like he knows exactly what he is going to do. Whereas with Mbia sometimes when he's in

Starting point is 00:12:38 pick and roll, he still is effective because he has such long arms and he's a lob threat and he'll throw down dunks. He just looks a little more meandering. I would say maybe in general, like that's how I would describe the difference there. Mbija is a longer player, has an even bigger wingspan. Maybe that means he has a higher potential than Demir, but Demir, for instance, looks like he,

Starting point is 00:12:59 you can just tell that he has played organized basketball longer and that, you know, he almost knows what he's doing a little bit more out there, which again gives opportunity for him via to get a lot better. And if he does, if you can coach him up to that, become a pretty special player.

Starting point is 00:13:13 He really engages on the offensive glass, like really goes for offensive rebounds. There probably will be times where he gets in foul trouble because he's going to get, you know, over the back or, you know, getting a foul, trying to get an offensive rebound. But for your bench center, you're totally cool with that. You're totally cool with taking that risk

Starting point is 00:13:28 to get that extra possession, being aggressive, and getting those stick backs for you. And he does those at a very high level. Actually has a decent amount of post-up highlights. I was expecting going into this, again, under the guise of, okay, this is a player who hasn't played a ton of organized basketball. Like maybe he's going to be more of your raw rim runner

Starting point is 00:13:44 who's just throwing down dunks, and sure, that's a big part of his game. But like there is a good amount of post up there, and again, it's not in the French Senior League necessarily, but there is a good amount of those highlights. He really liked to use pump fakes or his pivot foot or even take a dribble or two to get by someone for the good angle to put it up.

Starting point is 00:14:03 So I was actually kind of impressed a little bit going in, you know, with with maybe I'm not saying he's gonna, you know, be Hakeem Elijah on or something on the post. But like, you know, I think there was more there than I expected, I guess would be the way of putting it. Also seems to be a pretty good shot blocker. I mean, honestly, you could make the argument that he should be blocking more shots. The fact that he is an 18 year old in the 23, 24 season, 1.3 blocks per game. That's good, especially in 19 minutes per game. But with that big of a wingspan at a youth league, you're like, oh, maybe it should be even more.

Starting point is 00:14:35 But I mean, two point two blocks per game in 23 minutes. It is really good for him via he is a good shot blocker. Definitely. And that's what you would expect with that wingspan. So what he would add to the team, what he would add to KU, certainly add more length, Kansas has a lot of length, they have a lot of positional length, and he would be the lengthiest of them all, he would have the biggest wingspan of them all, he would add even more dunking to the

Starting point is 00:14:56 team and to that position, right? I mean, you're already gonna get a lot of dunks with Flory at the center position, you would be getting a lot more with Paul and via off the bench. He would add some post up potential, you know, Kansas doesn't have a lot of with Paul Mbia off the bench. He would add some post-up potential. You know, Kansas doesn't have a lot of obvious post-up options on this team. I think Bryson Tiller, if he's healthy and is playing that role on KU, is an obvious post-up option for KU. But with Flory, it's like, I mean, Flory might just be a great center because he does things well, like rim running and throwing down lobs and dunking and getting rebounds and blocking shots and playing

Starting point is 00:15:26 defense. We don't know what the post up game is going to look like for Florian. I'm not saying to be again is going to be a great post up player, but it at least has the potential of showing you something there that you can use that maybe a little bit more than some other bench centers who would be possible. Now what he wouldn't add to the team is guaranteed floor, because the fact that he is playing on the youth league in France and that he is a more raw prospect,

Starting point is 00:15:48 like there is a chance he comes in and, you know, what if Bilself just doesn't feel like he's ready? What if he comes in and Bilself feels like, yeah, I'm not really able to trust him or put him out there for long stretches, long periods of time. I just don't know what to do with that. That is the risk that I think, you know, if you brought in an egg a Demir, like, I feel like

Starting point is 00:16:11 the floor is much higher on what the outcome is there, right? It like, it's hard for me to envision a scenario where if you added Demir, he's not playing double digit minutes per game, or if you would have added like Bryce Desair with him be a I'm not saying I would expect it because there's not a lot of bigs on the roster So like I would be expecting him to play double digit minutes per game But there is a world you can see out there where he does get buried because of just the rawness To his game overall despite kind of the length and an ability that he has

Starting point is 00:16:42 I Think when you look at the foul risk that the big men for KU would have, and this is something I mentioned with Demir too, that Flory and Bia, who would both be guys that you would have to be worried about racking up the fouls. Although I guess if they're gonna go to quarters,

Starting point is 00:16:59 maybe that helps a little bit in college basketball. But yeah, I think the potential role is obvious. It would be backup center. Now, you can make the argument he has more potential than a Demir, especially if you're talking about, is he gonna have three? Like, is he gonna be deemed a sophomore by the NCAA?

Starting point is 00:17:14 Where then it's not just somebody who can maybe help you this year with that length, but somebody who can help you long-term. And so if I'm ranking those candidates, I guess, for KU, I guess if I was to throw in Bryce Desair, not that that one seems to be happening at this point in time But just to like compare so Bryce Desair, Paul Mbia Kerem Konan and Ege Demir I think I would rank number one Bryce Desair in terms of who's gonna help you most this season

Starting point is 00:17:41 Number one would be Bryce Desair number two, I think would be Ege Demir. Number three would, I go back and forth on that one. I think Conan is more ready to help you probably right now, but you get more length with Mbia and then Mbia would be four. But you could, I think, switch Conan and Mbia either way. And I'd be happy with any of those gets, to be completely honest,

Starting point is 00:18:02 especially at this point in time where we are in the off season. And honestly, I think it makes a lot of sense to add two of those guys, right? I mean, if you want to add Demir for the higher floor and Ambiya for the higher ceiling and just let them duke it out and see you win that job, great. And then you have one more scholarship that you can add that guard or wing or three point shooter, whatever you want to do, right? Or you want to add a Conan for the more mobile big, and then one of the like big bigs with either the length of NB or the strength of Demir, then that would be great

Starting point is 00:18:29 too. I think that would be a good strategy for KU. And especially if you are adding NB like, you can make the argument if you're adding to mirror, maybe you don't add another big man and you just say we're gonna roll those three bigs. And I guess in an emergency, if we need a fourth like some East Calderon, get ready to play some very undersized center. I say Barry, he has a long wingspan to do it. But like, I think if you do add Paul and Bia, it does make sense to use one of the other

Starting point is 00:18:51 scholarships on a big knowing that, yes, the ceiling is high for him Bia, but the floor might be a little bit lower there too. But like I said, if you add him Bia, I think that'd be a nice gift for Kansas. It would add to the theme of what this team could be on the defensive end with their length and versatility. But I say, you know, poor que no los dos? Like go for go for two of them, right? You know, don't go for three of them. You do need another guard or wing, but you know, two of them. I'm in on. Okay, let's continue on some of

Starting point is 00:19:16 the latest news with KU baseball making a big time pickup. Also some Cole Rosario news as he had been visiting Kansas as well. And also maybe some future news that could have an impact on college basketball with a lot of this international recruiting. Thanks for joining us on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. So some of the latest news around the country, Cole Rosario, who has just been visiting Kansas, he got a big bump in his ranking in the 24 seven sports rankings. He was ranked like outside the top 100. He now with some recent good plays now ranked 45th on 24 seven sports for the

Starting point is 00:19:55 class of 2026. That also moves him up to 55th on the 24 seven composite for the class. And if you look at his composite score point 9761, and let's say he does reclassify for the class. And if you look at his composite score point nine seven six one, and let's say he does reclassify in the class of 2025. If you put that composite score in the class 2025, he would be the 58th ranked player in this class, but again, 45th on the 247 rankings only. The other bit of news that pertains strictly, I guess to KU, I guess Rosario, we don't know if it strictly pertains KU but Jordan Bach, who is a baseball player who started his career at the

Starting point is 00:20:32 NAI level, shout out to that at St. Xavier, find talent all over, then transferred his way up to Southern Illinois. And or I guess he goes to Fort McMurray before that, which I'm not quite sure what that is. I don't know if that's I don't know. That might be a summer league team. Regardless, he goes from same vis avis or eventually ends up at Southern Illinois for these last two seasons to play baseball. He hits $2.99 with an 845 OPS, six home runs in 2024. And then this past season, he hit $3.09 with a 432 on base, 564 slug.

Starting point is 00:21:05 That's good for a 995 OPS. Very, very good there. 11 home runs, 41 RBIs, also 12 steals. KU added him out of the transfer portal. And I think that continues a trend too where, you know, they might not be getting like, you have to play a little bit of moneyball. Like you might not be getting the big time transfer from, you knowsu or whatever but um they've had a lot of success like you look at jackson howie who came from a d2 school and you know in this situation you're coming from a d1 but before that you were in an naia school and you can find success anywhere and so uh love what dan fitzscheild continues to do the last piece of news that i wanted to touch on here was this was news from the Spanish Federation and basketball who is putting

Starting point is 00:21:47 together their very own U 22 league, similar to that league in France, the LNB spores, which is the U 21 league in France. And it's in response to the basically what is happening in college basketball, where they're basically plucking a lot of the young talent away from the area. So I think it'll be kind of interesting because the idea here is for Spain to have these young players under pro contracts, so they're getting paid, they're developing in their system, and they're able to keep them in house and figure out which ones they want, or if they go off to the NBA draft and then they get paid for basically

Starting point is 00:22:21 having the player. Whereas when they lose them to college basketball, they're not getting some huge chunk of money, I don't think. So it'll be interesting to see if it has any impact because to my knowledge, I don't know how much of these players leave. There are certain players who are leaving because of role. Like Neoclass F. Dallas, it seems like you picked Virginia Tech.

Starting point is 00:22:42 I'm sure he could have got more money elsewhere, but because of the role he wanted, but that's also a guy who has, you know, possible first round pick NBA draft dreams on his mind that are like not, I don't know if I like, it could have been a early second round pick in this year's draft. For a lot of guys,

Starting point is 00:23:01 a lot of the reason they are coming over to the US is because they can make a lot more money off NIL, right? If you can make a million dollars off NIL in the US, the contract you might have been making back overseas might have been 100,000, 200,000, 300,000. Still good money, but I mean, it's three to 10 times the amount of money to come back to the US. So that's kind of the big question for me, they can have that league, but like, if they're not going to pay nil, you know, related numbers, then I don't know how much it's going to matter. Now, if they do have competitive money, that will be interesting. And it'll be

Starting point is 00:23:36 interesting if other European leagues adopt this if it's successful, to where something that feels like it is opening up something that feels like it could be a new way of recruiting right an additive or something that teams go all in on like in Illinois, you know, maybe that gets cut off a little more down the road if more of these, you know, clubs are utilizing this to their way or you know, like I said, it could very well just be kind of a speed bump that doesn't matter in the end. All right, that'll

Starting point is 00:24:03 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 be back at you for any breaking news if not on a Monday right here with Locked on Jayhawks. See you then.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Paul Mbiya Asks Out of NC State - Could He Be the Center Solution Bill Self and Kansas Needs???

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