Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - PORTAL PANIC?!? Jayhawks Searching for First Transfer Commit - Will Bill Self Make a Move Soon?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Well, Good Hill hunting might not work out as that visit has concluded what's going to happen now with Deshaun Good and Terrence Hill. Is it time to worry at all or is it about to be a big moment for KU? Plus, some positive portal news for KU. We'll get to all that on today's show. 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 with another episode of Locked on Jayhawks. And it feels like news is coming out hot and heavy and quickly at this point in time.

Starting point is 00:00:41 So we're going to get into some of the Kansas football update from today from Joe Deneen. We'll get into some KU basketball portal targets, maybe picking other schools and what that means. And we'll start right here with the visits of Deshaun Good and Terrence Hill, at least sort of coming to a close. So let's start right here, Deshaun Good. That's the one that did come to a close. I'm recording this on Tuesday night. It's going to release this on Tuesday night. And good left without committing.

Starting point is 00:01:10 Now, that's not always the nail in the coffin. Usually in today's day and age with the transfer portal, it is more often that you see players will commit on the visit. And especially this year, it's been the case. But there are exceptions. And I go back a couple years ago. Now, the result of this didn't end up working in KU's favor. but Nick Timberlake visited Kansas, didn't pick KU, ended up visiting Yukon and I think North Carolina or something.

Starting point is 00:01:36 And then he ended up deciding after all the visits and ended up picking KU. So there is precedent that that would happen. But it does feel like this is kind of a different era. So who knows? But he leaves. There was an Instagram picture posted of him that was making the rounds on social media and whatnot of good next stop, Queens, New York, which his next visit is St. John's, which is buying that there. Now, could that be the agent trying to? to say, hey, the, the, whatever, like, we're potentially interested, but now we're going to

Starting point is 00:02:06 try to drum up, you know, maybe a bigger offer from you or something. Who knows? Who knows? I tend to believe that that probably means that the Deshaun good thing, maybe the ship is sailing there, right? And again, that could be overreeding into the situation. But the reason I feel, I would feel better about saying that is because Keanu Dawes is visiting Kansas. This one just kind of came about out of nowhere. And then all of a sudden it popped up that there were a couple different places that reported that Dawes was going to be visiting KU. And I think the visit started on Tuesday afternoon, Tuesday night.

Starting point is 00:02:40 I think you like, so yeah, I'm on my way to Kansas. And you can't help but wonder if, because Dawes, who we're going to have a deep dive on coming out on Wednesday morning, he's basically plays the same position as good. And so it's easy to kind of connect the dots between the two there and go, hey, Could this be related to that, right? So that one kind of makes sense. Now, the Hill one has been pandemonium, I would say at the very least, because Hill back and forth or like, what's going on? Is he leaving?

Starting point is 00:03:13 Is he going on the Tennessee visit after this one? Is he not? Is Kansas going to be able to lock him down? Like, what is going to happen there? And as I'm recording this, I have no idea. By the time you listen to this, there might be some clarification one way or another on what's going to happen there with Terrence Hill. but it feels like one that is a big shoulder shrug. I'll say this.

Starting point is 00:03:33 It is very important for Kansas to land Terrence Hill. I was looking at the available guards, the available point guard combo guards. There's a lot of good players, solid players. But when I'm looking at the, I tear out some of the different, you know, portal available guys or potential targets or guys that we've heard about with KU. And in this tier, the top tier of available guys that I have right now, I have one, two, three, four, five that are uncommitted right now in my top tier of available guys.

Starting point is 00:04:03 And Terrence Hill is one of those five. And to be clear, he's my favorite of the five. But even if you wanted to look at the other, you know, guards in that situation, one of them is Chance Westry, who he popped up in this conversation because his metrics are so good. He would not necessarily be one that I would want as a fit for Kansas. He's got 23% on threes. I don't know that that's what we should be looking for from Kansas. So I would toss him out. Rob Wright, good player, but seems like it's either BYU or Kentucky or something and a big payday.

Starting point is 00:04:39 So again, probably throw that one out. So now we're down to three. Zoom Diallo, it seemed like KU had some early interest on. And I like Zoom Diallo's game. There are questions, though, the three-point shooting, lower attempts, lower percentage. Some of the steel rates and block rates, not very good. So there are questions there. So I like Hill better than Diallo, but, you know, Diallo is a good player.

Starting point is 00:05:00 But again, like, I think he just visited Kentucky. And then Leroyd-Blighton Jr., who's a really good player, but he's also making a jump from Toledo, which is a non-guaranteed thing. Now, 40% from three, good shooter in general. I haven't really seen Kansas be connected with him, though, which adds to kind of the intrigue. So that's the only list of players. Now, there's other players on my next tier of guards, which I still think is a good tier of players, but I think there's a little bit more holes in some of their games. this is where you're talking Cruz Davis and Terrence Brown and, you know, some of these guys that are

Starting point is 00:05:29 available in this other tier of things, Mikey Lewis, Colby Garland, stuff like that, right? There are other players there, but for me, it feels like if you miss out on Hill, you have to take a step back a little bit at the guard position. And so that's why it's so important to me that they do kind of wind up landing him in the end. And if they don't, I will be a little bit worried. Even if you land Keanu Dawes, but you don't get Hill, it's like, Okay, it's like, and here's the other thing. Anton Bonk sounds like he's visiting his visit.

Starting point is 00:06:00 I think we're supposed to start on Wednesday. I don't know if it started early on Tuesday or whatever. But, you know, if you get a front line of Dawes and Bonk, I like that front line. I think that can be a good front line for KU, but it's also one that would need, you know, power at the guard position that would need scoring potential with guard position. And Terrence Hill fits right into that and makes it a lot easier for you there. So I think there's just a lot of pressure for KU to try to land that one, right? Now, Terrence Brown, I know some people are big Terrence Brown guys. He's supposedly visiting this week, too, which I guess you could just be, you know, the Utah's top two players and bring him in.

Starting point is 00:06:39 I don't know if that's the recipe for success. I'm not as big of a Terrence Brown fan as some other people. Now, I know you look at it and go 20 points per game in the Big 12. You don't have to question would he be able to produce at this level, almost four assists per game. but the assist to turnover ratio not great. The three point percentage is below 33 on lower volume. The two point percentage is kind of below average. The metrics, the on-off numbers aren't that great for him.

Starting point is 00:07:07 I'm not as big of a Terrence Brown guy. Now, if you miss on Terrence Hill, you might not really have a choice. You need some sort of dynamic guard play. And he's a quick player that can get downhill and you would hope would improve with another year under Bill Self. But that'll be kind of one to watch if they can't land hill. The other one potentially to watch here would be Alex Wilkins. So there was a report, I think, from On 3 the other day about Kentucky and Kansas setting up visits for Wilkins. I think Mike Vernon has since kind of confirmed some KU interest there with Wilkins.

Starting point is 00:07:36 And Wilkins is somebody I have in this next tier. And the same tier is, you know, so, okay, top tier with Terrence Hill and some of these players. And then my next tier, I do have Wilkins. I am high on Wilkins. And actually, there's some, you know, college basketball truthers out there who think Wilkins should be in that top tier. of available players. He was just a freshman this past year at Furman and had an excellent year. He's a 6 foot 5 guard. So he's got really good size from the guard position. Average about 18 points per game as a freshman. Also close to five assists per game. Now again, the assisted turnover ratio is

Starting point is 00:08:05 not great, not really giving you much on the rebound category or in the steel department. The three point percentage was a little shaky, 32%. But he got up a lot of attempts per game and per 40 minutes. And given that shooting usually gets better, the longer you stay in school. I believe that Wilkins will be like a mid-30s percent three-point shoot this next year. He shot really well on twos at 55 percent. Obviously, going up in competition, that number is probably going to drop a little bit there. But he good metrics as part of this. Like Furman was over 13 points better just on offense when he was on the floor.

Starting point is 00:08:40 And Furman ended up making the NCAA tournament and hit a big game against Yukon. So that would be one where if you don't necessarily land hill, I would be comfortable with Wilkins being maybe the first option up. for the next one, but I still would definitely prefer it be Hill. Now, is there a world where you could get Hill and Wilkins and basically have a three-guard lineup of Wilkins, Hill, and Kinney that are, you're saying, hey, you have 80 minutes between the number one and number two guard position and just say, hey, two of you were going to play like 30 minutes per game.

Starting point is 00:09:08 One of you'll play 20 minutes. We'll even play five minutes of you three together, which you can do because if Wilkins is six, five, and you have a bunch of big men in there, you can make that work. And everybody's going to get 25 or more minutes per game. I'd be interested in that too. So there is some positive news out of this and potentially light at the end of the tunnel. I've had a lot of people reach out to me and be like, when is it time to panic? When is it time to worry?

Starting point is 00:09:29 If they don't land hill and they don't land good and they don't land like Dawes, that would be time to panic. Or if they don't land hill and good and then they don't land like Wilkin, like once you start getting further and further down the guard list, that would also be time to panic. So we'll wait and see. I'm not quite there. I'm inching closer to being a little bit worried here, but I'm trying to stay patient. And, you know, if you can get Dawes on board, right, that would be a great first step. If you can get Hill, if you can get, like, it just feels like they need to get a commit, grab some momentum and then feel the good times flowing from there.

Starting point is 00:10:08 All right. Who are some other players that thinned out the transfer pool available players for KU? Maybe players that, you know, I did deep dives on or KU was targeting to some degree that are no longer available. We'll get to those next. This episode is brought to you by Ruggiet. And with Ruggiet ready, the NHL playoffs are here where every shift matters, every moment's intense, pressure is at its highest. I'm a big San Jose Sharks fan.

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Starting point is 00:11:39 potentially to KU. And that would be for one, and this one will quickly touch on. El Marco Jackson is picked in New School. He'll be going to Georgetown. Seems like a good spot for him in terms of being still Power 5. that maybe at the lower end that'll give him an opportunity for playtime. They've got a couple of their guards already enter the transfer portal as well. Like they were starting Malik Mack who shot like 39% this year from the floor.

Starting point is 00:12:03 So clearly they'll have a longer leash for O'Marco, which he probably needs in terms of just getting those game reps. So I wish him well. Like obviously it didn't work out super great at KU. He had a few games that, you know, were important. It was just inconsistent. And there were too many moments that didn't go well. But I always heard good things about O'Marco, the dude and the person. So good luck to him at Georgetown.

Starting point is 00:12:25 And then some other news of players that we've done deep dives on and that at some degree KU's been connected with. We'll start with this one. KJ. Lewis goes to USC. That's a player we did a deep dive on early in the portal process because Lewis was somebody that was connected to KU last year when he was in the transfer portal out of Arizona. He didn't end up coming to Kansas,

Starting point is 00:12:47 didn't hear anything about him being connected this time. And that has been something that I've noticed. It's almost felt like guys that KU has been. connected with in past portal years. If they don't come to Kansas, that first time they're in the portal, the second time, it doesn't feel like KU is kicking the tires again. I don't know if that's intentional or what, but, you know, like you missed your opportunity to join or whatever, but I thought KJ. Lewis would have made some sense for Kansas.

Starting point is 00:13:10 You know, you look at Taylor and Kinney as being more of a shot making guard. You have questions about the defense and the athleticism. Lewis brings defense and athleticism and would have been kind of your Melvin Council type of addition to Kinney being your, your, your, Aaron Peterson type. Again, not saying those players are akin, but just in terms of the styles of play of what you'd want to do. I actually like the USC back court now with Lewis and Rodney Rice. But yeah, that one that, that KU never really kick the tires on this year. Wes Enis goes to Creighton. I think that'll be a great spot for him. They've got a new head

Starting point is 00:13:40 coach in there, but certainly you'd think it's going to be similar system with an internal promotion of a guy who was a former assistant coach there, then goes to be a head coach at Highpoint, then comes back last year as an assistant and then gets the promotion with the coach leaving So you would think it's going to be a lot of run and gun and shooting threes. And Enis fits into that kind of perfectly. It'll be interesting. He's in the big ease now playing against his former coach at Providence, who's having a good offseason, and we'll get to more on that in the second here.

Starting point is 00:14:05 But Enis is one who, again, KU had a Zoom call with and never really felt like anything materialized from there. Obviously, really good three-point shooter. And that would have been nice to see for KU, especially right now when they're trying to figure out what's going to happen with some of these players in the portal. I don't know. Like looking back, I'm almost like, should you have done a more aggressive approach to try to get him on board to get somebody here? There was some stuff going around about potentially that the Zoom call was more of like an agent favor from Trilly Donovan and stuff.

Starting point is 00:14:39 And who knows what's exactly going on and kind of raise the price. But yeah, so that one doesn't end up at KU. And then the last one here is a guy that we never heard once connected with KU, though. That doesn't mean it didn't happen. because you're anything about this guy's recruitment at all. And again, keep in mind his dad is like assistant coach at the NBA level, like probably keeping things better under wraps. So there might have been interest in KU that we just don't know about.

Starting point is 00:15:03 But Devin Vanterpool, a guy that you know I was very high on from doing that deep dive, he goes to Providence. I'm really liking what Brian Hodgson is building at Providence with some of their portal additions. He was the head coach at USF that goes to the NCAA tournament. That was his first year there. Before that, he was at, I want to say, Lipscomb. It was one of the smaller schools that had made the tournament, couple years. He's, he's like a 38, 39 year old coach. And the way he's acting in the portal,

Starting point is 00:15:27 they're going to have a pretty good team this year. I don't know, man, if Bill Self is around a couple more years, like, what if Brian Hodgson, you know, gets Providence this year to be like a six seed and they make, you know, the Sweet 16 or something? And then what if he has another year where he gets like four seat of Providence and they do a little bit of damage as well? Could he, I'm not saying he'd be the guy to hire, obviously, you go after, you know, at the top tier guys, but could he at least emerge as like a secondary candidate? I wouldn't rule that out. We'll wait and see what happens here and how long Bill Self is there.

Starting point is 00:15:57 But yeah, I really would have liked the Vanderpul edition. I thought he would have been a Bill Self guy. He plays defense. He rebounds from the guard position. He can shoot the three pretty well. I thought that would have been a great move for KU that you could play him at the two and three. Unfortunately, that one doesn't end up happening for Kansas. And I get it.

Starting point is 00:16:11 You're not going to land everyone. But he certainly was somebody that I felt like should have been a big target for KU and just never really was. All right. a little KU football update. We heard from Joe Deneen, I think some very interesting comments for KU football and on the defensive line. So we'll get to that next.

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Starting point is 00:17:21 That's rocketmoney.com slash locked on. Thanks again for joining us here on Locked on Jayhawks. Don't forget you can check us out anywhere at your podcast and on our YouTube page. Please hit the thumbs up. It really helps us on our end of things. All right, some KU football notes. We heard from Joe Deneen, who is now the defensive end coach for KU. And cool to see Dene continue to work with KU now.

Starting point is 00:17:45 He was working with Purdue and some of these other schools. And now back where it feels right with every. involved, but some really talented players in his position room. And I found this interesting because so, KU had their like open practice on Saturday and Lance Leibold caught up with the media afterwards. And he, you know, mentioned some improvements and kind of glowing reviews about Dak Brinkley. And now Joe Deneen in this press conference setting called Dak Brinkley the most improved player for that group, right? And I just find that. great news for KU because I already felt awesome about that position because I'm a huge Leroy

Starting point is 00:18:26 Harris fan. I think he's a stud. And I really liked what we saw at the end of last year, seeing some flashes from Dak Brinkley as a redshirt freshman. And you obviously know that he was a former highly recruited kid that you start to see these things coming together. And I was curious if you had to have a big off season. And I don't know what this means for KU in terms of like, I don't really think that you want to play Harris and Brinkley. Like both of them are more rush ends than they are like one of them more of your your strong side defensive end i forget what ku's calling at this year uh it was like the stud i think it's the stud defensive end is more of the the the strong side um and that's more of your powerful defensive end that's going to set the edge and stop the run

Starting point is 00:19:07 i don't know maybe you could play i think at the very least no one passing downs you can play harrison brinkley's the two defensive ends and feel great about that right and the fact that he's most improved it's going to get him on the field but just makes me feel like he's a store in making. So I guess if you're a big KU donor, get the check ready for the following season to try to keep back Brinkley in Lawrence. But that was really cool to see for a player that I've been very high on and what he could become and makes me feel even more bullish about what he's going to do this upcoming season. Also of note on the defensive line, we heard that Trayvon McAlpine from Jim Panagos is banged up right now. So we'll see what that injury ends up being. You know, is that something

Starting point is 00:19:45 that's going to impact him in the season? Or is that just something that's going to, you know, prevent him in spring ball. Obviously not ideal when you have a new player, even missing spring ball, because you want him to get to know the system and everything. But if he's back for the regular season, he is a veteran player. He's a huge dude. He's a really good player. As long as he's back for the regular season, that'll be huge for KU because he will be one

Starting point is 00:20:05 of the better players on the defense and on the team. But again, who knows exactly what this injury is for McAlpine? And if it does cause him to miss any time in the season, then you're looking at other guys having to step up like Marcus Calvin, like Eamon Smalls and some of your other young editions that you made or or kind of home run swing additions like Debreuil Conday to, you know, show that they belong here, so to speak, right? And then the last bit of news we saw from KU football today was they hired John Dave Filippo, who's been like a longtime assistant coach.

Starting point is 00:20:38 He's going to, he's going to be an analyst that specifically helps with coaching quarterbacks. And so he's been like a long time in the NFL. I think this is a really good hire for KU, especially. just to get them on as an analyst, seems to be a really good addition. Now, obviously, KU has, you know, a lot that they will probably need to work on at the quarterback position. So having all hands on deck,

Starting point is 00:20:58 having all the help that you could possibly need is a good thing for KU. I, like, it almost feels like, could you make the argument that making this high, is KU a little worried about how the quarterbacks are looking? I think that's almost a separate conversation. Like, that could be true, but I don't think that's why you made the hire. Does that make sense?

Starting point is 00:21:19 Like, I don't think they went, oh, we don't like how it's looking. So let's make the higher. They could be thinking, uh-oh, you know, we might have some problems here, but also this guy just happens to be available and wants to be coaching and we can get a good coach on as an analyst. And they've become two separate things. Now, ideally, the quarterback situation ends up going okay and they're able to figure it out and everything.

Starting point is 00:21:36 But yeah, having another good mind in there, we've seen KU get really good contributions from analysts before, especially under the light hold staff. And now with some of the new coaching rules and some of the different things that they can do and the more expansive approach that they can have, having more of those minds is even a better thing. So, all right, that'll do for this episode of Lockdown, Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page

Starting point is 00:21:57 where you can like and subscribe to the show. Don't forget to check out our Keanu Dawes, play your deep dive for transfer portal target for KU, as well as some of our other portal target deep dives, and we'll be back with more LOJ next time.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - PORTAL PANIC?!? Jayhawks Searching for First Transfer Commit - Will Bill Self Make a Move Soon?

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