Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - PORTAL TARGET? Should Kansas Invest in Paulius Murauskas from Saint Mary's Gaels?

Starting point is 00:00:00 I'm not talking about somebody who's trying to overthrow seizures regime. Paulyus Morouskis is a college basketball player. He was a really good one for St. Mary's. Does he make sense for Kansas out of the transfer portal? You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. How's it going, Derek Johnson, with another episode of Lockdown Jhawks bonus episode for you here. As we get to another transfer portal potential target,

Starting point is 00:00:34 Paulius Morouskis. We'll get to how would he fit in with KU? What are strengths and weaknesses and scouting report? And what is just some of the base general information on Morauskis? So who is Paulius Morauskis? He is a 6-foot-eight, 235-pound forward who played in the top basketball league in Lithuania. Then he goes to Arizona as a freshman. Obviously, Tommy Lloyd has all sorts of connects overseas and usually brings on some really good players.

Starting point is 00:00:59 But he plays sparingly in his first year at Arizona. So then he transfers to St. Mary's. and he immediately hits the ground running. He becomes a first team all West Coast Conference performer, his first year with the Gales, going for over 12 points per game, nearly eight rebounds per game as a sophomore. And then this past season, as a junior,

Starting point is 00:01:16 he recorded 18.4 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists per game, while shooting 48% from the floor, 33% from 3 and 84% at the foul line. So very, very good numbers here from Moravskis on a St. Mary's team that traditionally, and did this year, plays very slow basketball under Randy Bennett. Now, speaking of Randy Bennett, he left St. Mary East, took the Arizona State job. So I think the natural inclination here is, is Morauskis just going to follow his coach to Arizona State?

Starting point is 00:01:45 Entirely possible. But as we all know, once a player hit the transfer portal, all of a sudden, different offers come in, different schools come in, different money offers come in. You never know what could possibly happen. And so this becomes an interesting player, not just because he's one of the best players in the open market. but how would he potentially fit in at KU, right? But just a consistent player, he had 15 games scoring 20 or more points for St. Mary's. And he also exploded for 30 or more points twice.

Starting point is 00:02:15 He also had double-digit rebound seven times this season. And for a Kansas team that needed more rebounding this past season, that on its own has to be, you know, intriguing for a guy who could do that and was averaging 7.6 rebounds per game. Now, he's going to be a senior in 2026 to 2027. So that gives him just one year left. But if we are to assume Bill Self ends up being back and, you know, he's going to have one last year of being the head coach. And who knows if that would be the case, even too. But like at that point in time, you would be talking about just trying to get all the wind-down players you could anyway. So it wouldn't really matter, right?

Starting point is 00:02:48 And so as you'd imagine with some of the stats and the team having success in St. Mary's and everything, the metrics are going to look very kind. and as that is the case for Morouskas, 96th percentile in RAPM, both the offense and the defensive versions of that stat, or in the 93rd percentile or higher. 99th percentile in wind shares per 40, again, rates out elite at both ends of the floor there, 94th percentile in PER, measurement of his efficiency, elite there, and 97th percentile in wins above replacement player. So all the metrics love this guy is, again, you would imagine,

Starting point is 00:03:23 like St. Mary's was a top 30 team on Ken Palm. They got a 70 in the NCAA tournament. They were over 10 points better per 100 possessions when Morowski's was on the floor. So he made an impact on doing those things. And there were about seven points better offensively, three and a half points better defensively between those two when he was on the floor. So just a very good player here, one that won a lot of awards. It's an intriguing fit. But knowing all that, right, like all these things sound like it would be a home run.

Starting point is 00:03:50 I'm not sure this would actually be a home run edition for KU, and my question would be kind of about the fit. So let's get into his strengths and weaknesses of why next. This episode's brought to you by Robin Hood. What if sports are traded like markets? Now you can put your sports IQ to work in real time with Robin Hood prediction markets. It's not you against the house. It's you participating in a live market.

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Starting point is 00:06:14 Our strengths and weaknesses for Paulius Morowski. I think string number one here is rebounding. He's about an average offensive rebound. if you go by a rebound rate, though I think he might actually be better than that because St. Mary's traditionally wants to slow the tempo and a lot of times they will sometimes send extra numbers back to just defend in transition and keep you from transition. So at times they're not going to be as aggressive on the offensive glass. So I think if you get in a system where you allow it to be more aggressive, I think he'd be a better

Starting point is 00:06:44 offensive rebound than just average. Still though, average offensive rebounding at the four would be an upgrade for what KU got at the four this past season, right? But it's more about the defensive rebounding. And we know KU was not good enough defensive rebounding this year. He was in the 82nd percentile was Marouskis in defensive rebound rate. Now, one thing I found interesting here is overall as a team, St. Mary's was a lot better at getting offensive rebounds when he was on the court, even though the individual rate was average, which kind of tells me that he was opening things up in a lot of ways for a team that maybe the idea is that he's an even better rebounder than some of the stats show,

Starting point is 00:07:20 given the scheme. Post-up scoring is another thing that we know Kansas wasn't as good at as you would have hoped, and he was in the 76th percentile in post-up efficiency as a sophomore, up to the 86th percentile this past season. He can hit a turnaround jumper. He has a nice hook shot. I think he just has solid footwork in general. I was impressed in watching some of the video of some of his post-up ability. Also good passing big man, 88th percentile, cyst rate among big men, which helps him rate out in the 99th percentile inefficiency on inside out game, which is basically ball comes into you. Maybe you get doubled or maybe find an open shooter on the outside. You kick it out and boom.

Starting point is 00:07:57 And he also doesn't turn it over much. So all these things sound like great things for KU and they are, right? He also handles it pretty well. Like there were times St. Mary's even used him as a pick and roll ball handler where he's the one handling the basketball, right? And that is intriguing for a Kansas team where it's like, you know, if you're a foreman who can grab and go, Bill Self let you grab and go in transition, right? He's also above average in shooting threes.

Starting point is 00:08:19 not a lead at it, but he made 22 more of them than say, Bryson Tiller gave you at the four position, right? So that's almost one per game. And I think with the confidence and the stroke, I wouldn't be surprised if he's even better this next season, percentage-wise, too. Like, he does both of those things like he's an even better shooter than even some of the number show.

Starting point is 00:08:38 He's also solid shooting in some of the baseline mid-range areas, too. So you do have a little bit of flexibility how you can use him on the offensive end of the floor. Now, some of the weaknesses, and this is the one that really scares me, he really struggled in some of their big games. And I don't know if it's, again, this is like a six foot eight big? Is this a problem of when you're going up against bigger competition, you're struggling? And specifically, if you think about, I think in the world where Kansas brings on Morowski, it's because you lost Bryson Tiller to the transfer portal and brought Flory back. And you're looking for somebody to pair with Florey. And what do we know about Florey?

Starting point is 00:09:14 Sometimes he struggles against players who are bigger. So do you really want to have to potentially worry about that from both of your big man? Because here's the thing. In the NCAA tournament, first round, Morauskis against Texas A&M, only four points and three rebounds on one of six shooting. Then in the win they had against Gonzaga, he only had nine points on two of ten shooting. Did have 15 points in the other game against Gonzaga, but it was only five of 14 shooting. Now, to his credit, he had 24 points against Vanderbilt. So that's a really good performance against what was a really good Vanderbilt team.

Starting point is 00:09:45 but overall in his career, he has played 18 games against Ken Palm top 50 opponents. So, you know, not all of those are going to be bigger teams, but for the most part, the better teams you're going to play are going to be bigger. He's only shooting 44% on twos, which is like what Melvin Council was shooting on twos. And that's down 7% from his normal number. He's also down over three percentage points on three pointers from 33 to under 30. So in the bigger games against bigger teams, he has definitely. struggle, then that is certainly a concern for me, right? He also sometimes gets a little two,

Starting point is 00:10:21 three happy, which I don't know that Bill's health would be too happy about from your big position. He was four for seven on twos against Virginia Tech, solid numbers there, but he just goes two of seven from three in that game. Five of seven on twos against Vanderbilt. Again, you're dominating them for two. And yet he's going one of six from three. He goes five, 11 from two, which is, you know, a little below average, whatever versus Northern Iowa, but he just goes one of seven from three point range. A bunch of games going one for four from three. You know, I think Bill Self typically likes his bigs to more take like two or three threes, if they're a good three-point shooter on kind of selective open kind of shots there.

Starting point is 00:10:53 He also doesn't really get steals and blocks. His defensive metrics look good in a team context, but is that more about St. Mary's usually has a good defensive scheme, and they also had a really good center for the defensive end of the floor. He doesn't generate steals. He doesn't generate blocks. Now, again, St. Mary's more of a conservative style of defense. That might explain some of the steals,

Starting point is 00:11:13 but you would like a little bit more block action there. And I think in general he's not a great athlete. And I think you see some of that in the lack of steals and blocks. He's got fine athleticism, I think mobility-wise and like speed-wise. Like if you're comparing him to other fours, again, it's fine athleticism. Like at times he'll be handling the ball or he'll show like good footwork where he's got, you know, a decent amount of agility like dribbling the basketball again, specifically for kind of a foreman there. but there are other moments in time where that's not necessarily the case.

Starting point is 00:11:45 Now, he did dunk the ball 17 times this season. So that's not like a huge number, but it's not Jalen Wilson, for instance. So again, I don't think he's a bad athlete, but I wouldn't call him like a great athlete either. He's more of like a normal power forward athlete as opposed to like a wing four athlete, I guess if that kind of makes sense. So overall, is this to take? Is it a good fit for KU? I went through some of the trepidations.

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Starting point is 00:13:09 Don't forget to check out our full episode today. We did another player deep dive talking Jordan Lerby, but we also Also, at the end of that episode, talked a little bit about the latest with Tyrant Stokes and Bill Sitt and everything like that. So make sure to check out all of our shows here. We did a Jackson Shelstad deep dive on the other day as well, right here on Locked on Jayhawks. Okay, so is this a take? Is it a good fit for KU?

Starting point is 00:13:29 So I think my biggest question here, if you bring on Morowski, and again, I kind of detailed what I think the path would look like. It would be Tiller deciding to transfer, whether that's a KU decision or a Tiller decision, and having Flory back. I guess theoretically does the Florey one impact it? Maybe, maybe not. But I do think it makes more sense to pair, I don't know, in some ways it does, some way it doesn't to pair Morauscus for the Flory because then you're a little undersized at the four and five against guys who sometimes can struggle with size. But also the advantage of pairing a Marauscus of the Flory is Marouskas has a more diverse and able offensive game where he can score in the post, he can score in the midrange, he can score from three to Florey's game that is a little bit more limited.

Starting point is 00:14:12 in terms of the offensive ability, but as a better defender where you have some of those questions with Morauscus. So I think that's where it kind of makes sense a little bit there. And I think when you look at Morauscus, I think he can defend better on the interior than he can in space. And then that kind of becomes an interesting question too, because do you almost play Florey as like a foreman defensively where Florey has more mobility defensively? And that allows Florey to fly around the, a, you know, I don't know, around the court and be able to defend different guys and then be kind of a weak side shop blocker. And Morouskas probably has more like physical strength on the inside where he's able to kind of bang with a thicker postman down low than Florey. Like there's some ways you can

Starting point is 00:14:54 make that work. Now, again, having a reliable post score, having another good rebound or having somebody who can make threes like those things seem like a perfect fit next to Flory Bedunga. Now, if KU brings back Bryson Tiller, I think you'd be looking at Tiller to improve some of the those things. And then I just don't think there's a match here, given the money that it would take to do both those things. But I guess it starts here, right? Where is the certain dollar figure? Where is the certain amount of money that you're talking about here? They've been saying this. I said it on the LRB episode, like finding the right dollar amount matters a lot in this. It's no longer just you're recruiting players and saying, are they a take or not? Is it somebody I want to offer? Do I want

Starting point is 00:15:36 to offer them before this other guy? It's, do they make sense for the dollar amount? And so, If Morowski is going to pay him, because I mean, this is a dude coming back, college basketball average 18 and 7 a game on a NCAA tournament team. Is somebody going to offer him All-American level money? He absolutely might get that based on what he did, right? And I don't know what All-American money is this year. Is it $2.5 million? Is it $3 million?

Starting point is 00:15:58 Is it $4 million? I don't know. But let's say it is in whatever that range ends up being. Does it make sense for Kansas to do that when there are some other questions as opposed to like I did the Deshaun Good episode? there's a player to kind of compare this to who's kind of a four man as well. Let's say Morouskas goes for $3 million. And again, I do what the numbers would be.

Starting point is 00:16:19 I'm just making these up. And Deshaun Good would go for one and a half million. I would almost rather have good for half the cost and use the extra one and a half million on a better three man, on a better guard, you know. But if you're talking Morauskis is, I don't know, two million and good is one and a half million, No, we're talking here. So again, this all kind of just matters where the money lies. And I like enough things about Morauskis is a fit potentially next to Florida.

Starting point is 00:16:50 But there's also enough questions that you can't go all in on an offer here. And it feels like given his stats and profile, the odds of somebody going all in on offer are probably pretty high if that sort of makes sense. I thought it'll do it for this episode locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page, check out our LRB episode, check out our ShellSat episode, check out our ShellSat episode. out our good episode, all our player deep dives right here on Lockdown J-Hawks.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - PORTAL TARGET? Should Kansas Invest in Paulius Murauskas from Saint Mary's Gaels?

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