Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Rosario On Board | Now What’s Next for Kansas Jayhawks Basketball’s Offseason

Starting point is 00:00:00 Cole Rosario is officially a Jayhawks. So what does that still leave KU to do in the off season? How does Rosario fit in with the team? Who are the best shooters on this team, including the conversation of where Rosario fits into that? All that on today's episode of Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. What's going on everybody? Derek Johnson here. This is Locked On Jayhawks.

Starting point is 00:00:37 Thanks for making it your first listen every day. Thank you to the everydayers catching each and every episode of the show, including days where we have multiple episodes like yesterday, Cole Rosario committing to KU, we are free and available wherever you get your podcast. And you can also find us on YouTube, where you can like and subscribe to the show on today's edition of LOJ. We're talking more about Cole Rosario committing to KU how it affects the rest of the offseason. What does KU do with their final two scholarship openings? At this point in time, what's even left out there for them to do? What are they targeting? And we'll also get into a conversation of who are the shooters on this team? Who are the best shooters? Where does Rosario

Starting point is 00:01:11 fit into that for this upcoming Kansas team? Also some latest news to finish things off at the end. This episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDON locked on college at MonarchMoney.com for 50% that's half off your first year with Monarch Money. Okay, so Corozario is officially a Jayhawk and thank you every dayers if you already caught our episode breaking down Corozario committing to Kansas and reclassifying and if you're also an everydayer who caught the episode of the Corozario deep dive from a week or two ago, whenever we did that here on the show, but how does this affect the rest of the

Starting point is 00:01:49 roster moving forward, right? Those episodes were talking maybe more about, you know, what exactly Rosario is bringing to the table and his scout import his game. Basically, the summarization of that is he's a young wing six foot five. And one of the things that really stood out to me, I guess I should add this now, Bill self gave a quote in the press release about him signing with the team saying he's one of the hardest workers we ever recruited. So like, he's a he's a potential, I guess, three and D type guard wing who's really athletic, good in transition, and he works really hard. Seems like that could be somebody who makes an impact, you know, down the road, if not right away for Kansas, but

Starting point is 00:02:25 where do they sell the gold because they still do have two scholarships available at this point, they have 12 scholarship players at this point in time. And, you know, now with the 15 scholarship limit, obviously, they're taking one away because the self imposed sanctions, you are at 14 of what you could possibly have, right? So that leaves you two openings at this point in time, if you were Kansas. So it's pretty obvious you still need a backup big men, right? You look at the roster and it's like, Floyd Budunga, Bryson Tiller, who is coming off an injury

Starting point is 00:02:58 in which he hasn't played, you know, five on five real game basketball in over a year by the time that the school year starts, right? And then you have your third center. Like if you got into a pinch, like, oh, Flory's in foul trouble and Bryson Tiller, you know, is in foul trouble too or whatever. Like it would be Samiz Calderon, who sure he's six, eight and he has like a seven foot wingspan, but Samiz Calderon is a, he's 6'8 and he has like a 7 foot wingspan, but Samir Scalderone is a, he's a wing.

Starting point is 00:03:27 So you need another big man. You know, you have to get another big in there. You have to get another body. You have to get somebody. I mean, ideally you want to get somebody who is the number two backup big man. Now, in an ideal world, Bryson Taylor looks like a top 20 recruit right away. The injury stuff and lack of playing basketball recently doesn't bother him. And he's so good that it's like,

Starting point is 00:03:46 oh, you have to play him even over somebody that you bring in. That wouldn't be the worst thing in the world because then you're earning at that point. But it also just strengthens your bench even more. But ideally you wanna bring in a backup big man that you feel confident playing, you know, 10, 12, 15 minutes per night,

Starting point is 00:04:03 because I don't view Flory as being your starting big man, as being somebody who's going to be like Hunter, who's going to give you 30, 32 minutes per night necessarily, right? I don't view him in that same vein. I see him as being someone more like, like David McCormick was around the like 23 minute range in his final seasons. Yudoka Azobuke was between like 23 and 27 in kind of his peak seasons.

Starting point is 00:04:31 So I think that's kind of where I view Flory, probably somewhere between 24 and 28 minutes per game, would I think be kind of a safe assumption. Obviously the big part of that is gonna be how are you avoiding fouls, right? Especially for young bigs, that is something you usually get better at as you go on. So I'd imagine he'll be a little better at it this year than he was last

Starting point is 00:04:51 year. But is that still going to be an issue that could obviously affect him. So you want somebody in case of that you want somebody in case of injury, but you also just want somebody who ideally can give you really good center minutes for Yeah, that 1012 15 minutes off the bench. And as soon as Kansas missed out on the kind of back to back of Dame Sarr and Darian Williams, their avenue to finding a game changing player

Starting point is 00:05:15 kind of went away. So at that point, your pivot, your strategy becomes, can we maximize our backup center as good as possible to where, no matter like, to where we feel like we have maximize our backup center as good as possible to where no matter like to where we feel like we have the best backup center in the conference or in the country to where you feel like you're winning minutes, no matter what who is out there at center to kind of make up for not having that, you know, maybe game changing wing that you could add to the roster.

Starting point is 00:05:41 So you definitely need another backup big man at this point in time. I think the looming question, that seems like an obvious one for what you do with one of those two scholarships. The big question is what you do with the second scholarship. Do you even use the second scholarship if you're Kansas? I've kind of toiled around with the idea that, okay, you're so late in the game at this point,

Starting point is 00:05:59 do you even fill all three? Because you'd still be going in if you only fill one of the final two at this point, you'd still be going into the season with 13 scholarship players. And the fact that the walk-ons were grandfathered in to where now you have bodies for practice, it's not going to be the end of the world if you don't get that. Now in my ideal scenario, I would still bring on another player. Why not bring on another body? And ideally, honestly, I'd probably bring on another big.

Starting point is 00:06:24 Now I love me some John Bugs, right? If you want to go out and get him as a knockdown three-point shooter, just to add even more, sure, I'm all aboard, because I love that, but it doesn't feel like that's really been linked. It feels like the guys that KU has still been linked with are more international bigs, right?

Starting point is 00:06:37 It's Paul M. Bia, it's Ege Demir, it's Kareem Konan, and maybe that's what it comes down to. Maybe you get the one that's easiest to bring over eligibility wise. And then from there, it's just, okay, we're either gonna leave the spot open and we're gonna leave the spot open in hopes that we can get this other good player

Starting point is 00:06:57 that we want eligible. And if we can't get them eligible, we'll just go into the season with the open spot. It could be that. It could also be something where does in theory does not using that roster spot, right? Where if you're saying, okay, we have two scholarships open, but we're only going to use one. Does that allow you to pour a little bit more money into that final spot as opposed to splitting it over two? or does not using money on two scholarships

Starting point is 00:07:25 as opposed to one does that allow you to carry over a little bit of a fund in the next year's team to where you know it's almost like like in the NFL they have some sort of salary cap rule where it's like let's say you saved you were 10 million dollars under the cap this season you get to like carry some of that over into the next season would you be able to carry some of that over it's a little? Would you be able to carry some of that over? It's a little bit different in this scenario because it's not just sitting in a fund, I don't think. It's like coming from donors. So would that be money that's found money

Starting point is 00:07:52 or would it just be you didn't use it and now you lost it? I don't know how that stuff kind of works, but I do find it interesting if that were the case that maybe you would say, okay, it's not gonna make a huge impact at this point Let's just save it for next year I would bring on two bigs at this point though because it would give you more flexibility with even lengthening the bench even more With the big men's spot. It would also give you the opportunity that you could play two big lineups here or there

Starting point is 00:08:18 No, I'm not saying I I don't want the two big lineup to be the main lineup I want the main lineup for KU to feature Trey white at the four I think that it will be a more switchable lineup and a modern lineup. But if you want to throw out a two big lineup for, you know, five, 10, 15 minutes in a given game, I'm all aboard that. And as long as you have the right personnel, obviously. But let's say you add a backup big, if your big men situation is only that new big that you're bringing in Bryson tiller and flori bedunga you don't really have the big men depth to play much too big basketball so from that standpoint that's why i would be adding you know even two at this point in time but again

Starting point is 00:08:55 if the money doesn't work out like what if you just don't have the funds to bring in those two game changers at that point maybe it does make more sense just to pile in on one guy or carry that over to kind of the following season. But it does seem like among those options right now feels like Paul M. Bia is kind of the guy that's drawing the most attention with KU. And maybe that just has to do with the fact that in Bia feels like the feels like the most obvious to get eligible because he might have already gotten eligible the

Starting point is 00:09:24 fact that he had already signed a national letter of intent with NC State, whereas you go look at Conan, I don't know that he's gone through the process yet. And then when you look at Damir, he was previously ineligible from getting into UCLA. And it's been a couple years since then. But you wonder if that would be something that would stop them. Either way, though, there are good options, whether you're going to go for one, you're going to go for two, specifically for the international big route. And it's good that Kansas wrapped up the guard wing route with

Starting point is 00:09:49 Rosario, because there just are more of the options available to you still at the center position. All right. Who's the best shooter on the team is Cole Rosario, that guy for Kansas, where does he slot in? And how many good shooters would you say are on this Kansas team? We'll discuss that next. This episode of Locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by Rugiette.

Starting point is 00:10:15 And you can get 15% off today with Rugiette. You've probably heard of Viagra or Cialis, maybe if you've even tried them. But if you're looking for something beyond the usual pill, it's time to meet Rugiette Ready. Rugiette Ready is a next-gen prescription treatment designed to amplify arousal in the brain and boost blood flow. Unlike the usual pills that can take hours, Rugiette's 3-in-1 formula dissolves under your tongue and kicks in fast on average in 15 minutes. Effects can last up to 36 hours, so you can stay confident and in control when the moment is right.

Starting point is 00:10:46 You can even read real customer reviews on their site. It's helping a lot of people feel more confident and present in the moment. Head to rugiet.com slash locked on college and use code locked on college to get 15% off today. That's rugiet.com, R-U-G-I-E-T.com, locked on college and use promo code locked on college for 15% off. Individual results may vary with prescription treatment compounded drugs

Starting point is 00:11:11 are permitted to be prescribed under federal law, but are not FDA approved and do not undergo FDA safety effectiveness or manufacturing review. Please visit the RUGET website for full safety information. visit the Rugia website for full safety information. Thanks for joining us on this episode of Lockdown Jayhawks. You can find Lockdown College football or Lockdown College basketball for your second listen every day as well. Okay, who are the best shooters on this Kansas basketball team? Where does Cole Rosario fit into that standpoint? I'm only going

Starting point is 00:11:43 to do scholarship guys for the case of doing this. Also, this is just to be clear for this year, not down the road. Because if this was down the road, if I was projecting what they could become, you know, maybe maybe certain guys would be higher, right. So let's count this down. I only really counted the guys that again, scholarship players who I kind of think are gonna be in the rotation or at least, I guess have it, I don't know, that's not true

Starting point is 00:12:13 because I have somebody that I don't know that's gonna be in the rotation. But I'm not putting Florid Benugha on this list. It's just kind of pointless. I'm not putting Bryson Tiller on this list, even though he can actually shoot the three, but he's always been a 20% three-point shooter, and I don't know how much Bill South's gonna want him to do that.

Starting point is 00:12:27 So number one I have on the list would be Jaden Dawson. I think Jaden Dawson to me is the best three point shooter on this team. You're looking at somebody who had good volume at Loyola Chicago the last couple of years shot in the mid to upper 30% from three point range, did it in a lot of variety and how he can get them off and has been kind of the primary shooter for Loyola Chicago last year. So I have Dawson number one as the best three point shooter on this team. I've Darren Peterson and number two and that kind of is the wild card because with

Starting point is 00:12:54 freshmen, it doesn't always come around from the three point shooting. Peterson I think is just this all world player that's going to do everything well though. But I mean, you can convince me Peterson, Peterson shoots 33% from three, you can convince me shoots 40% from three and neither of those would really shock me so it wouldn't shock me Peterson ends up being number one here it wouldn't shock me if honestly Peterson was number four here number three on this list is Noah Shelby and that's one where it's just like this dude is a shooter that is his calling card like that is what he is known for I

Starting point is 00:13:23 don't know if he's gonna be part of rotation I. I don't know if he's getting many minutes, you know, he might come in here, they're just jack up a three, but that is going to be the role when he's in there. Now, in his previous years of played college basketball, you're talking about closer to a 30% three point shooter, but he's had a year off since then red shirting, just getting up a lot of shots. I do view him as one of the better shooters on the team. Number four is where I have a Rosario. We talked about

Starting point is 00:13:44 this in some of the Rosario episodes. When he is on, you could maybe argue that he would be the best three-point shooter on the team. But he's a streaky three-point shooter. And as I've said before, that's not all that dissimilar from a lot of young players in general. I always make the comp with Ochaik Bajie, a guy who was really, you

Starting point is 00:14:05 know, I guess inconsistent. He might have a game where he goes three for three from three and then he'd have, you know, a stretch of two games or he went, you know, one of eight or something like that. And you see that with young players sometimes. With Rosario, their games in his past game logs, you know, from this past season where he did go, you know, two of, or I'm trying to think like four or 14 from three point range but other games where he was just knocking everything down. You think of the Adidas next gen game where he went six for six from three. So it's a little bit more streaky. It's hard to quantify where you would put him in this perspective and that's where

Starting point is 00:14:41 I view the difference with Shelby and Rosario. I think Rosario is going to have the higher ceiling maybe than anybody on the KU basketball team in three point shooting, but his floor is going to be lower than a lot of those guys on there and I think the overall result is going to put him kind of in this situation. But again, going back to the idea where, you know, if you're talking about not just this year, you're talking long term as well, Rosario probably gets bumped up on that list. Number five, I have Jamari McDowell. He shot in the high 20% in the year we saw him, but a redshirt year in between, probably got a lot of shots off.

Starting point is 00:15:11 For a guy whose specific role, if he's going to be part of the rotation, would be kind of a 3 and D guard slash wing, it kind of becomes important that you continue to work on the three point shooting. There were moments when McDowell was playing as a true freshman or it's like, okay, you know, that looks like a good job. Like I think the Maui invitation, I think he hit a three or two in the Maui invitation only got to play there. But it wasn't always consistent again, kind of a thing for freshmen. Number six,

Starting point is 00:15:36 I have Marco Jackson, I think you could flip flop Marco and Jamari McDowell on this list, like Marco was like 27% from three his freshman season. So it's not that far off. I just figured that okay, without Marco, it's a more all around game more athleticism. Maybe with the injury, he wasn't able to work on the shot as much though that would be something that you could do just stand still and take shots I would imagine more than, you know, like running and cutting. And

Starting point is 00:16:02 then I have number seven is Trey white. And I don't know how I'm ranking these, right? Because it's not necessarily, I can see Trey White finishing like third on Kansas in three point percentage. Because if he only averages one and a half or two three point attempts per game, what if he shoots 35%? That's a very real outcome that could come in all this, but he's not taking as many threes teams aren't maybe spacing out as much. It's kind of a subjective thing. The big question I do have, though, is how many players in Kansas will shoot, let's say, 34 percent or better from three, 35 percent or better from three?

Starting point is 00:16:33 I feel like Dawson could certainly do that. I still am expecting Peterson to do that, even though I understand it could be a wide range of outcomes for a freshman. Shelby could, but I don't know how much, like I said, it's gonna be part of the rotation. I don't know that I'd be picking Rosario to do that. I could see Rosario finishing shooting 32, 33%. Again, he was 27% in the regular season in OTE,

Starting point is 00:16:56 and he's seemingly gotten better since that point. And again, Bill Self-Mention, how good of a hard worker he is. He's gonna keep getting up shots and everything. But I think it's gonna be one of those things where, yeah, he has a game where he goes four for four from three. And then he has two straight games where one, he does not make three in either game or something. It's just going to be a little inconsistent there.

Starting point is 00:17:21 With Jackson McDowell and White, I think any of them could shoot that mark. And it wouldn't surprise me based on improvement and also the fact that I don't expect any of those players to, you know, take more than two, two and a half, three point attempts per game for this Kansas team. The real question for me is, are they going to have anybody who's like a knockdown shooter? Are they going to have anybody who's like 38, 40% on this team? And to that point, I don't know if they can have one player emerge to do that. I think that would be huge. I don't think it's needed because I think this team's identity is going to more so be length, athleticism, transition play, defense, dunking the basketball. I think the three point

Starting point is 00:18:03 shot is like it might just be nationally average for this team, but that could be okay. But yeah, if you could have one guy like if Jaden Dawson ends up having a season where he's taken five three point attempts per game and he's shooting 38% or Cole Rosario does shoot 36% you know on four or five attempts per game and he's a big part of the rotation, that would be such a boon for this year's team. But there isn't really that obvious candidate of like, yeah, they're gonna have a bunch of knockdown shooters. Because there's also a world where you could see it where, okay, what if Jackson and

Starting point is 00:18:30 McDowell, you know, what if them shooting in the high 20% their first year of Kansas, what if that ends up being the case again, right? What if, what if Cray whites only taken a couple threes per game? What if no, Shelby is not part of the rotation? What if Rosario is not really part of the rotation, or it is very inconsistent? What if Darren Peterson does shoot 33%? Those are all the worst outcomes that could happen. And you would hope that the chances are not all of those happen at once. But that leads you in a pretty bad direction where then you do add end up a bad

Starting point is 00:18:57 three point shooting team. But then maybe you just end up in a situation where it's like, can you be Michigan State from last year? Can you be one of these St. John's from last year teams who got two seeds in the NCAA tournament but were really bad three point shooting teams? Maybe you can just be a little bit better than what those teams were but excel in some of the other things that can still win you basketball games. All right, let's finish things up with some of the latest news around the country, including with the TBT and some KU basketball recruiting news. This is Lockdown Jayhawks. This episode of the show is brought to you by Monarch Money.

Starting point is 00:19:34 Ever check your bank account and wonder where'd all my money go? Between dining out, online shopping and entertainment, it's easy to lose track. That's where Monarch Money comes in. It's your personal CFO giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch Money isn't just a budgeting app. That's where Monarch Money comes in. It's your personal CFO giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch Money isn't just a budgeting app. It's a complete financial command center. You can track all your accounts, investments and spending in one place. You stop just managing your money and you start building wealth. They have all in one convenience where instead of juggling multiple apps, you can use Monarch

Starting point is 00:20:00 to check finances, track spending and even plan long term goals. Take control of your finances with Monarch money use code locked on college at Monarch money.com for 50% off your first year that's Monarch money.com code locked on college for half off your first year. Thanks for joining us. Don't forget again, you can check out locked on college football or locked on college basketball for your second lesson every day. Okay, forget, again, you can check out Locked on College Football or Locked on College Basketball for your second lesson every day. Okay, so Ethan Taylor, who is the, depending where you look, like number one, number two

Starting point is 00:20:31 center in the class of 2026. He's a local area kid, right? A Kansas City area kid, and has really kind of started to take off in the class of 2026 as well. Apparently grew up, him and his family have been KU fans. Now that doesn't guarantee that you're going to get a kid, but it certainly doesn't hurt. Certainly helps to have that ability. And he's like a seven foot center. And you know, you look at ahead to the 2026 roster.

Starting point is 00:20:59 Okay, Flory has as good of a year as I think everybody's hoping this season. Maybe he's off to the NBA after this season. And we'll wait and see what, you know, backup big man that they can add to the roster and how many years of eligibility that that player would have that they could be there. Bryston Tiller could be there for another season, but you're going to need more center depth. You're going to need more good players and Ethan Daler would certainly fit into that. So he was taking an unofficial visit to Kansas, which I think he's done that before, but maybe things get a little bit more serious now,

Starting point is 00:21:31 headed into the summer of your senior season of high school. KU women's basketball, we know KU men's basketball is gonna be taken on Missouri this season in the T-Mobile Center. We know KU football is gonna be starting their series with Missouri again, playing at Missouri in Columbia this year. Well, KU women's basketball is going to be taken on Missouri to in the women's basketball border showdown. That'll be at the T

Starting point is 00:21:50 Mobile Center. Can we call it the border war? Anyway, T Mobile Center on November 15. And the last bit of news here is, I don't know if it's gonna officially go by J H X hoops, or if it's specifically written that way to sound like Jayhawks hoops, I don't know. But the upcoming KU TBT team, basically, they're gonna be playing in Kansas City. That'll be on July 19th. And it was announced they have eight 18 pods

Starting point is 00:22:15 as part of the TBT. So that makes the full bracket of 64. So basically they seed each, you know, eight of the locations, one through eight. Kansas got a two seed in their eight team pod and they're going to be playing the seven seed off the hook. I didn't really recognize anybody on the roster. Doesn't mean they're not good players

Starting point is 00:22:31 because there's a lot of good players that come from, you know, D2s or smaller schools that you might not have heard of and then go over overseas and they unlock something in their game and become even better players. So, you know, they could have some studs. I just didn't recognize anybody, but if they do win that game, the possible three seed they would match up with in the second round, assuming they won the three six matchup is the Kansas State TBT team.

Starting point is 00:22:54 And what's interesting, what adds to it, Cam Martin, former Jayhawk, obviously transferred in from D2 then finished his career Boise State. He's on the Kansas State team. If that's not a stick it to you, I don't know what is necessarily, but so far this is what I've seen as part of the roster. Sharon Collins is on there. I think that's the coach. I mean, just won a state championship at high school.

Starting point is 00:23:17 I don't know for sure. Nick Timberlake is on the roster, which that'll be fun for KU fans, I'm sure. Let Gerald Vick on the roster. So already some Bill Self favorites up this list Cliff Alexander, Billy Preston. Man is this is like the Bill Self All Doghouse team. This is hilarious. Jamari trailer. It's certainly not Bill Self Doghouse. That's

Starting point is 00:23:38 like Bill Self beloved is Jamari trailer there. Kevin Young. And then this was the one that was just announced and this is a really cool one David McCormick that'll be really cool to see him back in this now I'm sure there's some players like we saw Deidre Clausen in this we saw Thomas Robinson in this we saw Frank Mason in this last year, which was awesome I'm sure some of those players say it's gonna depend if they can make it work with whatever International club they sign with and and if they can make it work with whatever international club they sign with. And if they can make it work, I'm sure they will. But there's obviously more to come

Starting point is 00:24:10 for the roster for for KU and certainly some some good players that are possibly out there. So hopefully it kind of works out and they're able to round out the roster. But right now definitely a lot more bigs than there are guards. So they need a lot more guards. Because you think about I mean, that's going to be a good front court for this event. Cliff Alexander, you know, Jamari Trailer, David McCormick, Kevin Young can play the three or the four,

Starting point is 00:24:30 Billy Preston can play the three or the four. Like you have size, they just need more guard play at this point in time. But there are good guards out there. And like I said, they're not gonna roll into it. Like, they're not gonna go into this with, what would that be? One, two, three, four, five, seven guys.

Starting point is 00:24:42 Like they'll probably end up with, I don't know, 10 to 12 guys would be my guess. That's usually what these rosters have. So I'll be excited to see what finishing touches they have on the roster so far. But excited for that upcoming in July, for a little July basketball. 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. Again. Don't forget to check out our Cole Rosario commitment video and let's get up to 4k subscribers on YouTube. So make sure you're subscribed to the show there.

Starting point is 00:25:10 See you next time with LOJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Rosario On Board | Now What’s Next for Kansas Jayhawks Basketball’s Offseason

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.