Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Roster Building Lessons from the NCAA Tournament - Can Bill Self & Kansas Jayhawks Learn from 2026?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Kansas needs some more bucket getters. That and other takeaways from which teams had some success in the second weekend of the NCAA tournament. 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 going on, Derek Johnson, with another episode of Locked on Jayhawks. Thanks for making it your first listen every day. And on today's episode of the show, we are going to be. breaking down some of the lessons to be learned from the teams that are having success this year and how Kansas should construct their roster and look to the transfer portal this offseason.

Starting point is 00:00:43 Plus, we'll get into the best Bill Self transfers throughout his career at Kansas, and we'll finish up with some of the latest news, a lot of Jayhawk news from over the weekend. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by Mazda. Like our players were driven by the details, highlights make the real, but the work behind them makes it count. Stay tuned for this week's moving the game forward, the all-new Mazda CX-5, more to move every side of you. Let's start right there with lessons learned from the second weekend, Sweet 16, Elite 8 and Final 4. I have a lesson from every round of the NCAA tournament. I think how we can

Starting point is 00:01:14 kind of take that and apply it into Kansas. And the first is from the teams that made the Sweet 16. This was tweeted out by Lev Khabis, who is somebody who works for Sportico. And he sent this out that the average height of teams in the Sweet 16 this year are bigger. than we've ever seen that 13 of the sweet 16 teams this year have an average height of at least 6 foot 6. And when you look at some of the past years, like 2025, you have Duke, Michigan, Arkansas, Kentucky, Auburn, BYU, B.S. It's pretty equal split of the teams that are above that mark, right? You go back to the year before that in 2024. It's nine of the teams or something like that that are above that mark or right around that mark.

Starting point is 00:02:01 So it's typically, you know, pretty close to an even split. But then you go back to 2021 and it was less about the size, right? You go back to 2021 and like five teams are above that mark. One is at the mark and the majority of the teams are below. This year the only team, so Iowa State is like right at the mark. And then Houston, Nebraska and Purdue were all below the mark. The biggest team, actually, Illinois going to a final four, Duke was a miracle away from going to a final four, second biggest, third biggest Arizona final four. And then you have Michigan State, Michigan.

Starting point is 00:02:31 in, Yukon, Arkansas, Tennessee, then Iowa is after that. And on and on, on, on. But point being, the teams who have found the ability to get big, but still be scaling up playing big, those are what you're looking for, right? When you look at Duke, Camboozer is the ultimate idea of a skilled big man. You look at Illinois, they have a bunch of big men who can also shoot threes. When you look at Arizona, Coa Pete is a very skilled big man. Michigan, Yaxel Lenderberg would be playing the four for a lot of teams. He's playing the

Starting point is 00:03:04 three and he's that skilled. So getting size, but getting size that can also shoot it and is skilled, I think is the lesson from the teams that made the Sweet 16. And how that applies for Kansas, well, Kansas can be a team that plays big. I mean, we don't know who's all coming back in general, but if you have Flory Badunga, do you go with Flory or, you know, do you build around him as the five where you have four basically wings and guards around him, or do you play two big? Well, maybe this is an indication that you play two bigs and you need somebody to bring more rebounding to the table and shooting and skill next to floor. And maybe that can be Bryson Tiller coming back with a year of improvement, but that would be kind of my takeaway from that. And as you look to the wing position,

Starting point is 00:03:44 getting a big wing who can make shots for you becomes an important position for KU to Garner in the strength football. And we look at the elite eight. What were some commonalities among some of the teams that made the elite eight? And this was my conclusion on this one. They got some bucket getters. And And I say this, like every offseason, Kansas needs bucket getters. The best Kansas teams have the most bucket getters. And it's a very, you know, it's kind of a blurry line of how you describe this. But like, when I say bucket getters, the ability to basically create your own bucket in the half court. That's basically what I'm going through.

Starting point is 00:04:18 And again, that can be, you can stretch certain players into the argument or argument. If we go back to the 08 title team, Mario Chalmers could get his own bucket, right? And it can come in different ways. It can come from three. It can come from mid-range. It can come from driving the ball. It can come from posting up. If you're able to win a postup one-on-one, right?

Starting point is 00:04:34 That makes you a bucket-getter, right? Thorel Arthur was able to be a bucket-getter as a big man for KU and kind of a match-up problem, right? Sharon Collins, certainly a bucket-getter for KU. I mean, at certain times, Sasha Kahn was able to be a bucket-getter as a post-up player for KU, right? So you go on and on. Brandon Rosh, obviously, bucket-getter, right? You have guys that could get you buckets. So go to the 2022 national championship team.

Starting point is 00:04:57 O-Tag-Baji, averaging close to 20 points per game. bucket getter. Christian Brown could create buckets for you first round picking the NBA. Jalen Wilson could create buckets for you. Rami Martin bucket getter. And from the context of could score on the post and create a shot on the post, David McCormick was a bucket getter in that way. So really at all times, you have three to four bucket getters on the floor. Well, we look at this past Kansas team, right? I would say, obviously, Darren Peterson was a bucket getter for KU. I wouldn't define Trey White as a bucket getter. You know, maybe the first couple months of season he kind of was because he was able to drive.

Starting point is 00:05:31 But once the driving went away, Tray White basically became a spot-up shooter, not a bucket getter. Flory wouldn't describe his game as a bucket-getter. Tiller was like under five points per game over the last five games. You didn't really have anybody off the bench who's a bucket-getter. Counsel kind of blurred that line depending how he was playing. So you didn't have enough bucket getters on this team and you could go to seasons past and that would still kind of be true.

Starting point is 00:05:52 Get more bucket getters. Duke had Isaiah Evans who put up that huge game against St. John's. He's like 15 points per game and can get white-hot. Uconn, Solo ball had kind of a, he's kind of had an up and down tournament so far, but, you know, when he's going, he can be a bucket getter. Silas Demery proved that at Georgia. He can be kind of a bucket getter at points. And then obviously, Terrace Reed is a bucket getter in the postup for them. Purdue has Braden Smith and post-up options and three-point marksman all around the floor.

Starting point is 00:06:18 Arizona has the Big 12 player they earn a lottery pick just in their back court alone. Michigan, kind of the exception, but also kind of not because they have a bunch of guys who can get buckets on the block. And Dandenberg can get it from all over. McKinney and Burnett show flashes at different times. You look at Tennessee, Jacoby Gillespie was one of the best guards in the tournament. And he's a bucket getter. Iowa, Bennett Sturtz, Illinois, Keaton Wogler, getting bucket getters, and I think getting a bucket getting guard.

Starting point is 00:06:43 Now, I think Kansas is getting that, Tainlin Kinney, but it can't just be one guy, right? And then the takeaways from the teams that made the final four. This was tweeted out by Kevin Sweeney at CBB Central, CBB underscore Central on Twitter. The first two teams to make the final four, which obviously was in reference to the teams that made it Saturday, Illinois and Arizona, are the two best individual or international recruiting staffs in the country.

Starting point is 00:07:10 And Tommy Lloyd's been doing it for years. For Brad Underwood, this was really his, I mean, he had brought in some other guys like in Jacquishonis last year and so forth. This was his first year going like full into the pool. Lloyd's been doing it, bringing on a couple guys seemingly every year for years, whether it was like Gonzaga or at Arizona. And that is a real way to build it now, right? And so you look at the teams who won today, like Yukon, that's not as much.

Starting point is 00:07:35 They added Jacob Furphy from Australia, but he's not really part of the rotation. And then you look at Michigan who won. And that kind of depends how you view it. Like, Adai Maura is technically an international player, but he was also playing college basketball already and was in the transfer portal. So I don't know, it's an avenue, I guess I would point to. But here's some common stats. between the four teams that made the final four.

Starting point is 00:07:59 Three of the four have top five offenses. And if Duke would have not had a miracle go against them, all four of the final four teams this year would have had top six offenses. Now, because Yukon beats them, it's all four have top 30 offenses. But Kansas hasn't even sniffed the offense over the last couple of seasons in Lawrence. All four top 50 in effective field goal percentage offense and offensive rebounding. And the offensive rebounding one, like that feels like one that should be more fixable. based on scheme and personnel,

Starting point is 00:08:29 but it's also one of those things where, like, I'm just like, why was KU so bad at offensive rebounding this past year? You're playing too big basketball and Florey should be a good offensive rebounder. Why were they not getting more of them? So can that be something you fix to get more possessions if you were KU? That's going to be crucial for Kansas this offseason.

Starting point is 00:08:48 Can you garner more offensive rebounding? Top 55 and 2 point percentage. We talked a lot about this this season, and there's a couple of reasons why it went down, you know, not all two point shots are created equal. Some from the mid-range are going to be less effective, for instance. But Kansas was outside the top 200 nationally in two-point percentage offense, which again, you're playing too big basketball.

Starting point is 00:09:07 You have Darren Peterson. You would think you should be an elite two-point offense. That was not the case. You need guys. And I think part of that is a spacing thing, too, right? That can kind of go into that, too. Three of the four final four teams had top 10, and all four were top 30 in effective field field goal percentage defense.

Starting point is 00:09:25 all four were top 50 in two point percentage defense. So being able to limit the shots inside, that is something that if you have Floyd Bedunga, that's kind of a starter pack, do that for KU. And then all of the four were top 90 in defensive rebound rate, and three of them were top 50. So being able to clear the defensive possession, you don't have to be a lead of the elite there,

Starting point is 00:09:46 but you have to at least be good at it. You have to end the defensive possession. So those are what I think I'm kind of looking for in the portal based on all this, right? I don't know how realistic KU going for the international stuff is, but bucket getters, rebounders, bucket getters and rebounders. That's, I think, one of the things I'm looking for. And then I guess positional size with skill. All right, let's continue on top 10 portal editions of the Bill Self-Hara, and then we'll get to our latest news.

Starting point is 00:10:12 This is Locked on Jayhawks. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by Mazda, moving the game forward. For those who know the score never tells the whole story. obviously this season not what we wanted it to be for KU, but there were some fun memories along the way. And I go back to that Players Era tournament, Kansas beats a Tennessee team that ends up making it to the elite eight, an incredible run there in the middle to the end with Melvin Council

Starting point is 00:10:39 and Marco Jackson making some key plays for Kansas and going on huge scoring runs in the second half to lead KU. And the vibes were so high for KU at that point in time. That was a good memory for sure. There's more to these players than the highlights, the early mornings, the late night runs, constantly showing up for their squad on and off the court. The all new Mazda CX5 moves the same way with more space to connect a bold new design and more intuitive technology so you can stay connected to the road in every position you play.

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Starting point is 00:11:28 I got my number one pick for the five-hour energy flavor. But I think sometimes, you know, we try to number one pick. What about some sleeper picks a little further down, right? One of my more underrated flavors here is tropical bursts. It's the tasty caffeine with island vibes, the juicy fruit forward tropical profile. It's smooth, rounded flavor. The island-style fruit punch vibe. And with five-hour energy, they have a lot of upcoming flavor.

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Starting point is 00:12:18 Supercast.com. Locked on Jayhawks. Dot supercast.com. All right, I'm going to do my top 10 bill self-transfer portal additions all time during his time at KU. A couple honorable mention picks, Kevin Young, who was a, well, bench player for the first year, starter for the second year, but just always a hustle guy, rebounded, play really hard for KU.

Starting point is 00:12:40 Taurik Black, one year's a grad transfer and started the season over Joel Embed and was always a solid professional for KU. I've heard a lot of great stories about Tark Black off the floor. I had one personally, which if you ever see me in person, you can ask you. ask about. But yeah, I always heard a great dude. And I thought provide a lot for KU. And in an NCAA tournament, the KU didn't play great. Like he did play great in that one for KU. Roger Stewart won a title. Unfortunately, it was hurt for it. And then Jalen Coleman Lance, again, wins a title for KU, came in as a veteran player, shoved the side, the ego, even though he's putting up all these

Starting point is 00:13:15 points and stuff. And, you know, ever so often he'd come in and hit a big three or have a big game here and there for KU, but just to providing a veteran presence down on the rotation. I mean, that's what's crazy. He's like the eighth man on that, that Kansas national title team and unlike this past year's team. Does he start? He's six man. He's six man. At least he's in the top six, right? Okay, number 10 on the list is Isaiah Moss. And Isaiah Moss, like, from a shooting perspective, it doesn't necessarily like, if you compare it to Jalen Coleman lands, you would actually come out with Coleman Lance. But the impact that Moss had, once he entered into the starting lineup, Kansas was by far the best team in the country when you rounded him next to Dotson and Doke and OCHI and all those guys that

Starting point is 00:13:57 Kansas had. So Moss's impact was felt in a very big way for that Kansas team and was so crucial for what they wanted to do in spacing the floor. And yeah, man, Isaiah Moss, that was a really nice addition for KU, finding kind of the right fit. Number nine is Zeke Mayo. Zeke had an incredible shooting season. He's an over 40 percent from three.

Starting point is 00:14:18 That was like 15 points per game. I think one of the things there with Zeke was, you know, like, what would it have looked like? Like, it almost felt like in the same way that it was unfortunate for, you know, some of the fit of some of these players and stuff. Like, what if Zeke Mayo was on a more winning team? What if Zeke Mayo was on a team where instead of him having to be the guy for KU offensively, he got to be a secondary piece who was just a flamethrower shooter and only had to average 10 points per game for the Kansas team. seem to be good as opposed to averaging 15, you know, could he have done the Isaiah Moss role? Obviously, it wasn't, I don't think he was as good of a defender as Isaiah Moss, but probably an even

Starting point is 00:15:00 better shooter. Number eight on the list is Trey White, and I actually had him seventh, but the end of the season kind of knocked it down one to number eight, but still, this was a steal for KU and a really nice addition that they made, provided a good amount on the wing for a Kansas team that didn't have a ton of wing bodies this year. Seven on the list, I have Melvin Council. Melvin again. I don't know. Was he trending in an even higher direction before the season's weeks, maybe, but still a great season in what you got out of him with Melvin Council and obviously a fan favorite for KU. A number six on the list is Remy Martin. And I thought about making this one higher because he's pivotal in Kansas winning the national championship in 2022. But also it's like

Starting point is 00:15:42 he's not playing the full season. You're missing some games. There's all the drama and stuff going on with Bill Self and Remi Martin. And it's just like, where do I slot him on? this list, you know, and the overall stats, because he's coming off the bench, aren't 20 points per game. So this is the hardest guy to rank because you could argue among all the guys on this list, one of them was a Kikog and KU winning a national championship, and that would be Remy Martin, but also from a stats standpoint, like Melvin Council had more total stats than Remy Martin, you know what I mean? So I have Remy in at number six. And I think this will be the controversial one for people that this guy is ahead of Remy Martin because of the impact of winning a national championship.

Starting point is 00:16:19 But I went with Diedrich Lawson. And here's what. Again, with Remy, you're missing some games. With Diedrich Lawson, you're getting a All-American campaign. And I always felt like, I always felt like Deidre Gosson got a bit of a short stick in terms of like the dude in the two NCAA tournament games that KU played. Do you know he averaged like 25 and 10? He was really good in the NCAA tournament. It's just that Kansas got completely demolished by Auburn, so it didn't matter. And, you know, obviously when Doak was playing, they were undefeated, that was.

Starting point is 00:16:50 probably a little overrated because there were some games that they probably should have lost. Like was it Stanford where LaGerald Thick had to like get crazy and stuff. But I always thought that Lawson was one of the, like, if you put Deidrick Lawson next to Flory Bedunga, that front line would be incredible. The offensive Lawson next to the defense of Flory would be unbelievable. So like in the same way that I don't think Hunter Dickinson had probably the best pieces around him to optimize him. I think some of that was true with Lawson. I think it's not some of it was just it was too young like Dotson obviously was

Starting point is 00:17:24 Dotson had a good freshman season he was incredible as a sophomore um Grimes struggled as a freshman but obviously you know flourish later for for Houston and stuff um yeah that's one where like i i'm a Diedrich Lawson fan like yes there were certain limitations on defense and stuff but the dude put up like 19 and 10 man uh number four on the list is Malik Newman and again like if you're just talking production Lawson technically I guess I had of Newman. And this is where it gets interesting because it's like Newman is like the in between of Lawson and Remmy Martin. Remmy Martin, you're not getting a ton of regular season production, but you're getting the max of postseason production, right? And you're winning a title.

Starting point is 00:18:02 With Deidre Glech Lawson, you're not having the team success, but you're having the max of of regular season production. With Malik Newman, you're having a solid regular season, an incredible A plus March that makes the final four, but it also doesn't win the title that Remi has. So where do you rank him? But the overall number is like 14, 15 points per game, that incredible March, the incredible Duke game in the elite eight, I have Malik Newman in at number four. Number three is Kevin McCuller. And this is where it gets tough to ranking these guys because I have one year of Malik

Starting point is 00:18:33 Newman. I have one year of Dieter glossin. I have, you know, whatever. But I have two years of Kevin McCuller. But even then it gets more complicated because it's really like a year and a half of Kevin McCuller with the injury stuff in his second year. And I think one publication gave him a third team all. American nod. I do think that, you know, if Bill Self coaches that 23 tournament, who knows what

Starting point is 00:18:54 happens for KU there, and maybe that gives Kevin McCuller a second weekend there and changes things up just a little bit at least. Who knows if he stays healthy for the 24 season? Like, does Kansas make more of a run that year? That's kind of entirely possible. So he's a tough one to grade as well. And so is this guy. Number two, I have Hunter Dickinson. I think by some numbers, he should be number one. If you're looking at like the back-to-back all-American seasons at KU. just the total stats and everything he put up. And again, I don't think you have the best pieces around him to make it work. There were defensive limitations and not an all-around perfect player,

Starting point is 00:19:28 but an incredible post score, an incredible rebounder. And again, if you put more shooters around him or big wings around him, I think you probably could have made it work a little bit more than Kansas wound up doing. But the production was really good for Kansas. Number one on the list, though, I do have Jeff Withy. And again, you could say, okay, but with Hunter, you're getting more points and you're getting this and that. I just think withy impact is unbelievable. And like, I feel like it's easier to build around a center who is averaging four blocks per game that doesn't always need the ball a ton than maybe a center who is super high usage, but you have to work around some of the defensive limitations, at least for Bill self.

Starting point is 00:20:09 So I do have Withy one. Plus you're getting, I guess technically like three years out of Withy, even though, you know, it was two main years that were kind of the big ones. but I think a lot of those really top five or six you could probably swap based on the argument you want to have. So who's your favorite transfer? Hit me up at L.O. underscore J Hawks on Twitter. All right. Let's get to some of the latest news, some really cool news for a former KU. O'LUN, Gary Woodland. Today's episode of the show was brought to you by Supply House. You wouldn't show up on game day without a plan and you wouldn't show up to a job without the right parts.

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Starting point is 00:22:21 Thanks, Jim for joining us here. Hit us up at L.O. underscore Jayhawks on Twitter. And cool news is Gary Woodland, less than three years after having brain surgery. Former Jayhawk and Washburn, Iqabod is officially a PGA Tour winner once again. It's funny because I actually had a bet pre-tournament. I didn't get to, you know, like Friday or Saturday when Gary is doing so well and be like, oh, I'm going to fade Gary.

Starting point is 00:22:44 I had a pre-tournament bet on the guy who finished second, Nikolai Horgard. and I'm sitting there on like on like Saturday going into the day where Gary I think was one stroke up on Hoygard maybe it was two going into Sunday and I'm sitting there with this like potential winning you know ticket and I'm like I don't even want to win this like I just want Gary to win and he did and it was awesome and then the post game you know the the the the emotions that he displayed in the interview and how much this meant to him just so awesome man so cool for Gary and what that means for him he's obviously been going through a lot and it was really, really cool to see him get back to his winning ways in PGA Tour.

Starting point is 00:23:21 I think a $1.7 million purse. Will Gary Woodland donate all of it for Kansas to land another big transfer edition? That on tomorrow's episode. No, I'm just joking. But really cool for Gary. And congrats for that big win there. KU Women's Basketball has their WBIT. I think I've been calling it the woman's NIT, and it technically is.

Starting point is 00:23:42 But there's actually a WNIT and a WBIT, and the WBIT, which is the WBIT, which is one that the Kansas women's basketball is in is the equivalent of what the men's NIT is, but there is a woman's NIT, which is different. So that is super confusing. I don't like that one bit. Nonetheless, the WBIT is basically the premier non-NCAA tournament. Kansas playing in BYU, a little Monday afternoon action down in Wichita. So we want to keep an eye on over there. And then an update from KU baseball and KU softball. The Jayhawks have gotten it rolling now. So we mentioned they were struggling a bit in a series a couple weeks ago against Texas Tech. They win the final game there.

Starting point is 00:24:21 They blow out Missouri. And now this weekend they win a three game set on the road against a Cincinnati team that top 25 in RPI. And that was big. And the Sunday game, incredible. It was four to four going into the ninth inning. They scored nine runs in the ninth inning to win 13 to six. And so KU baseball kind of getting it rolling at the right time here. is now sitting at 18 and 10 on the year for KU baseball.

Starting point is 00:24:49 So we'll see if Dan Fitzgerald and Company can keep up the good stuff. They're going to be on the road against Missouri coming up on Tuesday at March 31st, and then back at it after that against the Utes of Utah. All right, a little KU softball update as well. They are now sitting at 25 and 10 overall and 6 and 3 in Big 12 play. most recent action for the KU softball team. They were at home against Utah. This is about a week ago.

Starting point is 00:25:21 And we're able to win three games at two to one. And then this week, they go to Provo and they win two out of three against BYU. So they're going to be back at it Thursday, Friday, Saturday at Oka against Arizona State, trying to keep things going. So all good news in the latest news on today's episode of the show. I've got it for this episode of the show. And we have a bonus episode about Jackson. Jackson Shelstad, a trainth for portal targets.

Starting point is 00:25:45 Check that one out as well and see you next time on LOJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Roster Building Lessons from the NCAA Tournament - Can Bill Self & Kansas Jayhawks Learn from 2026?

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