Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - SAVVY SPENDING? Jayhawks Using Moneyball at Center - Impact of Kansas Adding Christian Reeves

Episode Date: April 25, 2026

Kansas Jayhawks shift to a “Moneyball” approach at center, prioritizing roster balance over high-priced stars. The addition of Christian Reeves from College of Charleston sparks competition with Paul Mbiya, signaling a new direction for KU’s frontcourt. With names like Davion Adkins, Keanu Dawes, and Kohl Rosario rounding out the rotation, budget-conscious decisions could reshape Bill Self’s options this offseason. Will this strategy maximize KU’s talent, or will the absence of a towering headline center impact their March outlook? Derek Johnson breaks down the Jayhawks’ latest roster moves, outlining how center depth influences remaining transfer portal priorities and the team’s overall budget. Key discussions include the pursuit of a star wing such as Tyran Stokes, the importance of securing a scoring sixth man, and how the current strategy affects Kansas’ ability to reload for a potential deep tournament run. Can the Jayhawks capitalize on undervalued talent to stay among college basketball’s elite? Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub   Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get two-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game.   FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Jayhawks seem to have filled out their center depth and rotation by adding Christian Reeves to the fold to compete with Paul M. Bia. Are they going with the moneyball approach at the center position? We'll break down what that means. Take a look at the roster and how this impacts the rest of the offseason with the Reeves edition. 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 here?

we're going to be breaking down Christian Reeves, his addition to KU, in terms of how it impacts the rest of the offseason moves for KU, what the roster now looks like for Kansas, and why I think they're playing a little bit of money ball at the center position, what and why this would be happening. Let's start right there, because it seems like KU's center position is now set. Paul Mbia returns. Christian Reeves added from College of Charleston, you have Davy on Adkins coming in as a freshman, and then you can always slide Keanu Daz to the five in a pinch or if you're wanting to play with more of a small ball of five now i don't think this would completely eliminate k you from adding another big right like if you're looking to just

add a developmental big to be at the end of the the the bench or the end of the roster to help you in practice or if the right you know situation like maybe you think of like a european player where the right european player falls in your lap of course you need to be open to that right and at the end of the day there's also the the looming could the five and five pass and would there be a bunch of more players that could be available, and all of a sudden you can get a cheap center addition to boost your rotation, right? I think they're still open to it. But as of right now, this feels like if this is all they do,

like this could be set for what they do, right? And I think the idea you're going with here is when Florida Budunga left and one of the huge numbers that he eventually got, you know, getting like $5 million from Louisville, I think the idea for KU became, hey, if we're not going to pay Flory $5 million, it doesn't make sense to pay one of these other centers who's not as good $4 million.

million dollars or whatever it is right like it wasn't that complete um like if a henry vassar would have entered in the portal he's going into the draft like that would have been one that you should have been like yes we will pay you floory money and more you know what i mean because he can do it on both ends of the floor but that wasn't really out there a ton it was guys who you know have a flaw in their game and and so k u basically said hey well all these other teams are spending big money on the center position we're going to money ball it and say hey we're going to spend less money here. We're going to try to get just guys who fit certain skills, right? You think of the money ball approach where it was, we're going to try to get guys who are being undervalued.

Right now walks are being undervalued. So let's get a bunch of guys who walk and they'll be cheaper additions. Then we can, you know, find other areas to fine tune the team. And basically, with an Mbia Reeves rotation, you're getting guys that can dunk the basketball, can rebound, can protect the rim at a much cheaper cost than it would cost to bring back Flory, which would be a risk because it's like, okay, you don't know what floor is going to bring you on the offensive end of the floor, for instance, right? But let's just say that Paul Mbia and Christian Reeves are getting a combined $3 million. And I don't know. That might be too heavy, right? But let's say it's three million. That would be, you know, one for Mbia, two for Reeves,

or one and a half for both or something, right? Let's say Tainlin Kenny, Davian Adkins, Trent Perry, Luke Barnett, the four freshmen. Let's say they're combining together. get $2 million, right? And I don't know. That might be under because what if Kinney's getting one, one and a half? What if Adkins is getting half? You know, I think Perry and Barnett are probably cheaper. But apparently Adidas is paying at least a sliver of the Kenny contract.

So let's say those four combined two million. You're not $5 million between all of those. Let's say Cole Rosario cost you $1 million to bring back. That puts you at six, right? There was a Yahoo article the other day that mentioned Leroyd Blyden getting $2.1 million from Kansas. So now you're at 8.1. Let's assume DAWS is around that number. Let's just round it up to 2.4 because of the Big 12 and just to make the math easier. So now we're at between the four freshmen, the centers in Bia and Reeves, Rosario, Bliden and Dawes, that's $10.5 million. And again, I'm not saying this to say, like, we don't know for sure what the numbers are. Some of those could be all. some of those could be wrong. I could be undervaluing a guy. I could be overvaluing a guy.

Just to give a general range, though, right? So it could be eight and a half million. It could be 12 and a half, somewhere in that range. So let's just say it's 10 and a half, right? Just by going with that math. If the budget is 15 million, which there have been some people reporting on that, that could be around there. And again, we know that's a moving target because all it takes the change, 15 million to a $20 million roster is one donor stroking a check, right? But let's say it's 15 million. That gives you $4.5 million to work with, which does not sound like a lot at this point because it's not right if you were to land a tyrant stokes or one of these you know all american level wings that's or all conference level wings that are potentially available

in the portal that's like eating up all of that money you know and then you don't really have money to bring in a good sixth man with um you don't really have money to fill out the rest of your roster so it but get it gets a little difficult and now this is this is what i'm saying with this money ball thing now imagine because i'm basically saying that four and a half million you can probably make it work. Like, let's say you get Tyron Stokes, for instance, which would be the ultimate situation for KU. And let's say he's getting, I don't know, $3 million from KU. And I don't know, can Adidas pay some even though he's signed with Nike? I don't know how that works. But like, let's say you could get to a point where you could bring in Stokes, a sixth man, and then you're

just filling out your roster from there. Well, okay, now let's go to the alternative where instead of paying Mbia and Reeves, say again, $3 million, you're paying one center. You're paying Mustafa Chum $4 million. And then, you know, whoever your backup center is getting a million, whether it's Mbia or somebody else, you're not $5 million instead of three. And all of a sudden, now you have two less million dollars to work on the wing. And instead of having $4.5 million to get a Tyron Stokes or a Jew Karris, you only have $2.5 million to work on the wing. You see how this can be a bit of a problem where you're basically right now, if Kansas is going to move their budget to $20, $22 million, then they can make it all work. But given the budget they're at, you are in a situation where you have to choose.

You have to say, would we rather have the all conference level wing or the all conference level center? And I think KU has made the call to say, I'd rather get the all conference wing and just try to find some skills that could work for us at the center position. And I don't blame them for making that decision. So let's break down the roster a little bit more what it looks like now with the edition of Reeves next. This is locked on Jayhawks. This episode of the show is brought to you by Fandualt Sportsbook where you can get action on the NBA and NHL playoffs. Obviously, you know, this is such a good time of year where some of these players, NHL playoffs are fantastic. You've got golf tournaments going on before we know it.

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So with the addition of Christian Reeves, this is what you're looking at now for the KU roster. You look at the guard position. I think in general you would look at KU as having four of their five starter spots filled out right now. Taylin, Kenny, Leroy, as you're starting backcourt. Keanu Dawes as you're starting four and one of Reeves or Mbia as you're starting five, right? Then you go further and say, what's our rotation? Well, who's your backup center? Whoever loses the battle between Reeves and Mbia.

and then Cole Rosario would be in that rotation. And so basically you just need a starting wing and you need a sixth man, a guard who can come in and get your points, a guard who can get your buckets, right? Those are the two. And then from there, it's just filling out the roster. The good news is you do have some of those roster fillers with freshmen,

Davy on Adkins, Trent Perry, Luke Barnett, who knows what's going to happen with Javon Bardwell? Will he reclassify or not? That could be maybe a cheaper way of getting a, you know, roster filler that you're trying to develop, right?

So again, I've continued to say this. Like, it feels like they haven't made many moves, and it's been a slow off season, and it kind of has, but they are closer to being done with it than you might expect. Now, where you look at it right now, it's hard to tell. Like, there have been different, there's different sites where you can, like, play around with potential lineups. And, you know, if KU had Stokes or this guy or that guy, they can be a top 10 team versus top 25 team or top 15 team, you know. But there's a lot of moving parts because other teams are adding people.

while you're adding people. So I guess it just gets to this point. Like right now, as I evaluate this Kansas team, I kind of look at them and go, yeah, they're fine. You know, I've liked all the additions, but because of some of the money limitations, I think, it's not a roster that feels like a national title roster to me. Maybe that can change if you add the right sixth man.

And if you add a Tyrant Stokes or somebody to that level. But it's also one that I think, you know, is it going to be, can it be on last year? Like, for instance, if you can land Tyrant Soaks, and I keep saying if on Tyron Soaks, because we don't know what's going to happen. And that is a big if. And if they don't land Tyrant Soaks, honestly,

like the offseason might just be a disaster, right? But let's say you can figure out to make that work, right? If we compare it to last year's team, you would say, okay, you have that one and done level talent, but hopefully you're getting more games out of him. You would have, you know, I think a little bit more shooting.

from the point guard position, you would have better rebounding from your four, five, but you would also have less rim protection and less defense in general. I also think you could potentially have more consistency. A lot of inconsistent games for Bryson Tiller and Trey White. So those would be possibilities for KU. So like, I look at it and I'm like, you know, could you be a four seed that makes the sweet 16? Could you be a three seed that makes the sweet 16? And I know that sounds like, it's almost like, in a way, it's almost depressing for a program like Kansas where you are expecting final four national championship.

But we haven't seen the sweet 16 in a while. You know, so like that does sound at least a little bit appealing there. So we'll see what has, you know, what's left to kind of unfold. It does feel like Bill Self is going to really need to do a great job coaching this team, which is a little bit scary based on how the last couple of years have gone. But they need to close well in the offseason first to be able to do that. All right. Let's up, breakdown. How does this move affect the rest of the off season? What do they still need to get done?

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They say job for indeed sponsored jobs. Christian Reeves, the newest member of the Kansas Jayhawks, how does this impact the rest of the offseason for KU? Well, I think to begin here, like I said, if the right center falls in their lap, sure, they're open to it. But I think in general, they're fine being done at the center position now. I think it's pretty clear they need a star level wing, whether that's a Stokes, whether that's a, you know, Duke Harris or one of these guys, if you don't land Stokes,

you need a bench guard who can score. Those are kind of the big ones that I'm looking at. And then from there, your eight-man rotation as we were breaking out earlier in your starting lineup are both pretty set. And then it's just filling out the roster. I think from a money perspective, you know, kind of rolling with what we talked about earlier, the money ball center spot for KU, I do think that does leave KU at this point. Like by taking Christian Reeves and having your center rotation being Reeves and Mbia,

to me that does signal they have more money for some of those other spots than they would if they would have gone with, you know, Mustafa Chom or a more established name at the center position. And that at least has to be a little exciting to the standpoint of like they do have some funds to go make a couple other big moves here. Some of the, you know, more cost-cutting moves that they made to this point. At least that would be my signal on things, right? And then maybe you get to a point where like if you can go add a Tyron Stokes, you know, maybe if you're Bill Self and you, you know, bring a small little violin with you and you go tell Don, hey, this could. be my last year and we just need one more piece to get over the edge and look we already have these pieces i brought in this guy who's good and this guy is good but we just need one more maybe you can

get that donor to write that one other check to bring that number up just a little bit more you can bring that one final piece and add that on top of it so that's kind of how i'm looking at it there but i think a lot of this now at this point just rests on stokes because if you don't land him it's immediate pivot and trying to go after some of the most elite transfer portal players that there are available in the portal at this point. And then it's, you know, the good news about the scoring guard off the bench, the sixth man, you can find that, I think, a little bit easier. There's a lot of like mid-major guards who put up big point totals or maybe smaller guards.

I would love for it to be victorious Miller, but I don't know what's going to happen there. There are some options you can go with. And then, yeah, it is some of the developmental pieces or guys that can fill out the roster, help you out in practice, help you on a pinch if somebody's in foul trouble or hurt or something over the course of the season. That's kind of what you're looking for there. All right. That'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere here podcast, including on our YouTube page, we can like and subscribe to the show.

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