Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Should Kansas TARGET LJ Cason - Breaking Down Michigan Wolverines Transfer & Fit with Jayhawks

Episode Date: July 16, 2026

Kansas Jayhawks eye LJ Cason as a potential backcourt game-changer—will Bill Self’s squad make a bold play despite injury and budget hurdles? Derek Johnson breaks down how Michigan Wolverines sharpshooter LJ Cason’s shooting prowess, defensive grit, and pick-and-roll passing could elevate Kansas basketball. The discussion highlights the implications of Cason's recent ACL injury, Kansas’ limited NIL budget after signing Mihailo Musikic, and strategic roster fits alongside Taylen Kinney and Leroy Blyden. With just one scholarship slot remaining, does targeting Cason make more sense than adding frontcourt depth or accelerating Javon Bardwell’s timeline? Explore what Cason’s arrival could mean for the Jayhawks’ future in the Big 12 and whether Kansas has the resources—and patience—to secure a player with such high upside. 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. From the opening whistle to the final kick, Let There Be Goals on FanDuel. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started now.   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.

Now the KU cheaped out a little bit at the center position, do they have some extra money laying around to maybe kick the tires on a newly entered portal player with LJ Kaysen, who's a sharpshooter from the national championship Michigan Wolverines? Does it make sense? 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, this is Locked on Jayhawks. And on today's episode, we're going to break down LJ Kason.

We'll get into his game, his scouting report, possible fit with Kansas. And does it make sense for KU as we get into this transfer portal player deep dive? Let's start right here. Who is LJ. Kason? He is a 6'2, 195 pound guard originally from Florida. He was three-star prospect coming out of high school in the class of 2024, really good. I guess, scouting job done by Dusty May, who ends up spending two years at Michigan and was playing about 11 minutes per game as a freshman on a sweet 16 team,

averaging about four points per game. And then as a sophomore jumps up to 8.4 points, 2.4 assists, and almost a steal per game in 18.6 minutes per game firmly in the rotation for the eventual national title winners in the Michigan Wolverines. He's shot 50% from the floor, 40% from 3 and 71% the foul line this season. Really good efficiency there from Kaysen. Now, he's entering the portal now because Dusty May left to go to the Dallas Mavericks. It opened up a new window potentially for some of the Michigan players to enter into the transfer portal.

And Kaysen kind of last minute decided he is going to enter the portal. Now, I've seen there's been some chatter about certain schools maybe being the early favorites. And I haven't seen any connection with Kansas to this point in time. The money is kind of the big question here, right? because for KU, it's the question of you just brought on Mahilo Musich, who is probably a cheaper center ad than you would be able to get with maybe one of the players who's trying to get eligible with the five and five or with, you know, you're trying to get a year of eligibility potentially from Malik Uwin. By going the Musich route, that indicates that you either wanted to spend less money there or you had less money to spend. And that's kind of the big overarching question here as we approach LJ Kaysen. If this is a conversation of KU only had a certain amount of money that they could only afford

Musich and not a better center out there, then yeah, you're not in the LJ Kason running. But if it was a situation of KU going, hey, look, LJ Kaysen entered the portal, we would love to get his services, but we still need to bring in another center body. okay, maybe we cheap out on center and then use a majority of what we have remaining to get an LJ. Kason level player, right? That would be the hopeful, the optimistic, the glass half full view of where things are at monetarily, right? But you look at Kaysen, the complicated part of this is the injury he's coming off of, right? So Michigan beats Illinois by 14 points. That's the final game that LJ. Kason plays at the end of February.

He suffers an ACL injury in the game. and that complicates it because ACL injuries are ones that, you know, different people react differently. There's some people like, you know, Adrian Peterson, who was like running on it and running for like 2,000 yards, like eight months later or something like that. There are other times where it causes somebody who missed 12 months and even 14 months and really they're not the same player coming back. So it really is different depending on the severity, depending on how the body reacts,

and I'm sure a lot of other details that kind of go into it. that complicates what you're getting here out of LJ. Kason, right? Because if he were to be on the 12-month timeline, he was out at the end of February, so basically call it the beginning of March. That would basically mean that he's not coming back till again, the end of February or beginning of March for the upcoming season.

And if he's not coming back till the beginning of March, at that point in time, you probably have your team kind of figured out that you're probably not entering him into the rotation at that point at time. Versus if it's a nine-month thing, you know, he could be back by the start of December. for you, which would really only be missing a month of the season.

And then it's the conversation of, is he going to have to shake Rustoff? When he comes back, is he going to be the same player? It definitely complicates what you're potentially bidding on here to bring Case and services to the fold. Analytically, though, really impactful player, 95th percentile in RAPM, 91st percentile in Winchairs per 40 and 80th percentile in P.E.R. As far as the on-off rating, it's not a big number, but Michigan was still 2.2 points better per 100 possessions with him on the floor.

Honestly, that's impressive. Considering he's a role player for Michigan who was an elite basketball team who ends up winning the title, the fact that they were better at all with Kaysen on the floor shows how impactful he could be in a different situation. Evan Mekawa had him in the 61st percentile for BPR among qualified Big Ten players. So it was a solid player a season ago. I think, again, the big question here just comes down to this. does KU have the money to be able to afford a player like LJ Kaysen.

Do they have the opportunity? I think the opportunity is there and we'll get to that coming up in segment three. But coming up next, let's break down more of his game with the LJ Kason scouting report. This is Locked on Jayhawks. Today's episode is brought to you by Fandual Sportsbook on the biggest stage in the world. Fandual is changing the game because sometimes your player gets subbed off and your bet goes with them.

Not anymore. With Fandual's super sub, If your player's subbed out, your bet stays in. That's right. If your player leaves the match, your bet continues on with the substitutes. You're still in it until the final whistle. The matches like these, anything can happen. And now your bet can go the distance.

Let there be goals this summer on Fandual Sportsbook. Of course, you can also get in on futures for the college basketball action, right? If you think that the addition of Musich for Kansas is going to take them over the edge, or you think they do have a shot to land one of these five and five players during LJ. Kaysen, and you think there's good value on Kansas. at 30 to 1 or maybe another big 12 team like Arizona at 30 to 1 or Iowa State at 35 to 1 or Houston at 25 to 1. You can get in on those at Fandual as well. Let there be goals this summer on Fandual.

Visit fanduel.com slash locked on. That is Fandual.com slash locked on L-O-C-E-D-O-N to get started today. On to our LJ Kaysen's scouting report here. Let's start with the strengths of Kaysen's game. I mean, shooting is chiefs amongst them, right? I mean, you're talking 40% from three. He had an above average rate of three point attempts per 40 minutes. So he was taking him at a good volume, making him at a very high percentage.

He rated out in the 93rd percentile as a perimeter sniper, had a couple really hot zones on one side of the floor. So just a really good shooter in what you're kind of bringing into the fold here with Kaysen. And he's, I would say, very analytically inclined as a player. I don't know if this was intentionally. from him or a Michigan coaching, you know, technique or what, but he did not take a lot of long mid-range shots, right? Which are the shots you don't want.

The long mid-range shots are the ones where you're like, oh, he's like, just take a step back, like make it a three. He took two. That's it. He took two long mid-range shots all season long. He was either attacking the hoop, taking floaters, or taking a three, right? That's what you want to see. I want to see my three-point shooters take threes as opposed to.

to 20 foot two point shots, you know. Um, he also finished really well to the rim. 64% at the rim. They got a comparison like Darren Peterson was at 62%. Melvin council was at 53%. He was a 64%. Now, like double amount of his makes were assisted compared to those other guys, but I think that also tells you that he can be a smart off ball cutter to be able to get those things, right? He was also finished in the 77th percentile on rim attacks. He's also an underrated passer. Um, you'll look at the assist numbers. and they don't necessarily jump off the page because 2.4 assists per game. But then when you factor in, okay, but he's playing 18 minutes per game,

you know, if you bump that up to like 30 minutes per game, he would have been on pace to have over four assists per game. And where he specifically excelled as a passer, he was in the 93rd percentile as a pick and roll passer. Now, do keep in mind that is a number that it's like, it's like success of a quarterback throwing to a receiver. Yes, it's on the quarterback, but it's also on, is that receiver good? is the receiver going to catch the ball?

And that pick and roll passer number is one that it's, it's, yes, how good are you as a pick and roll passer? But it also is correlated to who's finishing on the other end. Michigan had about as good of a situation with Mores Johnson and a day, Mara and, you know, whoever you're thought, I don't know, even if you're running pick and roll with like Yaxel Lenniburg to throw a pick and roll pass to as anybody in the country this past season. So that's probably going to balloon that number a little bit. But even if it's not 93rd percentile, even if he's in the 70th percent.

right that's a good ancillary tool for him to kind of have with with the shooting and the driving also he's a good defender uh pesky defender um he's not the biggest guy in the world but he'll get up india he had an eighty first percentile steel rate i view him as a good defender overall for sure uh and then weaknesses well he doesn't really give you anything on the glass which again if he's more of a one or two it's kind of like well it's not the biggest deal in the world but we have seen a lot of you know good bill self guards be able to grab rebounds as well and it does kind of alleviate some of the pressure on the bigger guys he does turn it over too much, even though he can be a good passer. He was only in the 13th percentile for guards in turnover rate. So he does need to kind of hone in some of the turnover issues. I would also say because he's six foot two, like body wise, he's almost more of a point guard. But because of the three point shooting and the turnover issues, do you almost view him more as a shooting guard? And then if you're viewing him more as a shooting guard is six foot two, a little more undersized. That would be kind of a real question there.

And the big one here for the weaknesses is this. It's coming off the ACL injury, right? Like what does that mean both in terms of times missed in terms of how much of a season are you going to, like, are you going to have to pay him a big NIL number? And then you're only going to get half a season or one month of a season. But it's not just that. It's coming off the ACL injury. Again, some guys are able to respond from it well and, you know, be able to just kind

of pick up where they left off. For other guys, it might take a year to kind of shake the rust off. and then for other guys, they might never be the same. It would be kind of a risk of what you're getting there. And you don't exactly know how somebody's going to respond to that, right? So that certainly adds to the big risk of this. So what would be the possible fit for Kaysen with KU? Does it make sense?

What does that all look like that next? Thank you for joining us on Locked on Jayhawks, breaking down LJ Kaysen. We will have another full episode coming out for you on Thursday as well. Check out all our Mahilo Musich content as well that we recently released out. I'm thinking of the everydayers who already did just that. Again, it's the big money question here for does this make sense for Kansas? And do they even have the money, right?

That might be the big no-go. But if they were saving money with the Muscat's ad and they said, hey, you know, we want to use it on this last spot. Like, you know, then maybe there's a chance there. I'm of the opinion that it probably means that they don't have the money to make this work, but I wanted to at least kick the tires on this because I do think Kaysen is an interesting enough player to at least have the conversation, right? There also is the injury question of, are you going to get your money's worth from that perspective, right? But the beauty of it is the

Kason is still a three-year player or a third-year player, I should say, where in the new five and five, you know, even if this year ends up being a wash, he could have two more years. And that could be a little bit appealing for KU. Obviously, you'd still have to retain his services. But from a standpoint of Taylin Kinney, I view as, I don't view Kenny as a one and done. I view him as a multi-year player. When I look at Leroyd-Blyden, like I think, you know, his lack of size is going to make him a multi-year player. The potential to have a back court of Kaysen, Kinney, and Blyden all be here, not just for this upcoming season, but to grow together for multiple years, would be very appealing to me for KU, you know, not just to build it out this year, but for future years as well.

And the beauty of, even though the injury is a real concern and a question, it might actually match up with what KU was looking for, right? Because let's say, even on the, the brighter end of things, let's say Kaysen can't get back to the court until the beginning of December, for instance, right? That gives you a whole month to evaluate the back court of Kinney and Bliden, right? To where you could say, if Kenny and Bliden are killing it as you're starting back court, now you can really ease Kaysen into the game. He can come off the bench, you know, you don't have to rush him back. That's great. If one of Keny and or Blyden or both of them are not doing, you know, it's not up to par, then boom, you have the perfect

excuse to be like, hey, we're going to throttle down your minutes because we've got this other guy coming back off injury. I think it almost works out into KU's timeline a little bit there. And then from, you know, an on-court perspective, like, he'd be great for KU. I think he'd probably be KU's best defensive guard, not defensive player, but just from the guard group. I think he'd be the best defensive guard. He would continue to add more shooting. to the team, which you can never have enough of, let alone, you know, when you're trying to surround Tyrant Stokes with guys. He clearly showed he's a winning player.

He clearly showed that he can play next to elite talent last season with Michigan. So if the money is there, I'm all in on adding LJ. Kaysen. Again, I'm skeptical that it would be, but I would be all in if that could happen. Here's a fun question as well, because KU only has one scholarship left to this point. Would you rather, if you had LJ.K.K.C.in money. Would you rather say, I know they got Moosecich, but still go get me another center? Would you rather say reclassify Jovon Bardwell? Or would you rather say take LJ. Kaysen?

I actually think I would take LJ. Kaysen in that scenario. I do think his ability to defend and shoot is a really nice combo, not just for this year, but what you could potentially get in the future. And he would be ready made to just come in and, you know, whether it be your sixth man, if those guys are working out or eventually be a starter, Um, you know, I'd be all about an addition like this. All right. That'll be it for this episode of Lockdown, Jayhawks.

You can find a show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe. See you next time.