Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Top 10 Guard Options for Kansas Jayhawks Basketball in the Transfer Portal

Episode Date: April 13, 2023

Examining the top 10 point guard / shooting guard / combo guard options to fit the Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball program that are available in the transfer portal and recruiting. From Nicolas Timberlake to Tylor Perry, Primo Spears, Max Abmas and more. Why each player would or wouldn't fit Bill Self's team, who are they actually interested in or looking at and more.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's Locked on Jayhawks, the top 10 point guard shooting guard combo options for Kansas that are available either via recruiting or the transfer portal right now for the Jayhawks. You are locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. On today's Locked on Jayhawks, we're going to be discussing my top 10 point guard, shooting guard, combo guard options for KU in the portal and just available overall. I'm Derek Johnson.

You can hear me as well on Rock Chalk Sports Talk Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. on KLWN in Lawrence. You can also listen right here on Locked on Jayhawks. Thanks for making Locked on your first listen every day. We're free and available wherever you get any of your podcasts. You can also

subscribe to us and find us on YouTube. On today's edition of the show, I'm going to be going through. This isn't necessarily the top 10 list of what Kansas might take. I did going to be going through. This isn't necessarily the top 10 list of what Kansas might take. You know, I did try to put people in here that Kansas has maybe reached out to or there's been some sort of contact with, though, you know, that can get kind of spicy with knowing what exactly that contact is

or if it's famed in some way. But this is just my top 10 putting together, and I have it tiered out in different tiers of the list. To be clear again, this is a list of guys I tried not to put people on here either who it was like, oh, he's put out his final five list and Kansas wasn't on it. Maybe I missed any of these players like putting out a list. But yes, I did try to include guys to be linked to KU at some way or another. So let's get this started with our tier four.

We have four different tiers of these top 10 players here that we do. And tier four is how I would classify kind of like a mildly helpful backup option. You can look at the backup part of that in two ways. One would be most likely this guy would come off the bench or he would play like bench level minutes. Maybe this would be only a 15 or 20 minute per game guy, but also a backup option in terms of, yeah, if you didn't hit some of your higher up targets.

And to be clear, I don't know that Kansas would even end up taking any of these guys because, you know, you might just allocate your scholarships elsewhere where instead of getting a tier four player at this position, you get a higher tier player at a different position. And we'll do our, you know, wing and forward one. We'll do our center one of these coming up later. And also, you know, I think part of this, like if you're taking a tier four guy, that might be dependent on maybe like a Kyle cuff staying or leaving. But anyway, our tier four guys in this list, Cormac Ryan from Notre Dame, DJ Horn from Arizona state, Joseph Gerrard from Syracuse and L Ellis from Louisville. So for Cormac Ryan, he fits because he is a six, five kind of shooting guard,

combo guard type. So you can play him easily next to a smaller guard in DeJuan Harris and feel like you're fine with the size level. He's a solid three-point shooter, career 35% from three on over five tries per game. He shot a peak of 41% from three as a junior when Notre Dame was a second-round NCAA tournament team. And he was 88th percentile as a spot-up shooter as a junior 96th percentile or 92nd excuse me in transition play which backs up to KU liking to get out in transition the reason though he's not a lower tier is he's only an average defender

and Notre Dame was really bad last year and also he dropped off a little bit in his shooting last season he was just 51st percentile in spot-up shooting the percentages went down overall for him is that just a product of you know they had Blake Wesley his junior season at Notre Dame who ended up being a first round pick so if you get a good creator for him his play goes up makes sense well that'd be good with DeJuan Harris but certainly you're not getting him on a high note like you might like coming into it so I think a solid little backup option there that fits some of the things that you would need, but he's not the sexiest pickup you would have. DJ Horn is someone who maybe a little less of a

spot-up shooting option than Cormac Ryan, but is more of someone who can create his own shot. He averaged 12.5 points per game at Arizona State for two seasons case for for all four guys on these lists playing at a a high power uh level where you don't have to worry about how does it translate from a lower level to the big 12th but 36 percent from three for DJ Horn with six tries per game like I said he can create off the dribble he was on an NCAA tournament team so uh you you don't have to worry of oh was he just putting up bad numbers on a bad team he shot over 40 from three in the 13 games he played against ken palm top 50 competition so he raised his game up against better competition but the reason he's not in a higher tier uh this was one i did flirt with putting in tier three but um he's only six foot one so you don't have

a little bit of a worry of playing you know him next to dewan harris he's only six foot one. So you don't have a little bit of a worry of playing, you know, him next to DeJuan Harris. He's not great on two point shots. He's a good, not great spot up shooter, which you'd be asking him to do a lot of. I would imagine he's average off screens, average off handoffs, which KU runs a lot of those handoffs. He's also just kind of an average defender on synergy. So he can create his own shot, which would really help you because you're looking for those things but you know there's a lot of like other average things in there from some of his

synergy numbers which is why he is in tier four again solid backup take but maybe not one of your first priorities and there was reported interest or reaching out in some way with horn in kansas again is that just a ploy by the kid and um his party to i don't know raise up nil bidding coming his way is it real is it just a hey uh we're sort of interested from kansas is it a hey we're really interested you think if that was the case you would have had a visit so um certainly somebody to keep an eye on joseph gerard i think fits uh because you know when when you were looking at what exactly is kansas looking for here at the point guard, shooting guard, combo guard, whatever options, you have DeJuan Harris, you have Elmarco Jackson. You're looking for somebody who can, if you're bringing on a combo guard type, can shoot the ball, create their own shot.

Those are what you're missing out of that group, maybe consistently. And Gerrard does those things well. He averaged 16.5 points per game his final year at Syracuse. 13.5 points per game his four-year career, so he's a good scorer. 38% from three last season. 40% the year prior on around seven tries per game. He was 67th percentile,

which is classified as very good in shooting off screens, according to Synergy. So you'd be able to move him around. But why he's not on a higher tier tier he's listed at 6-1 uh he played zone defense so you have to worry about the man defense coming over Syracuse wasn't very good and also he was a good not great um spot up shooter 53rd percentile in synergy you have to worry about the man-to-man defense, not just from the transition, but also he's not someone who really profiles as being like an elite defender.

So that one, I don't know how likely it is. It doesn't seem like there's really been much contact. But if we're making a top-ten list, I had to go far down the list. Seems like KU is being kind of in the dark or maybe a little more picky and choosy, which they should be. They're Kansas with some of these players. So it hasn't been like a – like I think I saw at one point Arkansas had reached out to like 86 transfers or something like that ku is more on the conservative side

with being like no let's you know let's let's be very cautious with this and then the last one here on tier four is l ellis um great name by the way uh but he is six foot three so that's helpful because you want i think somebody who is six foot three or taller now we'll get to uh tier one in this list and those guys are not because those guys are just so good it makes up for it but um that would be ideal playing next to duan so he's six three averaged 18 points per game in the acc uh it was only 32 from three but it was 36 from three the year prior when louisville wasn't as horrible as they were this season and he had better pieces around him and he was actually 74th percentile last season in spot-up shooting despite shooting only 32 percent for three which he would be doing more spot-up shooting with Kansas than he did at

Louisville where he kind of had to create everything so he's a good scorer uh he was kind of the one like good player on a really really bad Louisville team but that's part of why he's not a fit Louisville wasn't just bad they were terrible they were in the two like 40s on Ken Palm this past season that would be like the equivalent of bringing on a player from you know some very small school he wasn't a great defender either is part of that because you're on a horrible team and you're just not really giving the effort at that point I don't know so to be clear I'm not really sure Kansas has much interest in any of these four players. That's part of why they're tier four.

The extent of the interest we've seen is that brief mention with DJ Horn. But I guess these are solid enough that they fit in certain regard backup options, which is why they're on the fourth tier here. We're going to get to tier three in just a second with Locked on Jayhawks. But first, this episode of the show. Are looking for a delicious snack, but don't want all of the sugar and the calories, then you need to try the best tasting protein bar ever built. What makes built bars so good for starters, they're all covered in 100% real chocolate. That's right. Real chocolate. And they come in unbelievable flavors like churro, peanut butter, brownie, cookies, and cream. I don't know how they do it, but the bars taste like a candy bar while maintaining amazing macros. And what's even better, they are healthy. Only 130 calories,

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a box of Built Bars. You can get a 4-bar box, cookies and cream, double chocolate bar, or the coconut puffs. If you're close to a Sam's Club, you can run in four bar box cookies and cream uh double chocolate bar or the coconut puffs if you're close to a sam's club you can run in get a 13 bar box really stock up with brownie batter uh puffs or churro puffs so check it out with built bar or at built.com onto our next tier of things that would be on to tier three which i classified this one kind of as like backup options with higher potential so this is kind of similar to tier four but i think these guys have higher potential to hit and be real players on the team um one of these is primo spears from providence

another noah thomason from niagara and another ste another Steven Ashworth from Utah State so Spears is six foot three which is a positive playing next to DeJuan Harris and you're talking about a guy who put up you know you just look at the counting stats 16 points five assists per game in the Big East which was probably what the second best conference this year in college basketball with the Big 12 one Big East number two maybe it's number three I don't know whatever one of the best conferences in college basketball. He can create it off the dribble. What was Kansas missing from last year's team?

What are they looking for next year's team? Creation off the dribble. Well, Primo Spears was 68th percentile, which is classified as very good on synergy in isolation play. A lot of what he did was isolation play. He was one of the higher numbers in the country in just the number of isolation play he was getting. But that's not really going to happen a ton for Kansas, but at least you know it is in his bag,

that he can do it in a late shot clock situation. I think that's a positive for what KU could have. He's also 63rd percentile, which was classified as good at spot-up shooting, which he would be asked to do more of in his time at Kansas than he probably got to do at Georgetown, where he was kind of the top option. He also improved a lot from year one to year two, right,

to where, you know, you look at him transferring up a level. I think he was at George Washington, goes to Georgetown. That might be wrong with George Washington, but he goes up a level from a mid-major to Georgetown, and the numbers got even a little bit better for him. The percentages were around the same, but the counting stats got better in a tougher conference. That does show, even though it wasn't leaps and bounds better, it was better for him from year one to year two. Why couldn't he continue to get

better from year two to year three? But the reason why he's not a lower tier, why he's tier three and not tier two, wasn't efficient. 40% from 40 from the field he shot 30 from three on a very bad georgetown team and his two years of college georgetown the previous stop neither team was very good georgetown this past season was 219th on ken palm out of comparison howard, who Kansas played in the first round as their 16th seed in the NCAA tournament, Howard was 218th. That was higher than Georgetown. The other part of it that I think is a big question mark here is will he be eligible? This will be his second transfer.

He's not a graduate. The NCAA said they're going to start cracking down on second-time transfers, and they're not really going to give guys a look for hey your coach left and here you can go now there could be certain loopholes there and I don't know how he can play the loophole game if he can be eligible but that is question will he be eligible he also was just an average defender on synergy he ran pick and roll in the 95th percentile in the country probably not going to be running nearly as much of that that would be duane harris and he also was in the 99th percentile in isolation tries so he's pretty good at isolation but he did it as much as anyone

in the country and him being 68th percentile in isolation scoring that's based on a that's not based on like the number you score it's based on on the efficiency of it. So he was actually good at it, but you're not going to have nearly those opportunities at Kansas. Now you get into a better system where your team's better maybe, and you're not the focal point on offense. Maybe instead of an average defender, he can be an above average defender. And if he does get, um, eligible right away, I think you like this as a possible, he can be a backup to Dwan Harris. He can be a backup at the two to El Marco Jackson, especially if a Kyle cuff were to transfer out of the program.

But there are enough flaws there that I think there are a lot of other options that you could go with instead, but certainly interesting because Primo Spears is somebody who is going to be planning on visiting in, I think like a week for KU though, who knows if that changes Noah Thomason. This kid was from Niagara. Honestly, I had him at tier week for KU, though who knows if that changes. Noah Thomason. This kid was from Niagara.

Honestly, I had him at Tier 4, and then I started digging a little deeper. I bumped him up to Tier 3. So he's 6'3", positive checkmark, 19.5 points per game, positive checkmark. Career 38% from 3, positive. He rated in the 80th percentile on defense, 79th percentile in man defense on synergy. He was also in the 76th percentile in isolation, 96th percentile in man defense on synergy he was also in the 76th percentile in isolation 96th percentile in spot-up shooting all of those things are home runs for ku but the reason he's tier three because all those numbers would say he should be tier two or tier one but the reason he's not is because you do have a big jump up from niagara and the maac to the big 12 niagara

was 258th on ken palm he did a lot of his work out of the pick and roll you're not going to get that it's going to be much harder competition it's one thing to be in the you know top 20 of the country as a defender when you're playing against mac opponents it's another to do it in the big 12 so those numbers are great but you do have questions about jumping up, and that is why he is Tier 3. But he is someone who, you know, if he could come in and be a backup to DeJuan Harrison or Marco Jackson, and I don't know, can he be better than a Joey Asafu? I think he probably can. He got a little bit more size to him, and I think he had more sustained success and maybe

better defensive numbers than Joe did coming in from Drake. Steven Ashworth from Utah State. The biggest problem here is the size, 6'1", and that might be, I don't know, a little too much. He's kind of slight of frame. But 16 points per game. If you just look at the numbers, this would be a Tier 1 or a Tier 2. He was on a Ken Palm Top 30 team in Utah State. He shot 43% from three on 7.3 attempts per game,

and he's also at 41 percent from three for his career so knock down three-point shooter he shot high 80 percentages from the free throw line basically he can just really shoot it good passer older player he he did a uh lds mission for like two years before going to college so he's going to be like 24 years old. Older players are good in college basketball. It's good to have that experience. Back to the shooting, though. 99th percentile on synergy

and spot up shooting. Hello. 85th percentile in handoffs. You run the chop play a lot, right? 76th percentile in transition. He likes to get out in the open and 51st percentile off screens, which is actually like it's an average above average number a lot better than like grady dick was for

instance last year but again why he's not a lower tier he's six foot one uh in six games against ken palm top 50 opponents he shot just 36 from two and 33 from three he was just two for ten from three against miss in the NCAA tournament. He ran a lot of pick and roll. Wouldn't be doing that as much at Kansas. Not good in isolation, which that would be ideal for Kansas to have. And he was only an average defender. And that was in the mountain West.

Good luck coming over to the big 12. So that is why he is. I mean, just from the offense perspective, he might be tier one, but some of those other things are why he is a tier three, but from the offense perspective, he might be Tier 1, but some of those other things are why he is Tier 3. But certainly someone who, you know, if you brought any of these guys in to be a backup option for you, but they do have potential to work into more, I don't think that's the worst thing in the end. But also, I don't know how much we're seeing KU have interest

in any of these guys either, though Primo Spears would be the one, and a visit is scheduled at that point. We're going to finish up with Tier two and tier one in just a second with locked on Jayhawks. So is somebody who has already visited for KU? We have one guy. That's Nicholas Timberlake from Towson. Why Nicholas Timberlake fits?

We're actually going to have a Nick Timberlake deep dive on tomorrow's show and we're going to go further into this but just you know some surface stuff he's 6'4 that works well he's a veteran older player you know 18 points per game over 40 percent from three shot well against higher competition can shoot it in a myriad of ways but the reason he's not tier one is because the defense defense was really a struggle for him at Towson and good luck now jumping up to the big 12. I'm not entirely sure he would be a starter at Kansas, which for me, if you're tier one, it's not that, you know, cause we know there's a lot of good that are coming into Kansas and it is ultimately a competition. And like even Remy Martin,

as impactful as he was coming over and as decorated as he was coming in, he didn't start. Right. He came off the bench behind DeJuan Harris. And that was even in the season opener. So it's not that tier one, I would say, is a guaranteed starter. But when I look at tier one, I say, hey, if you're tier one, you're playing starter level minutes with tier two. It's like you could get to those starter level minutes but maybe realistically you're coming off the bench and there's a chance that timberlake could be like a 15 minute per game guy off the bench for you because of the defense but that he's such a

flamethrower with the three balls that he is getting consistent run for you so that's why he's tier two and not tier one but uh definitely someone of interest because he has visited kansas and stick around for that episode uh coming tomorrow with the nick timberlake deep dive okay tier one this is take at all costs play starter level minutes get a huge nil bag whatever it is two guys in this tier max a smith tyler perry and we haven't really heard kansas have some sort of interest with both these guys um i don't know if that's intentional. I don't know if they already have, because I do think from KU's perspective, they are working a bit in the dark

for certain reasons here. Maybe they don't want other people to know their plans. They can figure out NIL bidding. Maybe they're centering everything in on Hunter Dickinson. Maybe it's they've heard through the grapevine like, oh, these guys are going to go here or there, so we shouldn't spend as much of our time on those guys or whatever it is.

Maybe there is interest. Maybe there's not. But these are the top tier guys with Max A. Smith. A. Smith. He averaged over 20 points per game, three straight seasons. He's a career 39% three-point shooter on almost nine attempts per game. Super high volume, super high efficiency. 23 points per game in the ncaa tournament against better competition 23 points per game on 48 from three

in five career games against big 12 competition he is the best shot maker and creator that is available in my opinion and his synergy numbers are awesome to back it up 79th percentile in transition play 97th percentile in spot up shooting 88th percentile in isolation 82nd percentile pick and roll wouldn't be doing it much 76th percentile in handoffs and 100th percentile in limited numbers in cuts off the ball very good offensive option for you for a team that needs offensive option that needs guys who can create their shots that can hit open threes for you he fills all those roles for you and gives you another ball handler on the floor the possible hesitations though he's only six foot one and 165 pounds you have the defensive end that you're worried about he was average according to synergy

on the defensive end but that's in the summit league now you go to the big 12 you're probably below average or bad defender at that point um he also in six games against ken palm top 100 teams this season only shot 25 and a half percent from three and he only shot 21 from three in five top 50 games this year a lot of that was anchored down though by the one duke game in the ncaa tournament where he didn't shoot it well i will say though to counter that he did shoot over 41 from three verse ken palm top 100 opponents the previous two seasons not just one season two seasons so the bigger sample size there is that he has shot well in those games but the defense is the biggest question there i would just say this though he is so elite on the offensive end kansas has a good defensive core built in with dewan harris kj adams one of their centers earnest zuby whoever and you know if they bring on one of these transfers on the

wings who can play good defense you have enough defensive insulation in there that you just say give me the offense and we'll we'll still be okay defensively like we have bill self we have a bunch of other good defensive players give me the guy that can'll still be okay defensively. Like we have Bill Self. We have a bunch of other good defensive players. Give me the guy that can create the shots to add to what we don't have right now. And Max Acemas would do that. Tyler Perry might be, you know, it's funny. Max Acemas has the individual numbers over Tyler Perry. And you would think that Acemas would be the better option.

I almost wonder if Tyler Perry should be tier 1a and ace miss tier 1b um so perry averaged 17 points per game at north texas but north texas is one of the slowest playing teams in the country like there are not many teams that play slower than them so his 17 points per game versus ace miss who gets you know 23 or whatever for his uh i don't know career 20 plus points for three straight seasons they're playing one of the fastest tempos so perry 17 might actually be a little bit more impressive with how slow north texas plays he shot over 41 from three the last two seasons on six and a half tries per game he was in the 89th percentile in spot up shooting he was in the 81st percentile

off of screens he creates off the dribble too 90th percentile in isolation scoring 93rd percentile in pick and roll and he was on a winning program north texas was actually 31st in ken palm by the time the season wrapped up they were a good team conference usa ended up being pretty good with them uh they had a team who won the cbi florida atlantic goes to the final Four. And how about this? Tyler Perry played against KU in that ESPN Events Invitational against the 2021-22 Kansas team that ended up winning the title. Tyler Perry in that game had 23 points on 8 of 16 from the floor. He was pretty good.

In nine career games against Ken Palm Top 50 competition, he shot 42% from three. Upper competition hasn't bothered him and the defense it ranked well on synergy which lines up with how good uh North Texas has been defensively under Grant McCasland Tyler Perry ranked in the 94th percentile 94th in overall defense and in man-to-man defense now the, the hesitations. He's only 5'11". How would that defense work up when he goes up a level to the Big 12? Maybe it drops off, but instead of him being an elite defender

in the Conference USA, if he's just an above-average defender in the Big 12 with that offense and what he can provide, Tier 1A, Tyler Perry, that would be a guy that I would be all in on. I'm not sure how much the interest is there, and who knows, he might just follow his coach, Grant McCasland from north texas the texas tech but uh he is certainly someone that could uh even a five foot eleven you say okay whatever we'll just make it work with the two little guards and uh we'll figure out the rest later because he is that good of a player that is our top 10 of the guard options combo guard options at least right

now there could be more players into the portal by By the time this comes out, I don't know, maybe any of those guys have cut their list or have committed somewhere or another. We'll do another one of these with maybe the wing forward positions, another one with the center positions down the road. Tomorrow's episode is going to be a deep dive of Nick Timberlake, who visited KU a week ago.

That'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You can find us wherever you find any of your podcasts. You can hit us up on YouTube. You can find me on Twitter at DJohnsonRadio. Have a good rest of your day. Later.