Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Trey Kaufman-Renn is ELIGIBLE - Should Kansas Jayhawks & Bill Self Pursue Purdue Transfer Big Man?

Starting point is 00:00:00 There's a pretty big name now available in the Transfer Portal in Trey Kaufman-Renn, who would be a potential All-American if he can play this upcoming season. And for now, he is eligible. 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 bonus episode, Trey Kaufman-Ren is now an available name in the transfer

Starting point is 00:00:33 Portal already one site has I guess sort of linked Kansas as a potential somebody to keep an eye on here for Trey Kaufman-Rend. So we'll get into all of that, his scouting report, and then we'll finish up with some of the latest on the Melvin Council situation as well. Let's just start right here what happened to Trey Kaufman-Renn because Kaufman-Renn is actually a different case. He obviously just, I guess, graduated or finished up at Purdue. He only played four years.

Starting point is 00:00:59 So in theory, you would think, oh, he wants the retroactive five and five. but he's actually part of the class of 2021, somebody who took a red shirt in there before. But he was suing the NCAA under trying to get that extra year as well, saying that, yeah, but I only played four years, right? And, you know, as of today, his TRO, his temporary restraining order against the NCAA was granted, which allows him to join a college team while awaiting another hearing for a preliminary injunction. So who knows if it's actually. going to get to that point where he stays eligible, but as of right now, he is eligible.

Starting point is 00:01:38 Then he later posted on his, I'm assuming this is Instagram. I don't know. Thank you, Purdue, for truly unforgettable years. Grateful for my teammates, coaches, Coach Painter, the paint crew, Boiler Nation, my chapter in black and gold has come to an end, but Purdue will always be a part of me. I'm officially eligible for the college basketball season and excited for what's next. So basically, yes, I'm leaving. I'm not going to be back at Purdue. I'm going to be at another school.

Starting point is 00:02:01 Well, enter Kansas, a team that, hey, still has two scholarships open, is a Blue Blood, could use probably another edition. And hey, he's a big man as well. That wouldn't hurt for KU. And so much so, CBS Sports did an article discussing the best fits, best destinations for Trey Kaufman-Ren. One of those five was the Kansas Jayhawks. Now, that article, I think, has been picked up by some KU fans. It's like, oh, there's interest. It doesn't say in the article there's interest.

Starting point is 00:02:29 It just says it would make sense as a potential destination for Trey Kaufman-Ren to link up with KU. It would make sense for both parties. And I do agree. Again, I don't know if he will actually stay eligible. I don't know if KU can even afford him. I don't even know about the morality of this, right? You're bringing on a player in the class of 2021. But this is a real player.

Starting point is 00:02:53 He is a 6'4-pound big man who can play the 4 or the 5. he was a All-Big 10 first teamer this past season and was the 59th pick in the 2026 NBA draft to the Timberwolves. Never actually signed the contract there, but that shows you his abilities. And in his four seasons at Purdue, he totaled over 1,600 points, over 700 rebounds. His final season, you're talking 14.2 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2 and a half assists per game while shooting 58% from the floor. And he actually averaged more points per game as a junior when he went

Starting point is 00:03:28 for a little over 20 points per game. Analytically is very strong here too for the guy they called TKR, 97th percentile in BPM and RAPM and offensive rating, 78th percentile and defensive rating. Purdue was almost 10 points better per 100 possessions when he was on the floor. And if you just look at the top 50 games they played this season, they were an astounding 25 points better per 100 possessions when he was out on the floor. So a really impactful player fits a position in need for KU. Again, there's the questions of, will he actually stay eligible?

Starting point is 00:04:04 Or is this just going to be, he's going to be eligible for a month, and that's going to get popped away. Does KU have this type of money? Or at this point in time, like, you know, he's probably got to pretty much hurry and find a new school. There might not be the offers in the bidding that he would normally make. Had he been available back in like April, for instance? So maybe that drives the price down and KU has a chance. So let's get to his counter report a little bit more.

Starting point is 00:04:27 And then we'll finish up with some of the latest news on the Melvin Council case. This is locked on Jayhawks. Our episode today is brought to you by Odu. Running a business shouldn't feel like you're trying to connect a bunch of systems that were never designed to work together. It's one app for accounting, another for inventory, another for sales, and somehow none of them talk to each other. Well, that's where Odo comes in. It's an all-in-one business management software that brings every part of your business together in one powerful platform. From sales and accounting to inventory and marketing, everything works in one place.

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Starting point is 00:05:43 That is O-D-O-O-O-com slash Locked-on. Thanks, you have for joining us here on Locked-on Jayhawks. And let's get to our scouting report for Trey Kaufman, Ren. We'll start with the strengths here. He's a very strong player who knows how to, I guess you could say, use his elbows to get some advantages here. He is very fundamentally sound, very good decision maker. I mean, you're talking for the center spot,

Starting point is 00:06:11 89th percentile in assist to turnover ratio, just very efficient offensive player in general. And part of that comes from the post-scoring 85th percentile or better each of the last two seasons on very high volume in adjusted efficiency on post-ups, very efficient at the rim. He basically shot Florey's percent, percentage at the rim, but with like a big chunk of his shots not assisted that Florey had

Starting point is 00:06:41 assisted. So basically you're getting the same efficiency as the rim as Florey, but he can create it himself a little bit more often. And overall, just efficiency, right, 88th percentile and effective field goal percentage among centers. Also very good in pick and roll. Now, Purdue didn't run a ton of pick and roll with him necessarily. He didn't have huge numbers of it, more of a post-up guy there. but when he did have to run pick and roll, he was very good at it. 81st percentile and adjusted efficiency after finishing 91st percentile the year prior in those two numbers. And then the other big one here is elite rebounding. And that is one thing that certainly piques my interest because it already feels like KU is building themselves to be a really good rebounding team this season.

Starting point is 00:07:21 When you look at Keanu Daz on the defensive glass, when you look at Paul and Bia, somebody I expect to be a good rebounder, Christian Reeves has been a good rebounder, even when he was at Duke and Clemson, sample sizes. He was still rebounding very well. Tyrant Stokes should be a good rebounder. Even some of the guards have good rebound numbers for guards. And Kaufman-Renn would come in and maybe be the best rebounder all around on Kansas. Ninety-sixth percentile in offensive rebound rate and 97th percentile in defensive rebound rate. If you're playing a lineup of Kaufman-Renn and Tauz, you're getting every defensive rebound. And then you're getting a bunch of offensive rebounds with Kaufman Red and Stokes as well.

Starting point is 00:08:00 Some of the weaknesses, though, for TKR, well, he's not a three-point shooter that does limit, like it doesn't take very many. He had one year where he shot decently, but it's like less than an attempt per game. So not really part of his game. And that limits some of his ability. He can play at the four a little bit, but that does limit some of the fit at the four because specifically if you're looking at like Kansas, having Paul and Bia at the five or Christian Reeves at the five who can't shoot, you know, okay, well, Keanu Daz is at the four.

Starting point is 00:08:32 Keanu Daz can shoot a little bit, right? It makes it a little bit easier to run that lineup and keep spacing for a guy like Tyrant Stokes. But if you're running Trey Kaufman ran out next to Paul and Bia in a specific period of time, there ain't that shooting on the floor. And then on the flip side is if you're going to play him at the five where he'd play next to Keanu Daws, well, the problem there is he is below average as a rim protector below average block rate it's a horrible steel rate some of the defensive numbers from the team perspective aren't great and so you know only six foot nine some of that limits his ability to play the five because keanu dawes is also not a great room protector and that's the beauty of playing dawes next to ambia that you have the rim protection

Starting point is 00:09:16 with imbia to cover up for dawes not really having that but now what happens if you're playing you know, Kaufman, Wren and Dawes next to each other, you're getting less than a block per game from your two big men. Like, that's not sufficient enough for KU. Now, maybe that's where, you know, having Stokes at the wing, he can lead you in blocks and you're still having shot blockers coming off the bench. Maybe that's doable. You'd be grabbing like every rebound.

Starting point is 00:09:39 So, you know, that probably makes it a little bit more doable too. But it does make it a little bit of an awkward fit. Now, in terms of the offense and defense, I think offensively, he would fit like a glove in a Billself system, right? He can score on the block. He can play high, low. He can play pick and roll. He would be in line with the next, you know,

Starting point is 00:09:59 group of great post players and scores that Bill Self has had and would fit in very, very well from that perspective. On the defensive side, though, like I said, I don't know what the fit is. Is it, do you basically just say, hey, Dawes and Wren, you're going to each play 20 minutes of the four every night. And then you'll each get, I don't know, eight to 10 minutes per game at the five, right? So each of them is going to play around 28 to 30 minutes.

Starting point is 00:10:26 That still leaves you with 20 to 24 minutes to give to MBA slash Reeves slash Adkins as a true five. You could make it work from the minutes perspective, but it just gets a little bit complicated. And then that defensive fit, like I said, when Kaufman-Renn is playing next to Dawes certainly has some questions there, right? But I think if you're just viewing this from the perspective of what is the very best edition that you could make? What is the most impactful edition, the best player that you could possibly add?

Starting point is 00:10:58 This would be the answer. Trey Kaufman Wren. He was a first team all big 10 performer. This is the type of player that would come in and get some votes for being an all American. And so it's one of those things where it's like, do you worry about the fit later? I mean, there are certain things about the fit that I think are okay and everything. But like, I guess that's too where the money side of things comes into play. Because if you're worried about the fit at least a little bit, then it's like, okay, well, how much is, you know, that worth?

Starting point is 00:11:35 But if the market is limited now by the timing of all this, maybe you can get him in for cheaper than it would have been into a number that you can afford at this point in time. Of course, there's also the question of the eligibility thing, right? Like, he's eligible for now, but we've seen the NCAA win a lot of these cases on the appeal side of things. So is he going to stay eligible? And then there's the moral code part of it, right? Like, this is the player who was drafted. Everybody freaked out about James Naji playing for Baylor. And you would be going and doing this.

Starting point is 00:12:06 Maybe you would just be saying, hey, they opened Pandora's box. We're just playing by the rules now. It also is one of those things where you kind of get the outcry of, okay, like, I can understand the players who, were class of 2022 fighting for an extra year. They should get it. But this dude was class of 2021. So why should he get it? You know, that's something you have to decide for.

Starting point is 00:12:25 But if you just want a player that's going to make a big impact for you and be a potential star coming in, this is the guy to go for. All right. Let's finish up here with some of the latest with the NCAA in courts and Melvin Council. This is locked on Jayhawks. Our episode of the show today is brought to you by Fandul. You've waited all off season for this. Now it's time to make every NFL week count.

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Starting point is 00:14:46 Now support our show by saying you heard about it on Locked on Jayhawks. That is indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire. This is a job for indeed sponsored jobs. Thanks for joining us here on Locked on Jayhawks. Some of the latest news at the NCAA in courts as well as with Melvin Council. I want to start with this NCAA one.

Starting point is 00:15:09 So the Georgia Court of Appeals where players had already won their TRO and were eligible, at least for a period of time, the Georgia Court of Appeals now issued a stay. of the injunction, meaning that the NCAA has won its stay of the preliminary injunction, meaning that the players that were originally given eligibility, so you're talking like RJ Godfrey at Arizona, that was going to be a big deal for them, Jamichael Stillwell at Texas Tech, that was going to be a big deal for them. Dylan Hunter, Clemson, Dan Skillings at Grand Canyon, among others, are currently ineligible now.

Starting point is 00:15:45 So they go from eligible to ineligible. And this is one of those where it's like, actually, like from a Kansas, perspective, it's like, oh, some of the big 12 opponents you're going to face, just lost some some key players. Obviously, it still has to go through the court process and some of those guys could get eligible or they could stay ineligible. This whole thing is a mess. But what this basically means is that is the fifth one that the NCAA has been able to overturn at the appeal level. Now, with like the Trey Kaufman-Ren one, with the Melvin Council one we're going to talk about, these ones seem more individualized because they're not just the same class action, everybody

Starting point is 00:16:17 jumping on the five for five thing. So I wonder if they'll be able to stay eligible, but these ones are not going well once they appeal, which is further why I have, I don't have much optimism that Trey White would be able to stay eligible if you were to get that potentially for KU. So I think your better chance would be trying to get Melvin Council eligible. I don't know, maybe Trey Kaufman-Rent as well. Speaking of counsel, so this was, I guess, updated today that there is now a remote conference scheduled for tomorrow in Melvin Council's case, which means that I guess the decision for things gets delayed a little bit. The NCAA has filed a memorandum of law as well in opposition to Melvin Council's

Starting point is 00:17:01 application for a TRO. Basically, they're saying this should be held on a normal timeline. There's no reason it should be held promptly. I feel like the lawyers, and I would disagree with that part of it from the standpoint of like, but he has till September 21st to enroll, right? for Kansas specifically. I guess maybe that's the NCAA's retort that you're saying now, like as part of this argument, you're not tying yourself to the University of Kansas. You're saying other schools have options as well. And so you can't just be like,

Starting point is 00:17:30 but Kansas starts school on September 21st because you've no longer tied yourself to just them. I don't know. That'll be kind of an interesting argument and to see where that goes. But we'll see if the NCAA wins that and this gets pushed off for a while. Obviously right now is boot camp for KU. that's going to complicate things with adding a player. Like how do you make that work? Because like I'd imagine that the current players, if a new player joins on and doesn't have to do boot camp,

Starting point is 00:17:56 they're going to be kind of pissed about that. So they, do they just do it on delay? Or is this like the ultimate veteran move of Melvin Council? It'll be like, listen, I want to join Kansas, but I'm going to try to intentionally join after boot camp. So I don't have to worry about it. I don't know.

Starting point is 00:18:09 All right, that'll do it for this episode of Lockdown Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere podcast, including on our YouTube page. See you next time.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Trey Kaufman-Renn is ELIGIBLE - Should Kansas Jayhawks & Bill Self Pursue Purdue Transfer Big Man?

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