Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - WHAT DOES IT MEAN: Tyran Stokes Committing Soon; Will Bill Self Return to Coach Him at Kansas?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Sounds like Tyron Stokes, the number one recruit in the class, who is Kansas as a finalist, is going to be committing soon. We're going to connect some dots. Let's get a little crazy here. Could that be good news on a couple fronts for KU? 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 with another episode of Locked on Jayhawks, a little bonus episode for you here.

Starting point is 00:00:34 as there was a report earlier about Tyrant Stokes going to be committing soon, potentially. Also getting into a little bit on the latest with Bill self. Is there any dot connecting that we can kind of do here with some of this stuff, as well as kind of the transfer portal heating up and where things are at right now with some of the early entrance into the list. Let's start right there. There's a report earlier today from Joe Tipton of On 3 about Tyrant Stokes that the plan is that he could be committing to.

Starting point is 00:01:02 Now, do you keep in mind that the tyrant Sok recruitment has been wild. It has been an up and down roller coaster. There have been moments where people have thought he was going to be close to committing. And then nothing ever kind of came about tangibly. So like the plan, you know, isn't guaranteed happen. Right. Like we could get to next week. And it's like, well, things changed and, you know, this and that happens.

Starting point is 00:01:26 But as of right now, the thought seems to be that Stokes could be committing on Tuesday. at the McDonald's All-American game, which is, you know, something that, you know, a lot of players do. And it's kind of a cool area to do it in, right? Now, McDonald's All-American game is in Adidas events. So that would certainly be a good thing because it seems like one of the biggest, stumbling blocks for KU and this recruitment has been he has an NIL deal with Nike and Kentucky, obviously a Nike school organ who's kind of in the fray, a Nike school, trying to think Arkansas seems to be trying to kind of enter into the recruiting battle here. I forget what brand they are. But Kansas obviously being an Adidas school is different.

Starting point is 00:02:03 So maybe that's a good thing. Or is that like Nike being like, hey, we'd love for you to stick it to our biggest competitor, Adidas and commit on one of their events to a Nike school while wearing Nike's or something. You know what to mean? So who knows what that exactly means. But if he is committing Tuesday, that means that he is obviously. And again, we'll wait and see if that actually happens.

Starting point is 00:02:23 But like, that would mean that he has made his decision. I don't think he would be like, you know, I'm going to, I don't know what I'm doing right now. But let's just commit Tuesday. I'll figure it out by then. You know, this, it seems like to me, if you're setting a commitment date, you know where you're going. And so if we want to play the connect the dot game, is there any way, again, this is me

Starting point is 00:02:42 maybe doing a tinfoil conspiracy hat theory, maybe just one that I'm trying to excite myself. And, you know, we saw KU losing the second round and I need something to make myself happy. And then I'm going to come crashing down when this doesn't happen. But for the next couple days, until we get something that happens, I'm going to be wearing this tinfoil hat around that says, well, you know, could we connect the dots of maybe the reason he was waiting to commit is because he didn't know if Bill Self was going to be back for another season or not. And like, you know, we've heard from several different places that Kansas has been the

Starting point is 00:03:14 frontrunner. It seems like some of that has kind of faded recently. But if Kansas were the frontrunner and the school he wants to go to, you know, that changes if Bill Self retires, right? If you're retiring soaks and going, yeah, I want to play for Bill Self. I want to play for Kansas. But what happens if Bill Self retires, then you're waiting on that decision. And that would make sense why he would be waiting to this point to be committing. And so if you're Tyron Stokes and, you know, as we're waiting on the Bill Self decision, is he going to come back? Is he going to retire? Is there any chance in the world that Bill Self is like made that decision? And he's calling Tyrant Stokes up and going, hey, man, I am going to come back for another season. And then

Starting point is 00:03:52 Tyrant Stokes is like, okay, cool. Now that I know you're coming back, I'm ready to commit to Kansas and we'll do it on Tuesday because that's our next big event again could be just a silly conspiracy theory but I am connecting the dots and I am I'm excited to get there so let's get into more of what that potentially would mean if those dots really do connect and then some a little bit on the transfer portal because some interesting names have entered I think from the Kansas perspective 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 and obviously a disappointing finish for KU on this season. But just going back to that first round game, like, that was a really cool

Starting point is 00:04:34 back and forth that you had from Dominic Daniels and Darren Peterson. And, you know, it's not going to be the most memorable NCAA tournament for Kansas, but that will be a memorable, I guess, moment in time for me of having these two awesome shot makers kind of go back and forth. Daniel's probably going to make a lot of money overseas. Peterson is going to make a lot of money in the NBA, obviously, and just having them go back and forth, making some really difficult shots. It was really fun to watch between the two teams and the two players. And there's more to these players and 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

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Starting point is 00:06:23 is that two Kentucky assistants have left. Alvin Brooks, the third, left the Kentucky staff. I think that was earlier today. and Jason Hart left Kentucky for SMU. And I believe Hart was actually the one who was the lead for Kentucky on Tyrant Stokes. So again, that would be another dot connection that you'd be like, oh, that's a good thing you would think for KU, right? But again, going back to the Bill Self thing, I think it's not just the like if you want to connect the dots that like, you know, oh, so Bill Self decided to come back. Sox. So now Tyrant Sox is cool making his decision.

Starting point is 00:06:54 Again, it could just be coincidence or Bill Self hasn't decided or whatever. We don't know. But like, I want to entertain this, this fun fan fiction theory because it is fun. And we're in the offseason. Let's have some fun, you know. And so the other thing that this would mean is that we've heard the bidding on Tyron Stokes is getting, I mean, he's the number one recruit in the class of 2020 or 2026. Like, he's going to cost a pretty penny to bring in, especially if you're having to basically outbid Nike. Like, we know that's the case.

Starting point is 00:07:21 You're going to have to give up a good amount of money. And the idea to me would almost be like, I said this. somewhere and the idea to me like if you're bill self and you do decide to come back for another year to Kansas what he if it's your last year or not right and I think the intention if you do come back another year would would be at least to say that and who knows what happens right because I do think the biggest hurdle for bill self coming back or not isn't a desire it's the health stuff right so if he decides to come back and the health is fine why couldn't he coach two three four five more years right it just all is about the health now if you come back and you have another health

Starting point is 00:07:57 scare. That's kind of it, right? Now, from the Bill's Health perspective, why would you not tell the big money donors, the big boosters, this is going to be my last year? Like, say, if you're going to come back, be like, this is my last year, whether it is or isn't, right? And be like, don't we want to go out on top? Like, I need that extra zero on the check. You know what I mean? Like, essentially, I need that extra money to make this a memorable season. It's going to be my last year, right? And, max out the roster as much as possible, you know. And the flip side of that is, let's say, let's say you have a bad season and the donors are like, man, I felt like we didn't get our money's worth on that. Well, guess what?

Starting point is 00:08:40 Then Bill Self retires at the end of the year. But let's say you have a good season. And let's say Bill Self is feeling healthy. And he had a good season. You make the elite A or the final four or whatever. And Bill Self decides to come back. And he's like, you know what? My health's actually in a really good place.

Starting point is 00:08:52 I'm going to come back another year. And the donor's going to be there. Well, shoot, why did I write you this big check? I thought it was going to be your last year. And then Bill Self just responds and goes, well, I was planning on it being the last year, but then my health got better and I'm looking good. And hey, didn't you enjoy winning all those games with that big money? So don't you think you should do that again? They're like, well, yeah, good point. That was fun winning all those games. So I think it behooves him to tell people

Starting point is 00:09:15 it is his last. And who knows, maybe that could be something going on with Tyron Soakes to, or he just commits to Kentucky to Kentucky or whoever. And, you know, Kansas finds a new coach and all these things. But I am not done connecting the dots and I'm going to be, I'm going to be formulating in my brain all these little things until we hear news on both Stokes and self. And so we'll see because Stokes obviously, like I said, the, the commitment's supposed to be on Tuesday upcoming early next week. So that would kind of lead you to believe that maybe we're going to find out about this news by then. If we don't find out about the news by then, like let's say we haven't heard from Bill's help by then. And Tyrant Stokes announces on Tuesday to a different school, but

Starting point is 00:09:54 that be indicative of a different side of the coin here if you want to connect the dots for KU. So I think some interesting decisions to be made pretty soon, or at least to be announced pretty soon on all of the Kansas fronts. Pretty soon we're going to hear more about transfer portal stuff because the portal will officially open, but a lot of interesting names have already entered in the portal. Let's get to some of the ones that have already caught my eye. Next. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by Fandual Sportsbook. College basketball is nonstop. Big games, tight spreads, momentum swings every single night, from early tip-offs to late West Coast shootouts, there's always action on the board.

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Starting point is 00:11:09 You get the ad-free version of the show. Use code March. And you can get that for free in the month of March. All right. So some interesting names have entered the transfer portal. I don't know that we've gotten the like,

Starting point is 00:11:20 like there's not that like Hunter Dickinson that's like an All-American, at least in there yet. And there's still obviously a lot of really good teams in the NCAA tournament. as you wait on them. And technically the portal hasn't even opened yet. But here's some of my early favorites. Isaiah Johnson entered earlier today.

Starting point is 00:11:35 We saw him underrated freshman at Colorado. It was putting up like 15, 16 in game. Good shooter. That would be a heck of a backcourt if you have him and Tailing Kinney from an offensive perspective. So that's one that caught my eye. I think in general, some of the guards caught my eye, especially knowing that KU is in a position where they're going to need another starting guard. Now, if you missed it, Trinidad Chambliss,

Starting point is 00:11:57 the quarterback for Ole Miss did from a higher court, basically the NCAA got denied. And so Chambliss is actually eligible to play for Ole Miss. Now, his situation is different than Melvin Council's, but does it open the door in any way for, you know, counsel to get another year? And I actually think that counsel and Kinney would be a good pairing of a one-two, but we'll wait and see what happens there. Dadeon Thomas kind of caught my eye as well. He's a little bit of a smaller guard.

Starting point is 00:12:24 I don't know as much about the three-point shooting, but Kenny can obviously provide that. Thomas is somebody who I'm pretty sure KU recruited out of high school and also recruited, I think last year a little bit when he entered the portal out of UNLV. Like former top 40 prospect was at LSU had an injury this past year. He'd be kind of an interesting one. Sticking with some of the guards, Jackson's Shellstad from Oregon,

Starting point is 00:12:46 early rumors on him is that he could end up going to like Arizona. So we'll see what happens there. But Shellstad is like a dynamic combo guard. Don't just look at the stats he had this year. he had to deal with an injury on his shooting hand that kept him out of a lot of games and limited his effectiveness when he was out there. Look at his preview years. He can kind of get hot and go off.

Starting point is 00:13:04 So he's certainly one of interest. I think there's been a lot of interesting format. I did the Deshaun Good episode earlier this week. Thank you for you already caught it. I love the idea of bringing in a Deshaun Good. And I love the idea of pairing a player like Deshaun Good with a player who entered today, Miles Bird. Miles Bird is a wing from San Diego State. He can play the three or the four.

Starting point is 00:13:24 He's got long arms. excellent defender. One of the best defenders and one of the best perimeter defenders and wing defenders in college basketball. Three point shot's been a little shakier, but he's kind of like a imagine Kevin McCuller coming out of Texas Tech. That's the idea if you bring on Miles Bird. Now the question would be if you have Bird and let's say you bring Floryback, is that enough shooting? Well, if you bring on Bird and you had Floryback and let's say Tiller were to leave, you bring on good because he can play the four and he can shoot really well. And then at that point you make sure your other guard as a really good shooter, and then you would have three plus shooters on the floor with two elite

Starting point is 00:13:57 defenders. That, I think, would be a really fun roster build. Obviously, we don't know the interest and the money, how all this stuff lines up. But those are some of the ones that caught my name. Some other ones that I think are at least relatively interesting, but we'll get into some of those in some transfer portal deep dives. But I think those are the ones that definitely caught my eye the most, at least so far. But there's a lot of new names entering each and every day. And I'm sure we'll see some for KU at some point soon, too. All right, that'll know for this episode of Lockdown, Jayhawks, you can like and subscribe to the show. Make sure you're checking us out, not just on the audio side, but on YouTube as well.

Starting point is 00:14:27 And we'll see you next time for another edition of LOJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - WHAT DOES IT MEAN: Tyran Stokes Committing Soon; Will Bill Self Return to Coach Him at Kansas?

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