Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Zach Clemence Exits Transfer Portal to Return to the Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Program & Redshirt

Episode Date: June 20, 2023

After entering the transfer portal and committing to USCB, forward/center Zach Clemence has decided to return to Lawrence for the 2023-2024 season with the Kansas Jayhawks Basketball program. Head coach Bill Self has said that Clemence plans to redshirt. What his fit will be with KU for this year and beyond. Is Kansas done now with 11 scholarship players, or is there room for a 12th?Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BirddogsGo to birddogs.com/lockedoncollege and they’ll throw in a free custom birddogs Yeti-style tumbler with every 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, Kansas has an 11th scholarship player. It's an old name. Zach Clements is returning from the transfer portal after committing to UCSB. He's coming back to KU. We'll talk about how things went down, what it means for this team. Are they now officially done and set with their roster at 11 on this edition of Locked on Jayhawks? You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. You are locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked On Podcast Network,

your team every day. Johnson, you can hear me as well, Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. on KLWN in Lawrence with Rock Chalk Sports Talk. Thanks for making Locked on Jayhawks your first listen every day. We're free and available wherever you get any of your podcasts. And on today's edition

of Locked on Jayhawks, we're talking Zach Clements. He's coming back to KU for his third year in college basketball. How it all went down, what exactly his fit will be now moving forward, whether it's this year or for future seasons in the program, and is now KU officially done that they've gathered

an 11th scholarship player. First of this episode of the show is brought to you by Bird Dogs. Go to birddogs.com slash locked on college, and they'll throw in a free custom Bird Dogs Yeti-style tumbler with every order so zach clements is returning to ku clements spent his first two years with the team year one was as a true freshman on the national championship team played about five minutes per game last season played about five minutes per game but um certainly with the center position being more wide open

there was more expectations there and you know with clemens he ended up in the offseason like at different points all signs were kind of pointing to that he was going to be the starting center and as you got closer and closer to the season he wasn't really able to take reins of the competition and i think bill self at one point described it as like all the centers are on even playing fields. And eventually K.J. Adams became the guy. They decided to play with the small ball center. And he was just the most trusted and ended up being the best option for you last season at the center position that that's what Bill Self went with. And so Zach Clements still only played about five minutes per game.

It was an interesting season. You did have, you know, some highlight moments for Clements. He had the 10-point game against Oklahoma, which I guess he just continues to play well every year against the Sooners. You also had the moments where it was like, whether it's just him not playing or like the Wisconsin game was like, no, no, no. What are you doing taking the three? And then you get the offensive rebound. Kevin McCuller ties it to go to overtime or he misses the other one. Bobby Pettiford gets the putback that there were some up and down moments, but you never really got to realize the potential outside of, I guess, those Oklahoma games. So he ended up entering the transfer portal after the first two years at Kansas,

and it seemed to make sense for all parties involved. At the time when he entered the portal, KU still had Ernest Uday and Zuby Adjafar. I can't remember who entered first, him or Cam Martin, but I don't really think that was part of the discussion for him. And so you had those two guys in tow. You knew KJ Adams could possibly even be a five. And you didn't know at that point, like, was Kansas going to hit somebody hard in the transfer portal to go for more centers or, you know, whatever it was that you knew there was a lot of competition there. So it was like, let's go somewhere.

We're going to get playing time. So he ends up entering the portal and he commits to uc santa barbara which has become like a really good team in the big west like they've made a couple tournaments in the past handful of years they made it this past year as a 14c they were up at halftime on baylor they almost beat creighton a few years back in the ncaa tournament they've been a big uh school that's gotten some big-time transfers to help them be a good school they got this yoan treore kid who was like a former four or five star recruit from auburn and it looked like they were going to be a really talented two big basketball team you go to a really beautiful campus in santa barbara you got great weather and you have a

chance to be on a team that makes the ncaa tournament and and you play a lot you start a lot and you improve your stock and everything but clements never arrived on campus at uc santa barbara um they are on a system where i don't know if they're on like the trimester. A lot of schools in California are on different systems. Like I think University of San Diego is on like trimester system and you have different systems as opposed to the semester system that Kansas is on. Their summer school was going to start, I think it was next week. He never took a class there.

He never enrolled. He never got financial aid from the scholarship, right? He never had on-campus living that was being applied by the scholarship. So he never technically was a part of the team, a part of the school. Even though he committed there, he never signed up or enrolled, which means that this technically isn't his second transfer. Technically means he just reneged on his transfer, and he never transferred to

begin with. And we got to hear from Bill self at a media availability earlier today. He kind of talked about how Zach Clements called him up and they were just kind of talking through like what's going on and, you know, kind of getting an update because coaches do, you know, check in on, well, how you doing? Like how's this going for you? Is everything all good? Although I think this was Clements calling self based on how, you the story was told and uh the way bill self put it he was kind of caught off guard by the idea that zach brought up now that you know maybe there were some more openings

there like zoobie and earnest transfer out of the program too um even though you have hunter dickinson coming in that he kind of broached the subject of coming back to kansas and you wonder how much originally when zach Clements left, was that Kansas kind of pushing him out the door and being like, you know, we think it's best for you to go get this other playing time. Does that change because you lost Ernest and Zuby and you were looking for more center depth and the long-term depth, not just for this year, but the future depth becomes more open.

Now that those guys have left the program, is it something where Clements just wanted to leave for more playing time right uh you kind of try to figure that out but but things are different now than they were then and so when when he brings that up um you know you're more receptive to it if you're ku you're more receptive to it if you're bill self and he will be immediately eligible however there, there was some talk about, well, he won't be immediately eligible and that it'll be his second transfer, so he's going to have to sit out there. No, he is immediately eligible because he never enrolled or did anything at UCSB.

So if KU wanted to, they could play him this year. But according to Bill Self, he said he's going to redshirt now. Now, it is early enough in the offseason. What if Zach Clements just has his breakout year as a former top 50 recruit and just kills it in workouts? And, you know, he's clearly better than maybe Parker Brown. And you decide you're wanting to play KJ only at the four. And you're like, well, Clements is our second best center.

Like, I don't know, maybe we don't redshirt him, right? Like, I guess you could do that. But that is the plan right now to redshirt him. And again, if there's an injury or something or something comes up down the road, you know, you pull an Ochagbaje and the redshirt gets pulled if you really get desperate and get to that point in time. Like, I think this works out well for KU because, you know, ideally you don't have any injuries and you should have enough guys in the rotation.

But part of this for getting 11th man was what happens if there is an injury do you have enough coverage there and this gives you some more coverage there so the idea is for him to redshirt which i think is very helpful for this team gives you another practice body which having extra big men to bang in the post that's always a good thing having extra players to practice with that is a good thing if you're running a five on five scrimmage you're going to need guys to sub in right you might need you know eight nine guys on each team well now with 11 scholarship players and the five or six walk-ons they have you're kind of getting there um it will give him an opportunity to improve pressure free right he's red shirting he gets to sit out the year he gets to learn from hunter dickinson i mean he didn't really have that guy to learn from in the past

he had david mccormick as a freshman, but I think David McCormick's style of play was a lot different than Zach Clements'. There are still a lot of differences with Hunter Dickinson and Zach Clements'. Like, Dickinson's still bigger than him. He's stronger. He still has better, you know, postgame and stuff like that. But there's some similarities in that Dickinson can stretch it a little bit, that he can shoot the three a little bit, right?

And maybe he can learn some good things from Hunter Dickinson there that he can just, even with a year off, like part of the thing for Zach Clements is improving his strength, improving his body. And with a red shirt year, you get to work on those things. And then I think the impact down the road, you look at somebody who, you know, the biggest loss with losing Zuby and or Ernest wasn't necessarily for this year's team. You have Hunter Dickinson coming in. He's going to play high 20s, low 30s minutes per game, right? That's going to basically cover you at the center position. It was less about having Ernest or Zuby for this year,

and it was more about what happens a year from now. What happens a year from now if Hunter Dickinson goes pro and Parker Brown's graduated? Who's going to be your center then? And it was an obvious answer of like, oh, great, you have Hunter Dickinson this year and then next year, Ernest Uday or Zuby Adjafro break out. Those guys end up transferring. Now you don't have the long-term center.

With Zach Clements, you at least have potential of that long-term center. And we'll see if he gets there through his redshirt year and can progress in that way. What's funny about all this is that because he is not using up his one free transfer rule since, again, he never enrolled there. Hypothetically, next offseason, let's say Hunter Dickinson comes back. Let's say KJ Adams is technically still playing some five minutes, and he's ahead of you after he was this past year. Zach Clements could just re-transfer again next offseason and use his free transfer then, it's probably worth the swing it's it's worth the risk for KU at this point I think it makes a lot of sense for that 11 scholarship

player let's get on to more of how he fits in the program not just this year because obviously it is going to more so be well it's a redshirt year this year but moving forward like the future of the program moving on after that his scouting report on what we can expect from him and what you're going to be looking to move or work on. And then is KU now done with 11 scholarship players? First, though, this episode of the show brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Baseball season is in full swing, and there's no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook.

Right now, new customers get a no-sweat first bet up to $1,000. That's up to $1,000 back in bonus bets. If your first bet does not win, just go to Fanduel.com slash locked on to join today. On Tuesdays, they do Dinger Tuesdays here in Kansas. Put 25 bucks on somebody to hit a home run. And if they hit it, then great. You're winning a bunch of money. Whether you hit it or not, you get five bucks in bonus bets back for every player on either team that hits a home run in that game.

So I usually am just like, oh, is somebody playing in Colorado that day? Right. And I don't think that's the case today. But you find the best hitters park, find a good home run hitter, bet on it. You can get a bunch of bonus bets back. And there are a lot of other great bets, boosts. They put together some pre-made parlays for you. They have different promos just like that seemingly each and every day. Don't miss your chance to snag a no sweat first bet up to $1,000

when you join FanDuel today. Just go to FanDuel.com locked on to sign up. FanDuel, an official partner of Major League Baseball. So how exactly does Zach Clements fit in with the team? As I mentioned, the plan is to redshirt him this season, gives you extra depth, helps you out in practice, gives him chance to to develop hypothetically if somebody gets injured you could always pull the ochag baji and i guess like i said in a situation where he just looks like a new man he's unbelievable in the offseason there's nothing you know you can have the plan to redshirt him now but there's nothing like holding you to that you don't have to make that decision right now

so even though that's the plan if he kills it in the offseason and it's like man we gotta get this guy 10 12 minutes game he's gotta be our backup center then you go from there and you're happy with it because that would be a good development to happen right but realistically you're not getting much from from this year so what about moving forward you know uh 2023 to 24 you have hunter Dickinson this could be his last year it might not Parker Brown it'll be his last year then you fast forward a year next offseason headed into the 2024 to 25 season Parker Brown gone KJ Adams would be a senior Hunter Dickinson either would be gone or in his final season so at that point next season if Zach Clements does undergo the red shirt, he'd be a red shirt junior for the 2024 to 2025 season. And at that point, he is either the third string center, you know, behind KJ and Dickinson, who knows if he bring anybody else want to play KJ more at the four opens right

up and that'll partially be dependent on how he does in in this season red shirting right if KU sees those progressions if KU sees a guy who is ready to make that jump into being that spot then they'll be comfortable with it if he doesn't like the the tea leaves will be what happens next off season do they add a transfer center, right? Or do they add a five-star top ten center or something like that? And to a certain degree, like you might just add those guys anyway if they're interested because you just take the best out and figure it out from there.

But that would be a lot of tea leaves about how he does in the offseason here. Again, though, if Hunter Dickinson's back, then it doesn't matter. But then it gives you coverage beyond that, right you go to 2025 26 hunter dickinson's for sure gone kj adams is for sure gone at that point okay zach clements could be the starter at that point and you'd have another year under his belt or maybe he just fits a mitch lightfoot role like right like um maybe there is no longer like starting potential maybe there is right he's a former top 50 recruits. If you're talking year three or four, year five,

usually those guys will make jumps by then. But let's say worst case scenario. Zach Clements is a long term Mitch Lightfoot with more of a three point shot. Like Clements is a little bit taller than Mitch Lightfoot.

Both were a little bit undersized in terms of weight and strength down low and were more maybe power forwards that were asked to play the five. Clements has more touch, though. He has more of a three-point shooting game. Lightfoot had maybe the better hook game,

and maybe it was a little bit better rim protector. Clements probably a little bit better of a rebounder. But there's similarities there that you could work yourself to, like, if Clements is content in that role, maybe by his fourth year or his fifth year, he could be that Mitch Lightfoot role of 10 to 15 minutes a game, and there's nothing wrong with that either. Or there's the other scenario where, i mentioned like hunter dickinson's back you bring in a transfer portal center to phil parker being gone yourself kj adams you can play some

five minutes and zach clements next offseason just like okay maybe now i'm gonna go right so uh but i'm sure for clements this wasn't a good experience for him to be like yeah the grass ain't always greener you know um i'm gonna make more nil money at kansas in my current position even red shirting at kansas i might make more nil money than i would have at like ucsb and i have a chance to develop and at this point in time like maybe i shouldn't view myself as being somebody who can go straight to the nba after year three like let's just take my time um and develop into the best player i can be and you know uh when you you get to the transfer portal and you don't have as many offers as you might think and you do end up at a mid-major

level it maybe is a bit of a wake-up call that you're like you know maybe i should be patient with an opportunity like i have at kansas and maybe that is something there so as far as the scouting report there obviously somebody who you know bringing somebody back here as opposed to going out and getting a different player like if you went out and got diongo or something you don't have to worry about the continuity you don't have to worry about do we know if he's coachable or not you don't have to worry about will he get along with his teammates you would assume if you're bringing him back you're comfortable with all those things he knows the system even if it always wasn't a great system fit he at least knows the system and what to expect the shooting potential is something

that you're still kind of looking to hit he shot like 40 from three in high school obviously a different three-point line and different game but the touch was there and that was always in the scouting report so it's been weird that he struggled to shoot he's got a good release he's got a good shooting form he has confidence i mean again go back to the end of the wisconsin game um but it just hasn't come around this is from Athletic as part of his transfer profile. If Clemens knows he's going to play and is encouraged to shoot, it's possible he becomes a reliable shooter. He also has touch around the basket.

And just the potential overall, 6'10", 230 pounds, former top 40 guy. I think in the 24-7 only rankings he was in the 70s, but still, you know, top 80 recruit. He was only listed as a three-star and a top 200 was in the 70s but still you know top 80 recruit um he was only um listed as a three star and a top 200 guy in the transfer rankings but you know that can quickly turn if you get back to your potential like i said if the shooting comes around his floor is mitch lightfoot but with a three at some point in his career but his ceiling if he ends up figuring out the rebounding and the strength and the physicality and the defense and the inside postgame

and all that stuff, and you do have the three-point shooting come around, like the ceiling is still pro potential for Zach Clements, right? You never know you're going to get to the ceiling, but that is the ceiling there. And you saw some of that potential in like the OU games the last couple years. This also was from the athletic. Clements moves well for his size, and he's a capable shooter.

He'd work best with the team that would utilize him as a pick and pop center he made only 10 of his 43 point attempts at kansas but it's tough as a shooter when you're playing in short spurts that's part of it didn't have a chance to really get rhythm he kind of probably knew if he missed his first three he was going to get a quick hook so that makes it a little bit tougher and will it ever be a great fit at kansas maybe not If he does turn into that good of a player, they will work the offense around you. Dedrick Lawson was shooting a couple threes a game. Hunter Dickinson's probably going to shoot a couple this year.

They will work around you if you become that good of a player. If you earn Bill Self's trust in the other areas, they will start to work that into the offense because they trust you. But otherwise, it becomes difficult there. This is also from Evan Daniels in 2020 on his high school scouting report on 24-7 sports. Clements is a versatile forward prospect with good positional size, mobility, and skill. During his junior season, Clements' body started to fill out, and the weight program at Sunrise certainly helped. Clements is mobile and consistently

runs the floor, plays with energy, and competes on both ends. There's a lot of potential offensively as he has terrific hands and touch, plus shooting mechanics footwork and range are the chances of reaching that ceiling maybe a bit lower now after the first two years what we saw maybe but i just say all this to remind you that there still is that ceiling there and could playing with dickinson help him hone in some of his games and improve some of his weaknesses you would think so i also thought he was solid enough as a rebounder i don't think he was solid enough as a rebounder. I don't think he was a great rebounder. There were times the other team got too many offensive rebounds with him,

but his freshman numbers rebounding were great. Obviously, limited sample size, so it's hard to tell too much. Also, solid athlete for a center as well. But the inconsistent shooting, he only shot 35% on twos in his two years. He only shot – or I'm sorry. He shot overall 35% from the field in his two years. He only shot, or I'm sorry, he shot overall 35% from the field in his two years. Below 50%, 16 of 34 on twos, 10 of 40, that's 25% on threes,

only 46% at the free throw line. Didn't really show much of a post game. You need to add more strength. That can lead to problems, maybe defensively or rebounding or getting back down in the post foul trouble was an issue. He averaged for his two years, first two years at Kansas, almost seven fouls per 40 minutes out of comparison.

Yudoka Azubuki for his career was at 4.7. So those are things you need to work on the toughness, all that sort of stuff. But if he can, you'll like the profile there. All right, let's finish up. Is KU now officially done with 11 scholarship players this is locked on jayhawks so this is locked on jayhawks and uh ku now with 11 scholarship players zach clements plan is to redshirt him so i guess theoretically that means you don't plan on him joining the rotation and i have kind of talked about that yeah maybe you

could squeeze somebody in to be that eighth man in the rotation. And then basically that opportunity would be pushed tougher for a guy like Marcus Adams or Jamari McDowell or Parker Brown. That is at least some sort of a possibility. This is what Bill will self-state as media availability. Trace Lott of the Kansas City Star tweeted it out. I think we're pretty set right now. If there is an opportunity to recruit somebody that will make us better we will certainly do that but i like our roster pretty much gives you very little in turn like it does leave things open-ended enough right this is this is pretty vague enough that basically it's saying either of these could happen right and so um i guess

theoretically uh if something does happen one way or another, we should credit Bill Self for that. So there we go. But him basically saying that is basically telling me that maybe there are some opportunities with grad transfers that he's possibly looking into, or that maybe there are some possibilities, grad transfers, whether they're in the portal or not, that might have some interest in KU if it ends up happening, and that he's not going to discount saying no to those guys if they want to come to KU and if they're willing to play the right role right they have to maybe be willing to come in and you know be content if they only end up playing 10-15 minutes per game or maybe even as low as you know 20 minutes per game if they think they can get 30 minutes at another school right maybe it has to be the right situation maybe it has to be hey we we used up a lot of our NIL money on

Hunter Dickinson and Kevin McCuller and some of these guys that we don't have as much to promise you. So it has to be the right guarantee there. Whatever it is, or if it just comes down to basically being like, yeah, we're not going to approach anyone, but if somebody approaches us and is like, I really want to come there, then we'll listen. So I

guess it's vague enough that I would say that tells you really that anything can happen. If I'm guessing though, based on everything, I think there's probably a better chance they're done now than they're not, but it might be like 60%.

It might be like 55%. And, you know, in the scenario where they do add a 12th, it would not be surprising at all, but it feels like that would probably be some time down the road. All right, that's going to do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks.

We'll be back later this week. Maybe we'll have some player deep dives. If they do decide to go that route and add a 12th scholarship player, maybe we'll get some more news elsewhere with football, basketball, whatever it is, and we'll discuss that. Maybe we'll do an NBA draft thing as well with the draft coming on Thursday night.

I'm Derek Johnson. You can find me on Twitter at DJohnsonRadio. You can find our shows with Locked on Jayhawks wherever you get any of your podcasts, and you can like and subscribe our show on YouTube as well. Have a good one. See you next time.