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I got to watch future Jayhawk Markese Jacobs last night in action. This was a sectional game actually played at my alma mater in the Chicago suburbs.

His team, Uplift Charter was playing Orr, a school in the Garfield Park neighborhood, one of Chicago's deadliest areas. Dozens of homicides last year out of a population of 50,000 is all you need to know about where Orr is located.

Orr is a defending state champ, and was featured last Saturday with a well done 30-30 style documentary on Fox. They are very well coached and nearly beat national powerhouse Simeon in the city championships.

In December the two teams played each other and Orr obliterated Uplift, so I wasn't expecting too much. However Uplift jumped all over them and led by as many as 19 in the first half. Jacobs, whom I was there to watch was amazing, pull up 3's, lightning quick accurate passes meeting their target.

Uplift played a little out of control, especially with a big lead and lost in overtime.

But here's what I saw in Markese. INTENSITY. He fouled out in OT. At a huddle, he stood, fists clenched, fighting tears. This is an extremely competitive young man. He is still only a junior so he has time to funnel that intensity into even better play. I was wishing last night he played the coach on the floor and got his team to play more under control because if he did I'd be going again Friday night to watch him play.

I think you all will enjoy watching him play.

@wissox Thanks for the update. I know it is cool to watch guys that we are recruiting, or even better, guys that have committed.

There was actually a documentary on Orr produced in part by D Wade that aired recently on Fox.

Oh I see this was mentioned in the OP. I should read more. :joy:

BShark said:

There was actually a documentary on Orr produced in part by D Wade that aired recently on Fox.

Oh I see this was mentioned in the OP. I should read more. :joy:

Did you watch the program? I DVR'd it, and Villanova's game went to OT, so the DVR turned off at the allotted time, thus I couldn't finish it.

The coaches son, Chase Adams, was a youtube sensation when he was a youngster. He was a dazzling quick little guy and gained some fame because of it.

@wissox It's worth watching. I assume it will be up to stream soon if it isn't already.

@wissox

How did Markese play overall? Did he look better then the last time you saw him play?

@BeddieKU23

I thought he looked really good. Made some great shots. Not sure of the assists, I think he had quite a few.

wissox said:

@BeddieKU23

I thought he looked really good. Made some great shots. Not sure of the assists, I think he had quite a few.

How was his leadership running the team. We know he's an explosive guard that can score. How did his outside shot look? Thanks its great getting to hear how a future hawk looks on the court.

Considering the depth of the team he was facing, he looked really good. His big wasn't having a very good game, another kid was picking up his slack a little bit, but it really fell on Markese. He reminded me of Mason quite a bit, same body, height, etc. He shot a lot of FT's, made most. He probably made 3 of 6 3 pointers. He's got a little bit of showboating in him that will need to be curtailed. At one point he did a crossover move, backed out of it, his defender stumbled. He decided to do it again and turned it over. Totally unnecessary but he was looking for another crowd reaction like he'd just had!

As far as leadership, the thing, his team frittered away a large lead. I was looking for him to settle his team down. But they kept rushing shots, wasting possessions and a team with 5-6 D-1 players on it made them pay.

@BShark Nice find on the video! Haven't had a chance to watch, but will when I get home.

@wissox People want to compare him to Sherron because Chicago, but Mason is actually a better comp. Not saying he will have the same kind of career at KU but he has a lot of the same attributes including mental toughness and great athleticism.

I just hope that he can add a few more inches before he gets here. If he ends up 6'1 or 6'2 that'd be tremendous.

@Kcmatt7 I don't think he has grown any since he committed.

Also @wissox while he will need to reign it in a bit and going for another crossover instead of just shooting it is a bit much, Self's FF teams at KU have both had multiple guys that just dripped with that level of swag. It's knife edge stuff but hopefully Markese is just the right amount of crazy like Mario, Tyshawn, TRob etc...

My wife and I make a nice cameo at the 9:36 mark of the video. The kid is putting his arm around his coach and we're right above the coaches head. I'm representing the Jayhawks with my hat.

@wissox Good PR! Did he ever see your hat?

@wissox More importantly, did you lead the crowd in the Rock Chalk chant?

@mayjay no eye contact was made. No chant was chanted although I wanted to sing my high school fight song!

@wissox Your wife seems thrilled to be there. :joy:

But seriously that's pretty cool.

@BShark she points out I didn't look all that thrilled at the moment either! She's a good sport and will attend events like that with me even though she never would have gone otherwise.

Made the Chicago Sun-Times All Area team.

Langford worries me. Things like this : https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/top-college-basketball-recruit-romeo-langfords-dad-rips-john-calipari-for-u-19-debacle/ ↗ ↗

@KUSTEVE Wrong thread? But yeah, helicopter dad alert.

@KUSTEVE

According to that story Vanderbilt and Indiana are the favorites to land Langford.

@KUSTEVE Dad seems like a little much. But if he comes here, he isn’t sitting so I don’t expect any issues.

I'm gonna love Jacobs. This kid has swag and a healthy attitude. He's contagious baby.

KUSTEVE said:

Langford worries me. Things like this : https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/top-college-basketball-recruit-romeo-langfords-dad-rips-john-calipari-for-u-19-debacle/ ↗ ↗

He's fine. This is directed at Calipari. His dad is not Carl Henry crazy.

@BShark

Haha...love his shoes. Crimson and Blue...they don't even match his uni.

@truehawk93 No one can doubt his love for KU. It's pretty damn awesome.

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/college/big-12/university-of-kansas/article210318719.html ↗

!alt text ↗

Just read Markese has reopened his recruitment which I guess means he's no longer going to be a Jayhawk.

@wissox Dang, he really seemed to love the hawks. Too bad he didn’t develop as hoped.

dylans said:

@wissox Dang, he really seemed to love the hawks. Too bad he didn’t develop as hoped.

Ya he absolutely LOVED KU , just think he realized the numbers game and playing time ahead. - I mean pretty sure Devon will be back for his So season - - - Moore will be back sorry but I just think he would have struggled for minutes next year , He keeps dropping in the rankings like was said somewhere close to losing the 4 star ranking , I'm not really sure why but some have said his height was an issue and then too that he had leveled off put that with the fact he saw KU continuing to recruit other pg's made the writing look pretty clear. - - Looks like a great guy just a numbers thing I think wish him nothing but the best. -- ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY

jayballer73 said:

dylans said:

@wissox Dang, he really seemed to love the hawks. Too bad he didn’t develop as hoped.

Ya he absolutely LOVED KU , just think he realized the numbers game and playing time ahead. - I mean pretty sure Devon will be back for his So season - - - Moore will be back sorry but I just think he would have struggled for minutes next year , He keeps dropping in the rankings like was said somewhere close to losing the 4 star ranking , I'm not really sure why but some have said his height was an issue and then too that he had leveled off put that with the fact he saw KU continuing to recruit other pg's made the writing look pretty clear. - - Looks like a great guy just a numbers thing I think wish him nothing but the best. -- ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY

He is 5'10'' and doesn't have the PG skills and explosive athleticism to make up for it at the KU level. His height is definitely an issue.

At least KU let him know now, so he can have a good fair shake at a 2nd recruitment. He has offers from FSU, Nebraska and VT since the announcement.

If you read around his twitter and some of the guys around Mac Irvin Fire, there is definitely some bad blood about this. The reasons you laid out are good reasons for him to decommit but I think if it were entirely up to Jacobs he would still be committed. Even recently he knew the situation and that he would likely sit his first year at a minimum. Now we see KU pushing hard for an unranked PG out of Arkansas before this was "announced" I really think this was a KU/Self decision. Just my opinion on that.

@BShark You said you think this was a Self decision. I always wonder how these things work....Self laying out what he has to do to earn playing time? Telling him directly he won't play much?

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Illinois fans seem to want him, though I don't think he would do that well in the BIG tbh. Also he isn't near 6' but heh.

Hawk8086 said:

@BShark You said you think this was a Self decision. I always wonder how these things work....Self laying out what he has to do to earn playing time? Telling him directly he won't play much?

Probably more stuttering involved. :grinning:

But yeah I would think Self would be pretty direct about it. It would be interesting to know the particulars, but we probably never will.

BShark said:

jayballer73 said:

dylans said:

@wissox Dang, he really seemed to love the hawks. Too bad he didn’t develop as hoped.

Ya he absolutely LOVED KU , just think he realized the numbers game and playing time ahead. - I mean pretty sure Devon will be back for his So season - - - Moore will be back sorry but I just think he would have struggled for minutes next year , He keeps dropping in the rankings like was said somewhere close to losing the 4 star ranking , I'm not really sure why but some have said his height was an issue and then too that he had leveled off put that with the fact he saw KU continuing to recruit other pg's made the writing look pretty clear. - - Looks like a great guy just a numbers thing I think wish him nothing but the best. -- ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY

He is 5'10'' and doesn't have the PG skills and explosive athleticism to make up for it at the KU level. His height is definitely an issue.

At least KU let him know now, so he can have a good fair shake at a 2nd recruitment. He has offers from FSU, Nebraska and VT since the announcement.

If you read around his twitter and some of the guys around Mac Irvin Fire, there is definitely some bad blood about this. The reasons you laid out are good reasons for him to decommit but I think if it were entirely up to Jacobs he would still be committed. Even recently he knew the situation and that he would likely sit his first year at a minimum. Now we see KU pushing hard for an unranked PG out of Arkansas before this was "announced" I really think this was a KU/Self decision. Just my opinion on that.

Ya that very well could be true. - -Coach might of said just think it would be best to look elsewhere for his goals. -- - - I read your post yesterday all about the bad blood thing with the Mac Irvin Fire thing - -the stud pg they have - -well we shall see how that might play out down the road I think might bite us in the rear but that's how things goes sometimes. - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY

@jayballer73 I think despite the connection with Howard he is a pretty heavy Illinois lean.

FWIW, in his announcement he indicated he is looking at the best place for him but he will still consider KU.

JayHawkFanToo said:

FWIW, in his announcement he indicated he is looking at the best place for him but he will still consider KU.

Yeah, but KU isn't really considering him. Of course no one tied to KU will come out and say that, it's common courtesy to let the optics for the player be good.

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Illinois has offered.

I’d be shocked if he comes to Kansas, We already have Garrett, Moore, Dotson and Grimes that can run the point. I be shocked if 3 of those 4 didn’t return next season, possibly all 4. Not to mention we have a few guys rated considerably higher on our radar.

kjayhawks said:

I’d be shocked if he comes to Kansas, We already have Garrett, Moore, Dotson and Grimes that can run the point. I be shocked if 3 of those 4 didn’t return next season, possibly all 4. Not to mention we have a few guys rated considerably higher on our radar.

He's not. He decommitted.

Grimes is planning to be OAD. Other three should be back.

@BShark

While it is not unprecedented for a player to decommit and then commit again (4-start Brandon Williams decommitted from Arizona and later committed again), looks like Jacobs has already several P5 offers and will likely sign with a program where he has a better shot at playing time.

I really like the kid, he was a big KU fan who signed early and every picture I saw of him he was always wearing KU gear. I am sure it is hard on him but having several offers from quality programs probably eases the blow.

@JayHawkFanToo that's a different situation entirely. This is KU saying no thanks. Things could go wrong but at that point would Jacobs even want to come back?

@BShark

Agreed. Hometown Illinois looks like the reasonable destination.

Jacobs will be a solid P5 player, but he will be more suited for a mid tier P5 program than a power program. I was hoping he would hit a growth spurt and get to 6-1 or so, but that hasn't panned out. I will still be rooting for him to do well wherever he lands because he seems like a solid person.