🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Rut Roh

Quoting the first paragraph

"Earlier this year, state legislators voted -- by an overwhelming 31-4 margin in California's Senate -- to allow student-athletes to be able to profit off their name, image and likeness (NIL). This won't mean anything to most current college athletes, because the statute wouldn't kick into effect in 2023. There are still a few more policy-making hoops to jump through, but California appears set to be a game-changing agent in the world of amateurism.

Unless the NCAA can convince it otherwise."

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/ncaa-considers-postseason-ban-for-california-schools-if-state-proceeds-with-amateurism-reform/ ↗

BShark said:

BeddieKU23 said:

@BShark

Makes sense. Nothing out there that can impact this years team. Might find a mid-year worth taking but who knows.

4 spots open regardless- 3 seniors + 1 open.

Dotson, De Sousa & Agbaji could have decisions to make next year. Safe to say Dotson is gone, Silvio is a wild card. I think we get year 3 from Ochai.

So I'd imagine the staff has 5 spots to sell

Agree, no point in using it.

As far as recruiting I think the only must get is a high impact PG. Bill seems to know this based on recruiting. Won't complain with other impact signings but anything else would be gravy and depth.

Definitely. We can read the tea-leaves with all the PG offers out there that we are definitely after an instant impact guy.

We should be able to land someone that can play immediately with the success of Dotson.

I need to see how this years roster plays out before I go all in on needing an elite PG. I'm a big believer in McBride. I'll take 3 years of him starting if he's as good as I think he is.

We have post needs. Will be interesting to see if Jalen Wilson is going to be a guard/wing or 4. That probably is a big part of the recruiting strategy..

BShark said:

@BeddieKU23 Recruit well, get swept by Bill. Rinse repeat.

Right now 2020-21 season, Oklahoma & Baylor look to have salty rosters if majority stay in place.

Baylor is full up on scholarships for 2 years right now. Obviously won't last but its interesting strategy

Not KU but Baylor has been cleaning up in 2020 recruiting so far. Already signed a Top 100 PG. Just signed a Top 50 Center. Two sit out transfers as well. Drew doing his thing.

BShark said:

@BeddieKU23 They definitely know each other, how deep it goes idk.

🐦 View Tweet

Good find!

Exciting prospect. May end up in 21 class. I like our chances of holding onto him if he does re-classify. Big kid for his age, certainly looks like he will be physically mature enough to make the jump early if needed

@BShark

Is he close with McBride? I see they are from the same state

@BShark

Makes sense. Nothing out there that can impact this years team. Might find a mid-year worth taking but who knows.

4 spots open regardless- 3 seniors + 1 open.

Dotson, De Sousa & Agbaji could have decisions to make next year. Safe to say Dotson is gone, Silvio is a wild card. I think we get year 3 from Ochai.

So I'd imagine the staff has 5 spots to sell

BShark said:

@BeddieKU23 Eh, never know.

KU just offered: https://247sports.com/Player/Dawson-Garcia-46050093/ ↗

Right we don't. We have some positive momentum at least with Enaruan/Wilson/White recently.

Big need on the big we just offered. Let's see where that one goes. Have no clue which way he might be leaning

Yup, not only want he's a major NEED

Lok Wur went to Nike land in Oregon

FYI Josaphat Bilau picked Marsha and the gin bottle of Wichita St

BShark said:

https://247sports.com/Player/KK-Robinson-46083970/ ↗

:eyes:

He averaged 17.5 points per game and shot almost 44 percent from three on the EYBL circuit this spring. Nike battle

Well 2022 recruiting is off to a good start. Let's see if he sticks. In today's age nothing is to be taken for granted. Looks like high upside and connections are favorable to keeping him

Have to counter that UNC visit. Big weekend

Lawson signed a Summer League deal with Golden St. I think he'll end up overseas at some point with a good contract

The Top 3 picks seem set in stone. Zion, Morant, Barrett. After that I'm not sure of the quality of this draft tbh.

I see Darius Garland is being mocked in the Top 10. High risk pick that high up after missing most of his freshman year.

Could be a yawner for KU fans. ESPN's latest didn't have Lawson as even a 2nd round pick at this point. I know the 2nd round can be a crapshoot but still. Will be interesting to see where Lawson lands if he's not drafted.

bskeet said:

Our defense has lacked shot-blockers the last year or two. I could see that changing next year. And shot-blocking could be a determining factor in rotation of the front-court. Silvio and Doke have a bit more experience in this dept, but Dave's size suggests he should be able to be a factor. It's a skill in which instincts and timing can be an equalizer to athleticism.

Some good points here.

Udoka is a guy that can average 2+ blks a game. His Soph year he had 60 and before the injury last season I think we saw some improvement from him on instincts and when to contest a shot at the rim. I distinctly remember him blocking a 3 point attempt in one of the earlier games last season. The instincts are there but he's been limited every year in some capacity. I'm not expecting he becomes Embiid/Withey/Aldrich all of a sudden but I think his presence alone alongside another athletic big at minimum is going to limit easy baskets that our smaller lineups over the past few years have struggled with.

Silvio & Dave are not natural rim protectors but I think they will hold their own. Silvio is a very good athlete and we should see better defensive instincts out of him now that he's had time in the program. If Dave continues to improve his athleticism and explosiveness as Self has said is happening you have to be excited about what he can do.

Prison Mitch has elite instincts as a shot blocker especially weakside. His anticipation is a skill.

There should be no excuse for KU limiting easy baskets and protecting the rim at an above average level this season

rockchalkwyo said:

KUSTEVE said:

@drgnslayr When he puts it all together, and he will put it all together ... either this year or next... we're going to feel ashamed how we dogged him.

I love this post. We’re going to realize how important Marcus is in this rotation however it’ll be after he graduates. We talk about moving away frown AODs and move closer to a 4 star who bleeds crimson and blue. Marcus is that guy we want.

He’ll be a bench player but have started minutes.

Add Mitch to the bleed C&M bandwagon as well. Prison Mitch has been recruited over every year and yet he still stands. He may even take a red-shirt just to extend his time here. Who knows but in today's climate 99/100 of those kids transfer for what they think is greener pastures and opportunity. Mitch has stuck it out. It's a rare quality to see today.

Marcus is a hard worker. I think he'll figure something out or recognize other ways he can help this team win games. I hope he takes all the criticism around his shooting ability as fuel and motivation.

I think Marcus starts the season as a starter. Since Moss isn't coming until end of summer early fall I would imagine he'll have a learning curve for the system.

Texas Hawk 10 said:

@BShark I suppose the other question with Dave at the 4 is does he have the quickness and agility to guard 4's out on the perimeter?

Maybe that's a risk worth taking now that the 3 point line has been moved back. Unless the 4 is a known 3 point shooter with accuracy guys with stretch ability might not be as accurate now.

On Dave's improvement. The numbers clearly showed last season that the more minutes he played the better he was. He wasn't a spark plug, instant impact guy off the bench. If he's made the leap from his freshman year its a very encouraging sign because then Self can depend on him to come on regular rotations and foul trouble and be an anchor in the post. I was worried he would improve but not have enough minutes consistently to impact the game. If Self isn't just pumping Dave up at this point I expect there to be minimal drop off when his number is called.

@BShark

Yeah its amazing they were in the Top 20 considering the roster.

BShark said:

@BeddieKU23 Hoping Self has realized this after being smoked in the tournament two straight years...

It should be at the top of the list. The worst defensive team in the Self era made the final 4 two seasons ago. But your right they got smoked in the Final 4. Last season we knew the defense wasn't great after Doke, Vick and Silvio all ended the season not playing.

I'm excited to see this group on defense but I'm not buying an elite defense t-shirt just yet. They certainly have the pieces to be very good.

Looking at Kenpom here's the avg defensive ranking for KU since 2005 broken up in 3 year clusters.

2005-2007- AVG ranking 7

2008-2010- AVG Ranking 6.6

2011-2013 - AVG ranking 4.6

2014-2016- AVG ranking 11.3

2017-2019- AVG ranking 29.3

Trending down defensively since 2014 for various reasons. The ceiling is there for this to be a very good defensive team. Based on the numbers I think a return to the top 10 is possible.

@BShark

That article made it sound like he wouldn't be visiting due to conflict with a camp. Code for silent commit if he bails on the visit

To follow up I think this team has good individual pieces on defense but watching how good Tech & Virginia were on defense last season was about the sum of the parts and the scheme. If you don't have all guys engaged defensively and the scheme be good enough this defense probably will be a slightly better version then the previous few seasons

BShark said:

Garrett is going to play over 20 minutes a game so plan accordingly.

Have the bourbon ready when defenders sit an ocean away from him and he's launching missiles at the rim

The defense should be decent this year. I think expecting them to be elite or one of the best in the country is a lot of Kool-Aid drinking. Self's defenses haven't been elite in years, especially with the rule changes. Yes we should rebound well, protect the rim, we have a defensive perimeter stopper in Garrett and a ballhawk PG in Dotson. Ochai showed promise defensively from the wing as well. However I think the scheme we run on defense has been average at best. Does anyone really think the scheme will ever change? Maybe it does. I'm in wait and see mode here

did they Illuminatingly place a bag of "stuff" in his go bag.

If he doesn't visit KU after this we know the deal

I will define it a miracle if he wins 15 games this year. Brutal team makeup.

Lynn will be slinging the gin once again

I think Wilson settles in at the SF position here as a freshman. He's a big guard and his combination of size and skill is an advantage for him doing what he does naturally which is score and play well within a team structure. There's certainly scenario's out there hypothetically that would put him in a 4 guard lineup defending and scoring from those 4/1 sets Self instituted with past units. As a freshman I don't expect they put that much pressure on him to be a duel position player.

BShark said:

@BeddieKU23 Nix's recruitment is "wide open" currently.

Thanks I haven't kept up to date on him. I know he's had a good spring/early summer so far. Figured he'd be a big commodity out there. Hopefully KU keeps pushing forward on him

Nix is generally considered option #1 right on the board?? Still trying to get a feel of where his interest is in KU in relation to others

FarmerJayhawk said:

The word around the program is he's the most improved guy on the roster. He's healthy finally and things are really starting to click above the neck. It's also the first time he's had really great, consistent coaching since he didn't go to a hoops factory and was a role player in AAU ball. I'm not saying he's Jo because he was a freak show among freak shows, but they both have a ridiculous growth curve.

Great stuff to hear. If healthy I expect his improvement to carry over into games

BShark said:

For those w/o a sub I think the main take-away is that Bill views Ochai as our 2nd best perimeter player, right there just behind Dotson.

That's great to hear.

Just got to hope that leg keeps healthy with the workload he's going to take on this season. The way his season ended was not what we saw when he burned the red-shirt and gave the team a huge boost. We have a lot of players that are benefitting from another year in the system but he may be the one that benefits the most given the situation he came into

@BShark

Definitely not, kicked out of WVU and has had a tough life. Some unfortunately dont take the opportunity they have seriously

BShark said:

Any of the guys I listed would likely start over McBride.

And we will see. Just as often as we have success stories we see guys get recruited over and not amount to much and/or leave.

I like McBride, I really do, but Self is always trying to recruit the best players possible.

That's a good take of the situation.

Dotson seems like a sure thing to leave after this upcoming season so Self will have to recruit and sign a PG/Combo Guard anyway.

I'm pulling for McBride to carve out a role this season that would leave him in a good position to take over. I think he's pretty much everything Self wants in a lead guard from skills to character. I think he outplays the ranking besides his name. Whether that's good enough to be the guy is up to him to prove

Looks like Self and Howard dominated this recruitment. They locked in and got em

@Bosthawk

If you build it they will come. KU had open scholarships so I think regardless of whether it was the 50th ranked player or 400th KU would have filled spots with someone. As most of us have saw this spring, we went through a lot of potential targets to find those who were willing to come here. Optimistically we have to feel good that two Top 100 kids signed here with pro potential down the road. They weren't scared off at least.

An important part will be what was communicated to the signees in the fall and the most recent ones if trouble does come KU's way. If KU is slapped with allegations and say loses a year of postseason access those kids would have a case for immediate eligibility somewhere else if they could prove they were misled about potential upcoming sanctions. Recent precedence has been established as wel. Off the top of my head I can think of Shea Patterson leaving Ole Miss for Michigan in Football and gaining eligibility after Ole Miss allegedly mislead or completely lied about potential sanctions coming to the program. If nothing of substance comes to KU those 4 signees have nothing to worry about. I'm sure the staff gave their honest answers to those families but we can't be sure their honesty will matter if the NCAA comes calling.

BShark said:

BeddieKU23 said:

Moss and Wilson all in the same week. I'm ecstatic honestly how this all unfolded. Waiting sucks but it was worth it.

It was truly an epic week until the NCAA leak made it a bit of a downer.

If Jaybate was here, this would all make sense. Not even a day to celebrate a Top 50 signee followed by lingering doubts of the hammer coming down. I can feel the conspiracy posts now

BShark said:

@BeddieKU23 The schools that just played guys who they directly paid though... If anyone is getting absolutely murdered, it's NC State.

you mean Cleveland St?? Couldn't resist.

USC, Arizona, Louisville, NC St, Auburn have serious issues facing them. I'd put KU in the next tier of worry

Moss and Wilson all in the same week. I'm ecstatic honestly how this all unfolded. Waiting sucks but it was worth it.

Bosthawk said:

I don’t have the time or frankly the interest to do a lot of research into what’s going on with different programs (that’s why this site is so great because of the knowledgeable people here) but Did other schools sit players who were under any kind of suspicion of impropriety like we did?? And as been pointed out, we are not close to being the biggest violators in this latest round of allegations..

Yes other players were held out. Miami & Auburn did this. I'm probably missing a few others off the top of my head.

@BShark

Solid point here. They could have permanently banned him which basically happened to Bowen for example.

@BShark

Agree I think he's a bit limited at the moment but with Development your looking at a solid P5 post player. I think KU can get someone a little more versatile and maybe ready to contribute earlier but that remains to be seen what will be available, interested, and will fit.

BShark said:

BeddieKU23 said:

True the dad's ego's couldn't possibly fit in 1 pad.

Underrated aspect of this class is that the craziest parent is mama Braun and she isn't toooo bad. The Wilsons seem very realistic about where Jalen is at and McBride is extremely grounded.

Guess we just don't know much about Enaruna at all in this regard. We really haven't had any problems with foreign players in this situation though. Diallo situation involved "handlers".

It does appear this class lacks any ego or potential issues going forward. Hopefully the kids are happy here. I would love to see all 4 here at least 3 years and I think that's a good possibility. We could be looking at the future core that leads to glory- Virginia's core that won the title this year was built in similar manner

I'll wait to see the announcements. We know we were investigated and logic would seem to suggest at minimum we get some sort of NOA regardless if the findings are minor or serious in nature. I fully believe KU will fight and have solid ground to stand on. None of that matters with the NCAA though. The headlines won't be pretty, again, if this is smeared the right way. I think the thing that will be of most interest is whether KT or Self is directly assumed of guilt in the NOA...

KUSTEVE said:

@BeddieKU23 I thought they got the 2 houses next door...

True the dad's ego's couldn't possibly fit in 1 pad.