🏀 KuBuckets Archive

In the Case of Smart and VCU. Those players may have signed but have since been granted releases. They haven't set foot on campus so they are allowed to sign wherever they want. That's a pretty common occurrence these days.

What a transfer can't do now, is apply for a waiver if you are a Soph. at VCU and you want to leave from the school because your coach left. You can transfer but you will have to sit a year. Before they were giving out waivers like hot cakes and kids were able to play next year immediately. That's how Thomas of OU played this year.

Graduate Seniors can go wherever, basically Free Agent.

We may try and grab one of these graduate transfers going forward now that we know Greene is having surgery. Pretty sure that wasn't news they were holding from the public so I expect that you might see us get involved with more guys if we need to. If I'm Self I'm trying to talk to Tevin Mack a VCU signee who was granted his release today. Kid can score and would have contributed to them as a freshman.

@JayHawkFanToo

According to ESPN
1. Damion Lee, Drexel (eligible immediately) -- Averaged 17.1 points as a freshman and 13.0 points as a sophomore. As a junior, Lee posted 21.4 points and 6.1 boards per contest -- and he's as sought-after as anyone on this list.

Considering: Arizona, Louisville, Gonzaga, Marquette, Maryland

@stupidmichael

You could certainly be right about the injury effecting his play/maybe even his defense. It certainly could have hurt his jump shot and confidence in shooting.

I give you Selden from last year for reference though. Found out to have a bum knee, gets it corrected and is back to full contact within I think a month of so. Had the entire off-season and we hyped that a healthy Selden would perform much better. That certainly didn't end up being the case.

Now we have Greene who is going to miss the entire spring/summer games/practice/individual work on his game that he needed. If his recovery is quicker, the better if it takes him longer its questionable whether he will be any better than his Soph. year. I think its safe to say we need to find another wing or Perry may see a lot of time at the 3 depending on his summer transitioning to that spot.

@HighEliteMajor

Ouch, I'm certainly in the camp that hopes that's not true.

I've put all my eggs into the Diallo fortune.

@Stupidmichael

Adding any of the remaining front-court blue-chippers would instantly make this team closer to a Final-Four contender.
The Greene injury scares me on Wing depth now though.

We have 3 spots to give, I assume give at least 1 to a OAD type and find some others to red-shirt or transfer sit out. Injuries can and will happen and that has killed us the last 2 years.

@Crimsonorblue22 @ HighEliteMajor

I do think Ingram is a 1 year player. I think he saw his stock rise as much as anyone between the McDonald's game & the Hoop Summit. The positive feedback on his game the last 2 weeks has been heavily stated.

Logically you would think that Ingram needs a few years to develop his body. He looks like he hit a major growth spurt and just hasn't filled out. College would certainly help him, Hudy might even accelerate that plan. Offensively he looks to have a lot of skill and for his size can shoot it very well. If he had an extra 30 pounds he'd be a stretch 4 but I think his game is set up around being a SF at the next level. His size and shooting will be big factors to the NBA. I think if he shows an improved frame as his season goes on, he'll be a highly coveted player next year. That has me thinking he will go, if he has a productive season.

As far as his recruiting goes, HEM you may have solved that hint Self gave. It would seem to match up with the positive things he's had to say about KU and maybe Bragg has relayed his thoughts to him about Ingram's intentions.
What we know is that Ingram would have committed to UNC had the academic scandal not lasted this long over the program. Then there is Duke, who most likely has the PT available 10 miles up the road. Duke I'm sure is going to push after him hard because of the empty roster they have.

I think when he sets up his last in-home visits that will give us an indication where he might be leaning.

@drgnslayr

I laughed when I saw the CBS early top 25 with Kentucky at #1. I don't think anyone realizes that they just lost their top 7 scorers/players. Whatever, Briscoe is good, Skal could be a Davis type and he will start if he qualifies. What else do they got, undersized Ulis who is a good PG & Lee. Sounds like #1 to me, NOT.
I understand they are likely to get some more recruits, let's face it they have to but now you hear Calipari is reaching for players like Thorne, Dazon Ingram a 3*star that backed out from Alabama & now Jamal Murray who blew up at the Nike Summit. Doesn't sound to me that Cal is confident the left over OAD types are all going to Lexington.

You are right about Diallo's decision should be an easy one. Plus Embiid gave him the low-down which should help seems how they come from similar backrounds. I'm holding out hope that he is the missing link to the championship run we could have. I just have a feeling he's going to impact KU or whatever school he ends up at his freshman year.

@dylans

I think it is a positive move for KU that is.

St Johns is going to be horrible no matter who they bring in. Has Mullins been a coach yet? I'm hoping that Diallo realizes St Johns is a 16-18 type team no matter who goes there and that would further push him elsewhere.

@HighEliteMajor

Self's comments on an impact guard didn't make sense. I fail to see how Ingram or Brown make it past 1 year in school. The NBA is drooling on them as we speak. Maybe he's got some magical 8 ball he's looking at that says there's this and that available. I didn't see him throw his hat into the ring for Damion Lee who's got 1 year left. Maybe the most impactful transfer on the market.

FYI, St. Johns picked up a 6"11 center yesterday. They now have Jones, Alibegovic, Williams, Sima. & Obekpa. And they are after that Greek 7"1 kid who could come to the states. It doesn't sound to me they are waiting for Diallo. I think Mullin is scrambling just to fill a roster that lost 4 of its top 6 scorers, possibly 5 if Jordan doesn't come back.

Jerry Meyer said they lost major ground with Mullins and that's why he picked KU to get Diallo. Meyer is probably as in-tuned to the recruiting world as it gets. I still think UK is involved just because of the prospect of playing time. I could be just guessing on that but I'm not so sure "Slice" leaving automatically put them out.

@RockkChalkk

Close to home, the Cal coach made him a priority and gave him that family atmosphere. I bet if Zeus went pro he would have went to Zona. At Cal he can play 30 minutes a game with no competition.

@HighEliteMajor

The one defense for Self I have is that he's not going to come out and blast the team negatively at the Banquet. He made some jabs but they were all in joke format.

You are right, we shouldn't believe much because it was a PR move to keep everyone thinking positive and closing the season on a good note, recognizing players for hard work over the season.

Every team in the nation had injuries and they were not talked about. Whatever it is that caused the late season collapse is on him, and he knows it. What he does to correct it remains to be seen.

@dylans

I think your failing to understand that no NBA players are allowed to play under the bargaining agreement the players have with the league.

Any KU player on a NBA roster is not eligible. They can't go enroll in basketweaving 101 with a NBA contract and go overseas with us. Otherwise Self could pick and choose as he pleased.

@Lulufulu

What I just posted above is basically the pool of former players who we could reasonably expect to help.
I left out Tharpe because nobody wants that back, Wesley could be but he's been focused on design.

We clearly need more than 8 scholarship players to go with. The question I now have is do we go all in to get Brown & Ingram and still get Thorne as well as Diallo to ensure we have at least 10 scholarship players to go over with. We all want to win this tournament but I'm very unsure about the quality of teams that will be playing and we have some glaring holes due to injury/eligibility.

It does bring more excitement that Bragg will essentially be ahead of the curve than some freshman. Wouldn't that be a great selling point for the other OAD's still left. Hey come to KU, go oversea's represent team USA and practice and play x amount of games before the fall. If I was a HS Senior I'd be signing up ASAP.

@dylans

Cliff is going to be drafted, and he will be sent to Summer League play after that. There's no chance he's playing.

I saw somewhere else, EJ, Kevin Young, & Selby maybe eligible. I guess that would be worst case scenario if we really needed fillers.

@Lulufulu

Yes he's having hip surgery.

He would be eligible for a red-shirt but Self clearly said they wouldn't go down that road as he should be plenty healthy for the season. Up to 5 months, I bet its closer to 4 with the way athletes tend to heal.

What's impactful is that Self seemed very high on him being a big contributor but if's he's unable to do anything basketball related it's going to be 2-3 months afterword's just to get him back up to speed.

Clearly Svi has the inside track to start now, but if Brown or Ingram come knocking now it could be interesting.

@ralster

Not if he is drafted. Would be against the collective bargaining agreement.

@ralster

The problem isn't letting them play. The problem is at this point we might not have enough guys to go with that we can expect to win this tournament or even be really competitive. If we don't sign Brown or Ingram, your talking about your starting SF and backup not being able to play. 2 guys who just so happen to be known for shooting, and 2 guys who we are counting on to become much more part of the rotation.

If we want to rely on our walkon's that's great, we can take the 5th place trophy now.

We need a 5th big, Self said it last night they need a "anchor in the middle".
Translation we need Diallo and he could help us with that.
Issue is he can't play in the games because he's from Mali.

If we don't get Diallo, then Thorne is next up and he would be eligible. A 4th year Center with developing game would help us.

Henderson would have to sit a year and wouldn't be eligible to play.

Svi's team is not playing so all he can do is travel and practice.

Below is the Groupings.
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First off hats off to Perry Ellis for coming back and saying all the right things about what he needs to improve on. I don't doubt he will get better this summer.

2nd: Self announced Brannen Greene will be out up to 5 months with Hip Surgery. They said it was getting worse and after should be pain free. Significant injury because before that announcement was made, he said Selden & Greene would be much better next year.

= you don't get better if your going to miss your entire summer of developing, practice, and games. I expect to see the same Greene because he's going to miss a lot of time, just like Cliff did last summer which impacted him from getting better.

Light-bulb said we are going to put on full court press for Brown or Ingram or somebody.

3rd: The impact of his injury to the summer games is significant. We are now down to 3 guards- Mason, Graham & Selden. That's it, no Svi for the games and he said NO former players in the league are allowed. Do we have any idea what kind of competition it is we will be playing against? What level of national teams and what not.

4th: 3 scholarships to give and Self mentioned getting the anchor in the post (Diallo). Problem is, Diallo wouldn't be eligible for the World Games either. If Diallo signs, there's no way Self will head out with a 12 man roster, heck he might not even have 10 at this point. He also mentioned an impact guard, he specifically said not a OAD but someone who can help immediately. Self do you know someone out there available other than the 3 OAD's on the board?? Coach Share your wisdom, you waited so long to actually start recruiting the pickings are slim... You either get the chucking Newman, or the impact G/SF Ingram & Brown.

5th: Ellis said he would be working on his dribbling and shooting among things. Looks like we will see Perry plenty at the 3, unless we can convince the ole' OAD train to hop aboard.

Thoughts???

@wissoxfan83

We don't need to feature him we have 4 or 5 other players that would average more points then him because at this moment you can't throw him the ball and say go get em diallo. I think the success rate would be low right now but who knows what 4 to 5 months of being on campus would do for him. He's learned a lot in a short time like Embiid did.

We do need him for all the intangibles he brings. Bragg won't be the defensive presence we need but offensively he will help from the start. Whatever we can do to limit traylor from 20 minutes a game I'm all for. We need either a starting 5 or a 4/5 combo to go with Lucas.

@RockkChalkk

You make some valid points.

I thought it was interesting that Brown specifically said his statement on Adidas was a misquote and said it without being asked specifically about it.

Brown is stringing along teams as well. He's not going to Georgia or Georgia Tech. Cal is out of the question. Why not just tell everyone that.

The Jones/Okafor point you make is a good one. Right now Self is out recruiting Harry Giles & Jackson, 2 of the top 3 players in the 16 class. I believe he's wasting his time. There's absolutely no way either is coming to KU, even though we made the initial cuts for both. They might tell Self they are interested just enough to keep us in the top 5 or 7 but playing 2nd fiddle to their real favorite.
At least Tatum did the right thing in saying he wasn't going to waste coaches time for those schools he wasn't seriously considering.

We could have been watching the Houston Hoops with Herard/Bolden or De'Aaron Fox's team with Vanderbilt from the 17 class. Good talented players who we have realistic chances of getting because their interest in KU has been made known.

@wissoxfan83

There really isn't any non OAD types left. Those ships have already sailed and signed.
You'd have to wait until 2016 to find a shift but Self has been out watching Giles, Jackson, Fox, Ferguson all top 15 players. So its unlikely we are going back to recruiting 4 year players.

What's left is the cream of the crop, and likely the 1 year experiments.

For KU to be great next year it needs Diallo. Basically the whole roster is a year older which is great but with only Bragg signed we are not magically a better team. Offensively Diallo isn't a OAD but that's my stance on him. Others believe his ranking says OAD which I'm not arguing.

@drgnslayr

Or at least a permanent seat at KU home games/ tourney sites with paid appearance fee's. How much does Judd get from UK a year??

@drgnslayr

Should we ask Lucy??

It is shocking that entire class could have such little interest in KU. But if we had 6 spots open we'd have 6 signed by now. Nobody wants to sit and develop anymore.

Good question, if we don't get Diallo then I'll temper my expectations a lot for next year.

Thorne I thought was a cinch to KU if we didn't get Diallo, will now be swayed by UK. Plenty of PT there for him. Who knows maybe he's better than we think, he's a big bodied player who has improved each year. Him at the 5 backed up by Lucas sounds like a serviceable unit to me.

It's clear we need 1 or the other to ensure that Traylor won't get meaningful minutes. That's the real misery of missing on them.

The latest on Brown.

Had an interview where he squashed the rumor he would sign with an Adidas school. Might still happen but he came out and said it as soon as he was asked about his recruiting.

Said he grew up with UNC being his dream school. You would have to think Tokoto's decision whether to stay in the draft or not is going to have huge sway with him. That would basically open up the position to him.

Swanigan blew the package deal to Cal, they are out.

If Levert returns to Michigan, will sway his interest in them
Kentucky has glaring need for Brown, and anytime he's spoken of them he's said that's the place to go if he wants to be OAD.

Should know more as the week goes if he cuts his list down.

@dylans

Fox would be a fantastic get and ideal replacement for Selden if Wayne improves and heads off the NBA.

I saw that Smart is after Fox too but I think Self locked in early enough for KU to be a in great position with him. Hopefully we get him on campus again for Late Night.

I haven't seen this much jockeying for a player in a long time. Especially when you see that the dynamics include teams recruiting him from all over the country.

You've seen St Johns pluck 2 assistants that just so happen to be the lead recruiter for Diallo. I bet every last dollar I own that the only reason either is on St Johns is because of Diallo. Why else would Slice leave his perfectly great UK gig for St. Johns? Why would the assistant from Iowa St. leave his perfectly good gig for St Johns? It will be funny if they lose out. I believe KU will land Diallo but man these late heroics being played by Mullin is something.

A lot of interesting comments.

If we focus only on back to the basket scoring probably the only high level guy who could do that from day 1 would be Zimmerman. Just not sold on the kids will to play at the College level, comments aside I don't see the motor that we would need from day 1. Great kid, can score in a lot of ways and is a high level passer which is also an important aspect of the H/L offense.

I think an important aspect that has been mentioned was that Diallo made his team better when he was on the floor. I watched the Hoops Summit focusing on Ingram, Diallo, and Brown. Diallo just seemed to be wherever the ball was, as I think it was Fran who said " Diallo treats missed shots like his pass". He is a few post moves away from truly being an unstoppable force. Can he learn that as quickly as Embiid did? We won't know until we see it.

I think from an Effort stand point, Diallo might be able to improve the team enough to off-set any concerns about low-post scoring. He can block shots, weak-side, face to face in the post and would instantly give us a rim protector we desperately need as much as scoring. Rebounding & 50/50 balls effort he'd also stand to improve what we have. Let's face it, we were much better defensively than 2 years ago but still not at the level past KU teams have been. Diallo is the instant upgrade to that problem. Offensively, its an unknown just like everyone else we got.

@HighEliteMajor

Your right about Traylor, its going to take getting a Diallo or Thorne to remove him from the 20 minutes he got last year. And if we somehow whiff on both well then expect a lot of painful moments yet again watching Traylor. Love the kid, but we can't ride another year with him if his role is the same.

A few interesting developments in the recruiting of Diallo & Thorne

Kentucky's main recruiter of Diallo jumped to St. Johns. Really suspect move no matter Slice's friendship with Mullin. St Johns still offers the most immediate playing time but if he cares about winning or actually developing he comes to KU. A lot of things have shifted in his recruiting the last few weeks which we haven't seen with any other prospect still left. Will it take Ellis leaving to seal the deal with Diallo?

Calipari interested in Thorne. All it took was a phone-call for Thorne to now say "I might take a visit there" after the KU visit. We can't even recruit a transfer without his nose getting into it.

Makes you think Cal isn't that certain to get any of these remaining pre-Madonna's except Newman. His chucking 1 year act will be in a Wildcat uni soon.

@FarSideHawk

next week maybe.

@dylans

2 years ago he helped beat Duke in the first round of the NCAA tourney. Last year he was their best player on a team that lost everything from that run. I can safely say he won't be going to KU

@Crimsonorblue22

Still a Junior. He was really good in this game last year as a Soph. This year he's been unstoppable.

If we had a need a PG i'd say lock him up but we are unlikely to be involved with what we got

@Crimsonorblue22

Very similar frame and game.

Murray with 25 unstoppable

Kennard can shoot. Reminds of Scheyer

Definitely since his kid went to Oklahoma he's become so biased and become obsessed with wanting KU to lose.

Biancardi with honest assesment of Diallo. Trouble scoring in half-court setting, that's evident but that's why we have Ellis. Everything else he does better than any big we have currently.

The kid going to UK, Labisserre is got game

If Murray doesn't re-classify he's a top 10 kid. Sneaky athleticism. I know other programs are after him harder but Self should definitely get in the running.

@Crimsonorblue22

I used to love him but he's quickly become the most annoying man on TV. And worse is he calls the Big 12 exclusively..

IF Diallo isn't the answer to our problems in the post then I must be blind. Kid can flat out play

blocks swanigan for a murray dunk

diallo with a huge block and 2 FT's then another dunk

@Crimsonorblue22

Agreed but that will never happen.

I like Ingram's game, his legs scare me feel like they could snap any moment.
and Trier but we never got involved enough for him.

Murray a heady player.

Diallo on the bench has let USA back in.

@Crimsonorblue22

Zimmerman is all finese. He'd be great in college if he stayed a few years but we already know hes only going to half try next year.

Newman is a chucker but he can sure score.

Simmons has such great versatility and IQ, hard to believe he's 6'9 the way he runs

@Crimsonorblue22

Zimmerman is all finese. He'd be great in college if he stayed a few years but we already know hes only going to half try next year.

Newman is a chucker but he can sure score.

@Crimsonorblue22

yes and dunked on zimmerman

Jamal Murray is a guard I'd love to have. Plays with Maker in Canada. Might re-classify still.

@Crimsonorblue22

wow brown tried to sky for a dunk Diallo said No No. wow can't believe that was a foul.

Brown had himself a highlight dunk a few minutes ago

Diallo dominating. spin move dunk,2 put-backs. couple rebounds and a block. his effort is unlike any big i've seen in years

@Hawk8086

Duke Bound..

OAD..

There's other fish, but it is surprising we didn't make him our #1 priority, but what makes sense in recruiting

after what Maker said about staying until December where he is, no point in recruiting him anymore. I sure hope Self isn't saving a scholarship.

Michigan St. is stacked. Big 10 has 3 legit teams in St, Maryland, & Indiana

@drgnslayr

You would have to think if they are a top prospect that no matter where they go the coach is clearing his spot for that player.

If you think about it right now looking at KU's roster with the assumption Ellis will finish his career with us we have 3 Senior big men leaving next year and 1 guard (Selden) that could be gone after his Jr. year. Not to mention if Svi becomes a starter and improves leaps and bounds, or Greene becomes a more well rounded player to go with his jump-shot. Honestly our roster is taylor made for guys to commit early to. Then you got Bragg (unknown how big his role will be) and I really think Diallo is KU bound.

The moral of my story is that we should be hitting this summer hard to get some 2016 commits because we are going to need a whole lot next year.

Very Happy Wayne is coming back. Soon to be a 3 year starter.. Just need Perry and Diallo to come on down.