🏀 KuBuckets Archive

@drgnslayr His official documentation lists his birthday as September 17th, 1999. Remember when he first committed to KU, one of the big deals about that was that Doke was guaranteed to be at KU for a minimum of two years because he didn't turn 18 until his sophomore season.

Being that he's from Africa, there's always going to be some debate about the authenticity and accuracy of his birth date. As far as the NCAA and US government are concerned, Udoka Azubuike is currently 19 and won't turn 20 for another month and a half.

Svi played his senior year at KU as a 20 year old as well.

@BShark I don't think anyone realistically expected the waiver to be granted, but there was also no harm applying for one either.

@drgnslayr Doke is only 19 and will turn 20 in September. I think a lot of people forget how young he is. He's in the same boat as Svi was about coming to KU younger than everyone else.

FarmerJayhawk said:

Texas Hawk 10 said:

@FarmerJayhawk Silvio didn't come back to KU to pursue an international career, he came back to pursue an NBA career and he has to expand his range to play the 4 in the NBA and that probably takes the next two seasons. If he shows some 3 point range this season, then he will likely The international offers will always be there for him.

Ochai's draft status will largely depend on how his health holds up. His NBA position is on the wing as a 3 because he doesn't have the handles to be on ball. His draft status is largely based off his athleticism and if his injury issue from last year is chronic or recurring, that kills Ochai's draft stock.

I have no issues with recruiting as if those two will leave because nobody wants a repeat of the 2011 recruiting cycle when Self didn't plan on the Morris twins leaving. That said, Self can't commit Agbaji and DeSousa's scholarships to others until it becomes more clear if one or both of them are NBA prospects for the 2020 draft.

Right, I just don't think he'll ever be a real NBA prospect and that's the feedback he'll get if (when) he tests after this season. I'm just not sure what he does at the NBA level. Not sure he's skilled enough to play the 4 and probably too small with too short a wingspan to play the 5. I think he'll be an extremely good college player and make a bunch of money overseas. Nothing wrong with that.

@Marco that's my read on him from watching him. I don't think he's quick enough to guard most 3's, especially since it seems like teams are going with 3 guards more often now instead of 2 guards and a wing or vice versa.

Silvio has played less than 200 minutes of college basketball. There's nowhere near enough game tape on him to have a fair evaluation of him at this point.

Here's what we do know about Silvio. He is currently listed at 6-9 and 250 lbs. He has an NBA body already at this point. His advanced numbers in his limited minutes also suggest he has very good upside. He's PER was over 20 and his rebounding rate was about 25% and his offensive rebounding rate was north of 20% in Big 12 play. He was also a 71% FT shooter in limited attempts, but that number suggests he has a good enough form to have range out to the mid-range and can probably extend out to the 3 point line.

There's just not enough on him yet to definitively say he's not an NBA caliber player. Silvio DeSousa was a 5 star recruit for a reason. Silvio is definitely on NBA radars, they just want to see what progress he's made since he last played a competitive game because he did practice with the team all season last year.

@KUSTEVE This squad doesn't have the experience the classifications next to each players name would indicate. Nobody on this roster has played over 100 games in a KU uniform.

Marcus Garrett at about 1,600 minutes is the most experienced returning player as far as minutes go. Mitch Lightfoot is the most experienced in terms of number of appearances at 96, but has played just over 1,000 minutes.

Even though Doke is a senior, he's only played in 56 games and logged a little over 1,100 minutes in his KU career. To put that number in perspective, Devon Dotson has played more minutes at KU in one season than Doke has in 3 seasons.

Silvio DeSousa will be a junior who's only played 175 minutes of college basketball.

This team is not as experienced as most assume and there will absolutely be a learning curve with this team early on.

I gonna say that this move is going to blow up in the Nets face. KD isn't a leader, he's a follower and Kyrie is a leader that makes teams worse.

I think the Knicks ineptitude is a blessing in disguise in this case for that organization.

James Dolan is the worst owner in American sports.

@KUSTEVE European developed players also tend to take longer to adapt to the American style of basketball, that's just reality.

Another area that Euro players in Tristan's mold tend to struggle with is post defense. Tristan is a classic Euro stretch 4 and one thing just about all of those players struggle with is defense.

Svi was never more than an average defender in his four years, Dirk, Danilo Galinari, Dario Saric, Bojan Bogdanovic, Nemanja Bjelica, just to name the prototype and some current Euro stretch players. Those guys all struggle/d with interior defense.

I fully expect the Enaruna will have a game in the nonconference where he knocks down 3 or 4 threes in a game and people will start begging for more minutes out of him when the reality will likely be that Enaruna's post defense will be nowhere near ready for extended minutes.

@FarmerJayhawk Silvio didn't come back to KU to pursue an international career, he came back to pursue an NBA career and he has to expand his range to play the 4 in the NBA and that probably takes the next two seasons. If he shows some 3 point range this season, then he will likely The international offers will always be there for him.

Ochai's draft status will largely depend on how his health holds up. His NBA position is on the wing as a 3 because he doesn't have the handles to be on ball. His draft status is largely based off his athleticism and if his injury issue from last year is chronic or recurring, that kills Ochai's draft stock.

I have no issues with recruiting as if those two will leave because nobody wants a repeat of the 2011 recruiting cycle when Self didn't plan on the Morris twins leaving. That said, Self can't commit Agbaji and DeSousa's scholarships to others until it becomes more clear if one or both of them are NBA prospects for the 2020 draft.

@Crimsonorblue22 We've played Kentucky in the Champions Classic in 2014-15 and 2017-18 since the B12/SEC Challenge started in 2013-14. We played Florida and Texas A&M in those two seasons. 2013-14 is the only year KU and Kentucky haven't played when it's been a possible match up and KU played Florida that season.

My money would be on KU and Kentucky playing again this year in AFH since last season's game was at Rupp.

@FarmerJayhawk Doke is a senior this year, there's a 100% chance he leaves unless another freak injury makes him eligible for a medical redshirt.

Silvio is probably 25/75 for leaving or staying and Agbaji is probably 50/50 right now.

Crimsonorblue22 said:

@Woodrow what do you think? Based on last year.

KU/Kentucky will always be one of the most high profile match ups possible. There's maybe been two or three times at most KU and Kentucky haven't played in the B12/SEC when they didn't play in the Champion Classic as well.

If it's not Kentucky, Auburn or Tennessee are the other likely opponents.

@Marco There's no market for Boogie right now unless he lowers his price.

Grand Canyon has the resources to eventually become a top level mid major. Just think about how far that program has come in a very short period of time. They haven't had a losing record in any season since moving up to D1 and have won 20+ games in each of their past 3 seasons and played in a post season tournament in all but one of their seasons in D1. It's not as weird as it looks on the surface.

@Marco I'm not going to get into the specific players, partly because I'm not up on who KU has a realistic chance at right now.

KU will for sure have 3 scholarships to offer. KU currently has 1 unused scholarship and Doke and Moss are seniors so KU will for sure have 3 to hand out. This class could get up to 7 available scholarships though depending on others listed below.

Position wise, there are some unknowns that will influence recruiting. Those unknowns are Devon Dotson, Ochai Agbaji, Silvio DeSousa, and Mitch Lightfoot. Do they stay or go, or redshirt in Mitch's case. Dotson seems like the most likely to leave after this season. If Ochai can repeat what he did before his shins bothered him, he'll likely be gone as well.

That said, KU's plan in recruiting should be to focus on the perimeter very heavily. It's possible Garrett and McBride are the only returning perimeter players that play meaningful minutes this upcoming season. We'll also know a lot about whether or not McBride is capable of playing starters minutes as a sophomore this season.

The other need would be development player capable of playing both low post spots because KU should have McCormack and DeSousa starting, if Mitch redshirts, he can sub for both spots.

Basically, expect KU to focus mostly on perimeter players with a lower ranked big in as well.

@BShark Not even close to Tharpe. I'm not saying McBride ever becomes as good as Mason, but that he has a similar style of play. McBride is a playmaker. He can stroke it from deep, he'll probably be 40% pretty quickly, but he's not afraid to drive the ball and score in the paint. He's a bulldog.

@Marco This was a solid class. There's not a star in it, but everyone in this class should be at KU for at least 3 seasons. Tristan Enaruna is a legit NBA prospect that just needs time to develop. He's essentially a taller Svi. If he adds strength (why wouldn't he with Hudy in charge of S&C), he'll be able to defend in the paint and be a nightmare for opposing defenses by taking their bigs out on the perimeter because he can already shoot fairly well.

Jalen Wilson is a stretch 4 prospect. After watching more video of him, I think compares as a slightly less athletic version of Marcus Morris.

Issac McBride is the PG of the future for Kansas. He will take the mantle from Dotson and will be at KU for all 4 seasons. His style of play compares pretty favorably to Frank Mason, whether he gets anywhere near that level is another question.

Christian Braun will probably have the least on court impact of anyone in this class as he's 2/3 hybrid. I think his game compares pretty favorably to another former local KU player who also redshirted (don't be shocked if Braun takes one this year) named Brady Morningstar.

The one common assessment on all four players scouting reports are that they can shoot and shoot from deep.

So while this class doesn't have anyone who appears destined for stardom, this is a class of complimentary role players that allow star players to be star players.

Those were last season's records. 9 losses doesn't garner a 1 seed. Still don't know how managed a 2 seed with Wiggins and co. having 9 losses entering the tournament.

Also didn't realize Baylor was supposed to be that good next season as they are tentatively a 3 seed in that bracket.

@dylans Everybody else has moved on, grow up with the Q's mom shit and learn to read.

Biggest losers in free agency right now appear to be the Knicks and Rockets. Jimmy Butler to the Miami Heat in a sign and trade and no obvious trade partner for Capela.

@jayballer73 And KU still hasn't made one in a decade. Miles could've gotten last year's team to a bowl game, but I don't see it this year. KU is likely going 2-1 in nonconference losing at BC. That means they need 4 Big 12 wins and I don't that this year unless the O a d DLine's are much improved from the spring game which I doubt happens.

@Marco There's not a good free agent option out there unless Boogie Cousins is interested. I don't know what trade options they'd be looking at right now, but that's the only way they're replacing Horford at this point.

@approxinfinity Please don't put that evil on me. Jimmy Butler is from Houston (I have friends that played HS ball with him) so that's why there's interest both ways.

Capella to Boston is dead because that deal would've included Marcus Smart who Boston doesn't want to give up. Also, Darryl Morey doesn't like to keep draft picks. Houston also doesn't have a first round pick for the next several years because of various trades so those types of assets aren't relevant when dealing with Rockets moving assets.

Any trade the Rockets make involving Capella will not involve the Rockets trading a draft pick because the Rockets don't have a guaranteed first round pick until 2024.

@Marco Latest rumors are the Capella trade is dead in the water because the financials of that deal weren't going to work without the Celtics giving up Marcus Smart and Ainge doesn't want to.

The current trade rumor involving Boston is a 3 way with Brooklyn and Charlotte with Kyrie to Brooklyn, Rozier to Charlotte, and Kemba to Boston along with other assets as well.

@approxinfinity Capella will probably never have 3 point range. He's a career 52% FT shooter and peaked at 62% this year. His offensive game is also extremely limited. He's a solid rebounder, but he's a complimentary piece and cannot do what Al Horford did for that team.

As for the trade, Houston is in win now mode and not looking for draft picks or other moveable pieces. They want pieces to build a supporting cast since they're in win now mode. Personally, think Butler and Harden would be a disaster together as Harden doesn't get along well with other star players on the court. He drove himself out of OKC, he drove off Dwight Howard, he and Paul don't like each other. Butler is a very strong personality and he and Harden would be the biggest clash of personalities yet.

Celtics are also trying to acquire Clint Capela from the Rockets as well to replace Al Horford who they're going to lose to free agency. They want to be part of a three team deal with Houston and Philly if the Rockets can workout a sign and trade for Jimmy Butler.

@Marco That's not what the NCAA does. It's not a one size fits all punishment. They issue punishments based on the amount of benefits received. Josh Selby received a 9 game suspension in 2010 for receiving about $6,000 in impermissible benefits.

I've specifically told you multiple times that it has been proven that Silvio's guardian did receive impermissible benefits on behalf of Silvio. You can choose to ignore that all you want, but it doesn't change that TJ Gassnola paid Silvio DeSousa's guardian and admitted that under oath during the Adidas trial. That is 100% indisputable evidence.

Based on the testimony of a man who plead guilty to defrauding the University of Kansas, Silvio DeSousa's guardian received somewhere between $62,500 and $82,500 in benefits on DeSousa's behalf from Under Armour and Adidas. The testimony stated that $60,000 was paid by an Under Armour representative to persuade Silvio to attend Maryland. Silvio did not want to go to Maryland so TJ Gassnola had arranged a $20,000 payment to Silvio's guardian so he could began paying Under Armour back and Silvio could attend Kansas. Gassnola's testimony stated that he did not make the $20,000 payment because the FBI investigation of Adidas youth basketball was announced before he could make the dropoff. He did however admit to providing $2,500 to cover the cost of online classes Silvio needed so he could graduate high school early and enroll at KU when he did. It is no longer relevant to the NCAA if Silvio knew about those benefits because of the NCAA closing that loophole after the Cam Newton pay for play case.

Not everyone who is found guilty of receiving impermissible benefits in the eyes of the NCAA is ruled permanently ineligible. The amount the NCAA Infractions Committee determined was connected to Silvio through his guardian warranted a 2 year suspension for Silvio. The NCAA Appeals Committee determined that based on their evidence that a 1 year suspension was the appropriate punishment for the benefits received.

It's really not that different from the legal system in which the punishment escalates based on the severity and/or number of times a law has been broken.

I think you're way over thinking and way over complicating the matter.

Marco said:

@Crimsonorblue22 Yes, I know... But they also reinstated him. Why would they do that? Why not just rule him ineligible, period? Anyway, we shall see.

The NCAA Infractions Committee initially ruled Silvio DeSousa ineligible for 2 years for violations connected to his guardian. The University of Kansas filed an appeal on behalf of Silvio DeSousa because they believed the punishment to be excessive. This appeal was heard by the NCAA Appeals Committee which is a different group from who handled Silvio's case the first time. The Appeals Committee determined that the 2 year suspension was excessive for the violation committed and reduced it to a 1 year suspension.

I don't blame Q for trying to get a waiver to play immediately because there's no harm in trying to get that waiver, but I seriously doubt it's granted.

That said, UH is a great spot for Grimes. When he's eligible, he'll be playing on the ball unlike here which is his natural position. The AAC is a step down from the B12 so his lack of natural athleticism won't be as noticable in that league.

I really think he can be an AAC POY if he stays through his senior year although I will admit that may not happen, but is more likely with him moving down to the high mid major level.

@Marco It was never 100% proven that Rose didn't take the test. His score was tossed after the fact because of an irregularity. Rose also had no obligation to cooperate with the NCAA at that point because he was already out of college basketball at that point.

It was also 100% percent proven that there was an NCAA violation that occurred with Silvio DeSousa. That is why he was suspended and lost his sophomore year of eligibility. The question now for KU is whether or not that is the extent of punishment KU receives from the NCAA or if there are further punishments/sanctions coming.

Going based off of Josh Selby being suspended for 9 games for receiving about $6,000 in benefits from Tennessee. Why would Silvio receive a 2 year suspension for $2,500 in benefits?

That punishment came because Silvio's name was attached to over $80,000 in benefits received by his guardian prior to Silvio enrolling at KU which is why vacating the games Silvio played in during the 2017-18 season is still a concern.

The fact is KU played a player who was ineligible during the 2017-18 season and vacating the wins that Silvio played in is not a far fetched possibility.

The NCAA is not the legal system. They have zero obligation to use due process when they investigate their cases. They can issue punishment for something probably happening like they did with Derrick Rose. In a legal case, the Derrick Rose situation likely doesn't get a conviction/judgement in favor of the NCAA/testing agency because that case was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

@Marco DeSousa is going to play because an appeals committee decided a 2 year suspension was excessive and reduced it to a 1 year suspension. As @HighEliteMajor has pointed out multiple times on this issue, DeSousa will be a junior this season and not a redshirt sophomore. That means the appeals committee did not rescind DeSousa's suspension, they determined a violation happened in which a 1 year suspension was the appropriate punishment.

That's why vacating the games DeSousa played in as a freshman and possibly vacating the 2018 Final Four banner is a possibility. KU played a player who was suspended for 1 seasons for something that happened prior to DeSousa arriving at KU.

If you think the NCAA has any issues punishing a school for playing a player the NCAA cleared initially, then I'll direct you to Derrick Rose and Memphis. Rose was originally cleared by the NCAA Clearinghouse and retroactively ruled ineligible once the organization that administers the SAT ruled his test invalid later on.

@BShark A 6-7, 205lb. PF, that's why his offer sheet is what it is. Unless he grows and inch or two or can play on the perimeter, he doesn't seem to have an elite level profile.

Arizona or LSU are going to be the NCAA's sacrificial lamb out of this round of investigations.

KU may get something out of this, but not playing Billy Preston is going go keep KU from taking the brunt of this.

@Marco There was $2,500 alleged to go to DeSousa's guardian so DeSousa could take online classes to graduate early and enroll at KU in December. That's a confirmed, under oath statement. There's also another $20,000 that didn't get delivered on KU's behalf because of the announcement of the Adidas investigation.

@jayballer73 What you did to @HighEliteMajor repeating my quotes was childish. I said I have no issues calling that stuff out. I don't care if you agreed with my opinion or not, you counting how many times someone says or does something is childish.

@BShark Look at this way, had Dotson chosen to stay in the draft and Grimes not transferred, what would KU's PG situation look like for next season?

There would have been 3 options to run the show.

1. Grimes plays his natural position and looks a lot better on the offensive end as a distributor.

2. Garrett plays his natural position (Every credible recruiting service had him listed as a PG) and he hurts defenses with his driving. Either they collapse on his drives and he finds the open man or they don't collapse and he makes a lot of lay ups.

3. Issac McBride runs the point. I think he'll be good in a couple of seasons, but he isn't ready for that job now as the starting PG Kansas.

@approxinfinity Grimes waited out Dotson's decision. Had Dotson stayed in the draft, Grimes would've stayed at KU and been the lead guard next season in his natural position. And AAC POY is his ceiling because he's good enough to do that in that league by his senior year of he stays that long.

@Marco Why are you getting so defensive over this? I never said you did wish Grimes would fail after announcing his transfer, and I never said I had an issue with criticizing his on court performance because it was very underwhelming for a top 10 player and deserved criticism.

If you want to get defensive because I, and many others here, called out your opinion of Marcus Garrett redshirting next season for being ridiculous, or your statement that all 4 freshmen will average over 10 mpg next season, then that's on you for saying those things.

If you don't think Grimes is a natural PG, then I would highly recommend you watch his U18 stuff last summer under Self, and his HS videos because I can tell you one thing about Grimes and that is that his natural position is PG. His defense will also be just fine in AAC because that league outside of UH and Cincy is are way below the B12 in terms of athleticism. You put OSU or WVU in the AAC last season and those teams finish top 3 in the AAC while UH and Cincy would have struggled to be top half of the B12 last season.

If the UH decision is accurate, Grimes made the right choice and he'll be AAC POY if he stays all 3 years of eligibility he has left.

@BShark Grimes is from Houston, so I'm assuming playing closer to home is the basis of the waiver. Probably won't be approved though because there's no family emergency or anything that should allow him to play next season.

If it's UH, it's a good fit for him because Kelvin Sampson will use him as the lead guard which is what Grimes wants. Dotson coming back is why Grimes left KU because Grimes doesn't play well off the ball.

@jayballer73 Stop being childish, it's not any better than what others are doing.

@BShark Dallas area prospects tend to be better overall than Houston area prospects.

Part of the reason why Texas doesn't churn out the basketball prospects the way other areas do is twofold. One is Texas has always been a football first state so the top athletes here tend to gravitate towards football more instead of basketball. Second, Texas was very late to the game in allowing players to play AAU ball. That also stifled development as a lot of top prospects who typically moved out of state so they could develop.

That's a big reason why the state only has one national championship in D1 hoops and only 12 Final Four appearances all time and probably 4 of those 12 (both of Baylor's and 2 of UT'S) came when the NIT was still considered the more prestigious tournament.

@HighEliteMajor Wow, someone used the word dick more than once, time to break out a gay joke!

@approxinfinity I've always thought Grimes was overrated as a top ten recruit because I got to see him quite a bit in person in high school. His natural skill set is a pass first point guard. He's got above average handles and court vision. He saw plays in HS that his teammates never saw (his HS teams sucked, only made the state playoffs once out of a pretty weak basketball district) that led to a lot of turnovers for Grimes.

Grimes weaknesses are what will keep him from the NBA just like Newman's weaknesses will keep him from the NBA. Newman was too small to be an NBA 2 and he doesn't have the handles to be a PG at the NBA level.

Grimes has the handles and vision to be a good college PG, but he doesn't have the shooting or athleticism to be a perimeter player or the size to be a point forward. His time running the point for Self at the U-18s is evidence of that. As someone above mentioned, the competition was mostly below anything Grimes saw at KU, but it was also better than just about anything Grimes saw in HS as well.

Grimes will be a good college player if he lands somewhere that lets him be a PG, or at least a ball dominant player, but he'll never be an NBA player.

@HighEliteMajor I'm sorry, but fart noises and pretending a kid doesn't exist because Grimes is close to announcing his transfer destination isn't offering any kind of opinion. It's being a dick for the sake of being a dick and I'm not apologizing for expressing that viewpoint.

I already said I have no issues with criticizing his on court play because there was plenty to criticize. This situation is no different than the Malik Newman situation. Newman was a top 10 recruit, was played out of position and underachieved, declared for the draft after his freshman season, didn't get the feedback he wanted, came back to college and transferred elsewhere that he would be a better fit.

Only difference is that KU is on the front end of the situation with Grimes.

Other than not play up to his top 10 ranking, what has Grimes done to deserve people that don't know him personally talk shit about him?

I have never claimed to be a moral compass, however I will call out someone for being an asshole unnecessarily when I see it happening. I criticized Grimes plenty here because his on court play fell well short of expectations. I don't have an issue with calling a player out for that. Grimes wasn't the first player to fall short of expectations and leave and he won't be the last at KU, he's just the most high profile player so far to fall I to that category.

Grimes also never got into any off court trouble and never bad mouthed the program during this process. He ended up not being a good fit at KU and moved on, it happens. Grimes situation is identical to Malik Newman's situation. A 5 star who failed to live up to expectations at his first school, tested the draft waters, ended up transferring and played a very major role in getting KU to the Final Four.

Being a dick about Grimes transferring is something I would expect to see at KUSports or the Phog.

@dylans Still not a reason to be a dick about him.

Don't be dicks about Grimes. He was a bust, but he didn't do anything to embarrass the school or team beyond not being as good as his ranking.

If Moss is more consistent than Vick, it wouldn't bother me at all if Moss shot a couple of % points lower than Vick. Vick was always a streaky shooter, it's great when those guys are hot, but when they go on a 3-4 game cold streak, it's frustrating. I'll take a consistent 39% from 3 over a streaky 42% every time.

Going through the game logs for Moss, it does look like he is more in the Vick and EJ mold of being a streaky shooter. Lots of 1-whaterver with some 5 or 6 made 3's games mixed in.

@approxinfinity This is a much more inexperienced team than the classifications next to the players names would indicate.

Doke has played less than 2 seasons worth of games in his 3 years. Silvio is a junior that's played a little over half a season. Lightfoot has played minimal minutes most of his career. Agbaji has only played about half a season and was playing hurt most of that time.

Marcus Garrett is probably the most experienced player returning this season and if he's not, he's not far behind Doke.

@KUSTEVE Sounds like you're taking the position of best player has to be the leader based on your comments regarding 2008. I've got news for you, Russell Robinson was the leader of that team and there's plenty of first hand accounts that verify that. Sherron Collins took that mantle from Robinson, Taylor and the Morris twins were next, then, T-Rob, EJ and Withey, then a stretch where KU was lacking a good leader (Tharpe year), then Mason and Lucas took over, Graham took it from Mason, last year was Vick and then nobody stepped into that role after Vick left which is why I'm concerned for next season.

The leader doesn't have to be the PG or the best player, but it needs to be someone who plays a lot of minutes and will speak up in a huddle when needed.

The one guy who has shown glimpses of taking that role is Marcus Garrett, but it remains to be seen if he'll fully embrace that role or try to defer it since he's not a senior yet.

@KUSTEVE I question if any of those guys truly can step up though when it became apparent last year they all followed Vick who was never a leader. None of the players appear to be a locker room cancer, but that doesn't mean any of them are natural leaders either. We can speculate all we want, but until we see what happens in November on the court, I'm going to be skeptical.