🏀 KuBuckets Archive

@bskeet KT is Self's right hand man, but he's not a good enough head coach to take over this program. If he was viewed in that light, he would've been the one running things in 2022-23 instead of Norm.

Bringing in Vaughn is very much a head coach in waiting type move because he could absolutely go get an NBA assistant position if he wanted. He doesn't come back to KU as an assistant coaches unless there's basically a handshake agreement that he's going to be KU's 9th head coach. I'm sure if this is the case, this word will be going around recruiting circles as well to help minimize the chances of KU's 2026 class bombing because we are in one some very good players with a real chance to land a couple of them.

KU is going to have a lot of roster turnover again next year. Best case scenario, KU loses 4 to graduation and the NBA. Potentially, KU could lose up to 7 to graduation and the NBA. I think the number may well end up being 5.

@drgnslayr The more stents you have, the higher the risk of more complicated health risks occurring becomes and Self is up 3 now I believe.

Bringing in Vaughn now could be a program saving move because there is an increased chance Self doesn't make through the season now and having a coach of Vaughn's level on staff is going to be a big help for the program of that situation plays out.

Glad we have Vaughn now. Fully expecting him to coach at least one game this season.

JHX lost to Heartfire tonight. Not surprising since Heartfire was runner up last year and won in 2023 and is one of the favorites this year.

@approxinfinity Yes

Anybody else see Furphy's dunk today? Also had 15 points today.

https://youtube.com/shorts/zL9V4GnOSlo?si=0-D30tefCxXgSdZP ↗

@approxinfinity This is why I say rats are lower maintenance than some cats. Yes, rats need social time to be out of their cages which for me was about 1-2 hours per day where I'd lay some blankets on my bed and let them run around while I did homework. I did have a pen for them to run around on the ground, but they were both absolutely terrified of being on the ground so they played on either my bed or I had them with me on the couch watching TV.

When I was little, we had two cats. One was social and always wanting attention and to play which I was more than happy to accommodate. Cats with that personality are absolutely higher maintenance than rats and I will agree with you on that. The other cat was very antisocial and was pretty much only ever seen at meal time. Cats with personalities like that I would say are lower maintenance than because they don't want or need attention for the most part other than feeding or cleaning their litter box.

That's why I say rats are lower maintenance than some cats because a lot of that depends on the personality of the cat.

@rockchalkjayhawk Domesticated rats are great pets. I had a couple of male rats while I was going to community college at home.

They are very social animals, very intelligent animals. Both of mine also died of cancer which unfortunately is not uncommon with rats.

The pros are they are relatively low maintenance compared to dogs and some cats. Cleaning their cage and replacing the bedding a couple times per week was extent of maintenance required which took about 30 minutes total. Another pro is they are relatively cheap animals compared to cats or dogs. The rats themselves were $20 each and the cage, food, bedding, enrichment toys were probably about $250 total with the bedding and food being the consistent recurring costs which is much cheaper than dog and cat food and cat litter.

The biggest con is the life expectancy. Domesticated rats have a life expectancy of up to about 3 years. The other big con is if they develop severe health issues, such as cancer or tumors, it's generally not worth it financially to treat because they're cheap animals with a pretty short life expectancy.

I would absolutely recommend something like a rat to people with younger kids that aren't sure if the kid is ready for the responsibility of a dog or other higher maintenance animals. It's a much lower and financial commitment if a kid shows they aren't ready.

@drgnslayr said in Revshare:

I found this read interesting. It centers around B12 football but surely has implications for basketball, too. It seems that schools like TT have adopted quickly using their big dollars on front loading. Also interesting how HS NIL is growing.

https://sports.yahoo.com/college-football/article/we-dont-know-the-rules--big-12-coaches-still-wrestling-with-new-world-order-after-player-payment-changes-013454522.html ↗

Texas Tech doesn't think the revenue limits are going to hold up under scrutiny and are going to overspend chasing a football national title.

@approxinfinity said in Ben McLemore Charged with Rape in Portland:

100 months. Wow.

8 years and 4 months which was the minimum sentence he could receive.

McLemore has been sentenced to 100 months (the minimum) in an Oregon state prison.

@dylans Don't reply if you aren't going to bother reading the reply and making a response based on that instead of the stuff you commented.

@dylans said in Revshare:

lol. Let’s see UConn’s budget before thinking that’s real.

It's a projected average per school and unlike the rest of the conference, UConn has an FBS football program and they still have to fund as well from their revenue sharing.

Also, this money gets distributed among all athletic programs, not just football and basketball. Several of those schools also participate at a high level in hockey and have to share money with those programs as well.

@dylans Not a significant advantage. The Big East is only expected to allocate about $5.7 million for basketball per school. The Big 12 is expected to be at about $4.3 million per school for basketball. It's not a game changing difference.

This is an event I'm kind of losing interest in because there's so many players playing for alumni teams who aren't alumni. Frank Mason isn't playing for the KU team, he's actually playing for the Syracuse alumni team because they essentially bought him.

Noah Shelby has entered the transfer portal.

https://www.on3.com/college/kansas-jayhawks/news/kansas-sg-noah-shelby-enters-ncaa-transfer-portal/ ↗

@nuleafjhawk said in Ben McLemore Charged with Rape in Portland:

@SlimShaddy54 besides that - why forcibly? I remember thinking he's a pretty good looking guy, got a little fame and money. I have to believe thar the ladies would have been attracted to him. He's a dumbass. A criminal dumbass.

Alcohol makes people do stupid stuff. I also don't have a hard time believing both he and the girl were too drunk to consent to anything since this happened at a house party of a teammate.

Ben McLemore was found guilty on 3 of the 4 charges against him. Guilty of 1st degree rape, 1st degree unlawful sexual penetration, and 2nd degree sexual abuse and not guilty of another 2nd degree sexual abuse charge.

According to Google, the punishments are between 8 year and 4 months (100 months) to 20 years each for the 1st degree rape and 1st degree sexual penetration convictions and the 2nd degree sexual abuse conviction carries a maximum 5 year sentence.

Unfortunately, it looks like Ben is in deep shit right now looking at anywhere between 8+ years to 45 years in prison.

We'll see what happens with the appeals here because Ben's defense was centered around both him and the girl being too drunk to consent to anything.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/45660822/jury-finds-ex-nba-guard-ben-mclemore-guilty-rape ↗

@approxinfinity said in 2025-26 Schedule:

This schedule was already loaded. At least tbese are 2 historically good teams

These two programs are trash now. Notre Dame has made one NCAA Tournament appearance since 2017 and Syracuse only has one tournament appearance post Covid. KU should make the championship game of this as there will probably be several 2-0 teams and margin of victory, points scored, and points allowed are the tie breakers and KU has probably the weakest schedule of any team there.

The first two games of the Player's Era Tournament for KU was announced today and I'm very disappointed with KU's draw. With all the great teams in the field, KU is getting Notre Dame on Nov. 24 and Syracuse on Nov. 25. There's no reason KU shouldn't beat the breaks off of both teams and hopefully get a top level team in their third game.

Biggest game I've been too was one where KU unfortunately got their asses handed to them, unless you ask the NCAA who will say the game didn't happen. The 2018 Final Four game against Villanova. That Villanova was so freaking good and among the best college teams I've ever seen.

I've also had the good fortune to see KU in two top 5 match ups including my senior night game in 2010 against KSU that was not on TV. KU stomped KSU by 17 in that one. Sherron didn't have his game game, but still led KU that afternoon.

The other top 5 match up was in February of 2020 at Baylor in Waco. It was an 11 am tip and College Day was there. Ochai had his absolute worst game of his Kansas career that day going scoreless in 39 minutes, but Doke made up for it with the biggest game of his KU career going for 23 and 19 and leading KU to a 3 point win that cemented KU as the title favorites that season.

Also, the first 4 times I went to watch KU play Texas in Austin were all losses including one of KU's 3 losses during the 2008 title run.

The Brooklyn Nets picked up their team option for Jalen Wilson next season.

Ian Premer to Notre Dame, that's gotta sting for the Kitties who many thought would land him.

Reading Matt Tait's site earlier and a few days ago he posted an article about Elmarko Jackson stepping up as a leader for the team next season. This is huge because he is a different style of leader from Harris and if the team takes on his attitude and personality.

Zeke Mayo has signed a deal with the Washington Wizards to be part of their Summer League team and Dajuan Harris will be playing with the Charlotte Hornets during Summer League.

@DCHawker KU has more than two potential NBA players in 2026. Tre White and Bryson Tiller have also shown up in different mocks and Elmarko Jackson was thought of as a OAD when he committed so he could play his way into that realm as well.

KU has the talent, the last two signings have been the needed depth for next season.

@BShark The NBA has had 7 different champs in the 7 seasons. They've done a better job at creating parity than the NFL has.

@approxinfinity Don't know enough about the Pelicans roster construction to know their needs. A two-way contract doesn't guarantee Hunter will spend any time in the NBA. He could spend up to 50 games in the NBA though.

Hunter Dickinson has signed a two way contract with the New Orleans Pelicans.

Should be hearing about Dejuan Harris and Zeke Mayo in the next few days as well as each should at least be playing in Summer League.

@rockchalkjayhawk said in KU Roster for 25-26:

Waddya all think? Adding one or two more guys?

The Noah Shelby redshirt/DSA situation still unclear?

One, Shelby is on scholarship this season.

@rockchalkjayhawk said in KU Roster for 25-26:

** With the recent House v NCAA settlement, things are complicated with roster size. It’s hard to say if KU has three more spots to fill, or less. Also, apparently there’s a new fule for “designated student athletes.” These are players who would have been removed given the new roster rules, but now may stick around until they run out of eligibility, but may not count against roster size. This could easily be ALL the KU walkons. ****

May as well look ahead to see what’s in store for next season.

I’ll try to keep track of the offseason drama here. I’ll keep this mostly official, so no portal projections here.

But the portal window is: March 24 to April 22

Roster size: 14 (includes ALL but DSA players. Normally it’s 15, but we lost one to NCAA sanctions)

Roster size at the moment: 11 (a bit sketchy given the DSA rules)

RETURNEES (4)

G Elmarko Jackson

G/F Jamari McDowell

PF Bryson Tiller

C Flory Bidunga

RETURNING WALK ONS? (4 – and potential “designated student athletes”)

G Noah Shelby

G Wilder Evers

G Will Thengvall

F Justin Cross

IMCOMING FRESHMEN (4)

G Darryn Peterson

F Samis Calderon

G Corbin Allen – Oak Park High School

SG Kohl Rosario

PORTAL ADDITIONS (3)

G Jayden Dawson via Loyola Chicago. One year of eligibility left.

G/F Tre White via Illinois – previous stops at Louisville, USC. One year of eligibility left.

G Melvin Council Jr. via St. Bonaventure – previous stop at Wagner. One year of eligibility left.

BIG QUESTION MARK (1)

SF Jaden Nickens – A football player who may play hoops. May have to count against the roster before the season begins.

HAVE ENTERED PORTAL (6 initially – Bidunga entered, but will return)

G/F AJ Storr – signed with Ole Miss

G/F Rylan Griffen — signed with Texas AM

G/F Rakease Passmore — signed with Maryland

PF/C Zach Clemence – signed with Texas A&M

G David Coit – signed with Maryland

Nickens can still basketball play and would count against the 15 player roster limit, but KU would still be in compliance with the scholarship reduction they still owe the NCAA because his scholarship is coming from football and not basketball.

@Kcmatt7 If Mbyia commits here, it's not because Self outbid Wade. Mbyia got recruited over plain and simple. NC State allegedly took some of Mbyia's NIL money and reallocated for Van Lubin who they coveted more and Mbyia left when NC State landed Scottie Ebube from Wyoming.

@approxinfinity said in The portal.:

@Texas-Hawk-10 ive watched the near perfect game durant had against us several times where we still beat him. Also, we shut down Flagg didnt we? Granted that was early in the season, before he got good and we got bad. Anyway, yeah Mobley was special.

KJ shut shut down Flagg, KJ wasn't on the team when Mobley helped end that season.

@rockchalkjayhawk said in The portal.:

@MR11 said in The portal.:

Tre at 6-7 right? Couldn't tell you how big he plays though.

Give up some top end size but looks to be an extremely switchable lineup so not all bad.

yea i'm in the dark on Tre's game as well. I thought i read somewhere that he was really 6-5.
Hopefully he can rebound at whatever his size/spot on the floor.

Hopefully if Tiller is serviceable, that will help give us some size.

I still have nightmares from those USC freaks...

Evan Mobley was the 3rd pick in the draft. You don't run up against players like him very often.

@BeddieKU23 said in The portal.:

@MR11

Hearing Elmarko has been really good and could push to start. Dawson is a really good 6th man if needed.

Elmarko was going to start last year before he got hurt which is one of the reasons I'm much higher in him than most others. It's also why Self hasn't pushed as hard for a PG in the portal the way he has for the 2-4 spots.

I drove by the stadium earlier today and it's definitely unique. Still not sure how I feel about the overall design.

And Indiana couldn't overcome losing Haliburton to a ruptured achilles.

Nick Collison is a member of the Thunder's front office so there is at least one Jayhawk getting a ring this season.

Really wish Haliburton hadn't gotten injured because this had been a great series and may have had a different outcome if he doesn't get hurt.

Johnny Furphy is potentially 24 minutes away from an NBA title. Pacers were up 1 at halftime despite losing Haliburton to a likely ruptured achilles. Pacers president is also former Jayhawk Kevin Pritchard.

@nuleafjhawk said in Jayhawk football schedule. Wissox Forecast.:

@Texas-Hawk-10 probably not a lot of KU football fans that would be upset with that

I believe their FPI also has KU as the 3rd best chance to win the Big 12 likely because KU has a relatively soft conference schedule on paper. That was also true last year and we ended up with toughest conference schedule I believe.

Mike Vernon actually just posted to Reddit. KU is actively recruiting Mbyia, Demir, and Konan. Says Oregon is the early leader for Mbyia and KU was interested earlier in this cycle, but Mbyia's price was too high at the time.

There's mutual interest with Demir, but the eligibility issues with getting into UCLA few years ago could still be a problem although KU doesn't have as high of standards as UCLA.

ESPN's FPI has KU as the 4th best team in the Big 12 and predicting an 8-4 record.

Paul Mbyia has decommitted from NC State. 6-11, 240 lbs. with a 7-7 wingspan. Anyone know if KU is going to make a run after him.

He would be a back up option for Flory.

College basketball will have a couple of significant rule changes for next season.

Coaches will be allowed one challenge per game as long as they have a timeout. The three things that can be challenged are out of bounds calls, goaltending, and restricted arc calls. If a coach is successful, they will get another challenge. Officials can still use replay for everything they previously have been allowed to.

Another big change the NCAA is introducing a continuation rule for fouls similar to what the NBA has.
Another rule change is that incidental contact to the groin area can now be deemed a Flagrant 1 whereas before it was an automatic Flagrant 2 and ejection.

One rule that has been discussed and is not changing yet is game format. Games will still be two 20 minute halves. There's been a lot of discussion about moving to quarters in recent years, but advertisers have been the big hold up on that as they would lose a TV timeout each half.

@dylans said in The portal.:

I think that kid from miss st is back as well.

Shak Moore is not returning.

https://kuathletics.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/2025-26 ↗

Current roster is:

1 - Jayden Dawson

2 - Corbin Allen

3 - Tre White

6 - Samis Calderon

7 - Noah Shelby

11 - Jamari McDowell

12 - Wilder Evers

13 - Elmarko Jackson

14 - Melvin Council

15 - Will Thengvall (likely getting another new number)

15 - Bryson Tiller

22 - Darryn Peterson

25 - Justin Cross

40 - Flory Bidunga

@SlimShaddy54 said in The portal.:

@BeddieKU23 Well if then is true then why and how is K/State and Utah now going after him so hard ?

Not every school has the same admissions standards if there's some academic stuff. If it's visa issues, it may not have been worth the efforts on KU's end for someone who wasn't likely going to be in the regular rotation. For KSU and Utah, it may be worth it to them if they think Dessert would be in their rotations.

If Suemnick was going to play real minutes here, KU was already going to be in big trouble.

This case has finally been officially ruled on. Beginning in July 1, schools can now directly pay their athletes. Athletic departments can now distribute about $20.5 million in NIL beginning this season.

It also imposes roster limits across the board in all sports. The concern this raised with the judge overseeing the case was walk-ons losing roster spots. This was resolved with an amendment allowing current walk ons or partial scholarship recipients in non-revenue sports to finish out their eligibility at either their current school or able to transfer elsewhere. These players will not count against roster limits during that time.

The way this impacts KU basketball is that Wilder Evers, Will Thengvall, Dillon Wilhite, and Justin Cross can all continue playing D1 ball as walk-ons either here or another school. In theory, Noah Shelby could also go back to walk-on status and give KU 4 more scholarships, but that probably won't happen.

@approxinfinity said in The portal.:

Any of these guys still on our radar? https://www.si.com/college/kansas/basketball/five-players-bill-self-and-kansas-can-still-add-to-the-jayhawks-roster ↗

Rosario would have to reclassify and is a Nike product whose stock is rising a bit, but would still be a back up at best at KU next season.

Ven-Allen Lubin committed to NC State earlier this week.

KU appears out of the running for Claude as they haven’t really been connected to him for a few weeks now.

See previous conversation on Suemnick, but he's nothing more than a practice player.

Ivan Bogdonvic is the name from that list to watch. The other names, not in that article, but also from SI are Ognjen Stankovic and Luka Skoric. All 3 are 6-8 or 6-9 wings with guard skill sets (think Svi) that could come in and impact right away.

@BeddieKU23 said in The portal.:

Vernon is reporting the Student Visa thing could also be part of the hold up on Dessert @mayjay but who knows, he's not a trustworthy source.

Pat Suemnick is still another potential addition that visited for front court depth. I'd take both if we can afford it.

We don't need both Dessert and Suemnick. Suemnick is nothing but a warm body. There is the possibility that judge overseeing this process could grandfather in walk ons not counting against roster limits per Swain at the Phog.

"Now, there are questions about walk-ons and how those spots will be handled. The House Settlement was initially going to limit roster spots and opportunities for walk-ons. But, the judge overseeing the settlement has made grandfathering in walk-ons a priority. If the walk-ons are grandfathered in, it would allow players like Wilder Evers and Justin Cross to remain on the roster without counting against a roster limit spot."

If the judge ends up grand fathering in walk ons, then Suemnick is fine to add.

@drgnslayr said in KU Roster for 25-26:

@Texas-Hawk-10 Flory received sponsorship from Freddy's. It was NOT from KU.

Never said players weren't getting other NIL deals outside of what they're getting from KU. Whatever the financial details of that are, I will 100% guarantee that money doesn't come anywhere near what he's getting from his KU deal.

I'd guess this deal is probably about $25,000 at best because it's for sure not a national deal and probably only applies to their Lawrence store and whatever other locations that franchisee owns, if any.