Bronny into the portal, do it Bill

Now if we can get Big Dick, The Furph and McNeeley we can be going places. Furphy and McNeeley shouldnt be afraid of each other. They would feed off each other and give eaxh other the spacing needed.

He already transferred to Penn State

I guess it won't be as easy for me to walk up to the ticket window at Bryce Jordan Center and get seats on the floor anymore.

Land McNeely. Keep Furphy and Dick. Get one more bench big like a Braun type but hopefully better.

Guards/Wings:

Harris
Mayo
Kugel
Furphy
McNeeley
Passmore
Philon

Bigs:
Dickinson
Bidunga
Adams
Transfer?

I don't think we are lucky enough to basically keep everyone but I appreciate everyone's wishful thinking.

Did anyone watch the McD's All-American game? Heard Bidunga looked pretty raw. Would be quite a reach to rely on him for big minutes next year. Sounds like his camp even knows he's a project so Hunter and KJ staying may not be a big deal and he can move into Dickinson's role his sophomore year and dominate.

Really hyped on Zeke Mayo, way more than Kugel. Wish Kugel could give Mayo his athleticism but Mayo can still get buckets.

I watched it, he ( Bidunga )is raw, strickly a role player next year.

I live close to where he plays so I've seen about 20 or so of his games, so I'll offer my thoughts. Obviously these come with the caveat that it's tough to translate how his game vs dudes who might be selling copiers in 5 years is in comparison to high major talent.

On offense: on the plus side, you won't find many big guys who like to dunk as much as him. If he's close, he's trying to put you on a poster. He has the state record for dunks in a game, and before you laugh, this is Indiana high school basketball where major prospects come out all the time. Having any record over guys like Zach Randolph and Greg Oden is impressive. He is skinny, but people have to think of him as Embiid rather than Doke. His game is based on speed, not backing dudes down like Hunter. He does well sealing his guy off not by power, but by beating his guy to the block. He isn't a very good ft shooter, clocking in at 60%, but that is improved significantly from two years ago when he shot below 50%.
But here is where I would hesitate to say he will be just a role player: his jump shot is actually pretty decent? He has a nice little 5-7 ft jumper from the baseline that goes in more often than not(he shot 81% from the field. Not a typo 81). And you watch in warmups and see clips from his practice he is a pretty competent 3 point shooter. He clearly practices them all the time. But obviously when you can just dunk on everyone they aren't exactly running plays for you to jack 3s all game. So he took 5 all year, making one. If he can shoot more jump shots than he did in HS, he very well might press KJ to start.

On defense: it's always tough to tell how this translates, but in HS he is an elite shot blocker. He does really well avoiding contact and is not foul prone. You saw it last night when he swatted Queen trying to back him down. He also rebounds very well, but that isn't surprising given the competition. I would probably say he's a better rebounder right now than KJ because the bar is so low there. His quickness helps him on the perimeter on screens, where he can switch and contest pretty well(at least against high school guards).

Overall, I think he has a wide range of outcomes. It wouldn't shock me if he comes along during the season and by the first tournament game he is starting at the four. If he can do anything with his jump shot, he could be Embiid - lite. Of course, he could also foul a bunch trying to block everything under the sun, struggle to shoot, and be more of a high energy dunks only use the fouls because we don't care if you block it or not guy playing 10 mins a game like Lightfoot. Nothing would surprise me at this point, but I wouldn't peg him as a pure role player just yet. There's definitely a chance he's more than that.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...due-us-nil-law

The inability of Furphy to make NIL money in the USA (see Edey situation above) is another thing that will push him to leave.

Ha. Ever heard of boosters? Just do it like the good ole days

Labaron Philon looked very impressive in the Chipotle thing. Looks much further along than Bidunga although much different positions obv

Luckily we know he is developmental and so does he

He's the #32 ranked recruit in the nation and Bidunga is top 15. Not so sure about that.

I was talking about bidunga

Doing it legally makes it way easier (he's also guaranteed millions if he gets drafted in R1, which he likely will be).

I'm kind of getting annoyed at anyone comparing Bigunda to Embiid when one is 6-9 220 and the other is 7-0 280

One is also one of the greatest basketball players who ever lived, so that’s a pretty unfair expectation anyway.

I made the comparison with their style of play which is fair. Even though Embiid is physically taller and weighs more, he didnt play like Doke, or even hunter really. He wasn't muscling guys out of the way to dominate down low. He was built on speed and athleticism, which is what Bidunga is.

Well you also did it because it sure is more fun to compare him to Joel Embiid than Cheick Diallo which is probably a way better comparison.

Bidunga is never going to resemble Embiid in any kind of fashion.

I remember hearing how raw Embiid was coming into Kansas, but then we’d see silky smooth dream-shake type moves out of him.

I guess people are clinging to how raw Embiid was supposed to be and hoping that Bidunga is similarly ahead of schedule.

Embiid is a unicorn though. Few players in history can do the things he can.

Yeah, Embiid is pretty good too though.

I went to an exhibition game that year (well many games, but this happened at an exhibition) against like Emporia State or someone, don't really remember.

Everyone was hyped for Wiggins, and this lanky tall kid nonchalantly does a ridiculous dunk in warmups, and for about 3 seconds the crowd was quiet, processing what they saw. It was crazy. It was between the legs, but it was almost like he tried it, it was easy, and he looked like he just took out the garbage.

At that moment I thought he was going to be TRob, and play 3 years and go league. That was soon to be wishful thinking.

With Embiid’s ascension and how that tournament opened up, really feels like we had a title taken away from us by his injury.

I have a vision in my head of no team even coming close to matching up with that guy as he becomes the obvious top pick in the draft.

I said he has a huge range of outcomes. A guy who is raw but ends up being better than expected being taken as a top 10 pick is a possibility. He's projected as a lottery pick right now. Scouts clearly think he's more Embiid than Diallo too, I'm not just making stuff up. Obviously as we saw with Jackson this year and yea Diallo, guys don't always work out. I mentioned it's certainly possible he ends up being nothing more than a 5-10 minute role player. My position is that he has the potential to be more than just a bench role player, and I'll stand by that.

There is a myth that Embiid was this raw project when he came to Kansas. Now maybe hew as supposed to be that but he was good from day 1.

He probably was pretty raw when he came to Kansas.

He’s a unicorn though and doesn’t have the same learning curve as normal humans.

I think he’s just such a natural basketball talent that he progressed ridiculously quickly at a major program with top tier coaches.

I kept trying to explain to people here that KU had a player better than Wiggins on their roster that year but nobody ever seemed convinced. Unfortunately for the Cavs, their GM apparently wasn’t convinced either.

The injuries were a legit concern though. He lost the first several years of his pro career.

I'm feeling pretty good about our roster for next year as long as we get another legit shooter. Getting the FAU guy would be insane, but doubtful we get him. McNeeley would be great. I would have thought we would have heard about more transfers next year. Feeling like Big Dick is coming back and Furphy about 60/40. I'm actually in camp for Baby Marko. I think he will be good someday if he sticks around although Philon may be everything Marko is and better.

I’m still taking Embiid, it was clear he was a HOF/all time great level talent.

Calipari going to Arkansas. LMAO

I wonder if any Kentucky kids will enter the portal/decommit and not follow Cal.

They were so focused on their one-and-done recruiting strategy that I don't think they can have too many potential transfers, but I have no doubt that they'll lose most of their recruiting class. Some of them might go to UK anyway, but it seems more likely they'll follow Cal.

If many or all of his recruits follow to him to Arkansas, what happens with the current recruiting class at Arkansas? Do they have commits worth poaching?

Arkansas has 1 commit and 1 returning player currently.

I had a dream last night that Bill Self had another medical emergency, and had to retire.

We made history and hired Dawn Staley as the next Head Coach of Kansas Men's Basketball.

When I woke up I thought it was ridiculous, but, after thinking about it a while, and being high, I am starting to think I would be OK with it.

ROFL

I might actually commit seppuku were that to happen.

Paul Pierce and the Celtics playing Hinrich's Bulls in the 2010 finals on NBA TV right now.

Definitely couldn’t be the Finals given the Lakers won that year.

You're right 128-127 triple overtone in the first round. We're in the fourth so there's plenty more basketball to watch.

KU led all of NIL spending last year in 4M in distribution or so I read on social media. While maybe not the best used, good sign going forward that we got money for bball.

Is that ball only, or all sports?

Bball only

Not a good return on investment. :mad:

How do you know that?

Big12 basketball is going to be wild. Houston, Kansas, Arizona. Iowa State will probably be pre season top 10 and have a better team than this years as well. Hopefully we play in Lawrence this year, obviously I’d rather go to Hilton but y’all are a little closer from Overland Park.

This site says $7.4 mill total for KU… I can see MBB accounting for over half that, but I don’t know how that compares to other blueblood BB programs though.

https://nil-ncaa.com/

Overall Power 5 distribution of $ though suggests that $4 mil for KU BB would put it near the top.

FWIW, Self said last night the 4 million was wrong and if we could actually spend that much he joked we would be landing Lebron and KD. It doesn't really surprise me that there are people running around trying to spread inflated numbers to try and drive up the price of players and I'd bet most of what is reported on social media is higher than reality.

The Big 12 was deep this year but probably slightly overrated overall. Next year I think it will be a legit monster.

I heard that Self was referring to a higher number that was floating around. Around 7 mil I think.

Next year.....

















But really - congrats a good year.

They do every year!

At this point they're basically the *checks NBA standings* Boston Celtics.

You might be right, but the math just seems way off if you break it down. The highest transfer guys have been rumoured to be in the 750k- 1 million range, so let's be optimistic and put hunter at 1 million. Kevin comes back let's put him at another very optimistic value at 750k. Now Jackson and Timberlake get maybe 300k each(seems extremely optimistic?) and you are still at 2.3 million. There is no way Harris KJ McDowell Braun and Furphy average 300k per person. That's why I tend to believe he was referring to the 4 million figure, as it's much easier to come up with a realistic value for each guy at say 2.5 million total.

Somebody needs to take out the trash.




J/k, welcome back, Rust. I've been watching a lot of King Of The Hill lately. Dale's fake identity, Rusty Shackleford makes me think of your handle. Is that how you came up with it?

McCullers almost played a whole season. Good buy. Astute.

So furphy declares for the draft but maintains college eligibility?

They all do that (see McCullar). He’s still probably gone.

Youth is truly wasted on the young.

What about Dukes Roach? He’s in the portal.

Sign him

Rylan Griffen sounds more and more likely.

Would be a great get. Big time shooter.

He’d start for sure.

Rumor is AJ Storr is in play too. Just have to hope he withdraws from the draft.

Harris
Griffen
Storr
Bidunga
Dickinson

Bench:
Mayo
Elmarko?
KJ Adams
Kugel
Passmore
Philon

That’s a national championship contending roster.

in

has Self gave any indication whatsoever that he’ll take KJ out of the starting lineup?

I don’t think they want to play Bidunga at the 4 at all, much less start him. I’d be shocked if Bill doesn’t start KJ again.

From everything I’ve heard, Bidunga is a project and probably won’t get more than 10-15 mpg.

He hasn’t and won’t say that.

He also had benched experienced bigs for incoming guys before. Happened with Doke and Embiid.

If Bidunga plays next to Dickinson, Bidunga will be more of a 4 on defense and a 5 on offense I’d assume.

He may well not be ready for a major role too.

InvinciBill, why did you give this one a down vote? LMAO

he gives me downvotes all the time and neg rep. Don’t even know the guy.

Yeah, me too but you could argue my posts deserve it quite often. I just want to know what was so offensive about that one.

Did not enjoy the post.

Fair.

Furphy is leaving

AJ Storr

He'll (also) start for sure.

Finish the deal with Rylan Griffen and we are so ****ing back

Keeping up the downvote tradition. :)

Welcome kid who's coming to his 7th school in 7 years, please don't suck for the 5 months you're in Lawrence before moving onto your next dream $chool.

:shrug:

If he wants to come score another 18 points a game, I don’t care what he does after this year.