***** Official '24/'25 KU Men's Basketball Repository Thread *****
 

The Team:

https://kuathletics.com/sports/mbball/roster/

The Schedule:

https://kuathletics.com/sports/mbball/schedule/

Fock that year. Biggest disappointment in any season I can remember. Time to reload.

Last (this) season had some of the worst luck we’ve had since the 2019 season. Pretty similar in several ways.

Both had injuries. Both had players get dismissed. Both had McDonald’s All Americans not live up to the hype. Both had other transfers not translate well.

But guess what? The right guys came back and improved in 2020. A few other additions helped too, which created one of the best teams of the Self era.

We’ll get a few good players back with a strong recruiting class and a couple key transfers.

We’ll be really good in 24/25. It’s what the great coaches at top programs do.

In.

Wish list - Liam McNeeley and Zeke Mayo.

I upped my WEF contribution this year and hoping for a seat upgrade for a better season than last year.

I'm ready.

Man, that takes on the KU side of X are something else right now.

Lots of people talking about the major problems with the program, while also ignoring having 2 Final Fours and a title in the last 7 years with another overall 1 seed for a canceled tourney.

People simply aren’t understanding the impact of losing an AA to injury. You just don’t have another one of those guys on the bench. And sometimes even McDonald’s AAs don’t live up to the hype.

Hell, if Josh Selby did we would’ve won it all in 2011. If Diallo did, we might have in 2016.

Taking a chance on Arterio was risky and ended badly, but you can understand why Self took that chance. Sucks, but I get it.

Chicken littles are out in full force.

Season was effectively over as soon as McCullar made the decision he did. Not sure how anybody who watched the team this year didn’t realize it. Self certainly did. The drop off from even the hurt version of him to anybody else on the roster taking those minutes was absolutely enormous.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bill Self: “For the last month, I’ve been thinking about next season to be honest.”</p>&mdash; Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) <a href="https://twitter.com/BryanDFischer/status/1771660056305479902?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Him and every other KU fan on the planet. Hope he’s got a plan to get shooting in.

Starts with McNeeley. Also, NBA Scouts need to shit all over Furphy.

Those two would be a great start.

That's a real quote? LMAO

I can tell you that if I was a scout I definitely wouldn’t be recommending a Furphy pick. Some of these scouts are idiots though.

Being 1 year old seems to be more of a negative than any improvement in play is a positive.

Furphy really seems like a guy who could explode with another full year with a D1 strength program.

Furphy and McNeely on the wings with Dajuan, Dickinson, and Bidunga is a terrific starting line up.

Get another shooter in the portal and bring KJ off the bench with McDowell and the rest of the incoming freshmen.

Anything above and beyond that is a bonus.

In for the win!

No, wait, who we playing?

Resign Hunter. Tell KJ to go kick rocks

Find 3 people that can shoot 3s

KJ would be fine off the bench in an energy role.

Can’t be a starter. Bidunga and Dickinson.

Get Leipold in KJ’s ear about playing tight end.

That can't be real.

Real but a little out of context

Yeah. If he played more than a month at a high level he’d be gone. He played pretty bad outside that month. He’s nifty getting around the ball but he’s not the guy.

But I’m always wrong on the draft shit.

Oh, it’s real. Self is out of ****s to give about saying things with tact to the media at this point in his career. That was shown by how he framed the McCullar decision earlier in the week too.

So I went back and watched the entire exchange of "...already looking to next season..." There is a lot of context there that's gonna be lost on people. I'm guessing there's already several message boards out there a thousand comments deep already saying something to the effect of Bill quit on his team, or mailed it in. Those people are idiots, but I digress...

From what he said, I almost get more of a sense of regret that him and his staff didn't maybe try to rotate more guys in earlier in the season, but maybe I'm wrong. It was a funky season. Best to move on I think, and hope for things to improve next year.

Hell YES!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This is out of context. All he did was acknowledge something we all have been for awhile too, that we lacked depth and it needs to be fixed next year. <a href="https://t.co/Fl9Gry1kQg">pic.twitter.com/Fl9Gry1kQg</a></p>&mdash; MA�� �� (@maxinluvv) <a href="https://twitter.com/maxinluvv/status/1771666062125207624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

He really is playing the wrong sport. If he played TE for 3 or 4 years there is no doubt he would be a 4-star prospect at least.

He’d have a chance of going to the NFL. That height, speed, and explosiveness is off the charts for a tight end. I’d bet Leipold could do something with that.

He has zero shot of ever playing in the NBA.

Can anyone think of another example where Self has benched one of "his" guys for an incoming freshman, especially a 2 year starting senior?

I just don't see him sitting KJ. He trusts him and KJ plays his ass off. Self loves those guys. Morningstar, Releford, RussRob, for example.

I get the sentiment of bringing him off the bench, I just can't think of when Self has ever done something like that. As good as Bidunga may be, its hard for a freshman to crack the starting lineup for Self.

Whose fault is it we didn’t have depth? 3 point shooters? You are the best coach in college basketball. We won the tournament just two years ago. Self couldn't have recruited better shooters?

He benched Landen Lucas as a senior in favor of Doke as a freshman

That's a good one, 16/17. Lucas began the first 6 games as starter. Then Doke started the next 6 before he got hurt.

Lagerald Vick was also benched his senior year, but he was replaced by Charlie Moore and it wasn't because the other guy was better, or a to have Vick come off the bench as an energy guy.

Tarik Black also started at center over Embiid for a bit in 13/14.

Black transferred in from Memphis though, so I don’t consider him one is Self’s guys.

Pretty sure Vick left the team that year for reasons unknown.

Vick definitely left. I don't know if we ever found out what that was all about.

I found the article from his benching. Self's reasoning was that Vick had a "rough practice" and that he "hoped it was behind him now." I can't remember what all of the rumors were at the time.

KCC probably knows. He was Vick’s #1 fan.

Morningstar got benched a couple times. Also willingly gave up his scholly.

Didn't Mitch Lightfoot start a year and then didn't later on?

I agree with this. Love kj but he just doesn't bring enough offensively to be a starter. Heck, his defense was lackluster yesterday as well

Bidunga brings elite level athleticism, length, and rim protection. Adams only has the athleticism.

Bidunga and Dickinson could play well together, because Bidunga has the size to play around the basket unlike Adams. It could force teams to defend Dickinson with their 4. He’d abuse them in the midrange.

Defensively, Bidunga has the athletic ability to defend the opposing 4, while also not being a liability as a post defender against traditional bigs.

KJ at times this season was the best player on both ends of the floor. He carried this team at times. That's how bad the offense was.

He would be a great energy big off the bench.

He’s just too limited to be much more than that on a great team.

He can’t do anything about his height or length, and hasn’t developed an outside shot.

I know people made the Draymond Green comparison, but Green could actually shoot.

I love KJ. He's just not good enough to be a starter on a championship team. Could KU win a championship with him starting, of course. But, he'd be carried up that mountain by the rest of the team.

He has no future in basketball. He should become a TE and play football. Bet he be damn good.

We are spoiled with the Chiefs and Jayhawks... plus KC Royals went to 2 World Series in the past decade... so, now we know what it feels like to be Boston in the 2000s.

Let's reload Jayhawks!

He probably wouldn’t be Jimmy Graham or Antonio Gates, but ****ing Rico Gathers was in the NFL for a few years. He could be better than Rico.

RussRob started, but he was losing more and more minutes as the year went on.

KU should be all over Colby Rogers.

Seems like an ideal fit. Rogers, Furphy, and McNeeley could give us 3 elite level shooters.

Got Kugel.

He’ll be a nice rotational guard. Will be great to have depth again.

I guess. I'm not going to claim I've watched alot of Florida basketball but his stats are very underwhelming.

He is a extremely inefficient scorer. He shoots less than 40% from the field even though only 3 of his FG's per game are threes. He doesn't appear to be a playmaker only averages 1.5 apg vs 1.9 to. 31% 3FG shooter and doesn't get to the line alot in only 2 FTA a game.

I don't get what we see in this guy unless he's some elite defender.

I'll take anybody off the bench who has played rotation minutes at a high major D1 program compared to what I had to go through this past year with Timberlake and Braun.

Yeah. That’s basically what he is.

Doesn’t have to be great. Just has to be a guy who can play minutes without being a disaster.

Kugel shot 37.6% from 3 in his freshman season too, so he can conceivably do the same again.

This.

If he's only a bench guy I'd be pleased but as of right now he's our starting 2 or 3. Typically you don't pick up transfers from power 5 schools with his pedigree and tell them yeah come on in, we plan to recruit over you and you will be in good shape to come off the bench.

This is like judging a professional sports team's offseason on day 2. Who cares what he is as of right now? They're obviously gonna try to do a ton more.

The current season isn’t even over yet.

Plenty of time for more guys to enter the portal and still a few high level recruits out there.

Haven’t watched this guy, but this team needs some changes, and he will check the box at the very least.

Sounds like there’s some real smoke with Zeke Mayo.

Big time shooter.

This.

My only concern could be potential attitude issues, but that might be only because of what Morris decided to do.

I would rather have Mayo than Florida boy but not both. Although if this means we have McNeeley in the bag & Hunter coming back I am good with everything.

https://247sports.com/Season/2024-Ba...sferPortalTop/

Kugel #42 ranked transfer. Are we sure he's even getting NIL

Who cares....it's basically impossible to rank players from drastically different levels of play.

But 42 out of thousands is pretty elite anyway. And their thinking is that he has untapped potential.

I care. Timberlake wasn't even in their Top 25 last year.

Apparently, Kugel shot really poorly in the non con then shot 40% from 3 during SEC play.

That’s kinda what Jalen Wilson did in 2022.

Kugel is likely more of a 36-40% 3 point shooter.

And? He might have been closer to bottom 25.

So you think that 99% of the players in the portal suck?

I have better faith in portal rankings than HS basketball recruit rankings. At least the barometer for those are based off collegiate level competition and production.

UCONN, Houston, and Arizona all wanted Kugel too.

That means more than any ranking.

And Timberlake chose KU out of UConn and UNC last year...sooooo

So there’s no perfect method to evaluate players, but I’ll trust the best coaches in the game (with actual skin in the game) over any ranking to get it right more often.

Two years of evidence in the college game that he sucks...and everyone is like ya but he might not suck. Hes a backup plan if we strike out with McNeeley or another good wing.

He’s just a piece. He isn’t a solution.

McNeeley is absolutely plan A. McNeeley and Furphy with Kugel off the bench is my ideal.

Then grab Mayo to back up Harris and our guard/wing situation is substantially better. That assumes we get nothing out of the freshmen too.

I sure hope Mayo is not the backup PG with his close to 1:1 assist to turnover ratio. He has the same assist to turnover ratio as baby Marko had this year.

KJ announces he is coming back.

Bill Self is partying at the Salty Iguana tonight to celebrate.

Well he shoots like 40% from 3 and like 90% free throw so I'd take his turnovers easily

I think Furphy/McNeeley is an either/or situation. I've heard that McNeeley's waiting to see what Furphy does.

Not sure which I'd rather have, tbh. I think McNeeley's the better shooter and has more potential, but I have no idea which player would be more productive next year.

Yeah no idea how likely it is, but that’s my ideal.

I think the two together would maximize each other’s games.

The spacing they’d create would be incredible.

Who thought he wouldn't be back?

Zeke

Love it. Shot maker.

If we do land McNeely and Furphy stays, we’ll have the ability to play 4 guards around Bidunga (if Dickinson leaves).

BOOM so much for that Oklahoma visit



<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A homecoming like no other. Lawrence, KS, let’s rock. ��❤️ <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/committed?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#committed</a> <a href="https://t.co/Y4WkpUOO32">pic.twitter.com/Y4WkpUOO32</a></p>&mdash; Zeke Mayo (@zekexmayo) <a href="https://twitter.com/zekexmayo/status/1775296779279298714?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Nice!

Exciting! A real Jayhawk. Has to mean something. He is a pretty good shooter. Hometown hero.