Rayjon Tucker



  • I like him so much he gets is own thread. Anyhow, UNC is going to be tough to beat for him. They need to replace Cam Johnson and aren’t getting Hurt and probably aren’t getting Precious. Tucker is from the Charlotte area and has a lot of family connection to UNC. He’s taking a visit to WVU this weekend, but KU has reached out and Tucker is interested. Memphis, Texas Tech, Auburn, the Arizonas, South Carolina, and Iowa State are also involved. I don’t think Memphis or the Arizonas are really a threat. If I had to guess, UNC, KU, and SC are the top 3.



  • @FarmerJayhawk

    Brutal. This kid would start if he came here. I had no idea where he went after leaving Dooley. I remember him at FGCU and he was good then. Seems like he’s a grown man now.

    Hoping we can get in serious with him despite the UNC area connection





  • @dylans

    Eww



  • Declared for the draft. Probably just testing since he’s not a NBA player right now.



  • Looks like he already visited West Virginia and is visiting Auburn this weekend



  • Dooley put a word in?



  • Also set a visit up to Memphis



  • Sounds like we aren’t in on this one. Maybe the Dooley connection actually hurt us. Maybe he doesn’t want to play in that system again.



  • Tucker is planning on visiting KU. Timing TBD.



  • Boy, pipe dream thoughts of landing Hampton and bringing Ochai and Garrett off of the bench are starting…



  • Kcmatt7 said:

    Boy, pipe dream thoughts of landing Hampton and bringing Ochai and Garrett off of the bench are starting…

    alt text



  • I would still love to see Garrett as the lead guard and move Dotson off the ball to free him up to shoot more 3’s.

    If KU landed Hampton, I suspect the back court would be Dotson, Hampton, and Agbaji with Garrett off the bench since Garrett can guard 1-4. Unless KU lands someone who can immediately start at the 4, I suspect that KU will be back to having a 4 guard line up with Garrett at the 4 on defense.



  • Kcmatt7 said:

    Boy, pipe dream thoughts of landing Hampton and bringing Ochai and Garrett off of the bench are starting…

    Love where your head’s at! I think Ochai has a chance to develop into a 2 as well. Certainly athletic enough to guard 2’s. Just needs a better handle and more consistent shot.



  • FarmerJayhawk said:

    Tucker is planning on visiting KU. Timing TBD.

    Oh boy that’s huge



  • BeddieKU23 said:

    FarmerJayhawk said:

    Tucker is planning on visiting KU. Timing TBD.

    Oh boy that’s huge

    He’d start, at freaking Kansas so at least we have that to sell.



  • Tucker seems like an incredibly important target here — as important as anyone right now. Perfect fit, major need.



  • HighEliteMajor said:

    Tucker seems like an incredibly important target here — as important as anyone right now. Perfect fit, major need.

    Yeah he is more important then any recruit on the board. Not that we have a pick of the litter there but its definitely an important potential visit and signing



  • Tucker would be a great get right now. He’s a guy that almost certainly would come in and contribute immediately. He will be 22 in September, so he may have a bit more athletic development to go. He probably won’t average 20 per game like he did for Ark-LR, but he certainly could. And he did that while shooting a fairly efficient 49% from the field and 41% from three.

    Slotting him in the backcourt with Dotson would make for a very nice combo. It would also help slot guys into some more natural roles, particularly if Hampton comes to KU as well, allowing KU to bring both Agbaji and Garrett off the bench, Agbaji as the sixth man, Garrett as the 15 mpg glue guy.

    Of course, that’s in a perfect world.



  • In Self’s perfect world Garrett plays 40 minutes.

    He’s gonna play 30 no matter who’s on the roster



  • BeddieKU23 said:

    In Self’s perfect world Garrett plays 40 minutes.

    He’s gonna play 30 no matter who’s on the roster

    And that would be a mistake unless he fixes his jump shot this summer.



  • justanotherfan said:

    BeddieKU23 said:

    In Self’s perfect world Garrett plays 40 minutes.

    He’s gonna play 30 no matter who’s on the roster

    And that would be a mistake unless he fixes his jump shot this summer.

    I agree. I don’t think its fixable either so where does that leave us? Fatally flawed already?



  • BeddieKU23 said:

    justanotherfan said:

    BeddieKU23 said:

    In Self’s perfect world Garrett plays 40 minutes.

    He’s gonna play 30 no matter who’s on the roster

    And that would be a mistake unless he fixes his jump shot this summer.

    I agree. I don’t think its fixable either so where does that leave us? Fatally flawed already?

    @BShark Did you hack Beddie’s account or something?



  • Kcmatt7 said:

    BeddieKU23 said:

    justanotherfan said:

    BeddieKU23 said:

    In Self’s perfect world Garrett plays 40 minutes.

    He’s gonna play 30 no matter who’s on the roster

    And that would be a mistake unless he fixes his jump shot this summer.

    I agree. I don’t think its fixable either so where does that leave us? Fatally flawed already?

    @BShark Did you hack Beddie’s account or something?

    I’m just on this kick of wanting to see shooters on the floor as much as possible. We have none currently. What do we do with guys such as Marcus



  • lolololol



  • BeddieKU23 said:

    Kcmatt7 said:

    BeddieKU23 said:

    justanotherfan said:

    BeddieKU23 said:

    In Self’s perfect world Garrett plays 40 minutes.

    He’s gonna play 30 no matter who’s on the roster

    And that would be a mistake unless he fixes his jump shot this summer.

    I agree. I don’t think its fixable either so where does that leave us? Fatally flawed already?

    @BShark Did you hack Beddie’s account or something?

    I’m just on this kick of wanting to see shooters on the floor as much as possible. We have none currently. What do we do with guys such as Marcus

    You pray we land Tucker and Hampton and he’s on the bench a lot.



  • I’m still on the play Garrett 20 minutes per game train. His defense is still incredible, both in the eye test and advanced stats. Last year would’ve been one of the all-time kind of defensive seasons in the Big 12 had he not been on 1 leg for the last half of league play.



  • I’ll go with Garrett as the #4 perimeter guy, 10-15 minutes, if we play conventional; #5 guy, same minutes if we play 4/1. But until he can shoot 30+% from three and competently knock down a 15-17 footer, his negative will outweigh multiple positives … by the sheer weight of having a perimeter play that teams can sag back to the lane on. That’s poison to an offense.

    But he’s got a role, and a role that would be strategic. I think Self started him the second half vs. Tennessee. Great move (I’m thinking it was Tennessee).

    For what it’s worth, until a MAJOR SHIFT is made FUNDAMENTALLY with Garrett, we’ll never know. It’s worth forcing him to make a major change. I advocate extended arms, high above heard, using mostly all wrist. That way, old habits can’t overtake. Tweaks permit bad habits to creep back in. Further, it’s clear he has no touch with his push shot.



  • Garrett’s shot requires a full tear down and rebuild. This isn’t something you fix with a few tweaks. This is a literal rebuild from the base.

    You spend a week or two just addressing his footwork and shot preparation. No ball, just going through the motions step by step, slowly at first, then quicker as you build that good muscle memory. His shot is so bad that you have to eliminate everything and start over because there are too many bad habits to deal with. Once you deal with the footwork and shot preparation, then you introduce a ball to make sure that he can catch and line up his shot properly without having his mechanics suffer. This part of the process will take 4-6 weeks at a minimum. That means if he started today, it would be the end of May and he wouldn’t even be shooting yet, just getting the catch and footwork right.

    From there, you start with set shots, no jumping. The focus would be on shot preparation and release mechanics. Again, this is several weeks of training that would take him into early July. And he’s not even shooting real jumpshots yet.

    Once you add jumping, you have to take it slow. If the form starts to break, you go back a few steps to make sure the technique is good. You don’t progress until its right. That’s another month. We’re into August and he may not be shooting much outside 15 feet, and probably still not quite up to game speed.

    And this all requires a shooting coach to watch his form on each shot. He has to have someone there to watch his form every time to make sure he doesn’t slip into any bad habits. That’s 16 weeks of work just to get to a point where he can hoist a few hundred shots a day, and he has to have somebody watching his form every shot to be certain he isn’t getting sloppy. It’s a long road to rebuild a jumpshot.



  • May 10-12th is the visit date





  • FarmerJayhawk said:

    May 10-12th is the visit date

    Has this even been announced yet? 👀



  • BShark said:

    FarmerJayhawk said:

    May 10-12th is the visit date

    Has this even been announced yet? 👀

    Not that I know of. All I heard over the weekend was “after graduation.”



  • BShark said:

    https://twitter.com/timothyprogers7/status/1120340255536746496

    Ugh

    Not surprised. Pearly got his selling shoes out. Fits their program to a T





  • FarmerJayhawk said:

    BShark said:

    FarmerJayhawk said:

    May 10-12th is the visit date

    Has this even been announced yet? 👀

    Not that I know of. All I heard over the weekend was “after graduation.”

    Apparently the 3rd, per Rayjon himself on twitter dot com

    https://twitter.com/Tak3FlightTuck/status/1120475032071888897



  • “The people were so welcoming.”

    0_1555977780841_upload-308996c6-07bf-42d6-ae9e-ecbaf5fe6fad image url)



  • @BShark

    Good work!



  • BShark said:

    FarmerJayhawk said:

    BShark said:

    FarmerJayhawk said:

    May 10-12th is the visit date

    Has this even been announced yet? 👀

    Not that I know of. All I heard over the weekend was “after graduation.”

    Apparently the 3rd, per Rayjon himself on twitter dot com

    https://twitter.com/Tak3FlightTuck/status/1120475032071888897

    Very cool! Need to lock him down.



  • Yeah w/e it takes. Roll out the red carpet.



  • @BShark Huh that’s crazy. Cause off the interview off the Auburn rivals the article said he visited Virginia last weekend - - - going to be visiting Memphis this weekend the 25th-27th - - then Visiting Iowa State on the 3rd-5th of May - then we KU would be the last visit on the 1oth-12th of may. - I was counting on that Huge cause he said he wanted to make his decision right after the KU visit - wanted be decided before the 29th of May and the draft in case things didn’t work out.

    He did mention how impressed he was with Auburn and something to the effect about how everyone was treating him like family - really loved it and Auburn for sure was the team to beat saying Virginia - -Memphis - -KU and others were going to have to catch up - he said He feeling the love from Auburn and that he hadn’t even comitted yet - -saying the key word was YET.

    We got big time work to do - -that’s why I was hoping we could really knock it out of the park with having the last visit and him deciding so quickly after the visit with us.



  • I can’t imagine Memphis can land Tucker they already have a Top 50 player at his position coming in DJ Jeffries. Auburn is definitely going to be tough to beat for him as he fits their system to a T.

    KU desperately needs him.



  • Our sales pitch is obvious. If you put up the same/similar numbers here, you’re a 1st round pick.

    I don’t know anyone else can say that. Brown isn’t even going to get drafted out of Auburn after one hell of a career.

    He may fit their system perfectly, but that system hasn’t produced pros.



  • @Kcmatt7

    Okeke is a pro prospect for Auburn. Before his ACL tear was a 1st round pick. I wonder what he does now.

    I agree that Auburn’s system hasn’t produced pro’s. They haven’t been any good at basketball either until this run they had. Pearl can recruit though and Auburn is closer to his hometown.

    Can KU sell him a starting spot? That puts Agbaji or Garrett on the bench… That’s the kicker



  • @BeddieKU23 If Bryce Brown did at KU what he did at Auburn I think he gets drafted. That’s all I’m saying. 141 threes is absurd. And that is something that I’d harp on.

    I definitely think Bill sells him a starting spot. Or at least phrases it, that if he can’t beat out either of those two, he isn’t an NBA player anyways.



  • BeddieKU23 said:

    I can’t imagine Memphis can land Tucker they already have a Top 50 player at his position coming in DJ Jeffries. Auburn is definitely going to be tough to beat for him as he fits their system to a T.

    KU desperately needs him.

    Correct on all counts.



  • @Kcmatt7

    That’s true. Brown is someone that likely gets a look due to his shooting but what else does he do well that translates to the league. I think that’s why his draft stock is what it is. I do agree though at KU 141 3’s probably is looked at in a different light. It’s a solid point if that’s apart of their pitch.

    He’s a 20 something OAD that can gain a ton of exposure at KU. I wonder what role he’s looking for after being the man at Ark LR. Under Dooley he was just a piece. Will a starting spot and 15 shots a game be what he wants? I hope the allure of playing for a blue-blood has some weight.



  • Kcmatt7 said:

    @BeddieKU23 If Bryce Brown did at KU what he did at Auburn I think he gets drafted. That’s all I’m saying. 141 threes is absurd. And that is something that I’d harp on.

    I definitely think Bill sells him a starting spot. Or at least phrases it, that if he can’t beat out either of those two, he isn’t an NBA player anyways.

    I wouldn’t be so sure about that.

    There’s a very recent KU comp to Bryce Brown - Malik Newman.

    Newman averaged 14.2 PPG, 5 RPG, 2 APG last year at KU, and had the huge NCAA tournament that led his team to the Final Four.

    Brown averaged 15.9 PPG, 2 RPG, 2 APG this year for Auburn, and had a huge NCAA tournament to lead his team to the Final Four.

    Both guys are 6-3 SG. Both were in the same HS class, with Brown just five months younger than Newman.

    Brown’s shooting percentages this year were 43/41/81.

    Newman’s last year were 46/41/84.

    There’s not that much difference between the two, honestly. Score first, undersized SG’s don’t have a lot of margin in the NBA. Not sure that Brown gets drafted coming out of KU.

    Tucker probably gets drafted if he puts up numbers similar to what he did at Little Rock at a P5 school. He’s 6-5 and athletic. That additional size makes all the difference. In that respect, because he just needs to play in a P5 conference, KU doesn’t have a decided advantage over Auburn on this.



  • justanotherfan said:

    Kcmatt7 said:

    @BeddieKU23 If Bryce Brown did at KU what he did at Auburn I think he gets drafted. That’s all I’m saying. 141 threes is absurd. And that is something that I’d harp on.

    I definitely think Bill sells him a starting spot. Or at least phrases it, that if he can’t beat out either of those two, he isn’t an NBA player anyways.

    I wouldn’t be so sure about that.

    There’s a very recent KU comp to Bryce Brown - Malik Newman.

    Newman averaged 14.2 PPG, 5 RPG, 2 APG last year at KU, and had the huge NCAA tournament that led his team to the Final Four.

    Brown averaged 15.9 PPG, 2 RPG, 2 APG this year for Auburn, and had a huge NCAA tournament to lead his team to the Final Four.

    Both guys are 6-3 SG. Both were in the same HS class, with Brown just five months younger than Newman.

    Brown’s shooting percentages this year were 43/41/81.

    Newman’s last year were 46/41/84.

    There’s not that much difference between the two, honestly. Score first, undersized SG’s don’t have a lot of margin in the NBA. Not sure that Brown gets drafted coming out of KU.

    Tucker probably gets drafted if he puts up numbers similar to what he did at Little Rock at a P5 school. He’s 6-5 and athletic. That additional size makes all the difference. In that respect, because he just needs to play in a P5 conference, KU doesn’t have a decided advantage over Auburn on this.

    That’s a relatively good comp. I don’t have much of a rebuttal other than Bryce did it as THE guy that got schemed for. But you definitely make a great argument.



  • UNC landed another wing as a grad transfer. So they’re 1000% out on Tucker. Auburn and KU are the teams left.


Log in to reply