Latrell Jossell
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http://www2.kusports.com/news/2019/nov/14/kansas-lands-commitment-3-star-point-guard-latrell/ https://247sports.com/college/kansas/Article/How-Jerrance-Howard-KU-basketball-recruited-Latrell-Jossell-138594191/ (note this is VIP)
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40% trey gun last year and has apparently worked very hard to improve his shot. Sounds like a junkyard dog according to his HS coach.
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BShark said:
1000% is a lot. Like, more than 110% even.
One would think that 1000% means absolutely. But we who lived then know that 1972 changed the mathematics of percentages for ever.
It is an anomaly not fully understood, like dark matter.
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This really stood out to me from Tait’s story…
After receiving an official scholarship offer on Tuesday night, Jossell’s family went crazy, celebrating the news and knowing that the young guard was Kansas-bound.
“I don’t think it really has sunk in yet,” said Jossell, who was named after former NBA standout Latrell Sprewell. “But the feeling I got when they gave me the offer, I was stuck. Even though I knew it was coming, when it finally happened, it was crazy. My whole family… It was lit in the house and it was like smiles the rest of the night.”
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@BShark A Junk yard dog from CHI town. Wearing #4. Hmm.
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Ok, so Latrell is now part of the family , and have to Trust Coach and assume he see’s something that makes him worthy of receiving this offer. However , and now I know I’m not the only one that is really puzzled/confused by this recruitment. Trying really hard to see exactly what is it we are missing? -
This kid had NO P-5 offers other then KU - -NO Mid Major offers. Only offer we were told that he had received was from Dallas Baptist right ? - That is just weird , no offers at all ? - -Period ? - -Yet we offer? Again I know I’m not the only person thinking this way - -have read multiple other comments about this - - just strange just looks like from the surface almost we just obtaining bodies to use the Scholi.
Here is the thing partly with me on this anyways , with the status and Latrell receiving NO offers at all - -his talent level for a High P-5 program such as ours - -I just can’t see it. - -Another way to look at this is, if we are going to offer kids such as this - - a kid that has gotten no interest from anyone P-5 OR even Mid Major -especially if he has been on the AAU circuit where there are multiple Coach’s out Scouting talent and yet with these Coach’s seeing Latrell and others such as Gethro , he hasn’t gotten a single offer ? - -just weird.
If were looking to Land another player give out our remaining Scholi and it ends up going to someone like Latrell ? - - how about this - - why not reward that Scholi to one of our Walk on’s that has been with the program- -went through the battles with the team has given us dedication and worked their ass off to be a part of this team? - -I would be willing to bet you that Elijah , Chris - - -Or Jankovich - - you could almost take it to the bank that any of these kids got SOME kind of offers whether it be P-5 or at the least Mid Major from somewhere - - AT LEAST ONE offer even if it was from a Mid Major - - So Latrell is worth giving this to and NOT reward one of the guys al ready on the team - -reward him for their hard work as a walk on. -Cause the way it looks to me/others Latrell really doesn’t rank any better - -Is he Better then Elijah ? - Jankovich ? - -Teahan ? - - just curious - -weird - - just really strange. - -
I would be willing to bet Latrell doesn’t hardly sniff the floor in his first two years on this team. - I mean we can all hear the raw , raw from the staff about how he is going to help an be a good contributor - what the hell do we expect a coach to say after he has been offered a Scholi ? - -Oh this kid really isn’t worth a crap but hey it’s getting Close to Christmas and we wee feeling in a festive mood and figured - - WHY NOT and offer him the Scholi - it just doesn’t make much sense to me. - - Anyways Welcome Latrell you have joined the Nation - hope you can prove me/others wrong. - - ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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It’s hard to judge a player by just looking at a few highlight tapes. But from what I see in those Latrell has all the right components to be a great PG for us. The question will be if he can translate his game to D1, and more, to elite D1? I like how Latrell looks on his drives… under control. That’s something that takes basketball IQ and self confidence. We’ve had many guards that never figured this out or it took until their senior season. I’m thinking right away of Tyshawn. Latrell will be challenged on his current drives if he stays at this level in D1. I hope he can then step up his game to conquer in D1 while still maintaining his composure. We shall see. Meanwhile… Welcome to Jayhawk land, Latrell!
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According to Jossell Missouri and NC State among others were very interested but then…
“I had like a lot of interest from some good D-I schools,” Jossell said. "It was a lot, and they were all pushing. I had them all down at my school within a span of three weeks. Then Kansas came in, and when Kansas came in, I don’t know if they got scared or whatever like that, they were still texting me, but it was like they knew the big dog was in the house.”
@jayballer73 Sounds like the offers were coming until Bill shut the door.
He was being recruited but because he wasn’t a nationally known recruit it wasn’t really being reported on.
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BShark said:
According to Jossell Missouri and NC State among others were very interested but then…
“I had like a lot of interest from some good D-I schools,” Jossell said. "It was a lot, and they were all pushing. I had them all down at my school within a span of three weeks. Then Kansas came in, and when Kansas came in, I don’t know if they got scared or whatever like that, they were still texting me, but it was like they knew the big dog was in the house.”
@jayballer73 Sounds like the offers were coming until Bill shut the door.
He was being recruited but because he wasn’t a nationally known recruit it wasn’t really being reported on.
W will see - I’ll stay my ground. for now. So on that basis we should just CLEAN house anytime we go in on a recruit. - Be like other schools recruiting a kid and then we COME IN - -, and those schools say - - Oh well hell KU recruiting him now- - -GAME OVER and leave - -Na not buying that - -hell if that’s the case we would have a top 5 class every year.
Other P-5 Schools just not gonna run like some striped ass Ape just because we started recruiting the kid. - - So this kid saying once these Schools like Missouri & NC State once KU started recruiting him they just automatically backed away - - -Na , Nope not working.
I call BS on that. - -We have been recruiting the same kids other Schools were recruiting before and they didn’t tuck their tails between their legs and run - -OH KU is recruiting him too were fried time to go lol - you understand how crazy that sounds ? A lot of good D-1 schools and then IN COMES KANSAS - - man I wish it worked like that. - -Then he has all these other good D-1 schools recruiting him and then BAM - -soon as KU offers its like WOW KANSAS – and commits – -ya ok. - it’s your story you stick to that.
I think it’s like more reality , he like any other kid reads social Media , Team sites such as this – see the comments where people might question as to why we offered and then he is like oh dam might need to change this up some. - - I’ll wait – stick to what I said for now - -He won’t hardly scratch the floor for his first TWO years here - hope he can prove me wrong but - - - UMM – -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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Jayballer out here calling a kid a liar. Okay…
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BShark said:
Jayballer out here calling a kid a liar. Okay…
now your getting it-- -callin it like it is
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BShark said:
Jayballer out here calling a kid a liar. Okay…
didn’t mean to ruffle your feathers cause we have a big difference of opinion whether we think the kid should of been given the Scholi or not - - it’s gonna be ok
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How’s his defense? Defense is a sure fire way to get onto the court with Self as the coach. I worry about his length being a liability, but it wouldn’t be if he’s quick enough with a high b-ball IQ. He’s more of a curiosity to me than the other recruits. I don’t see it yet, but time will tell.
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dylans said:
How’s his defense? Defense is a sure fire way to get onto the court with Self as the coach. I worry about his length being a liability, but it wouldn’t be if he’s quick enough with a high b-ball IQ. He’s more of a curiosity to me than the other recruits. I don’t see it yet, but time will tell.
His HS coach said he is willing to take charges and gets in passing lanes to deflect and steal balls. So the effort is certainly there.
On another board the guy down in Texas (a teacher down there) that had Jalen Wilson info had this to say
"I’ll be able to go watch Jossell a few times this season. He is in the district (what you northerners call conference) with Jalen Wilson’s high school. I have a few contacts in that district, and they all say the same thing, the kid is a baller…but they didn’t think he was a Kansas level baller.
Maybe the staff sees something special. I hope so. "
It sounds like he has improved from last season so hopefully the reports over the course of this season are even better.
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For his size he looks like a good athlete. I don’t know if he will ever compare athletically to Frank but you can see some similarities and he can finish above the rim which is impressive. If they have found a kid that was overlooked and just hitting his stride (like Ochai, Braun, Muscadin, Grant-Foster, Harris) why not? The staff has taken chances and we’ll see how it plays out.
It looks like Self wants competition at lead guard next season. We hear they are high on Harris, another late bloomer. Bryce has developed a lot in the last year from where he was last year, it’s the reason he’s a Top 20 player. Kids like Jossell are easy to root for if they push themselves to get better. Seems like the staff has really targeted specific players that haven’t plateau’d but are just scratching the surface and give the staff tools to work with. Player development is key with these kids. I hope this model pays off.
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https://www.hudl.com/video/3/8617421/5d9b619464e9091340d65732
His JR year highlights. At 2:45 or so he has a completely ridiculous rebound. Easy to see how the staff sees something in him after watching.
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@BShark - Latrell does have a motor and plays with passion, based on various videos. However… his 3 pt shot looks like it starts too low. Maybe not enough arm strength yet, but I’d bet that gets retooled.
Edit: and an 84% FT shooter on 349 attempts over the last 3 years. Maybe he can tutor Doke?
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Gorilla72 said:
@BShark - Latrell does have a motor and plays with passion, based on various videos. However… his 3 pt shot looks like it starts too low. Maybe not enough arm strength yet, but I’d bet that gets retooled.
Edit: and an 84% FT shooter on 349 attempts over the last 3 years. Maybe he can tutor Doke?
Yeah he is a good shooter but I noticed the low release as well. I’m guessing the plan is for him to redshirt so he can have time in the weight program and with the coaches in general. With Harris, Garrett, Thompson and Tyon available there isn’t a pressing need at the 1/2 spots.
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Guys…
Jossell grew up with Kansas as his dream school. He never really thought he’d wind up playing there and didn’t have any real connections to KU. He just always was intrigued by the place ever since he first saw a KU game on television while watching sports with his grandfather growing up.
“There’s just something about Kansas," he said. "The way the arena looked, the way everything looked, I would always just run in there whenever my grandpa said KU was on TV and I just fell in love with it.”
So when the time came this week to tell his grandfather about the KU offer and his plans to sign, needless to say it was a big moment for both of them.
“He was so excited,” Jossell said. “He said he could barely even focus when he was at work. It was great to hear that and a great moment for both of us.”
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No P5 offers? Sounds like we got ourselves our next Graham or Mason.
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I appreciate the intel I can find here from the little birdies our friends at Buckets know…so thanks to all of you who contribute to that. I only know one birdie…one of my best friends who happens to be the head coach of the only other school that offered Jossell…Dallas Baptist. Here are a few of his paraphrased thoughts:
–Athletic kid. Great teammate. Works super hard. Tries on D. Decent shooter if he gets his feet set.
–Recruiting service had him #73…in Texas…not the nation. This morning that jumped to #26…in Texas.
–Thinks he’s too small and not strong enough to defend at KU’s level.
–5’11’’ shooting guard who isn’t Jeff Boschee or Phil Forte and isn’t much of a playmaker for others.
–Thinks they potentially took him to both get Jethro and to help get Harrison Ingram
–A bunch of low majors came to look and didn’t offer. His HS coach was thrilled that DBU offered…THRILLED.
–Was the backup PG on his AAU team behind a guy who went to Indiana St
–Only got a 3* rating after KU offered and didn’t have any star rating or national profile on Rivals until then
–Said Frank Mason is not a comparison…“Toughness and grit are miles apart”
–My friend is totally baffled by this. Not one other offer besides a local D2 school…and Kansas. He’s not sure why.
–To be clear…my friend LOVES the kid. He’s thrilled for him personally. He also thought he’d be a great D2 point guard.
I just asked him his honest thoughts and he shared them. Not one ounce of negative in his voice so don’t take the above as anything other than his fair evaluation. For sure not crapping on him or sour over losing him.
I’m just the messenger here. I’ve laughed with my friend…HARD…about all of how this has played out. Never in a million years did he think he’d be recruiting against Kansas for anybody. He’s also a KU guy. His dad coached at KU with Ted Owens. He was a student manager the years we were there together (94-98) under Roy. Loves Kansas and wishes the best for Jossell. Just wishes (as a coach) that he could coach him and have him there.
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Having guards for 4 years can be tremendous, as we have seen. Really don’t think the staff would have offered and signed if they hadn’t seen something special.
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@focojayhawk Thanks for all the insight. Definitely sounds like he will need a RS year to get stronger as suspected.
If this connection leads to Harrison Ingram it is a HUGE win. He has already taken official visits this year as a JR so hopefully KU gets really involved there.
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https://kuathletics.com/kansas-inks-guard-latrell-jossell/
Some comments from Bill.
@focojayhawk Who is the PG that went to Indiana State? I was looking at their recruiting classes and couldn’t find one however midmajor recruiting info isn’t always 100% on sites and I trust people with first hand knowledge more.
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I really hope the kid sticks it out until he can play meaningful minutes. I hated to see McBride leave under those circumstances…
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Gorilla72 said:
I really hope the kid sticks it out until he can play meaningful minutes. I hated to see McBride leave under those circumstances…
Given the McBride situation where we heard the right things about him and then he quit you never really know until a kid gets on campus.
Bill did have this to say though…
“Latrell is very aware we were recruiting other guys,” Self said. “He’s happy with whatever role he will have early in his career. We see him as being a player that will help us by his energy and by his presense in our program. We think he’s going to develop into a really solid Big 12 player.”
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@BShark So, my take is we will have an open scholarship and we see potential for development. If that development doesn’t merit the PT that the kid wants…he transfers. Up to him. Also, provides competition for Harris at PG.
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Hawk8086 said:
@BShark So, my take is we will have an open scholarship and we see potential for development. If that development doesn’t merit the PT that the kid wants…he transfers. Up to him. Also, provides competition for Harris at PG.
I found Bill’s quote (in the post of mine you replied to) to be pretty good and telling. He was completely honest with the kid and if I were a betting man the staff wasn’t taking him until they were told they were out for KK Robinson. It sounds like he understands, and he has been wanting to be a Jayhawk for a long time. Time will tell how this all goes.
Competition is always good. From what I’ve read and seen Harris and Jossell are of similar build and listed at the same position but are completely different players.
Harris is a true and pure PG that will need to develop a three point shot to reach his full potential. Looking at his AAU stats from his last AAU stint over 14 games he only scored 7 a game on 58% shooting while only attempting 2 threes. What you really like about his AAU stats are 46 rebounds and 103 (!!!) assists vs just 31 turnovers while running the show. 26 steals indicate a desire to play defense as well.
Jossell on the other hand is more in the Frank/Markese Jacobs mold of “needs to develop into a PG”. One thing I’ve noticed is he is absolutely not afraid to pull up from anywhere to take a three if left alone. He’s a natural scorer but needs to develop better passing instincts. We are still waiting on Ochai to develop better basketball instincts in general (he is still just mainly an athlete playing basketball to me), so it could take time.
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24/7 ran out and got Jossell ranked
https://247sports.com/player/latrell-jossell-46096517/
#333 in the class, #324 composite.
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BShark said:
24/7 ran out and got Jossell ranked
https://247sports.com/player/latrell-jossell-46096517/
#333 in the class, #324 composite.
When I was giving the anti-OAD speech, this was not what I had in mind.
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@HighEliteMajor We’ve had worse at the 13th scholarship before but yeah, will be interesting to see if he sticks around.
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Not going to lose sleep over it. He’s got some tools. Not going to have 13 top 100 guys. Even dook and UK have practice bodies at the end of the bench.
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FarmerJayhawk said:
Not going to lose sleep over it. He’s got some tools. Not going to have 13 top 100 guys. Even dook and UK have practice bodies at the end of the bench.
Jordan Goldwire even gets minutes for Duke.
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@BShark Heck, we’ve had Charlie Moore.
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HighEliteMajor said:
@BShark Heck, we’ve had Charlie Moore.
Whitman and McBride didn’t even make it to the exhibitions. Then there was Evan Maxwell…
I’d be shocked if Jossell did anything but RS next year. This class and only Dotson leaving early would be pretty nice.
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HighEliteMajor said:
BShark said:
24/7 ran out and got Jossell ranked
https://247sports.com/player/latrell-jossell-46096517/
#333 in the class, #324 composite.
When I was giving the anti-OAD speech, this was not what I had in mind.
Lol! Me neither… But he can shoot.
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@BShark Love all references to The 'Stache!
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He’s athletic, which is nice, but he’s also small, so all of my normal complaints about smaller guards apply.
He can shoot it, but at his size, he’s going to have to become a primary ball handler. He simply cannot rely only on off ball skills at the collegiate level. That won’t cut it because he likely won’t be able to guard bigger guys, even with his above average athleticism.
In all honesty, though, I think this kid should be ranked higher. He’s small, but he can shoot, he can handle, and he is very athletic for his size. Looking at a couple of the dunks that he has thrown down, I am surprised he is only a three star. I would have pegged him as a low four star based on the eye test. He should be top 150 IMHO, borderline top 100.
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justanotherfan said:
He’s athletic, which is nice, but he’s also small, so all of my normal complaints about smaller guards apply.
He can shoot it, but at his size, he’s going to have to become a primary ball handler. He simply cannot rely only on off ball skills at the collegiate level. That won’t cut it because he likely won’t be able to guard bigger guys, even with his above average athleticism.
In all honesty, though, I think this kid should be ranked higher. He’s small, but he can shoot, he can handle, and he is very athletic for his size. Looking at a couple of the dunks that he has thrown down, I am surprised he is only a three star. I would have pegged him as a low four star based on the eye test. He should be top 150 IMHO, borderline top 100.
Agree he will have to develop into a PG.
The crazy thing to me is that before KU sniffed around and even after up until his commitment this kid was completely unranked. Didn’t even have a 24/7 profile. He did have a Rivals profile but 0 stars/ranking. I am not saying this is a huge miss like Burke, Oladipo, Morant etc because he is not on that level but to be completely unranked was shocking to me.
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BShark said:
justanotherfan said:
He’s athletic, which is nice, but he’s also small, so all of my normal complaints about smaller guards apply.
He can shoot it, but at his size, he’s going to have to become a primary ball handler. He simply cannot rely only on off ball skills at the collegiate level. That won’t cut it because he likely won’t be able to guard bigger guys, even with his above average athleticism.
In all honesty, though, I think this kid should be ranked higher. He’s small, but he can shoot, he can handle, and he is very athletic for his size. Looking at a couple of the dunks that he has thrown down, I am surprised he is only a three star. I would have pegged him as a low four star based on the eye test. He should be top 150 IMHO, borderline top 100.
Agree he will have to develop into a PG.
The crazy thing to me is that before KU sniffed around and even after up until his commitment this kid was completely unranked. Didn’t even have a 24/7 profile. He did have a Rivals profile but 0 stars/ranking. I am not saying this is a huge miss like Burke, Oladipo, Morant etc because he is not on that level but to be completely unranked was shocking to me.
Agreed. Even if he were a total scrub (which he is not), there should and would be some kind of ranking, right? I trust Coach, he wouldn’t offer if the kid couldn’t contribute in some way - an aside thought, is there someone other than Muscadin that Jossell knows who HCBS would like to sign?
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@Marco https://247sports.com/Player/Harrison-Ingram-46056681/
This kid, JWill, Gethro and Jossell all play for the same AAU team. Adidas program and their HC is a long time friend of Bill.
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Scary… hope their phone calls aren’t being taped by the feds…
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BShark said:
@Marco https://247sports.com/Player/Harrison-Ingram-46056681/
This kid, JWill, Gethro and Jossell all play for the same AAU team. Adidas program and their HC is a long time friend of Bill.
That’s some good info, appreciate it.
