Kansas recruiting targets’ tweets positive (kusports.com)



  • At first glance, I don’t see Jones fitting, and I don’t think he’s coming here. We have Oubre, White, Greene, Frankamp, and Tharpe to man our perimeter spots. That’s assuming Selden is OAD.

    However, as with everything KU related, it’s Self’s thinking that matters. We just try to estimate his thought process. Maybe Self would sit Tharpe his senior season and play Jones. Maybe he’d start Jones at the 2 over White/Greene/Frankamp.

    While Self is recruiting him, I didn’t see Self really interact with him during the scrimmage. He did with Okafer though. Jones was disinterred from my vantage point. My hunch … just a hunch … is that he’s hard after Okafer and is hoping that Okafer would come without Jones, and that the 2 for 1 isn’t reality.



  • I could see a timeshare at point between Tharpe and Jones. Has Jones been categorized as a possible OAD?



  • @RockChalk26 I would think that would cause Chemistry & Flow issues. I like the idea of getting the best of the best, but sometimes the price you pay is more detrimental when looking at the big picture.



  • I decided to swing on over here and check out the comments. I haven’t been as frequent a poster on KUsports for over a year, and I don’t want to link anything to my facebook account, as I am in the process of phasing that out, so I am giving this a shot. Glad to see some familiar names over here.



  • Anyone have any good insights to Okafor/Jones? Turner? Alexander? I hate waiting. I think we get Alexander for sure and pending Okafor’s choice, Turner seems to be waiting on Embiid and Okafor.

    Any thoughts on the recruiting saga?



  • approx.- thanks for your great work. This took some planning and it’s much appreciated.



  • I fully agree that Jones is not a good fit. He wants to play right away and there is a strong chance he would have to sit behind older players at both the 1 and 2 spot next year. Tharpe will be back as will Mason, CF, Greene and possibly Selden. I am not sold that he is a OAD yet. I know that there is a great deal of talk about Selden leaving but I think we should all be a bit more reserved and let these kids play at least 1 game before we start anointing people as OAD. Wiggins is the obvious exception based on the incredible hype surrounding him. Even if he has a marginal year he is gone and he should be to cash in on the mania that surrounds him.

    KU recruiting for next year is looking pretty solid. We will obviously lose Black and “maybe” Embiid so a couple of bigs can’t hurt. I like Traylor and Lucas a lot but they are not pure scorers and we will probably need another big to compliment Perry…assuming he stays for his Junior year.



  • I get the feeling we have a good shot at Alexander too. I follow him on Twitter and even though he likes to retweet from every school he visits, from my perspective (obviously biased) he looks to be a Jayhawk lean.



  • All due respect to Jones, but watched some vids of him. I like his handles and he seems to have a great nose for the ball. I like his passing. However, a lot of what he does in high school is going to be more difficult in college. I just don’t think he’ll get away with all those pretty passes and penetrating moves against equal or greater talent.

    Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great talent. I just wonder if they will stay a package deal. I see his situation at dook the same with Cook. But he’ll play some at dook behind Cook. Cook is a Junior just like Tharpe. I like Mason over Jones at this point. Dook doesn’t have bigs to feed either, except Parker. I’m going out on a limb and say the package idea is going to end. I don’t see them going to the schools where they will each make an impact together.



  • HEM- There is a possibility that if they separate, Jones stays in Minnesota and Okafor goes KU. I really think Okafor likes Self’s high-low. Alexander and Okafor really like the idea of playing on the same team too. That would be a nasty high-low combo. I say we get Alexander and very likely Okafor at this point. The media is so set on the ‘packaged deal’ they forget too that Okafor would ‘like’ to play with Alexander. He’s not going to make a decision solely on the package deal hype.

    If we miss on Okafor, then Turner is our next big.



  • The package deals sound great on paper… but in reality, they typically don’t add anything special for the recruits. This example shows why. Both of these players need to go to the right school for them.

    I like truehawks take on it… Jones would be best served as a Golden Gopher and Okafor would be a great Jayhawk. They can still stay close friends from a distance.

    And I think like truehawk said… Okafor and Alexander are a great combo in the low post and would reincarnate Self’s hi/lo beyond anything Self has done in the past!

    What it treat that would be… to see the hi/lo run to perfection! Imagine how these two would feed each others’ stat line! They’d both be nailing either an assist or basket almost every time down the court.



  • Just glad to have finally seen this link posted. Regardless of the ‘New’ new policy towards Facebook, I’m sticking here. I’ve had other logins connected through Facebook only to find my contacts receiving email from me directing them to malicious sites. LJW should have done a little homework.



  • Just wanted to throw in my two cents that I am psyched you guys are over here. I didn’t post too often over at kusports.com but I was ghosting daily. Looking forward to all the info! Facebook is the devil! 😉



  • Okafer is deciding in early November apparently; Alexander on Nov. 16; and Turner might commit but said he definitely wouldn’t sign until late.

    News is coming soon.

    Oubre plus any one of the bigs is a home run following up on what we got last season.



  • This is exactly what my first post after Facebook verification stated. Of course it’s all about money. You give over all your contact information including email addresses of your friends and family which can then be sold to anyone. And is.

    I have removed every contact from my home email, Yahoo email and Gmail and store them in a separate folder. Not to beat the “Big Brother” references into the ground but we have built the monstrosity of Orson Welles imagination ourselves and it’s called the Internet. We have allowed ourselves to be monitored, profiled, and subjugated big business. This is one cookie that will not go back into the jar.



  • I honestly don’t think that Selden will leave, I think he will start out averaging about 7 ppg and by the end of the season 12 ppg. I think he will breakout sophomore year and leave. If Tyus commits then everything would be out of wack. Blown made a good point by saying everyone on his list already has a point guard except Minnesota and I am pretty sure there isn’t any chance of that happening. I honestly think that it’s not a smart move by being a “package deal” considering every school on both their lists have completely different needs. But Tyus has said that he has grown up liking ku.



  • Glad someone suggested we migrate our conversation to a new place… I agree we need to get Jaybate and the other prolific contributors to come here to get the old mojo back.



  • Awesome site! Thank you to all who were involved in setting this up.

    Has anyone found Jaybate?



  • I don’t plan on buying golf clubs or a new weber grille in next 90 days wanted you guys to know.



  • lighthawk, Very funny! I think there is a good chance that we get Okafor and Alexander. The uncertainty regarding Embiid leaving or not could, I guess, influence Okafor. However, we don’t know, unless someone has heard, how those 2 feel about playing together. They may feel that if Embiid stays, Perry stays, that makes 4 bigs if they both commit. Would be great for us…they might not think so.



  • Thanks to whoever did the legwork to get this set up. Much appreciated. 2 things stand out to me from following this thread.

    1. as we’re naming our potential bigs for next year, everyone seems to be forgetting Michelson who some believe may be ahead of Traylor and/or Lucas. and
    2. I may be mistaken but don’t Baylor also have a shot at Okafor and Jones?


  • My guess: we lose Selden but keep Embiid and Ellis. Here is what we would look like if we landed Jones and Okafor.

    PG) Naadir Tharpe- Frank Mason- Tyrus Jones

    2G) Tyrus Jones- Brannen Greene

    3G) Andrew White III- Kelly Oubre

    PF) Perry Ellis- Jahil Okafor- Jamari Traylor

    C) Joel Embiid- Jahil Okafor- Hunter Mickelson

    This looks like it could be an 11 man rotation, and I am not even including Frankamp or Lucas. We would have to cut it down. Perhaps we would be forced not to play Frank Mason, Brannen Greene, and Hunter Mickelson.



  • I think we add Turner or Alexander and that’s it. Tyus is not backing anybody up if he can help it.



  • It would be hard to turn down a player ranked between 2-5. A player that has been compared to Chris Paul. And I think KU is at its best when two capable ball handlers are in the game Mario/RusRob; Mario/Collins; Tyshawn/EJ; Rex Walters/ Adonis Jordan;

    Tyus Jones/Nadiir Tharpe?



  • drunkenjayhawk … Just an observation, but there is not such thing as an 11-man rotation, except in YMCA ball. And thus you have identified the dilemma of your 11-man rotation; and as you pointed out, it doesn’t even include two top 50 guys (Frankamp/Greene).

    With what we have, I’d pass on Jones – if Tharpe flops and Mason underwhelms, I’m like a woman – I can change my mind.



  • Hem- I don’t see Tharpe flopping much. I think he’ll have his moments. But this is his junior year and it’s go time for Tharpe. This year solidifies him as a KU pg. He either sinks or swims. IF he flops, I could see Mason stepping up big for the chance to get significant pt.

    I am just giddy over Greene. I love this kid and his talent. He is long, lean, big, handles the ball well, and can shoot as well as anyone. I hope he gets a chance to play this year and to make an impact. I see AW3 playing mostly behind Wigs. Self is huge on AW3. I love that we’ll have Greene and AW3 for a few more years.



  • Tuesday 10/29 opening night: will the pregame video board have some new footage? Can’t wait. Lots of folks should get some minutes, anyone recall the Larry days when we scored 100+ we got free pizza and at 94 points and 2 minutes left the crowd chanted Pizza Pizza.



  • 100 if you are watching please jump in the site … miss you.



  • HEM-That was my first “hello” moment also. Gotta be a google deal, just follow their stock a few days & that says it all. All of the suburban cities surrounding the KC metro are securing franchise agreements for google fiber now, as we speak. Of course the individual govts involved get their “franchise fees” up front, plus on a recurring basis as customers pay their monthly bills & google continues to add & add & add more customers. Is all about the money for sure. They could care less about their message boards unless it becomes a pay site. Civility in posting is as you swished it, is nothing but smoke & mirrors.



  • All is not lost. The internet isn’t evil. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Privacy is not a fallacy. Chosen names are not anonymous. They are just chosen and that doesn’t mean anyone is hiding behind them. Discretion is the better part of valor. Choose what you share of you. And share the very best of you. Isn’t that what great people have a knack for doing?



  • maybe a few of us can volunteer to do a live updated of games like they did at ku sports… i for one would be willing to volunteer to do some games



  • FWIW, You can still post on Jesse Newell’s live game blog using your old LJW log in. At least so far during the football games, that’s been the case.



  • @lighthawk, Was that Pizza Shuttle in the Larry days? Other than getting for free, it wasn’t very good in the old days. Good old days! 🙂



  • truehawk: I don’t see Tharpe flopping … I have been accused of being a bit too giddy on Tharpe. But I just see a guy who has done what we want. Work, learn, and improve.

    And on the comment above about Greene, I would have to agree. He is going to be real good. Seeing him in person Saturday, his shooting, his fluidity … the dude is the real deal.



  • Agree with Tharpe having shown much of what Self wants in a lead guard: recall the 20assist:1 turnover stretch about 9mos ago at the start of BigXII play? Recall the ability to “read” the unsuspecting D and slash to the rim backside, like Tyshawn used to? Also remember with the game on the line at OkieState, during one of the double OTs, Tharpe went off the dribble vs. Forte and scored a pullupJ in the lane? Kid also has that competetive swagger, maybe a bit more than EJ did. I hope his D is better, but everyone may be behind the curve on that issue, given the recent NCAA rule shift…My money is on BOTH Tharpe being THE guy…and on Mason to be a quick study, hopefully. Think of Tharpe in 1 more way: most people who criticized EJ at the end of the Michigan game, were actually offerring Tharpe as the alternative…so there is evidence that others saw what I saw in Tharpe. (Not to start a side topic, but I still would have had EJ in the game, just as Self did…we are just saying “sit” EJ because of hindsight).


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