I wouldn’t knock the guy too much yet. He’s a top 80 recruit for a reason. What I saw was a very athletic muscular frame but maybe not the explosive vertical you are wanting lol. The kid had very good handles, nice mid range jump shot, and good passing ability. I think he would be a good get. Sure we missed on the 5star KBrown. Brown would have been here 1 year, this kid is a 3-4 year guy. Sometimes we are better off with quality 3-4 year guys anyway. Besides Brown could dunk but he couldn’t shoot a lick.

Hey everyone I know it’s early, but what are your thoughts on the freshman/newcomers so far!

Here are mine so far:

Harris (I’m including him since he didn’t play last year): looks like a 4 year guy and a mix between russell Robinson/Aaron miles. Team seems better when he’s on the floor. Improved defensive pressure and ball movement. He needs to get his shot to be at least Russell Robinson’s level and continue to work on drive moves/floaters. He never has to be a scorer but he has to keep defenses honest.

Thompson: looks like a 2-3 year guy. Needs to develop his body and fill out his athleticism . Seems focused and has a good work ethic. I don’t love how his elbow wings out on his shot but the mid range looks pure. Reminds me of rip Hamilton. By the end of the year his scoring will be key. Defensively he doesn’t seem bad but not exceptional.

TGF: a little disappointing so far. NBA athlete and has shown good rebounding and shot blocking ability. His ball handling is holding him back. He can drive but he loses the ball too much or can’t complete the dribble smoothly. Haven’t seen enough of his jumper yet. Disappointing how raw offensively he is. He will be here another year for sure. I like 5 guard lineup look this year and I rather have him be the back up 15 min a game center in the small lineup.

Gethro M: wow he has the body type of a ku age Embiid, But he is so uncoordinated. I knew he was raw but he’s so much further away from being a contributor then I thought. Not sure if he will last at ku but I could be wrong and he might take a huge leap forward

Latrell jossell: not talked about really, very little video on him, we were his only serious offer at the time, many on here have discounted him. He hasn’t played much but my goodness he looks so much better then I thought. I sneakily think he’s being held back some to keep him hungry for more. The kid has reportedly the best shot on the team and that’s saying something with ku having Braun. His shot looks pure. He has good speed and he’s stronger then I thought. He looks like he has a good handle and can pass. I’m not saying I think he should be starting or playing huge minutes necessarily. But man he does look more like frank/Devonte then a guy people assume will just be recruited over. Obviously we need to see him play more to really know.

We will have shooters next year. Braun is obviously still on the roster and Thompson is an awesome 3 point shooter. Wilson has a good three point shot as well. Ochi has been inconsistent but I think his shot will be more and more consistent with each year.

Villanova had nba talent but there guys were like Devonte or svi they weren’t top 20 recruits across the board. they developed into nba players

The key is Hickman. You get 2 great players. Plus there is always someone really good late in the cycle. Still not shocking with the NCAA stuff going on and no reigning in of Nike and under armor schools on stuff. I’m sure we can’t match there offers right now

I guarantee he will shoot 38% or higher from 3. And what’s the negative attitude on a top 25 recruit? The kid is a stud! If we want to break down a player, Kendall brown had a high dribble and no outside shot lol. Red flags right there

Situation was awful, but honestly it’s crazy how in many of these situations, the individual has a prior extensive criminal background and how many of them get escalated when they resist arrest. Doesn’t make it right but let’s also stop acting like the guys are angels or have no fault of their own in the situation. Senseless excessive force has to stop but defunding police is not the answer. Improving education requirements/schooling of officers, Transparent investigations, and counseling/mental health opportunities. We know ptsd is a major thing for the military but we don’t think about ptsd effecting cops who face dangerous situations daily. Hopefully as a country we can progress beyond racism, especially the police force violence. With all that being said, hopefully the public can be educated on respecting officers and following their directions to avoid these encounters.

“DanR” that seems a little harsh. He’s a pure shooter at his size and if you watch his videos he has nice skill moves. Modern game is all about stretch big guys and he seems like one of the best in his class at that. I’m tired of watching videos of kids only dunking and then you see one clip of their shot and you see a huge red flag!

We will see what self does. I think we play 2 big guys only with lightfoot in and the rest of the time play 4 guards. It really just comes down to if lightfoot becomes a starter or not

And if these are suppose to be rpo’s then pull the damn pall and throw it when they are crashing the line

I think you’ve got to get the personnel in the right spots. Garret is ok at pg, and is someone better on the team at pg then him probably not. But we do know garret is much better playing the 4 spot or at least off the ball then PG. Due to that, it’s time to move him and get him where he’s best at…Wilson needs to be unlocked. He’s struggled recently. I feel like it’s bc early in the year he did his most damage at the 5 spot but still we need to get him going more… McCormick I would rather have us go 5 guards but if we don’t and do play him, then his job needs to be screens and rolls. No more featuring David as a consistent post up option. It doesn’t work against good teams and he’s not an elite scorer. If he plays more of the landen Lucas type roll then ok… Harris to me helps to speed us up and improve our defensive stealing ability, so I’d start him… Tristian has defensive mistakes but his offense is a nice spark of the bench. To me he’s the first guy off the bench… we’ve got to increase our playing tempo. And run and gun more. This team has 3 great defenders and 2 elite shooters. Turn up defensive pressure and run more

I don’t think he’s transferring he’s starting to get minutes off the bench and is a needed scoring option off the bench. He will continue to mature. If only self would go 5 guards, oh well. The one who should transfer is TGF. He is the deepest on the bench, I don’t see it changing. He literally can’t dribble and his shot is not smooth.

Starting line up needs to be: pg Harris, sg braun, sf ochi, 4 spot garret, 5 spot wilson… mix in Thompson, lightfoot, tristian. McCormick only for specific situations

Playing 5 guards gets garret off the ball and back into what he played last year. He’s better offensively when he can catch around free throw line and start driving. 5 guards Stops McCormick killing offensive drives and being a defensive liability on pick and roll… Any decrease in rebounding or inside scoring would be greatly outweighed by improved pick and roll defense, increased steals, and improved offense… McCormick is not a good rebounder, not a shot blocking presence, and not a great offensive threat. Plus he doesn’t realize he’s more landen Lucas level and needs to do the little things well. He takes way too many shots and bad looks.

Becoming a high energy 5 guard team makes this team more dangerous long term!

@BShark Yeah you could be right about jossell. I guess it will depend how he looks against maybe higher level guards. Do you think he’s much shorter then mason or sherron Collins? He definitely was unknown from a recruiting stand point. On one hand you want to trust the coaches bc they have found some sleeper kids but then they also have the merv Lindsey’s and rio Adams type guys they’ve recruited so who knows lol… I like Thompson’s approach. From watching him play he seems very driven. Exciting to see!

Hey everyone I know it’s early, but what are your thoughts on the freshman/newcomers so far!

Here are mine so far:

Harris (I’m including him since he didn’t play last year): looks like a 4 year guy and a mix between russell Robinson/Aaron miles. Team seems better when he’s on the floor. Improved defensive pressure and ball movement. He needs to get his shot to be at least Russell Robinson’s level and continue to work on drive moves/floaters. He never has to be a scorer but he has to keep defenses honest.

Thompson: looks like a 2-3 year guy. Needs to develop his body and fill out his athleticism . Seems focused and has a good work ethic. I don’t love how his elbow wings out on his shot but the mid range looks pure. Reminds me of rip Hamilton. By the end of the year his scoring will be key. Defensively he doesn’t seem bad but not exceptional.

TGF: a little disappointing so far. NBA athlete and has shown good rebounding and shot blocking ability. His ball handling is holding him back. He can drive but he loses the ball too much or can’t complete the dribble smoothly. Haven’t seen enough of his jumper yet. Disappointing how raw offensively he is. He will be here another year for sure. I like 5 guard lineup look this year and I rather have him be the back up 15 min a game center in the small lineup.

Gethro M: wow he has the body type of a ku age Embiid, But he is so uncoordinated. I knew he was raw but he’s so much further away from being a contributor then I thought. Not sure if he will last at ku but I could be wrong and he might take a huge leap forward

Latrell jossell: not talked about really, very little video on him, we were his only serious offer at the time, many on here have discounted him. He hasn’t played much but my goodness he looks so much better then I thought. I sneakily think he’s being held back some to keep him hungry for more. The kid has reportedly the best shot on the team and that’s saying something with ku having Braun. His shot looks pure. He has good speed and he’s stronger then I thought. He looks like he has a good handle and can pass. I’m not saying I think he should be starting or playing huge minutes necessarily. But man he does look more like frank/Devonte then a guy people assume will just be recruited over. Obviously we need to see him play more to really know.

We get the lead. McCormick comes in and blows an easy board. Why self

Why is McCormick playing to start the second half!

This isn’t KU’s best team under self but the NCAA tourney is a crap shoot. There are plenty of teams every year that have talent and if they get lucky could win it. KU has had top 5 teams go out early and we’ve had 2012 team, 2 seed make a run at the title. This team has less odds then last year but it’s all about who you play. Let’s say we end the year ranked 9th and we struggle against good front courts. We get hot in the tourney and never play a team with a good front court we could win. Silly to write this team off after two games and a more experienced Gonzaga team beating us. We have so much youth on this team from guys that will impact the team (Harris, braun, wilson, tristian, Thompson).

@Kcmatt7 lol i know! It’s shocking how much sense that makes to just play the 5 best people!

No one is saying you have to totally throw away the idea of McCormick playing but if he doesn’t play better you have to make the change. This team can be a top 10 team playing 5 guards.