2019-20 Roster musings and remaining KU recruiting

I like this roster if we get Jalen Wilson.

PG - Dotson/McBride
SG - ?Agbaji/Garrett/McBride?
SF - ?Wilson/Garrett/Braun?
PF - De Sousa/Enaruna/Lightfoot
C - Azubuike/McCormack/De Sousa

SG and SF are the positions that look to have major competition for PT.

I've been unable to verify it, but I recently read that Arkansas HS POY McBride showed chops from the arc in HS, so maybe he'll be part of the trey solution at SG?

I've also read that Wilson can shoot the 3, as can Kansas HS POY Braun. If Wilson comes I expect he would be playing major minutes at the 3, if not starting before the end of the Fall term. If only Garrett could shoot, he would be huge for KU from SG or SF. I expect it will be quite a fight for PT at the 3 with those 3 guys.

REMAINING RECRUITING FOR AY2019-20

Not counting Wilson before he is hatched as a Jayhawk, KU has 3 rides left.
Wilson leaves 2.
One ostensibly held for potentially reclassifying 2020 5* SG Kyree Walker?
Leaving one other to fill.

I'd still like to see KU have another proven trey shooter, especially at SG.

And with Rivals National Analyst Eric Bossi's belief that 2020 5* SG Kyree Walker is most likely to be a December addition (if he ends up reclassifying at all) I'm beginning to prefer Self & Co not hold back on pursuing another sharpshooting SG while they are still available to be pursued. Graduate transfer Jaevin Cumberland committed to Cincinnati on Monday and UNM GT sharpshooter Anthony Mathis entered the transfer portal yesterday, but has said he is looking to go home to Oregon (and they have 4 openings as of last night), leaving Donte Fitzpatrck-Dorsey as the only proven GT SG with a good eye from the arc (38% last year)

Of course, if Self thinks the improvement is there in the old guard and the already on board new players will have enough, he just might be looking at keeping that one spot open for Walker and using the final ride for someone like Josaphat Bilau as a high ceiling prospect to groom for next year when Dok, and possibly Silvio and Big Dave are gone.

Here's a nice article from throughthephog.com regarding Kansas Recruiting: Prospects to watch for as recruiting season dies down. It contains more on Walker, Wilson, and Bilau (Bilau wants to visit KU, does KU want him to visit? Has KU met it's visit cap for this recruiting season? I forget what the # of visits is, but there is a limit to how many recruits a program can bring in on official visits. I've never heard any talk of KU ever reaching it in the past, but we are in a brave new recruiting world).

You're welcome, folks. I enjoy doing it, and am grateful to Dave for the place to do it! Pinning the main thread just makes it so much easier (at least for me, hopefully for you) to keep track of the process. Actually one of the perks of being retired, I actually have time to mess around with this crazy business.

NotO, I have not read anything new re: Dok's FT shooting. I'm not even sure he was cleared to shoot FTs until now. Remember his first wrist injury he could because it was his left wrist. This second wrist injury was to his right (shooting hand) wrist. Hopefully now that he is fully cleared he'll be spending lots of summertime working on improving his FT shooting.

NotOstertag wrote: Yes, thank you.

Surprised you don't have Garrett in the rotation at PG since he's covered that before.

Totally agree though that SG SF spots are up for grabs. If you want to check all the boxes off, we've got most everything covered, but having a legit 3 point shooter is still a big question mark.

Any word on work on Dok's free throw shooting?

On Garrett, yeah, he's probably going to see some time at PG as well, but compared to last year when Self learned he really didn't have much choice but to play Marcus there, I'm really hoping it will be inconsequential next year with both Dotson and McBride to handle those duties. Of course, if McBride ends up playing a lot at SG I could see Garrett getting more opportunities at PG depending on game conditions.

On trey shooters, some of it comes down to we just don't know about the new guys we already have or how much the veterans have improved. Still, that's a reason to hope KU lands Jalen Wilson, a decent if not great, distance shooter, and I just saw that UNM grad transfer SG Anthony Mathis, an excellent long range bomber who I still think is going to end up close to home in Oregon, talked with Bill today and KU is VERY interested.
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,,,The staff is VERY interested. Oregon, Kansas, Michigan, Houston, UCLA, Iowa State, Texas A&M, Auburn, Texas and Arkansas are the schools after him hard early @RockChalkBlog #kubball

12:31 PM - 4 Jun 2019
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Maybe Mathis likes what he's seeing (and hearing from Self & Co) in Lawrence for next year and wants the chance to be a key player in it?

Needless to say if he ends up in the Big XII I want it to be at KU, otherwise Go North West, young man!

But if KU should get Mathis and Wilson (yes, I'm greedy, what's wrong with that?? ), the SG and SF spots will be competitive and covered. I can picture some fierce competition for the starting positions, but oh, what a luxury it would be to be so solid everywhere!

Nice to read about the staff being interested in a GT again. Been lots of continuing social media interest in GTs, but I haven't read much about KU staff interest in them since Holyfield, Tucker and Moss (who visited but was never offered IIRC)

Hope they don't forget about trey shooting GT SG Donte Fitzpatrick-Dorsey if Mathis goes elsewhere.

Fingers crossed!

Thanks for the heads up brklynhawk!

I can understand wanting to play, wish the young fellow luck in finding a new home!


And this just in -- 15 minutes ago -- Shay Wildeboor at Rivals reports he talked to UNM grad transfer Anthony Mathis, and Mathis is going to visit Oregon tomorrow and then talk to Coach Self, once again, after his visit to Oregon.

Looking as if he is indeed going to commit to home state Oregon, but if he doesn't, wouldn't it be nice...