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Rock Chalk Talk: Basketball
Anything pertaining to basketball: college, pro, HS, recruiting, TV coverage
Anything pertaining to basketball: college, pro, HS, recruiting, TV coverage
Morning Report 2024-07-07
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4 months 2 weeks ago - 4 months 2 weeks ago #32929
by HawkErrant
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." - Mark Twain "Innocents Abroad"
How many days until LATE NIGHT in The PHOG!
?
and other dates of interest...
All times shown are Central Time .*Estimate based on first Friday in October. Official announcement expected in July 2024.
RECRUITING CALENDAR DATES for D1 MEN'S BASKETBALL
Today continues the annual July dead period (with its three 3-day evaluation periods). The next full "Recruiting" Period, where both on & off campus in-person contacts are allowed, begins SEP 4.
2024-07-01 thru 07-31: dead period, except as noted below†
..2024-07-11 thru 07-14: evaluation period†
..2024-07-19 thru 07-21: evaluation period†
..2024-07-23 thru 07-25: evaluation period†
2024-08-01 thru 09-03: quiet period, except as noted below‡
..2024-08-06 thru 08-20: dead period‡
2024-09-04 thru 2025-04-30: recruiting period, except as noted below‡
..2024-11-04 thru 11-07: dead period‡
..2024-12-24 thru 12-26: dead period‡
..2025-04-03 thru 04-10: dead period‡
Recruiting Calendars linked below contain detailed info and explanation of recruiting periods.
† NCAA.org: 2023-24 NCAA RECRUITING CALENDAR Division I Men’s Basketball
‡ NCAA.org: 2024-25 NCAA RECRUITING CALENDAR Division I Men’s Basketball
KU ATHLETICS
✦ KU MEN'S HOOPS -
• Kansas.rivals.com:Shay Wildeboor: A few Thoughts on KU's UPDATED ROSTER 2024-07-06 Text:
Now that KU's roster for the 2024-25 season is updated and complete, I thought this would be a good time to share some of my thoughts and feelings with you guys after updating the roster here at JayhawkSlant.com for the last couple of days.
-- When the season ended, I remember some people suggesting that it might be best for Hunter Dickinson to move on and allow Coach Self to go in a different direction. On a number of occasions, I forced myself to go back and read those posts multiple times, because that's just crazy talk. I still can't believe that some people thought, and might still think, that the 2024-25 team would be better without Hunter Dickinson. The man averaged 17.9 points and 10.9 rebounds per game. As good as Dickinson was last year, he can be better this upcoming season. He finished the season shooting 54.8 percent from the field, 35.4 percent from behind the arc, and 62.4 percent from the free-throw line. It didn't happen often, but there were games last season when Dickinson struggled to get going on the offensive end of the court and didn't have much of an impact on the game. Again, it didn't happen often, but when looking back at that team, if Dickinson wasn't a factor on the offensive end, that was bad news for Kansas.
-- If Kansas is going to get back to playing at that Final Four/National Championship level, Dajuan Harris, Jr., has to perform much better this season. I think we can all agree that last season was a struggle for KU's point guard. To me, it just felt like Harris, Jr., never got on track and it was a struggle for a lot of the season. Harris, Jr., last season, averaged 8.5 points and 6.5 assists per game. In starting all 34 games, Harris, Jr., shot 42.4 percent from the field, 38.4 percent from behind the arc, and 80.4 percent from the free-throw line. While he led the way with 221 assists, Harris, Jr., also turned the ball over 80 times last season. With KU's updated roster, Harris, Jr., shouldn't feel any additional pressure to score the ball, but I'd sure love to see him shoot from the outside when open. Throughout his career, Harris, Jr., has turned down quite a few open looks from behind the arc
-- My hope for KJ Adams is that he continues to play his role and not force himself to be something he's not. By now, we all know who Adams, Jr., is on the basketball court and I'm not sure that's going to change, which isn't a bad thing at all. He'll continue to work on expanding his game on the offensive end of the court, but I'm not sure he's ever going to be the type of player who can score down low and also step outside and score from behind the arc. Adams, Jr., so far in his career, has been at his best around the basket, flying above the rim for dunks and getting out in transition. He plays with a ton of energy and passion and is the type of player that every team needs in order to be successful. Changing up his style now or trying to be a different player would be a costly mistake, not only for Adams, Jr., but the 2024-25 team.
-- Last season, everything that could have possibly gone wrong, and I mean everything, did just that, or pretty damn close, for Bill Self and his squad. Chris Johnson never made it to campus, Marcus Adams left shortly after arriving, and Arterio Morris was removed from the roster. Elmarko Jackson and Nicolas Timberlake struggled for much of the season, while Kevin McCullar, Jr., and Hunter Dickinson were injured down the stretch. Dickinson returned in time for the NCAA Tournament, but McCullar, Jr., never made it back to the court after playing just 15 minutes against Houston on March 9. With little depth and two key players injured down the stretch, Self had very few options last season.
In 2024-25, Bill Self will look to bounce back with a roster that features the likes of Shakeel Moore, Hunter Dickinson, AJ Storr, Dajuan Harris, Jr., Rakease Passmore, Zeke Mayo, Rylan Griffen, Jamari McDowell, KJ Adams, Jr., Flory Bidunga, and Zach Clemence. There's absolutely nothing that can be done about injuries, and Kansas already suffered a major blow with the loss of Elmarko Jackson, but the talent is in place to compete for another National Championship. Self added a ton of talent from the transfer portal and those guys need to produce from start to finish. As I mentioned above, last season was a struggle for guys like Jackson and Timberlake
This season, Kansas simply can't afford to have guys like Storr, Mayo, and Griffen struggle for much of the season.
FWIW, Shay's Dickinson comment produced these summarized sentiments (which I happen to agree with)
-- not crazy talk at all. Hunter is slow and gets abused by quicker smaller bigs.
-- Dickinson averaged 18 PPG and 10 RPG, Dedric Lawson averaged 19 and 10, and would not be among the top 5 Bill Self bigs that I would choose to build a team around.
My thoughts? Both HD and Dedric - scorers but defensive liabilities.
Give me solid defenders with an O game such as my top 6 Bill Self bigs
Cole Aldrich
Udoka Azubuike
Joel Embiid
Jeff Withey
Thomas Robinson
and oh, yeah -- David McCormack (yeah, I'm just a fanboy at 70)
IMO - having said all that, none of those guys are available and HD is a quality scoring big. If Bidunga can take some significant floor time playing D, and a more rested Hunter can step up his own defense as a result? The reason HD is not in the NBA is NOT his offense. He needs to show he has improved his defense for KANSAS to have a chance to win it all and then for him to go to the Show.
• 247Sports.com - Michael Swain (VIP): Names to know for Kansas basketball fans in the 2025 class
Darryn Peterson | No. 3 (No. 1 CG) | West Virginia
Darius Acuff Jr. | No. 4 (No. 1 PG) | Florida
Nate Ament | No. 7 (No. 4 PF) | Virginia
Brayden Burries | No. 12 (No. 3 CG) | California
Jalen Haralson | No. 13 (No. 3 SF) | Virginia
Chris Cenac | No. 15 (No. 1 C) | Missouri
Bryson Tiller | No. No. 16 (No. 5 PF) | Georgia
Darius Adams | No. 18 (No. 4 SG) | Indiana
Tounde Yessoufou | No. 27 (No. 8 PF) | California
Acaden Lewis | No. 32 (No. 4 CG) | Washington DC
Sebastian Williams-Adams | No. 34 (No. 10 PF) | Texas
Isaiah Denis | No. 43 (No. 9 CG) | North Carolina
Eric Reibe | No. 47 (No. 4 C) | Maryland
Mazi Mosley | No. 50 (No. 9 SG) | California
Go to 247sports.com/college/kansas/Season/2025-Basketball/Recruits/ and type the player's name into the search fields to see more on each prospect.
✦ KUFB -
A quiet 24 hours. But here's an Outsider Looking In preview: Daily Camera.com: CU Buffs opponent preview: Kansas hopes to continue winning trend
ELSEWHERE -
• ESPN - Olympics - Alyssa Roenigk, ESPN Senior Writer: Suni Lee, Shilese Jones and the making of the most competitive U.S. Olympic gymnastics team ever
• ESPN - Olympics - Amy Van Deusen, ESPN Editor: 2024 Olympic gymnastics trials: Biles to lead Team USA in Paris
• ESPN - Olympics - Alyssa Roenigk, ESPN Senior Writer: A day in the life of Beacon, the therapy dog at U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials
The Lawrence forecast from Accuweather.com:
Today: Times cloudy and sunny, thunderstorm in afternoon. Hi: 83° F (28.3° C)
Tonight: Couple of evening showers and a heavy thunderstorm (damaging winds, flash flooding, hail possible) Lo: 65° F (18.3° C)
Chance of precipitation: 1% during the day, 40% overnight.
That is all for now.
Hope you have a GREAT day!
ROCK CHALK!
✦ Thought for the Day
“The purpose of our lives is to be happy.”
- Dalai Lama
and other dates of interest...
All times shown are Central Time .
DAYS DATE EVENT
53 Thu 2024-08-29 KUFB v Lindenwood, Children's Mercy Park, KCK 7PM, ESPN+
89 Fri 2024-10-04 Days until LATE NIGHT in The PHOG!*
124 Fri 2024-11-08 UNC in AFH
128 Tue 2024-11-12 Champions Classic v Michigan St, State Farm Arena, Atlanta
142 Tue 2024-11-26 Vegas Showdown v Duke, T-Mobile Arena, LV
150 Wed 2024-12-04 Big 12-Big East Battle @Creighton University, OmahaRECRUITING CALENDAR DATES for D1 MEN'S BASKETBALL
Today continues the annual July dead period (with its three 3-day evaluation periods). The next full "Recruiting" Period, where both on & off campus in-person contacts are allowed, begins SEP 4.
2024-07-01 thru 07-31: dead period, except as noted below†
..2024-07-11 thru 07-14: evaluation period†
..2024-07-19 thru 07-21: evaluation period†
..2024-07-23 thru 07-25: evaluation period†
2024-08-01 thru 09-03: quiet period, except as noted below‡
..2024-08-06 thru 08-20: dead period‡
2024-09-04 thru 2025-04-30: recruiting period, except as noted below‡
..2024-11-04 thru 11-07: dead period‡
..2024-12-24 thru 12-26: dead period‡
..2025-04-03 thru 04-10: dead period‡
Recruiting Calendars linked below contain detailed info and explanation of recruiting periods.
† NCAA.org: 2023-24 NCAA RECRUITING CALENDAR Division I Men’s Basketball
‡ NCAA.org: 2024-25 NCAA RECRUITING CALENDAR Division I Men’s Basketball
KU ATHLETICS
✦ KU MEN'S HOOPS -
• Kansas.rivals.com:Shay Wildeboor: A few Thoughts on KU's UPDATED ROSTER 2024-07-06 Text:
Now that KU's roster for the 2024-25 season is updated and complete, I thought this would be a good time to share some of my thoughts and feelings with you guys after updating the roster here at JayhawkSlant.com for the last couple of days.
-- When the season ended, I remember some people suggesting that it might be best for Hunter Dickinson to move on and allow Coach Self to go in a different direction. On a number of occasions, I forced myself to go back and read those posts multiple times, because that's just crazy talk. I still can't believe that some people thought, and might still think, that the 2024-25 team would be better without Hunter Dickinson. The man averaged 17.9 points and 10.9 rebounds per game. As good as Dickinson was last year, he can be better this upcoming season. He finished the season shooting 54.8 percent from the field, 35.4 percent from behind the arc, and 62.4 percent from the free-throw line. It didn't happen often, but there were games last season when Dickinson struggled to get going on the offensive end of the court and didn't have much of an impact on the game. Again, it didn't happen often, but when looking back at that team, if Dickinson wasn't a factor on the offensive end, that was bad news for Kansas.
-- If Kansas is going to get back to playing at that Final Four/National Championship level, Dajuan Harris, Jr., has to perform much better this season. I think we can all agree that last season was a struggle for KU's point guard. To me, it just felt like Harris, Jr., never got on track and it was a struggle for a lot of the season. Harris, Jr., last season, averaged 8.5 points and 6.5 assists per game. In starting all 34 games, Harris, Jr., shot 42.4 percent from the field, 38.4 percent from behind the arc, and 80.4 percent from the free-throw line. While he led the way with 221 assists, Harris, Jr., also turned the ball over 80 times last season. With KU's updated roster, Harris, Jr., shouldn't feel any additional pressure to score the ball, but I'd sure love to see him shoot from the outside when open. Throughout his career, Harris, Jr., has turned down quite a few open looks from behind the arc
-- My hope for KJ Adams is that he continues to play his role and not force himself to be something he's not. By now, we all know who Adams, Jr., is on the basketball court and I'm not sure that's going to change, which isn't a bad thing at all. He'll continue to work on expanding his game on the offensive end of the court, but I'm not sure he's ever going to be the type of player who can score down low and also step outside and score from behind the arc. Adams, Jr., so far in his career, has been at his best around the basket, flying above the rim for dunks and getting out in transition. He plays with a ton of energy and passion and is the type of player that every team needs in order to be successful. Changing up his style now or trying to be a different player would be a costly mistake, not only for Adams, Jr., but the 2024-25 team.
-- Last season, everything that could have possibly gone wrong, and I mean everything, did just that, or pretty damn close, for Bill Self and his squad. Chris Johnson never made it to campus, Marcus Adams left shortly after arriving, and Arterio Morris was removed from the roster. Elmarko Jackson and Nicolas Timberlake struggled for much of the season, while Kevin McCullar, Jr., and Hunter Dickinson were injured down the stretch. Dickinson returned in time for the NCAA Tournament, but McCullar, Jr., never made it back to the court after playing just 15 minutes against Houston on March 9. With little depth and two key players injured down the stretch, Self had very few options last season.
In 2024-25, Bill Self will look to bounce back with a roster that features the likes of Shakeel Moore, Hunter Dickinson, AJ Storr, Dajuan Harris, Jr., Rakease Passmore, Zeke Mayo, Rylan Griffen, Jamari McDowell, KJ Adams, Jr., Flory Bidunga, and Zach Clemence. There's absolutely nothing that can be done about injuries, and Kansas already suffered a major blow with the loss of Elmarko Jackson, but the talent is in place to compete for another National Championship. Self added a ton of talent from the transfer portal and those guys need to produce from start to finish. As I mentioned above, last season was a struggle for guys like Jackson and Timberlake
This season, Kansas simply can't afford to have guys like Storr, Mayo, and Griffen struggle for much of the season.
FWIW, Shay's Dickinson comment produced these summarized sentiments (which I happen to agree with)
-- not crazy talk at all. Hunter is slow and gets abused by quicker smaller bigs.
-- Dickinson averaged 18 PPG and 10 RPG, Dedric Lawson averaged 19 and 10, and would not be among the top 5 Bill Self bigs that I would choose to build a team around.
My thoughts? Both HD and Dedric - scorers but defensive liabilities.
Give me solid defenders with an O game such as my top 6 Bill Self bigs
Cole Aldrich
Udoka Azubuike
Joel Embiid
Jeff Withey
Thomas Robinson
and oh, yeah -- David McCormack (yeah, I'm just a fanboy at 70)
IMO - having said all that, none of those guys are available and HD is a quality scoring big. If Bidunga can take some significant floor time playing D, and a more rested Hunter can step up his own defense as a result? The reason HD is not in the NBA is NOT his offense. He needs to show he has improved his defense for KANSAS to have a chance to win it all and then for him to go to the Show.
• 247Sports.com - Michael Swain (VIP): Names to know for Kansas basketball fans in the 2025 class
Darryn Peterson | No. 3 (No. 1 CG) | West Virginia
Darius Acuff Jr. | No. 4 (No. 1 PG) | Florida
Nate Ament | No. 7 (No. 4 PF) | Virginia
Brayden Burries | No. 12 (No. 3 CG) | California
Jalen Haralson | No. 13 (No. 3 SF) | Virginia
Chris Cenac | No. 15 (No. 1 C) | Missouri
Bryson Tiller | No. No. 16 (No. 5 PF) | Georgia
Darius Adams | No. 18 (No. 4 SG) | Indiana
Tounde Yessoufou | No. 27 (No. 8 PF) | California
Acaden Lewis | No. 32 (No. 4 CG) | Washington DC
Sebastian Williams-Adams | No. 34 (No. 10 PF) | Texas
Isaiah Denis | No. 43 (No. 9 CG) | North Carolina
Eric Reibe | No. 47 (No. 4 C) | Maryland
Mazi Mosley | No. 50 (No. 9 SG) | California
Go to 247sports.com/college/kansas/Season/2025-Basketball/Recruits/ and type the player's name into the search fields to see more on each prospect.
✦ KUFB -
A quiet 24 hours. But here's an Outsider Looking In preview: Daily Camera.com: CU Buffs opponent preview: Kansas hopes to continue winning trend
ELSEWHERE -
• ESPN - Olympics - Alyssa Roenigk, ESPN Senior Writer: Suni Lee, Shilese Jones and the making of the most competitive U.S. Olympic gymnastics team ever
• ESPN - Olympics - Amy Van Deusen, ESPN Editor: 2024 Olympic gymnastics trials: Biles to lead Team USA in Paris
• ESPN - Olympics - Alyssa Roenigk, ESPN Senior Writer: A day in the life of Beacon, the therapy dog at U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials
The Lawrence forecast from Accuweather.com:
Today: Times cloudy and sunny, thunderstorm in afternoon. Hi: 83° F (28.3° C)
Tonight: Couple of evening showers and a heavy thunderstorm (damaging winds, flash flooding, hail possible) Lo: 65° F (18.3° C)
Chance of precipitation: 1% during the day, 40% overnight.
That is all for now.
Hope you have a GREAT day!
ROCK CHALK!
✦ Thought for the Day
“The purpose of our lives is to be happy.”
- Dalai Lama
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." - Mark Twain "Innocents Abroad"
Last Edit: 4 months 2 weeks ago by HawkErrant.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Bayhawk
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