NO ONE Is Ready For This... | Kansas Jayhawks Men's Basketball Daily News & Rumors

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]How are we doing, Kansas Jay-Hawks fans?

[00:00:03]This is your host, Nick Rondo, bringing you with some Jay-Hawks daily content.

[00:00:07]First off, I want to thank you guys so much for tuning in. If you have not already and you like college basketball content, you like Kansas college basketball content, hit that subscribe button down below. Uh very much appreciate the support. Uh and if you have already, welcome back. you know, we've got uh platforms, Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you like your content, we've got it there for you. So, today on the the journey in the podcast, we're going to be talking about some user comments. So, I thought it was a interesting one. Definitely bringing up kind of the toxic levels of a potential team next year. Um, another, you know, kind of comparison to, you know, the team we looked at last year, the team we looked at this year, some, you know, key areas we may have improved on, maybe Lacked in, uh, you know, in improvements, and then kind of talking about that players are, uh, championship tournament, you know, that that some news came out about it that I thought was pretty interesting. And there's just interesting, you know, teams involved always, you know, so that's going to be a a new development that I'm pretty excited about. Um, but stick around to find out everything that we're talking about today. And we're starting off with Michael George 7677 uh mentioned KU having potentially another toxic environment. And I thought it was interesting because and you know he also went on to allude to you know what what we'll talk about is you know how much is Tyron Stokes getting paid and it's and he's saying mentioning Alah was sad and there's so many thoughts players are going to get paid good ones are going to get paid a lot of money until we you know find out some better regulation for it you know probably within the next hopeful five years it's going to seem ridiculous. us. It's going to seem crazy. It's going to be a lot high dollar amounts. You know, we're going to get to, you know, it's going to be amaz fascinating once we hit the first person to hit doubled figures, you know, something like that. It's coming.

[00:02:01]Not this year, maybe not next year, maybe not the year after that, but it's coming. And beyond that, we just have to get used to it as fans. Like, these these players are going to be getting paid a lot of money. It could change. It could change a lot of perspective for some of these players or you could have people that are fully bought in. I mean, I'm just tossing it out there. If you're looking at how great, you know, like we're saying, how college basketball and how money is, you know, impacting so much of these players buy in their attitudes, everything like that. Then how come of the final four teams, those four were easily the top 25 spenders in NIL for sure. Duke probably being one of the tops. You know, Michigan, that's a lot of money for that roster. You know, you've got guys really buying in, but Lendborg's getting paid a pretty penny to go to Michigan to play there. Um, you know, maybe not the most in the country, maybe not even top 10 most, but he's getting paid a lot of money. you know, they're bringing over a former, you know, very [snorts] great recruit in Elliot Cadau to go lead their team over there. I'm sure he's getting paid good money. And now to stay probably a lot more, you know, like to get Mores Johnson to swap from Illinois to Michigan, probably a lot more a lot of lot of uh cash being exchanged in hands.

[00:03:21]Like these players are getting paid a significant amount of money. And those top four teams, they definitely had very expensive rosters. So, you know, I'm going to talk about it later this week, kind of the price the the price tag of a roster of, you know, what it probably will take to win. Um, but beyond that, like, yes, college basketball players going to be getting paid. They're going to get paid a lot and the teams that pay a lot, significantly higher chance to win in my opinion and probably in most people's. You know, you sometimes you got to pay to play and that very much looks like it now. So, I'm sorry Cinderella, your time is over. you're never going to win the natty anyway, but now you're definitely not going to win.

[00:04:01]That's pretty much all that's been said.

[00:04:03]But to the toxicity comment, that I thought was fascinating because yeah, we had some issues last year. You know, I brought it up with the whole Darren Peterson issue, but it wasn't toxic. And that's what the media did. That's what we did. We tried to make it seem like, oh, all of his teammates hate him. you know, they they they must like how's that locker room got to be like there's no way there's something going going great like when he's backing out of every single game. Well, it's pretty clear that they probably are also backing him when every other moment outside of, you know, those, you know, incidences. They're all have they're they're laughing, they're having fun, they have each other's backs, they're behind each other in their interviews, and we decide to take it upon ourselves to say, "Oh, no. Yeah, they probably don't get along very well cuz they're probably all mad he's not playing or they already knew the entire time around that the reason he's not playing is cuz he's seriously worried about his health.

[00:04:53]Maybe that's what they're considering.

[00:04:54]I'm not positive. But then bringing into the Tyron Stokes of it all, yeah, he brings a lot more to the table than just talent. He brings a little bit of stuff with him. He, you know, two high schools your senior year. You're posting, you know, Instagram pictures of money looked like at least $100,000 if not more, you know, on your arm. He's getting paid a lot of money. He's happy about it. This is a point where to, you know, in his life, he has worked very hard and he was born at the right time, let's be real, to, you know, capitalize on that. If he was born five years earlier, he wouldn't be capitalizing in the way that, you know, students can be this day, the student athletes that is. So, yeah, he's going to bring a lot of talent. He's going to bring a lot of talent to this team. He's going to bring great rebounding, great playmaking, hopefully good shot making if it's still trending up. You know, it seems like he's in the gym every single day practicing, creating his craft at a higher rate, like doing everything he can, but he's going to have some extra stuff to him.

[00:05:56]That's just sometimes that's the you know people like to always say you want a wide receiver kind of like a diva a diva wide receiver or Terrell Owen something along those lines where you've got something to you to the point where you know I need the ball. I have got to get the ball. If I don't get the ball I'm going to make a point of it. Well in basketball that doesn't always translate super well. But you're telling me you know Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, these guys aren't insane. Maybe they're insane competitors but there there's a screw loose up there for sure. Maybe that screw is too tight. Who knows? And Tyron Stokes, he's bringing something. He's bringing some sass. Like the guy's competitive. Even watching in the Jordan Brand Classic game, he is hyper competitive. He is, you know, working hard. He's, in my opin complaining to the officials too much, which was a little ridiculous considering, you know, it's a Jordan Brand classic game. But that's how much he wanted to win. Credit to him. All credit to him. You know, and he's complaining to the, you know, this is a foul. This has to be foul. How are you not calling this? Well, there's no way he's going to be doing that in college next year. College refs don't put up with that. He'll mention it a couple times, probably get teed up early. You know, I completely see that happening. Um, but, you know, and and again, people may even say that looks reminiscent of Darren Peterson. Like, he was complaining to the refs 100%. Like, he was complaining to the refs and he was getting hacked and pulled on every single, you know, offball screen. And it was because he was our main motion guy.

[00:07:17]And, you know, if they're if three guys are doing if two guys are doing at the same time, they're not going to call it on either of them. But when one guy's doing it, yeah, they can't call it every single time because that's our action.

[00:07:26]So yeah, Tyron Stokes is going to bring a lot to this team, he could bring some not so, you know, stuff that we're not so happy about. That's potential. But I'm not going to put it out there just in like ahead of time. No way I'm going to do that. The the waiting is over. He chose Kansas. It's time to jump on board. Like that's that that's where I'm at. You jump on board for this train.

[00:07:48]You get excited. to say this guy can take us to the top. He could and we're going to be ready for it. I'm not going to be, you know, waiting for this team's demise because this kid's got a little bit of an attitude potentially and, you know, could hold us back in some way.

[00:08:03]So, that's what I that's that's kind of what I had to address in that one. But, it was an insightful comment. I thought, you know, there is potential there.

[00:08:09]There is absolutely potential there. Um, but this kind of just brings me into an entirety of like the team comparison.

[00:08:16]Like, what are we looking at? We have a roster that got gutted. Absolutely gutted. The only retained talent being Paul Olympia, Cole Rosario. We didn't even, you know, didn't even keep the walk-ons. They're all gone. You know, couldn't keep anyone. So, we definitely improved in some areas. That's for sure.

[00:08:33]You know, we grab we grabbed some pretty big names. We grabbed some pretty, you know, like I said, uh, in the previous pod, we've grabbed some names that are, you know, people that have played limited minutes that we're hoping can shine, you know, showed effectiveness in their limited minutes. Now, what they can do for us in bigger minutes, that's what we're hoping for. But we're definitely at the end of the day, we are relying on freshmen. So, did we, you know, really get a whole lot better?

[00:09:00]Maybe. But it all hinges on two two freshmen and like like I don't think our entire season hinges on both of them. I think our entire season hinges on Tyrron Stokes.

[00:09:13]As crazy as it sounds like yeah you need the collective unit to be better. That's true. And maybe maybe I'm overevaluating because if you look at some of the great teams that we're looking at, you know, Yukon and Michigan both in the championship, they had depth. They were playing eight to 10 players easily. you know, they and they could because they were that good. So maybe that's the biggest difference. Maybe that's what it is. You know, El Marco Jackson and Jamar Mcdow maybe aren't as good as who we're getting in Dennis Parker Jr. Um, you know, and and I don't know. I mean, I'm not going to put Attakus Richmond or Grant Mardini in that category. I can't.

[00:09:49]They're just they're walk-ons to be real. But, you know, and Keanu Dah is a starter. That's not depth. Leroy Biden's a starter. That's not depth. That's why I say freshman. The depth we have is freshman. So, I I I'd love to say I think I very much think that we've got, you know, a a good chance to be better in a lot of areas. I think rebounding absolutely we could be significantly better. We were pretty poor there in certain areas, but I you just you just hope you can improve. You hope you can get better. But it relies on Tyron Stokes. It relies on, you know, Ton Kenny being the five-star point guard that we're all expecting. You know, you need a guy who can fly, who can score at will, who is at least a 35 to 37% three-point shooter. I mean, you have to, especially, I'm only assuming that this guy's going to be taking over four takes a game at least. you know, maybe he's so crafty he can get to the rim and, you know, he's averaging 15 of points just by, you know, attacking their glass, but you need the shot, you need the playmaking, you need him to be involving other players like Keanu Dah, you know, like Paulia or Christian Reeves, whoever it may be. Like, you've got to be able to run these plays with freshman whe whoever's getting the ball.

[00:11:07]And then, yes, you look at the depth beyond that, you're hope Dennis Parker Jr. looks to be, you know, that sixth man potentially. Cor Rosario, which that's that's I think our biggest improvement is Cor Rosario.

[00:11:22]And again, I don't even know. It's him improving. I'm counting on him to improve so much because of how much it seemed he was improving by the end of the season. I was calling for his name every single game. You could, if you were at the Big 12, you know, uh, tournament games, you could hear me screaming, "We want Cole Rosario."

[00:11:39]because I was sick and tired of getting our asses kicked and Bill just saying like no I'm just not going to put in anyone because we're not look at what had happened in the tournament. We have you know like we were putting in tight games and he's giving Paul a minutes and then Co Rosario comes in in St. John's game and he makes a big impact, you know, and then he comes in for uh the game against Houston. Two big impact plays, you know, offensive rebounds, threes, like I just like you can see the improvement from the beginning of the season. It was transparent as ever and that dude is going to be taking next steps. So that's one thing that not a freshman, still young, still young. He was supposed to be a freshman this upcoming year, but he's [snorts] still young and he's improving at hopefully a high rate. You know, same with Paul. You're hoping he approves at a high rate, but now looks like he's probably going to be the starter. You hope Reeves can improve because four to six months is a very long time to be on the shelf. That's not easy to recover from. So, I'm thinking yes, team comparison wise, we've improved in areas. I think rebounding, I've mentioned it, will be a good one.

[00:12:39]I'm thinking potentially shotmaking. You know, Leroy Biden Jr., haven't mentioned his name. Well, it's because he's a starter and I think we improved at that position.

[00:12:48]I don't like if that's a Melvin Council then no I don't think we improved that position because Melvin Council Junior's was fantastic last year. Yes, his his three-point shotmaking wasn't great and he was slightly inconsistent but he was a great player, great defender for sure as well, but if blinds the two, yeah, potentially, you know, that that wasn't a strength area for us in all games.

[00:13:10]Yeah, Peterson was there, but wasn't there all the games. So, we we improved in a couple areas, but I'm I'm not going to sit here and say we are not heavily relying on freshmen. And I'm going to do a breakdown about that later about speaking about freshman, you know, winning compared to retention winning. And there's a a bigger bigger compare uh you know, leeway to going to the retention. A lot more success rate there. But good players. I'm hoping you know these freshmen are going to be ready. They're going to be coached well.

[00:13:41]They're going to be developed well. Like I'm really hoping that either, you know, a combination of Atkins, Perry, uh, and Barnett, I'm hoping of those three, you know, not the well-known ones. We're getting contributions from at least one, like significant contributions. I'm talking real bench production from one, if not two of them. And they can combine to two, but I mean significant bench contributions. And I've seen Atkins tape. I love this kid. He He's, you know, 69 but can dribble coast to coast.

[00:14:16]He, you know, is just super athletic.

[00:14:18]Got a very nice stroke. Like, he can really stretch the play. I really do like his potential. Um, Barnett, absolute sharpshooter sniper. You can always find your way into the lineup.

[00:14:28]You know, ask Johnny Fury. He got his way into the lineup because he showed that he had, you know, yes, athleticism, but also he could knock down some threes. And if you can knock down some threes, welcome to the lineup. you know, welcome to the rotation. That's always necessary. And, you know, just excited about that. And Trent Perry looks like he's going to be a little bit more of the project, but he could be a great Swiss Army knife. That guy could, you know, mimic a Trey White. I don't think maybe as much in the shooting aspect, but very good defender. Good intangibles for sure. And he could be taking the next step. But I am not going to sit here and say I know this team improved.

[00:15:04]These are freshman. We have not seen them play enough. You know, high school is a completely different level. It's a completely different game. We got to see what the the most translatable, you know, high school to college success are the very top ones. And even then, it's not 100% hit rate. So, we're hoping everyone can take their next steps. You know, whether it's more Deany even getting involved, something along those lines. I'm just excited to see what this team can do. But the freshman makes it a question mark. That's that's just being real with everyone. Last up, just kind of talking about the players era championship that we were looking at before. And yes, we played in it and yes, we came in third even though we were undefeated. Uh it was by point differential, but they're making some new adjustments. And you know, I think this is interesting. There's like two levels of it. There's going to be, you know, one uh there's going to be the first weekend or week of it, November 16th, and then they're going to do a Thanksgiving week and there's going to be, I think, a total of 24 player or teams involved in it. There's going to be eight in the first week, and then there's going to be 16 in the second.

[00:16:10]So, I will also say this, I like our first week competition. We are in the first week, you know, unfortunately, we're not in that Thanksgiving week. I I always love watching, you know, Thanksgiving ball. makes for fantastic, you know, content makes for fantastic, you know, just fun. I always appreciate it. It's It's basketball during Thanksgiving. Who wouldn't want it? But the competition in the first week, maybe it's not better, but I like it.

[00:16:35]We're iron sharpens iron. You're going to see some, you know, real competition.

[00:16:39]Yes. Would I have liked the second week because we would have played Louisville potentially, you know, in Florida Doug.

[00:16:44]We would have played St. John's potentially. you know, we would have, you know, grabbed a couple of a couple of revenge type games. That would have been interesting. You know, um what we do have instead is well, we've got what is going to be the preseason number one in Florida. That I think is all but certain. Um just seeing the retention they had to their team, it just seems too hard to beat. And then Houston, we know Houston's going to be great obviously get another game against them potentially. probably won't, but you know, maybe. Auburn always puts together a very expensive roster. West Virginia was putting something together last year for sure. Notre Dame, who we played last year, um going to be taking the next step as well. And then Ruters in UNLV.

[00:17:26]So, you've got stacked at the top, you know, Florida, Houston, Auburn. Yeah, I like even West Virginia. Maybe we get one of these year games, but all I know is we're going to be playing either Florida, Houston, or Auburn in one of, you know, our few games, whatever it may be. And that will be good enough for me to have a real idea. Are we great? Are we good? What what what might might it be? And what this also does is there's a lot more money involved. And yes, this goes to the players and that's, you know, that's what they're trying to win for. You know, they're trying to win a couple extra money. We're talking about, you know, Tyron Stokes potentially t maybe he he's going to see a chance to make some more money. So, we're about to see the full level of Tyron Stokes that early in the season. Maybe. I don't know. But ESPN has got an exclusive deal with this tournament now broadcasting all of the games about it. So that increases the purse. You know, sponsorship dollars are up significantly. You know, everyone was promised at least uh $1 million in NIL opportunities starting in 2024 when it happened. So, you know, and not only that, wrap it all up to kind of see it.

[00:18:30]Michigan dominated that tournament this past year, winning all of their games by a combined score of 110. That was their point differential. Michigan won the national championship.

[00:18:40]We were undefeated in that tournament, but we didn't quite play the same level of competition. And that was not us at our finest, just like it was wasn't kind of at the end of our season. You know, if we played that all year round, maybe we would have seen it. But Michigan, the national champion, dominated this tournament and won it. They're in the Thanksgiving week. So maybe that's, you know, that that only transfers from, you know, the same one to one. But maybe that first week we can get them, too.

[00:19:07]I'd be excited. Win that tournament.

[00:19:09]Looks like you can win a natty. Who knows? I'm excited. Basketball is getting closer and closer, inching closer and closer. There's NBA draft combine news. There's everything going on. I've got, you know, I I'll be talking about it here on the podcast every day. Please keep tuning in. Let me know in the comments section down below what you think of, you know, Ty Stokes coming to the team. What do you think of the team comparisons? You know, what do you think we've improved in some areas?

[00:19:32]Do you think we're too reliant on freshmen? And then let me know what you think of the players era tournament. I'm very excited for that championship. It should be a fun one. And let's hopefully win it because it could be a, you know, indicator to who's going to win the natty. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. Please Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your content.

[00:19:50]We're all over the place. And rock chalk. Go Jay-Hawks.