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KU Insider Shreyas Laddha joins Jacob and Tejay
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00:03Welcome back in everybody to Sports Daily. Glad to have you in here.
00:06And now, digging deeper with the teams you follow, it's another Sports Daily Insider interview on KFH.
00:14And that insider is Shreya Slata, our KU Insider, KC star, beat reporter, following everything KU hoops, KU football.
00:22We were just talking about the new format of the TBT, Shreya.
00:25I'm not sure you saw this yesterday, but the Jayhawk alumni team is back.
00:30They'll play a three-game series against the K-State alumni team.
00:34There are some new rules in place to add alumni.
00:37If Shreya Slata was the GM of JHX hoops, who's the guy you got to have on that roster?
00:45You know, they can't be an NBA player because you know the NBA will never let them do it.
00:49But kind of anybody else is out there and available.
00:52Who are you calling first to try to win that $2 million?
00:57Great question.
01:04We had a hard time with this, too.
01:06Like we did.
01:07We were trying to – it's hard because you have to think of like, well, who's not in the NBA
01:11first?
01:12Yeah.
01:13Who's awesome?
01:14And who would fit that format?
01:15It's an interesting question.
01:17Oh, it absolutely is an interesting question.
01:23Frank Mace is not on the team, right?
01:24He is.
01:25He's the headliner.
01:26He's the main dude.
01:27Would it be – what about like David McCormick?
01:30He played last year, didn't he?
01:31I was thinking maybe David McCormick.
01:32I was also thinking somebody like recently, like DeJuan Harris.
01:35I know KU.
01:36Oh, yeah.
01:37DeJuan.
01:37Would KJ play basketball yet again?
01:39If KJ was ready, maybe KJ Adams.
01:42What's Kevin McCuller up to?
01:43He plays for the Knicks, right?
01:45Kevin's the NBA.
01:45Is he active on their roster as they play last night?
01:49Yeah.
01:49I think he's still on the Knicks roster.
01:51Yeah.
01:51Okay.
01:52There you go.
01:52Next question regarding TBT, and then we'll talk about the actual Jayhawks.
01:56JHX, does anybody call the Jayhawks JHX?
01:59What is that about?
02:01You're asking.
02:02Have you ever in your life abbreviated it to JHX?
02:07Never.
02:08Never have I abbreviated it.
02:10I've never even heard of Jayhawks in a abbreviation outside of TBT, to be honest.
02:17I don't really know what that's about.
02:18And 90% of the time, guys, I'm not usually even in town for TBT by the time Kansas does
02:24exist.
02:24You need to get on.
02:24You need to get on and become an advocate for the Elam ending because it is absolutely
02:29I'm a big Elam ending guy.
02:31As an NBA guy, I'm a big Elam ending guy.
02:33So, yeah, it's tough, too, because Aftershocks is about as perfect a name as you can get
02:40for an alumni team.
02:41Purple Rain, come on.
02:42Like, these are awesome names.
02:44And then it's like, and JHX Hoops.
02:47The best one they ever did is when they first got a team and Perry played on it.
02:50They were called Self Made back then.
02:52But then that limits you.
02:54Like, that limits you a little bit, I think.
02:56Not that any players now were of the Roy Williams era.
02:59I don't think.
02:59I was going to say, who are you going to go get?
03:01Coming out of retirement.
03:02I think Brandon Rush played.
03:03That's kind of flirting with it.
03:05Yeah.
03:05All right.
03:06All right.
03:06Anyway, Darren Peterson, is he going to be the first pick or not?
03:09What do you hear?
03:12Well, I think from just kind of talking to some NBA scouts, the price to go up to number
03:19one is pretty high.
03:21Or just the price to move up in this draft class is pretty high.
03:24I mean, I think it's, you know, you guys have probably read about it, but it's pretty
03:28common knowledge.
03:29I think the Jazz like AJ DeBonta a lot.
03:33That doesn't mean they don't like Darren Peterson, but I think, you know, there's a lot of ties
03:37to AJ DeBonta.
03:38I wrote about this after the lottery, but I saw Danny Ainge talk to AJ DeBonta's family
03:45for like 10 minutes after the game in the Big 12 tournament.
03:49I talked to Danny Ainge like briefly about AJ and Darren.
03:54I went up to him, acted like a fanboy.
03:56That was the first time in like 10 years that I froze when talking to somebody.
04:01I messed up and I called him Mr. Ainge.
04:03And then he started smiling when I said, I grew up a big Celtics fan.
04:06I'm like, oh my God.
04:07And my mentors afterwards, I told them, they were like, what is wrong with you?
04:12I didn't freeze up when I saw Paul Pierce as a big Celtics fan, but I froze up when I
04:15went out with Danny Ainge.
04:16I don't know what that's about, but he's a tall man.
04:19But anyways, I think it's pretty well documented that they like AJ.
04:23But I think if the board stays as is, Peterson probably goes number two.
04:30I think the Wizards like Peterson too, so I wouldn't be surprised.
04:33I know there are people in Peterson's camp that feel like the way the lottery played
04:37out, this is probably Peterson's best chance to be number one overall.
04:42Obviously, I think how the medical is clear.
04:45I think the interviews went pretty well overall with a lot of the teams.
04:49You know, he's a quiet kid, but it went well relatively.
04:52I mean, I felt like he was doing a lot of PR damage control at the combine.
04:58You know, so I'm intrigued, but I mean, candidly, like I can see the hesitancy to pick Darren
05:07one after this past year.
05:10It's more so much about like, do you trust what happened this past year or do you trust
05:15the four years of, you know, what you've seen in high school ball?
05:19And I think a lot of scouts are, they prefer the four years in high school ball and they
05:25just think the past year was not indicative of who he was or who he is.
05:29But regardless, this draft class is going to be the most fascinating draft class in a
05:33long time.
05:34I will be at the NBA draft.
05:36Very excited for that.
05:38And it should be a fun, fun couple of days there trying to figure out who goes one, who
05:44goes two, who goes three.
05:45More so on that NBA combine, you know, better than us, but they did, did Darren look like
05:52college Darren or high school Darren, you know, like I, I, he's saying that he's completely
05:56healthy from what we saw.
05:57And I understand, you know, it's, you know, 15 seconds of sprinting and shooting some threes
06:01and things of that nature, but is he healthy?
06:05I think so.
06:06I think as close to healthy as we've seen, I mean, can you add people to his camp tell
06:09me he was never a hundred percent healthy like a few weeks ago and when his time at
06:13Kansas, I mean, we could see that we talked about this, right?
06:16I think the numbers athletically were pretty good.
06:19I think they would be even higher coming out of high school.
06:22You know, clearly there's some level of like I think this past year took a little bit of
06:27toll on him, but they were still really good numbers.
06:30Uh, you know, kind of just, uh, above average for a guard and, and stuff like that.
06:36Um, he shot pretty well, I think in some of the drills, he didn't shoot quite as well
06:40in another grill.
06:41I think it was a stationary drill.
06:42Uh, but look, I, I think the combine to me is like, whatever, like the measurables are
06:48great.
06:49You see all that you see who's tall, who he's not.
06:51Uh, but the most important thing in that setting is doing well in the interviews with NBA
06:56teams, because NBA teams want to know what happened this past year.
06:59I had so many conversations with different NBA scouts this past year where it was like,
07:04what the hell's going on with Darren?
07:05And I'm like, look, this is what I know.
07:07This is what I've heard.
07:08This is what this thing, you know, this is stuff I'm reporting.
07:10You know, there's a lot of conversations back even in January and February, you know, like
07:14where people were like, did you hear X, Y, Z?
07:16I'm like, Oh, I heard this.
07:17I heard that, you know, it obviously accumulated in that big feature in March.
07:21But look, there was stuff that I knew that a lot of people don't know, but there's still
07:26stuff that I probably don't know that NBA scouts now, you know, like I talked to somebody
07:32who's camp where they were like, yeah, I mean, you did a great job with the information that
07:34you had a great, you know, feature, whatever.
07:37But there's even more stuff that, you know, that's not publicly out there, you know, and
07:41I'd mentioned this.
07:42I think Darren went to the hospital multiple times last year.
07:45Somebody's camp confirmed it.
07:46He would confirm it, but somebody's camp did.
07:50And, you know, look, I think if he passes the medical exams, like in a sufficient manner,
07:57like the teams are healthy, feel good about his health.
07:59He's not falling past you.
08:02Obviously, things can change and things can happen, but I feel pretty confident he'll be
08:07top two as long as the medicals are clear.
08:09Has he ever given us, Shreya Sada, our KU insider joining us, has he ever given an indication
08:14or a preference, like is, I assume he is, fine to go to Utah to play?
08:19I know some guys that we hear in years are like, I don't want to go play there.
08:23He's never done anything like that, right?
08:24Like, he's good to go wherever he goes.
08:27Yeah, yeah.
08:28I don't think he's the man like, oh my God, I don't want to play here.
08:31I think he said he just wants the right fit, not about being number one overall, more so
08:34than anything.
08:35I know he wants, he said he wants to play point guard.
08:38And this is where I think I have a distinction of like, well, clearly.
08:44He didn't play point guard this last year, and he didn't look great when he had the ball
08:49in his hands as a facilitator or playmaker.
08:51When you go back and watch the high school tape, you see point guard skills.
08:55But to me, like, I need to see it in the NBA, you know, for him to believe that he's
09:02a point guard.
09:02To me, I think he's more like a shooting guard that can handle the ball, not a point guard
09:07that's going to run the entire offense.
09:11About the actual team, or the next year's team, I guess.
09:14I don't know if we're in that season, or next year's season, whatever you want to call it.
09:17You talked to Tay Kinney about himself and about Tyron Stokes.
09:21What did you learn about that?
09:22Yeah, I mean, you know, they have a really close relationship.
09:25Tay Kinney was talking about how he didn't know until two days beforehand that Tyron was
09:30committing to Kansas, which is crazy.
09:32I believe that.
09:33He had different moments where he thought it could happen, that can't happen.
09:36Both of them kind of see them as one-and-done guys, right?
09:39So they're trying to come in.
09:40They want to win a championship at Kansas.
09:42There's a quote by Tay Kinney in the story that came out today where he talks about, like,
09:47you know, forget about getting there the first weekend.
09:50We're hoping to get out of a national championship here at Kansas.
09:53You know, like, all I care about right now is winning.
09:55All we care about is winning.
09:57I thought it's pretty interesting.
09:58He talked about shooting mechanics.
10:00Jeremy Case has been working closely with him on that to kind of improve that because
10:03he knows his jumper has been a little up and down.
10:08He also grew, apparently.
10:10Instead of 6'1", he's 6'3", 6'4", which, if that's the case, well, that backcourt got a
10:16little less undersized, which is huge.
10:19And it was interesting.
10:20I mean, he said he had no intention to come to Kansas.
10:22He took a courtesy visit because of Bill Self.
10:26One day later, he was ready to commit to Kansas after that visit.
10:28But Bill Self and the staff absolutely convinced him.
10:32Like, you know, it's crazy to me.
10:35Like, Bill Self, somebody said Bill Self has his fastball.
10:38He absolutely does.
10:39And I think the big thing is whoever is next, whether it's next year or the year after,
10:43no one's going to be as good a recruiter as Bill Self is.
10:46Yeah, I agree.
10:48I agree.
10:48It's been, it's a challenge for every coach out there to make him fit.
10:52Just before we let you go, I do want to talk to you about football for a second,
10:55Treyas.
10:56You probably know this now.
10:57TJ certainly does.
10:58I don't follow the recruiting cycle much in football, but I keep seeing KU land three
11:05and four star players.
11:07We, I don't know what next year looks like.
11:10And I think that's a huge question, but KU fans probably deserve to be relatively optimistic
11:17on the long-term future, right?
11:19They're, they're landing a lot of, a lot of players that it feels like they weren't landing
11:25five years ago.
11:27Yeah.
11:27It feels like everyone they're landing at least is a three-star at the bare minimum.
11:30They might get like a one or two four-star guy in each class, which is still a big improvement
11:36from where they came from.
11:37Um, I think, you know, the big thing is, uh, candidly plans has got to hit more on the
11:44high school guys.
11:46I agree.
11:47He, his track record with high school guys hasn't been great.
11:49He's been great at the transfer portal and picking up the guys.
11:52And I think there's some level of optimism, you know, just talking to people around the
11:56program, like the transfers look really good is what I told.
11:59Like they, I was told they look better than expected.
12:01The issue is going to be guys, the quarterback battle is just none, no separation.
12:06I think Cole Ballard leads slightly.
12:08Uh, but I, I just don't get a great sense that it's particularly going, uh, particularly
12:14went super well this past spring in optimism about the quarterback situation.
12:22Shrius, keep up the good work.
12:24Um, we're going to need, won't do it yet.
12:28When's the draft June 20th, 23rd, we'll need an official, we'll need an official prediction
12:35before then on where we got, we got, we got time.
12:39We got time.
12:40You know, June 24th is after the first day is a Wednesday.
12:43We'll be Shrius live from, what was it?
12:45Brooklyn.
12:46Yeah.
12:47Yeah.
12:47Yeah.
12:47I guess, I guess I will be live from Brooklyn.
12:49Yeah.
12:50Oh, let's go.
12:51Darren, if he wants to get on the show.
12:53Yeah.
12:53Just run up on stage.
12:55Let's do a lot.
12:55I'm still trying to get him for another, his, his camp, his manager wants me to do another
12:59story with him, which I, I'm trying to get that done.
13:02Let's see if it happens.
13:03I think Utah is going to find a way to get to Bonta.
13:05I don't know.
13:05I don't know.
13:06If they do, honestly, that'd be so much fun.
13:08I want some chaos.
13:09It would be a blast.
13:10I think best, best possible scenario for us and for the league is that Darren goes one and
13:15AJ goes two.
13:15Cause one, the storyline is wild.
13:17And two, that's the best landing spots.
13:19I think.
13:19Yeah.
13:19But I kind of want to see what I do want to see what Utah'd be willing to give up.
13:24I do.
13:24Like, I, I almost want to see the trade more because I'm just curious, like how much ransom
13:30could Washington hold there?
13:31How much do they want him?
13:33That's I, I'd almost rather see that because I'm fascinated by it.
13:37Uh, go read that story on Kenny from Shrius right now at the KC star, uh, tune in to the
13:44podcast, uh, for KU athletics there.
13:47Shrius, we appreciate it.
13:48We'll talk again next week.
13:49Thanks guys.
13:50I go to Shrius Lada.
13:52KU insider.
13:52If you missed any of that, if you jumped in late, you can go, uh, you can go catch it
13:56on the Odyssey app.
13:57It gets podcast out.
13:59Who would, who's KU's top target at the TBT?
14:03That's what, that's what we need to be talking about on May 20th.
14:07We need a, I'm going to need a list.
14:08KJ and DeWalm would be a lot of fun.
14:10I'm going to need a list from TJ.
14:11Who's on the list?
14:12Hunter Dickinson.
14:13What's he doing?
14:13Yeah.
14:14He's in the G league.
14:15He's been lighting up the G league.
14:16That'd be a good one.
14:16I'm sure he has.
14:17He would, he would destroy the TBT.
14:20Really good.
14:20He'd be so hard to stop.
14:22Let's just get to him every time.
14:24Let's just roll out.
14:26What was it?
14:2725, 25.
14:28What's Nick Timberlake doing right now?
14:31Who got, nobody got drafted on the 2025 team.
14:34There wasn't a single draft pick.
14:35I don't think just roll them out there, but they didn't all go like store went somewhere
14:39else.
14:40Oh, that's true.
14:41There's still guys in college.
14:42Yeah.
14:42Yeah.
14:43Yeah.
14:44That's, it's a fun exercise.
14:46We'll come back.
14:47We got a little more sports day.
14:47They don't go away.
14:52Yeah.
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