- 2 days ago
KU Insider Shreyas Laddha drops in to talk the TBT, KU Football Training Camp, and more.
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00:00on KFH.
00:07And now, digging deeper with the teams you follow,
00:11it's another Sports Daily Insider interview on KFH.
00:16Welcome back on a Wednesday here on Sports Daily,
00:19a Hawaiian shirt Wednesday,
00:20yet the two guys on your screen aren't wearing the Hawaiian shirts.
00:23Rejoice, rejoice, the bad man is gone.
00:25Jacob Albrock has left the show for the rest of the day.
00:27It's Shreyas and TJ taking it home the rest of the day.
00:30Shreyas, did you watch the TBT?
00:32I did, yes.
00:34Do you like the TBT?
00:36Not particularly, no.
00:37I didn't think so.
00:38That was what my thoughts were.
00:40It was a loss for KU's alumni in the TBT edition of the Sunflower Showdown.
00:47Frankly, they didn't play too well, and K-State played really well.
00:51What's your analysis of your watching?
00:53Were you in the arena last night, or were you at home?
00:55I was not, but I watched.
00:57What's the analysis of your couch watching?
00:59Yes.
01:00Man, that offense was rough to watch at points.
01:04Michael Beasley is an interesting dude.
01:08Not great basketball being played all around.
01:12That was my thoughts on yesterday's mashup.
01:15Yeah.
01:16TBT is always a crapshoot of things thrown together at the last minute,
01:20and sometimes the results that you get are not the most aesthetically pleasing basketball.
01:25Could you have imagined on a team that featured Frank Mason, Mario Chalmers,
01:30throw out some other names that you want to as well,
01:32that your leading scorers would be Zeke Mayo and Billy Preston?
01:37Absolutely not.
01:38But I guess those guys are kind of old, right?
01:40So I guess it makes sense if Zeke Mayo is the guy that scores the most.
01:44I would say those two are probably two of the younger guys on the roster.
01:47So they're the spring chickens that can get up and down the court the best, I would imagine.
01:51So thinking about this, you know, everybody always has their opinions on when the TBT comes
01:57and who's on the rosters and such like that.
02:00Trace, I was thinking about how I wanted to ask you this question
02:02because you're still relatively new to Kansas and Kansas basketball.
02:06It's been a couple of years now.
02:08Who would be, if you could draw from any pool, you know,
02:12it's always hard for TBT or, you know, like Duke to make a TBT roster
02:16because all of the alumni that are notable are playing in the NBA, right?
02:19I want to play a hypothetical with you.
02:21If you could draw a pool of players that, from anybody,
02:25they could be NBA players or retired NBA players,
02:27who could be your top five KU alums that you could roll out on a roster
02:33and play in a TBT, regardless of NBA contract status?
02:36Joel Embiid, Andrew Wiggins, Christian Brown, Darren Peterson.
02:45Yeah, pretty good.
02:47Christian Brown, Grady Dick.
02:50Grady Dick.
02:51Gary Wilson.
02:52Probably those are the five.
02:53I think it's five.
02:54Yeah.
02:55So take solace, KU fans, if they're not able to get past K-State.
02:59You know, all the alumni that could really make a difference are playing in the NBA.
03:02K-State's got their guys as well, too.
03:05Shreyas, we are in the weird middle ground ahead of fall camp starting in football.
03:10Big 12 media days are over.
03:11However, I've said the TBT does a really good job at picking when they play during the year
03:17because there's literally nothing else.
03:18The World Cup just ended as well.
03:20But as we get ready for football season, we can kind of turn our page that way.
03:23You know, in your mailbag, I know that you've written about the question that everybody keeps
03:26wondering about is the quarterback thing.
03:29Are you still Cole Ballard with the edge?
03:32Yes, that's what I've heard.
03:34I think, I mean, we need to see them get back to playing football, see if that changes.
03:39But, I mean, it seems like Cole Ballard has learned the playbook of best.
03:43He has the strongest arm between Isaiah Marshall.
03:46I'm not super surprised.
03:48Lance Leipold loves Cole Ballard at the point of, like, I think there was a feeling that Lance
03:53Leipold loved Cole Ballard more than any coach on that staff is what I've heard.
04:00So, it seems like he's taking his step forward.
04:02I just, I don't know.
04:05We've talked about this.
04:06The fact that we're, like, talking about quarterback battles still does not give me a ton of confidence
04:12going into the season, whoever it is, whether it's Cole Ballard or Isaiah Marshall.
04:17So, next question along those lines are, when do we get an answer on that, you think?
04:23Are they even, are they practicing right now?
04:25Are they allowed to practice right now?
04:26Is it just, like, conditioning things?
04:28They're, like, conditioning and doing a little bit of that.
04:32But, candidly, I think fall camp really starts August 4th, at least when a media can go.
04:37Will we have an answer by then, you think?
04:39No, I think we'll probably have an answer by, like, mid-August.
04:43You know, like, there'll probably be a week or two.
04:46You know, we'll see how it plays out.
04:47And then they announce.
04:49I mean, Lance pretty much just said the same thing, where he thinks it's going to take
04:52until August sometime for the answer to come out.
04:55But it looks like Cole has the edge.
04:59And, look, Cole has won battle for the backup job between him and Marshall the last two years.
05:04If he beats Marshall again, that'll be the third straight year of bidding him out for a job.
05:08We were talking about Chiefs training camp begins this time next week is when it officially begins with everybody.
05:14We were joking that the only thing that you learn less about during a camp than NFL training camp is
05:20college training camp
05:21because we basically go watch them stretch.
05:24And, you know, that's kind of all we get to see is maybe a couple of dry reps and individual
05:29work and things like that.
05:30You know, what can we learn as we are, you know, what, a little over a week away from –
05:34two weeks away, I guess, from this beginning?
05:37What are the storylines that you think that we need to watch for as we watch the 15 minutes of
05:42practice?
05:45That's a loaded question.
05:47But you need to go out there, watch how these guys throw at quarterback, see how they're using Dylan Edwards,
05:55if they're going to showcase that, you know, because I expect Dylan Edwards to be using creative ways.
06:00Maybe see how him and Yaston Lewis are spitting up snaps.
06:06You know, the question mark for me, like, the offense has a lot of questions, but the defense also is
06:12just like, how good is it?
06:13And I don't think we're going to learn that from the 15 minutes of practice.
06:15But, you know, try to figure out who's had a good spring, who's not.
06:20Obviously, you know, I've heard good things about Leroy Harris Jr.
06:23Or not Harris Jr., Leroy Harris III.
06:27You know, I've heard great things about Trey Lathan.
06:29Obviously, he had a great year this past year.
06:31So, you know, they have a lot of new-look players.
06:35The biggest thing to learn is all these players that have transferred in and their numbers because there's 31 new
06:40transfers.
06:41So there's a lot of new players for everyone to learn, whether it's reporters or fans.
06:46It is.
06:47I remember last year covering the first game against Fresno State, I believe.
06:51It was like, touchdown, Cam Pickett.
06:53And I was like, where did he come from?
06:54Who's Cam Pickett, right?
06:56That's the one name we will know going into this.
06:58I keep saying Cam Pickett and Dylan Edwards and Cole Ballard.
07:01Just write those ones down, and we'll figure out the rest as we go along here.
07:04Let's switch gears to basketball.
07:06The NBA Summer League just came to a wrap, and it was a notable Summer League for the Jayhawks.
07:10There's always one or two Jayhawks that are playing in it.
07:13You know, Darren Peterson didn't play in all the Summer League games, but that's not for, you know,
07:17any major headlines of Darren Peterson not playing like we saw during the Kansas basketball time.
07:22It's what all the rookies do, it feels like.
07:25What did you think of Darren Peterson's Summer League now that it's come to a wrap and we get ready
07:30for the regular season?
07:31Yeah, I mean, I think he had a really strong start.
07:33The first two games were phenomenal.
07:35He kind of stuck up the joint a little bit shooting-wise the rest of the games.
07:39But, I mean, I think the people around him just did him no favors.
07:44I mean, like, the guys they put around him are not going to be playing significant minutes in the league.
07:48So he was getting double and triple teams.
07:50I think in Summer League he was trying things that maybe he necessarily wouldn't try, you know, like, in a
07:58bit.
08:00You know, in a sense of, like, you know, with the way he was passing, the way he was going
08:04for things, all that.
08:07So, I can't wait, pretty impressed by his defense because it looked better than he was even at Kansas.
08:11But I think that was more so him being healthy, finally, versus anything.
08:16I think that Jacob and I agreed.
08:18As you watched him play and, you know, he didn't shoot the ball well, but he still was able to
08:23pour in a lot of points.
08:24I took that as an optimistic thing of saying that, you know, Darren Peterson is going to be able to
08:29shoot the ball, right?
08:30Absolutely.
08:31I think that you walk out of that and say – I think we walk out of that and we
08:34say that, you know, you can see why this was such a big thing.
08:38You can even see that he didn't really even look like that at KU.
08:41He looked better than he did at KU even with shooting the ball poorly.
08:45How does that fit into, you know, a jazz roster that we have seen with kind of a youth movement
08:51and trades happen around and things like that?
08:53Is he the true walk-in-the-door number one option as soon as he walks in?
08:59You're probably up there by, like – I mean, I think you still have a guy like Laurie Markkinen being
09:04the number one option scoring-wise.
09:06And, you know, you have Keontae George, who's a great player, and Ace Bailey.
09:10But I think if Darren Peterson is the player we think he is, he's probably option two on the team
09:17scoring-wise by midseason.
09:19And if he's really good, by the end of the year, he's taken the role of being the guy.
09:25You know, like even in Boston, right, Jason Tatum, by the end of the playoffs that first year,
09:31he was the leading scorer for them with Kyrie and Gordon Hayward out.
09:34And, you know, okay, this is the showcase of this guy who's going to be the guy.
09:37So I think Darren Peterson is going to be like an 18-point per game, 20-point per game scorer
09:43in the league right away.
09:44So the other storyline from the summer league of somebody that maybe played above expectations was Trey White.
09:50I didn't realize he was on an Exhibit 10 already.
09:53He played really well.
09:54Is he going to find a role somewhere?
09:56I think so.
09:56I think he will at least get a two-way contract.
09:59He had a phenomenal summer league.
10:00I think at 17-6, he averaged almost 40% from three, which was impressive.
10:05That's the biggest question is do you have skill set that puts you in a perspective to get league jobs?
10:12And Trey flashed the shooting, which was always a question mark with him because he had a great year at
10:16Kansas last year shooting-wise,
10:17but he wasn't great in previous years at Illinois and other schools.
10:22But I thought he was great.
10:24And, you know, I'm excited for him because, you know, just being to have another Kansas alum make a roster
10:31is always good.
10:32Is the 3 and D thing, you think that he fits that mold?
10:35I think that as we looked through KU's roster last year, you know, Melvin Council was a guy that's uber
10:42-athletic and plays super hard,
10:44but he doesn't play like an NBA player.
10:46As you looked at the roster last year, it was kind of does anybody on this roster play like an
10:49NBA player outside of Darren Peterson?
10:51Is it 3 and D?
10:53Is there a niche for that in the NBA?
10:55Absolutely.
10:55I think he has it.
10:56I think the 3, I think, as long as it continues to carry over, is big.
11:01And he's a pretty good defender, too.
11:02So I think he's going to make his mark.
11:04I mean, honestly, Trey White kind of reminds me of Jalen Wilson with a little less scoring ability.
11:08You know, I think maybe a little better shooting.
11:10But I, or not really, actually.
11:13I think Jalen Wilson was a better shooter.
11:14Looking back on this, I don't know why I said that.
11:16But I think Trey is going to have to find his mold.
11:20And that's the thing, right?
11:20There's a lot of guys like Trey White in the NBA where they're that, like, they're probably good enough to
11:25be out of the G League,
11:27but maybe they're not quite an NBA rotation player yet.
11:30So it's on him to develop into, you know, one of those guys.
11:34Because right now, on a roster, he's probably, like, 11th, 13th man, something like that.
11:39If he becomes somebody who they can rely on from three and, you know, a decent defender, he can be
11:45a guy they have off the bench.
11:47Yeah.
11:47So, as I said, we are very much in the dead time of KU Topic.
11:51So let's go off the rails here, Shrey.
11:53Because we were talking about the World Cup earlier.
11:54And I know that you are more of a footy than Jacob and I both combined, probably.
11:58And that's not saying much.
12:00Jacob and I had a fierce argument earlier this week about the World Cup final.
12:04He said that it sucked.
12:05And I said that it was really good.
12:07Where's your stance?
12:08I think I was in between.
12:09I mean, I really wish Orchezina had more, like, real opportunities to score.
12:13But I was, like, that performance by the keeper, the original keeper, was phenomenal.
12:17Like, that was one of the best performances I've ever seen in my life.
12:19I was rooting for Orchezina in that match just because the keeper was cooking, you know.
12:23And also, I have an Argentinian jersey now.
12:25So, like, I've become a bandwagon fan of, like, random teams.
12:29So, I mean, I'll probably start caring about soccer again in about four years.
12:32So, looking forward to that, Ben.
12:34That's right.
12:35Are you pro?
12:36I think I saw it.
12:36Remember that you posted something about this.
12:38Are you pro-expanded even bigger?
12:39Was this a success?
12:41I'm pro-expanded even bigger because I want to see India in the World Cup.
12:45There's no other reason I'm pro-expanded.
12:47Because, like, I would like to see them in my lifetime make a World Cup.
12:50Other than that, I think it's just greediness.
12:53But what corporate entity is not trying to expand the tournament to make more money or anything, you know.
12:59Whether it's the NCAA or FIFA, you know, everyone's just trying to get a buck, man.
13:04And, unfortunately, that's where we're at.
13:06We would never think about expanding tournaments in America.
13:09We never do that.
13:10We've done it in every single college sport ever existed.
13:14Straya, so we're up against it.
13:15What do you got going on?
13:16I know that there's podcasts coming out and you never stop riding for the star.
13:20What do you got coming up?
13:21Yeah, I'm hoping to sit down and talk to Trey White this week.
13:25I'm supposed to talk to KUAD, Travis Goff, next week.
13:28And then, yeah, just, you know, getting ready for fall camp and all the other stuff that comes with it.
13:34Will you be in Washburn tonight for Lee Arena?
13:37Will you make a TBT appearance?
13:39I will not.
13:40That is a...
13:40Is Gary there?
13:42Gary will probably be there.
13:43That is a Kansas star sports interns and Gary task.
13:47I will be afar.
13:49Gary, that seems like that's right up Gary Bedore's alley, talking to former Jayhawks.
13:53A hundred percent.
13:54All right.
13:54We'll get it on.
13:56We'll get some more couch watching from Shrius.
13:57And we'll see if Mario Chalmers can score a bucket tonight or maybe even start, but Shrius...
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