Recruiting Thread
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I try not to jump to conclusions but things don’t look good for Cunliffe. Or landing Romeo for that matter, though this could just be due diligence. Jones would be probably one of the best 2g/wings we could realistically get in on at this point if things don’t work out with Romeo*. It certainly looks like we have two spots available.
*Looks like Simons is flirting with pro options, and I think he is getting paid regardless of where he ends up so I’m glad to see KU isn’t in on him.
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@BShark Wow. So Cunliffe has the writing on the wall. I don’t think signing him impacts Langford still. At least in theory. I mean if Vick and Newman both leave, the path is till paved for him.
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@BShark You’re probably right on Cunliffe. There is a window though, I think. Vick and Newman leave. We don’t get Langford or another ready to play wing. Our starters could be Dotson, Grimes, and Cunliffe. Why Cunliffe over Garrett? Shooting. We go from a shooting based team to team that really can’t shoot. Who can shoot? Sam. The more Garrett makes shots, the more that window closes, of course.
But if Self is constructing a lineup, he’ll be thinking about shooting. Still, I admit the window is small.
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Yeah it doesn’t look good for Sam.
I still don’t believe this has anything to do with Langford. Vick & Newman leave I can imagine he’s still coming here. There’s a starting spot with his name on it. Of course if 1/2 return that window doesn’t look as good for him coming here.
If I’m seeing this correctly Illinois & Zona are on Jones at the moment?
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Kcmatt7 said:
@BShark Wow. So Cunliffe has the writing on the wall. I don’t think signing him impacts Langford still. At least in theory. I mean if Vick and Newman both leave, the path is till paved for him.
I would assume Langford will be recruited until the end, because that is what you do with elite talent you’ve been recruiting unless they are ordered to cut you like a player who shall remain nameless COUGHCOUGHS F$WKT$#WJayson TatumCOUGH COUGH.
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I see Simmons going to the draft, looks like he’s a first rounder.
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BeddieKU23 said:
Yeah it doesn’t look good for Sam.
I still don’t believe this has anything to do with Langford. Vick & Newman leave I can imagine he’s still coming here. There’s a starting spot with his name on it. Of course if 1/2 return that window doesn’t look as good for him coming here.
If I’m seeing this correctly Illinois & Zona are on Jones at the moment?
Zona, Illinois and UCONN have all offered. I think this could just be getting in on a back-up plan that isn’t close to committing in case Romeo doesn’t work out.
@HighEliteMajor I think there is a good chance Self is just done with Sam. Just my speculation but he just never felt like he would be a good fit. Everything I’ve heard about Agbaji indicates he is the opposite of Cunliffe’s I’m filming my practices crap.
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@BeddieKU23 is right. Simons will go if he’s a 1st rounder. The Jones thing is interesting. We haven’t offered yet, so I’d bet we’re just trying to build a relationship just in case Langford doesn’t work out or we have a surprise departure like Sam. I like his game though. Good athlete, can defend multiple spots, and has a rapidly developing skillset on offense.
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I think you nailed it on Jones
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You would think that getting Agbaji would be a very good get and maybe the beginning of the end of the recruitment of Langford. As the expression goes a bird in hand is worth two in the bush.
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Not getting suckered into another ceremony. Grimes & Dotson wasted many many hours of my life I can’t get back.
Will see the good news posted when it goes official
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Self was asked about Cunliffe at his presser today. Between what was said and his expressions, I am not sure Sam ever plays much here.
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BeddieKU23 said:
Not getting suckered into another ceremony. Grimes & Dotson wasted many many hours of my life I can’t get back.
Will see the good news posted when it goes official
I’m sure it will be painful again. I’ll take one for the team even though we already know.
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BShark said:
BeddieKU23 said:
Not getting suckered into another ceremony. Grimes & Dotson wasted many many hours of my life I can’t get back.
Will see the good news posted when it goes official
I’m sure it will be painful again. I’ll take one for the team even though we already know.
Please report the details haha
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@BeddieKU23 Feed has been “live” for a few minutes now. Still no sound and appears to be a splash page. Professional as expected.
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Thanking coaches and such…
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It’s Kansas. His dad was wearing a KU hat THE ENTIRE TIME. Lol.
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Pretty sure on the hat, it was kinda hard to tell with the video quality.
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“That’s always been a dream of mine. It’s a honor that they want me to play for them.”
WHAT AN UPSTANDING YOUNG MAN.
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We’ll see how quickly he zooms into the top 100. Might be lightning speed.
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“I talked with my family after I had been offered and it was just like, ‘What else are we really looking for,’” Agbaji told the Journal-World. “We didn’t have a specific school in mind and we could easily see this being the right fit for me.”
“That’s a strength for me,” Agbaji said of his versatility. “I can post up, I can drive, I can shoot. But something that I really want to work on is handling the ball better. I wouldn’t say I’m bad but to get around elite defenders and stuff like that, I really need to work on that.”
This kind of self-awareness is good and is in line with everything I’ve heard about him being coachable.
“I just feel like I can come in and be tough and be a sit-down defender and just work hard to make the team better,” Agbaji said. “That’s what they’re really looking for and I can shoot the ball, too. Coach Self said when he watched me that my defense was one thing he saw, that I have a good stance, good slide and stuff like that. It’s an honor, honestly, to receive that praise from the best of the best. It’s just exciting.”
Agbaji, whose father is from Nigeria and whose sister, Orie, plays volleyball at Texas, said he made up his mind on Sunday night — just over 24 hours after the offer came from Self and KU assistant Norm Roberts — and spent the next few days both looking forward to his commitment ceremony and preparing for Friday’s rematch with North Kansas City, one of the two teams to beat Oak Park this season.
“That’s the reason why I kind of cut it off short and said KU,” said Agbaji, whose name means “King of Children” in Nigerian. “I just wanted to get all that pressure off and focus on going as far as we can in the postseason.”
Whoever was wondering, his dad is from Africa.
@HighEliteMajor Kind of unreal going from no P5 offers to 7 in about a week.
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Statement from his twitter. He is all over local radio right now. Will be on 1320 AM at 3pm.
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Good nugget on him from Matt Scott
“AAU teams don’t have the opportunity to practice together every day like a high school team can. AAU teams have a little time during the months of March, April, May and July. A lot of players go to various camps in June so there isn’t much time to practice. When teams do get to practice together the practices are usually long, tough and demanding because there aren’t a lot of opportunities to practice. Over the years I’ve seen a lot complaining. A lot of whining and a lot of excuses. I never once saw Ochai complain, whine or have an excuse. All I saw him do was go as hard as he possibly could every single minute he was on the court. Every drill, every play, every minute. He is easily one of the more impressive kids I’ve been around on the AAU circuit.”
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Really been loving our recruiting for 2018. Seems like we are getting guys that want to play for the name on the front of the jersey instead of the back. Big Dave clearly has his head on straight. Dotson and Grimes fell in love with KU. Ochai seems to be level-headed. It’s fantastic.
Add that group plus Jacobs in 2019 and we have been, it seems at least, prioritized high character kids over talent. Of course some of these guys obviously have both. But I’m really liking this wave of future Jayhawks we have coming in.
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Just a rumor, but I hear he has two or three transcript issues; a booster might have helped with some travel money a while back; he drives a late model car given to him by his cousin’s, half-sister’s, domestic partner; his mom may have borrowed some money from a “friend” within the last week; he enjoys shooting at passers-by with his airsoft rifle; and, of course, he partakes in a bong every so often.
Now, of course, I could just be confusing this kid with someone else.
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BShark said:
“I just feel like I can come in and be tough and be a sit-down defender and just work hard to make the team better,” Agbaji said. >
We already have plenty of sit-down defenders, sitting down as the other team drives right past them. I think he meant “shut-down” defender which is hopefully what he will become because this team can badly use it.
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Sounds like he might be a bit like Garrett?
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Agbaji will probably end up reminding a lot of people around here of Travis Releford. He’s a great HS scorer, but that will likely not be his role in college. I think he understands that and will make defense and versatility his calling card. He will be a four year guy that may well end up having a career not that dissimilar from other versatile, somewhat local wing guys like Steve Woodberry and Travis Releford.
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I like his shooting ability, he should be someone that can make 3s etc. I like it!
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I’d take another T-Rel!
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Hawk8086 said:
Sounds like he might be a bit like Garrett?
MUCH better shooter. Not even in the same stratosphere. His ball handling is what he needs to work on which he seems to be rather aware of which is good. But in terms of work ethic, being coachable, junkyard dog and just a quality kid, definitely!
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justanotherfan said:
Agbaji will probably end up reminding a lot of people around here of Travis Releford. He’s a great HS scorer, but that will likely not be his role in college. I think he understands that and will make defense and versatility his calling card. He will be a four year guy that may well end up having a career not that dissimilar from other versatile, somewhat local wing guys like Steve Woodberry and Travis Releford.
Seen the Releford comp thrown around a lot with the caveat of “better shooter”.
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“It had gotten to the point where it was getting overwhelming,” said Olofu Agbaji, Ochai’s father. “He had said he wanted to wait until the end of the season, but once KU was interested, everyone started calling. “We said (that) we might have to considering committing sooner rather than letting the flood gates open. And he knew what he wanted after KU offered.
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KU signs Ochai Agbaji (pronounced Och-eye Uh-bah-gee), currently unranked by Rivals.com and listed as a 3-star, No. 328-ranked player in the country by 247 Sports’ composite rankings, picked KU just five days after receiving a scholarship offer from Bill Self and the Jayhawks. He hails from KC and prob will be a 4 year guy. Does this mean no Langford?
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@BShark can’t wait to hear Fran pronounce his name since he still can’t say Mykhailiuk right- thank heavens for spell check since I can’t spell it either
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Releford wasn’t as good of a shooter out of HS, but by the time he left KU, he was a 40% three point guy. Agbaji is probably going to come in able to shoot close to that. If he can clean up his ball handling, I could certainly see him being an improved version of Releford by the end of his career. This is a good get for KU, that could end up being a great get.
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@kjayhawks I don’t think this hurts our chances of landing Romeo because theres no way this kid starts over him. This does create an interesting scholarship situation though, especially if Romeo does commit because someone’s definitely getting the boot.
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@BShark i love this kid, everything about him!
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He has a certain old man style of play I enjoy. I like the mid-range jumpers, I like seeing him dunk off a lob. I think it’s going to take him some time to be able to play at the college level, but I like getting a good potential 4 year guy who will develop as he goes along. He might be Sam’s replacement.
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Great get for KU. The kid sounds like the perfect system player that will produce for more than a couple of years and his statement shows a pretty level headed and thoughtful individual. Good athlete, good person, I like him.
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Grimes won the Houston area POTY award. No surprise there.
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Hair game gonna fit in at KU lol
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@BeddieKU23 The in dorm barber has to be a sick recruiting advantage.
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CB’s for Markese’s brother to Illinois. Wonder if he follows him when its all said and done
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BeddieKU23 said:
CB’s for Markese’s brother to Illinois. Wonder if he follows him when its all said and done
If he does, I think it would be more of KU moving on. I’d rather not see that happen though, I like Markese long term.
KU has a lot of good options in 2019 and will probably have no seniors.
Interesting question, let’s say Vick and Newman (or Cunliffe) leave so there is an open scholarship. We don’t land Romeo in this scenario. Would you rather just leave the scholarship open? I would, unless it’s a grad transfer which seems super unlikely given the stacked roster. 12 eligible players is more than enough and leaves room for 2019.
