🔒 Secret Scoops: KU Hoops Roster Hearings

Zeke Mayo, Rylan Griffen, Flory Bidunga and more

Author

Mike Vernon
July 01, 2024

  • 🔒 Secret Scoops: KU Hoops Roster Hearings

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EVERYTHING IN THIS NEWSLETTER IS BASED UPON WHAT I AM HEARING FROM PEOPLE I TRUST. PLEASE DO NOT MISTAKE THIS FOR FACT OR FOR ACTUAL JOURNALISM, WHICH HAS VERIFICATION STANDARDS THAT I HAVE NOT ADHERED TO. I DO NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY OF THE CONTENT.

We have some KU hoops player highlights.

🏀 AJ Storr breakaway dunk for the Bahamas National Team 🤤

🏀 We have the dunk above. Now we have the crafty move underneath from Storr. Really impressive.

🏀 You can see Storr’s highlights against Montenegro and Greece here in this 90 second video.

🏀 Freshman Rakease Passmore with the one-handed tomahawk dunk at Donovan Mitchell’s camp this weekend. It appears dunks are coming back to KU hoops this season.

OK, I need to preface these Hearings with one giant disclaimer: IT’S JULY 1. Players need time to get comfortable with each other, the system, and their new home.

These things will change. My first roster Hearings last season had some good and some bad:

✅ “You guys are gonna have a hard time believing this. One trusted source told me, “Furphy might be the most talented [player on the team].”

✅ “Timberlake is the player I’ve Heard has struggled some so far.”

 ❌ “I think KU expects Jackson to be a one-and-done player.”

Let’s get into it. We have some exciting intel on Flory, Zeke Mayo, Rakease Passmore, Rylan Griffen, AJ Storr, and Shakeel Moore.

🏀 Freshman Big Flory Bidunga

  • I’ve Heard great things so far about the five-star freshman big man. For starters, he showed up a bit taller than expected and measured in at 6’10” with shoes.

  • I’ve Heard Bidunga’s athleticism, and his wing span has stood out early in practice.

  • One source already described him as a true rim protector.

  • It hasn’t been all positive. There’s a reason he’s likely a two-year player. It sounds like Flory’s been great in flashes.

    • The flashes have been dunking on other bench players, blocking pass attempts over the top, and even finishing with hook shots.

  • Most of his struggles so far just come down to playing against bigger, stronger players. After all, he’s going up against a 7’2”, 230-pound All-American in Hunter Dickinson.

    • Offensively, Bidunga is still gonna be pretty raw.

    • He might be one of those players you can really see developing in real-time as the season progresses.

      • This year, Bidunga’s main contributions should be on the defensive side.

  • Bill Self told reporters Flory was “as good a prospect” Self has had at KU.

    • While Self gives this kind of quote once every year or two, the early feedback has been really positive.

  • It’ll make a big difference if KU can complement Dickinson with this kind of shot-blocking and athleticism.

🏀 Transfer Guard Zeke Mayo

  • Mayo has the most interesting transition on the team 😅 

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