News dumps are usually saved for Friday nights heading into long holiday weekends, but on Friday morning, Kansas received some good news from the recruiting trail when former Mississippi State guard Malik Newman informed ESPN’s Jeff Goodman he’d be transferring to join the Jayhawks. “I love the basketball culture at Kansas, the way Bill Self holds guys accountable and love the atmosphere,” Newman told ESPN. He will have to sit out next year because of transfer rules, but will be eligible to play for KU in 2017-18. The 6’3″ combo guard was recruited out of high school by Self and his staff before he ultimately chose to stay close to home to play for Ben Howland. In the end, though, it seems that ambiguous trust issues with Howland and a less-than-desirable NBA draft situation caused Newman to believe his best option was to transfer to another school.
Malik Newman is headed to Kansas after spending a year at Mississippi State. (insidemsusports.com).
Newman’s commitment to Mississippi State brought significant optimism to the Bulldog program because of his potential as a perimeter scorer. Unfortunately, the 19-year old averaged just 11.3 points per game for the Bulldogs and shot under 40 percent from the field as a freshman. He also struggled to fit in defensively; Newman posted the worst defensive rating (109.7) of any consistent MSU rotation player last season. But even when considering Newman’s relatively uninspiring freshman season, there are still plenty of strands of optimism that Kansas fans can hold onto. For starters, Newman is an immensely talented prospect who was ranked as the 8th best recruit in the country by 247 Sports in 2015. Offensively, his scoring numbers look better when translated to account for pace of play (16.4 points per 40 minutes) and he was an effective outside shooter as a freshman, knocking down 37.9 percent of the eight three-point attempts he attempted per 40 minutes. Newman projects as a work in progress on the defensive end, but he’ll have a year under Self — one of the top defensive coaches in the country — to shore up his skills on that end of the floor before suiting up for the Jayhawks.
Perhaps the most important aspect of Newman’s transfer is that it simply gives Kansas another body to put in a jersey for the 2017-18 season. The Jayhawks figure to experience significant roster turnover following the upcoming season due to graduations and early exits. Both Frank Mason and Landen Lucas are entering their last season of collegiate eligibility while freshman Josh Jackson, sophomore Carlton Bragg, and junior Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk are all projected as potential first round picks in next June’s NBA draft. Add in the fact that the 2017 high school recruiting class features very few elite level point guard talents and it’s easy to understand why Newman’s transfer decision could have a significant impact for the Jayhawks down the line.