NCAA Basketball: Pros and cons of each landing spot for TJ Holyfield

Kansas Jayhawks

Pros

The reason for coming to Kansas is being able to play for one of the best programs in college basketball while competing for a national championship. This is consistently one of the best teams in the country and despite them having their worst season in over a decade and their 14 straight Big 12 Regular Season Title streak coming to an end they still were a four seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Bill Self is one of the best coaches in all of college basketball and has done a good job giving his big men a chance to shine. Just last season Dedric Lawson was an All-American in his only year with the team. Holyfield isn’t nearly as talented as Lawson, but he would be featured in this Jayhawk offense.

Kansas always has national title aspirations and they’re typically loaded with talent, but the 2018-19 team isn’t as loaded currently as most schools. That will give TJ Holyfield a chance to shine in the starting lineup alongside Udoka Azubuike. While this team isn’t your typical Jayhawk squad they still have some studs in the backcourt with guys such as Ochai Agbaji, and Devon Dotson expected to be back leading the way.

The recruiting isn’t yet done though. As things currently stand this is a top 25 team which is something the other two teams can’t say confidently. They do have a chance to get multiple more recruits though which could turn them into a top 10 or maybe even a top five team.

Cons

While the recruiting they’re still doing is still a good thing it can have some negative effects on Holyfield’s decision. When he commits he likely would want to know what his role would be rather than having to wait and see who else joins the squad. A good thing for the recruiting is that most of the players they’re after are guards so they wouldn’t have a huge impact on his minutes.

His decision could be impacted in a big way by the Silvio De Sousa decision. The uncertainty with the De Sousa situation is the biggest thing that could keep him from coming to Lawrence. Holyfield will still play a big role on the team, but if De Sousa was to return then he wouldn’t be in the starting lineup.

Silvio De Sousa is currently suspended through the 2019-20 season which is why he has declared for the NBA Draft. It isn’t 100% certain he would return, but he has made it known he would rather be at Kansas than starting his professional career. His situation could linger over the next month so we’ll have to wait and see what Holyfield decides to do.

All three of these schools have the benefits that should excite any player to play for them. He is interested in all three so we’ll just have to wait and see when he decides. He has made it known he prefers to announce shortly so expect an announcement, sooner, rather than later.