Kansas Basketball 2023 Recruiting Profiles: Jamari McDowell
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The last Jamari at Kansas turned out to be one of Bill Self’s favorites. What about the next?
We already talked about one Houston four-star guard in Chris Johnson. Now our recruiting profile series continues with the other guard/wing in the freshman class, Jamari McDowell. He is not as highly ranked in his class, but all accounts are that his stock is on the rise.
Player overview
Like Johnson, McDowell is from the Houston area and even played with Johnson on the Houston Defenders AAU team. He played at Manvel High School, where last year he averaged 21.7 points, 7.2 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and 4.5 steals per game on the way to a 19-5 record.
I’ve seen McDowell listed as either 6-4 or 6-5 and 180 pounds and his athleticism gets mentioned early in scouting reports. McDowell is the lowest-rated of the four freshmen — I’ve seen him everywhere from 72 to 101 — but he’s been jumping up the recruiting boards. Just a year ago, McDowell was No. 185 on the 247Sports composite and two years ago was No. 248 in the Top247.
And he had plenty of interest. McDowell had 14 offers and took visits to Texas A&M, Xavier, and Wake Forest in addition to KU.
Analyst scouting report
The first thing that should be called out is that Bill Self called McDowell the best shooter of the three guards (along with Elmarko Jackson and Johnson). That’s what fans want to hear with Gradey Dick off to the NBA.
His other characteristics have been common threads in this recruiting class. Adam Finkelstein of 247Sports says McDowell has a “long and athletic with a solid frame that is only going to continue filling out. He runs and jumps with ease, covers the court, and gets well above the rim.” Finkelstein also mentioned that McDowell has all the tools to be a strong defender.
Meanwhile, Jamie Shaw of On3 DB used Self’s favorite word: toughness. Shaw said toughness was his biggest takeaway, and also said he is productive and “The 6-foot-5 wing does a lot of things that affect winning.”
How he fits
With his size and athleticism, the comparison has already been made between McDowell and recent Jayhawks like Ochai Agbaji and Christian Braun. Like those guys, it might take some time to develop, but if he even reaches 75% of that, it’s a great pickup. Self even mentioned how he could see McDowell on the receiving end of lobs much like how they used Agbaji.
With this class, Self has guys on the wing that can play multiple positions and he can use like Lego pieces to see what combinations fit best. That’s the unknown but also the exciting thing about this group. As of now, this is not a collection of guards where they have one job and it’s already defined.
And if McDowell in particular can play fast and above the rim while extending the defense with his range and being serviceable defensively, that will buy him minutes on the floor.
