🏀 KuBuckets Archive

How many flawed players can you put out there?

KJ - undersized, no range

Hunter - no d, weak on glass

Rylan - can’t dribble

Coit - undersized, cant pass

Storr - lack of situational awareness

Juan - doesnt look for his shot some games

Can we recruit well rounded players at least? Are other schools trying to assembles rosters full of players with critical flaws?

Did Bill have any idea how difficult it would be to get these guys to blend together in a way that their flaws would be masked? Or did he think he could fix all 6 of these guys?

Easy on Coit he’s pg1 next year when he outplays Elmarko in practice!

You are 100% spot on though

Watching auburn vs Bama is like watching a completely different sport.

Guys that play with freedom unafraid of making mistakes because in a 40 minute game they will inevitably make plenty of them. Shooting with confidence and not afraid to miss and sit…

Thing of beauty

@approxinfinity This team if that's what people want to call it, but this team is in complete ruins right now ---no poise - -no self confidence - -Coach has totally lost this team & feel multiple players have checked in several games back.-- no there way to say it then bottom line they just flat suck and suck big time,- some of these guys they got their money and that's all they cared about

Christian Braun is all over their ass. The other night he tweeted Play for the name that is on the front of that Jersey- these guys are done

@approxinfinity the problem is all this was well known coming into the season. It’s not breaking news to any basketball fan. I would’ve told Hunt and KJ to kick rocks after last season. Unless KJ was willing to come off the bench. We gave up both Udeh and Zuby to get Hunt while keeping KJ. Both players are without question better than KJ and some nights Hunt. Whomever is our talent scout should be left in Utah because they suck very badly at their job.

@SlimShaddy54 said in Theyre not diamonds but theyre in the rough:

@approxinfinity This team if that's what people want to call it, but this team is in complete ruins right now ---no poise - -no self confidence - -Coach has totally lost this team & feel multiple players have checked in several games back.-- no there way to say it then bottom line they just flat suck and suck big time,- some of these guys they got their money and that's all they cared about

Christian Braun is all over their ass. The other night he tweeted Play for the name that is on the front of that Jersey- these guys are done

It’s obvious that this hand picked team by Self quit a long time ago. I’m okay if Self isn’t fired at this point but major changes need to come to both the staff and roster.

Yeah and you could easily say Shak and Mayo have big flaws as well.

Flory is the only guy on the roster who doesnt have large weaknesses on at least one end of the court, excepting youth.

And last years roster only had 3 guys of that nature ( no big holes in game): furphy, mccullar and maybe elmarko (if you assume he can improve his shot)

You may say “yeah thats synonymous with nba guys” but i dont think it has to be. Cant we pull kids who dont have huge flaws? At least, only have a couple projects, vs the majority of the team?

@approxinfinity I could realistically write a multi chapter book on the flaws of this team and the way it’s being coached.

@approxinfinity

Perhaps Fran the other night had it right. Harris, KJ and to some extent Dickinson are just "role players" being forced to be something they are not. Our player development used to be second to none. Those players owning the step up to leadership and being the standard. The cycle went on for 2 decades. It's fair to question whether that is truly gone now with this group. Bill needs to seriously invest in more help to find the right fits to play under him. The correction from last year to this one has been a failure. Everyone involved needs a reset it looks

Dickinsons evaluation as a preseason AA, and the continued praise lauded on him by sleepwalking announcers is a testament to the assumption that KU pulls top talent and develops it.

@kuballin10 said in Theyre not diamonds but theyre in the rough:

Easy on Coit he’s pg1 next year when he outplays Elmarko in practice!

You are 100% spot on though

Watching auburn vs Bama is like watching a completely different sport.

Guys that play with freedom unafraid of making mistakes because in a 40 minute game they will inevitably make plenty of them. Shooting with confidence and not afraid to miss and sit…

Thing of beauty

Coit shouldn’t even be on the team next year if Coach is serious. But now we run a program based around feel good stories so who knows.

With a bleak future and a moribund present. The past is wretched with so many blown opportunities to win the championship and only 2! to show for Adidas’ efforts. Only 10% of the championships the last 20 years, they left 18 on the table for the other 364 teams - disgusting.

I encourage everyone to look out for energy vampires. It could be the guy next to you.. it could be YOU? Definitely not me no definitely… lolol

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@approxinfinity Ha! It's not me! I have zero charisma!

Watching this team is just like seeing a stick man doing the robot dance.

At least we now know what @approxinfinity does for a living — HR!

@approxinfinity I think we all may qualify as a energy vampire this season haha

@rockchalkjayhawk hahahaha too true. But no, I am not.

Maybe DOGE can take care of this problem.

@wissox only if the problem is not enough cyber trucks on campus, lol

Just a reminder that Self used to be a master of getting more than was expected with players who had glaring holes.

He was a magician at hiding the flaws in the team and covering the weaknesses.

So, I don't know what to make of this team where he had a bag o' money to cherry-pick players with the attributes he needed --- knowing that if someone didn't quite work out, he still had his old magic tricks....

I mean, that was the old trope for like 10-15 years, right??? He had Perry Ellis, Brady Morningstar, Tyshawn Taylor, Kevin Young, Travis Releford, etc. etc. These were good players, but they had limitations... And yet their teams had a lot of success as I recall.

@bskeet Those guys all had massive amounts of heart too

I wonder if this might be an apt comparison? Although I taught mostly lecture courses (biology), I did teach discussion-based courses from time to time where I learned how different each group of students was. One year I’d find a strategy to get students enthusiastic about the material and it would work great. The next year I’d try the exact same strategy and it would be a total dud. Some years I’d find an alternative that would work, but occasionally there’d be a group that I never could reach. I think that’s what coach Self has now, that rare group for which none of his old motivational ploys work. NIL may have a lot to do with that, but Covid might as well. I taught a few classes after retirement during and after Covid and the changes in students were profound. Many post-Covid students were very poorly prepared for college both in lack of high school level knowledge and an appreciation for how to work effectively. They seemed to think class attendance and assignments were optional, they could take exams anytime they wanted, and that they deserved a B for the class just for showing up. Wonder if some of that attitude has drifted onto the court?

@ImmunoHawk Spot on. I taught law for years. I’ve been thinking the same thing. Sometimes you can’t reach a particular class. The changes wrought by NIL and perhaps generational shifts have created, at least this year, a cohort that in essence is further away from HCBS and the rest of the coaching staff and less amenable to their general approach and specific techniques.

Too bad you guys werent in control of recruiting the students in your class. Just think how much you could have diminished the odds of a lemon class with that power :)

These are good points. Don’t want to take away from that. Helps with explanation of what we are seeing but culpability is a different animal, obviously.

@ImmunoHawk Yep, I taught graphic design at night for a number of years and found the exact same thing. Eventually the lack of caring and expectations of good grades for little effort from the students despite my best efforts made me say I ain’t getting paid enough to waste my evenings in front of kids that, even tho they were paying to be there, didn’t seem like they wanted to be there.

Comparing recruiting to teaching is interesting. I've had similar experiences as a secondary school teacher. Sometimes the introduction of one student who transfers in changes the entire nature of the entire class. I teach in a rugged urban environment. Last hour class was a dream at the beginning of the year until Larry moved in. Went from my easiest class to my most challenging. One kid. Coaches should be able to recognize this. Sometimes they don't.

@Texas-Hawk-10 - Give me your low down on who you’d want as a coach and why

Also - your thoughts on Dusty May he’s currently my first choice over Oats

May doesn’t have the budget but his eye for talent and building his team then elevating them is next to none. Oats has the budget and athletes but struggles defensively (your side of the ball so know you like me writing that lol)!

May is playing two 7 footers and winning without their stud Johnell Davis

Compare that with Arkansas where he’s struggling after dominating at FAU and in the tourney. This shows me Cal just like Self don’t have it anymore. They can’t elevate their talent and they are struggling to coach big time with their old methodologies

Self won’t retire this year but man I sure wish he would. He’ll let DP play all the time but our offense will still be the same bs throwing it inside and playing the wrong guys who don’t provide spacing

@approxinfinity said in Theyre not diamonds but theyre in the rough:

Too bad you guys werent in control of recruiting the students in your class. Just think how much you could have diminished the odds of a lemon class with that power :)

These are good points. Don’t want to take away from that. Helps with explanation of what we are seeing but culpability is a different animal, obviously.

Have you ever hired someone? It’s not a fun process. You recruit them, evaluate them based on the limited information you have and then they show up to work. It’s rarely as advertised- the best workers usually undersell themselves - it’s the recommendations that you have to pay attention to and then you’re relying on someone else’s evaluation. The worst are usually the best on paper and give great interviews. It’s not easy, even if you have your pick. But that’s not how it works you have to entice them to choose you as well. The entire recruiting process sucks. Then you get to the teaching part - fun for me as I’m sure the coaching is to Self. But not everyone excels and that is the worst feeling.

@dylans That is so true. And probably extremely relevant.

@bskeet Thank you.

YMMV