🏀 KuBuckets Archive

First - I have frequented this site all season and have enjoyed the banter immensely.

Finally broke down and registered so I could participate......go easy on me!

Just wondering why the national media hasn't dog-piled on Barnes when Myles Turner (his team's leading rebounder, leading shot blocker, second leading scorer and an 83% FT shooter) comes off the bench and only gets minutes that are comparable to Ridley at this stage of the season.

And yet, the national media openly questions HCBS's roster management....... You would think and 82.5% win percentage, 10 straight conference titles and a national championship would earn the benefit of the doubt from the national media if they are going to give Barnes a free pass- especially when Turner has a bigger impact on the Longhorn's success than Alexander has had on ours.

@SoftballDad2011 Welcome and feel at home. He played 29 minutes yesterday, had three fouls. Foul trouble may have limited the minutes. Don't you think the press enjoys putting down Self because they are jealous of his accomplishments out here in the midwest?

@SoftballDad2011
Welcome aboard. I really don't have a good answer for you but I'm interested in what others have to say about it.

@SoftballDad2011 Welcome aboard and be sure to join the banter as we chat our way to victory and #11 Tues night.

My take on the lack of media coverage of RB's roster moves, he's not the same caliber of coach as HCBS. RB is infamous for doing less with more than anybody else in the psuedo-Big 12. Therefore nobody questions his roster moves. Now if you wait a while I'm sure @jaybate-1.0 will be along shortly and he'll provide a more indepth 200 line analysis. :beer:

@SoftballDad2011 Welcome aboard! I have to agree with @brooksmd on this one. People care about what Self is doing, nobody cares about what Rick Barnes is doing. It's probably that simple. National media wants to sell articles or computer clicks or want ever. Bill Self's name in the headline gets more of that. Plus KU alum are all over the world and following the Jayhawks, not so sure about UT. It wouldn't surprise me if Jayhawk fans follow UT basketball more than UT fans. :)

Agreed. As I say, living here in the Football state. There are nearly 1,000 texans for every Kansan as well, Even so they rarely sell out the Drum. Mostly it is KU games. I would bet money that there is a ton more Kansan's with higher bBall IQ than Texans.

@SoftballDad2011

When you ask a question like this you are going to get as many different answers as there are posts. Here is mine.

29.6 million person live in Texas.

2.9 million live in Kansas.

Media shows content and tells stories about the content to attract eyeballs and clicks.

Stories are narratives.

Narratives tell best when there is a hero to identify and villaing to good about opposing.

Media has learned that you don't have to tell stories with the media and the villain in the same story.

You can tell a story with a hero.

Then you can chase it with a villain.

And best of all, you can keep repeating variations on the hero and the villain until the hero and villain converge in a kind of show down.

Thus, before they meet, you report the hero to his base and you report the villain to the hero's fan base.

And suspense builds as the meeting of the hero and villain approaches.

Rising suspense holds and builds the eyeballs attracted.

How doe media decide who will be the hero and who will be the villain?

It looks at where the most persons live that might watch the contrived drama of hero and villain.

Where the most persons live, it picks a coach that is the hero.

Where the least persons live, it picks a coach to be a villain.

Thus it builds its audience in the larger market.

And in order to compensate for the viewers in the smaller market being alienated, it then tells a new story in that smaller market and picks either the coach that has been villainized, or one of his opponents to become the hero of the new story. And it picks another coach inside the small market, or out side it in an even smaller market, to be the villain of the new story.

This is call exploiting the primary and the secondary markets.

Any persons not attracted by these two stories are treated as tertiary markets that will watch because they have nothing else to do, or not watch. They don't care about the territory market.

If you think about the size of Texas and the portrayal of Rick Barnes, and think about the size of Kansas, and the portrayal of Bill Self that you have mentioned, then I suspect you will see a possible driver.

Welcome.

He has his sore-loser side, but I love Rick Barnes and I hope he stays at UT for a long time.

1. Always gets a ton of pre-season attention, giving the Jayhawks some chip on the shoulder mojo.

2. Rarely beats KU, and when he does he seems genuinely apologetic/humble about it.

3. Gets some top Texas recruits that--truthfully--would never come to Kansas, thus keeping them away from the other 'good' coaches in the B12.

4. His teams collapse like cheap folding chairs every January falling into a hole they rarely can climb out of.

5. Occasionally represents the conference well in the big dance.

What more could I possibly want??!

(Oops. originally posted this in the wrong thread!)

@DanR

I agree that Rick is important to marketing the Big 12 at least until the B12 opens an EST eastern division.

Rick is from the southeast and he coached Providence. This I believe always gives media an angle for selling Rick directly and selling Texas and the Big 12 indirectly in the EST.

But down the road, it seems like we've got to add some EST teams for WVU to make this dog hunt.

@SoftballDad2011 The short answer would be people don't care about Texas, or Barnes, and to a large degree, Myles Turner. We get the microscope because we are relevant - Texas is not. Welcome !!!!

32 of the last 40 National Champions are from the Eastern Time Zone.

Those that were not:

Kansas (2)
UCLA (2)
UNLV
Arkansas
Marquette
Arizona

I don't see it has happenstance.

@Blown
Wow- that is a hell of a stat. But then again it doesn't include the Wooden streak.

@JayhawkRock78

Well I intentionally stopped at 40 years, because it was a round number, and because it predated the rise of ESPN.

Since espn formation in 1979, 30/35 were from the east coast.

EDIT:

Prior to ESPN formation 15/40 National Champions Hailed from the Eastern Time Zone

@Blown
Fair enough. I didn't know the east coast dominance was that lopsided-I guess I went into denial mode.

No problem. I would market to the biggest audience if that were my business, too.

@JayhawkRock78 John Wooden was a statistical anomaly so I cooked my data--admittedly :)

I don't have an opinion on Barnes except I'm glad we get to face him twice a year. The games are usually compelling and we almost always beat them!

Welcome to the site. I wonder how many other lurkers there are?

@Blown

Marquette is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin that is Eastern Time Zone

@JayHawkFanToo Might double check that...pull up a time zone map. That's what I was going off of. I have not had to travel to Madison since 2012 so I cannot recall the time zone I was in at that time.

The states of Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan might be in the Eastern Time Zone, but they aren't "east coast." Solidly industrial midwest.

So, even including FL (which is special in many ways), only 20 of the last 40 are really east coast.

But, you make an interesting point, Blown! I know quite a few west coasters don't follow BB as much as they did prior to moving there, partly because of the national media.

@DanR
As. For the west coast, I will add my two cents since I've lived in LA three times. If memory serves there are more people in the LA region than the rest of the state. I am only stating that to help folks with the mindset.
The weathermen are usually comedians because the weather seldom changes from pleasant to perfect and I REALLY mean that the climate is that great.
Since weather isn't a subject, they have that much more time to talk celebrities and Hollywood talk and they are way over the top obsessed with this cr*p.
With Ocean, mountains, Hollywood, pro and college football, bBall, baseball, Yada Yada Yada, there is always something else to be doing like going to a race track, the beach, etc., etc. etc.

As I said I lived there 3times. Once in a real neighborhood I absolutely loved. And the other times around the biggest bunch of &$*#%}£ I ever met.

And you are right-prior to the internet it was near impossible to get much info on NCAA ball. PAC 10 was in the papers with little else.

I left in 2007, but I suspect things haven't chaged- although if memory serves there is some 8,000 KU active alums in LA.

@SoftballDad2011

Welcome! UT hoops irrelevant at football school. Wonder what it would take for Barnes to get fired? Did Tom Penders get the ax or quit?

I thought Penders was shown the door, but there is something on WIKI which mentions a buyout, him suspending Luke Axtell. Later. Luke Axtell transfers to KU.

Thanks to all for the perspective and info.

@SoftballDad2011 I spend a portion of my year in Texas. My wife has taught high school for a few years in S. Texas. The state is Football Crazy! No way would Rick Barnes have survived with his losing percentages if he were coaching football. He faces very little of the pressures and intense scrutiny of Bill Self who sits atop the historical throne of USA Division 1 Basketball. The words TEXAS and BASKETBALL almost fit the pattern of an OXYMORON. Often, I am surprised that so many decent hoops stars emerge from the Lone Star State. In South Texas, for certain, male high school athletes are reluctant to admit that their sport of choice is basketball. Local sports pages tend to dedicate much more wintertime coverage to Girls Hoops. Position-wise, in terms of royal heirarchy, Bill Self reigns as at least a duke (oops!); Rick Barnes, second cousin to an earl. Rick appears to be a nice guy, evidently a much softer mentor on the practice court than his peer Self. He recruits splendid talent, but appears not to recruit and manipulate puzzle pieces so well as the man in Lawrence. I have commented previously that IMHO if Bill Self could add Perry Ellis to the current Longhorn lineup, he could take that group and battle toe to toe with Calipari's 10 or 11 All-Americans. Heck, he might end up doing it with the lesser talents which now don Jayhawk singlets....

Turn on ESPNU right now and look at the stands. This is why Barnes isn't catching hell for Texas's poor showing. Arena is empty up top and down low it's pretty vacant in areas.

@Kip_McSmithers But they, like others, are full (or almost) for us.
Reminds me of a line in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"

"What's wrong with those other guys?"

@Blown Ya'll could have asked your local Wisconsin expert (me!) which time zone they're in! Central, fyi!

@wissoxfan83 ahhh, I was thinking that you were from Chicago, or at least taught there, and are on the Bayou now. I forgot you were a Badger fan momentarily. Sox, Badgers, and Kansas! How the hell did that happen!

@Blown I'm on the run from the law!

Short version. Grew up in Chicago, Did two years of Juco there. Went to KU. Graduated. Went back to Chi. Got married, moved to Wisconsin, 14 years there, then following God's lead, went to Baton Rouge to teach inner city kids. Tough to explain that part quickly! I have a very complicated sports life!

Nice...I've worked in Chicago, Madison/Milwaukee/Appleton, & Baton Rouge & enjoyed each place for different reasons. Thanks for dedicating your career to kids. It's hard to grasp how much influence one person can have on an individuals life. It just takes one positive influence to turn a life around. Nice job.

@Blown Wow, you on the run from the law too? :)

Part of my explanation is I think I have a little ADD and get bored in a place and want to move on to someplace new.