🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Gosh... you would think these sportswriter clowns would get the memo by now.

You know... the memo that says "Kansas owns the Big 12, dummy!"

Once again, many believe Kansas will not repeat as Big 12 Champions.

"Georges Niang's decision to return will make the Cyclones a favorite to win the Big 12 (and end Kansas' stranglehold on that regular-season championship)."

College basketball's super early 2015-16 preseason top 25 revisited ↗

Seriously? Ranking ISU as 3# in the nation? I'm sure if they get their typical soft pre-conference schedule, they will win some games. But come on.

I wonder if poor Scott Gleeson would be willing to put his money where his mouth is?

Niang is a good player, but anyone riding on his back for National Championship hopes is nuts! Niang seemed to actually show a decline in his game last year, perhaps because of his previous injury or because he is finally being scouted a bit better in our league.

Our games with ISU should be very competitive games, and we are likely to lose one, or maybe even two to ISU (including B12 Tournament) but we know that isn't what will determine the next Big 12 Champion. It is knowing the formula for winning on the road in the Big 12, something Bill knows plenty about and Fred is still trying to figure it out.

Had Diallo chosen ISU instead of KU, I would still have a hard time picking ISU to win the league.

@drgnslayr not losing to ISU next year! At all! They out ran us at ISU, not going to happen this next year! We were down 2 men and almost beat them in tourney, deeper at post next year. Write it down, not losing at osu this next year either! Tired of that crap!

@drgnslayr Come, come, slayr. You really think we would have whipped ISU for the league crown if they had gotten Diallo? How about a tie? Could you manage to concede a tie?

ISU causes matchup headaches for us because Self wants to play a traditional lineup, while Hoiberg is willing to tinker with his lineups to create mismatches in either size, speed or both. We will always have our hands full with ISU because of this.

However, they can't create those same mismatches with everyone, because for undersized teams, there is no mismatch, which is why ISU loses an otherwise inexplicable game every year in conference.

KU wins the conference not because we match up well with ISU, but because we are less likely to lose to Tech, TCU, Texas, etc.

The interesting new element is Smart at Texas. He could have the Horns in a position to cause some problems if he can put in his HAVOC style with more talent. I am very curious to see if he keeps that style or if he changes what he does.

@drgnslayr

Ah it's just like those anti KU f%$ks at 810 am. Every year they keep picking this to be the year. At some point they'll be right, but not this year. ")

@justanotherfan

Man I'm so tried of Shaka Smart. He's nothing more than a flash in the pan. Hell he couldn't even dominate the sub tier conference that he coached in before this Texas job. Yet for some reason now he's just going to kill. I'm willing to bet he doesn't get half the recruits that Barnes got. Sure he'll have is uptick as he is new and the savior of Texas basketball, but when the tides recedes Texas will be looking for a new HC.

@drgnslayr AH!!! That's just laughable! Talk about definition of insanity! I mean, come on!
Ok, back down to earth here. ISU has an excellent chance to share the league with us next season as does OU with Heild coming back. But 11 in a row for KU as well as everything KU is returning, plus Bragg and Diallo? Absolutely no freeking way KU doesnt win at least a share of the conference, yet again, for the 12th time. That'll tie Wooden's record streak.

@justanotherfan I am also very interested to see what Shaka does at Texas. With that in mind, I don't see the Texas bigs being havoc type pressers and all that. He might have to change his approach.

@DoubleDD Odd as it sounds, Im actually interested to see what Shaka brings to the Big 12 table. I hope he does good. As a whole, the conference needs another coach to step it up and make the league more competitive. But, I still can't wait to beat his @$$ when he first steps into The Phog!!!

@DoubleDD

After that Final Four run, VCU moved from the Colonial (a lower level conference) to the much stronger Atlantic 10, where he finished 2nd, 2nd, 4th. The A-10 is regarded as on the same level as the modified Big East, and the American. The Colonial wasn't very strong, but the A-10 is a legitimate conference basketballwise. Not Power 5, but right on that next level (A-10 has ranked either sixth or seventh in conference RPI the last three years).

He's coached six years and won 75% of his games. That's pretty solid. Add to that his defensive strategy and I think he has a chance to be very good. Remember, he was tagged by USA basketball to coach the defense for the U19 team.

A good defensive coach with more offensive talent should be interesting to watch. That doesn't make him a world beater, but it would be foolish to not keep an eye on him.

I said the same thing about Hoiberg when he took the ISU job. Hoiberg is a great matchups coach that, if he gets some talent, can be a real headache. Now you have Hoiberg, Smart, Huggins, a rising TCU under Trent Johnson, Kruger at OU. The Big 12 has five legitimately good coaches with talent on their roster (Tubby Smith is a solid coach, but has no talent to work with) outside of KU. That is why there were seven teams in the Big 12 that went to the tournament this year, and that will likely continue because of the coaching talent.

That also means that there are some teams that present some challenges to KU.

@drgnslayr

I believe KU losing was one of EPSN guys Medcalf's bold prediction for 2016 as well that's already made it to circulation. Goodman at least smartened up for now saying he won't pick against KU again but he's got plenty of time to become an idiot KU hater.

The ESPN poll just baffles me. Yes Iowa St. is going to be a good team again with 6 key contributors back but 2 big loses in Hogue & Jones. Their replacements 6'3 Cooke & December transfer Burton 6'4, certainly not as big as Hogue & Jones played at 6'6. I'm sure they will sign a transfer big man or somebody late (hopefully not Tyler Harris). What I don't understand is how some are viewing them as a better team when KU returns just as much or more. And then add the fact that we added 2 Top 20 kids to our biggest weakness area. Our experience matches them as well.

@Lulufulu there will be a big welcome to the big 12 for smart at AFH! Book it!

@Crimsonorblue22 Omg, he is gonna get absolutely shell shocked!! I mean, Bang!

@Lulufulu can't wait!

@justanotherfan

KU should have the experience & added talent needed to negate advantages certain teams have had on KU the last 2 years. Both of KU's loses last year to Iowa St. were because KU beat itself. We will matchup with them next year spot for spot with Diallo & Bragg in the rotation.

Smart if he tries to run his havoc, we've already gotten that from West Virginia so it won't be new to us seeing that style of play. Will be interesting to see how much he incorporates his style with a squad that has maybe 2 to 3 ideal players for what he wants to do. Year 2 and on will tell us what he can do in the Big 12. His comments towards KU in his acceptance speech should set Texas up as a renewed rival year and year out. I know Self will be gunning for him.

Oklahoma has 1 more good year before it goes back to rebuilding.

Smart loses
http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2015/5/4/8546663/texas-basketball-shaka-smart-havoc-trademark ↗

@Crimsonorblue22 just read the link-somehow I can't picture Ridley being much of a candidate for havoc. If ya tell him to haul ass, he'd have to make two trips!!

@drgnslayr

George Niang is a really, really good college player and ISU will have most of the team back and with 3 transfer players, essentially all analysts feel ISU will have the best team it has had during the Hoiberg tenure...and they were pretty good last year. I am not surprised that at this stage they would be considered favorites to win the conference.

Having said that and following Vegas rules...you don't beat against the streak...so I will go with KU.

@globaljaybird !image.jpg ↗

This kind of havoc (puke)

@Crimsonorblue22

Let's hope not...

@JayHawkFanToo that was one of my worst missed calls! Look at wigs and Perry's faces. Everyone stopped waiting on refs whistle. Couldn't have done any good to Embiids back! But we got them back!

@REHawk

"Come, come, slayr. You really think we would have whipped ISU for the league crown if they had gotten Diallo? How about a tie? Could you manage to concede a tie?"

In that case, I think KU would still win at home. So that means a split with ISU. ISU still has to win on the road, something Fred hasn't proven to be consistent at.

We are capable of a tie, with or without Diallo. But losing the conference?

The thing is... this streak has raised the bar on players at Kansas. None of them want to be the ones to blow it. So losing it becomes tougher. Ties can happen, and are part of our big streak now.

I like Fred and his brand of ball. I definitely respect him, too. Not too thrilled about some of their fan base, but I get it. They are trying to get over the hump. A hump that has plagued them since the dinosaur era. Fred is the one coach really capable of figuring out the secret league code and competing for the crown every year.

I just don't see it happening next year. Even though many think they are ready to be a Final Four team. Seriously? I think they needed Diallo and another high rim player to be placed in that possible scenario.

@drgnslayr Okay. I'm mighty happy and relieved that we lured Diallo; and ISU didn't. This kid looks a bit scary in terms of preparing to try to shut him down. My biggest concern is: Can BIll Self back off just enough to allow Cheick to do his thing? Maybe cut him free for 20% free lancing? I think that Bill has developed a reputation of pushing too hard and too quickly to get his one and done recruits in line for mistake-free systems basketball; and, in doing so, stripping away some of their natural flow. Not to bag too much on Self. He is the one and only guy I want, right now, at the helm of Jayhawk Hoops. I would not for one moment consider trading him for Coach K or Pat Riley. As a matter of fact, I am very intrigued, watching his seasonal and situational developments. He is going to go down one day as one of a handful of greatest coaches ever to have worked the college game. I hope to see him in Lawrence for a long time.

@REHawk I think the thing Cliff lacked is exactly what cheick has! And that is something coach values!

@Crimsonorblue22 HA! My wife and I were just now talking about the Cliff situation. I was very disappointed that Cliff did not rise to his pre-KU billing. Wife declares that many unknown factors might have intervened; and that maybe it just wasn't Self's insistence on system play.

@Crimsonorblue22 I hope to heck, come April, that Cheick is still on the floor, doing his Jayhawk thing. That would be a huge leap over the recent case of his highly ranked predecessor!

@REHawk plural! Predecessors

Just thought of that... the last two years Kansas has missed it's premiere big man in the post during March.

Who knows... maybe we can start advancing in March again if we can keep a big guy healthy and eligible in the late season?!

It's bound to happen someday. There will be a year sometime when we watch some other team gleefully earn league bragging rights. ISU has beaten us 4 of the last 6 times we've played them I think. They know they're in our heads a little bit now.

But it probably won't happen. It kind of reminds me of the Big 8/12 in football. This is mainly the days of Nebraska/Oklahoma domination. OSU would start out the year on fire. People would talk like this is the year they'll knock the big 2 off their perch. And then OSU would play OU, home or away, didn't matter, and OSU would get beat, usually destroyed by either or both of the big 2. ISU reminds me of that team. They have the opportunity to knock us off our perch and then they go to TTech or TCU and get destroyed.

But it is bound to happen someday. A really bad year for injuries, there's a bad seed in the program that gets us on probation, who knows, but it will happen someday.

Or maybe it won't.

This may sound over confident but I think we are as good as we have been in years (on paper) and that we will win the conference by more than 1 game. I honestly feel that we will win the Big 12 by 2-3 games.

My rationale...

1. We never lose at home. Nice to have this luxury.

2. Perry Ellis and Diallo will be a better post duo than any other in the Big 12.

3. Diallo is our coveted rim protector and teams won't be able to shoot over us as easily

4. Mason / Graham will be as good as any PG's in the Big 12.

5. Bill Self wins more games on the road BY FAR than any other Big 12 coach.

6. Once Greene is back we will be deeper than any other Big 12 team.

@joeloveshawks

And don't forget that we aren't done recruiting this year, too!