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This team is missing a piece.

It is the same piece we have missed every year except '08 and '12...

This team is missing a chip.

!imallin2x.jpg ↗

They were beat, single-handed, by ONE GUY that had a chip, Valentine.

ONE GUY beat them. Pull Valentine out of this equation and Kansas has a 20+ victory.

ONE GUY wanted it more than 15 guys wearing crimson/blue.

That really is the only way to look at this.

Valentine is a good player, but he isn't a great player. He just wanted it more than our entire team wanted it.

Valentine 1 Kansas 0

Even though we were all blessed with the outstanding performance by our KC Royals... the perfect example of what a chip can do... we still discard that lesson and think we can just go out there and "out-talent" teams.

Cheick Diallo is not the missing piece. Sure... he can bring a lot of qualities to our team in the area where we need it most. But unless he brings a chip with him, we aren't going anywhere in March. In fact... you can just about bet we will have another early exit.

It is time to ERASE our hard drives from the history of this past summer at WUG. We aren't champions of anything except a bunch of defunct International teams. In order for us to be a team worth remembering, we have to win in our own league.. against our peers. WUG can end up doing us more harm than good. Yes... you heard me. That Korean Gold is a constant reminder of how great we are, how superior this team is. It is a chip we already won. The winnings keep us in a delusional fantasy of greatness that doesn't exist... greatness has to be earned every time out on a basketball court. Even greats like Michael Jordan had to prove himself every time he stepped on the floor.

If anyone still isn't getting this... maybe one more example, though I could glance back at sports history and see that almost every champion has been driving by a chip.

Ronda Rousey

Here is the perfect example... someone so talented that she lost her one big advantage that brought her to greatness... a chip. She went from the top, to the bottom, in just a few minutes of her sport. That is how fast someone with uber talent can fall after displacing their chip.

Armour: Ronda Rousey paying for her arrogance after loss ↗

Our kids have to learn... they aren't great because they play for Kansas. All the greatness at Kansas is historic. But that history belongs in a book. Champions are born everyday. It is a new day. The only way for these kids to find greatness is to go out and earn it. They are completely surrounded with the very best tales about athletes and teams that play with and without a chip. All they have to do is grab on.

It starts with our coach. Can HCBS develop a chip? He is a very talented coach, a very intelligent man. And he does have a great drive in coaching. But what carrot is out in front of his nose? He is being paid multi-millions every year. He is viewed as a definite HOF'r. He is a God in Lawrence and with college basketball fans. All those things are great, except they work against him creating a chip. What more is there for him to accomplish? Is the next mountain top easily obtainable?

Why is it so tough for our guys to come out and play poised, with energy and conviction, in big games?

@drgnslayr interesting take, that could definitely make a difference. In my opinion, our one missing piece is a great big man coach. The team hasn't been the same since Manning left. Snacks' talent was supposedly his recruiting and we can all see that hasn't panned out. I think we need to bring in a coach that specializes in Big Men. I think that is what we are missing the most.

Step one for this team is for the need to DEMOTE them.

No more "4th-ranked team in the nation!" They didn't earn that greatness.

They also need to lose all the nonsense sports commentary calling many of our players great, when they haven't earned that title.

Guys like Svi, Carlton... and soon (hopefully) Cheick... They've been put high on a platform and they haven't earned that spot. It is pure damage to their potential of ever developing a chip.

Lottery picks? Seriously? Guys don't even have to do anything and they are lottery picks?

I'm sick of all the fame that is nothing but hot air.

Greatness is something that must be proven. It has no value as something "anticipated" based on "potential."

That doesn't mean diddly... Just more delusion.

Greatness is earned, not a freebee prize at the county fair.

@RockkChalkk This is a theory I truly believe in. I honestly think that when Dooley and Manning left, the two most valuable pieces of our coaching staff left. Self has shown you to what level he is ignorantly stubborn. Go back and watch games from 2011 even 2012. Watch the defensive sets we run. Watch how developed players are. Watch us draw up well-executed, well-designed plays. The product we've had to endure since the 2014 season has been just painful to watch.

@drgnslayr That chip was lost due to the OAD's

In '09 you had X Henry

In '10 it was Selby

In '11 it was BMac even though he had to sit a year, and they made a run one of the best underdog runs in a long time.

In '12 Bmac was the OAD, but you had Rio and Peters that were a head case and well in the same words different meaning a head case.

In '13 Wiggins

In '14 Two OAD's Cliff and Kelly

Hard to play with a chip on ones shoulders when you aren't there but more than a year. Yes Ellis and Traylor should be playing with huge chips, but Ellis never shows emotion, maybe he needs to snap and get angry. No more designer and turn into mad man. Remember when Whithey got his nose cut open, and how he played after that, not just in that game, but the rest of the season? One would think after getting smacked in the face by WSU last year Perry would have come out this year with emotion, instead we get the robot. Taylor should have a chip on his shoulder from what life has dealt him, but then again, maybe now he's gotten comfortable? Hunter should play with a chip on his shoulder to prove to the coaches he deserves to be there. Landon should have a chip on his shoulder, but pretty sure he dropped it with his stone hands. Frank plays with a chip, but he can't do it on his own, especially in the paint, he's giving up a foot or more on some of those guys.

Do we need OAD's? Yes the can be very effective and great, but we need leaders, floor generals that want to lead.

I looked at KU's roster right now and asked myself - if I needed one guy to take over a game against a big time opponent, who could I say that guy would be?

And an hour later I was still thinking, not because there were that many options, but because I couldn't find that guy.

KU as a team is a bunch of good and really good players. But I look at that roster and I don't see one elite or near elite player in the group. Could you see Wayne Selden just going on a tear for a week and carrying this team through the Texas/ Iowa State/ Kentucky gauntlet in January?

I don't see it.

Perry? No. Frank? Not every night, he'll wear down. Devonte? Not as good as Frank. Svi? Too inconsistent. BG? Could get hot, but his turnstile defense will limit his minutes. Vick? Maybe next year. Bragg? He's probably the closest, but again, he doesn't seem like he will get the minutes or chances to do so. Lucas, Traylor, others? Not talented enough.

There are a ton of really good players on that list right there. But I don't think the elite teams spend nights awake worrying about what those guys might do. That's why I wanted KU to nab Brown or Newman in recruiting. Those guys are potential elite level talents. Brown is off to a good start, Newman not so much, but their talent level dictates they can take a team to the next level.

We always make other excuses for losses. Bad refs... OADs,.. we even blame walk-ons (Morningstar).

We refuse to address that we aren't hungry enough to win the big prize.

I'm sure talent alone can sometimes win it all... but it is a rare example.

All we needed last night was ONE GUY to step up and match Valentine. We didn't need OAD talent or anything else.

I didn't see "the chip" in the entire MSU team. I saw it in Valentine. Sometimes just having ONE GUY with a chip can bring victory. Case in point; last night.

At this point... I'll settle if we can get ONE GUY to carry a chip.

Maybe Cheick is the missing piece. Maybe he has a chip he brought from Mali.

Slayer, I have been hoping that this team will develop a chip, but I am not sure what it is going to take. The treeream takes on the attitude of the coach, and I am wondering if Self's best coaching years are behind him.

@MoonwalkMafia I agree. The offense is sluggish and defense appears inept at times.

Moonwalk: Dooley for sure could give these kids some direction in how to think like a gorilla instead of Jay hawk weaving all over the place because they don't have anyone to pass the ball to. Obviously Self has no confidence in the bigs because he did very little hi-low. We had them on the ropes in foul trouble but did not run the hi-low to finish them off. This may very well have been a game he wanted to loose to get these players attention.

This was my first game to watch which seemed weird with all the blackouts and ESPN 3 bull Sht. I was just not into it and don't feel the passion like I have in the past. I guess if they don't want us to watch the games without buying a ticket then my passion meter will go down like the team itself. I'm sure Zinger and Self think that the KU basketball experience is wonderful for everyone because everybody is making a lot of money. Maybe that's where their passion lies. Bureaucrats! Have they become the very thing that we hate about the NCAA Clearinghouse? Passion can be coached but not by a bureaucrat. You think Izzo & Dooley are Bureaucrats?

@DinarHawk

Gosh... I really don't know.

I have to admit that I was hoping our coaching staff would have been blown away by the chip the Royals had and how they used it to completely dominate the playoffs.

Maybe it just goes deep in an individual's personality traits.

Izzo always seems to have a chip. Maybe he carries a "Napoleon complex" with him.

Even Calipari seems to be more inspired. Maybe all the hate that is created against him works to his favor and he gets personal drive off of that.

It just seems that we have way too high of a "comfort level" at Kansas.

I think Self is great. Very capable coach. But I don't know if he can figure out how to create that "missing piece."

There is always the possibility that some event comes along and builds something with this team. I never want to hope for a tragedy to get there... but tragedy/struggle/hardship is the easy pathway towards building a chip. No way our 2012 team deserved to make it to the final game just based on talent. Those guys had their hearts on their sleeves. They almost beat Goliath.

I'd like to add that Self should have a HUGE chip on his shoulder, Be it Bmac being sat out a year, or last year with Cliff and this year with Diallo.

Yet he seems to just brush it off like dandruff.

I know. I know he can't come out yelling at the ncaa, but at some point maybe he should coach to prove a point and have that chip on his shoulder the give the NCAA the middle finger.

I've always lived by...

"It isn't the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog."

That fits here perfectly.

@JRyman "I’d like to add that Self should have a HUGE chip on his shoulder"

JUST ONCE, I'd like to see Self rip off his jacket, throw a chair across the court, toss his toupee into the stands - SOMETHING to indicate that he really gives a crap about KU. I'm tired of his laid back, cool guy, nothing bothers me bullshit attitude. The mascots show more emotion that he does and I'm tired of it.

@nuleafjhawk AMEN!!!!!

@nuleafjhawk just maybe he did that while you were asleep!😬

This team is missing more than just a chip on their shoulder.