🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Guys I think I have went off the deep end. Here I am sitting here on a Sunday afternoon surfing the net and telling you I have just had this weird feeling since last night - - who knows maybe it's a sign of things to come.

I'm just wondering , been having this feeling that i can't shake - -not a bads thing but I don't know something just tells me - just geting this sense that THIS IS THE WEEK we hear on Both Billy and Silvio, I know there has been some talk possibly about it , no alot but still. Still though when I have read this beore or heard I haven't ever had any kind of real sense or vibe - - Today is different something just feels different

Guys I am really really serious - -hard to describe BUT I'm just geting this sense this is the week, boy what a week that would turn out to be - -as long as it's not negative - -haven't been able to determine that yet -but thinking we gonna be happy by the end of the week - call me stupid - -call me moronic -- hey what can I say - hell maybe I can fore see the future lol - -BUT ol Jayballer feels something coming - -and it's good for us - and a STORM for the leauge - let's hope this turns out. - JUMPIN GEE HOSSA FATS -giving me goose bumps this is crazy - -let's hope. - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY

Self is pissed they didn't have Preston for the tcu game. He was probably under the assumption they would decide by Saturday

I get that feeling too. Sometime this week (hopefully tomorrow) KU will drop a release saying they’re both good to go. Self said Billy would need about a week to get integrated. Perfect timing for going to Morgantown.

What worries me is at what point does it become less useful to have them? If we get them cleared with 6 games left will they be able to learn and adjust to the college game enough to help this team when it matters? We desperately need them cleared his week if they are to raise the ceiling of this bye a large number.

@Jayballer54

A little help from ESPN ↗ can’t hurt...:smile:

BeddieKU23 said:

Self is pissed they didn't have Preston for the tcu game. He was probably under the assumption they would decide by Saturday

It HAS GOT TO BE this week right? - -tell me it's going to be this week - -- please - - oh please lol. -- ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY

FarmerJayhawk said:

I get that feeling too. Sometime this week (hopefully tomorrow) KU will drop a release saying they’re both good to go. Self said Billy would need about a week to get integrated. Perfect timing for going to Morgantown.

Boy let's hope -- got to be right? - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY

kjayhawks said:

What worries me is at what point does it become less useful to have them? If we get them cleared with 6 games left will they be able to learn and adjust to the college game enough to help this team when it matters? We desperately need them cleared his week if they are to raise the ceiling of this bye a large number.

I know what your saying , I would think we are getting really close to that point aren't we? - We just can't have to many more no Billy - No De Sousa game my friend - -w need them & we need them now. - Like I said it's a weird feeling right in the pit of my stomach - -I just feel something coming - Something telling me they might drop a bomb like just a couple of hours before the ISU game Tuesday - don't ask me why then - -but just do - - ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY

@kjayhawks we need some size!

Crimsonorblue22 said:

@kjayhawks we need some size!

Say it AGAIN my friend - - holler it from the top of your lungs - -get the dam NCAA to hear - -maybe they get off their as and give us our size - Tell em my friend - - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY

Even Vitale is on the #FreeBilly cause now. It would be awesome to hear something Monday so he and Silvio can get minutes against lowly Iowa State...

We all knew this would happen. I'm not surprised at all. Sorry organization and I'm sure they have some lame azz excuse. I'm telling you, they are freaking out over the now 15 game suspension. They DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO. They have to do something. I posted it's like a home inspection. They can't let this go as "time served." They are the freakin NCAA damn it. They have to find something and show their azz.

Oh and Silvio is going to be just like Enes Kanter. The only difference is, Silvio will be totally free of any professional influence. Both of these players should be pretty much REVIEW AND RULE. It's easy to do, but either they are so stupid the have no idea what they're doing, OR they are unnecessarily influencing this situation. They are only punishing the players. This is the NCAA's main role. They screw who they want, how they want, and when they want...They have it hard for KU too. BASTARDS

All I can say right now os - -WOW - - -WOW - -WOW - - WOW , ADD Michigan State to the list of ranked teams to be beaten this weekend. - - # 1 gets beat by Ohio state today by SIXTEEN points - -SIXTEEN points. - -This is going to be one really crazy NCAA tourney. - As weird as it may sound - IF we get our bigs - we are RIGHT THERE guys. - - ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY

10 ranked teams this weekend and there will be one more at least today. - -# 1 # 2 # 5 # 7 # 11 # 12 # 14 # 17 # 17 & # 22 then ew are either going to have # 15 Or # 24 - -loos like it's going to be # 24 - -how crazy is this - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY

truehawk93 said:

We all knew this would happen. I'm not surprised at all. Sorry organization and I'm sure they have some lame azz excuse. I'm telling you, they are freaking out over the now 15 game suspension. They DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO. They have to do something. I posted it's like a home inspection. They can't let this go as "time served." They are the freakin NCAA damn it. They have to find something and show their azz.

Oh and Silvio is going to be just like Enes Kanter. The only difference is, Silvio will be totally free of any professional influence. Both of these players should be pretty much REVIEW AND RULE. It's easy to do, but either they are so stupid the have no idea what they're doing, OR they are unnecessarily influencing this situation. They are only punishing the players. This is the NCAA's main role. They screw who they want, how they want, and when they want...They have it hard for KU too. BASTARDS

This is just not true.

I don't get the ragging on the NCAA - this is on KU. There has been a pattern over the past few years of recruiting and giving scholies to guys that have academic or character issues - Alexander, Diallo, Preston, De Sousa, the head cases... Recruiting guys from overseas, esp. certain countries, is going to present clearance issues - you have to know that going in and hopefully have done some diligence. And, it's not on the NCAA that Preston was driving a car of apparently uncertain or questionable provenance. And, our compliance department apparently took 2 months before we sent anything to the NCAA. Why that wasn't vetted earlier is beyond me.

I know I'm old school, but I yearn for the Collisons, Simiens, Vaughns and Hinrichs - high caliber and high character guys....

@DCHawker Silly to say deSousa has character or academic "issues" other than coming from an Afican country. He was recruited for next year and graduated early, so there is nowhere near the usual time for getting an elig determination.

I wouldn't lump De Sousa with the other three.

edit: Oh hey, @mayjay beat me to it. :grinning:

@kjayhawks With six games left, why would a player give up a year of eligibility? Or at least l wouldn't fault their decision to not play.

@mayjay The only point with re to De Sousa is that same that HCBS noted - it's much more difficult to figure out academic clearance and amateur status in situations like his - not in any way suggesting that he has academic or character issues...

Don't forget he is coming early. If he came next year as expected, likely not a peep. We knew when Diallo and Preston signed that there would likely be issues. And the rumours around Cliff were pretty brutal.

@DCHawker I was responding to you criticizing KU for recruiting him. This is coming up because of rather extensive effort on his and staff's part to enroll early. I guess we could have simply waited, let the eligibilty decision been made before the fall season as usual, and kissed off him contributing when we need a big guy.

edit: Oh hey, @bShark beat me to it. :grinning:

DCHawker said:

I don't get the ragging on the NCAA - this is on KU.

I think it's both.

Looks like someone from NCAA told Self he should hear something tomorrow afternoon.

JayHawkFanToo said:

@Jayballer54

A little help from ESPN ↗ can’t hurt...:smile:

I love it! Thank you Dukie V!

Seriously, what other school has to go through this crap as much as we do? Does the NCAA have something against us? They don't want us to win a title? Not good for biz? Not far enough east? Or is KU just more cautious than absolutely everyone else?

Why does it take Dickie V and Jay Bilas to put the pressure on?

@chriz Because they can and not get blackballed!!

@Gunman wondered how Coach found out?

@Jayballer54

I am not sure I am allowed to say this, but...

I was chosen by a high tech company that will go unnamed to be in the beta test of a new 5G "universal communicator" that is embedded subdermally in my right eye lid. 5G operates on the same frequency as the military's and the police's micro wave crowd control devices. It has this amazing capacity to be given an address and then locate the building at that address and then generate a holographic image of it in your brain, so that you can walk around the space virtually and interact with persons there as if they and you really were together. I got curious about Preston an De Sousa and the NCAA and so 5G'ed to the NCAA headquarters and walked around inside the building until I got to the conference room with the records and hard copy decision on both players. Unfortunately, as I approached the decision paper, some cyber malfunction occurred and I suddenly began to feel my skin burn and hear voices that sounded like Barbara Billingsley telling Tony Dow as Wally and Jerry Mathers as the Beave that if they didn't avoid the opioid crisis sweeping Mayfield that Ward was going to have to come give them a good talking to in their rooms. Then the pain got so intense that I had to virtually flee the room and virtually surf back to my own residence. I could not see the exact date the Preston and De Sousa would be allowed to play, but I am pretty certain that the decision has been made.

Rock Chalk!

(Note: all fiction. No malice.)

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@chriz

No, the NCAA does not have a vendetta against Kansas. I am sure there are many other programs in similar situation but we are obviously more familiar with those of KU.

Because of its high profile, KU gets perhaps more attention from the NCAA because it has to be extra careful to get it right. It is obviously not the same to get a wrong ruling against KU than it would against South East Sucotash School of Mines. Also, with the higher reward that top prospects provide, they also bring a much higher risk, as we all know. Had Preston done things by the book we would not be having this discussion. I am sure KU knows that rules were broken and some sort of punishment is forthcoming, hopefully covered by the games he has already sat.

@chriz

I am generally skeptical of the opining of any non NCAA officials about the actual motivations and intentions of the NCAA. The NCAA has a complicated and unusual role. It has to work with many diverse agendas. It struggles reputedly with insufficient resources for its many tasks. I often wonder just how clearly NCAA officials themselves could understand some of their own motivations and intentions given the complexities and constraints of the context they operate in. The chances of mere fans understanding them definitively and then communicating their allegedly definitive insight with complete coherence seems a long shot. By their actions shall ye know them, as much as possible, not by the opining of fans claiming to know their motivations and intentions. Rock Chalk!

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Self's statements tell us a couple of things.

1. The NCAA has had all requested information since prior to Christmas. The NCAA offices were closed between Christmas and New Year's, so Self saying he expected to hear something last week means they have had the information they wanted for at least three weeks now, maybe longer.

2. This is no longer about eligibility, but bureaucratic foot dragging. Self wouldn't poke a sleeping bear. But if the NCAA is delaying the formal announcement, that is wrong. Couple that with the comments from Preston's mother and it paints a clearer picture.

@JayHawkFanToo I'm not one that thinks that the NCAA has something against Kansas. I'm one that thinks we have brought on our own problems. Don't compare this to an obscure school. Compare what we have dealt with, with other power 5 schools. These situations have been created by the players we have brought in. The term "players" includes family of players.

@justanotherfan I agree with both statements. 'Clearer picture' is the problem We All struggle with. Especially in Preston's situation, what happened? We don't know the specifics and it drives us crazy because we Care.

We know Self's approach, which is to just get the facts on the table. I recalled him being irritated in the Cliff situation -- found this quote: “The bottom line is, I just wish everybody would get together, talk it out,” Self said, “If there’s a problem, deal with the problem, but don’t run from it.”

@HighEliteMajor

I agree ultimately KU- Self- is responsible for the situations they get into. Some of it could really be "bad luck". It does seem some things need to be cleaned up in regards to how we recruit, who we are recruiting, who we take a chance on. The standards seem to have gotten lazy.

@BeddieKU23 Careful ... you said Self is responsible.

Or... Does some of it actually mesh with @jaybate-1-0's theory of recruitment embargos/stacks etc. Are we forced to take chances on some guys that may or may not be cleared. Taking the best of what's left so to speak in some instances.

@cragarhawk

There is no team in college basketball that would have passed on Billy Preston, even when there were academic flags about his academics due to his school jumping. Big rewards come with big risks, most of the time it goes well and sometimes it does not. KU got top ranked players Wiggins and Jackson among others with no issues; others like Alexander and Diallo came with big red flags that eventually costed KU.

@JayHawkFanToo Come on, teams opt out of recruiting players all the time. "No teams" is wild and unfounded speculation. You don't know whether teams would pass on Preston. Coaches avoid players that aren't a fit. Beilein avoids OADs. Izzo is selective and is famous for finding guys that fit. You don't know what they knew or didn't know.

@HighEliteMajor

You can see where the NCAA would be a lot more careful reviewing an application with red flags for a top ranked recruit wanting to join an elite school with a big megaphone and the resources to contest findings than it would one from a 1 star prospect attending a small, no-name school with no resources to contest the findings, right? This is just common sense and bean counting 101 and something all business do.

I agree with you that the issue with Preston rests primarily with Preston and his family/advisors, secondarily with KU and the NCAA is a distant third with no tangible agenda to act Outside its own guidelines. In the current environment personal responsibility seems to be a forgotten component since it is now easier to blame someone else or to claim racial discrimination and get an compliant audience as it has already done, even in this forum (not by you @Jayballer54).

@DCHawker High character - 4 year - guys. Screw the one and dones, not a single one of them has helped us in ANY way.

@HighEliteMajor

Preston was a top talent that would be very difficult to pass. The main issue with him was his school changing and apparently KU did its due diligence and figured out it would be ok ant turned out to be correct. Who would have thought the issue would end up bring a car...maybe KU should have but it did not and now it is paying dearly for it.

If you recall, not too long ago many coaches, including Self, did not care for OAD but it came a time when they had to accept that it was the way the new SOP and now the recruit OAD prospects routinely. Not that long ago I used to wonder why people used texting when it was easier to just dial the number and talk; now I use texting extensively although I still don’t tweet. :smile:

Teams seem more apt to move on from guys when they aren't in the lead. That happens all the time. It's very rare for a team to actively say they are no longer interested in recruiting a guy that is 1) very talented and 2) strongly considering picking them.

I will agree that some coaches are selective about who they recruit hard. You have to be somewhat picky about how to deploy resources, even for a school with the resources of a KU, UK, Duke, UNC, etc. You can't recruit every top 25 guy out there. For instance, the only top guys from the Class of 2018 that KU is truly still pursuing are Romeo Langford and Zion Williamson - two top 5 players. If KU signs one, they will likely stop pursuing the other due to a lack of scholies, but I doubt they move away from either before an announcement is made.

On the other hand, a guy like Emmitt Williams, KU has basically moved on from. He's a PF, but with De Sousa and McCormack already in the fold, and Williamson still out there, there's no benefit to netting Williams. Same with PG Jahvon Quinerly, who isn't much different than Devon Dotson, who is already signed.

You hold out for talent. Simple as that.

@justanotherfan

KU might have moved on from both Williams (accused of sexual assault, charges later dropped) and Quinerly (mentioned in FBI case) due to their off-the-court issues. Recently Quinerly was asked about his recruitment and basically nobody is touching him because of the lack of clarity to whether he'd be eligible or not. Quinerly was supposed to visit KU in September and never did committing to Arizona before making it to campus.

@BeddieKU23

You are absolutely correct that coaches sometimes will stay away with prospects with glaring red flags. However, Preston did not have any flags of that type, the issue was with his schools changing/grades and once he got to Oak Hill Academy, a school with a good reputations, the concerns were greatly diminished and I would think every program with an available scholarship would have taken him.

nuleafjhawk said:

@DCHawker High character - 4 year - guys. Screw the one and dones, not a single one of them has helped us in ANY way.

Last year's team without Josh is very unappealing.

@JayHawkFanToo

There was also a long stretch of time where USC was the favorite for Preston because of his mother's relationship with the school. Most people thought he'd end up there. Once he ended up at Oak Hill he "opened" up his recruitment up again. At that time he was considering USC, KU, Maryland, UK.

Syracuse got involved late, even getting him on campus and Indiana wanted him. He had plenty of programs after him despite him bouncing schools. When KU missed on Ayton, Preston got a lot of attention from Self and we ultimately signed him after he visited for Late Night. Ayton was the key to how we really got Preston. If KU had signed Ayton Preston goes somewhere else.