BIG MAN U:
When were we officially given this moniker?
Who coined the phrase? Someone in the east coast media or a bored rat?
Do we deserve this title? Wilt was the best, Danny was awesome but what other big men have made the nba all star game?
Do we want this title? Maybe change to "Point Guard U" in hopes of...
Does "big man" mean 5's? Or 4's, also?
Typically centers and forwards, at least PFs, are considered bigs, although some also include SFs.
To the best of my recollection, the name was started locally after Danny Manning took an actual coaching position at the end of the 2006-2207 season and fans presumed he would coached the bigs.
Players considered bigs since then include: Arthur, Khan, Jackson, Wright, Kleinmann, Aldrich, the Morris twins, Withey, Robinson and Wesley. All except Kleinmann (and of course Wesley) have played professionally in the NBA except Khan which chose to play in Russia where he makes a lot more money.
Again, this is just my recollection and others might remember differently.
@JayHawkFanToo I remember it the same way. Danny was our founder!
@VailHawk
We actually had a board rat that used the "Fear Hawk" moniker and called himself Big Man U if I'm not mistaken. I think he used that term quite a bit in reference to Self and his bigs. Big Man U just means the number of 4/5s KU has put into the league.
There were a couple of monikers that were duped. Big Man U with Fear Hawk moniker and icthawkfan316 with toothless Cole Aldrich moniker.
I think Greg Ostertag falls into that Big Man U reference. The Jazz made back-to-back appearances in the NBA Finals in 1997 and 1998, with Ostertag providing strong defense in the playoffs against the likes of Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Tim Duncan, and Shaquille O'Neal.
No, PG U won't make much difference. We've had some good PGs.
Yes it includes your PF 4s: Arthur, DBlock, MkMorris, McMorris and TRob to name a few.
Dang...and all this time I thought he was a soccer fan of the Manchester United or Man U as it is commonly referred...:)
Georgetown used to be BigManU, Ewing, started that trend for them.
@VailHawk Here I am with my gap-toothed Cole Aldrich moniker :) Chris Shaw is the name of the poster from kusports fame that uses Big Man U with the Fear Hawk avatar.
As far as if we deserve it, I think so. I don't think that NBA success is the deciding factor here. I think a lot of it has to do with how successful we are with our big men because of Self's offense, which focuses on getting the ball to the post players. And as @JayHawkFanToo pointed out, we've gotten a significantly high percentage of our post players into the league. With the exception of Kevin Young (and Roy holdover/walk-on Christian Moody), I think every regular rotation post player under Self has played professionally.
And of course we want this title. Doesn't mean we can't be successful at developing a reputation for grooming talent at other positions.