@HawkChamp

feel free to come off the ledge. this game will get better

19-8 glad I can't watch right now

Game is taking foreverrrrr

no way this one starts on time. Still a good 11 minutes left in the Florida game

@Ralph said:

@jayballer54

Couple of days ago he said it's up in the air when I officially decide.

Elijah Elliott 2017 SG is in town

Walk on type

@jayballer54

Having the same dream. Can't imagine if he visits and leaves that place not wanting to play there.

@jayballer54

Thank you! Sounds like Trae will be able to make the game.

Interesting we have both KU guys on board with Trae now. Seems inevitable

@BShark

Well put, Bagley is a man among kids out there. Still wonder if he will even go to College.

I need to see Oturu more but was his/or the staff's interest tied to Hurt?

I still think McCormack & Emmitt Williams are others the staff should be on.

@jayballer54

When is the storm coming in for those that don't live in the KU area? Any local news reporting the time-line or likely hood of the game being canceled?

@BShark

It would seem that we have to survive 2018.

Sherfield if he did re-classify would be a home-run. First we must find out what Young does so we know whether 2018 we even need a PG. I'd feel really confident going forward with Young/Garrett.

Grimes seems like a must have for 2018 and obviously quality bigs (wherever those may be).

I want to see us get a big center like Doke.

@jaybate-1.0

Shaka has recruited Coleman for a while, it sounds like they have a strong relationship

Duke is involved and they were kind of late to his recruitment and were once thought to be the favorite for him. The timing of the announcement and Duke's sudden interest in Trevon Duval makes it seem likely its Texas.

At Texas there is literally no one for him to compete with for the spot. At Duke he'll get over-recruited like Thornton did.

@joeloveshawks

If Devonte were to come back then the recruitment of Trae Young is luxury over necessity.

KU fans seem to be divided on what they think Graham is going to do. Why has Self continued to recruit Trae Young with such earnest if Graham was coming back? I think Self knows barring an injury he's going to head to the pro's. The staff has been contingency planning for this since the summer.

This is the same situation we were in last year with Wayne Selden and Josh Jackson. Selden was gone and told the staff such but we all sat here and debated whether he should go or not. Then we signed the #1 player and SF in the class. Fast forward and Graham who's likely said the same thing, we're debating whether he's good enough to leave while putting the full court recruiting press on the #3 Point Guard in the class.

Newman is not a pure point guard- he's a scorer. He averaged 2 assists as a freshman and his Assist/TO ratio was 1.1 (barely above negative).

Vick is not even the discussion for playing PG. He has a negative assist to turnover ratio in 400 minutes of playing.

For Reference Grahams Assist/TO ration is 3.08 and Mason's is 2.30.

Lastly I liked your AP reference. I hope Young decides to join KU and win games for us. The consensus seems to be that he wants to play for a team that will compete for championships.

We'll probably get Oklahoma St's best game just because they don't want to fall to 0-5 in league play.

There is absolutely no way this team should lose to them but I expect OSU will score and keep the game up-tempo which should be to KU's advantage. We have to keep Evans out of the lane and off the FT line and force bad shots from Carroll/Forte.

@wissox

This team would be a hot mess without Jackson. We see how much it effects the team when he's sitting on the bench with fouls. He's not a great shooter and his #'s will never support him being a true POY contender but I do think he is the glue keeping this team together. Never thought it would be possible for an OAD to be so vital to success under Self but that's what Jackson is to this team.

Some Chatter from Trae's HS coach that he will be here to see the game in Allen on Saturday against Oklahoma St.

He's considering both schools so this is important that KU shows well at home.

All the recent visits to see him play and Trae coming in for an possible unofficial point very favorably in KU's direction.

@Jayrawks1

Well said! Embiid is fun to watch and he's made a city remember basketball again.

@DoubleDD

Thanks, both of these guys are superstars and the face of the program in the NBA.

The equalizer for Embiid if he stays healthy is that at his size he might be the most unique player in the league. And he has the type of character that usually translates to NBA stardom.

Wiggins is still a quiet dude and we've yet to see him transform from that still. I always watch highlights of every Wiggins game and he is more outspoken then he was as a rookie but I'm still waiting for him to take the leadership role on that young Timberwolves team.

@JayHawkFanToo

No doubt the Big-12 has better PG's and I'm not a fan of Trimble at all.

The reason I'm giving him some praise for POY is because Maryland is far surpassing expectations in my mind. They lost everything but Trimble and they are 15-2 and 3-1 in league play. We all know Turgeon is a quality coach and he's getting contributions from his freshman and they are winning. Now of course if you dig a little deeper you will find Maryland hasn't played a single ranked team at the time of playing them and their best wins to date are Kansas St and Indiana. Trimble is scoring but he's not really a distributor on this team as they are using Cowan as the main PG. Seems to be working so far. I expect once the heart of their schedule gets here that Trimble we will see just how good Trimble is

@BShark

Weak is probably an understatement right now. Just as weird is the lack of interest in KU from any in the top 20. I know things are going to change because there is going to be a lot of potential roster movement over the next year. Self will likely be selling starting spots and that will be attractive to some of these kids.

I really hope Self pushes for early commits out of Grimes and either Dotson/Oturu if that is the guys he targets over the summer. I'm sure he'll shadow Quickley, Langford, Williams. I would love for him to get David McCormack who is a guy that if he hit the Hudy weight room for a summer would become a beast. Emmitt Williams is a guy who's intriguing but I don't know if KU has been interested in him yet.

Help is on the way, Texas is the heavy favorite to land Matt Coleman, Top 30 PG and teammate of Billy Preston. He'll bring stability to the position which they haven't had all year.

@HawkChamp

yes

Huge blow for Texas.

Leading scorer, best 3 point shooter, leads the team in minutes.

Texas only averages 70 a game, now short their 14.8 points per game scorer.

Sorry Shaka, I don't feel bad for you

Chris Smith checked in at #90 on the re-classify

@BShark

Saw some possible KU targets make the top 150.

24 Grimes

34 Dotson

76 Oturu

112 Fitzmorris

Weird class to date. KU likely only has a chance with 1 top 10 player (Langford) and he's a longshot right now..

@wissox

I hate the unbalanced schedules and you're right, its robbing the league of what would be a huge game

I would say Embiid just from what I've seen already. At his size he's just an unbelievable athlete. His shooting ability from anywhere on the floor is something we never really saw at KU. He's got touch like an All-Star guard. Imagine him on a good team, its crazy to think about actually.

Wiggins is still really young (21) and boy can he score the basketball. If 2 things happen Wiggins has the chance to become one of the best 20 players in the league.

1st he has to continue to become a better 3 point shooter. He's made strides this year but a lot of his attempts are wide open because teams don't respect his shot. Still 35% is respectable and a step in the right direction.

2nd he has to become a more rounded player- rebounding and assists numbers are below average for the type of player he is. NBA scouts were worried that he'd have trouble scoring and that he'd be an elite level defender. Well he's scoring plenty 23rd in the league per game but his defense hasn't been as good as he showed at KU. Sometimes his stat lines in games look like he only came to play offense. For his size and athletic ability he should be a better rebounder.

Whatever the case KU has 2 really good NBA players for future kids to look up to. At some point KU will benefit down the road in recruiting from it.

@BShark

Excellent post, couldn't agree more.

That's the thing with Preston, he's talented enough to start as a freshman and go lottery in the draft because he can simply do things other guys at 6'10 can't even dream about. But will he be a team player and take hard nosed coaching.

It makes it even more interesting that Preston chose KU to play for a guy that will push him to the max everyday. Maybe that says something about how Preston wants to be treated at the next level as opposed to being given everything. Jackson choose KU in part because he knew Self wouldn't hand him anything, he had to earn it. Will be an interesting dynamic with Newman who I feel is a similar minded player.

Garrett is a really interesting player. The lack of AAU exposure can be a gift and curse. I think he's a high character kid that will be one of Self's favorite players. And his versatility to play multiple positions is going to be exciting. I hope we get 3 years out of him because the NBA will be very intrigued with his size for the PG/SG position.

@wissox

I'm jealous he's on Wisconsin. Amazing that he took a red-shirt but that was the Bo Ryan way. He's a rare post scorer, really knows angle's and his footwork is obviously really good.

I had Happ higher until Swanigan started putting up absurd double double numbers and has Purdue playing good basketball. Monk with his monster game against UNC + averaging over 20 points as a freshman is pretty remarkable so he cracks the top 5 for me.

@BShark

Interesting Preston is that high, honestly I think Young is a better player overall. Nice to see Garrett get a nice bump.

@Crimsonorblue22

I wonder if the students will start wearing T-Shirts with that. Or are they already? Can't hurt when we play every home game on ESPN to have the student section repping him for POY

@wissox

Hart probably has been getting more attention because he plays on the defending national champions and he has the East Coast media to back him up.

Are numbers all that decide who's having the better year though?

We are not talking a big difference in scoring average between the two and the only other category Frank has an advantage in besides 3pt% is assists which he should be because he has the ball more. Hart has been the leader because he had big early season games against Purdue, Wake Forest, and Notre Dame. The ND & Depaul games especially were games he singe-handily won.

Frank did have the early defining moment of the year when he hit the game winner against Duke. He's now coming on even stronger averaging close to 23 a game in conference play while Hart is at 19 a game. I think Hart had it locked up early but now Mason is starting to get more and more momentum (and publicity) as we hit the middle of the season. If Frank continues this pace he's going to surpass Hart as the leader.

Honestly I don't think I could choose which one is more important to their team right now without knowing how the season ends. Both teams are playing with short benches and relying so much on their Senior Leaders every game. Villanova might not even be a Top 20 team without Hart, he's the clear cut "guy" on that team. I could also argue we'd be lost without Mason because we would be, but some may argue that with Devonte & Josh on the team we'd still be pretty good.

It's great to have a Hawk possibly winning POY especially when KU is known for balance and not having guys that score 20 a game. It would be an amazing accomplishment for a guy that was supposed to be playing at Towson ( I know I sound like Fran) bringing up the Towson story but how remarkable would this be.

Here is how I see the POY battle so far

1. A. Frank Mason, 1 B. Josh Hart

2. Lonzo Ball

3. Luke Kennard

4. Caleb Swanigan

5. Malik Monk

6. Ethan Happ

7. Justin Jackson

8. Melo Trimble

9. TJ Leaf

@BShark

Me too, he may be the most important recruit in years

Matt Scott reporting that Snacks will not be visiting KJ Fitzgerald.

@HawkChamp

I agree UNC has not been the same since Maui. Getting back Pinson is big for them and when he gets comfortable in their rotation they could possibly get back to that level.

For KU, I don't think we've had a game where we could say start to finish great 40 minutes. Hasn't happened yet in my opinion. That's either a good thing, to be 15-1 and still haven't even played our best basketball yet or the inconsistencies from half to half are going to start catching up with this team. Will be interesting to monitor over the next few weeks when the heart of the schedule is here and this team is forced to find its true identity.

@jayballer54

Once you get a reputation for challenging ref's that sticks with them. I'm sure these guys are aware of that when they get ready to do the game. It's not fair and yes it's crap.

@jayballer54

Nothing would surprise me when the year is over. We saw Diallo leave, we saw Selden leave, we saw Greene leave (either on his own or by the coaches wishes) so Carlton leaving for whatever reason it may be is not a far-fetched idea.

Looking at this from the outside-in Carlton had a good off-season, starting showing up on mock drafts in the 1st round and all the talk was that he improved his game and would replace Perry Ellis. Then he comes into the season and is immediately struggling. Then he has the off-the-court issue that put his name in a negative light. Now he's the 7th man in our rotation backing up Lucas or filling in for Jackson when he's in foul trouble. And instead of the always smiling kid we saw last year, we've seen obvious situations of frustration.

So if your Carlton do you persevere? Do you get away from it all and get a fresh start somewhere? Do you take the rest of this season to turn it around and show your coach and fans that KU is your home and future? He's not getting drafted this year so his choices are stay and flip the script next year, or find a fresh start with a coach that may cater to his skill set. I hope he stays, another off-season fine tuning his body and working on his low post moves would give him the best chance to fulfill all the lofty expectations people have had of him since High School.

Not surprised ISU pulled this one out. Oklahoma St is a young team that doesn't play defense. We should have fun with them Saturday

@Crimsonorblue22

He's cooled off from his scorching beginning of the year. Still a very good player

@justanotherfan

Lots of informative and detail there.

Jackson's fouls are the biggest worry imo to this team's success. Our entire team went stagnant with him on the bench saddled with 2 fouls in the OU game. We've seen this time and time again that Jackson can single-handily change the complexion of momentum (positive or negative).

@drgnslayr

I don't see Bragg going anywhere either. We can never feel 100% confident with anyone with how today's culture is and the rate of transfers. That's why I mentioned the way his season is currently going he fits the description of someone who might not be here next year. I hope Bragg continues to trust the process and continues to grind away at helping this team win games this year. I think most of this fan-base expected great things from him and its hard to see him not fulfilling those lofty expectations at the moment.

Bragg just needs 1 breakout game to change things up. I feel like he's the one guy that needs a breakout game to change his season. We know he can do it.

@HawkChamp

There isn't anyone in the Top 100 that fits the 6'10 range your describing that is available or we are recruiting. We missed the boat on several guys going after Ayton.

The good thing is its early, spring time brings coaching chances and recruits look elsewhere. There will probably be a record number of transfers again this spring. We might be able to find a Veteran Big to bring in and use for a year. The international scene is always an option as well.

I think the staff is confident Billy Preston at 6'10 will be on campus and he'll push Bragg for that starting spot next year at the 4. That's two 6'10 guys we'll have to play.

We'll have 5 bigs on the team if everyone is back and makes it to campus. Going to be hard to get a top player to come here and become #6.

@jayballer54

Yes we are recruiting him. We offered him last year when he was a Soph and wasn't expected to graduate early. A lot of schools are showing interest to him right now since his announcement. I expect that we'll be fighting UK and others for him.

@HawkChamp said:

@BeddieKU23 thanks

Just to clarify he doesn't have a game like Perry, just similar size. He's more athletic and perimeter oriented, probably a big guard like Jackson and Svi

@HawkChamp

6"7 6"8 think Perry Ellis. Hybrid forward type. Long and lean he can shoot it well on the perimeter. Decent handles. A lot of upside on this one. Attends same school that Wiggins went too

@HawkChamp

Carter mostly he averages 3 steals a game, or Miles. They are super quick. Phillip is bigger but is a pest.

@drgnslayr

The West Virginia game should be to KU's tempo advantage then?

Unless we patty cake the ball up the floor.

West Virginia thrives at making teams play fast, play scared. I think as you pointed out KU likes the frenetic pace of games. Mason, Graham, JJ and company like getting up and down the floor. It will be interesting to see if we can point out during the game how the tempo is being controlled and who's controlling it.

@wissox

I laughed at that Frank play as well, he definitely tackled him and they gave us the ball.

There was a lot of clear misses on both ends.

Lucas got a block in the 2nd half and was charged with a foul. Fran and company talked about the 65 rule variations with verticality and going straight up which Lucas did all of the above and still was called for the foul. Sometimes rules just get made up as they go, sometimes they get followed optionally depending on the crew. We had higgins last night so it was bound to be a laugher!

@HawkChamp

It will be interesting as only 4 out of our 7 man rotation has any real game experience against this press.

Bragg played 17 minutes in the 3 games last season combined

Vick is an easy target in this game unless he brings it.

Jackson I feel will do okay because he handles the ball well but he has to watch his fouls and drives to the hoops because West Virginia flops a lot and this is a team that could get under his skin easily.

It's going to be a heck of a week when we go to Morgantown. Remember we play Kentucky the same week as well.

I'm sure West Virginia has already hand picked their ref's for this matchup. We've seen this game called every year in the poorest fashion imaginable.

Much like our guard play is our strength, West Virginia's guard play is their strength. Carter & Miles are pests. Phillip & Myers provide solid depth when they go to the 2nd unit. Ahmad is quietly their leading scorer and Adrian besides Frank Mason is easily the most improved player in the conference. Their depth might be the equalizer in Morgantown.

We will have to match their intensity on defense, they live on spreading the floor, creating driving lanes for guards and making 3's on kickouts. We have struggled defending all the above..

The advantage for KU is that West Virginia is going to have to prove that they are significantly the better defensive team that night. KU has only scored under 80 points 3 times all season. We are a nightmare for defenses. It's why the defensive struggles to me sometimes are just a wash because literally no one has really slowed this team down. We had 27 points at halftime last night and ended up with 81. Crazy!