🏀 KuBuckets Archive

@JhawkAlum

We sign as many as we can get. This class of kids is very good with a few potential great players in it. I say we sign a wing (Brown) and another big (Diallo or Zimmerman). Dorsey would be back-court insurance for any departures. A great combo guard who will be around a few years.

Jaylen Brown is a bit like Andrew Wiggins, off the charts athleticism, can shoot and can be a very good defender. If he wants to come to KU, move over Greene and Svi. I'm sorry you can't let a talent like him go. We haven't seen Greene put 2 good games in a row together at any point in his career. How can you feel confident that he will ever be consistent. I know Self and most are extremely high on Svi but the fact of the matter is even next year he's still a College Freshman by age. Will we see a big jump is his game next year, or is his ceiling still 3-4 years from now? If we are in the "now" stage, you try and sign Brown. He's got a college ready body, and game to match similar to a Stanley Johnson at Zona.

Diallo is offensively a few years away from consistent production. He's got an unmatched motor for a big man, putback specialist, best rim protector in the class. He's the kind of guy who will really be good Sophomore/Junior year. A perfect recruit for Self to develop.

Zimmerman has a skillset that is 1 and done for his size. Not your prototypical 5 man in that he is a great passer, can handle the ball some and shoot out to the 3 point line.

Any of these guys can be potential upgrades at their position to what we currently have and they aren't OAD's except Brown.

It was a great 24 hrs to be a Jayhawk fan. Tuff win at Baylor, 5 star recruit signs the next day. Maybe more to come in the next few months. Self said his #1 priority was signing a Big and he got it.

I have said since the summer Bragg and Diallo would be the perfect 2 bigs for KU. Both unfinished athletic freaks who bring vastly different skill sets. We've got 1 and I'm still hoping that we get the other. I think its important that we get 2 because next year we have Ellis, Traylor, & Hunter all Seniors.
We will need to sign at least 2 this year to have enough already in the program to get more in the next class. The 16 class has some good bigs available as well.

The situation with Newman won't be settled for a while. Everyone thinks he ends up at Kentucky but the fact is nobody knows what their roster will look like. They have signed Briscoe 5star, and Matthews 4star guards. The twins aren't on any first round or even top 10 at their position. Why would they leave for non-guarenteed deals. Booker and Ulis are on the NBA radar but its not like they are projected lottery or anything. Kentucky could have a very crowded situation.

To me KU has a much better shot than UK does at this point. I also think that he will go where the playing time is so unless Selden suddenly gets 100% better its not likely his spot will be open. The kid is a scoring machine and the other schools he likes are probably likelier to get him than crowded back-courts.

I like our chances with Jaylen Brown more. I think he will see how much better Kelly is playing now and want to become the latest 1 and done wing to hit KU.

Ingram to me still doesn't leave the state of North Carolina. He wants to go to UNC, he could go to Duke with Winslow a top 10 pick. Maybe I'm wrong and underestimating this package deal but we've seen them fall apart before.

I'll be surprised if this isn't a 15-20 point game.

Tech will try and stay in games at home but on the road especially Allen Fieldhouse they have no chance. Playing a bunch of freshman first time in the our gym will be frightening to them. We could go on one of those 10-0 runs in the first few minutes like we sometimes do at home. It will be a good game for some of our youngsters. Home opener will be rockin.

@benshawks08

the other was assists with 19. I believe was a season high and had been a season long struggle for this team. We lost basically every other stat that matters but still got the W. It was a tuff game, both defenses gave it their all.

@nuleafjhawk

I think we take the W and move on. Road wins are a premium in this league and getting 1 will bode well for the others we will play. Can we play this poorly on offense and expect to win the other 8, probably not. Our Defense was very good last night and kept us in the game.

We missed 20 shots first half, always a recipe for a halftime deficit. We made what 62% 2nd half after adjustments. A lot of easier rim shots which we can credit Self for finally getting to the weakness in their zone. They packed their zone in and dared us to shoot 3's. We did that poorly for most of the game.

The ref's put their whistles away and let em play a really physical game. In 2 possessions in the first half that kid Medford should have fouled out. Arm bars, wallet checks, holds galore. Every Charge call (both ways) was a terrible call. Traylor got one the guy flopped. Traylor stepped in on Motley's huge dunk. Frank got called for going up for a layup and getting undercutted. The only one they got right was Chery forearming Mason.

Saturday we get the easiest game of the season followed by the Wussies from Oklahoma St. Hopefully a 3-0 start going into Ames next week.

@KUSTEVE

Agreed, the real Ellis needs get transported to Allen Fieldhouse. But this is the Ellis that comes and goes. It's maddening, the summer reports left us thinking he could take over the team. The same issues plague him, he's good when he wants to be and not when things don't go his way. He missed easy jumpers and didn't rebound a lick. Hopefully saturday he brings it.

Alexander is still a work in progress, really got bullied for rebounds out there but without his dunks we wouldn't have won. Mari starts because he brings it more consistently. Nothing wrong with having Cliff earn his keep. If we can bottle Mari's effort to every conference game we are going to do pretty well going forward

I'll start with this quote "A Win is a Win".

If the next 17 conference games play out like this I think all of Jayhawk Nation is going to have a few less hairs. What an effort, toughness, grit, and some good ol' luck helped us get the first W and more importantly +1 road win.

I don't want to be overly opinionated about one game, yes I'm calling out the (ESPN article) because it would take away from the win. We shot poor, our offense looked stagnant for huge chunks, and we were at a severe disadvantage with the Ref's and we still won.

As many have said defense in conference play is something we could hang our hats on and we did play well. Besides letting Chery make everything and Gathers doing his thang on the offensive glass we were very effective on D. They shot 34% from the field, without their 8 3's we left them with 10 made baskets. Chery had a career night at home, I bet he gets 5 in Allen.

Who was the MVP last night? You could go a lot of ways but I thought it was Mari for his play that kept us in both halves. He was the victim of some biased officiating but his energy and timely baskets were awesome to see from him. Selden was heroic late, I thought he was lethargic on Defense and trying to gun line drive passes all night but his jumper, 3 pointer, and drive to the hoop saved our Butts. Where was that the first 38 minutes man!!! Glad he had some shots fall at the opportune time.

Mason was tuff as nails, fouled countless times driving I was impressed that he was in a dogfight with Chery in the 2nd half and he wouldn't budge. I'll take him anyday at PG he's our leader.

Greene came up huge, timely baskets, so-so defense played with Energy. 2 huge FT's, he could go the whole season 100%.

Ellis Ellis Ellis. Man o man when he disappears he really disappears. Shot wasn't falling, I saw him put no effort into some rebounds that I'm sure film will really tear him a new one for. He's still a player that can't let the last play go, he shuts down instead of trying to keep attacking and playing aggressive. What do we do with him sometimes?

Oubre had the great play to give us the ball back their. What instincts he has on defense for poking balls lose and getting deflections. Those are things at the next level that coaches will love about him. Missed a lot of open shots which I was upset about but I'll take his effort on defense.

Great win guys!! We are in a dogfight for the next 2 months

Sounds like Vegas wants KU to lose the Big 12 as well. Clearly shows how much people are discrediting us. I don't think it will be an easy game. Baylor plays zone, they have length at most positions and they've played out of their mind sometimes at home against us. It's also Isiah Austin night so who knows what effect that might have on the atmosphere. I'm sure they don't want to go 0-2 in the Big 12 so hopefully Self gets these kids to understand just how truly important it is to come out punching.

I'm predicting we win, we've played pretty well against the zone this year. Hopefully we get the outside shots to go in, swing the ball well and don't play stagnant offense.

Defensively rebound and limit Prince from draining 3's are the keys I believe. They don't have a go-to player although lately Motley their Forward has come on strong like Oubre.

Make 8-9 3's, win the rebound margin, and play aggressive from the tip. Predicting 68-62 score.

@JayHawkFanToo

Absolutely 100 coaches would pick Self. He's a Hall of Famer, he's only enhanced the brand at KU, brought a NC, 10 straight championships the accolades are endless. Definitely the last 5 years still favor Self by a long shot. We are spoiled to have him.

Baylor has done well and I'm not sure where the program would be if he wasn't their coach. He's built his own brand in his own way, he's recruiting at a high level. Baylor had nothing before he came and corrected the ship. It's good for Big 12 basketball that they are consistently doing okay.

@JayHawkFanToo

What do the #'s looks like in the past 5 years?
The numbers are misleading because when Drew came to Baylor it was utter chaos. The team was in the cellar ever year so it took him a bunch of years to build them up. He must get credit for getting them where they are now. I'm not defending them in anyway saying Drew has done a better job but Self came into a program that was already elite and in a completely different situation. Drew had to rebuild from nothing.

@JayHawkFanToo

As I'll say again, when KU plays them it will be their holy grail. Take down goliath type game. It's been that way since Hoiberg arrived, the atmosphere for that game will be different than any they will play at home the rest of the season. Add in the fact its the primetime game that night and our Guys will have to put together a complete game to win.

It's just like Kentucky with Ole Miss last night. Teams are going to try and knock them down because of their undefeated record. I'm sure it won't be the last close game they have because of it. It's the beauty of College Ball

@joeloveshawks

My reasoning is 2 fold. Oubre is the 2nd rated SF right now and that's really only scratching the surface of what he's doing now. Was avg less than 3 pts per game, now up to 7 and climbing. Rebounds extremely well with 2 double doubles already since starting. Ellis has 3 double doubles total for perspective. Scouts love his size, athleticism and potential to keep getting better as he gets older. All he's doing is cementing his stock by playing well. He keeps it going in conference play he'll be lottery.

With Cliff, here's where I'm thinking. His stock has slid from top 10 to mid/late first round. Scouts see an unpolished post player who could be great once he gets better. He's not starting so his numbers could be affecting by the less minutes. He could be starting and learning on the fly, or as Self is doing trying to make him earn that spot to the point of no return. Cliff has also been asked to play out of position because of Ellis. Next year will be the same thing if he stayed Why would he stay if he's still a first round pick when he can get paid to get better.

Now the recruiting aspect with Cliff. If Bragg commits tomm then that makes 5 potential bigs for next year. Then you still have the Diallo/Zimmerman/Maker/Rabb sweepstakes up for grabs. Say Zimm or Maker commits which are true Centers with size now your competing against bigger and talented players. I didn't say more talented just equal talent level players potentially coming in. The writing is on the wall starting tomm with potentially Bragg that Cliff will only be here one year.

We do match-up better in terms of we don't have a 7 footer they can drag away from the basket. The problem is none of our front-court is especially good at guarding the perimeter. We will need our absolute best to win there

We realistically should be signing 4, expecting Oubre & Cliff to leave. We have to assume 1 transfer as well. If that happens we would have 5 spots open. That could play into the Bragg, Ingram, Brown, Newman sweepstakes.

I wouldn't say guards are our top priority right now but that can change. If we land Dorsey that would be great because its insurance for anyone leaving, perfect combo guard to bring in. I read that he was a lean for KU but it seems to be up in the air with us and Cal. Cal having a good year doesn't help in the regard, Especially with their guard Wallace on draft boards now.

Ingram doesn't fit a need. Brown would be over the top. No matter who's still around if he commits he's dynamite and taking someone's spot. Athleticism is off the charts for that kid. He's another 1 and done wing but we can't pass up on that one.

We need clear upgrades for Lucas & Mickelson at this point. Bragg would be the first prize, getting Diallo or Zimmerman the next. Plus with Ellis, Traylor, Mickelson Seniors next year its time to get guys in the system. Cliff is as good as gone, Oubre too.

Hard to see Newman at Kentucky right now with Briscoe & Matthews already signed. The Harrison Twins aren't high on any draft boards right now, Booker & Ulis are getting looks but neither is guranteed a high spot at this moment. Can't see him wanting to join a loaded backcourt but that will all play out before he signs anyway.

Self has positioned himself for a great class, he just needs one domino to fall to start collecting. Bragg is the crucial first commit and then the rest will fall into place by the end of the year.

As if we needed another reason for this road game to be important ESPN has made it the gameday game. Place will be amped even more, over under on 3's State attempts at 30. Hopefully we can make their kids cry again. Self better show that Elijah tape a few times that week.

We've been pretty good against the zone this year. Will that carry over against Baylor who has a bunch of 6'7-6'8 guys. I think the keys to winning will be forcing turnovers to transition points, or secondary break and catch their zone napping. Defensively to limit Prince from shooting 3's, making 53% on the year. Their post Motley has come on strong lately and is blocking a good % of shots. They rebound well so it will be key if we have to shoot a lot of Trey's to get the offensive boards. Basicaly we just need to bring it and show right off the bat we mean business.

When this team makes shots they are pretty good huh? First half we missed so many easy shots that the writing was on the wall for an upset. But Self lit into them at halftime, Mari came out with that high flying dunk in your face and off the team went.

I like how we set up shots from 3, tells you Self is paying attention to his strengths. He's never going to abandon trying to get the easy shot but the %'s clearly say we can make more 3's than we are taking. Easily a team that could make 10+ a game.

First time all year I thought Ellis finally understood that he couldn't just throw it up and score. He was methodical about it. Used pump fakes and angles well, they even ran some outside sets for him and you could tell their bigs didn't want to guard him out there.

Oubre has clearly become our missing piece. His rebounding is excellent and he doesn't force anything. So impressed with his improvement this past month. Cliff can be the other piece and he did well yesterday. Would like to see him use his right hand more on his moves because he had about 3-4 rim out left handed.

I like the playing fast, the transition & secondary break plays we had. This type of play fits this team and Self realizes he needs to steal points where the strengths are.

Heading into Conference play its Obvious Mason, Selden, Oubre, Ellis, & Traylor starting. 6th man Cliff. 7th & 8th is Svi or Greene depending on play. Graham would be the first guard if he can get healthy soon. His dynamic to the team is surely needed. Lucas & Mickelson is going to be by game unfortunately. I don't think we missed anything having them on the bench yesterday.

I think more than anything kids like the Nike Brand better. I don't think it will ever change, its been ingrained in our culture. Addidas has tried with the funky colored jersey's to sway brand recognition their way but no matter what happens they are not going to win.

On an individual basis with recruits, Blakeney is the first real blown up story about a recruit maybe being influenced on this. I'm sure its happened before without much pub, but because he's a top 20 kid its gotten the notice of people. Recruiting wasn't the same even 5 years ago and maybe this happened a lot behind the scenes.

Do you think shoe companies try and influence things on the AAU level, HS school level, maybe even before that yes I do. If you grow up on Nike and you go to a school with Addidas or Under Armor etc. it makes a difference to kids. It would basically take kids being undercover whistleblowers to find out exactly what might happen.

FYI 3 recruiting people on 247 sports predicted Bragg to KU since his announcement today. 2 of them just happen to be Kentucky recruiting insiders. good news??

@Crimsonorblue22

Wiggins wasn't a UK lean or anything. I think most predicted either Florida St where his parents went or UK just cause it was UK. I didn't realize Oubre considered Kentucky. I just firmly remember him always favoring KU in the process.

Bragg has been squarely in the mix for both KU, UK. He's said our system fits him better but also liked what Calipari does because basically what teenager doesn't. It's basically Julius Randle situation all over. We lose this one and it puts even more pressure to land Diallo, Zimmerman or whatever else. We don't want this guy going to Cal.

4 loses will be about right. As tough as the league is anything less can be considered a great conference season.

We will learn a lot about this team starting January 17th-24th. @ Iowa St which sounds like its going to be the Gameday game. Either that or WVU vs Texas. Then 2 days after on big monday against Oklahoma, then Saturday @ Texas. It's the toughest stretch for any team in the conference so its bigtime that week. If we take care of business before hand a 4-0 start going into that week would be crucial. We better bring it wednesday against Baylor to start though.

I'll take the win, although if this was a road game, I'm not sure our shooting turns around the way it did. We shot classically like a team that would lose after that first half. When your at home and have that kind of crowd behind you its hard not to turn it around.

I thought other than giving up timely 3's our defense was stellar and really bothered Vaughn and Wood from impacting the game the way they had been.

Selden for all the talking we've done on him had a pretty nice game. I will say 1 game don't make a season.

His floor skimming to save a ball and saving another from going out of bounds are exactly the plays we need from him. His early shooting was great, where was he for the next 15-20 minutes was beyond me. We need more 16 pt efforts and not the 7-8 pts a game we were getting.

Mari is so maddening. Some nice energy plays mixed with some momentum busting turnovers or bad passes. Still don't like him taking jumpers, not his game. Love the energy he had especially that dunk to start the 2nd half it seemed to become contagious.

What more can you say about Mason. Just hope his ankle doesn't become more of a problem because he fell a few times where he looked hobbled. 7 Assists and 18 big points have him squarely at team MVP so far. That dude could have ended up at Towson!!! So glad we have him.

Let's get ready for Wednesday. Going to need huge effort as Baylor isn't playing for 0-2 start I can tell you that. The energy and shot making will have to be there to start conference play off right

@Hawk8086

Jerry Meyer of 247 sports who currently has Bragg picking Kansas says that he could switch his pick to UK in the coming days before his announcement. I'm not sure there is any concrete inside information we will find out before Thursday but if all rumors and trends point that way then its probably true. When's the last time we won a major recruiting battle against them? Henry? We lose more than we win against UK and the hype around the platoon is real, not a fad

Sounds like he's headed to calipari. I wish it and hope its not true

@joeloveshawks

The problem with ISU is that they dont shoot 1 for 18 when they play KU. Its a whole different ball game when they play us and we can expect them to shoot lights out ala big 12 tournament last yr. We actually matchup better with them better on defense because of our limited size. But we are historically a poor 3pt defense team and haven't been stellar so far this year.

OU is good, Baylor doesn't have that go to guy so they rely on the team aspect to win games.

WVU still shocks me although I didn't think they would lose yesterday. TCU played them tuff.

@Lulufulu

We need more size Bragg is a good start, he's also good friends with other recruits and that could bring many more riches to KU. He's a great offensive talent more like a Arthur type who just has to learn how to play hard every play. Its a big big announcement we cannot afford to lose this one, Self has heavily recruited him

Does seem like a big line. We are at home though and the rebels haven't played great on the road. Ill take a 13 pt victory as long as the individual performances we see today are incouraging

As far as I believe KU was the only school he officially visited, has to be a good chance that we land him as we've been at all his recent games. Illinois and UK his other finalists.

What do ya think, the first domino to fall for our 15 recruiting class?

@Crimsonorblue22

You are right, and I'm sure it won't stop this year. Not a fan of Forte, feels like Nash has been their forever and both of these guys give us fits every year.

Wayne is certainly an enigma. We all thought he would improve significantly with improved health, the Soph rise most top 25 kids usually make after the first year.

We've yet to see it, his shooting is the biggest culprit of regressing. Was it wise to change his shooting stroke in the off-season? Some games he's been red hot (Florida) and he's hit big 3's in others but his close range game has been lacking. The missed dunks are momentum deflating instead of highlight reels.

His passing is very good and I think his defense has been fine. We've seen him lock up people but also have lapses. Could he be over-thinking everything trying to be the leader? Whatever it is we know he's a better player than he's shown. We know that games like Florida are not just him catching fire. He's got this in him and he's just got to get himself to make positive plays consistently.

With Oubre's emergence I think that could really take some pressure off him. Devonte would take even more off him. Both of these players could really help him get back on the ship.

I've been a huge fan of his, I've been the most critical of him because of it. I wish his shooting %'s weren't as bad as they show. Right now he doesn't deserve 30 minutes but nobody else can fill his role and be trusted. We just have to ride with him until he turns it around

@MoonwalkMafia

Interesting post, you have your own opinion although I can't say that I agree with some of it.

If Embiid would have stayed another year he would have been that person to carry some tradition over. He had that swagger and personality that so many before him have had. It doesn't matter with him anyway as he would have missed his Soph. year anyway being hurt. The thing with Traylor is he's not a starter, he's probably never going to be so his impact will never be that of the past greats you've listed.

Tharpe being gone is the best thing for this program. Mason has what your referring to, and he's a far better player than Tharpe ever was for us. Wait til Frank is a senior and leading this team like Collins did.

Don't give up on Ellis yet either. He's got a chance to finish in the top 10 in scoring in the history of KU. The criticism on him is justified, he may never be the player a lot of fans want him to be. It will be nice to have a Sr starter next year though. That is important and can't ever be unappreciated. He's not a vocal leader, maybe it will take becoming a Sr for him to realize his importance to a young team.

The coaching aspect, its hard to replace Manning and Dooley. Actually probably darn right impossible when those guys took Head Coaching gigs. You have to give Howard time to become the assistant Self thinks he can be. Without him we don't get Alexander and he still has a chance to help this team reach its potential. Dooley & Danny were ingrained in this program, Howard hasn't had that chance yet.

@joeloveshawks

I agree with that statement although the home game will be tuff as well. Them and Iowa St are the only conference teams that have played KU hard in Allen. We will have to bring our big boy pants inside against Texas in both games. They are just so much bigger.

@Lulufulu

Not a lot. Wigs was covered by Rudy Gay most of the game and Wigs tore him up. Wiggins over 20 pts in 4 of last 5

@justanotherfan

You are right about the perception of KU and its geographic limitations. Self often points out that KU is always recruting on other peoples turfs because the in-state talent is usually sub-par. I thought Conner would pan out, Ellis will have a good career before he's gone. He's got a chance for top 10 scorer in history. But that talent isn't every year so that's why Self has used tuff non-conference schedules to attract talent all over the country.

@jaybate 1.0

Not sure we have a single commodity that will take it to the next step. What about bringing Paul Pierce in, let him play in the scrimmage with the kids. Bring Andrew Wiggins in, or the Morris Twins. Or assembling the 08 team for a celebration. Those are what I got off the top of my head. I know Aaron Rodgers likes to go to games, plenty of actors make their way too.

I do wish we had Nike back. Just from a fan's perspective buying KU gear I always thought the Nike gear was so much better than what we have now.

Oubre and Vaughn play different positions so its unlikely for them to see much of each other in match-ups. This is a team that relies on Vaughn and Wood for most of their scoring. Both can go off so it will be the defense's job to key on these guys.

The team that beat Zona could upset us if things went wrong for us. I believe Zona sleepwalked the same way KU did going to Temple. That week saw plenty of teams lose that wouldn't have usually. So far they haven't won on the road, and just dropped to Wyoming so its not like UNLV is consistent by any means.

UNLV i thought at the beginning of the year would be an easy game. A lot has changed since I had that assumption. I believe their big win over Arizona had more to do with the cats feeling the same bug KU had at Temple, the kids wanted to get home for the holidays.

I also thought with all the roster turnover they had that they would struggle mightily with a freshman laden team. Vaughn has been steady, a kid KU recruited to the end but Christian Wood has skyrocketed up Draft boards with his play. 29 points in a loss to Wyoming the other night and avg 3 blocks a game. Between him and offensively challenged Goodluck Okonoboh they avg almost 6 blocks a game. That spells trouble for KU. We have let a lot of teams block way more shots then their average. It's safe to say they might block 10-12 shots on Sunday the way we are going. We should still win because its at home and we are a much better team but anything can happen like last year vs SDSU.

@jaybate-1.0

Self is a great coach, I believe his demands for players to learn both sides of the ball and grasp a team game is becoming a lost art. He just didn't hand Oubre a starting spot like most schools would. Kelly was humbled and now is reaping rewards of Self placing him at a higher standard.

That can be a slippery slope. A lot of headlines were made and a lot of media, high schooler's probably noticed that Kelly wasn't getting the PT early. Some kids could see that negatively. Some could thrive on the idea that a coach is going to push me no matter who I am. You just never know what drive these kids have until you coach them.

When I say the system has to change I mean it has to change from Late Night on. UK gets Drake. Drake is a big deal to kids, you get him at your late night your doing big. What have we done lately? The same ol thing we been doing. Trends change, times change sometimes yearly. Trends of package deals are becoming more and more talked about. Ingram, Bragg, Brown, Zimmerman have all talked about going to the same school. That school could be KU, but what are the chances all 4 think KU has the most market appeal over going to Lexington. Nobody in their right mind could honestly believe that. We are a top 3 school, the elite, the tradition, the winning, the NBA players galore. Recruits know they can get to the league no matter where they go. There on mock drafts before they are 16 in some cases.

I don't think Self should ever change his stance on defense, he's a great defensive coach and the numbers back that up. Consistently good defense will always lead to productive years and we've had that with him.

On Offense I really think he should switch it up. We are still running plays we were running 7-8 years ago. He knew this off-season that this team was going to be his smallest in years but yet the philosophy of banging it inside is still the same. Our PG has improved tremendously, our SG has regressed so far, our leading scorer still has his inconsistencies. We have 3 guys (Oubre, Greene, Svi) who can shoot the heck out of the ball from 3 ball yet only 1 of them see's the floor at a time. I understand its because of the defensive liabilities putting all 3 out their might create but offensively putting Mason, with those 3 and Ellis/Cliff would be really interesting to see. Give everyone the green light and see what happens. The game has to get easier for KU, more and more teams have gone a more open style because the game has changed. 3 points is more than 2, more shooters creates more match-ups.

I could keep going but I know Self does things his way and not how fans might see it. We win more than we lose, we've had an incredible conference streak not seen in a power conference in decades, and we have the elite status that is hard to get and keep. So life should be good right? Let's hope this team can prove a lot of our doubts wrong.

@jaybate-1.0

If this oad takeover is going to happen in full force then self will have to dumb down his system and completely change the complexity of it to make it easier for kids to come in and succeed. Do you think it would have taken Oubre this long to get a starting spot and look like a top 10 pick if he was on kentucky? I don't think it would have, I think he would have been playing better already if it wasn't for the demands that self puts on young players to learn so much in a short period.

Even cliff hasn't exactly gotten comfortable yet and a lot of it has to do with the system self runs. If he wanted 4-5 year players that era has left this program because we have seen countless kids who could have benefited by sticking it out or getting a red shirt year. But that's not how Coach is doing it anymore, he's over recruiting at positions and repeating.

Right now we are recruiting the best that is out there. Ellis is a 4 year player, cliff is really a PF being asked to play the 5. If we get some combo of Bragg, Zimmerman, Diallo, Rabb, maybe Maker why would cliff stay even tho his stock has dropped considerably so far. He's stuck behind a good but not great player who he has considerable advantages over in certain areas but would likely never beat Ellis out. Say 2 elite bigs sign and all of a sudden we have 6-7 bigs on the team and no system to maximize it.

Greene is still his own worst nightmare. He helped us win at georgetown, and has hit numerous shots when needed. Then you have basically every other game and what do you get? His defense is his biggest liability and he's playin 13 minutes a game because of it. Are the concerns valid that he might not be here next year, yes because we've seen recently that KU can't go one year without some crazy off-season attrition. Would it be in his best interest, no he should continue to work hard because his jumper is NBA worthy.

Selden as I've said is seriously in a slump. He's been in it basically his whole time here. His defense can be very good and his understanding of how Self wants things done is basically what keeps him on the court. If graham was available I bet we would see way more Mason and him on the court at the same time. Selden has to hit buckets, I'm tired of saying it but he doesn't deserve 30 minutes a game if he can't start making shots. Svi and Greene dont impact the game consistently enough yet to get minutes over wayne. These are the cards we are dealt. The only hope is that Oubre really takes over a big chunk of the scoring and we can live with the inconsistent offense from Selden. Hoping this slump he's in is going to suddenly go away isn't likely. I'll eat all the crow if it was proven untrue.

@Blown

The Round Robin schedule is going to effectively cause any team to lose more. The Big 12 returned a lot of talent from last year and that has kept the league good. Something like 20 of the top 40 scorer's in the league returned. ISU, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St, Kansas St, Baylor have all built consistent programs now instead of the lean years they were having when it was 12 man league. KU will have to be a truly dominate team to have those 31-2 years again, this year is not one of them.

A Win is a win but since the beginning of this year we've talked about how this team could get better over the Christmas break. They didn't get better from last week as a team. I doubt they get any better before Sunday either. Defense was no good in the first half, Kelly Oubre bailed out this team by himself. He's really come on strong avg 13.6 pts 52% from 3 6.4 rbs in his last 5 games since he's gotten playing time.Kent State missed a ton of early 2nd half shots, got behind and got demoralized.

It's critical Devonte comes back and is able to contribute in ways he was starting to before the injury. He's a better shooter than Selden in every phase, we could play 2 attacking guards instead of grinding on Mason for everything.

@HighEliteMajor

Couldn't agree more with your post. I posted a few days that we wouldn't learn much from them winning, I stand corrected because I learned a lot. Before I go in I do want to say that Kansas fans have been absolutely spoiled with how good our teams have been in the past. We expect greatness, and that is rightfully so for a program that is top 3 in the game.
Having said that 10-2 with the schedule we have played looks pretty good on paper.

But whatever happened between the Lafeyette game has an awful feeling in my mouth.

Selden had one of the worst games I've seen him have. I've been super critical of him because I expect so much more from him. Maybe its time to forget what I expect from him. He was horrid, if he has those games on the road it will be contagious, we will lose games because of him. I guess his high school mixtapes really were like a great car salesman advertisement. How many frickin dunks are you going to miss. Shooting slump, understatement.

Ellis was so bad in the first half I said to myself, don't let him play another minute tonight. Our bigs don't sell going up for shots, with no length and no intent on dunking defenses are feasting on knowing we are going up with it. Our posts are not skilled in passing, their idea is to kick it back out if they do. If Ellis doesn't learn a pump fake he's going to have the record for blocked shots by a post player.

One great positive, Oubre is becoming a hell of a player. He shoots like that going forward, Lotto is calling. He's got a knack for getting his hands on the ball and his rebounding is very solid. It's finally all coming together for him and I couldn't be happier. Someone blow up Goodman's Twitter and Tell him Kelly says HELLO.

Cliff looked good when the game was out of reach. Where was this in the first half when he was pretty much silent. A couple travels negated a few highlight plays he could have had like that dunk. We need more consistency from him and last night wasn't the fast track to that.

@Hawk8086

Agreed we will need to win on the road against the ISU or Texas. Problem is those are the 2 most likely L's on the slate. Iowa St is basically our new rival, going their and playing their 3 point chucking clinic is their holy grail now every year since the Elijah Johnson game. Texas has too much size for us, and we will be lucky to not lose similar to last years debacle.

Interesting comments so far. At the moment I'm pessimistic about #11. I think what we don't do well enough is clearly more than enough to keep us from winning another trophy. We need to see tonight and Sunday improved play before we go into Baylor which hasn't been an easy place to play since Drew has made them respectable.

What we lack inside, we may make up for in on the perimeter because the Big 12 has more quality guards than anything besides maybe Texas with their size.

I do think we need to improve on a ton, most teams still need to. Our 2 losses expose us a bunch, and remember those were neutral/road games. We can't play that way in Ames, Austin, Norman, Morgan-town, Manhattan, Gallagher Iba and expect to win. All those places are going to give us problems if we don't play the way we should. It's not the competition that scares me, I'm mostly worried of the timing of some games. We play 2 similar games in February that mimic the same way we just lost to Temple. Its going to be a tuff road

Wanted to get a start on talking about conference play. It's quickly coming as I realized everyone but KU and Iowa St. starts playing Saturday.

With the strength of the league so far, it looks as if Texas Tech is the only team you can confidently put a W against when your playing them.
I've done some further research into the schedules and they are extremely difficult to predict right now.

What a brutal 3 game stretch for KU, @ Iowa St, vs Oklahoma 2 days later, 5 days later @ Texas.

Not a fan of these either, home vs Baylor February 14th, 2 days later on the road against West Virginia. Home vs TCU, 2 days later against rival Kansas St on the road. Both Big Monday games. No way we should have to play consecutive road games on Big Monday. K-St. has not been as good so far but when we come they never play as badly as they really are.

I know we are Kansas and #11 is what is expected but looking at the schedule its going to be Self's best job yet if he's able to pull it off. We used to benefit from the league having 12, now with the round robin it really makes it that much harder to win. Hopefully with Graham back, some improved play from Cliff, Ellis, and Selden and the consistency of Mason will help keep us on top.

What's everyone's thoughts???

@justanotherfan

West Virginia has been better, I thought the roster turnover would be too much for them to handle but it has seemed to bring them more balance. I do think they will be put in place in the conference though as 6 players in their rotation freshman or first year players.
TCU/W. Virginia matchup this weekend will give us a good idea where these teams really are.

K-State is playing well below what I had thought they would. I thought Foster would be a first team Big 12 player this year but all he does is make 3's. While he shoots a high %, he really doesn't do much more. I didn't think losing Spradling and Southwell would be that big of a deal.

I think the top 4 you have listed are heads above the rest. Baylor, Ok. State, WVU, and TCU will be tuff outs at home. For Kansas add K-State. Texas Tech could be the new TCU this year, I don't see them winning conference games.

@justanotherfan

I agree TCU is better, but we won't know how much until conference play shakes out. I thought they would be much improved because they had so many guys sitting the bench last year that were better than the guys they had playing. I thought 4-7 conference wins was within reach. Now their confidence is sky high by blowing cupcakes out at home so maybe they exceed even that prediction.

Their RPI is overrated, their 51st when they've played 3 teams with a winning record. And the best team they have played (Ole Miss) is probably the 4th best team at best in the SEC in an extremely down year for that conference. Kansas St has played good teams but is 176, its more record based than anything for the RPI. They play West Virginia Saturday so we will know more soon.

@HighEliteMajor

Interesting, the 2 games cliff has played the most, Michigan St and Georgetown he's scored 6 & 7 pts.

Would he really score in double figures with 30 minutes a game?

So far Cliff hasn't shown much of a post up game and hasn't been that skilled around the basket in general. We haven't really seen the jump hook, or power moves to the basket. He hasn't really been given the green light on offense. . Now is really the only time he's going to get the chance to work on his game, and if we don't start seeing more of the beast we expect, we probably won't see it this season.

Okafor has been better because he's playing more minutes, is getting the ball in the right position, gets set up well by the multiple point guards Duke has, and knows what he's doing once he gets it down low. He can also score over length which is Cliff's biggest weakness.

Just read cliff has been hobbled by a shin and ankle injury. Could be slowing his progression some. The missed time during the summer didn't benefit him either not being able to zero in on position skills that he definitely needed.

Cliff is important to this team, to this team's future, to this teams chances of any championship conference, national.

What about Devonte? We've clearly seen a team that is relying on its point guard for too much right now. Without him we can't have 2 ball handler's on the court. We can't spell Frank for a few minutes What if Mason gets in foul trouble? Not having another option at PG is just as deadly as expecting or needing Cliff to score in the paint.

What about Selden? Too inconsistent from game to game especially scoring wise to expect him to put up Florida #'s more than a few games this year.

TCU doesn't deserve to be ranked until they beat a quality team in the Big 12. Can't believe all the cupcakes they have faced along the way.

Last 5 opponents combined records 15-33. Go even further shows they have played 3 teams with a winning record.Of course you are going to be undefeated.

Now have they probably improved, I don't doubt it but we've seen countless teams use smoke screen schedules to puff up their record. And then when the real games come to town they falter. No matter how well they perform in Big 12 play, their schedules has severely hurt their Tourney chances or seed if they were to make it that far.

KU can lose 6-8 games and still have a high seed because of the strength of teams they have played. Whether beating good teams and having a high RPI really benefits a team in the tourney is clearly not an exact science. You can argue either way on that topic, I tend to think it doesn't matter because the tournament usually relies on experience and some luck.

Last year, we played brutal schedule and had arguably our best player get injured before the dance. The schedule didn't help us win games in the tournament for being so "battle tested". The luck factor wasn't in our favor with our starting center unable to go and the team unable to find a way to win without him. Then you have a team like Kentucky who made some "lucky" shots at end of game situations and ended up in the championship game.