Wiggins is just a Gorillas Grip on the ball away from finishing those drives. Here to hoping Hudy has a hand strengthener in her fantastic arsenal.
@Jesse_Newell can you (or somebody) share the shot chart for Wiggins? I don't see it represented on kenpom nor hoop math. I see percentage shots at the rim, but I'm curious if he shoots it anywhere else besides the elbow extended 3 pointers and drives from those same areas.
@globaljaybird Thanks for the good laugh so early this morning!! I listen to 810 sports quite a bit, but when Jack and Keitzman get together, I have to shut it off. I can barely stand either one of them individually, but when they join up, it is unbearable.
I agree with your point. He was definitely out of bounds, and It was pointed out by Dana O'Neil in her piece this morning. But I agree, Jack is a tool.
@drgnslayr my problem is that I'm only 5'7 but I've never felt an inch under 6'7 :) All I could think about was "holy $*&^ I just ruined my smile....shortly followed by, hey Cole did it, so can I
Stay out of the post Munchkin, said the elbow flying through the air!
Blown are you going tonight? Maybe you should wear the new shirt!
@Crimsonorblue22 No unfortunately, I cannot make it. I play in a pick up league on Mondays & Thursdays. But last Monday I had two teeth knocked almost completely out. The Dentist pulled them back straight and said "they are not broken." So for good fortune and good luck this week, I'll go back down and see if I can get two more teeth loosened up for me by an elbow.
Hey, Don't judge me and my superstition--it worked for the Iowa St game :-)
@approx I trust you are always choosing the best of two ideas :) Keep up the great work!
@drgnslayr I'm really excited to see Austin and Embiid match up. Two very nimble footers, both having some decent shooting range. Self is not letting us see Embiids range yet, we might tonight. Naadir & Perry's play will decide the game, imho.
Just a quick line of gratitude to let all of the folks that help maintain this site how grateful I am.
I am incredibly appreciative of the all of the work and maintenance that goes into this. Any and all of you could choose to do something else with your time, but you continue dedicating it to the cause of this Jayhawk Community.
I know bskeet and approx are always working, but I'm pretty sure there are some silent players as well.
Way to go everybody!!
Dylans, thanks for the assist.
"Board Rats don't sleep after losses...If anybody wants to talk at 4 a.m., meet me at KUBUCKETS"
@eleehehe better yet, 75% of KU losses are in the top 10.
@REHawk Should be able to 'right click" on the image and save it to your deskop. If you have a mac, hold down 'control' and then click and save image to desktop. Once you have it saved go into your user profile for ku buckets and it will give you the option to upload an image for your avatar. You'll navigate to the desktop where you have previously saved it. Hope that helps.
@KansasComet Don't you think the off-court troubles and setbacks experienced by Darnell somewhat parallel the off-court struggles Jamari is handling right now? I also see correlation in their year-to-year, steady progression. But I respect your opinion, as well. Always do!
I did not see this link posted anywhere here: Very nice work by Dana O'Neil
Edit: Apparently I didn't pay attention when being told how to imbed a 'link' here. Sorry folks.
Is Jamari Traylor the next Darnell Jackson. He has a little over 2 years to add that 18 foot jumper to his arsenal. He is a little quicker than DJ. We saw Saturday his ability to put the blow by his man if drawn out to the perimeter. Consistently hitting an 18 footer a la Darnell and easing up on the loss of body control to prevent charges and Jamari is going to be a helluva finisher by his senior year.
@jaybate 1.0 not sure what your take is on the daily threads, but I feel like we are 'separating' the conversation a little bit too much now. I drilled into the daily threads and found some great posts and insight, but they died probably because they were not front and center. I liked it better before; but then again, that's usually the case with change !!
@MoonwalkMafia do you have cox internet? They support watchespn so you could watch on line. Otherwise, on the blog for the game somebody usually posts the justin.tv/jayhawk link
Well, I'm not totally bad luck I guess! What a great game to experience live. It leaves me wondering: why are my anxiety valleys and peaks so much less when I watch the game in person, versus watching it on television and enduring the commercial breaks? There is some sort of psychological phenomena at play there , I believe.
On to random thoughts...
I really enjoyed seeing the interaction between Coach Self & Brannen Greene on the sidelines. I'm starting to get the feeling that Self has really high hopes for Greene and is grooming him to explode. If you look at the 4:50 ish mark in the first half after Greene misses the open three and then gets burnt on d so badly, you can see why Greene can't quite stay on the floor right now.
As far as calling for Selden to have less playing time, he was the only guy who could really guard Smart. Mason did okay, and bothered him with his feistiness, but the lob inside to Marcus over the smaller Mason illustrated perfectly why Marcus demands a top defender.
For such a poor statistical performance, Wiggins had an exceptional attitude after the game. I believe that is promising and shows that he really is more of a team player and prefers playing within the structure of the game. The problem I see with him is that he is now too predictable from an offensive standpoint. All of the moves that worked for him vs inferior talent (High School) is being scouted against and defended very well at this level, and he has not adjusted. I really look for him to be stronger with the ball while splitting defenders in the paint. Marcus Smart wore off on him in the sense that Wiggins seemed to be going for the Oscar nomination on a few plays instead of actually going to the rack like he cant be denied. 2 rebounds and no free throws, so he doesn't pass my "effort" test, but I also get the feeling maybe he was a decoy yesterday.
Selden is now part of the press break, to have that taller guard cross half court. I was calling for a taller guard to pass over the top after drawing the trap, because Mason & Naa are 5'9 maybe 5'10 and really struggle there. We were three Selden turnovers from three more ally-oops. This is definitely correctable.
Self made the mistake of handing The Keys to Wiggins early in the season, but has totally redeemed himself by giving them back to Naadir and now we are headed down the right path. Definitely on the upward side of the peak.
@Crimsonorblue22 I thought about the zone for a quick second, too. But the best way to beat the zone is to have a penetrating guard, and a good three shooter to kick out too. Ok St has both of those, and another great 3 shooter in Forte. I expect to see Self stick to his M2M, and I think he has the size and personnel to do it this year, unlike last year. Last year Smart beasted our guards. Selden & Wiggins will not let that happen.
HEM and Kip McSmithers...I went and read yesterdays "confessional posts" and wanted to follow up:
HEM, I'm sorry to disappoint you that only 1/3 of my college credits came from KU--for the time being. But my blood is crimson and blue, and everybody hated me for it in Manhattan. My earliest memories are of me sitting with my grandparents on April 4, 1988, my 5th birthday. I bet you can guess what we were doing? From there, I went to create memories on the playground such as screaming to myself "Adonis Jordan for ttthhhhreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" Who cares I skipped a couple of teams there :) My uncle was a barber on mass and used to cut a lot of the players hairs so my familiarity and love grew even more, and have fortunately been able to remain close since then.
Regarding Missouri: I was preparing my son, Jack for his first spelling bee the other day. My wife was going through the warm-up words with him when I said, why are you giving him the warm-ups, he's beyond that? Her response was classic:
"I don't know, we didn't have spelling bees in Missouri." I replied: of course they didn't :)
KIP--I am not Sheahon, but I did meet him right before I moved to Mexico in 2004. I put my 76 CJ 5 up for sale, and he wanted to test drive it. We spent some time driving it around the Flint Hills with the top down. Apparently 4k was too much for his KSU Assistant AD salary. Or maybe I overpriced it to be sure I had it when I returned from El Sur.
OSU better be careful trying to xtreme cheapshot. They have no depth at all. If I were Self, I would play into that and EVERY SINGLE POSSESSION would go inside first. Perry and JoJo will carve them up, and it won't even be close. Factor in BruiseBrothers Tarik & Jamari and that is even more of a hurting on their post players.
Wiggins & Selden are the only players than can D up on Smart, so they should focus on D and let the offense flow through the paint.
If this turns into a pee pee match between Wiggins and Smart, then it is playing right into Okie States hands. The game isn't about who is the best NBA prospect, it is about who has the better team on Saturday.
The team has to be careful to not play two games at once. Last years game is dead and gone, but we are still talking about it and the backflip.
Part of Iowa St problem, imho, was that they tried to play two games at once, instead of focusing on the one that was actually in the present. Continuing to play the game from the past (last years gutwrencher to EJ and the gang ) lead to their worst shooting night of the season.
"Never let the success or failure of your last pitch affect the success of your next one."--Nolan Ryan
@Blown Enjoy the game. If we lose, there's no doubt who is catching the blame. I hope you have attended several wins as well? Again, enjoy!
Countless wins, but the losses are the ones I remember :) ....Except the 20 point comeback versus Durant.
true, can I get a little help on the background to that? I could only make out "you remember that, I'm gonna beat your a%%" What is the deal here?
@MoonwalkMafia KU. I will be enrolling in the "professional" program at KU Edwards due to my current career and family obligations not allowing me to go full time. Waiting on GMAT--everything else is solid and ready to go.
I don't care for his personality, but I believe Cal is good for the game. Yin and Yang, so to speak. He can coach and recruit, that has been proven. He nurtures unusual relationships, imho, with his recruits borderline befriending them, which I believe might be detrimental in the overall scheme of things. I've always considered my best teachers the toughest ones, and might have slightly taken advantage of the easier ones.
@MoonwalkMafia I graduated from KSU with Psychology & Spanish Literature Degrees, both of which I began on Mt. Oread. Right now I'm in the infantile stages of working to a Masters in Sports Management and Business. The long-term goal is to work with athletes to build relationships within their own communities or other communities, and reinvesting in the youth of their community. I truly believe that Sports are one of the few things that cross boundaries the way we need to continue evolving as a civilization and society.
@Kip-McSmithers- there is absolutely NO WAY I will be taking any clothing in there that I already own. It's all jinxed. So, look for the guy in the birthday suit standing in line for free t shirts.
@ParisHawk The thing about tragedy is that it affects all of us. I was not offended by your comment, but I do appreciate your empathy. And you didn't bring it to mind; it is always there, motivating me to improve myself and the world.
Now, no more sappy sh&* but at least folks now know why I'm "blown"
@Crimsonorblue22 I appreciate you lightening up a bit, there Crimson :) With everybody's blessing (except my wife) I think I'll take the chance of going. But seriously, if we are losing at half time I'm leaving.
@ParisHawk Due to an incredible tragedy in my family, I was forced to leave Lawrence in the middle of my education and unwillingly (at the time) had to transfer to KSU as that was the only place I could find enough support to continue with schooling.
Hence, my Alias-Blown--I've always felt that I was Blown away from my true educational and professional destiny. I made the best I could out of KSU, but KSU could not make the best out of me. I returned to Kansas University after establishing myself financially.
So, to answer your question, my transferring days are over, now that I'm in control.
@Blown There's something going on here.... I think you might want to reconsider your weekend plans. Just kidding...but seriously
The sick part is that I am actually considering not going and I have excellent seats. A win Saturday is huge, huge, huge.
I was there when Iowa St snapped the streak in 2000 vs Gooden, and I witnessed the Acie Law three from the corner as well in 2006. I watched Oral Roberts snap the non-conference streak, and I saw Texas break our home court streak after Thomas lost his mom. And this year, the first game I went to was the San Diego St loss where we snapped another Non-con streak. The plan is to go to the game this weekend, but I'm afraid I'll cause the 3-0 streak start to conference to be snapped, too.
I'm wondering out loud to you guys this question:
Honestly, how many of us for the first time in 25 years had doubt creep into their minds as to whether this team would make the tournament this year? Admittedly, I was probably more sensitive to the idea after watching UK fail last year. I'm glad I can wholeheartedly put that behind me now!!
Title or not, I think that if Embiid goes on to have a stellar NBA career, the returns over time for The Program are better having Embiid over Shepard. In my opinion, Shepard is a dime a dozen, and Embiid is a once in a decade type of player. If Self sends the #1 center and # 1 guard to the league in consecutive years we have a chance to start a Calipari like recruiting coup. I agree with you that I prefer, as a fan, to see the 2 and 3 year players, but in the last 10 years, we have seen the NCAA move to a one and done league, and Kansas needs those players to continue getting maximum media exposure.
Just think about this: How many people in Canada are learning about KU basketball this year as every game played is being aired there. The same can be said for JoJo...I bet his stardom is attracting more new eyes to the program as well. We all love to get a title in April of 2014, but my opinion the long term growth and stability of the program are enhanced by having Wiggy & JoJo.
ps, Shepard is a little better than a dime a dozen--just going for emphasis there :)
Teams would not be able to double the post as they are now, so I think we'd see a little more production out of Embiid. I don't know that the overall record would be much different.
Zebras will be watching the Lion (Killer) closely from now on.
I thought the officiating was horrendous last night...very one sided, and especially letting the Clones climb all over Embiid like a jungle gym. He must be incredibly confused considering the interior is allowed to use their arms to beat up on him, but he cannot use his arms in the same way.
WAY TO GO WIGGINS! I knew you had it in you. Thanks for the pep talk from Mr. Wiggins. Going aggressively to the paint, and even more impressive were the 19 rebounds. He sure looked like better than a 32% 3pt shooter last night. Just enough range to open up the lane. Now he should just throw it down when getting to the rack instead of the soft rolls.
somebody on here called it yesterday that they were trying to pull a fast one. He was evidently in pain after his shot wore off.
I wonder why 5,6,7 are relatively empty? That never happens. Edit: OH, cause it's a blowout :-)
So, with Wiggins, we judge him because he's has all of the press, he's a high-level talent, he's a superstar in the making. But the guy is a freshman.
We haven't seen him dive hard for a ball. But I bet we will. That hasn't had to be part of his game probably to this point. Same with 100% hustle. He hasn't had to. In fact, he might have been conditioned most of his playing days to be the opposite of what Self is trying to instill.
@HighEliteMajor Nicely put. I love it when I see opinions that are different than mine, but make me think about things differently and question my own take. Nice job to step back and look at the bigger picture and paint it in a light that I didn't really consider. I definitely do have higher expectations for Andrew due to his hype, but my 'effort' comments would also be directed at anybody who I think lacks it. Effort is mental toughness, imho, and your statement that he may not have ever needed to be so mentally tough is a very solid point.
@Crimsonorblue22 let me know if my comments are ever 100% to your liking.
Whether you agree or disagree with my opinions does not bother me. What bothers me is you bring NOTHING to this board except for comment replies and insults. Can you come up with an opinion or something insightful to share with the rest of us?
My issue with Wiggins has been consistent--and never once a character attack. I simply point out that he appears to put in less effort than his teammates, as well as other top players in the game. My assumption is that you are not really a college basketball fan, but a "Kansas Jayhawk" fan. My assessments are not based only on what is seen on tv, nor is it based on only watching one team all year.
I can appreciate a good piece of constructive criticism or a jab back if I"m out of line on something, but you just reek of being a sourpuss.
@Clydecito but first he needs to sprint to need to recover :-)
@MoonwalkMafia I think the offense favored Iowa St the last two years because Withey could not keep up with the fast-paced offensive sets ran by Fred. A more fleet footed JoJo might alleviate some of that as well has having a more viable back up, in JamTray
How many trifectas will we see from Selden tonight? Has he had a muzzle on himself during non-con? I can't wrap my mind around him (actually I can) only shooting 32 three-pt field goals through 13 games at a decent clip of 37.5%, and now he has shot 15 3pt shots in two games. We've needed this three point threat all year, but it's just now coming on. And I"m not talking about makes; I'm talking about attempts to keep the defense honest. 37.5% is enough to keep the d honest; and now he is shooting at about 41%.
Would Coach Self limit his shots from beyond the arc to more quickly improve our interior play out of necessity? Is this why Selden all of the sudden is happy on the court? Because he is not being restricted, so as to rope-a-dope the big 12 conference? Maybe it seems far fetched, but it has crept into my conscious.
So far, Wiggins has done a fine job of taking advantage of opportunities that have been presented to him. I hope to see him take the next step by creating those opportunities for himself through aggressive play. He his first in minutes, and last in floor burns out of the starters. I will use that as my variable for his aggressiveness going forward, as well as how many times he forces the defense to foul him. I'm really hoping to shake this image I have of him constantly playing with his hands on his hips. Handson Hippins is his new name until he stops. Its very poor body language for a team that should be playing with High Energy to maximize their ceiling.
And finally, are Tarik & Jamari this years glue?
I knew exactly what KUSTEVE Was saying, and didin't think anything racist until you two brought it up :-) Its just the uber-sensitive society that we live in now, I guess.
I have never seen a player with such submissive body language than Embiid shows for Self after coming to the sideline. It was actually a little hard for me to watch, but I really, really love this guy. The shame was evident, and he knows his Father taught him better.
@iowajayhawk2005 Frank Mason is the King of ill-timed shots. Fortunately, a few are starting to drop for him.
@JayDocMD I will soon start to believe he is playing not to get injured.
@iowajayhawk2005 Wolf, the supreme compliment should be that you are not hiding who you really are. Well, at least if you are trying to, you are not doing a very good job of it.
"All I can do is be me, whoever that is"--Bob Dylan