@JayHawkFanToo @mayjay

I guess that makes me a doubter, which is fine. I am no less a fan, however. I love the program. I don't buy what the media is always selling. I try to observe, and then formulate my own ideas. The media have called the Big 12 the strongest conference the last 3-4 years as we send 6-7 out of 10 teams to the dance. Yet, how well have all those strong teams performed in the tournament? Oklahoma in the FF in 2016 was is the only FF since Kansas in 2012, right?

Kansas is leading this league again. The team that struggled against a Kentucky team (who I said wasn't good at that time and have finally dropped out of the top 25). They get their tails kicked by Washington at Sprint and then ASU at home. (Go check their conference record). Got their tales kicked at home by Tech who looked good and have now lost 3 of 4 and one of them to the last place team in the league. Kansas barely wins at home against an average Kansas State team (now tied for second in the league) Barely Beats Baylor at home, who is in the bottom of the league, and needed a record night on from 3 to beat Texas at home, another average team.

This Kansas team is not a great team. Yes, they can beat probably anybody on a great shooting night. But I'm also convinced they could lose to a lot of teams as well. In Self's own words, he identified this team as the team with the least margin for error as any team since he's been here. And this team is now leading this league by two games. Maybe "mediocre" was too harsh. Maybe average is better. We can call the Big 12 a strong conference all we want, but their performance in dance says otherwise year after year. Just because the league has parity, doesn't mean it has strength. I'm sure you can find every metric in the world to prove me wrong, and that's okay. The BPI, SOS, KenPoms, Sagarin, RPI, DUI, CIA, NWO, FBI....all of them probably call big 12 strong. I just don't agree.

The strength of the Big 12 is once again proving to be mediocrity. May the SEC Challenge and NCAA Tournament prove me wrong.

My kids and I watched the 2012 Mizzou game Saturday. It was fun watching my six year old, who wasn't aware I was watching a re-run cheered on the game. When down 13-14, I asked him who he thought would win, and he said the "Jayhawks, of Course".

@HighEliteMajor In my opinion there is a clear threshold between who gets talent, and then what they do with that talent. High school rankings can be so hit or miss. But I think even you would admit, and have stated before that the recruiting services generally have the talent filtered out right. I really can't say how class rankings provide any insight into the quality of a roster. Once the kids get on campus, there are so many intangibles that go into what the team becomes. Even the top rated kid like Andrew Wiggins didn't have the impact we all felt he should have because of his timidity. And then you have the under ranked kid like Joel who skyrockets in the rankings out of nowhere, steps on campus, and barring the long term injury concerns could end up being one of the greatest centers of all time. Chemistry, leadership, infighting, injuries also affect the quality of the roster once it is in place. So I am looking more on the "left" side of the threshold, so-to-speak. Before the talent gets here. Before the roster develops.

Who is getting the "who's who" in basketball as sold by the recruiting services of the world. The four Blue Bloods are getting almost 40% of the top 20 talent. That is a number that impresses me.

Coach K seemingly ramping up his recruiting ability toward the end of his career is very impressive. I might argue that him winning two national championships in the last eight years has something to do with that. He is also probably considered the best coach of all time, by many. Coaching Team USA surely has some affect on who is able to reel in. There is no doubt about it that since Calipari took over Kentucky, he and K are on a level of their own with getting the stated "top talent". What they do with it in terms of roster and development another side of it.

I would be curious to know if these numbers play out the same based on the other recruiting services mentioned. Unfortunately, I don't have the extra time to gather that info. Yesterday was a long day at a wrestling meet and had plenty down time and randomly chose the ESPN rankings.

Trae said part of the reason he wanted to go to OU so he could be the one who knocked Kansas off their title run streak. Hopefully, that is posted on a few lockers in the field house for a nice reminder.

@Kcmatt7 I would never force the guy out. I would not be surprised to see him leaving on his own accord at the end of this current contract....that is in 3 years.

@truehawk93 I think with maybe Graham and Embiid they went higher, so it probably goes both ways.

I'm not going to debate who has the best or worst recruiting services. I don't know enough about each one of them to do it.
Also, arbitrarily selecting the top 20 is not a good start for attempting to present a sound basis for any argument.
And it is not my intent to proclaim Self has a lack of talent on his roster. It would be a fools argument to say the man that has one 13 straight conference championships lacks talent.

The discussion I was looking forward to centers around shear numbers based on ESPN recruits to The Blue Bloods: UNC, Duke, Kentucky, and Kansas.
In distilled form:

Over the past 12 years top 20 recruits based on ESPN-UNC-13, Duke-30, Kentucky-33, Kansas-11.

From 2007-2012: UNC-7, Duke-10, Kentucky-12, Kansas-2

From 2013-2018: UNC-6, Duke-20, Kentucky-20, Kansas-9

Of Kansas' 9 recruits since 2013 3 of them have ended up having part or all of their season lost due to eligibility issues. (Diallo, Alexander, Preston)

36.25% of all the top 20 recruits, based on ESPN, have gone to one of these four schools.

In the last four years, Kansas has averaged 1 top 20 talent per year (pending Romeo still). UNC has averaged .5 top 20 players. Duke has averaged 3.75 top 20 players. Kentucky has averaged 3 per year.

From 2009--2014 when Kentucky lost to UConn UK has gone from averaging 3.33 a year to a slight drop to 3 a year after 2014. In that same time period Coach K has gone from averaging 1.83 to 3.75 per year in that same time period.

And perhaps, this is just the ebb and flow of recruiting, completely random, and a giant waste of time. And we don't lack talent, but it is evident based on the numbers from ESPN that Kentucky and Duke are out recruiting the other two blue bloods at an insane pace.

@Crimsonorblue22 not in the top 20?

The Duke Stack is On!

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Shaq finished career with 53%. Sometimes people can’t make free throws.

Garrett has so much potential defensively but his offensive ineptitude is tough to watch.

Frank could handle 38-40 a game. I don’t think Graham can keep this up. His propensity for cramping up and all these minutes may catch up with him in the next 8-10 games.

I wonder how many extra miles they are traveling to get to opponents this year ?

how will this affect scholastic achievement records ? is he enrolled in class? have they started? will he have to drop or be awarded failures?

Vick and Garrett should get the defensive assignment.

This league has got to be wearing the Youngster down. This kind of competition game in and out; and now everyone is getting after him because been labeled the next Steph Curry...he's getting the Kansas treatment. Additionally it was just a matter of time before the coaches got enough tape and started scouting him better. He is fearless when it comes to shooting from range, so if those aren't falling they can lose to KSU. If they are falling, they can beat just about anyone.

Two months and a week since the event. Probably going to be ruled ineligible. The Auburn investigation took several months to rule on. There may be a lot of rabbit holes that need entered on this deal. I heard on 810 the other day that Kansas has spent $500,000. He is also getting a year of education as part of his scholarship. I wish there was some kind of consequence for anyone who comes in a costs the University money like this.

2 gutty games in 3 days. very impressive. was nice to see the FT even out the last 10 minutes of the game.

Was Josh Jackson was suspended for chasing the young female down, kicking her car, and allegedly threatening to beat her?

court storming must be stopped.

I don’t take the high road on officiating, which seems to be the heroic thing to do. Refs control and affect games all of the time. Nobody wants to put blame on refs cause you sound like a whiner. But it happens. Josh Jackson’s first 2 whistles last year against oregon were a joke and it changed the entire complexity of the game. Graham’s whistles in the Villanova game changed the the game. The forward progress call against the chiefs changed and affected the game. Players miss shots in game Coaches make mistakes in game. And refs blow calls. All three affect the outcome.

@jaybate-1.0 Did you see Self's wry smile after that last shot.

He always asks do you want to be up with a chance to stop or down with a chance to win it. He was proud.

A coach who goes to 7 final fours in 21 years can't be overrated in my estimation. Ya, maybe he had fortuitous brackets, maybe he didn't Look what Kansas has done with their fortuitous brackets in the same time period? Izzo is a top 5 coach in the Nation.

So, he had to be cleared yesterday. My guess is that ncaa offices arent really working on a saturday morning? Give squeaky one less thing he could prep for.

So any minute was 9:44 am on 1/13/18

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https://www.si.com/college-basketball/2015/03/12/cliff-alexander-kansas-jayhawks-ncaa-attorney ↗

a reminder of how these work. The NCAA has all of the power.

“we don’t have to prove you are guilty, you have to prove you are not guilty”

@BeddieKU23 It's 5 pm. I did my job.

@approxinfinity what do the analytics say about events today on KU Buckets? Are we driving up the traffic count :)

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A dyslexic man walks into a bra.

What do you call a bear with no teeth?

@BeddieKU23 What do you call a guy with a rubber toe?

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In the mean time...MAYBE Arizona State isn't that great and Washington isn't as bad as thought?

@joeloveshawks How many clicks DOES it take to get the center of the BillyPop?

@JayHawkFanToo I agree with what you are saying, just messing around. It probably comes down to the $$ offered by Adidas to Kansas Athletics, even if it does create recruiting assymetry.

Wichita St, Duke, North Carolina are a few schools who have Nike, but don't have good football programs.

https://kansas.rivals.com/news/zenger-announces-191-million-adidas-deal-top-five-in-the-nation ↗

EDIT: WSU Switched to UA this year. Nike's agreement with Duke is undisclosed, but recently settled a deal with Michigan St for $169 million.

@JayHawkFanToo Don't go using logic on me. I don't appreciate it.

Potential delay due to Adidas under investigation by the FBI and the Associations of Kansas and Adidas.

I really wish we would go to Nike. Seriously, who wears adidas for basektball? Even UA are more comfortable, these days, imo.

Newman did some good things. Liked his aggressive play and got some key boards at a needed time. 27 points on 21 shots is nothing to write home about. Maybe as he gets more confident that efficiency will come. With that body and getting down hill he may start drawing some whistles.

@KirkIsMyHinrich that is the exact reason he is allowed to play a 40 minute Hockey game.

BIML

Didn't Self & Kansas lawyer up over the Diallo deal and spend like 100k fighting them? Retaliation? Nah...

HOF Coach at the 2nd winningest school in history seems to get the recruiting scraps year after year and has even resorted to a Transfer Pipeline. Dots connected.

I also think a factor is that a lot of kids just want to go where they are guaranteed playing time. Bill won’t do that.

Anyone trying to give LaVar Ball money deserves to be taken for a fool, in my not-so-humble opinion. He is the worst thing in sports since the introduction of television timeouts and TV Blackouts.

I would hope a newly enshrined NCAA Hall of Fame coach, who has been a "right way guy" as far as we know would get a little better treatment from the NCAA.

arrrghhh, Steve, to the plank....

....then suck after getting BP and SD, we would. (Must say aloud in Yoda for full effect)