So now Tom keegan doesnt know what he's talking about right? Speaking out of his A. S. S.? As you said ?
Love to know what you actually do for a living. Does it have anything to do with college basketball at all? Please fill us all in on where where your basketball knowledge and acumen comes from. I really want to know, and I imagine other people on the site would like to hear too.
Thanks for your post.
It is quite simply the best overall post i have read here possibly all year.
I agree with you completely on all points you made- you have a rational and clear view of the realities of our team, and the big perspective.m
Our team is playing well, with chemistry and purpose. We are winning games with many players contributing. We have a fun, if not nerve -wracking few months ahead- i cant wait.
(And if we dont win the national championship, i am DONE with KU ball for life- Self should be fired immediately for his obviously errant recruiting and mis-use of talent (just read this site Bill and perhaps you may learn!!!) and not understanding the big picture... we should drive 10 dump trucks filled with money up to calipari's house, sign him on as head coach, and dump our adidas sponsorship so that we can be on track to win a NC because it is the ONLY i repeat the ONLY thing that matters for a program like KU. PERIOD.)
Happy new year !
@HighEliteMajor
Let me guess your opinion on this. We still win the game without Jamari playing. You may be right. The question is, really?? This is the topic you (and others, bwag, AsadZ) bring up when he has a good solid game and helps the team??
This is what you are concerned with when we win against a decent team on the road? That Jamari gets playing time and plays well instead of the guys you think should be out there?
Weak and Sad my freind.
@Bwag
So, whats your solution?
Play bragg and diallo more and hope you dont lose an early season game because of their current inexperience?
what is so wrong with playing guys that are playing well at that moment? If Jamari was having a bad night, trust me he would be on the bench, and someone else would be in. self plays the guys that deserve to be on the floor at that particular time.
One easily could make an aurgument that this is how you prepare a team for the tough road ahead on up to NCAA tourney.
@jaybate-1.0
BUT.... BUT
Self .... Likes... (Im about to puke it so hard to say his accursed name)..... TRAYLOR!!!!!!!!!!!!
Self. Has. GOT. TO. GO. Period.
End of story
:)
@sfbahawk
Interesting... Apparently self playing brady incensed some posters sounds like...
Also, it will take him time to figure out when to stay on his man, and when to leave him to try and block a shot of another player. This is a bit trickier than just playing close clean d and timing your jumps.
For instance, i saw in the last two games good discipline plays by both traylor and hunter where they were guarding their man down low, and another opposing player had got by a ku defender (perry and wayne) and were driving towards the basket. Rather than go over to help right away and thus leaving their men open for a easy pass, rebound, and a bucket, they waited until the driving player commited to the shot before trying to block it.
I also saw a few plays by bragg and one by lucas where they went to help too soon, and the guys they were supposed to guard down low were then open for easy passes and baskets, or rebounds and baskets. Cheick will need to learn discipline, and i have no doubt he will, plus he looks to be a great natural shot blocker
@JRyman
You are dead right. Dead right.
Well i DID watch the game again this aft. Tralor played well, boxed out well, missed a few things like every one else did.
Btw my close re-watching of the last 3 games (espn 3 replay) has opened my eyes to poor defense by several KU starters, Perry for one. Both mason and graham are late often fighting thru picks to get their man who drains a three. Bragg.. Well he's a freshman with considerable talent and great upside, but who needs to work on his D.
its getting a bit weird the way Certain posters here keep hammering away on Traylor.
@JayHawkFanToo
Clearly perry doenst understand basketball or team play.
Hasnt he taken a hard look at jamari's stats ??
Perry needs to log on to this site to really learn about the strengths and weaknesses of his coach and teammates. Sad really
:)
Well... This is the time of year for good fun wins without a ton of stress ;)
Bragg -13 minutes, jamari - 14, hunter 15 mins.
Bragg and diallo will continue to get minutes especially if they work hard and dont make mistakes on d. That is the key for them. Low energy and super sloppy d in first half by the team. Jamari is playing very good D and boxing out. hunter is also playing very good d and he has good timing on shot blocks. Bragg has defensive lapses. Perry continues to be a liability on d 60- 70% of the time. But diallo is going to be fun to watch - he has a ton of skills and energy. As has been mentioned earlier, he needs more discipline on leaving his man to try and block every shot.
These are good games for him and bragg because there is a lot of room for error against weaker opponents.
Fun fun fun!!
Enjoy the good times :)
Good topic- and , as has been mentioned earlier in the thread by HEM, it does speak to what it is one gets out of being a fan of KU.
I do think the streak is historic - ESPECIALLY in a very competitive conference. Plus for me it is a goal i look forward to. The season builds up to it, and in our conference the games can be ferocious and nail biting. Winning the conf is definitely a big deal even though we have won it a lot. Then we have the b12 tourney, a mini fun goal, then we enter the big crapshoot. At this point my personal expectations are in direct proportion to how good a team we appear to have. The greater you appear to be, the harder the fall when you lose. Just ask kentucky and their fans last year. When you come in as a modest team, every win in the tourney is a bonus gift and yes, lets us watch another game by our beloved team.
Would i take a few National championships over the streak? Yes.
But im incredibly proud of the streak and our coach and the whole program. I can live with just the streak- easy :)
Now - another question is - how much would your fan-dom be tested if KU became an average also-ran team (like the VAST majority of D1 programs)? How many years of this before your interest would wane?
For those here who thrive on criticism of the program, it would give you plenty of fodder and fuel. For some it would be sad, and may lead to an eventual distancing and lack of caring anymore.
@wrwlumpy
The word is that diallo practices very hard and at full speed. self loves that and rewards playing time to those players.
If diallo does the basics well (moves his feet on d and stays with his man, picks up switches quickly, boxes out and passes out to the open man when he is double- teamed on offense) he will see more and more time as the season progresses because of his rim protection and rebounding.
Heck he may even be able to score down low.
Self wants a good big man badly, it fits into his scheme, and so it may mean less minutes to JamLucTer
@Crimsonorblue22
Yep
I'm in MA
On espn 3
Good chance to watch jayhawk-for-life AW III do his thing. He leads the team in scoring.
@wissoxfan83
Well, i suppose it depends on what you like when you watch basketball.
A former fan of NBA ball myself many years ago, i find the NBA stunningly boring to watch now. Lots of one on one plays by aurguably really good players, no real defense, and endless close to meaningless regular season games. Who cares when a player dunks as he flys by 2 or thre guys who dont try to stop him.
Im sure there are tons of people on this site who could better articulate why the National Boring Association is inferior to d1 college ball despite the fact that nba players are incredibly talented.
@HighEliteMajor and asadZ
I do get what you are saying. And yes if bragg gets more minutes it will be definitely good thing.
What your posts about traylor have caused me to do is now watch each game again very closely and rewind a lot duing certain plays. I was even tempted (a LOT of work! ) is to post here a play-by-play of the vandy game making notes about what key kansas players were doing away from ball.
Some things that i saw when yesterday i re-watched the vandy game- traylor played defense quite well - a few times he didn't recognize a switch (other players started covering his guy) quick enough and got burned by the guy he should have been covering, he did have some mistakes on d, but i would venture to say he played the best consistent defense of any kansas player. He ran out of gas near the end of the game, and got burned twice i believe, and was pulled.
Perry played lackadasical d at times and did not box out his big man, and the team got burned. I saw this at least three times. Also carlton bragg switched of his man to double team on d and thus his man got open for a quick pass and bucket. He is young though.
Also traylor set some key picks during our second half run where kansas started building a lead. These dont show up in stats. The play where perry got the ball in the corner, drove past his man and jammed the ball was greatly assisted by traylor who screened of his man to allow perry an unobstructed run to the hoop. The announcers even praised traylors quick action. Another interesting play- Jamari got inside posistion on his man and graham fed him down low, Jamari made a quck move to under the hoop for a reverse layup. Vandy's 7 footer, who was covering lucas, leaped toward jamari and got a partial block on the shot, but lucas, now not covered, took the blocked ball and jammed it home. Lucas also had some good moments and some typically bad ones and a few lapses on d.
There was a play where a vandy player drove by wayne, and should have been stopped by perry. He cut right and passed perry right near the basket. Jamari was near and kept boxing out his guy to prevent a pass to him, and at the last second tried to block the shot - too late. Cheik would have more than likely blocked that shot. We all know we need a real rim protector.
Hunter played well and seriously HUSTLED during his brief minutes. He boxed out well and rebounded. Why he is not getting more playing time i dont quite get. However he was covering a big who got the ball down low, carlton came over to double team and blanket the player, and the vandy big got past hunter to reverse layup the ball. Bad play definitely by hunter. The announcers said that should have never happened.
Both wayne frank and devonte were late at times on fighting thru screens to get to their man, and it resulted on open shots for vandy guards who hit their shots. But overall good consistent d was played, and of course wayne had a big time shooting game.
Closely Re-watching games has really helped me to see what kansas players do away from the ball both on offense and defense and thus better understand players strengths and weaknesses and lapses.
Im not sure your stats tell the whole story as usual.
He played really good defense, moves his feet really well, set picks and boxed out and made some hustle plays. He is a classic role player.
You know the old story about the man seeing a drunk on his hands and knees in a big parking lot at night. He ask him what he is doing, and the drunk answers "i lost my keys in the parking lot" the man asks him why is he only looking under the lamppost and the drunk answers "the light is better here" You will always find a way to make your stats tell the story you want.
What im way more perplexed about is hunters minimal playing time as compared to lucas. Not sure why that is
We did win - traylor helped in that win. That is a fact.
Random question- i wonder if Perry may be among the most shot blocked jayhawk in their history - anybody know how to find a stat like that?
1- The boys played excellent defense last nite, and they did not overly foul.
This will bode really well for KU with the tighter rules in place (we are going to assume the refs will be consistent throughout the season:)
2- Still not entirely sure why hunter does not get more time at this stage.
He hustles big time - i honstly think self feels that lucas is the physically strongest of the three amigos - as meester Bate has identified we do have a three or four headed hydra that can hustle play d, rebound and have low shotmaking (hunter and Bragg)
3- was it just me, or there some REAL team chemistry out there ?
Cheik jumping off bench to help Bragg out of the stands, and selden grabbing him and telling to sit down lest the NCAA vacate the win - maybe my favorite moment.
4- as has been noted, not pulling svi for hucking errant treys is a great sign.. We shall see. Let svi and brannen play through misses.
Watch the game again. Traylor has been boxing out very well in the last 4 games. People have talked in the past abount his poor rebounding and not boxing out, but he is consistently doing it now. When he does that, it clears a space for frank to swoop in. Its a start for jamari :)
@justanotherfan
"Numbers that matter:
VS. Michigan State 3-15 from 3pt
VS UCLA 10-23 from 3pt"
Michigan state played very good 3 point D against us
UCLA did not- lotta open 3 looks
Well, JUST in CASE we do happen to lose tonight, since it'll be late in the evening, why don't we just get a jump on posting and save some time?
Bill self must go.
He clearly can't understand the strength of his players and is playing the wrong style and the wrong people always.
Jamari shouldn't be playing at all. Bragg should have everyone of his minutes .
Our players aren't leaders, they have no fighting team spirit, and it is self's coaching style that is to blame.
Since we aren't able to recruit at the level of Duke and Kentucky, it serves us right to lose with a bunch of lower ranked players.
Brannen Green would've won the game for us, but since Bill self refuses to play him, Brandon had no choice but to mouth off and now he is sitting at home.
Since we are an Adidas school, it will get much worse before anything changes.
( let me know if I've missed anything )
:)
thanks guys - very good stories and great perspective. Good to know the sports backgrounds of some of the regular poster on here, and the more human side of behind the scenes dynamics.
(although I think Jaybate is part cyborg or a test computer program at MIT :)
Having never been part of a team past say middle school, Just wanted to get perspective on Brannen' locker room argument/tirade/face-off with Self. someone here who has spent time playing competitive ball and could provide some insights, or has seen something like this?
As I posted on another thread abou north carolina losing-
Well - Let me guess what’s being written on some NC fan site right now
Roy clearly can’t adapt to his players strengths, and is forcing his usual game strategy on them. The game is passing him by. He is playing his favorite seasoned players over his talented freshman who clearly have better upside, and he is clearly too blind to see this, whereas people on their site clearly know better. Time for Roy to step down and move on and get fresh blood in NC who can recruit at the level of duke and Kentucky.
Well -
Let me guess what's being written on some NC fan site right now
- Roy clearly can't adapt to his players strengths, and is forcing his usual game strategy on them.
The game is passing him by.
He is playing his favorite seasoned players over his talented freshman who clearly have better upside, and he is clearly too blind to see this, whereas people on their site clearly know better.
Time for Roy to step down and move on and get fresh blood in NC who can recruit at the level of duke and Kentucky.
Did everyone who has posted on this thread re-watch the game?? Easy to do on espn 3
I'll bet HEM did. I did- and specifically re-watched a lot of plays to track what players were doing away from the ball. I saw a lot of things, but
The biggest thing i saw was not good D near the end of the game by certain kansas players, combined with valentine having a great night. i am by no means a basketball expert, but it seemed that MSU guarded the perimeter very well, and our guards were instructed to drive a lot apparently. In other words, i didnt see that our game plan was profoundly mis-guided. I didnt see that running screens and plays designed to open up out 3-pt shooters would have worked any better with how MSu was playing d. Lucas had some good plays, and some really really bad ones. Traylor had a very solid game- great defense, boxing out, and he picked some good spots to drive which paid off. We had the lead for most of the game against a quality opponent on a neutral site. Bragg had good plays, and some out of position mistakes as well.
But the question posed here (i think) is if Mickelson and bragg played a lot more, we would have won, and in the case of Bragg, the more experience he gets, the better he will help us as the season progresses.
I cant argue with the latter, but the former I'm definitely not sure about.
Yesterday i watched the game again, replaying key plays and looking at them closely to see what players were doing away from the ball.
I suggest everybody on this site do the same.
Self is not to blame you Idgits !!!
Yes, Lucas had some bad plays, and still not sure why hunter got amost no playing time. His short time in the game wasnt stellar for sure.
The usual whipping boy on this site, Traylor, in fact had a solid game, boxing out, playing defense, and taking advantage of opportunities.
Perry had some BAD defense and lack of boxing out near the end of the game as did frank trying to chase valentine and their other guard, and being too slow to get there. more that anything, BETTER DEFENSE near the end of the game would have made the difference. Self has always preached defense as the number one thing, correct?? MSU's defense near the end of the game was REALLY good. Apparently Izzo understands that defense is king too.
But The real reason we lost a close game against a quality team is that near the end of the game, valentine threw up a bunch of shots that went in. True, On his driving layup, perry was under the basket and closest to valentine, and could have altered his shot by at least putting his hand in the air, but stood there instead. And valentine's floating mini- hook that rattled around the rim was also poorly defended either by lucas or perry.
But some valentine shots were well defended, and he hit them. He had a monster game. Thats what good confident veteran players do sometimes.
By the way MSU appeared to do a great job defending the three. As far as i could see, trying to get guys like greene and svi open for threes wouldnt have been a better game plan against MSU
A lot of great points on this thread !
As has been much debated on this site over the years, the NCAA tournament is so great precisely because it still is ultimately a crapshoot.
Obviously the odds of a 14-15-16 seed winning it all are astronomically small, but great teams, historic teams, still lose in the tournament. It just is what it is. Imagine being a kentucky fan last year... Their WHOLE season was simply framed as "win it all or the season is a FAILURE" (thank god for wisconsin). But for me, i never have had huge expectations not matter how amazing the KU team we bring into it, so it is not a crushing letdown like it is apparently for many on this site.
Everybody here has a slightly (or majorly) different take on what it means to be a fan of KU. I wonder if people on this site have truly examined the particular type and nature of why they are a fan? Its at the core of why sites like this and many others exist. I have always found that for me, it is like a relationship to someone or something you care about. It is not rational at its most elemental level. Relationships are messy and irrational. You dont really pick teams to root for and care about, in essence they pick you. Life has a funny way of paring you up with the people or things you end up emotionally connected to. Relationships can be exhilarating, unexpected, exciting, rewarding, hard to understand sometimes, and they can be frustrating, and oh yes they can be PAINFUL. For many posters here, it apparently helps them to make sense of things to analyse to a high degree all the factors that go into the players, the coach, the strategy. The attempt to rationalize something that you care about on an emotional level.
Some KU games now i tape and watch later, because i get too stressed and worked up watching them live - my blood pressure skyrockets !
I dont have control over this honestly. For some reason, although i essentially do like and root for all the KU players, some players i just naturally like more. Malcolm Gladwell, in his book "Blink" illustrated how our preceptions work unconsiously and we get quick impressions about people and things instinctively. He calls it "thin-slicing". Sometimes this can be an astonishingly accurate tool as shown by studies and data compiled afterward, and sometimes it can be really ultimately wrong. For example, i cant explain and rationalize why certain past KU players were my favorites (Sherron, Kevin Young, travis, Russell robinson- i actively disliked selby from the get-go and could'nt explain why), and why Jamari is my current favorite jayhawk, but he is, and no amount of posters statistically dissecting why jamari is at best a very limited role player and a poor choice for Self to Play will change that.
So i watch the games, try and understand more about the intricacies of the game and our players and coach but honestly, although i may be dissapointed, pissed off, or perplexed at times by the team, i have no real control over the level of my caring about the team. It's alreadly hardwired in.
@wrwlumpy
yep!
put bolts on Jamari's neck, Self's neck and Lucas too :)
so - help me understand
everybody wants more Hunter because... of WUG?
he did of course play well there.
am I missing other more fundamental things about Hunter that I'm not aware of? don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of his, just don't quite understand this apparent recent outcry for more hunter
and, yes not at all sure why he rode pine last night, other that Self must have thought Jam and Lucaus were a better macthup with Mich St.
@Crimsonorblue22
I amy have miseed something about Hunter's game skills from last year - I remember he didn't do much given his limited minutes.
but of course in the WUG, he played very well - soI'm surmising that when every here is screaming for Hunter to play more, they are basing it on on his WUG results.
so, we shall see as the season progresses.
more random thoughts - how many times did Perry get blocked? Devonte must have been given the green light to shoot otherwise I'm guessing he would have been pulled after some of those wild shots.
THANK YOU!!!
Best thing of my day is seeing this
How was his D btw?
(I missed the game, and some unknown reason ESPN 3 is NOT making it available for replay. beyond frustrated here ! )
The heart of what apparently drives you crazy. Jamari.
From jesse Newell's 11-12-15 cjonline article:
"Self’s favorite play from last season isn’t a game-winning shot; instead, it’s a hustle play from Jamari Traylor where he rose quickly from the baseline after taking a spill against Texas, sprinted to midcourt and snagged a loose ball.
“The best play I’ve seen since I’ve been at Kansas,” Self said afterward."
Think about that for a minute. Certainly no reason to think Self is being hyperbolic. He truly MEANS that. And He has certainly seen some great performances , individual plays, and awe-inspiring moments in his time here.
So if im reading your arguments right, (a big if !) Self is to blame, not Jamari. What Self values in a player and what he values as a philosophy of how the sport should be approached is embodied in large part by a guy like Jamari. And we can also assume His recent statement of "by junior year, you either get it or you don't" means that to Self, Jamari "gets it", otherwise he would have told Jamari a good while ago that he may want to
transfer because his playing time will dissappear. You have often pointed out your critisicms of Self's strategic game style philosophy of hi- low, fool's gold, etc, which is the kind of discourse that makes fan sites like this thrive, (it doubtlessly happens everywhere where you have passionate fans) but now you can add Self's notion of what he values
Very highly in an athlete's approach to how to play the game to your list of critisicms. Self is who you are angry with, not Jamari.
("Anger"may not be the right word here, but sometimes it kinda feels like you are. There is a sense (by me at least) that your jamari posts and comments are laced lately with a vindictiveness )
@jaybate-1.0
Im with you 100% (as usual)
Jamari is a Jayhawk, and we all know he will see a decent amount of court time this year unless he is injured or goes into a serious downward turn. He has put his time in to the program, bought into Self's vision, he has worked hard, so all i can do is root hard for him, loudly applaud his good moments, and try and hope his shortcomings are outweighed by them. I feel that way about Hunter and Lucas as well. Why spend a lot of mental negative energy on constantly bemoaning why we didnt get so-and- so bigs instead of who we have now, and how theoretically that would make us a more viable ncaa champion?
These are our guys, and Self is our couch, and i am thrilled that the season is upon us :)
Interesting that you zeroed in on one part of traylor's game- yes his rebounding skills are not good, im pretty sure (sans looking up his stats) he has never been a good rebounder - (low BB IQ has been the consensus here)
Your "report" may have been more elucidating if you had included his whole stat line.
9 points, 2 rb, 2 assists, 1 TO, 2 steals (3 for 3 from the line)
If Self wanted traylor in the game as a major rebounder, he wouldn't play him very much, would he?
Again, i find it hard to believe that Self, who knows more about basketball and his players than certainly me and most KU fans, is only playing Traylor because he likes him and that he works hard in practice. If Hunter and Bragg are going to be the more productive bigs, then Self will play them more, because he is in the business of winning.
Self clearly thinks Traylor is productive and adding to the teams' winning chances.
@nuleafjhawk
Cannot agree more...
Make a list of your favorite top 20 KU players since say, 1985...
How many OAD's make anyones list?
Selby does make my list - he's no 1 on my LEAST favorite players
@Statmachine
You've probably explained how you are able to IM KU players in a previous post (or two), but any chance you could fill me and other clueless board denizens on the history behind your communication?
(Im of course too lazy to do a previous thread search :)
Thanks
random musings...
Graham- mason combo looks very very good - they will learn not to pick up open court fouls as season gets going hopefully. Mason is our alpha.
Bragg played like his Pre-college ranking said he should... great BB IQ, strength, hustle and touch- I'm optimistic we get the expected two years out of him although the better he plays, the higher is NBA stock will rise sadly
of the three amigos, (or Stooges depending on your outlook...Hunter/Jam/Lucas), Hunter played with good BB IQ and made the most of his 13 minutes.
a few hesitations under the rim rather than strong to the hoop, but he is picking up where he left off from the WUG. Self will have to play him more because he has no choice currently.
SIT (Statistically Inferior Traylor) I thought played well considering he has the lowest BB IQ of the three - 9 points, 2 OR, 2 A, 2S and only 1 To - his achilles heel is the TO- Athleticism is why he's getting minutes - his back-rim missed breakaway dunk is no surprise, but remember his athleticism got him in position to even make that play in the first place. Lucas... just a bad bad out of synch game. sigh
wayne - some good assists and rebounding, but letting guys blow by you?? that to me was the worst part of him last night.
SVI - defense will keep you in the floor.. not looking like a turnstile and letting guys go through-by you - sigh
perry being Perry - good scoring down low, always good with smaller teams, rebounding, and TO's - hopefully his defense will improve as the season gets going, but you-get-what-you-get-and-don't get-upset with our senior
LaG - like like like him - going to fun to watch
Brannen.. (see SVI)
team box-out drills over and over and over... and over
Actually i was thinking what if it was Greene too... ? Playing enough D to keep himself in the game, Getting crazy fearless and dropping trey-bombs in huge points of games :) (can't WAIT for season to start yikes!)
Logic says Mason or Wayne... Although i wouldn't be surprised if Wayne has a few struggling off games. Which will hopefully be more than offset by take-over performances or blazing stretches.
Lets hope Hunter's play translates to the more physical D1 style
You're exactly right about #31 being the difference-
And I am going now to spell out why using a series of carefully prepared power points, JamPom statistics, probability tables, astronomical solar wind charts, and basketball actuarial data compiled over the last 20 years...
Oh crap… I don't have the time for all of this (wife is screaming for me to go out and shoot a possum for dinner - she hates to miss her TV stories and cook late) so I'll just say in my heart you are (hopefully ) right
Who knows ?
Cletus
Well... I for one can relate to this thread. I'm guessing a lot of people can relate to what jryman is saying. I do not go to other sports sites that fans post to, so i dont have anything to compare this to other that the old kusports site that many here got started on. There seems to be a definite hierarchy here of posters who come across very knowledgeable and informed, and those (like me) who are less so. As much as i learn from posters, here, i also feel that that my opinions are less valuable because
I cant whip off a long post of stats and percentages to make an argument for or against someones else's opinion. And yes, i have also often asked myself "has anybody played D1 ball or coached basketball at a high level here?" Maybe they have...
This is defintely a quality site for sure, and funny, thought provoking, and entertaining to boot !
So i will continue to try and learn, try and not get too worked up over some posts that in my gut i disagree with, and continue to be a huge fan of our team (and yes my favotite current player is Jamari )
Because for me it is NOT all about winning and pecentages and how far we get in the ncaa tournament.
(What was is like for kentucky fans last year?? Their historic stack of oads and tads made anything less that winning it all a LETDOWN)
Really is that what we want to aspire to?
Question - Is Bolden considered a high probability OAD?
That article mentions things that seem to address some of the issues discussed on this lengthy thread - Self mentions that Chieck did everything that was asked of him at school, and now the ncaa is investigating essentially the curriculum of the school, and may be backlogged on individual cases.
Also, im guessing that Self does not, at least in the early recruiting stages , personally delve into the details of a particular athete's eligibility.
He has staff to do that, and then im guessing they usually give him a report on potential issues and probabilities. In the example of a big fish like Cheick, he would eventually step in, make some calls, and get as much info as he needs to because he of course is responsible at the end of the day.
Again just my guess..
Yep - I loved the guy - he was in essence a big kid having he was in essence big kid having fun - he was always smiling and had such great enthusiasm - he was a bit weird and different and seemed to understand that the NBA is really entertainment at its core.
Someone here posted some Darrell dunk highlights like two or three weeks ago… They are absolutely ferocious dunks ... The guy was A behemoth with athleticism
This is a story I heard from a friend of mine who was a Sixers fan… Not sure if I remembered it right, but Darrell had been complaining that his shoulder really hurt - but his doctor couldn't find anything - One day his doctor happen to see darryl near the stadium with a boombox on his shoulder The size of a small sofa that must've weighed 70 pounds - he called Darryl and said " I think I've diagnosed your shoulder pain ..."
He was a original, and put a smile on my face many times
RIP mr Thunder
For Work, pleasure, research for future in- depth buckets posts?
I recall a survey a few years ago about happiness and money- i think it was conducted in the us canada, and most of europe- When people make enough money to eat, pay their bills and can live fairly comfortably (i.e a lower to high middle class income) they are obviously happier than those who struggle to make enough to live. But beyond that level of income, there is no measurable increase in happiness, and some strong evidence to suggest that being rich can add to stress and unhappiness.
I was able to see this firsthand growing up - i spent time every year with my grandfather in palm beach- he was quite wealthy and all his circle of friends and societal connections were mostly old money american names. I socialized with ther kids and they were pretty much all messed up- depressed, insecure, dependent on drugs, searching for purpose, kinda pathetic. They used their wealth like a pretty woman who has nothing else going for her uses her looks.
I can only guess, but maybe a guy like Embiid really doesnt need to be rich to be happy and fulfill his ambitions. Wouldnt be surprised if he gave a lot of money to african related causes.
Probably this video is old and has been posted before, but
Quite good about Kansas basketball tradition
(And not sure a facebook link will work here)
(https://www.facebook.com/mike.woodward.31/videos/10205864433383633/) ↗
Another thing I'll never forget reading about…and what my dad told me
When American troops during World War II went through France (including my father) on their way to defeating Germany, they had very mixed relations with the French… while some were grateful to be liberated, some are angry and resentful. There didn't seem to be a lot effort by the French to rebuild parts of thier country that had been destroyed by war. My father actually didn't respect the French people he met. Of all the people they encountered, including the dutch and the Belgians, the nicest people they met were actually the Germans their enemy .
Polite, clean, hard-working, respectful and fastidiously working hard to clean up and repair their completely flattened cities. Mentally prepared for a long time to want to hate all Germans because of the Nazis, A lot of American GIs felt A respect and almost kinship with them. My father tried to describe this dichotomy to me but I was too young to understand
Another bad stretch for my man jamtray