🏀 KuBuckets Archive

K state player came off tHe bench to go after de Souza. He should be suspended heavily

De Souza did not drop the stool
It was pulled away from him. He looked like he wanted to hit the guy with the stool
He is screwed- screwed from self, and from the ncaa

Seth Greenberg predicting popovich will retire and Self will take over spurs. I myself can NEVER see Self babysitting pros... he’s already crazy rich, and loves coaching college kids. Loves it.
Even if the NCAA bans him, I honestly doubt he would wanna coach pros. A coach in the National Boring Association is always always always second to the players.

Oh, and happy new year to all the bucket heads here

link text ↗

We are going to see Marcus on his senior night (And I will be wearing my number 0 Garrett jersey while I watch),
And he will be an overseas player, hopefully bank some good $, (a lot of those teams pay all the taxes on your salary and give you housing and transportation ), and eventually he will get into coaching ... he will either work for Self, or Self will make sure he gets into a good coaching situation

That’s Red rocks amphitheater in the foothills of the Rockies south of boulder.
I grew up in Denver - lotsa good concerts were held there. This was early 70’s- lotsa substances were consumed. Good fun times.
I spent a decent amount of time in Boulder, messing around on the flatirons (those big slanted rock faces near the campus pictured nicely by mr. WrwLumpy) , once bit off more that I could chew there (pot and rock climbing do not mix- I was lucky to not slide to my death) . both my siblings and many of my friends graduated from CU.
One memorable concert at CU’s football stadium on a very sunny hot afternoon in the early 70’s was the Grateful Dead.. I and my best friend, we were 10th graders at the time, went and enjoyed the spectacle of many many mostly high concert- goers frolicking and gyrating to the music.. I distinctly remember many female patrons beating the heat by going topless ... we worked our way close to the stage which was at the north end zone, and not to long after, a guy came from the back of the stage dragging three very large heavy plastic bags. With the band still jamming away, he opened the bags which were all filled with hundreds of full ounce baggies of pot, each baggie containing rolling papers and matches, and proceeded to throw them out to the crowd. The crowd went into a roaring frenzy trying to catch as many as humanly possible as they were raining down, my friend and I stuffing as many as we could in our shirts and pants... it was a crazy melee and we almost got trampled by the surging crowds.. a bit terrifying actually. Exhausted, we eventually fought our way back to the far end zone, and thinking we had just hit the lottery, proceeded to roll up a few joints, and spark them up.... worst headache-inducing coughing-fit producing no-high-whatsoever pot ever. We just left all the ounce bags on the ground at that point... as did many people. But otherwise a memorable day, one of many that I had growing up in Colorado :)

I have been wrong on this before, but seems to me Silvio will be around next year. Which is a good thing. He has the athletic ability, so he just needs to figure out how and when to use it. He has a pretty good coach, and pretty good assistant coaches as well, so you know they will be working hard with him.
And I have to say, I was skeptical on Biggus Davus last year... but there is clearly marked improvement from last year. Another good/great thing.

He has the highest basketball IQ on the team. He sets picks, finds the open man, rebounds, initiates plays well, moves the ball well, and BOXES OUT. If he is having a bad shooting night, he is smart enough to find ways to help the team offensively. On defense... don’t need to say another word here. He will never be a great pure shooter, but that is ok.
We need Ochai and Moss to hit their threes - that is more important. And Doke making free throws - was nice to see him hit some key ones last night.
Self isn’t truly comfortable with Marcus on the bench... ok he’s not truly comfortable anytime, but Self relies on Marcus a lot.

So
Is he considered a (gulp) OAD?

We out shot them percentage wise, field goals, 3 point percentage, (yes they made 4 more total) and free throw percentage. Out rebounded them too by 10. One more block then the dookies, one more steal, even in assists.
Turnovers - 11 more then them. It was close ... Biggus Davus made a bonehead pass, but it could have been us to win
Let’s hope we meet the blue dookwads again in the tourney.

Well it certainly would be nice to think that Garretts shot is improved and better. For years, Marcus Garrett has been discussed ad infinitum on this site as to his shooting, which is kind of crazy because in the big scheme of things Garrett’s shot is not that important and really has never been that important. It’s kind of like discussing Tom Brady‘s inability to rush effectively out of the pocket. The Garrett shooting question has been driven by a few posters on this site to the point of it being almost ridiculous. He will get playing time regardless of whether he’s having a good night shooting or not because of everything else he does. He is a Self favorite and It is baldly obvious to see why – he does everything the coach wants a player to do. He contributes in a great variety of ways and he makes the team better. Garrett said that he was most proud of the fact last night that he had zero turnovers. And yes, things would improve if Garrett could more effectively hit open shots, Self has told him to take them, and yes defenses will have to adjust if he starts hitting, but trust me he will not get benched for missing shots. Now if Ochai and Moss start missing a lot of shots and they are not getting back on D, they are not boxing out they are not switching well defensively, then they will get benched. That’s the difference.

and - If you want to worry about a KU player’s shooting skills, and how it could affect the outcome of games the entire season, a FAR FAR MORE important worry is Aziubuke at the foul line. If he is healthy he will be a foul magnet virtually every time down the floor game in and game out. His ability to at least hit half of his foul shots Will be a big deal for this team.

Help me here.. I am “slow” ... why again is Bill leaving seem to some a foregone conclusion?

Is All this rhetoric from the school and Self just a smokescreen? ( example - recent USA Today article excerpt “"We're going to fight them (the NCAA)," Self told reporters on Wednesday at Kansas' media day for the 2019-20 season. "We're aligned as a university, an athletic department and certainly our basketball program. We haven't had a chance to tell our stories on what these allegations say that could have transpired. I put the emphasis on allegations.")

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/27/sports/ncaabasketball/kansas-ncaa-bill-self.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share ↗

@wissox
Yep, the article you were referring to was kindly posted in the new KU news feeds section of this site -

http://www2.kusports.com/news/2019/sep/24/analysis-understanding-what-matters-and-what-doesn/ ↗

The gist of this is... not good for KU. The schools lawyers will fight hard, and as Jay Bilas has recently said in this Kansas City Star article https://www.kansascity.com/sports/college/big-12/university-of-kansas/article235447037.html ↗ this case may likely go all the way to federal court, and will take a good long while to Resolve, probably earliest in summer 2020.

So yes, let enjoy this season !! I am sooo looking forward to basketball, and I think this team will circle the wagons no matter what taunts or innuendo or statements thrown at us.

All you here on this site, may I suggest we circle the wagons too ? Bucketeers agains the world!

ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK

The overwhelming fact is: the NCAA had absolutely zero choice after the FBI investigation broke. No choice at all… To save the last tiny sliver of their legitimacy and “integrity “they had no choice. As far as the explosion of money in college athletics, the train has left the station long long ago and as KCMatt has said, it is way too late to bring the train back. The NCAA needed to figure out a better more effective way to address this a long time ago in order to have any hope at all of keeping it in check. Sadly Adidas, far behind Nike, went and got the Watergate burglars in Gatto and Gassnola and the rest, and they got busted.

KU Unequivocably should fight this to the bitter end and with every resource they have.

We all know that despite the inevitable evolution of college athletics and the obscene amount of money that is now involved, Kansas basketball is bigger than all of this. Kansas basketball is a unique program, and it is bigger than this investigation, it is bigger than Bill Self, it is bigger than Adidas. We all understand this because of all the years we watched many senior nights, read Landon Lucas’s article about the true depth of the specialness of KU nation, countless examples of what is awesomely magical about The storied program of Kansas basketball. We will get through this. And who knows what we will find at the end of this journey. In all honesty, I am optimistic.
Rock chalk

A quote from Selfs response -

“By the NCAA's own admission through its public statements early this summer, it's no secret that there is tremendous pressure on the NCAA to respond to the federal court proceedings involving college basketball ... ”

Amen. To paraphrase a line from the movie “A Few Good Men”, they were “bullied into the courtroom. “

Yep...
Tell me something new ... other that the ncaa taking the “booster” route for Adidas. This will drag on an on. KU will throw an army of lawyers at the NCAA to see how much fight they have in them to take on an elite program.

Now comes the recruiting fun... Self said he was energized, well now he’s got his work cut out for him, and I think he relishes this. Much much less coddling and competing for OAD’s for a while, now he’s going to beat the bushes and get creative.

It is the way it’s going...
Not too long ago, Pretty much every KU game I could watch for “free”, because of espn 3 (you of course had to have espn as part of your cable package, which pretty much everyone did)
But with the powerhouse elite programs, they realized there were many people all over the country and beyond who follow their respective team, like all of us in KU Nation, so why not make us pay ?
We are all going to sign up for espn plus - what choice do we have?

Copied here for your convenience, a Recent Landen Lucas letter to KU fans

Kinda sums it up doesn’t it ?

“Dear Jayhawk Nation,

It might be strange to say, but I never truly understood what being a Kansas Jayhawk meant until my days in a KU uniform were over. It's something I have learned in the two years since I played my final game in the Crimson and Blue. This week, when I have seen so many former players, coaches and fans, I believe I can now express what it means to be a member of this incredible community and how important that is to me.

Don't get me wrong, I valued my time in Lawrence and as a member of this program. The wins we fought together for, the trophies we lifted and the memories we made are still surreal for me to this day. The epic triple-overtime win over Oklahoma, and coming back from 14 down in the final three minutes to beat West Virginia my senior year are just a snapshot of my favorite memories that we made.

But when you're at the ground level, so invested in practice, in class, in games and everything else that 18-22 year olds face on a daily basis, it's easy to forget to stop and take a look around to get a true appreciation of all the great things Kansas is.

Eventually it has all sunk in for me and I have realized what I was and am still a part of. I gained perspective and I now have a greater appreciation for what it means to be a part of this program, this school and this community. Playing in the games I played in and playing in front of the greatest fans in the country was truly the honor of a lifetime.

The fans – you are the backbone of this program. If you take one thing from this message, it's this: Everything you do, it is noticed. From packing the Fieldhouse hours before tip-off, traveling in the thousands to road arenas, even writing letters and giving us words of encouragement. It all mean so much to this team. We might not always be able to show how much all these gestures mean to us, but everyone I know who has been a part of the program really does notice all of it and appreciates it.

My professional career has taken me all over the world and everywhere I go, there are Kansas fans somewhere. It's hard to go through a day where I don't run into at least one Jayhawk. You're always so proud of the school and so appreciative of my small contribution to Kansas basketball and I'll be forever grateful for that.

Being a Jayhawk is truly being a part of this family forever. Even once you leave, the feelings of belonging and legacy are still there. The continued support is like no other, whether it's from the fans, donors or alumni, everyone comes together to form this incredible support structure that I feel very privileged to be a part of.

As a part of this KU family, you are a part of something that's so much bigger than yourself. Every time we stepped on the court and wore the "Kansas" across our chest, we were representing something way bigger than the team. Being a part of something like that makes you want to strive to be your best and that is what being a Jayhawk is all about.

Thank you for all you have done for me, Kansas basketball and the University. It will forever be an honor to be able to call myself a Jayhawk.

Rock Chalk!

Landen Lucas ('17)”

You can say all you want about Landen’s skills as a player, but he gets it to the core. And that core is why l LOVE KU basketball.

Gee I wonder what kind of note a guy like Quentin Grimes is going to write someday? 😁

Silvio has talked frequently about education as well.
Remember he is from a different culture, and most likely didn’t grow up in an environment where everyone around him fed the message of $$$ / NBA

Yep... that’s definitely one... I loves me my team workhorse types....
KY, JT.

more stats fun about top 100 high school ranked players from 1998 to 2013 and how their careers panned out in the NBA:

27% of the 1,563 top-ranked high school players made it to the NBA and only 25% made it past their two-year rookie contract. Put another way, 441 of the 900 draft picks in that 15 year span were top 100 recruits. Just 31 players eventually reached “superstar” status.

But perhaps the top 100 is too broad of a categorization. Surely the top 10 players will make it to the NBA more often, right?

Players ranked in the top 10 certainly appear to have slightly better odds—a full 84% of them eventually made it to the NBA. Though with 60 draft picks a year, you might expect that number to be higher.

@KUSTEVE
Jenny says - good rockin tune! thanks

and as a drummer, its nice to see a drummer sing lead..

not sure why it's in this thread, but I aint usually the sharpest crayon in the box.

Oh, and I LOVE Garrett - my fav current player. and based on the type of player he is, I'm sure people could guess my other fav KU past players...

someday I'll attempt an in-depth analysis on how guys like him help win games without necessarily scoring.

More musings…

Of Our recent acquisitions – Moss, Wilson, and Enaurua, I think we can be near 90% certain that they and their families asked self and staff point blank “ what is the status of KU and the NCAA inquiry? “ I truly doubt any of these players, players who easily could sign with other high tier D1 programs, would want to choose KU thinking that there was a 50% or at least significantly high probability that they will get slapped with a level one sanction. Playing in the NCAA tournament is a big big deal to any college basketball player. I highly doubt that Self’s answer to this question would have been “what ? nooooo, we good !! At least as far as we know! ( nervous chuckling )”
We can be near 100% certain that the answer was a detailed point by point dare I say scripted response, Hell, they might have even had a KU attorney on Skype with them, laying out their position Carefully and clearly, that they did everything correctly, the NCAA has nothing of substance on them, and that they would never withhold any information to a player in their family, and that they are 100 percent confident That they are in the right on this.

And following this line of thinking, of our recent transfers, Moore, KJ, Grimes, does anybody thank that at least part of their decision to leave would have been a worry that KU would be punished badly? Personally I would say no.

And Braun and McBride had to have also asked self this same question as well. Again who would want to sign on with the team that has a high probability of missing
The tourney or Other major sanction

Yes true.. but very interesting that they backed off on Silvio’s two year penalty. If they can decide whatever they want to do, hard evidence or not, and they ostensibly want to target us, why then give a year back from their original 2 year ban decision?? They didn’t need to do that, correct? They could have easily stuck by their original penalty.

And If they have resources, in terms of the connect-the-dots line of inquiry, the biggest dot-connecting would be Zion to Duke a very short time after the tapped KT phone conversation in which Zion-dad specifically asked for payment.... Can or will the NCAA attempt to follow up on that? My guess would be no, way too much to handle at this point.

I don’t have the time or frankly the interest to do a lot of research into what’s going on with different programs (that’s why this site is so great because of the knowledgeable people here) but Did other schools sit players who were under any kind of suspicion of impropriety like we did?? And as been pointed out, we are not close to being the biggest violators in this latest round of allegations..

@HighEliteMajor

Ha ha ! :)

No I was thinking of a word that rhymes with “tree fence”

I have to assume Jalen is fully aware of the number one thing that will earn playing time and keep him in a game with our coach...

(Pleas feel free to fill in the blank )

@KUSTEVE

“The truth is, we haven’t won dick with these OADs. All they’ve brought… for the most part… is trouble and dissension. And the teams that are using the OAD model aren’t winning anything, either. Experience wins. “

G—d. Damn. Right.

Where is there any CONCRETE evidence that any our staff was in on payments??

I haven’t followed all the details of all of this, and know that apparently they can’t use the phone tap, but help me here... we are basing KU’s supposed culpability on 2 things right??? KT saying to Zions dad “well we will do whatever it takes “ in response to him asking for money. That does NOT sound like hard evidence... and self texting “we good” to Gassnola is NOT hard evidence.
If KT said... “ didn’t you get the check???” Or Self texting “ did the payment get Silvio on board?? “ well yes that would be a completely different story. EVIDENCE, not conjecture or presumption.

On Moss I would have to assume (yes I’m a bit slow on the uptake) that grimes leaving made him reconsider Arkansas and come here... plus playing for KU vs Arkansas is (ahem) shall we say an upgrade

Yes
1) fantastic foot movement on D, And he follows right thru opponents on D to the end, Which alters a lots of shots.

2) switches well, and very vocal on switching. This often fell on deaf ears, or less experienced players were too slow to pick up the switch.

3) BOXES OUT BOXES OUT BOXES OUT ( a long running pet peeve of mine for many KU players over the years... I mean how damn hard is it to, When the shot goes up, find your man or a man and body him?? I don’t know if it is possible to do a type of analysis of how many second chance points would not be scored by opponents, and games consequently won, if more players would just box out properly, but would be interesting to see..)

4) does exactly what the coaches tell him to do and was worked on during practice ( no secret why Self and the staff love him) ... remember when (was it midway thru the season? I forgot) he started driving a ton during games?? That directive came from Self. Shoot and drive and force the defense to stop you ... granted he of course is not at all a natural scorer, But he did as told.

5) the very definition of Team Player. 100% certain I will be watching his senior night, probably wearing a Garrett jersey when I do

@BShark
Thanks
So, you’re saying its basically a done deal with Moss to KU

So anybody have an idea when we may hear from moos and/or Wilson?

And speaking of bigger issues, when’s the last time anybody here went to a regular nba season game?

I went to a celts - rockets game this year ( my daughter’s vocal group sang the national anthem)... I do know attendance is down, and is down across most pro leagues, but when you play 82 regular season games, the first thing to let slide is defense... wow. I am almost shocked that anybody would want to pay $$$$ for good seats to watch a typical nba game. A lot of One on five, little to no defense, bad shots, often due to quick shot clock, yes some good moves (made easier by half assed D), traveling all over the place, unequal calls by refs. It felt like they were going thru the motions, Another day another game, another paycheck. I couldn’t wait to go home. Stultifying. I would rather watch KU play an exhibition game, hell, a scrimmage. In my humble opinion, college basketball is sooooooo much better to watch than the Nation Boring Association.

Yes, the NBA finals do display actual defense, and intense play, which makes the regular season stand out all the more. Still would rather go to a KU regular season game vs an NBA finals game.

Yeahhh... that’s arrogance really

He is coming to theoretically play with a great team coached by a hall of famer. Good thing that he can teach our coach and program how to do things right.

@Fightsongwriter

I’m with you. I would take bets right now on whether he makes the nba or not. Quentin G-league Grimes at best. Rather than “good luck”, I’m definitely more “good riddance”
I’ve tried hard to adopt the “KU player for life” positive mentality that so many posters here have, but it’s not easy with some guys, and Grimes is one of them. He is a young man, and I suspect it’s his dad who is influencing him. I wouldn’t be surprised if his dad is already setting up meets with other programs, and compiling a list of expectations. “The ball has to go thru Quentin” ... “don’t expect him to play any more D than would be asked of him in the NBA “..

Anybody heard anything from Vick?

I saw nothing last year to lead me to believe Q was anything other than what we did see. Good luck buddy.

The real larger issue is how we keep recruiting these guys. Guys who, with their families, are solidly deluded. Guys who, With their families, are not good fits for KU for a whole lot of reasons.

Maybe other schools have had the same challenges, but Man! We seem to have a solid list of busts. Brannon, Cliff, Preston, Vick (who was not a classic bust, but... ) who’s the guy who smoked pot all the time? please feel free to fill in more names here

Yikes

Who heard???
Official??

@KUSTEVE
From what I’ve heard, ok mostly on this site, is that Q
And his dad Think he is not being utilized correctly here.

Good riddance

Q withdrawing does not mean he’s staying with Kansas.

@KUSTEVE
Good point... it’s just that, if it’s such a big decision, he would have DECIDED IT by now. Unless he is still fielding calls from people, including overseas reps, this decision has been done. His draft stock is not going up in the next hour.

@KUSTEVE

So, you surmise that he is still weighing offers?
He’s had weeks... he needs a few more hours??
... Unless he’s fielding calls from nba people right now

Why???
... The last minute??

Really?

Jerk move

Really...
if he come back to college he will eventually be a first rounder. What I’m guessing is happening is that teams are dangling some guaranteed numbers at the dotsons... teams need role players and low paid bodies and are willing to take a gamble on guaranteed contracts, but usually these are guys in the top 50. Dotson is not currently in the top 50, and would obviously benefit from more Hudy and more D1 level competition, As well as lots of TV exposure with Kansas

From a very recent 247sports article:

“...For now, Parrish listed Dotson under his expected returnees, while backcourt mate Quentin Grimes is in the “definitely gone” section despite Grimes’ lack of an official announcement to this point.”

Good !! my always very active dislike of grimes and his parents (or just his dad) keeps growing by the day. Let us only hope we can learn in future recruiting from this.

Yeah, that’s it !!! self just didn’t use you right Quentin! otherwise you would be a first-rounder!!

Here’s more fun about NBA second round picks
!0_1559091793327_33793FFD-F890-454A-ADDE-CDC2AD18CD52.jpeg ↗

@Woodrow

More from the article that talks about how more and more second rounders are getting guaranteed contracts and thus deciding to stay In the draft

“...That doesn’t mean it’s always the right decision to forego remaining eligibility. These salaries are big, but they aren’t life-changing and certainly don’t amount to the kind of money that would allow a player to avoid having to work once their basketball career comes to an end. What it does is muddy the waters, and make it that much more likely that a borderline first round pick would opt to enter the NBA draft.”

The odds are small that coming back to school would hurt him, the odds are very high that another year at KU will greatly help him.
He wants to be a high draft pick ? Get yer arse back to KU.

Interesting... from his dad:
“I kept it on the backburner,” Rod Hampton said. “I want the public to know this isn’t a fly by night move. RJ could get in to Stanford. He has a 1280 on the SAT and a 3.7 GPA. We aren’t doing this for financial reasons or he has to do this, he could have gone to college.”

Apparently the deal he cut with the breakers is more money than G league, plus mention of some sort of shoe deal....
I guess if you are a sure-fire nba level player, this would make sense.

Which begs the question... if you are a 5-star level guy, what does playing in college get you vs going pro somewhere?

Granted, He is going to play for a small audience compared to a marquee college program, but is only ostensibly for a year. No classes, just hoops and hopefully lots of body work to prepare for the physical beating of the pros, especially the insanely long nba schlepathon season.

Ok by me actually.. RJ was clearly all about going pro. Period.