Allen Field House
My Graceland
JRyman
1097 posts
Looks like Canada is going with small ball.
Hopefully our depth inside should give us a huge advantage. Especially since Perry can run the floor and play outside some. Jamari is athletic too.
Let's hope the younger guys get a good feel for Self ball and learn now and are ready come November.
The only surprise to me in the end is that he ended up in Chicago and not Minnesota, where he worked in their front office before ISU.
I felt his time in Ames was always an audition for the League.
He will get charter flights, top notch hotels and other travel accommodations, he will be more of a supervisor than a teacher for a head coach in the NBA over college.
OK this might be a little overboard, but if your school does nothing to stop it then yes you should be punished more than a financial fine. If it happens time after time then yes, review it and take away the win.
But buyer beware, maybe all the KU fans wear purple to Lil Apple and storm the court after a loss and give KU the victory??? Not that it would happen, but that could be an issue somewhere.
At least adopt what the SEC does and fine schools for this!!!!
So does the Mayor leave Ames?
Does Cal leave Lexington?
I'm not sure when I fell in love it, maybe around the 4th grade. Our school system would make teams picked by the boys and girls varsity coaches from the 4th, 5th and 6th grade classes and each team would be coached by a pair of players, usually a boy and girl. Of course as a 4th grader you aren't to play a lot, even though they did have rules that everyone had to play so many minutes. But it was winner take all, it was a bracket, win advance, lose go to the losers bracket. My team lost it's first game, we ended up playing for 3/4th place. It was late in the game and we were losing, one of our 6th graders (who became a wrestler and qualified for state multiple times) fouled out. Coach put me in. We came back and won the game. The next two years I didn't lose in that tournament. It wasn't because I was better than everyone else, but I understood the game, (dad was an assistant coach and played at a large school in HS). I knew how the game worked, teamwork was key at that age. But I also learned that I hated losing more than I loved winning.
I played through middle school and lettered all 4 years of HS, starting some of my Jr year (we were state runners up in our class) and all of my senior year. I watched a ton of college ball, I learned from it then as I do today. As I got better the game got easier, as I got better the game got better, my teammates got better and so on. The game like a player evolves.
From when Dr. Naismith cut the bottom out of the peach basket to allowing the dunk, the game has evolved. From Wooden's two offensive sets 1 and 2 (he would give them to you if you asked him) to the Princeton offense, the game has evolved. Adding the three point line changed the game again, adding to my love of the game.
Maybe that's a big reason I'm a Kansas fan, no I didn't grow up in Kansas or go to school in Lawrence, but I am a huge Jayhawk fan. The game is remembered as pure in the Field House, it is known as the mega of college basketball. The players have all changed, the coaches too, even the design at center court has changed (perhaps it's time for it to change again?). Yet my love for this game and this team never dwindles, waivers or even lets up, it normally grows stronger.
I hear people harping on KU for early exits, fans, talking heads, other schools, yet non of them have the streak that KU does, non of them can say they've won 53 conference titles. Sure there are schools with more National Titles, there are schools with more guys in the NBA, but that's not why I love this game.
Love hurts, love stinks, but love is power. So when I read post from people bashing on a player or coach or the outcome of a game it actually makes me mad. Remember it's kids playing a kids game. Why put down a kid saying he doesn't deserve to play, or that he should transfer? because if he did he would be bashed for that too. Basketball at Kansas is life to some, maybe even death?
Damnit I love this game, during the season you can see players and teams get better, the tournament is like a rollercoaster, sometimes you feel like you're going to throw up, others you feel euphoric.
The game evolves, sometimes for the betterment of the game and sometimes not so much. "White men can't jump" be it a great and funny movie wasn't good for the game. Michael Jordan as great as he was, ruined the game for so many others who thought or think they can do what he did. They can't, they won't and it hurts the game. Lets all remember though that MJ never won a title without his whole team, shooting guards, PF's and C's too. Speaking of teamwork, "Hoosiers" was great for the game, unfortunately many found it corny. Maybe "Bluechips" was closer to the real life of college basketball than we thought when it came out? Maybe it opened the eye to some?
The game changes, the names on the back of the jersey changes, heck anymore the jersey changes way to often, yet I love this game. I don't get into the politics of the game, I don't get into following recruits to see what they are doing in their spare time or what rumors are floating around about where they might go. I wait and when they become a Jayhawk I look into them and get to know them. If they go elsewhere I usually just wait and see if the hype they had around them was real. I don't care who ESPN pushes to the top of their fandom, or what shoes a school goes with. I care about the game as a whole, not just college, but HS, NBA, FIBA and around the world. The game is bigger than what we give it credit for.
Damnit I love this game. It gets the best of me, probably a lot of you too. But come on lets enjoy the ride, play the cards we are dealt and just go with it. Watch the game evolve learn from the game and not try and direct it and become pundits that believe they know more than they do.
It took me awhile to realize that my love for this game was in question, by myself of all people, this spring. And when I stepped back I realized, my life has evolved, just like the game has. I stayed away from KUBuckets, espn, kusports, and just took a deep breath. What was causing me to wonder about this game so much. Then it hit me!!!
Negativity towards the game.
Damnit I love this game to much to be around negativity, be it towards how the game is played now to when it was 20 years ago, 40 years ago and so on. But the game has evolved, just like Converse Chuck Taylors to Nike Air Jordans. Evolution. Negativity towards individual players, coaches, teams, jerseys, shoes, conferences and so on.
Then I remembered back to that 4th grade consolation game when we came back and won it and the feeling I had, not only about winning, but about the game of basketball. Dammit I love this game.
So as summer approaches us and the great outdoors calls me, I will leave here knowing that the fans of Kansas will be greatly heard all around the world till the end of time. Just remember that this game is just that a game, played by kids. Cheer them because they love this game too.
Rock Chalk Jayhawk
@drgnslayr Jamri will also be a senior, may not start but will get good minutes and be key to this team.
@Bosthawk said:
question - who was the last 4 year KU player we had who was on the skill level of Perry ?
Probably Wayne Simien
Wiggins was the perfect example of what Bill Self wants.
A guy who buys I to the system and plays within the team concept.
Look what he did when Self unleashed him from that concept in the WV game last year.
I think Wiggins played within the system like he was asked to do and Self rewarded him for it in one game. It is to bad we didn't see more if it, but that's how Self cosches it's a team game. Five guys working together on the floor at te same time to accomplish the same goal.
Wiggins' posterizing slam Video http://es.pn/1CCOGe1 ↗ via ESPN App http://es.pn/app ↗
@drgnslayr I laugh at these kids who don't want to play with their backs to the basket. Hebron James didn't win a title and didn't have a complete game until he went and work what "There Dream" and learned to back his man down. He's still not a solid post player for a guy his size, but it has complimented his game greatly.
Big guys don't like tabooing much anymore, like at Big Frank at Wisconsin, (not bagging in him @wissoxfan83) but he wanted to play on the 3 pt arc. Sure it helped spread the floor, but he's 7 foot tall!! Those guys that do bang around down low are called bullies and get offensive fouls called on them a lot.
Heck even Kansas don'ts like to have it's bigs play with their backs to the basket running the high/low trying to get that pass over the top the defender.
Wayne back, Frank a year older these guys will be the floor leaders for this squad. Jamari and Landon will be the energy and toughness leaders. Graham will be that guy that gets under the other teams skin. Green will be the dead eye. Perry if he's back (and I think he will be) will be the fineness guy why all the others get dirty. Svi will be 18 and maturing and getting bigger. Self and Manning will be their for support and to hold the other guys back after a big dunk, (cause you need dedicated guys for that).
The freshman will all have to earn their way on to the floor this next year, a lot might not like that, but if they do make it they deserve to be there and are gonna be better players along with smarter for it.
Please don't let my wife know about this technology, because then she will try and track how hard I work around the house when she's not here.
@REHawk ESPN had him at 12 the other day
@truehawk93 There have been a few guys who have announced they were staying at the end of season dinner I believe. Maybe he's waiting till then?
@Hawk8086 Yes, but Duke also needs to fill Winslow and Okafor's spots. Guys could be spread around more this time.
If some of these guys look at see the non-development at KY vs what they saw at Duke they may change their tunes. Hopefully KU can get in on them as well.
@nuleafjhawk Yeah that is a great bit. I always laugh how people want this and that or not this nor that.
To grow something organically the soil it's grown in can not have any pesticides or fertilizers in it for 7 years. So if you buy a farm and want to turn it over to organic farming it will take 7 years without a profit. Then your product will be smaller, weaker and probably eaten by bugs and it's water taken by bugs.
@nuleafjhawk I feel like Bubba from Forest Gump. Fried shrimp, boiled shrimp, grilled shrimp.....
@nuleafjhawk free range? anti biotic free?
@nuleafjhawk But is it gluten free?
@wissoxfan83 Oh the college game is awful, if it weren't for KU this year I probably wouldn't have watched any games during the regular season. I watched conference tournaments and the NCAA tournament.
The best thing about the Big Dance is that if one game stinks there are usually three more on during the first weekend anyway. That and the occasional upset/cinderella winning on a last second shot.
I still remember Kobe as a rookie, he was shooting air balls, and getting is pocket picked by a lot of guys that never had their name on a shoe.
It takes time for guys to mature physically and mentally to be a good player let alone a great player in the NBA.
The only pro sports I've been to are baseball games. Dodgers at Giants in old Candle Stick those fans get into it. Also saw Cards at Cubs and again those fans get into that rivalry. Made them fun games to go to. Saw KC play someone a few years back, just wasn't that exciting even though they handed out Buck O'Neil bobble heads and wore Negro League Uniforms.
I've been to my fair share of college games, my one time in Allen Field house was amazing, even though it was against Baylor the first year they had like two scholy players on the roster. A lot of college football games in Lincoln, and of course the college world series.
When the fans take stake in a team and really get into it it really does make the game more enjoyable.
@jaybate-1.0 There are no facts how shoe co's determine the outcome. That is my point.
Saying that what ever shoe a kid wears in college can affect his draft pick is utterly ridiculous. It didn't factor into an injured Embiid being picked last year.
Again spinning numbers to get them to say what you want is easy, but the reality of it is players get drafted on potential anymore especially OAD's. Guys who stay are picked by more of what they have accomplished.
@jaybate-1.0 Saying that it's not the shoes Mars that makes a winner. When there is a higher ratio of Nike schools out there the odds are they will win more. It's just like Windows vs Mac. There are a lot more windows users out there hence why more hackers and aware is intended for windows computers and not Macs.
Spin the numbers how ever you like but I don't buy it as to shoe companies having the pull to get wins, now if Vegas wants you to win or lose, that I believe can happen. Just ask UNLV's 1991 team.
Weren't they Nike? Weren't they a cult favorite?
Sure Nike threw more money at Duke, and when a company does that what school, especially a private school wouldn't jump at the chance to have more income? Coaches get money from Nike and Adidas when they sign on at a school that pushes their base contracts up.
Conspiracy theories are great for Grisham Novels, but in the reality of life not so much.
@drgnslayr said:
There's my Marcus Lee... projected in the second round. I wonder how he will remember his Kentucky Wildcat experience?
Wonder if he got the ultimatum to leave school like Kyle Wiltjer did? Do we really want to believe KW wanted to go to Gonzaga and sit a year after being a MCD'sAA? Almost like he was asked to leave so they could open up his scholarship. Wonder if Lee is in the same boat, but can't transfer due to grades and is on the cusp of being drafted?
If the shoe company's have a strangle hold on the out comes of games in college sports, then can someone please explain to me in shoe brands only (not the ncaa hates Larry Brown or SMU is still suffering for their 1980's football death penalty) but how SMU got robbed on a late game call while wearing Nikes but UCLA who were wearing Adidas?
@Crimsonorblue22 Oh wait never mind that was UNC. Sorry disregard.
When Duke won back to back National Titles in 1991 and 92 they wore Adidas.
@JayHawkFanToo Accountants can make numbers say what they want. That's the great thing about numbers, you can make them work for you argument by adding more numbers or taking certain numbers out of the argument to sway it in your favor.
Tim Duncan wears Adidas, so does Derek Rose, Ricky Rubio, Joakim Noah, Austin Rivers, Serge Ibaka, Dwight Howard, Harrison Barnes to just name a few.
Along with Curry wearing Under Armor you also have Kemba Walker, Raymond Felton, Corey Brewer and Brandon Jennings.
@Bosthawk Will you be going to the Frozen Four this weekend at the Garden? University of Nebraska Omaha is making its first appearance in the FF, their goalie is pretty solid, they could win it all because of him.
The whole article is good and bashes the college game. The slow pace, the banging in the paint. The flow of the game. How only one kid goes for an offensive rebound why 4 get back to stop run outs. How it isn't preparing them for the NBA style.
A lot of people think Cuban is an A$$ cause he speaks his mind, but what they don't realize is that he is talking about this now, and in a few years so will everyone else. His thoughts are usually a year earlier than everyone else. He's not afraid to rip the bandaid off an open wound while others wait to point out the scar.
@jaybate-1.0 Guess Steph Curry won't win the NBA MVP this year because he wears Under Armor shoes.
Russel Westbrook or James Harden, maybe even Lebron James will win it, because they wear Nike's. Or should I say they are tho only ones who can win it because they wear Nike's?
OK not calling anyone out by name, but how can you want some current players to transfer(Selden, Green), but when a guy leaves early(Selby, Alexander) people call them out for not being ready for the NBA or how it's not right to transfer from KU.
It can't be both ways. You can't say that OAD's we don't get to know or they didn't develop enough, then turn around when a guy has a sub par year and say it's time to go.
To me that's being a fair weathered fan. Only like the guys that excel every game, but once they let you down or don't play great it's time to go. But if they are good enough to get a shot at the league, they get bagged on for making KU a pit stop.
KU has who they have, they will play who they have. We need to, as fan, support those guys and be ready to cheer them on this summer and next season. Cause if not, then it only takes a few bad fans to sour the perception of a great fan base in the eyes of recruits, other teams fans and so on.
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/powerrankings/_/season/2015/week/19 ↗
I am happy as to where we ended up, could have been worse, but as they said, with another conference title the season wasn't a complete loss.
So take some happiness in that we got our 11th in a row, that KU won the Big12, strong or weak conference, they still won it with a rag tag bunch of players, that people want to see gone or replaced or can't believe they are leaving. These kids did a heck of a job this season without a leader on the floor. Without a strong center on the block. Without a superstar.
Give coach Self some credit for getting them to play through the conference and not worry so much about a team that got up and played the bully card for one game.
@Crimsonorblue22 I stayed away from the board for the most part during the season partly due to the headaches and monitors, screens etc. But I also stayed away from some of the babble and complaining of players, coaches, games and such.
I was proud of this years team for doing what they did, sure they made mistakes, had let downs, this that and the other. Sounds like anyone else at their job too. There just isn't a microscope on them at work.
This was another thread posted earlier, but I want to re-phrase the question.
Win an 11th Big12 Conference Title as we did and not know for sure what would happen in the NCAA's.
OR Go 38 and 0, the top overall #1 seed and lose in the Final 4 having your unbeaten streak snapped and a perfect season all for not. Or OR!!! Make a run to the Final 4 as a lower seed and then get spanked by 20 points, the worse loss in tournament history for your school?
@Crimsonorblue22 Oh well I'd like to say I'm on a roller coaster ride, but apparently it's stuck on the loop and I'm up side down. Last Monday slept for 14 hours, Friday night might have slept for 14 minutes here 14 minutes there on and off all night.
People still talk about the 1976 Hoosier team. Be it undefeated, Coach Knight or even I. Thomas.
People still talk about that 1991 UNLV team, even though they didn't win it all. It's almost like Tarkanian had a cult following with that team.
But where will this years Kentucky team be in 26 or even 40 years? Will people still talk about them? Will anyone one compare other players to anyone on this team? Like they do to Stacey Augman?
Or will they just be an after thought in the history of the game?
There are two ways a college basketball coach can recruit. You can go the John Caliper method of high turn over and a young team full of raw talent and ability. Option 2 you can build a program with skill and age, like Tom Izzo.
Where's that leave Kansas? Right dab in the middle, purgatory you might say. Look it's a no win situation for Coach Self. If you aren't bringing in top 25 talent, then you are a bad recruiter(said by many on this board and the old in the past) if you bring in guys like a Wiggins, and he doesn't take over games you've failed in using your talent correctly.
Coach Self isn't the only coach stuck in this mud hole. Coach K, had his run in with OAD's and was losing in the first round as a 2 seed. Roy Williams had the same issue. It's gotta be hard to not go after top tier talent, instead of talent that fits your mold and program. If you met with Andrew Wiggins and his family and asked him to come to KU but had no idea where he was going to go and he announces he is going to KU, as a coach do you turn that away?
Not to bash another thread or a poster here, but the question shouldn't be another Big12 title or a Final 4 appearance. It should be do you take the Caliper road and go after top recruits and have high turnover of elite talent, or do you go after 50-100 ranked players and build the program around glue guys and program guys?
"There's Clown's to the left of me, Jokers to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle with you." This is the quandary that Bill Self is in right now.
He has guys like Seldon, Mason and Green, even Traylor he can build a program around, but he keeps losing guys, like Oubre, Wiggins, Embiid, and Mclemore, that leaves a void in experience and talent, when they are replaced by each other year after year.
I don't fault Self in bringing these players to KU, I don't fault players for staying and taking up scholarships either, they chose to come to KU, represent KU and they want to play for KU.
People slammed KU for playing Brady Morningstar, well maybe KU needs a guy like him on the floor the past two years to be a leader, a floor general? People go after Self for taking Wiggins and not developing White III, maybe he didn't work hard on the D end of the floor, maybe he wasn't the shooter everyone was made to believe?
I believe in my opinion that he has to choose one or the other ideologies of recruiting though. That and the fans need to be OK with it as well, be it high turnover year after year and not knowing the players, or they need to be OK with KU not bringing in the top elite talent and let guys mature and age well within the program.
But if you go back on this board and the old one you will be able to tell that no matter what Self does, he won't make people happy in his recruiting strategy. Perhaps he needs some help from the NBA and adjusting the age limit or years out of HS before they can go pro?
"Well I'm trying to make sense of it all, but I can see it makes no sense at all........" Stuck in the middle, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.
@DCHawker and @highelitemajor I'm not a Marshall hater. What I'm saying is when youlook at recent track records or a coach in a similar situation such as McDermott it's hard not to point out the similarities.
Creighton was the king of the MVC for years, even beating WSU.
I'm not saying either are bad coaches or inferior. But recruiting could be a tough pull. Yes Texas has a cash flow that never stops along with facilities that are top notch. Barnes had the pick of the litter, Aldridge and Dirant for starters, he couldn't cosch his way out of a wet apart bag though and it showed.
If Marshall ends up at Texas, he will or should be able to recruit. The question then becomes can he get top players to work hard for him? Not saying he can't. Just asking if he can.
I think other Big12 schools are trying to up their basketball programs to keep up with KU and Self. Look at the hires at OU, TCU and Tech recently. It might not be to long before OKst and Baylor make changes from recruiters of talent to cosches or players.
Iowa St. could be in need of a top cosch as well if Fred heads to the NBA this summer. Might be coaching Mr Wiggins.
Sorry I went off the rails during this post, but my mind just went wild and I let it out.
Marshall is a great mid level coach. Just like Greg McDermot of Creighton aNs at Northern Iowa.
But he couldn't recruit top tier players to Iowa st. He had a very nice senior led team at creighton for its first year I. The Big East, but, it's not looking good for his recruiting now to bring in top tier players to stay competitive in te Big East.
Marshall might have that same problem. Go out and get kids who might ride te pine at a major school or walk ins and get them to buy in to the program and the little brother role and you win.
What will he be able to do at Texas? He has no ties to top tier players, programs and well even though we all know Texas is fine being average,Marshalls average players he gets at WSU won't make the cut at Texas and the Big 12 not day in and day out year after year.
Sure get them up to play the big brother once a year is easy. Get them up to play the bully twice a year is t that hard, but to do it day after day week after week??
I can't see him making it at a major program.
@Crimsonorblue22 He's a senior this year, I'm guessing he will run there again. He is going to run college in Vermilion SD on a full ride. He looked at KU, KSU, OSU, MU, ISU, Minn, NU and Iowa too, but non offered a full ride.
I'd like to get down there to the new track and check it out, maybe my daughter will run there in a few years, she's a freshman now and did pretty well in XC and is looking at the mile and 800 this spring if she can stay healthy.
@wissoxfan83 Atlas it's already been done by those two.
@joeloveshawks I hear you. So much for thinking positive and cheering your ass off no matter what. Looks like half the warriors here have already given up on this year.
@wissoxfan83 I saw it, very well done. Just wish people could step back and realize how old these kids are. They aren't men, they are boys becoming young men and in the public eye and on national TV. Can't imagine the pressure.
Team plays in Omaha this weekend and I"ll be in the KC area watching the games on TV. Go figure, can't afford a ticket let alone put up with the crowd noise of an arena.
@Crimsonorblue22 It's been a rough go the past three or four months so I try and limit my exposure to tv, computers and smart phones. Living a life of boredom basically. Getting by and staying strong cause well that's the way I was brought up.
How are you?
Hey guys, gals and KU fans. I can't remember the last time I was on here, but now that it's crunch time I thought I'd stop by say hi and try and catch up to what everyone is thinking.
Wow a lot of negativity with this team this year. Are we that spoiled that we don't like this years team even though by Self's own thoughts this team over achieved? Are we that spoiled by the past 28 years that we can't handle having a team that squeaks by in winning games? Are we so spoiled by a team that keeps winning that we complain about the starters and the decisions that are made?
OK now I'm being the negative Nancy, but in reality this team reminds me of teams that have knockedKansas out of the tournament in years past. A team that doesn't have a stand out superstar(I mean people complained about Wiggins being a superstar last year, and this year we are without a superstar), a team that plays sloppy and makes teams play to there level and not visa versa.
Yes I've been upset with a few loses this year, but some people on here either see the sky is falling or their use their venomous words make it sound like if they saw a coach or player on the street they'd read them the riot act. Remember, they are human and the players are kids playing a kids game.
I will be happy with this years team, they won games they shouldn't have and have built a foundation for next year and for years to come for the program. OK i'll be upset if we pull a Puke of Mizzlose as a 2 seed and get bounced in game one, but after that it really is anyones game.
Well I'm sure I'll hear about this post and get piled on, but oh well....
Here's to a run for the ages