Your tornado made the local news ↗ in KC...
JayHawkFanToo
13427 posts
While I don't necessarily disagree with your post, there are a couple of items I would mention. TRob did not play much in his freshman year but a lot of it was due to his failure to stay out of foul trouble; once he learned to play under control be became a much better player and the key to the 2012 team.
As far as playing tired players. most if not all coaches will play their "money" players at crunch time regardless of how tired they are since they are know quantities and they know exactly what to expect. I agree that Bragg and Vick are more polished than the average incoming freshman...but still largely unknown quantities, albeit better known (at least to us) than they were a couple of weeks ago . I have posted before that Bragg might end up being a "stretch 4" which seem to be the popular position to be in the NBA; he clearly has great form and when he steps up to the line to take a FT, you can see the confidence. If he can do this and draw the inside defense out, he might end up being the real catch of the class.
Yes, no and maybe.
We need to look at the WUG in context and how player qualify for the tournament. While the KUSA squad was fully amateur, it was by choice and not because the rules require players to be amateurs. Players like McLemore, who is working towards his degree and maybe Tarik who likely is finishing his Master's or any other players not even associated with KU could have played, but we know that there is no chance their pro teams would let them take that risk. USA basketball chose to send a team based on one school and in this case worked out very well.
Fraschilla is right insofar that we did not play against the top Euro players, but he is dead wrong in his assumption that those are the players we were supposed to or should have played. He is right insofar that basketball at the college level in Europe is not nearly as developed as it is here; however, Fraschilla forgot that after all these are the World "UNIVERSITY" games and the average top Euro pro player has not attended college or is far removed from it. Much like here, it possible that some of the better players were held back by the their pro clubs, but is more likely that most did not qualify as they are either too old or not going to college. I am sure the senior Euro teams are much better...but they would be competing against the LeBron/Curry led US Senior team and not against a college level team.
I am confident that the KUSA team played against THE BEST EURO TEAMS of eligible players...and ringers, and as such it is indeed a huge, huge accomplishment. Maybe a display case at AFH with pictures, uniforms and a copy of the medal is the right way to go; I understand Coach Self has ruled out a banner which is fine with me. The most important part is that the KU led team did our country proud and this event will be forever remembered by all Jayhawk fans...and this is all that really matters
In my opinion Graham is the best of the outside shooters at creating his own shot, and although Selden has improved dramatically he is still a spot shooter and a clutch one at that and his penetration and scoring at the rim has improved dramatically.and now he can routinely do it as opposed to last season. I see Graham getting substantial minutes once he is back to full health. I will have to see how much Svi has progressed over the summer compared to the other players. Looks like Selden now has a lock on the 3 position and if Graham starts at the 2 then Svi can still get substantial playing time backing the 2 and 3; he is versatile enough to do both. The question is: has he improved enough to get substantial minutes at either position either as a backup or even a starter?
Another fact that makes me think about the bigs rotation is Coach Self playing Lucas most of the critical second half against Germany even when Mickelson was not in foul trouble. It seems that Lucas matched up better with the German players than Mickeslon did and he responded by having his best game of the tournament, in which case we might see Mickelson and Lucas swapping time at the 5 depending on the opponent. Diallo is obviously the big unknown and can end up starting and getting the lion's share of minutes or sharing time with other other two.
Also, let's not count Bragg out of getting substantial minutes. He is a very good shooter and you can see his confidence and form when he shoots free throws. If he can score consistently from the outside, he can be the stereotypical "stretch 4" that is now so popular, even more so than Ellis.
Yes, indeed;. great memories for Jayhawk fans all over. It is the busiest I have seen our site in awhile; I would not be surprised if we had a record number of posts for one day. Maybe @approxinfinity can give us a count?
Several available spots after the upcoming season.
- Leaving - Ellis, Traylor, Mickelson
- Likely leaving - Diallo, Selden
- Probably leaving- Svi
- Possibly leaving but not likely - Mason, Bragg, Vick
In short we will have 3 players leaving for sure and anywhere between 2-6 others that could leave, most likely 2-3, so 5-6 potential spots will be available...that is a lot of spots to fill although Coleby is already on board. Thoughts?
I understand that Thon Maker has made a lot of progress during the Summer and after next season, he wants to go to college. KU was the leader before so it is possible that we get him for one year.
You better be in the basement now...way too close for comfort.
We have severe thunderstorms watch for the KC area but not tornadoes so far...
Is that near you?
Skal Labissiere has yet to be cleared by the NCAA and there are many coaches who originally recruited him that backed off because they believed he will never play college ball. We will soon find out.
I am not sure why they show the score that way but no, Germany beat Estonia by 30 and was unbeaten prior to playing KUSA... :(
The entire Jayhawk nation is hoping he will make it and if anyone can do it, I would say Mason is the one .
No, Mason will likely be a 4 year players but this is the year that the explodes and dominates. The trend in the NBA now is to have taller PGs so he really will be going against the odds to make it in the NBA. Here is a list of the top 10 players ↗ under 6 feet, you will notice that most are right at 6 feet. Having seen how determined he is and ho much he has improved I would say that the odds are considerably better now than they were one year ago, but still long.
It is a non-sensical statement since the best Euro players (pros) would not be playing against a KUSA level team but in an Olympics or World Championship type of tournaments against the NBA laden USA senior team that would give them an even bigger whooping. The majority of Euro players at the WUG play professionally.
German team stats...
I will have to check the ESPN Facebook page; I do have a private account that I use quite a bit, to send mostly family information to relatives and friends all over the world with relative ease.
Did anyone notice that Selden and Mason have been sending us subliminal message all along as to when the will explode? Look a the the back of their jerseys...Selden "JR", Mason "III", so this is truly their year... :)
I am surprised Fraschilla was not more involved since he is big on foreign players, particularly Euro players. I Imagine the Pan American games will have more exposure and we get to see Keith Langford.
Here are a few figure for your enjoyment...
KUSA pool is the only one that sent 2 teams to the Fina Four.
KUSA beat all 3 other teams in the Final Four
KUSA beat 5 other 7 other teams in the Final Eight (Canada twice before the games)
No question that KUSA was the best team at the the WUG.
Lost in all the excitement...did anyone notice that the Pool group A, where Germany played, had only 5 teams instead of the 6 teams all other pools had and they had to play only 4 games instead of 5 games in the initial round? KUSA ended playing 8 games and Germany only 7, no wonder the good guys were more tired than the Germans...
Germany came into the game having shot 35-130 from 3 (27%) and in this game managed to hit 10-27 (37%). They averaged 17.5 points per game from the 3 against weaker competition and yet they got 30 points from the 3 against KUSA that had one of the better defenses...hard to plan against something like that.
More importantly...Did anyone notice that the Pool group A where Germany played had only 5 teams instead of the 6 teams all other pools had and they had to play only 4 games instead of 5 games in the initial round? Now wonder that KUSA was more tired than the Germans.
Which goes to show that you can never over-estimate the ignorance of the average Kentucky fan.
Tied up preparing for a 9:00 AM teleconference with two other parties; had to watch the last 20 minute on Mute trying not to scream at the TV while trying to follow the conference topic. Conference went snd ended up well but the KU game ended abso-friggin-lutely FANTASTIC!!!
Congrats to the team, they had a super gutsy performance that hopefully will set the tone for the upcoming season where close games will no longer be dreaded as much; this team has proven it does not get rattled, stays poised and wins close games.
A great and successful journey for the players and staff...and a real treat for all of us Jayhawk fans.
Excellent point, best Euro player in the NBA ever. Detlef Schrempf, Kiki Vandeweghe, Shawn Bradley, Carlos Boozer and Dennis Schroder also come to mind...
That would be the icing on top of a gold medal cake :)
...which begs the question...how come Kansas did not get blacked out on ESPNU? He musts be slipping now...
On a related and better news, Keith Langford has made the final cut for the Pan American team. Also, fellow Kansan Ron Baker from WSU also made the team but VanVleet did not. Now we have one more reason to watch the Pan American Games... :) :) :)
You are probably right. I bet you can see all the games in the Island of Nauru local access channel and in return they run a feature on KU's Tiddlywinks team. :D
Reminds me of a joke that used to be popular when I lived in Europe in my teen years and it goes like this:
A preacher was asked to point out the difference between heaven and hell...and he said...
In heaven, the Germans build the cars, the English run the police, the French do the cooking, the Swiss run the trains and the Italians are the lovers...
In hell, the French build the cars, the Germans run the police, the English do the cooking, the Italians run the trains and the Swiss are the lovers...
Once you have lived in Europe and are familiar with the stereotypes, it is is actually quite funny.
In other news...Jack Harry posted that the USA men's and women's basketball teams believe they are "entitled" to the gold medals and as usual...nobody cared...:)
Surgery is now a certainty ↗ and the talk of "career-threatening" condition has already started. I sincerely hope Joel recovers fully and proves the doubters wrong.
There are several other single school teams representing the USA as well and are listed below with their current records...
Men baseball - California State University Fullerton, 2-3
Women soccer - Colorado College, 2-4
Men water polo - UCLA, 5-2
Women water polo - Stanford, 3-1-3
No question that KU is doing the best. Other than KU, only the UCLA men's polo team has a winning record.
Nicely done. Like you, every time I start to think who will be the starting big, the other does something to send the analysis back to square one. Mickelson seemed poised to take over the position and then Lucas has arguably his best game of the tourney to put himself right back in contention. Traylor seems to be the odd man out for the time being, although -if I remember correctly- was in towards the end of the game to play defense; maybe this will be his role in the upcoming season.
These games have helped more that we even realize, not only building team chemistry but also helping players compete against top players they are not familiar with, something that will be very helpful in view of the tough schedule ahead. I really like the leadership that More has provided, I am sure Mason has learned from him; I wish we could keep him but Devonte should be a more than capable replacement.
Congrats to all fans that stayed up late or woke up early as the case might be; you are truly fan-atics.
I had forgot that all 6 computers I use are set up to start the weekly deep scan and full back up at 4:00 AM so they were pretty much unusable. However, I was partially with you all watching the game and the posts in thischat on my cell phone but unable to post. Sometimes you gotta love ...and hate ...technology.
Great win for team KUSA!!!
It would also be great to collect a gold medal on behalf of the 1972 team that got the silver and to this day they refuse to accept it.
Also, KU's schedule has been tougher than most and playing better competition requires more physical effort. The other thing that is also overlooked is how KU, more so than almost any team in the country, has a gigantic bull's eye everywhere it plays and teams make a greater than normal effort to beat KU, often playing more physically than they normally do. Remember that every road game is played before that team's largest home crowd of the season.
I saw your original post earlier and I have trouble believing what you wrote. How old are you? 14? You cannot possibly be married. When I thought you could not get any more offensive, you did what no adult man would dare do and managed to offend every female poster in this forum.
Obviously "logic" escapes you so I will not dignify your comments by discussing them any further. I am out. You can go play by yourself.? with yourself? whatever floats your boat.
What I like most about Nick More is calm, demeanor and quiet leadership. He gets bounced around like a steel ball in an old school pin ball machine and he keeps his calm. At the end of the first half when he got up from the floor after a push one of the Lithuanian tall players patted him on the head, which I thought was disrespectful...although I am not sure it was meant that way; he calmly walked away. I respect that.
Rose has not been quite the same and he seems unable to play an entire season. Perhaps Yao Ming would be a better comparison; he was able to play for a few years but eventually had to quit way too early due to the issue with his foot (heel?). I am sure the comparisons with Oden will come hot and heavy; I hope he can continue to heal and have at least a partial career.
"I’m challenging your illogical and flawed thought process. On this board, opinions get challenged. If you don’t like being challenged, don’t post your opinions. Better yet, try defending your opinion. I refuted your opinion as illogical. You have nothing, as usual."
There is the root of the problem...
Opinion [uh-pin-yuh n]](link url) - noun
1. a belief or judgment that rests on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty.
2. a personal view, attitude, or appraisal.
See the problem? You take other member's opinions as fact when in fact they are not, and you take your opinions and present them as facts when they are not either.
See, an opinion is a personal belief that cannot be challenged, it can be questioned but not challenged; statements of facts, on the other han,d can be challenged as they refer to something that can be proven...or disproven as the case may be. Let me give you an example....
One can ask many people what is the most beautiful car ever built...one might say the Lamborghini Miura or the Ferrari California or the BMW 328 Roadster or the Aston Martin Zagato or,,,well , so many others; I personally like the Jaguar 1965 E-Type (my dream car). Now is any of these answers wrong? No, they are all personal and subjective"opinions" and as such cannot be challenged..of course they can be questioned, and if some one asks me why I like the Jag, I would describe the unique lines and shape...and the fact that Enzo Ferrari himself thought it was the most beautiful car ever built does not hurt The fact that I believe that the Jag is the most beautiful car does not mean it is or is not so. Now, if someone asks me which is the fastest car and I say the Jaguar, now they can "challenge" my answer because there is an "objective" answer to that question...take the cars to the tracks and verify which is the fastest..see where I am going?
In this or any other forum we post facts and opinions; the facts you can challenge, the opinions you can only question, get it? So, when you "challenge" me me to justify an "opinion" you are asking me to do something that cannot be done. When I present something as fact, then by all means challenge it, but when I submit an opinion you can only question it. Even my lowly Engineering curriculum, made accommodations for a class in Logic...didn't you take one while in college?
When I post something as a fact, 9 out of 10 times I will post a link for the source of information, but when I post an opinion I don't have to cite anything because by definition (see above) opinions are subjective and not subject to proof.
In your case, you present your personal opinions as facts and anyone that does not agree with them. i.e. me, is wrong. Do you see the fallacy of your argument?
More importantly, your entire argument is a straw man:
Straw man definition:
A straw man is a common form of argument and is an informal fallacy based on giving the impression of refuting an opponent's argument, while actually refuting an argument which was not advanced by that opponent.
Now:
Did I at any time indicate that Diallo was or was not a "presumed" OAD? NO
Did I at any time indicate that Diallo was or was not a "presumed" TAD? NO
Did I at any time I indicate that you were wrong and I was right? NO
Did I at any time I indicate that I was wrong and you were right? NO
Did I at any time I indicate that anyone was right or wrong? NO
...and more importantly...did I at any time, other than citing your statement. use the word "Presumed"? again, NO
So, you are going on tangent about and argument I did not present or advance. That is the text boob definition of a straw man.
This is what I said:
"I prefer to see them as TAD and if they can work themselves to be true OAD, i.e. one that gets selected in the first round, then it means they played very productively for KU and I am good with that"
Did you miss the word "prefer"? It clearly indicates a personal "O-P-I-N-I-O-N" and as such subjective, non-defensible and not subject to challenge. You can question all you want but as an opinion it is just that and as such it is not right or wrong. If you agree or disagree it does not make my opinion right or wrong any more than your "opinion" is not right...or wrong if I agree or disagree with it.
So...you went to all the the trouble and personal attack over nothing. I don't agree with you on some issues but, to the best of my recollection, I have not gone and personally attacked you like you have attacked me. and I have not called you...what are the words you frequently use? ah yes...intellectually dishonest... have I? The most I have done is call your post condescending which you readily admit it was:
You: "The reason for my condescending tone is that it is well deserved."
See, the issue is that you believe that you are better than all of us lesser posters in this forum and you and you alone are right all the time....well, you are not, which begs the question, if you believe we are so intellectually below you, why do you even bother answering our posts?
Is is not that you challenge my opinions that I have a problem, it is that you are such a douche while doing it. On occasions I have disagreed with other members - it would be pretty boring if we didn't- however, we present our opinions and sometimes we end up agreeing and sometimes we don't, in which case we don't go on personal ad hominem attacks, we simply and politely agree to disagree....this what grown ups do....isn't it time for you to do likewise?
I come to this forum to share my love for KU sports, particularly basketball, with like minded individuals. I don't come here to be berated and "challenged" to justify subjective opinions. Other than you and occasionally @Jaybate, although that has abated quite a bit lately, I don't have an issue with any other member in this forum; I chat with other members off-line and e-mail with other members and non-members that visit this forum and we all get along just fine.
The only reason I can think that you seem to zero in on me is because I strongly disagree with your constant criticism of Coach Self, whom you believe is not nearly the coach you are, and his success really bugs you. From the messages I receive I know I am not the only one that feels this way but most just do not have the time or inclination to start...shall we say "a discussion?" with you. I personally don't care one way or another and I would prefer that you ignore my posts altogether; however, when you attack me personally you leave me no choice but to respond in kind, hopefully in a more polite, reasoned and adult way.
I debated on whether to even answer you extremely rude post and I figured that at the very least you deserved to know how I feel. You can take my post any way you like, but in the words of Rhett Butler....well, you know the rest...:)
Peace out.
After the preliminary round, the top two team from each pool advance to play for places 1-8, the 3rd and 4th team advance to play for places 9-16 and the bottom tow team advance to play for places 17-24. This is why every team is guaranteed 8 games.
Now, the top 8 team start from scratch and play four games and the winners move on to play for places 1-4 and the losers advance to play for places 5-8; the process repeats with winners playing for gold and the losers playing for bronze. Since KUSA won, now it is guaranteed to play for a medal; if it beat Russia it will play for the gold, if it loses to Russia, it will play for the Bronze...and that is all there is to it...
I remember vividly watching the game at the 1972 Olympics. My dad has has just bought a brand new 25" color TV (biggest at the time) for thr Olympics and we would all gather around the TV and watch the games.
None of us were very knowledgeable about the game at the time since we did not have the exposure to the sport that we have now, but kept thinking...are they going to keep restarting the last play until the USSR scores?...and they did...the US was 63-0 in Olympic competition at the time and had won the previous 7 times.
Here is the Wikipedia version ↗ of the event and you can draw your own conclusions.
If I understand correctly, the purpose of the booth camp is to help players shed the summer rust and get them started on physical conditioning. Except for Svi and Diallo...and the injured players, of course, and due to the extensive preparation for the WUG, by the time practice begins the team will have little rust and perhaps, a boot-camp-lite is needed, rather than the full job.
Also keep in mind that the boot camp, as much as it it physically demanding, it is also mentally tough and a time to bond as a team and develop chemistry and more importantly leadership. If I were a betting man, I would guess that Coach Self will have "lighter" version of the camp at the start of practice.
Good write up on TRob; hopefully this is the place where he finds success.
Sarcasm or did I miss something?
My "opinion" has been widely misinterpreted today so I don't want to "presume" anything...:)
He said DongKang!!! - Jake Harper, Two and a half men.
Every time I hear that name it reminds me of Jake...:D
Everything is easy when you know what you are doing... or you have done it before and learned from your mistakes...
The Feds are spying on all of us anyway...:(
Lithuania is a tall team (they do have 7'2" player) but they are relatively light and the heaviest players is listed at 207 pounds. so bulk hopefully will not be an issue. However, like all Euro team it is experienced and skilled and the players have played together for years and know how to take advantage of FIBA rules. They are a good shooting team from 2 and 3 but their FT shooting is not good.
Here is a link to the Lithuania team roster and stats for the first 5 WUG games... ↗
I saw that. From the score boxes I saw, he is not playing much and is probably a long shot.
Cheerleaders?