Me too.
JayHawkFanToo
13427 posts
I believe he has had two bereavement leaves in the last 3 months which is a lot, although I am not familiar with the details.
Tarik has been great and now he is introduced at games as being from KU and not Memphis like he was at one time.
I was only thinking of the players that were lottery picks...I guess I should include Cole who has been also outstanding and comes back often and has his summer basketball camp either in Olathe or Lawrence. Hopefully Oubre (almost lottery) will follow the same path.
I recently moved 4 phone "land" lines from my internet/cable provider to Voice Over IP (VOIP). My internet/cable provider was using VOIP anyway and now i have better features for a fraction of the cost. You can also use Google Voice and just have the calls directed to your cell phone or get an internet phone or adapter and local and long distance calls (national) are free.
Wiggins and McLemore, the two more visible recent KU players in the NBA, have been great ambassadors for the program. Hopefully the twins can get their off-the-court issues resolved and go on to to enjoy a good career in the League. The other two, TRob and Embiid, have managed to stay out of trouble, even when the both have had a rough time getting a break, Joel by health and the Robinson by being with the wrong team at the wrong time; maybe this is the year when both do great.
On a related note, here is an interesting article ↗ indicating that the Heat is wanting to get rid of Chalmers and Anderson for basically nothing; I hope Chalmers lands in a decent team that is in need of a player like him.
I think his original question was about the NCAA...
"Are the lanes still going to be the same size in Div 1 or did they widen them? Wouldn’t the faster shot clock help in that regard as well?"
In any case several changes but none as big as the shorter shot clock and most are about enforcing the contact rules they introduced a couple of years ago and that have been enforced very unevenly.
Hard to believe that Ken "the snake" Stabler was already 69 and yet quite young to go. He was one of those rare players that performed better under pressure; it sure was a pleasure watching him work during the Raider's Glory Years. RIP Ken Stabler.
Indeed; very untimely death of hearth attack. Chris Farley was also pretty funny and much like another funny guy, John Belushi, his early death was self-induced.
All of that to make your usual condescending point for something I did not say? :D
I did not say that he is not a "presumed" OAD, I simply stated my "own" opinion that I (that means me and me alone) prefer to see him as a TAD and if he ends up being a OAD, it indicates he had a good year which is good for him and good for KU...I am good with that.
If we are talking about changes in NCAA rules, the paint is the same size but the arc under the basket has been expanded from 3 feet to 4 feet. Here is the official NCAA summary ↗of the changes...
I believe all the individuals pictured are of Lithuanian descent and not necessarily born there.
As far as John Candy and per Wikipedia:
"Candy was born in 1950 in Newmarket, Ontario. The son of Sidney James Candy and his wife Evangeline (Aker) Candy, he was raised in a working-class Roman Catholic family. Candy's father was of English and Scottish descent, while his mother was of Polish and Ukrainian descent."
Here is a list of the finalist ↗. Here is the official announcement ↗; interesting that Baylor's Prince made it and not Rico Suave; I wonder if his extra curricular activities had a bearing. Five players with professional experience are party of the finalists
By the way, KU's own Keith Langford and the two WSU players made the Final 16 cut. also, former KU assistant and Colorado coach Tad Boyle is one of the assistants to Coach Few. The final roster will have only 12 players, which seems to the standard for international competition and it will be announce by July 12th.
MSN TV guide has the game scheduled at 12:30 AM on Saturday morning, however my local cable provider has the game scheduled for 10:00 PM Friday as per its on-screen guide. I imagine the scheduling was uncertain until the final 8 teams were decided and now the correct schedule is 10:00 pm Central time Friday on ESPNU.
I thought you guys would like this picture...
A 6'5" guard that can hit from the outside? A team can never have enough of those...although it looks like KU might. If his defense can catch up to his offense, I can see him getting decent playing time.
I could see KU not being the favorite last season and yet they manage to win the conference.
The statement:
"Because the Jayhawks play in arguably the most difficult conference in college basketball, it’s hard for me to see a scenario in which they win the Big 12 during the regular season."
Is just plain silly. I can see most the scenarios favoring KU, Yes, ISU will be good but the mayor is gone and who know how the new coach will do. Smart will underachieve in conference like he has done in his previous two conference where he was never able to win the conference title, and nothing indicates he can do it in the Big 12. OU will be good but KU has now more and better weapons.
Amen to that :)
What a player thinks and what ends up happening are often enough quite different. Every single player in the to 30 considers himself a OAD but very few actually end up that way. Like 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; however, if they end up like Selby or Alexander I feel KU and themselves got shorthanded. McLemore and Wiggins did well and they were worthy lottery picks. Selden was a presumed OAD and looks like it will be in his third year when he puts everything together and plays himself into a lottery pick.
It really depends on how you see him and who applies the OAD label. I prefer to see him as TAD and if he develops fast he can turn into a OAD. Alexander could have been a TAD and 1st round pick instead of having to prove himself in the Summer League; Selby was the Summer League MVP and he still could not stay in the League.
Let's temper our expectation on Diallo some. We have yet to see him play a game in college and he is already being anointed a starter and even candidate for Conference POY. Let's wait and see and give him time to develop his game; we had high hopes for Alexander last season and that did not work out that well, right?
BTW, I am not singling you out specifically but I am talking about all the high expectations for Diallo being bandied about.
I believe the offense is doing just fine. Against Switzerland there was an 18-2 run full of fast breaks and dunks that made me dream of what is yet to come. Had Coach Self played the starter the entire game, KUSA would have easily scored 120 point and set a new record.
When Self and Manning play more minutes than Mason, Moore and Ellis and the leading scorer is the player that had been 9 or 10 in the rotation, you know the score could have been substantially higher. The lower scoring game against Serbia was against a veteran team that has played together many time and most of its players have been playing professionally 4-5 years under FIBA rules and might be the second best team in the WUG, although I have really not seen teams in the other pools play.
Like I said, nothing wrong with the offense...in my opinion, of course.
How about...Can’t wait to play Kentucky at AFH and send the squid home crying like a Missouri basketball fan…
Even little girls? :)
One thing I just noticed is that the refs look very young, barely older than most of the players and younger than some. Maybe their inexperience is why the games are called so unevenly.
I agree, playing without as much pressure and for a real good cause has done wonders for the team. Selden had a wide open dunk and chose to lob it to Michelson instead, that is real team play. Can't wait to play Kentucky at AFH and send the squid home crying like little girl...
Great game for DeBose; he and Nick Moore have earned an honorary Jayhawk lifetime membership. Nicks has been bumped, hip checked, pushed, shoved, body slammed and elbowed while on the ground...and yet he has managed to keep his composure and serve as a role model to the younger players. Both have been excellent additions to the team but Nick particularly has been a real calming and steady influence to the team. Glad to have them both playing for KUSA.
I am sure they had more confidence in their offense than in their defense. Like I said, even if the play good defense all they can hope is OT, with the foul they get a chance to win...
I am not so sure about that. Without the foul, the best they can hope for is stealing the ball or having KUSA miss the last shot, and got to OT, in this scenario KUSA has the upper hand since it can run out the clock and either win outright or tie. With the foul they give themselves a chance of winning the game by hitting any shot if KUSA misses the FTs, tie it with a FG if KUSA makes both FTs or win it with a three...a lot better situation than not fouling. Just my take...
Our front court is loaded with "potential" but the only proven player is Ellis. Around this time last year we thought we had a good front court...it really did not work out well... :(
Mickelson has impressed me and is showing signs that this might be his breakout year. Bragg has a nice stroke and he could end up being the prototype stretch 4 and Diallo could be everything we need up front. If we can get rid of the "coulds" and "mights" we COULD have a great front line. :)
I hear what you are saying and I have been trying to come up with a rotation and the best I can do is group them by likelihood of playing time:
Sure playing time: Ellis, Selden, Mason
Almost sure playing time: Graham
Likely playing time: Svi, Diallo, and one of the bigs, at this time Mickelson
Playing time depending on starters performance: Jamari
Potential playing time depending on how well they develop/recover: Bragg, Vick, Green and Lucas
Mop up playing time: Self, Manning
Barring injury, the top 3 are pretty much guaranteed playing time, the rest can move up or down and really would not surprise me one way or the other. For example, I can see Bragg moving up and taking Jamari's time or Vick playing extended minutes at the PG while letting Mason and Graham rest or Green coming back strong with an improved defense and taking time from Svi.
We know all the college rules too, and that doesn’t stop us from complaining about the refs.
...and this is how we do it here and that is how they do it there; nothing new, really.
Coach Self said all along that all players will get playing time at the WUG and he is using these games to evaluate progress. Even Calipari said that will not use the platoon system again so it is highly doubtful that Coach Self would. He has indicated on several occasion (he is not the only coach to think this way) that by the meat portion of the season he likes to have the rotation down to 7-8 players; many will get minutes but 7-8 will get the bulk of the playing time. Up for grabs on which players will be part of the primary rotation.
I agree. I indicated after the Canada games that this is the Wayne Selden we all had hope to see. If he continues to play like he has, he is definitely a lottery pick, maybe even a top 5 since because of his maturity and strength he would be ready and able to contribute immediately.
I imagine they give them some leeway and a warning. Apparently KUSA was told that if it did not change its uniform it would start forfeiting games and thus the late trip to the local seamstress to get the USA sewn in front.
Walks with the dog are fun, walks to the dentist...not so much :(
While Pot is only 20, he has played professionally for 3 Serbian teams and is currently playing in the pro league in Romania. Definitely not eligible to play NCAA ball but probably half of the players at the WUG are not in college and likely ringers.
I am not sure if some of the rules are eased for the WUG. I know the KUSA uniforms were not compliant since the name of the country was not displayed and we got away with it; of course the uniform had to be changed after that...
From the FIBA rules
4.4.2.
yada, yada, yada...
Compression sleeves of the same dominant colour as the shirts.
Compression stockings of the same dominant colour as the shorts. If for the upper leg it must end above the knee; if for the lower leg it must end below the knee.
Why are Serbian players allowed to wear compression gear that is not the same dominant color as the uniform, i.e. red? All the KU players wore white gear which is the dominant color of the uniform.
'When in Rome, do as the Romans do"
The rest of the world is not going to change the way they play or how games are called just to accommodate us any more than the NCAA or the NBA would accommodate foreign teams that come to play here, In fact, they will use them against us because in BBall we are consider the dominant power and as Wilt famously said...nobody likes to root for Goliath. We are playing under international/FIBA rules and might as well learn how to take advantage of them...don't you think?
While at the time it looked like a boneheaded call, strategically it was not that bad or unreasonable. They had the option of defending an letting KU use up clock and maybe hit 2 or 3 point shot with no time left or foul and make sure KUSA did not score any more than 2 points and then have the ball with some time left and a chance to tie or win the game in the last possession. It almost worked when Selden made only one free throw and all Serbia had to do is score one basket of any kind or get fouled and either tie or win the game. No question that the KUSA defense did a great job denying them a good look and only allowing desperation-type shots.
As I mentioned on another thread, the Serbian players are not only good but also familiar with FIBA rules and know how to take advantage of them. We need to stop complaining and adapt to the way the game is played elsewhere; we would not be complaining if foreign teams came to play here and we take advantage of the quirks of NCAA rules that they are not familiar, we would tell them to learn our rules. In many ways it is not different than playing here where the refereeing can be quite different from game to game and players that adapt to the refereeing at hat hand do better than those that complain. Look at the refereeing in the NBA post -season, it was called extremely inconsistent from game to game and from series to series but the better players adapted and did fine.
BTW, flopping in soccer has decreased considerably from the glory days when Argentinian players mastered the act; now, if you are caught flopping you get a yellow card and two of them result in one game suspension which is extremely costly in terms of damage to your team and financial penalties. Much like flopping in the NBA where it will cost of you an increasing penalty, even it it is found long after the game is over and while the League reviews the video of the game. In both sports, there is little reward anymore to flop...I am not saying that it does not happen, I am saying that it does not happen the way it used to and that became the stereotype many people have.
KU advances to the next round and is guaranteed to finish in the top 8.
Great experience to come back from 7 down in the fourth quarter to win a close game. This team has a lot of character; Selden and Mason are clearly the top players; Mickelson is also playing well.
All is well that ends well...
Serbia is a solid team with players that have played together before while KU continues to improve with every game and has yet to reach its potential. KU cannot afford to get behind because Serbia will not allow the big runs KU has been able to do so far. KU need to take care of the ball and keep turnovers very low since Serbia will take advantage of every miscue. The Serbian players are experienced and very familiar with FIBA rules and know how to take advantage of them while KU is still learning the ropes and still unsure how to take advantage of them such when the ball is over the cylinder. Close game with KU pulling it off at the end.
If we can take certain things from a game against inferior competition, what do you take from these two games played just before the WUG and against much, much better competition and which should provide better information?
Here is the link I should have included in my previous post...Link here ↗...
Sounds like Adidas could have renewed but chose not to and decided to sign individual players instead. Like I said, since the shoes are not part of the deal, very few people know or care who makes the uniforms.
Not a good game from which to draw conclusions. KU was scoring quick and oftengainst an over-matched Chilean team that was missing a lot of shots so there were a lot more opportunities for the bigs to shine against the weak competition. Let's see how they perform against the better, more experienced Euro players rather than the Chilean players that are clearly not in the same league as the KU players.
This business publication has a different take and indicates that Adidas walked away. They were paying $400M for little exposure and now Nike will pay $1B for the same thing, looks almost like a no-brainer to me and I am sure Adidas will get a lot more individual players and more exposure for the money. Just my take and I could be wrong.
Adidas had the NBA contract and pretty much gave it up. Most people do not know or care who has the NBA uniform contract since it is all about shoe endorsements and player can and do wear whichever shoe they want.
In all fairness, if KU would have gotten the help against UK that Duke got against Wisconsin, KU would have won too.