🏀 KuBuckets Archive

I believe the key will be containing VanVleet and Baker; as VanVleet goes so does WSU. If Mason can neutralize VanVleet then KU's chances go up exponentially. Baker will be hounded by two very good defenders, Selden and Oubre and will have to work for his points. Tekele is underrated and can be a key player; KU better not underestimate him. In the paint KU will have Ellis, Lucas, Traylor and Mickelson and will have a clear advantage. WSU is an experience team that played in the Final Four the year before last and all its players have good NCAA experience.

The stats might look better for WSU but keep in mind that they were partly built against weaker MVC competition while KU was against much stronger Big 12 competition. No question that KU has better big game experience than WSU and in the end, this might be the real difference.

@Lulufulu

I agree with the other posters that indicated Wichita is a nice city. I go there occasionally and I find it to be a pretty decent city, particularly when compared to those crime infested big cities on both coasts.

@bskeet

My undergrad Alma Mater Dayton was the only team to be beat a higher seed and prevented higher seeds from going 16-0 for thr day. They played their 5th game in 8 days and played only 7 players, all 6'-6" or shorter. In the last 2 years they are 5-1 in the tournament, both years as #11 seeds. Pretty impressive; Archie Miller has done a great job.

@Crimsonorblue22

Basically the entire country thinks the goal tending was bad call
!GoalTending.PNG ↗

By the way, Frankamp's name is not on the official Wichita State Roster, so it is not a surprise he did not travel with the team...I am now wondering if he will even play for WSU...

@JayhawkRock78

I used to have clients in Wichita in the late 80's, early 90's and I always got chuckle out of a dealership on the main commercial strip that sold Rolls Royce, Ferrari, Porsche and ....Yugo.

@Crimsonorblue22

Feed the cat... to whom? coyotes? pit bulls? :)

Just kidding, I do not advocate violence against animals except snakes and spiders and many insects...

@jaybate-1.0

I was fortunate that as youngster I was exposed to a lot of "culture." My mom loved classical music and classic literature and my grandfather loved the Greek classics and opera and I became and avid reader and music lover. Living in Europe in my teens further opened my eyes to the Fine Arts and periodic museum trips were an entertainment staple in those days. In my older years I have come to enjoy R&B and now I am trying to "understand" jazz but I am not quite there yet.

@Crimsonorblue22

I personally don't want to play anyone, I rather watch someone else play on my big screen TV and from the comfort of my easy chair...:)

Just kidding, part of me wants to play WSU and lay a good a$$-whooping on them and shut them up for a while, but I also understand that we might have a much less motivated team in IU than we would in WSU and I we also match up better against IU.

The reason for the many upset is that college basketball has changed and there is now a lot more parity.

30-40 years ago there were a handful of teams that dominated and the difference between the top teams and, say the team ranked 20 was big; now the difference is small and on any given day most any top 25 team can beat any other top 25 and a lower ranked team beating a higher seed is no longer a surprise and we always expect a few (or a lot) of "upsets" particularly given the tournament format.

@betterfireE

You need to watch the pre-game warmups and all the stretching exercises they do directed and with the help of Andrea Hudy that is there on the court helping each player individually; I am sure they go through the same routine before practice. The elite programs have elite trainers and use state-of-the-art techniques.

@jaybate-1.0

I could be wrong but I don't believe NM got within 5 in the second half; maybe 10 or 11 but not 5. Good guys played well and the 3 is back....with a vengeance...

@KUinLA

I completely disagree with your comment, Top to Bottom the Big 12 Conference is the best. Now, we might not have top 5 or even top 10 team but 7 conference teams are ranked in the top 30 in all rankings. Some conferences such as the ACC are top heavy with 3 or 4 good team but there is a big drop after that, The SEC is even worse with one superior team, UK, and then a drastic drop after that. Having 70% of its teams make the Tournament proves that top to bottom the Big 12 is the best.

So yes, the Big 12 is very good but it just does not have an elite team,

@Shanghai_RCJH

Niang has really peaked in the conference and gone up as much as he is going to. He was projected as a second round prospect but the success ISU had this season, today's game notwithstanding, might move him into a fringe first round draft pick, in which case he might bolt for the NBA. I don't believe his stock would go any higher next year and he is also one year older than most players in his class.

@wissoxfan83

I don't believe the SEC had less than 10 members in your time frame and now has 14, The ACC did not have less than 8 and now has 15, the Big 10 did not have less than 10 and now has 14. The PAC 12 did not have less than 10 and now it has 12. Before 1997 the Big 12 was the Big 8 and had only 8 members and since 2012 it has only 10 members...so yes, most of the time the other conferences have had more teams than the Big 8/Big 12. Not really that important anyway.

Hampton shooting for the rafters to avoid the UK tall trees...

@tundrahok

KU might not have a superstar like Danny but the supporting cast, when hitting on all cylinders, is better.

@VailHawk

Che's history and background has been sanitized by the the left wing press who think is cool to wear t-shirts with his likeness and most don't have a clue of the type of person he really was. He was a text-book sociopath that killed people for fun; he is right up there in the same class as Stalin and Pol Pot.

@Crimsonorblue22

Just got home from a visit with dad, he was feeling quite a bit disoriented today and needed a familiar face.

Started watching the UK-Hampton game and look like an NBA team against a high school team size wise. I feel like yelling Bobby Mo, Bobby Mo...

@Crimsonorblue22

I am betting most every one of us wants the same thing...:)

@wissoxfan83

You have not factored that the other Conferences have a lot more members so they will naturally have more wins, right?

@jaybate-1.0

I am not sure we have the size and bulk to take and inflict paint like smokin' Joe could. Maybe we should try the fly like a butterfly, siting like a bee Ali's approach....quick penetration and dish the ball out for the short jumper or tree. We cannot really penetrate and score, they just have waay too much capable size inside and did not work out well the first time around.

What we need is guerrilla warfare with quick strikes and retreats, Che Guevara's Minuet theory, which much like the dance, consists in striking quickly, moving back and striking quickly again somewhere else to keep the enemy off balance.

@jaybate-1.0, I bet you never thought I would write a post like this...:)

For the record, Che Guevara was a blood thirsty, sadist and truly evil individual with no redeeming values for whom I have nothing but contempt...and yes, I really, really know what I am talking about on this subject.

@jaybate-1.0

Much like Liberace...I mean Weber, a one time wonder with someone else's players???

KU, OU and WVU are all solid team that can and hopefully will do some damage. If KU makes it to the Elite 8 I would like its chances against UK, it would be like KU-OU in '88 when no one gave KU a chance.

Hard to believe that the official that make the call was not the one that had the good view and the one that had the perfect view did not override him...and even harder to believe that, since it is a judgment call, it is not reviewable, they looked at the replay only to see if it was a 2 or 3 point shot. I hate to see a team lose a game on a bad call.

@brooksmd

Alford went a ref-aided 9-11 from 3...that is BG on a really good day territory.

I hope Mrs. Karma has taken all it needs today and stays the heck away from the KU game...

That ball was wide and it only touched the rim after the SMU player re-directed it.

SMU trying hard to give the game away...Brown will have a conniption...

@Jayrawks1

UCLA is staying alive with 3s...

3 point game going down to the wire...

@brooksmd

SMU went on a 23-4 run, after being down by 10, to get some distance but UCLA is now fighting back.

Texas is toast...at least they lost to a higher seeded team.

If one had to predict a worst possible start for the Big 12...this one would exceed that. 0-3? who would have thunk it...

@HighEliteMajor

You mean that sport in which sweaty grown mean in tights roll on the floor grabbing each other??? Eeewww...

Looks like Texas is next, down by 5 with under 1 minute left...

@JayhawkRock78

Electric fire place for decorating purposes only; they look pretty real and you can use them with or without heat being generated...or big screen TV.

@RockChalkinTexas

I have been watching it...including Guillermo getting a World Guinness Record for most lanyards...who knew...

@KUSTEVE

...join the crowd...

ISU and Baylor made minced meat of my brackets and Texas is not helping so far...

@joeloveshawks

The conference ranking is largely based on the non-con schedule and the Big 12 had by far the toughest non-con schedule and best non-con record.

I have numerously posted here that the NCAA is a crap shoot with the match-ups offsetting the records. As Valvano said,,,survive and advance...and hope you don't get a bad match-up.

We sure could use Sasha...

Texas down 8 with 9 minutes left...

@HighEliteMajor

MU is playing in the NIT NIT

NIT NIT - Not Invited To...NIT

@jaybate-1.0

I guess Ollie must be a really bad student; apparently he forgot the lessons from last year and now he is playing in the NIT...

A really, really, really bad start for the Big 12...

"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown" - From Shakespeare's Henry IV. Part II, 1597

As usual, it will be up to KU to carry the conference flag as Baylor also lost.

As much as I dislike ISU, I really though they had a good team that would go far, same with Baylor and Texas is barely even with Butler; however, in the NCAA match-ups are a beotch and any team can beat any other team on a given day. In ISU's case, when you go 6-23 from the 3, you die by the 3; I am so happy that Coach Self at least tried to develop an alternative to the 3 and hopefully the 3 will be just a very good bonus. Not a good day for the conference so far and, I for one, take no pleasure on those loses....plus they busted my brackets big time... :( :( :(

I believe you are comparing apples and oranges, but it makes no sense to continue a discussion with no obvious right or wrong answer but only apparent different points of view. So like I said before, we will just have to agree to disagree.

@Crimsonorblue22

I hope it works out well for him...maybe he can design better looking unis for KU than Adidas did... :)

@justanotherfan

Again, we will have to agree to disagree. In my home with or without my "guests" life goes on and it does not affect the association. The KU players are more than guest, they are more like semi-permanent residents, and more importantly, without the players THERE IS NO NCAA; the players/student athletes ARE the reason why the NCAA exists. By the way, in my association, we cannot rent our homes and only the owner or family can live in them; the association has the right to get documentation to insure the current residents are there legally.

My question is...what is the alternative? Should agents juts go around giving "loans" to families of student athletes? Doesn't UK have enough of an advantage already without unleashing WWW on the families of every All-American? They would not have 10 OADs, they would have the top 15 ranked players. every year and school bidding for players...this is what the NBA doe not the NCAA. Would these families get the same loan without a student athlete involved? Obviously not. The idea is to try to keep a level field and maintain the amateur status; once money is paid they become pros and are not eligible to play in the NCAA. There are many Olympic athletes that forfeit lucrative endorsements so they can maintain eligibility.

I am not sure why you think this is a big issue when literally tens of thousands of other student athletes and their families faithfully comply with rules the VOLUNTARILY agreed to observe without any issue, many in truly dire financial situations. Again, we all are subject to all kinds of personal intrusions in our personal lives that we voluntary agree. I see this as no different.

As I said, we obviously agree to disagree.

FWIW, here is a story ↗from yesterday with Coach Self's comments on the travel issue. I have not been able to find any other reliable publication with more recent information.

@jaybate-1.0

I know the feeling. mine is staring to slip...