If KU makes it to the Final Four, I cannot see anyone more deserving that him.
When he wins his 12th Conference Title in a row, he will be awarded "Coach of the Century."
JayHawkFanToo
13427 posts
Amen to that!!!
"No plan survives contact with the enemy". - Helmuth von Moltke the Elder and many others.
Some times the best plans have to be modified at game time since the opponent obviously did not get the Memo or refuses to cooperate...:)
There is a system in place ↗that allows accurately measurement of the distance basketball players travel during a game along with a battery of other statistics.
Also, this link ↗has a comparison between the different sports; not surprisingly, soccer players cover the longer distances.
After I read your post, I found the story on the CJon line and I had to read it a few times to put in context.
In the past, Withey indicated that when he fist started the NBA the game was too fast and once it "slowed down" for him (read he became accustomed to the speed) he became more comfortable.
"“Kansas did prepare me for this, but obviously there are bigger and stronger guys in the NBA,” said Withey, who helped lead the Jayhawks to the 2012 NCAA title game in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. “I’ve noticed how the guards here are a lot faster and smoother with the ball. They know how to make plays and are so good at this level. In college you can kind of get away with a lazy hedge (helping a picked teammate on defense), but here you can’t do that at all. You’ve got to be on guard all the time. It’s a different physical level.”
I take his comment to mean that there is more running in college with players, particularly at defense oriented KU, always running back to set up the defense, where in the NBA the game is more deliberate and you don't really have the full court press or tight coverage that tends to speed up the game and sometimes defense is not a priority. However, when the plays are developing and the offense is in motion the game is played at a speed that new players cannot keep up and only when they become comfortable with the speed, the game eventually "slows down." Makes sense? I guess were are taking about slower pace with higher speed....I think???
I watch a fair amount of NBA games and the game seems to be indeed more deliberate but when the players get in motion, they are blindingly faster and stronger than college kids. The same is true for other sports such as football, where when new players are asked what is the biggest adjustment between college and the pros, the answer is consistently...speed. I would suspect this is true for most sports.
I will see if I can find some stats on pace and possession time for the NBA and college.; it should be interesting.
I believe you have the 2011-21012 team confused with the 2010-2011 that featured the last year of the Morris twins. The 2011-2012 team made it to the finals and was runner up to Kentucky
I mentioned before that going to school in Canada was or should be a red flag. He might reclassify and then stay another year in Canada and then go straight to the NBA.
Texas has had talent, some of it great, but not at the same level as KU year in and year out. KU currently has more McD All Americans than the rest of the conference combined. For a football school, I believe Barnes has done reasonably well, but that is just my personal opinion and I am sure other members disagree.
It is official, Jacque Vaughn has been fired by Orlando ↗. Best of luck to Jayhawk Jacque in whatever he decides to do...
Barnes does have 3 Conference Championships, 1 Final Four, 3 Elite Eights and 5 Sweet Sixteen, during his tenure (16 years) Texas also finished 10 times ranked in the top 25, 5 top 10 and 2 top 5 final rankings...so he has had his share of winning...just sayin'
The antlers were kicked out of a couple of games by the administration, so even MU sees them now as an embarrassment.
At this time, I can see only Oubre as potentially leaving. If this is the case and if we pick up just one more quality big, then we have a super talented and complete team with experience to boot.
Again, do you see Svi staying 5 years at KU? I really don't. If he red shirts, he has to practice, train and travel with the team just the same, so she does not have any more time for studying than any other non-red shirt player, he just cannot play in games, the one thing that gives him real on-court experience against real competition. No worries, not a big deal anyway.
I don't have a problem with your logic; there is no reason why Texas should not be better other than the talent available has the wrong fit/chemistry. Did you read the link I posted on Texas and Baylor? For the size of the school. there is no question that Baylor has over achieve both in basketball, and of late, in football.
As far as Texas being the face of the conference, I don't agree with that, at least not in recent years. If you ask sports fans across the country who the face of the Big 12 is...the overwhelming majority will say Kansas in basketball since it has dominated the conference for a long time, and in football I would say Oklahoma, Baylor and maybe Texas after that with TCU, OSU and KSU also getting votes; those are the only sports that really matter. Texas and Ohio State have the two largest Athletics budgets, but where Ohio State has done well, Texas has seriously underachieved.
I think you might be over estimating Hield's NBA potential some. He is considered short for the position he plays and also a shoot first, shoot second type of player that is nowadays frowned upon. He has been ranked as high as 21 but currently he is 48 ↗ as his rating seems to be falling. Most mock drafts have him as a late first round or second round prospect. Oubre and Alexander are consistently ranked above him.
Sometimes our perception of a player, what scouts think and how he eventually turns out can be quite different. Most of us thought that TRob should have been a top 2 pick but was picked #5 and now he is playing very little on his third team in three years...not what you would expect from #5 pick, right? Look at who was select #6 on the same draft...Damian Lillard, a NBA superstar or #21 Jarred Sullinger who start for the Celtics and leads the team in scoring. As you know Mock Drafts are finicky and can change quite a bit form one week to the next and I try to look at multiple publications, preferably those that average results. Maybe you have access to better information on Hield than I do and I would be interested in seeing it,
Again, why would you red shirt Svi? You would do this only if you expect him to be here for 5 years...right? Worst (best???) possible case is that he stays 4 years until he gets his degree and then he is gone, either to the NBA or the Euro Leagues. I just don't see any scenario where he stays in college past 4 years, none...but then this just my personal opinion.
Most likely scenario is that he stays one additional year and then he either goes to the NBA or to the Euro Leagues which would prepare him better for the NBA than college would -yes, the Euro pro-leagues are better than college- while making a fair chunk of change.
A quick check of mock drafts show Oubre as unanimous Lottery pick, i.e. top 14. Most drafts have Alexander anywhere from late lottery to late fist round...but still fist round. Some list have Ellis and Selden as second round picks but I take it that most are not expecting either to come out this year; if the announce, they both would likely be second round picks but with a strong finish they could sneak in as a late first round picks
Why would you red shirt Svi? You do this with players that will play 4 years in college and there is no chance Svi will play 4 years in college. If he is not ready for the NBA after next year he will most likely go back and play in the Euro Leagues until he is ready for the NBA.
You are missing the most important part, Texas is a football school in the heart of football country and basketball comes a very distance second to football. It is in may way the reverse of KU; here we watch the first few football games and if they do well we stick around and if they don't (which is most of the time) we start the wait for basketball and write off football. The fact that their football programs has been down has not helped the basketball programs since there it has attracted more attention and higher expectations. Barnes is a good coach and well respected by his peers and runs a clean program but lately he has been competing with Baylor for players and Drew is known for being less than honest. ↗.
Much like Texas, OU is also a football school and it is sad to see a really good OU basketball team play in a half full arena.
As far as Buddy Hields, he was ranked in the 80s out of HS and much like Niang, he has been a late bloomer. KU typically recruits in the top 50 and the lower ranked players are only selected to use up available scholarships after the top players are gone. No one could have predicted how well Hield and Niang would turn out.
Here is a 2 year story about Texas and Baylor ↗that could have been written yesterday...
With the program in his current status, I just don't see any KC team affecting attendance.
Those were the final years of the Ted Owens era and they ended up costing him his job.
I Believe OU and ISU have the capability of putting together a good run to end the season and if KU falters they do have chance. WVU's edge is that they have two games against KU but I am not convince they can put together the run that would get them close to KU.
I guess it will depend on what caused the suspension. KSU's expectations have not been high since Frank Martin left so he might be OK.
Wisconsin, Virginia, Duke, Gonzaga, Arizona.
Reports from the game indicate that Foster sat on the bench mopping the entire game and his body language was horrible. Would not surprise me if he leaves the program and starts preparing for the draft. He has a lot of talent but his work ethic and attitude are seriously lacking; unlike Marcus Smart, he might not get a chance to rehab his image and NBA teams might be hesitant to take a chance.
TTU also suspended a player today and Syracuse just self -imposed a ban from post season...lots of developments today.
Realistically, a team with 5 loses has a tiny change to even tie for the conference title let alone win it. KSU and OSU the 2 teams with 5 loses would have to go 8-0 the rest of the season while KU would have to go no better than 5-4 in the next 9 games which is possible but highly improbable. OU and Baylor would have to go 8-0 and 9-0 while KU goes no better than 6-3 just to tie for the title. Given how KU is playing it is of course possible but not likely. Which leaves ISU and WVU each with 3 loses as the only teams with a realistic chance of catching up with KU; WVU in particular has 2 games with KU in which they could make up the 2 game difference.
Short of a complete collapse by KU, the conference is theirs to lose.
Two players at KSU including Foster were suspended. Game reports indicate that Foster mopped on the bench the entire game and his body language was bad. I would not be surprised if he does not come back since this is the second time he has been suspended. Too bad, the kids is ubber talented by his work ethic and attitude are suspect.
I am sure Coach Self agrees with you and I would guess he would like Mason to play no more than 30 minutes per game. Having said that, some of the recent games were critical and KU needed to win; hopefully as the season moves on he will be able to get a few extra minutes of rest.
In the NBA they carefully monitor playing time and often they will take a key player off the court a minute or two before a scheduled TV time out in order to provide him extended rest. College is slowly catching up but in many cases teams do not have high caliber backups that will maintain the level of play and hence key players are forced to play more than what coaches would prefer.
We have to keep in mind that there are 351 team in Division I and if only 50 of them receive top attention, it is still a large number. ESPN has assigned different individuals to different conferences and Fraschilla has the Big 12 and by and large, he does a pretty good job and keeps himself on top of the conference happenings.
However, on programs like Game Day, when you have several "analysts" not familiar with the inner workings of the conference and too lazy to do their own research, they rely on "talking points" written by some flunky in Bristol with little insight into the conference and they make silly comments that have the "locals" shaking their heads in disbelief. No question than any program West of Kentucky is not given enough attention by the East Coast heavy media.
All the elite programs playing at home in front of a sold out crowd are tough places. We are obviously biased and there is no question that AFH is one of the toughest places for opponents but, depending on the opponent, some places might be tougher than others at any given time.
For example AFH is probably the toughest place for ISU or Oklahoma or other conference teams, but for a teams such as Ohio State, -Wisconsin or Michigan or Michigan State- might be tougher because of the conference rivalry. Just sayin' :)
Don't forget they passed on Bill Self and chose Quin Snyder instead. I for one am thankful for their incompetence.
I have said it before, if you can beat the WVU press you will win big. OU was not ready for their first game and lost by 21 points; they were plenty ready last night and won by 19; Texas did the same thing and won by 27. Hard to believe such a huge swing.
It is not just the crime but also the crime abetted by the City and the Police. I have friends that thought that by all indications had parked legally in the area only to have their cars towed away and the towing/storage companies wanting several hundred dollars to release the cars and the City and Police would not lift a finger.
I owned a building in the nearby Freight House District and towing companies would come at night and tow car from out private, off-the-street parking lot; they just assumed that any one parking there at night was doing it illegally and as long as the lot owners did not know, they got away with it. One time my partner was working late and her car was towed from our own lot and we had to go to court to get the towing company to pay for the damage to her car, while the City and Police chose to do nothing. It is a racket and the City and Police are smack in the middle of it. A couple of TV station have done stories on the subject and it gets better for few weeks and then it back to the same old thing.
It depend how you define the league as being good or not that good. Look at the other leagues and you will see that in leagues such as the ACC, PAC12 and Big 10, after the top few teams the rest are not that good. Here is a list of the conferences with teams with RPI in the to 50;
- A10 - 4 out of 14 - 29%
- ACC - 5 out of 15 - 33%
- Big 12 - 7 out of 10 - 70%
- Big East 7 out of 10 - 70%
- Big 10 - 5 out of 14 - 36%
- MVC - 2 out of 10 - 20%
- Mountain West - 3 out of 11 - 27%
- PAC 12 - 3 out of 12 - 25%
- SEC - 6 out of 14 - 43%
- West Costs - 1 out of 10 - 10%
No question that the Big 12 is from top to bottom the toughest league with 9 out of 10 teams having received top 25 votes, 8 have been ranked in the top 25 and currently 6 teams are ranked in the top 25. There are no nights off in the Big 12 and any team can beat any other team.
There is only so much disposable income in any metro area and the KC metro area is probably at the limit of what it can support. I am not sure how well a NBA team would do at this time in KC; with the Chiefs always drawing and the new found Royals suddenly being good again, the disposable income is just not there, particularly since the Sporting Kansas City is also taking a share and it is wildly successful.
Had they built Sprint Center around the Legends, I imagine a NBA team it would have a better chance since there is a lot more income in the Kansas than the Missouri side of the metro area. Th Sprint Center is very nice and the Power and Light district rocks, however, it you walk a couple of blocks away, it is still a dump and a dangerous one at that. I have been to the Sprint Center for the Big 12 Tournament during the day, but I would be hesitant to go there after dark; I know for a fact that I am not the only one that feels this way.
I think your comparison of the Eastern European Pro League wit the Big 12 might have been true 20 or even 10 years ago but that is no longer the case. Euro basketball has improved dramatically in the last 10 years and now it sits just below the NBA and above college BBall. NBA teams used to tour Europe in the pre-season and win going away; last October the defending champion San Antonio lost a game against a German team ↗, and the German League is considered one of the weakest in Europe.
Here is another article ↗ with a little more context.
Who does the shorter clock benefit more, offense or defense?
You could say that a shorter clock forces a faster tempo game with more possessions so advantage offense. On the other hand, the defense needs to hold the other team for a shorter period of time so advantage defense?
Shocked at all the empy seats. OU is having the best season they have had in a while and cannot sell out the place; embarrasing. Of course they will sellout the joint when KU comes to town.
I don't believe the NCAA would go lower than 30 seconds, definitely not 24 seconds like the NBA. So it is really not much of change. I would prefer to leave the game as is and not switch to the no-defense, NBA-like game.
The four top ranked teams in both polls before the tournaments were:
- 1 - Gonzaga
- 2 - Duke
- 3 - Indiana
- 4 - Louisville
I seem to remember that Duke ended up being the top raked team by the NCAA for bracket purposes that year...but it could have been one of the others, although I doubt if it would be the #4 ranked team.
The problem with Pomeroy rankings is that they do not reflect reality well. All computer models use basically the same information with their own unique twists in an attempt to create a model that closely reflects/predicts reality...this is the ultimate test of any model. When a reasonably unbiased person looks at the results and thinks...this does not look right...then the model is flawed. This is not to say that all computer models are good or bad, simply that some are better at predicting the perception of the general population.
In this regard Pomeroy is not that different than snobish movie critics that tell us a movie is a "masterpiece" when most viewers think is garbage; of course they claim that viewers lack the "sophistication and culture" to appreciate it, but we know that if looks like a turd, smells like turd and floats like turd...it is a turd, and no review is going to change that. Pomeroy uses his own snobish approach to tell us we really do not understand his genius and we are not smart enough to understand what he is doing.
There are a number of computer models and by and large they all have somewhat similar results; however, Pomeroy's model seems to be at odds with most of the other models. If you take an average of all the models, Pomeroy would be considered an outlier.
“Trust thySELF: every heart vibrates to that iron string." from SELF-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson
You underestimate thySELF at your own risk - JayHawkFanToo.
OU better win...Pomeroy still has them ranked as the top Big 12 team and ahead of KU. I just don't get how he can justify this ranking when they lost 4 of 5 conference games in January including a head to head with KU, and since then, they have won only against bottom feeders TTU and OSU and stand 5-4 and tied for 4th place with KSU and 3 full games behind KU in the conference standings.
Collison is the ultimate team player and mentor to the younger ones. Lazy writers that have never played teams sports would not know what Collison brings to the table; obviously the team and his teammates do.
As I said LeBron has played PF on occasions when his team had no other options, but his primary position has always been SF, same as Wiggins. At Miami he played a lot of guard (point-forward) and often brought the ball up the court and led the team in assists but he hardly ever played PF other than when Bosch and Battier were injured.
Here are the roster depths for Cleveland and Minnesota, you can see that both James and Wiggins play SF. Short of moving LeBron to SG, I just don't see Wiggins and LeBron playing together (Wiggins is not a good ball handler) and this is what Cleveland saw as well and traded Wiggins for Love. Just my opinion and I could be wrong.
Here is a write up ↗ on the subject where James specifically refuses to be called a PF.
I would say UK in 2012?
Scott Brooks is very safe in OKC. The Thunder have had a lot of injuries this season and still managed to be at .500. Durant missed 26 of 48 games and Westbrooke 14 of 28; the only player to have played in all 48 games is Ibaka. Brooks is well liked and respected in OKC and I just don't see him not staying there.
On a related note, the Thunder signed Collison to a new 2 year contract ↗. So...he won't be coaching at KU anytime soon...:(
KU's non-con schedule was the toughest in the country and the conference schedule is even tougher. How many teams can say that of their first 9 conference games, 6 were against ranked teams and still ended up with 8-1 record? Pretty impressive.
Obviously I have no first hand knowledge of what happened at the time since at the time I was new born and had no clue -or interest- in sports.
I have done a fair amount of reading on the subject and yes, he made some enemies at KU and in the state (what coach doesn't), but his departure was ultimately due to reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70 (at the time) and the legislature would not pass a bill to exempt him from the law, something he lobbied heavily for, and back then, coaches did not bring the money or had the clout they do now.
When the movie came out last year there was a fair amount of discussion on several items but I don't recall anyone questioning the specific parts about Allen. I personally think the movie was a fair effort to represent the events at the time, but poorly made and in the end, pretty much forgettable. Would I see it again? Maybe on TV or Netflix. Would I pay to see it gain? No. It does not mean that it misrepresented facts but simply that it was poorly made.
Don't forget that AFH - at the time one of the bigger arenas in the country and still the largest in the State of Kansas - was dedicated in March of 1955 while he was still HC at KU and he continued to coach another year until his retirement at the end of the 1955-1956 season. Had he been in bad terms, the school could have easily named the Field House after Naismith but named it after Allen instead.
You can ask the same question every time a coach leaves a program. For example, how would you characterize Coach Roy Williams' departure from KU? Was it friendly? Hostile? In between? I imagine if you asked 20 people you might get 20 different answers. I personally think that it something that was bound to happen sooner or later but I am not happy with the way it went down and or this I blame Dean Smith and not Coach Williams.
Again, I have no first hand knowledge of what transpired at the time but nothing I have read tells me it was vastly different than what I wrote.