🏀 KuBuckets Archive

@wissoxfan83

I said they were one of the better "shooting" teams. While the FG% can be argued, most 3 point shots are taken when the shooter is open and rarely blocked, so you can compare numbers across the board, because either you make the shot or you don't.

Against KU, which can be considered a much better than average defensive team they shot 47.3% from the field or slightly lower than their season average of 50.3%, and 46.2% from 3 which is higher than their season average of 42.9%.; these are the highest percentages any team has shot against KU this year. In comparison UK shot 43.2% and 33.1%, not even close to what Lafayette shot. The second highest FG% is Tennessee at 44.4% and the second highest 3 point FG% is Rhode Island at 41.2%. You can see why Lafayette is a superior shooting team. These are not subjective opinions, these are actual numbers.

@justanotherfan

MU could not beat UK even if the cheerleaders play for UK. The only wins they have are against Valparaiso, Oral Roberts, Chaminade, SE MO State and Elon.

@drgnslayr

I believe Michael Lee was an assistant to former KU great Rex Walters at San Francisco, so at least we know he wants to coach. I think Reed would make a good coach but does not seem interested. The one player I think would make great coach is Kirk Hinrich; he has better court vision and game management than most every other guard in the NBA, and even when having a sub-par shooting year, he still gets big minutes with the Bulls. As far as bigs, Collison would be awesome.

@justanotherfan

Again, there is a lot more talent to go around than there was 40-50 years ago. Let's take the top 200 players. Assuming 10 are OAD, it leaves about 190 other players to go around, now most school have typically 3 or 4 scholarships available since the majority of the players stay 3-4 years anyway. if you divide the 190 players at 3-4 per school, that means between 50 and 60 schools get to share them, which is pretty much what we have now.

I agree that we could get to a point where the top 3-4 programs (or 1, like now) get the lion's share of top players and they separate themselves from the rest, but the rest of the team will stay pretty much the same as it is now. Just my opinion.

I have plan that would solve this issue; one of these days when I have a couple of hours, I will work out the details and post it here.

@wissoxfan83

I don't believe Lafayette is as bad a team as you think they are. They are one of the best shooting teams in college basketball, perhaps the best KU will play all season, and ranked #11 in FG% and #2 in 3-point FG%. KU is ranked #212 in FG% and #34 in 3-point FG%.

@drgnslayr

You mean this Withey?

!Withey posterizes Cobbins.jpg ↗

or this Withey...

!withey.jpg ↗

@justanotherfan

More importantly, not every players is cut out to be a coach. Phil Jackson was not a star in the NBA and he spent the majority of his career as a backup but he ended up being a superior coach. Other players that were NBA stars, such as Isiah Thomas, turned out to be mediocre coaches.

@wrwlumpy

I hardly ever look at comments at he bottom of stories as most tend to be very biased and uninformed. I don't know if race had anything to do with him getting away with as much as he did and many would say that it is indeed the case while others would say it is not. I personally prefer not to comment on that particular issues. I can only talk of the times I saw him in person at games and other times on TV and his behavior was always that of a bully trying to intimidate refs and opposing coaches alike. I am sure Temple fans seem him differently.

A very wise man once told me that there are 3 issues you just don't discuss in a public forum, race, religion and abortion and many add a fourth, politics. I strongly believe all four should be left out a sports forum all together.

@Lulufulu

Knight did not have the correct information and had to apologize for his remarks.

Read more... ↗

I have no love lost for Calipari but he is not foolish enough to allow players to stop attending classes and not leave the school in good academic standard as it would trigger NCAA penalties and loss of scholarships like UConn. I believe the OAD model is seriously harming college basketball and there is plenty of reasons to criticize the squid about, but this is is not one of them...as much as we wish we could.

@wrwlumpy

I am sorry lumpy but Chaney did not earn the respect of this KU basketball fan or most basketball fans at large. His tirade was offensive and beyond the boundaries of sportsmanship and decency, Calipari's behavior notwithstanding. Keep in mind that on two other occasion prior to that he grabbed opposing coached by the neck and had them on choke holds; he also frequently berated referees a lot worse than what he accused Calipari of doing. I saw this first hand since my undergraduate school played Temple every year and most fans of schools that played Temple did not care for him at all. I cannot think of another coach at a major program that ever acted like that or that would get away with it.

The final straw was when he he sent a goon (his own words), namely a 6'-8" 250 pound football player name Nehemiah Ingram, who hardly ever played, with specific instructions to hurt opposing players. He did just that racking up 5 fouls in 4 minutes including a technical and the last one broke the arm of a St Joe's player which ended his collegiate basketball career. Chaney suspended himself for one game and the school subsequently suspended him for the rest of the season. He retired a season later. Any other coach not named Chaney would have been banned for life by the NCAA and likely sued for millions.

Read more... ↗

@icthawkfan316

Ict, I thinks you have it right. As nice as Mickelson's performances was, we cannot draw too many conclussi0n yet; we need him to do this on a consistent basis and so far we have not. Oubre's performance is different insofar as we have seen him get better over the last few games and yesterday finally put it all together.

I am even more baffled about the comments about benching Ellis. Really? Ellis is currently the best and more experienced player in the roster and the player that a couple of week ago Myron Metcalf of ESPN called perhaps the best player in the conference ↗. It has also been said that Perry is weak at rebounding and scoring, yet he leads the team in scoring (13.3) and rebounding (6.6) and the only player that is even close in rebounding is Alexander at 6.3 , the next one is Traylor at 4.3; likewise the second scorer is Mason at 10.9. How can anyone suggest we bench our top scorer and rebounder because he had one below average game when he was under the weather escapes me...but then, if we are ready to start Mickelson after one decent outing, why wouldn't we bench Ellis after one poor one?

@Hawk8086

Against Texas KU is going to need every big it can muster. Texas is big and talented and they will be a load.

@KansasComet

Coach Self has indicated several time in the past that he normally likes to have a rotation of 7 or 8 players; he is not the only coach that feels this way, I have heard other coaches state the same thing. However, earlier this year Coach Self indicated that because of the available talent, he might extend the rotation to 9 or 10 players. Looks like he is doing just that.

@Crimsonorblue22

Yes. I obviously did not watch the game but I listened to the radio broadcast and sounded like Manning will be able to spell Mason and provided needed rest when the game is not too close that KU needs Mason in.

@wissoxfan83

I would love to see Collison work with our bigs...

@justanotherfan

That is not quite correct. When UCLA started winning their talent was comparable to that of other contemporaneous teams. It is only after it became big that it started to get the top players, such as Jabbar (Alcindor), Walton and the likes, a result of the involvement of one Sam Gilbert, the original version or World Wide Wes; without Gilbert's money and influence, UCLA would have not qute achieved what they did. . I know some Wooden fans will likely disagree with me; however, it is difficult to believe that Wooden did not know what was going on with Gilbert and his players and he knowingly looked the other way.

The main reason for their domination was not as much the talent they had (and they had plenty) but the lack of parity in college basketball at the time. When UCLA was dominating, there were a few selected programs. perhaps a dozen, that had the top talent and then it dropped quite a bit. Today, the difference between the top 5 teams and the 25-30th teams is considerable smaller.

During the time of their more dominant teams (early 60's to early 70's) the NCAA tournament had 22 to 25 teams. in 1975 the tournament wast extended to 32 and after a couple of more increases, the modern format of 64 teams was established in 1985.

Because of the parity that exists today, I firmly believe that winning 10 Conference Titles in a row in the current environment is considerable more difficult than it was in the UCLA glory days.

Kelly "KO" Oubre!!!

He "knocks out" Lafayette...I like it.

He made this comment after the Miami game...

"I thought the one thing they were lacking was a veteran leader in the locker room," Pierce said. "I'm not the Paul Pierce that has to go out and score 30 every night, I've got these young guns that can come in here, command double-teams and make life easier on me."

Looks like he knows he is coming to the end of his career; However, I don't believe I have ever heard him express any interest in coaching, but you never know

Two other players near retirement are Hinrich and Collison who I think might end up coaching since they are both technically so sound. Collison is still solid as a backup PF or C but with the development of Adams, his minutes have decrease. Hinrich is having a hard time with his shooting this season but the other parts of his game, particularly game management and defense, are sound that he continues to get big minutes.

Of course Jaque Vaughn is the HC at Orlando and a disciple of Popovich so he cannot be counted out.

Last year Ellis had the team's highest 3-pt shooting percentage at 0.471. Granted he did not have a lot of attempts but when he did, he shot well; he has hit some clutch 3s this year and I would think his current percentage will only go up.

The game has not yet slowed down for Svi and hence the thinking too much comment. He seems to have high basketball IQ and in time he will get used to the speed of the American game. As far as his 3-pt percentage, yes, he does have a good technique and form and seems to get in good position to take the shots but the shots are really not falling. If you look at his record prior to KU, his 3-pt shooting has been wildly inconsistent and probably averages to 0.300, not necessarily bad but I would not consider him a 3 point shooter, at least not in the same class as Greene or Frankamp that have a proven prior record. It is possible and maybe even likely that in the future his 3-pt shooting will improve but at this time, I would not rely on it.

@wissoxfan83

As I mentioned in a different post, Lopez, the Portland Center broke his hand and he is out for a while; TRob should be getting minutes now.

@Lulufulu

This is what I would love to see: UK, Arizona, Duke and KU all #1 make it to the Final Four

UK beats Arizona and KU beats Duke in the semis; Coach K re-injures his hip and is carried off the court by Bilas and Vitale who keeps repeating...serendipity baby!

KU faces UK in the finals and hits everything it shoots; Oubre posterizes both twins...twice, Alexander blocks the hyphenation out of Cauley-Stein and Karl-Antony Towns and Calipari sets a new record for sweatiest shirt and oiliest hair. KU wins by 30 while Olivia Wilde laughs and Ashley Judd sobs; the entire UK team signs up with a team in the Ukrainian League who adopts Ronald McDonald as its mascot.

P.S. On a side note, P-Diddy wearing a KU t-shirt beats up Drake while chanting Rock Chalk Jayhawk; the video goes viral and a recording of the chant climbs to #1 in the Rap, R&B and Rock charts; It also climbs to #2 in the Country Music Charts where #1 is ...How sweet it is to be beat by you...by Ashley Judd with the Judds as backup singers.

Oh well...it could happen...

@Crimsonorblue22

Oh yes indeed. That was a Final Four for the ages where all 4 # 1 seed made...and KU won it all!!!

@Crimsonorblue22

Cole did not not face Duke while at KU, so you must be thinking of the UNC pasting in 2008 at the Final Four, where Cole dominated Hansbrough.

@drgnslayr

Interesting note. Last night the headline on the ESPN site was: "Duke passes test." What? and I mean WHAT? UConn is not even ranked in the top 40, how can it be considered a test for the #2 team in college BBall? They game was played at The Izod Center, formerly the Meadowlands Arena, which is the Blue Devils' home away from home in the New York City metropolitan area. Duke is now 21-1 in the building and has won 14 straight.

Another interesting note. Dayton, a team that made to the Elite 8 last year, dismissed two players from the team for violation of rules; these two players happened to be the two tallest and now the team does not have a single player over 6'-6", making it perhaps the shortest team in Division I. Hats off to Archie Miller for placing integrity and character over winning games; I cannot think of many coaches that would do that. At UK, these players probably would have received a new car and a night out with Drake.

@DoubleDD

When I was young we only had one toy...it was called OUTSIDE

Now, with all the video games, less and less kids are playing outside and they sit inside playing those mind-numbing games or playing with their iPads/tablets and physical activity is restricted to those with parents that encourage some type of safe, organized sport. Soccer is considered a fairly safe sport and thus it is growing the fastest.

@nuleafjhawk

I like your quote better. The original as presented in his autobiography is:

"Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black."

Other quotes from his autobiography include...

As long as we look to legislation to cure poverty or to abolish special privilege we are going to see poverty spread and special privilege grow." Which has proven to be very true.

**"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." **

"There is no disgrace in honest failure; there is disgrace in fearing to fail."

"Mediocrity is the worst enemy of prosperity." I will guess that this was directed to unions, who now encourage workers to be mediocrity or average at best and highly discourage them from better than average or superior performance.

@wrwlumpy

No such luck, the game is blacked out on ESPN3 for the entire state of Kansas and the KC metro area. If you live in the KC Metro area and don't have TWC or Comcast you are literally...SOL.

@Crimsonorblue22

Spot on. As I said before, a lot of HS players come to college with a lot of potential but with very little basketball IQ; in many case they not only do not know how to play team basketball but have really bad habits learned on the playgrounds, that coaches have to correct before they can school them in the proper way to play the sport.

@Crimsonorblue22

We would not want that...they would not either...:)

@drgnslayr

I think fouls is definitely a concern, but the other might be stamina. I am sure Andrea is working big time with him, but you can still see the baby fat that will eventually turn into solid muscle. It is a different game than HS where he could manhandle most opposing players but now is the other way around, and just trying o maintain position takes a huge amount of effort and energy. Coach Self might be just trying to pick the times where he can be most effective before he wears out.

@Crimsonorblue22

I saw the score last night and I was going to post something today but I got help up doing actual work. TRob has not been playing much this season (or previous seasons), just mop up minutes; a result of being in teams with established PFs and little available time. Lopez, the Portland Center broke his hand and he will be out for a while; this is the best opportunity for TRob to jump to the next level; if he continues to play like he did last night, he might earn starting minutes, but if he does not make the most of this opportunity, he might be forever relegated to the bench. He has the work ethic and the desire, I am rooting for him big time.

Xavier Henry was in a similar situation ever since he started his career holding out during the pre-season and ever since he was always behind a player or players that played ahead of him (injuries did play a role) and eventually his contract did not get renewed. He got a huge break with the Lakers, where because of injuries to other players he was able to get substantial playing time and performed well earning him a new contract. Unfortunately an injury at the beginning of the season has once again set him back and he is not getting playing time.

Withey seems to be in the same place. Not many minutes with several other bigs available, but when he plays his numbers are very good. He has the team's best 2 pt Field Goal Percentage, Points per Possession and Adjusted Field Goal Percentage and he is second only to Davis in Player Efficiency Rating...and yet he gets little playing time.

@nuleafjhawk

True dat...as the younger crowd would say.

@HighEliteMajor

You make very valid points but it is also a catch 22 situation. Mason is still learning the system and we still see him make bonehead plays and the best way to learn the system is to play more. So, you want him to play as much as possible so he can become more familiar with the system while at the same time you want him to play less to conserve energy.

I am not convinced that Svi is the answer. The game is still playing very fast for him and has not slowed down and thus we have seen reduced playing time. At the PG, the game would be even faster and I am not sure he is, at this point, at a level where he could handle it; he is not a natural PG and his natural position, at least in college, is SG or even SF; in the NBA he will likely be a combo like Hinrich or like Chalmers become a PG. No doubt that he has the natural skills and basketball IQ to adapt to the position but again, do you take a hit at that position while he learns to play it? I am sure he would do fine at the slower Euro pace, but at the faster American pace, he would be, at least initially, at a disadvantage. Just my 2 cents...

@drgnslayr

A lot of this research is already in place. The USOC has several training facilities and partnership with other institutions where advance research is being conducted by bio engineers, doctors, dieticians and other scientists to study Olympic sports and find ways to improve performance and production while minimizing/reducing the risk of injury. They use advanced technology including high speed video, full body instrumentation, advanced computer modeling as well as advance medical scanning technologies to study cause and effect of sports activities. You should check it out, it is like science fiction.

One of the studies is the effect of using the head in soccer. I am not sure if a definite conclusion has been reached yet but there are many who think it should be outlawed since the repeated impact on the brains is thought to cause permanent damage. Luckily the header, or at leas the one that could cause damage, is not something that is done repeatedly in games...lucky for me since I played varsity in college and competitively well into my 30s. :(

I know that there is ongoing research on basketball but I am not sure about football since it is not an Olympic sport. Most of the research about football will happen as a consequence of all the lawsuits and the need to have a baseline for determining damages. I personally think that anyone that plays football and is not aware of the risks, even will all the protective gear, is just being disingenuous and willingly ignoring reality; same thing for full contact sports such as boxing, ice hockey and MMA, just to name a few.

@BeddieKU23

The idea is not to replace him but simply give Mason some extra minutes of rest. For example, in the NBA they talk about the difference it makes when LeBron plays 2 minutes more or less per game over the course of a season, particularly at the end of the season. It is conceivable that playing Mason 36 minutes instead of 32 could end up with him being spent by the end of the season. Coaches in the NBA now periodically give players games off to prevent long term fatigue; LeBron got a game off a couple of weeks ago and Popovitch rested Duncan, Parker and Ginobile for one game a few days ago. Once conference play starts, Coach Self will not be able to rest Mason, unless he is injured, of course, so limiting his minutes seems like a good compromise; the question is who can he plug in for him for 8-10 minutes per game given that the only other true PG is injured and unknown when or if he will back.

@approxinfinity

Well...at least we are the kings of the doily icons. :)

@Crimsonorblue22

With KU football we don't expect much and they don't disappoint. I am really, really, really hoping this time it will be different.

The Cathedral of Basketball...enough said.

@approxinfinity

I agree with you 100% and I apologize if inadvertently I crossed the line. Sometimes I do miss having the "ignore" option.

Happy holidays as we approach 10,000 members; I see where KUBUCKETS threads now show at the top of search engines results. :)

@drgnslayr

Not college but NBA. This link ↗ has the average player height for NBA players fro a number of years.

@joeloveshawks

Well...the new football coach should get some love...at least until he shows he cannot win.

@DoubleDD

Spot on...however it might go longer since the Lafayette game is blacked out. I still hate Zenger's incompetence.

@BeddieKU23

The concern about playing Mason too much is real and valid. KU has two true point guards Mason and Graham and while other players can fill in at times, none of the other players currently in the rotation can play PG on a regular basis. Perhaps this is why he has floated Manning's name. NBA teams carefully track on-court minutes, particularly that of their top players and are careful not to overplay them lest risk injury. In college, playing 32 versus 36 minutes might seem like a small number but it can make a big difference, so it is not surprising that Coach Self is concerned

@jaybate-1.0

To answer your question as best I can...

@HighEliteMajor was apparently writing about Self's coaching.

@JayHawkFanToo was apparently writing about @HighEliteMajor.

Do you see the logical disconnect in subject matter?

So...when @HighEliteMajor posts a comment, he is talking about Self's "coaching" but when I post a comment I am not talking about @HighEliteMajor's comment but about him personally?

Do you see the hypocrisy? Do you see the bias? Do you see the "logical disconnect"?...sadly, you probably don't

I don't know @HighEliteMajor from Adam. For all I know he could be my grandson Gym teacher, or the guy that sat at the bar next to me at Twin Peaks a couple of nights ago and visited about KU basketball, or the neighbor a couple of doors down from me that puts up a KU flag every time the Jayhawks play...that guy does have a "Self for President" bumper sticker so, he either likes him a lot and really wants him to become president so he can take over as KU coach; I will put him down as a definite maybe. The point is that my comments are not personal and simply address the difference of opinion we have.

If we all though the exact same way this would be the most boring forum in the web...

Post 1 - I really like Self,

Post 2 - Me too

Post 3 - Ditto.

Post 4 - Agreed.

See what I am driving at? We all have different opinions and we all comment on issues we agree and more importantly on issues we don't agree; This is what a sports forum is for, impersonal exchange of ideas. @drgnslayr and I often disagree on issues and I don't have a problem with his opinions and I don't believe he has a problem with mine either, and after stating our views, sometimes we just agree to politely disagree...nothing wrong with this; this is what the forum is for

You, on the other hand, constantly personalize your statements and make it a point to demean those who don't agree with you. For example, you constantly refers to me as "he /she" knowing full well that I am a male, since on many occasions I have provided personal information including that I have wife, children, grandchildren, live in Olathe. am an engineer, schools I have attended and so on...just like most other members do from time to time, that is provide some information to somewhat personalize the interchange with other members. I am not sure if the Viagra is not kicking in and you have the "need" to feel more manly by making that type characterization or just senile and just don't remember; either way it only makes you look petty and silly. I only post as @JayHawkFanToo, which by the way I have explained its origin before; @approxinfinity, the board owner/administrator has my name, address, phone number, e-mail and the name of my business, as we have corresponded before and he can attest to the veracity of my statement.

In any case, it is nice that you stand by your man @HighEliteMajor; Tammy Wynette would be proud of you.

No malice involved...well, maybe just a little.

..

@wrwlumpy

I saw that Jabari Parker is out for the season. He was having a pretty good season and it is always sad to see such a promising player get injured.

Wiggins and McLemore have been playing well this season: Wiggins better than anticipated and McLemore finally playing the way we thought he could.

@TheDrunkenJhawk

I was under the impression that Nigel King had only one year since he transferred from Maryland after graduating and did not have to sit one year. I read that he did not play his first year due to eligibility issues, enrolled in January and graduated in 2-1/2 years; pretty impressive for some one with eligibility issues. He will be the top receiver, no doubt, and should vie for conference honors. He had one of the most amazing catches in all of college football this past season...

[link text](

@drgnslayr

You summarized Alexanders situation nicely. He has the physical tools to be a well above average player; however, his technical skill are severely lacking. A freshman Nick Collison would run circles around him. No doubt that his athleticism allowed him to dominate in HS, but at Division I level, all players are superior and it is tougher to compete against McDonald All-Americans than it is against kids that work at McDonald. I am sure the coaching staff is working with him in improving the fundamentals, and once they catch up with the physical side, he will be indeed a superior player.

@HighEliteMajor

You continue to misrepresent what Coach Self says just to prove your point.

First, if you cannot tell the difference between "should" and "could" then the rest of the post will be for naught. Maybe @jaybate-1.0 can write and essay in the difference between these two words; you are more likely to believe him anyway,

Next, you continue to imply that Self would be using Traylor as traditional PG when the obvious meaning is that he would still be playing Center and would be guarded by the opposite center (except with zone defense)

It sounds nice to say that it will clear the lane. But we have a 3 out, 2 in offense, not a 4 out, 1 in offense.

Exactly. This out-of-the -box scheme would in fact turn the 3 out 2 in offense into a 4 out 1 in offense. Traylor could be a the top of the key initiating offense, at this point the opposite center could either stay back or come out to guard him. If he stays back then Traylor has clear path path to either take the short jumper or drive to the basket since Self believes that Traylor is faster than most centers...but then, you seem to think that you know the capabilities of the KU players better than he does. You don't. If the opposite center comes out to guard him way out, it frees up the middle and opens up the lanes for penetration. If they double team him with two guards, he just passes the ball over the top to the open man for an open shot. Will it work? I don't know, could it work? Absolutely.

I am not the only one that sees it this way, I cited Mellinger because he writes for the local paper (KC Star) and is the first one that comes up. Google it and you will find articles with comments like ..."unconventional, but I like it", "It could work..." and so on.

Again, Coach Self did not say that this is an approach he would use for sure, but something that he would consider as way of manufacturing points. This is a transcript from his press conference after the Utah game...

"I don't think that was a huge factor in us not playing in the second half. It's going to be a factor moving forward because our team is different than any other team we've had since I've been here, ==>we don't throw it to the post and score.<== We're not very big, and our two biggest guys have a hard time in there, they haven't developed that yet so we've got to find different ways to manufacture points. We're not doing it off our defense and we're not doing it in transition. Now the guy (Frank Mason III) that can really create for you in transition has to play 36 minutes a game. So it's going to be a situation where we've got to kind of redefine who we are. We won some games playing the way we have, which is fine, but the next three weeks we've really got to do some things to get better for conference play."

It is very apparent that he is aware that KU does not have the inside game that he had on previous teams and thus he cannot use his system like he has in the past since it relies on a strong inside game that, again, this team just does not have. He is obviously trying to figure out what else he can do and a little outside the box thinking could be good. Funny that you always criticized Coach Self because he was inflexible and now that he is being flexible, has abandoned the inside out game and is thinking outside the box, you criticize him even more. There is just no pleasing you.

You should really check out this site... ↗

I would describe this team as a work in progress with a lot of growing pains and a huge upside, How well they end up depends heavily on how well they can compensate for the lack of height inside.