🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Toledo is a solid team that played above its average and would have beaten most any other teams.

Let's face it, they were not intimidated by AFH and took it to KU scoring a fair number of point inside and hitting well guarded shots from the outside. The main problem KU had, IMHO, were turnovers, many of them unforced or a result of overconfidence and not protecting the ball.

Toledo shot below its season average from the field, but the 3 point shooting was almost 40% higher that its season average. If not for the torrid 3 point shooting, this would have been a 20+ point win. I would be curious to know how many points Toledo scored off the KU turnovers.

@justanotherfan

I guess you missed the part where I wrote:

"It might not provide full compensation for a career long earnings, but will get the players started in life with an education and a few million dollars...which is a few million dollars more than most of us start."

You have to consider that the player will get this money and will not have to do anything else. If you invest $5M wisely, you can probably live very well of the interest and not have to work the rest of your life. Again, this is a hell of a lot more that most of us start with and we have to work the rest of our lives too.

Chane Behanan was dismissed from the team and according to Pitino there is no chance of him coming back. In addition, it was announced that Kevin Ware, he of leg break fame a the NCAA, will likely redshirt. I wonder if Behanan's dismissal was related to his NCAA ring being put up for auction earlier, although he was initially cleared.

Louisville loses all inside presence and now it can go short or it can go young, neither option conducive to repeating as champions.

Look like Mr. Zenger strikes again. I can't find the game on my Surewest schedule and ESPN3 is blacked out on the entire state of Kansas.

Reminds me of the Story that Jim Valvano told:

Valvano: Hey ref., can you give me a "T" for what I am thinking?

Referee: Of course not, I cannot give you a "T" for you are thinking...

Valvano: In that case...I think you are an idiot.

Referee: You got your "T"...

I hope they cannot put me in jail for what I am thinking about Mr. Zenger right about now...

@HighEliteMajor

Agree. Maybe we are jaded because of the tough schedule KU has played, 6 top 50 teams compared to 0 for Ohio State, but the weak schedule is not unique to them.

Once conference play starts. the ranking will change quite a bit. In the Big 12, I believe a 14-4 record will win the conference.

@drgnslayr

To add to your post, Toledo is ranked 70 by Sagarin, have not played any team in the top 50 and their SOS is ranked 264; they are ranked 75 by KenPom. KU on the other hand is ranked in the top 10 by both. To a large extend, the 12-0 record is the result of them being a decent team but also playing weak competition. KU will be a big step up compared to what they have faced so far.

@RockChalkinTexas

I generally agree with the ranking; however, I have a problem with a couple of the descriptions. The Syracuse-Villanova game was a 3 point game with 7 minutes to play and 7 point with less than 3 minutes. The bulk of the point differential was made when Villanova had to foul and Syracuse made the free throws. The final score is not indicative of how most of the game played out.
The Ohio State games was the opposite. If they replay the last minute of their game against Notre dame 100 times, Notre Dame wins 99 of them. Notre Dame (with a little help from the refs) lost their PGs and had no one that could bring the ball up resulting in a combination of turnovers and missed free throws in the last minute of the game that gave OSU a miracle win. I am not particularly impressed with OSU. According to Sagarin, they have the weakest SOS of any team in the top 20 and they have not played a single team in the top 50, compared to KU that has played 6 top 50 teams, again according to Sagarin.

@justanotherfan

The NCAA has now the "Exceptional Student-Athlete Disability Insurance Program", known as E.S.D.I., which provides coverage of up to $5 million for a projected first-round pick in the N.F.L. or N.B.A. Players are also allowed to buy additional insurance provided their family can pay for the premium, otherwise it would be considered an improper benefit.

It might not provide full compensation for a career long earnings, but will get the players started in life with an education and a few million dollars...which is a few million dollars more than most of us start.

@justanotherfan

Staying one extra year in college has its advantages as far as developing mentally and physically. As far as training, the NBA has better position coaches and the player can dedicate all of his time to improving his skills without worrying about school work. Lottery picks that fail usually do it because of mental and/or physical immaturity, not enough dedication, and more often than not, being miss-drafted based on perceived potential rather that proven ability; some just happened to be drafted by the wrong team at the wrong time, i.e. Xavier Henry, and their development is seriously hampered, but again like Henry, it can be re-started elsewhere, provided the talent is there.

@Crimsonorblue22 All the recent posts in this thread were uniquely about shot blocking and not about offensive ability.

@brooksmd
Smart kid. He is probably serving in Congress now :)

@Crimsonorblue22

Maybe Embiid is ahead of freshman or sophomore Withey. Senior Withey was the best rim defender KU has had in a long time; Embiid is not there yet.

Way too many Bowl games with only one having any meaning. At least during March Madness you know that a win gets you to the next round, so every game has a lot on the line.

It shows correctly using Firefox...

When I click on my post on the right side I get to this thread; however, if I go the Football News section, the thread does not show...go figure....

@approxinfinity

I have tried all the usual options including refreshing, cleaning the cache, recent posts, etc. with no luck. I am using the latest IE Ver. 11 which might be part of the problem. I will try Firefox and see what I get.

Is the Toledo game one of the games that we will not be able to watch unless we subscribe to TW or Comcast?

I checked the TV guide listings for my cable provider (Surewest) and the game is not listed, as far as I can tell. It is supposed to be on ESPN3, which I get but as we all know, it gets blacked out in Kansas.

Looks like I might be cursing Zenger's name one more time :(

@approxinfinity

I just posted a new thread on the Football bucket and it showed up briefly and then disappeared. I can see it under my own posts but I cannot see it in the football bucket or the Recent Posts tab.

This the second time it has happened; what am I doing wrong?

Quite by accident I ran into the KSU-Michigan game last night and I watched parts of it. It was nice to see the junior team from Kansas beat up on Michigan.

I can honestly say that this is the first (partial) bowl game I have watched so far and other than perhaps the Championship game, I have no plans to watch any other game.

It is so different from college BBall where I watch several games per week and I try to catch as many games of the Tournament in March a I can.

@dylans

Oscar Robertson Potential? This is a tall order considering that the big "O" is perhaps the best basketball player ever.

@HighEliteMajor

The problem with Greene is two fold. First, his defense is not yet up to Coach Self's standards, and two, his concentrations is lacking. In two of the loses, he had silly, unforced turnovers at the end of games costing KU valuable possessions that could have changed the outcome of the games. Until he corrects these two issues, his playing time will be limited.

As far as Mason, as long as teams continue to throw zones at KU, Tharpe is going to get more playing time since Mason has not been effective against the zone and his outside shot has not been a threat that can bust the zone. His style of play and the new contact rules makes him ideal against man to man defenses, unfortunately we have not seen enough of that.

All I can remember about Toledo is the double OT loss in football in 2006 and getting even at Memorial Stadium the next season, the magical 2007 season.

@approxinfinity

Thanks.

If Wiggins can consistently score 20+ points per game, I don't care how many assist he has.

The all-knowing Coach Self knew that Toledo had a weak schedule and would be unbeaten coming to AFH, where they would get a lesson about the magic of the Cathedral of basketball.

@bskeet
The loss to UTEP was indeed a travesty, and the movie Glory Road made it worse with all the inaccuracies. It made it look like UTEP was the first team to include black players when in reality teams such as San Francisco on the mid 50's won two NCAA titles starting 4 black players, including Bill Russell and Casey Jones, same with Cincinnati on the early 60s. In fact, UTEP started 4 black players against KU who started 3 black players...I could go on...

As far as the '57 game against UNC, it was indeed a 3 OT game. I don't know why the KU Media Guide would have it any other way,

Tharpe is the better passer and Mason the better penetrator; not that Tharpe cannot penetrate, he definitely can, but he plays as Coach Self wants him to play, feeding the bigs inside; Jesse's graphs certainly validate this point.
With the new rules and the prevalence of zone defenses, Tharpe role will continue to increase. With man to man defenses, Mason will get increased playing time since he can penetrate and either score or draw the foul.

I guess EJ's hit was harder that we thought... ;)

@bskeet

I was trying top compare Withey and Embiid not at similar stage sin their development but in the season prior to being drafted and because of al the comparisons I hear from analysts and fans alike.

Withey obviously had the height but his athleticism was limited and his blocking skills wee developed almost solely by working in his technique and paying his dues for many years.

Embiid on the other hand, certainly has the height and God-given athletic ability; his technique at this time is still very raw but the ceiling is high, and his major asset is his natural ability. As he improves his technique he will become a much better blocker; however, Withey has set a high bar that will be tough to beat...at least in his only year playing at KU.

...and as I posted yesterday, this is one of the reasons why Embiid is as good as gone. The insurance available to top players by the NCAA does not begin to cover the potential loss of money due to a career ending injury or even one that delays progress for one year or two.

@approxinfinity

I stared a thread on this subject yesterday and the thread disappeared.

I can still see my post under my login but the thread is nowhere to be found; any thoughts?

Mitch McGary to have season ending surgery

link ↗

He should have left after his great run at he Tournament, now his future is uncertain; this is why even fringe players will opt for the draft. I am sure McGary has insurance through the NCAA for just this type of situation, but it probably covers only a portion of the money he will likely lose.

Here is a link toToledo stats...

Toledo stats ↗

While Embiid's progress has been impressive, he is not near the level of Whitey when it comes to shot blocking. Whitey had three attributes that Embiid has yet to master.

Timing - Withey had perfect timing and would not normally take the fake by the offensive player, no doubt a result of his volley ball background. Embiid is getting there but not quite yet; he still react to the fake and gets the foul every time; his own volleyball background will eventually kick in.

Verticality - Withey jumped straight up and seldom fouled on the play; he committed less fouls than any other player at his position. Embiid is still learning this part and not fully utilizing his athleticism fully; at this time he is more brute force than finesse.

Rejection Direction - Withey had the uncanny talent to direct the blocked shot towards a teammate; he is the best at doing this of any player I can think of. Embiid is still all raw power and has not worked on this aspect of blocking.

Embiid's potential is much greater than Whitey and the upside is unbelievably high.

@RockChalkinTexas. Fixed the numbering for you.

If you return all the bad memories how would you know how good the better ones are?
For example if KU wouldn't have lost to MU in Columbia in their last year in the conference (thanks refs), the win at AFH in the return game would not have felt sooooo gooood!!!

It is the bad memories that make the good ones that much better.

@JayHawkRock78
Could it be my KU buckets Christmas present is the return of Jaybate? Either way love the Al Oerter quote. To help educated my bBallbrothers, Al Oerter won FOUR OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALS in the discus.he doesn't get much recognition IMHO.

In Olympic sports circles, Al Oerter is a legend. Unfortunately, Olympic sports are popular in our country every four years around the Olympic games.

Barring a collapse of biblical proportions, Embiid is as good as gone.

Amy thing would be an improvement compared to the pajama style uniforms worn by NBA team on Christmas day. The worst had to be the Lakers unis which looked like underwear.

Who in the world designed these uniforms?

The winner of the rat race is still a rat.

Merry Christmas to the entire extended Jayhawk family.

I am going to guess that 14-4 will win the conference. No way a team goes unbeaten this season.

The post moves Perry has makes him a good fit to play the 4 in college. He does have range and needs to develop it, because if he wants to play in the NBA, his likely position will be the 3 and not the 4, much like Marcus Morris. I am afraid he does not have the build to play the 4 in the NBA.

@ParisHawk

thanks, but in that case why all the talk about Coach Self being "surprised" the twins declared for the draft?

I don't recall Coach Self being surprised; maybe you can provide a link. A few weeks before the draft he said - I would not be surprised if both leave for the NBA and I would not be surprised if they both come back - or words to that effect. As the draft drew near and their position in the draft became more clear, there was no doubt they would both be gone. They were both lottery picks by the way.

@HighEliteMajor

I wonder what the consequence of banning tailgating at the Super Bowl will be...increased concession sales and more profit to the owners?

American traditions are disappearing before our eyes; who would have imagined that the Christmas tree is no longer the Christmas tree but a holiday tree because calling it by its true name offends 1 percent of the population; never mind that changing the name offends the other 99 percent. Maybe in the not too distant future "Jayhawk" will be banned because it cause nightmares to our neighbor to the East and it will then be called the "ornithologically incorrect avian endangered unit" or OIAEU for short...go OIAEUs...maybe Coach consonants will want to coach team vowels.

@HighEliteMajor

Great minds think alike :)

I just posted something along the same lines yesterday. The Georgetown was a physical game with a lot of contact allowed that favored his style; most of the other games have been called a lot closer. Let's hope he adapts his style of play to the way games are called and continues to contribute; it would certainly make the team that much better.

@ParisHawk

The coaching staff prepares a report for every player with a chance of getting drafted. The twins and Arthur we projected to be lottery picks. A rumor about an alleged health condition just before the draft seriously damaged Arthur's stock in the draft, otherwise he would likely have been a lottery pick. Chalmers was projected to be a mid to late first round but fell to the second round and was the steal of the draft.

@drgnslayr

While Selden has been decent, I had expected more from him. Like you, I have trouble seeing him gone after this year unless his game improves a lot.

@drgnslayr

Ellis had 21 points and 9 rebounds in the previous game against New Mexico. Tarik had had one good game; let's see how the next few games go.

@iowajayhawk2005

Many of us mentioned that we think highly of Bilas; however, any unbiased observer after watching the game would conclude that Bilas was not calling the game impartially. I don't expect commentators to be "pro" KU, on the other hand I don't expect them to be "anti" KU either. As many have mentioned, Saturday's broadcast was no typical of Jay Bilas and if you don't see that, you are as blind as he appeared to be Saturday.