🏀 KuBuckets Archive

@drgnslayr Loved Xavier and that whole WSU team...except for one game...66-65.

@JayHawkFanToo "In my opinion, Poythress is very overrated. He started 31 of 33 games as a freshman and 0 as a sophomore and his number dropped considerably. With the added competition, he might well end up as the odd man out. The fact that he is on his 3rd year at UK means that his NBA potential is limited and dropping."

I think he's the weak link, and miscast as a 3. We should openly invite him to launch 3s, as his 24% from last year is what we're looking for.

BTW, a Kensucky fan who happens to be a friend thinks 40-0 is a real possibility, so I really, really hope we can rain on their parade.

@JayHawkFanToo My comparison to bad NBA teams is mild versus what is, and will be written about the Mildcats this year. The myopia will be deafening. I think if we wanted to, we could match up as good as anybody against them. I guess the question is...do we want to match up with them? Or, does the combination of the Bobsey Twins and Poythress on the perimeter allow us a very large speed/quickness advantage we could exploit ? Could we get away with having Wayne run the point, Oubre/Greene at the 2, and have Perry handle the 3, since Poythress isn't especially quick, and still have an advantage on the perimeter? Even with the bigger lineup, I think we'd still be quicker on the perimeter. Then, we could have both Cliffie and either Hunter or Landen in the lineup to add beef. It wouldn't be a lineup we would use very often in games, but it might offset their height advantage to some degree.

@drgnslayr I'm having flashbacks of Aaron Bobsey hitting 3's over Boatright, Napier, and Van Fleet, among others in their NCAA run last year...

@Crimsonorblue22 This team reminds me of the 2007 team. lots of different parts, lots of weapons.

@jaybate-1.0 Defensively, Selden can match up very well with either of the Bobsey Twins. Oubre would be a poor match up for Poythress, as Kelly is quicker, faster, and doesn't give up too much muscle, even though Poythress is quite athletic. Frank going against a Bobsey Twin? I just don't see how Frank will be able to defend that much size. Maybe Graham could do better. Perry will have problems scoring against their length, and Cliffie will be a candidate for foul trouble. My thought was if we moved Selden to the point, then we could have Oubre ( who is a good perimeter shooter) at the 2, then slide Perry to the 3 against Poythress. Poythress, to me, is actually a 4, hiding out as a 3 to make room for Calimari's playing time promises. Then, we'd have Cliffie as a 4, and a combo of Lucas and Mick at the 5. Jamari could back up Perry at the 3. Wild speculation, I admit, but it keeps things interesting for me...lol.

@joeloveshawks I never said you weren't right, and I think you will be proven right. The best way to beat the Mildcats would be with a smaller lineup. The hitch in my theory is they would simply foul out our big guys, and we wouldn't have a ball handling advantage, either. It is a daunting task playing a team that could beat several NBA teams, which is why I am throwing out of the box options.

@JayHawkFanToo Question on Kensucky for you: Calimari has said he's going to give Poythress a whirl at the 3 - surely Poythress would have pure hell matching up with Oubre, but, could we see a lineup where Selden runs the point, and Perry plays the 3 in that game?

1-KU 2- Wisky 3- Kensucky 4- Dook 5- Louie-ville 6- Florida 7- AZ Mildcats 8-UNC 9- Texas 10- Iowa St.

You're kidding me, right? You think I'm going to rank another team ahead of KU? Not on your life...LOL.

@HighEliteMajor "All that said, Oubre looks pretty darn good to me. He looks like a terrific fit for Self. Can I be a bit dramatic here ... he could be the best fit at the 3 that Self has ever had. Kind of Travis Releford with a higher skill level. Problem is, all that may not be realized in just one season."

He is a pure warrior. Instantly one of my favorite players. His attitude will bring him great success. He isn't going to have to contend with the massive media hype that Wigs had last year, and expectations for him won't be over the top like it was for Wigs. He also has a more experienced team where he won't have to be the star every night. What has me giddy is his commitment to defense. Here's the pull quote from KU Sports interview:

“I take pride in defense. Taking pride in defense ... that’s what every team needs,” Oubre said. “Teams win championships on the defensive end. I use defense to push start the rest of my game, to get my intensity level up, to get myself hyped. Getting stops ... it’s a great feeling.”

The box score for Late Night showed he scored 5 points, had 3 boards ( 1 off rebound), 1 steal, 1 block, and 1 assist. That's some tall cotton there, folks.

@HighEliteMajor Speaking of Tarik Black, did you see what he did on Thursday? NBA preseason game - 26 min. 10 points/ 15 boards for the Rockets?

@Crimsonorblue22 It would've been nice to see Hunter but ESPN took care of that. I was shocked by the box score, as I only saw him grab a board or two, and hit one shot, after ESPN declared the "event has ended". I must've missed most of what he did. The box score looks nice. though.

@joeloveshawks I understand playing small - why does Coach keep talking about Selden playing point?

@DinarHawk I was listening to Self's post Late Night comments, and he brought up once again the idea of playing Wayne at point in some match ups. That leads me to openly speculate if he'll start Wayne at point guard in the Kensucky game. The fact that Kensucky has announced that Poythross is going to the play the 3 makes me wonder if we'd have Wayne at the 1, Greene/Oubre? at the 2, Perry at the 3, Cliff at the 4, and Landen at the 5 in that game to mitigate somewhat their huge height advantage. I could be all wrong, and probably am, but this might be the one time we could afford to play Perry at the 3.

@Crimsonorblue22 I wish Landen wasn't hurt - it would be interesting to see him matched up against Cliff. I thought Wayne and Cliff looked amazing. There has been discussion on here about looking for "muas", and I think you can start with those two. Frank looked very impressive as well. He blew right by Devonte on a drive to the hoop, so I might have to walk back the Devonte love a notch or two. Oubre is such a gamer - love what he brings to the table.

I caught the tail end - Wayne Selden = SUPERSTAR!!!!!

The moment of tip-off, ESPN 3 puts up a note that said the event had ended. I waited two hours 30 + minutes to see nothing.

Ku Sports has a written play by play...

@drgnslayr Yikes...the elephant in the room. I'm almost afraid to share my opinion on it:
Calimari is the flagship for Nike, and we are the flagship for Adidas. Jaybate got me interested in looking into the relationship between the shoe companies and recruiting, The more I looked, the worse it got. Was it simply recruiting brilliance that ensures that Coach Squid gets 5 or 6 MCAAs every year? Did Coach Self go from hardly being able to land 1 top 10-20 recruit every couple of years to all of sudden having the pick of the litter every year? We went from the Brady Morningstars and Kevin Youngs to 2 of the top 3 picks in the NBA almost overnight. Is it no longer Kansas versus Kensucky - it's now Nike versus Adidas? How much help has Adidas been to vault us up in the recruiting process? Feel free to disagree with me because I hope I'm wrong.

@Crimsonorblue22 LOLOLOL...Mr Ed taking a snooze, perhaps?

@Crimsonorblue22 You're cute when you get mad...lol.

@jaybate-1.0 True confession : i haven't felt we'd lose a game since Ted Owens was coach...hehe...

@jaybate-1.0 Lose by 30? Naah. Self is worth about 25 points over "The Squid" in their coaching duel.

Here's a funny read on Best/Worst Case scenario:
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab-the-dagger/the-dagger-s-preseason-top-25-with-best-case-and-worst-case-scenarios-172911761.html ↗ ↗

@drgnslayr I was referring to the NCAA tournament.

@drgnslayr I wondered the same thing 1,000 times, but I ended up drawing a somewhat different conclusion. I believe poor guard play has sunk us the past two years- because winning the conference in 2008 and 2012 certainly didn't hurt us in the tournament. For every UCONN or Louisville story, there are literally dozens and dozens of teams who lost their conference, and do nothing in the tournament every year. Over the past 8 years, we have bowed out early twice, with 6 Sweet Sixteens, 4 Elite 8s, two final fours, one national title, and a runner-up.

Now, I can be accused of cherry picking by leaving out the back to back 1st rd losses in Bill's first 3 years, but I don't think they are still relevant. Even when we lost early in the tourney in the past 8 years, we still managed to win at least one game. So, my Devonte myopia is now reaching epic proportions, and I am hoping for the light bulb to turn on for Frank, because I would LOVE to see us have a big run in the tourney this year.

Wigs helped our program immensely. He just didn't help our team as much as I would've liked. Can't argue with the scoring average, though. To me, his goal was to dutifully fulfill his 1 year commitment, and he accomplished that. They don't have Travis, Brady Morningstar, or even Withey's picture up walking across the stage as the number 1 NBA pick, but they certainly have a huge picture of Wiggins walking across the stage as the number 1 pick in the NBA draft in the locker room. Now, that doesn't mean nearly as much to a KU fan as it does to a KU recruit, but I think it means a lot.

@HighEliteMajor Out of all the posts you have ever made, this line might be the best you've ever done, and might be the best line I've seen on these boards...ever : " Self was trying to get a show horse to pull a plow."
Bravo. Magnificent.

@wissoxfan83 "Graham isn't ready to make an immediate impact as a starter".

Coach Self:
“Devonté has been terrific. He’s battling for starting minutes, not just playing. He’s battling to start,” Self said. “I think he’s more ready to play right now than any freshman point guard we’ve signed in a while, Tyshawn maybe,” Self added of Tyshawn Taylor, who started as a frosh in 2008-09.

“Tyshawn was kind of forced into action because there was nobody else there challenging. This is a little bit different. Devonté’s a good player, a good leader. He has intangibles. He’s an athlete. He’s exciting for me because of all the guys we recruited, he’d be the least publicized one but he probably has the best feel for what’s going on right now than anybody.”

I think we can safely take Devonte off the worst case scenario list. All this talk about playing small is a ruse, imo, to soften the blow to Frank and CF. I still think Frank gets large minutes, but I think we've found our point guard for the next 4 years.

@JayHawkFanToo You have accepted voodoo math, and there's no talking you out of it. I understand - I used to smoke that one myself. The Big 12 did have the highest percent of teams last year to make the tournament. Which, along with $3.00, will buy you a cup of coffee.To me, it is a meaningless accomplishment without success in the tournament. I used to be a wrestler back in the day, and my grandmother made it to one of my matches where I was wrestling the 2 time defending Kansas state champion ( I was a Sophomore-he was a Senior). I had lost 22-2( the 2 points I scored were for the two times he let me up, so he could try and pin me again.) And after the match, my grandmother leaned over to me, and said, "your uniform looked a lot better than that other guys". Your argument reminds me of Grandma.

**@DoubleDD Ok, so somehow if I don't believe the Big 12 is the best BB conference, I am somehow slighting KU...is that the gist?

The Big 12 isn't the best bb conference at the moment, though we've had years where we were clearly the best conference in basketball. During our run of conference championships, Texas has made the Final Four, Baylor has made several Elite 8's, and of course, who could ever forget Misery's amazing victory over Norfolk St...oh wait a second... Misery stunning loss as a #2 seed in 2012 against the 15th seed ( had to throw that one in). You keep mixing up love of KU with love of conference. They aren't one and the same.

**

@DoubleDD "Not saying you, I just don't understand how somebody can come to the conclusion that the Big 12 is weak because KU wins the conference title every year?? "

That's a far cry from the original subject, which was this :
**"For the second year in row, the Big 12 is expected to be the top basketball conference."

1- We WEREN'T the best conference by any rational metric last year. ( Please, don't get me started on what a fraud the RPI system really is.)

2- The MWC WASN'T the "best conference" two years ago, when they were anointed with the same "best conference" title, and all 7 teams except 1 lost their first game in the tournament.

3- The fact we had 70% of the league make the tournament is nice to know, but the goal is to WIN in the tournament, and the league was pummeled in the tournament.

4- If you tried to run a take that the Big 12 is the best conference in basketball by anybody outside of Big 12 land, you would be laughed at - the same way I was laughed at last year, when our "best conference" was exposed in the tournament. You want to claim you're the best? Fine, then win some games when it counts.

5- NONE of this discussion has anything to do with our amazing streak of conference titles, even though that argument has been tried to show that not proclaiming the BIG 12 as the best is somehow "dissing" our wonderful streak.

I refuse, after last year's debacle, to get sucked into the "best conference" meme. I understand the compulsion to find a metric that makes us "feel" like we're the best. The best metric is found on the court in March. Beyond that, I think we're whistling in the dark.

@JayHawkFanToo Best conference on paper. In the NCAA tournament, the conference didn't measure up.

@justanotherfan Nice post. Brown looks like a cross between Brandon Rush and Mac. Love the aggressive drives to the basket. Bragg is a must have for me. If we get Bragg, everything else is gravy, though having Zimmerman would be special as well. Zimmerman plays with an attitude, which is refreshing to see. the highlights where he is leading the fast break are epic. Those turn around jumpers are a thing of beauty. Yep, yep yep. Let's sign all 3 of them.

@JayhawkRock78 I'm from Houston...yee-haw!!

@BeddieKU23 "I hope that both of them show in practice that they can lead this team, we really don't need to start a Freshman PG, its just not a good sign if that happens."

So, how did Naadir do in the NCAA last year? And, how did EJ do in the tournament the year before? Experience is great to have, but talent is better.

@globaljaybird YAA-YA is what i hear when I listen close...

@JayhawkRock78 "Nice read Y'all.

In fact I enjoy reading all y'all.

Translation for Northerners who haven't moved south.
Y'all can be one person or more than one person you are speaking with or a group. Y'all lost to Texas.

All y'all, short for all of y'all includes everyone. All y'all are welcome to the BBQ.

And yes, they mix and match it' so you just let it slide. You guys get that?"

The correct way to tell if a person is a real Texan is to ask them to say the word " yeah". If it has at least 2 syllables, then they are from Texas.

@jaybate-1.0 Street Legal guards. Me likey. I love the pace that Graham plays. He never sweats, never panics, always in control. His quickness reminds me of Tyshawn. He is very adept with the ball, is a great passer, has great court vision, and is considered a great defender. I think Coach is going to have trouble keeping this kid off the court.
Love the SWEE take. Wouldn't be surprised to see him catch a few minutes defending one of the Bobsey Twins in our match up against the Mildcats. Hopefully, we can make them scowl and cry all night.

@globaljaybird I really am looking for any excuse to anoint Graham as all that and a bag of chips...lol.

@globaljaybird I could certainly see a scenario where Graham is slowly inserted as the starter at point guard, and has the job for several years. I am wondering if his abilities prove to be such a notch above CF and Frank, he doesn't immediately make a large impact on our team.

@jaybate-1.0 "But I seem to recall Self praising AWIII about boot camp leadership last season.

Still it's some good news on DG."

He was actually recognized by the marine that ran the program, not Coach Self. So, this was, imo, a pretty substantial feat for a wet behind the ears freshman.

@HighEliteMajor My 2 cents worth is I would like for Devonte to win the job provided he plays smarter than Frank. Which I think he could do. He's a natural born point guard, and all this talk about playing two smalls at the same time, imo, is a consolation prize meant for CF and Frank. Graham combines the court smarts of CF, along with the athleticism of Frank. He can't shoot like CF, but I'd rather my point guard distribute rather than shoot anyway. I think Self is simply using the "small lineup" talk to prevent a CF/Frank transfer, which could be inevitable anyway if Graham is all that and a bag of chips.

Not to interrupt a good fight, but I noticed Devonte Graham was recognized as the top Jayhawk in leadership skills during the two day marine boot camp called The Program ( forgive my sentence structure- it needs TLC). Are you paying attention, Frank?

@HighEliteMajor "And you cite Morningstar for the proposition that I'm supporting. This is an alternative universe. If there ever was something to cause me to rethink my entire existence, that might be it!"**LMAO. That's PHOF material.

@JayHawkFanToo Ahhh...I wasn't trying to rub in our loss. That game still gnaws at me today We played pretty well in that game. It was one of the first times I had seen a KU team simply get beat by talent. And that's a testament to what an amazing program we have. Most of our losses as a team are in games where we simply give the game away in one form or another- where our best effort would've won the game, no matter who we play. This game was different - we didn't play badly - they were simply better.

@HighEliteMajor You will be talking next year how wrong you were about Oubre...lol.

@JayHawkFanToo We were never in that game. Ever. Not when we were 5 points away, not when we were tied. We never took the lead - we never took control. Now, we were so good defensively, we stopped them winning by 20, but we were never in the game. I apologize for my recollection of our experience. I did get the two years mixed up..lol. Still, we were way ahead in the experience category. Maybe my mind is searching for a lofting point of when our program changed from a "up the ranks" to more of a OAD approach, and I'm simply trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Perhaps not. Because it was about that time that Coach talked about preferring talent over experience. It's my speculation, and dang it, don't disturb it with facts...lol. I'm sorry for my Skip Bayless moment. The dynamic remains the same - we listened to two hours of announcers yammering about how young Kensucky was - and they were.

I have refrained from commenting on whether I actually like or dislike the OAD system. We have Brady Morningstar as an example of why experience doesn't always work, and Josh Selby as an example of why a OAD doesn't always work.

@justanotherfan Agreed, except for Greene. Of all the players on our team, the most interesting to me (beyond the new guys) is Greene. I am transfixed with his skill set. I am mesmerized by the scowling look, and the Rebel without a Cause media interviews. This guy is pure 100% competitor. I don't think we're talking huge dropoff with either Selden or Oubre on any level with Greene.

@Statmachine Coach Squid changed the entire structure of college basketball. Last year's recruiting class solidified our place at the OAD table. It literally came out of no where. One minute, we couldn't get a top prospect to save our lives- the next thing we know, we have them in bushels. We have two top 10 players coming in to replace our 2 Top 3 picks in the NBA draft. That's some tall cotton we're walkin' in. We should get our share of the 2015 elites as well.

We aren't going to be able to put the genie back in the bottle. I know some folks disagree, but I think Coach's seminal moment came in that title game against Kensucky. He saw KU's most experienced team get whipped by a team that that was more talented. Hey, we had the ALL-American down low, we also had the best rim protector since Wilt, we had a fast as lightening point guard, and the best defender on the team at the 3. We were simply one of the best defensive teams in the country, and we were dominated. I;ll never forget Tyshawn getting his stuff smacked back in his face on every drive to the basket he made. We started 3 5th year seniors...seniors in their 5th year, and we couldn't give them a game. That's about the time period when Coach was interviewed, and said he'd rather have talent than experience.

Love at first sight for me. I haven't had a crush like this since the days of Pamela Sue Anderson on Baywatch.

I want to try to keep things civil. I personally feel if you have a problem with the content of a thread, you should ignore the thread, instead of trying to dictate to everyone else your personal preferences. It's real simple - if you don't like the content, then ignore it. And honestly, if you don't like a thread, don't disrespect the person that started it by belittling their efforts.

@JayHawkFanToo I'm a lot more afraid of tyrant thread trolls who demand their own way than any pictures of Bruce Snyder. No malice intended, of course.