@Crimsonorblue22 He looked good to me, coach.
KUSTEVE
6008 posts
A Silvio/ McCormick 2020-2021 would be spectacular. Of course, a Enaruna/McCormick front court might be better. That Enaruna kid is better than what people think. He has that Ochai fearless gene. The guy has skills with the ball. The guy can shoot. He is extremely poised- in those summer scrimmages, he truly didn't look overmatched to me. The guy drives the ball well, excellent dribbling and ball handling skills, sees the court, looks for teammates...etc. I really think he's a guy that is going to get minutes this year. Probably not more than 5 in any one game...maybe less if Mitch forgoes the red-shirt. But this skill set is exquisite. It is completely off the chain. I mean, when this guy hits, we're talking Dedric +. He's a Euro player, so he has extremely advanced fundamentals. He passes brilliantly, he dribbles tremendously for a 6'9 guy. He shoots great- his form is absolutely perfect. Not sure how he rebounds, or if he does mix it up, but having Big Dave on the other side of the paint will help. His upside is crazy high, imo.
There's been some noise around Seton Hall getting most of their team back for this year. Not sure that translates to Top 5, but their name is being thrown around as being really good this year.
@Kcmatt7 Struggle is a relative word. I could see them struggling, and still getting a 2 seed. They are simply oozing with talent. I should add I am glad we catch them the first game of the year.
The irony - we play a 1 seeded Dook, and most likely Sparty in the Maui Classic, a 2 seeded Nova and Tucky, and 3 seeds Baylor and Tech. That's stout!
@BShark He's like Tharpe because he's short and he can shoot 3's. Beyond that, I don't see the same game. Tharpe was a spot up 3 point shooter. He did have a step back, but nothing in the same league as Isaac, imo. Isaac can really score off the dribble, plays quicker, has better handles, better reflexes, imo. Who can forget Tharpe being destroyed by a couple of
Eastern Kentucky guards in the NCAA tournament? In the scrimmages, I noticed Issac dropping some nice dimes off drives, which a Tharpe could never do. I'm not sure Tharpe ever got within 15 feet of the rim in his time here.
@wissox Yes, Doke is great, but this thread is about next year's team, the year after Doke graduates.
They aren't predicting our record- they are reporting what last year's record was. Remember, this is ESPN, so it will be a little squirrely. I see a team with 2 or 3 losses. Maybe. Maybe we go undefeated. ( OK, I don't really believe we'll go undefeated- I was trying to trigger a few of you ). I'm thinking we drop a conference game or 2, maybe we decide to skip the conference tournament for all practical purposes. I have no idea why they want to send us out West.
Because it's never too early to start thinking NCAA tournament:
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology ↗ ↗
Ollie... Ollie... out of here...
... is going to have a lot of shooters. Really good shooters. Issac/Braun/JW/Enaruna/Big Dave would not be out of the question, although Marcus will almost certainly start. That's a stack of really good shooters in that bunch. A 3rd year Dave as one of the natural leaders, along with Marcus. Emerging Sophomores in JW, Enaruna, Braun and Isaac. 6 players with a pretty wide gap of experience, from Isaac just getting his feet wet, to a 4 year Marcus Senior season. If Lightfoot sees the light, and hopefully redshirts, he would fit in nicely as a 5 yr hustle guy on that team. All in all, we should have a nice core to build on.
@bmensch1 Good stuff. Thanx for the update.
Big dreams are for the pre-season. Reality will be here soon enough. I guarantee you he will have a better product on the field than what we've seen in a while.
@jayballer73 I'm going totally off the rails ...6 wins...bowl game...
@jayballer73 lol...lots of great things are happening. Football is not only watchable again, it's downright exciting. And basketball...OMG. Wait until you see that first game against Dook...
So...like I was saying... I'm really thinking this Moss is going to add the perfect blend of experience, defense, and offense to round out our perimeter. Moss and Marcus, combined with Dotson give us those elite ball handling skills we need. And it allows Ochai to play off the ball, where I think he will excel this year. It really looks like Ochai has worked on his driving skills, and with his athleticism and his ability to make the 3 ball, I'm thinking a star is born.
Last year we were undefeated when we had 4 scoring options. When Doke and Vick were alongside Dedric and Dot, we were pretty tough to beat. This year, we get back Doke and Dot, and add Ochai and Moss as 4 different tangible options. We also have Garrett's driving ability, which will put pressure on defenses as well. JW, and his 3 point weaponry will give us that offensive pickup when we need it. Adding Silvio down low is going to give us that elite rebounding, and allow us to guard the paint better than we have in a long while. And Dave...well, Dave might just force his way in at the 4, and be our 5th offensive threat. I don't see how we're not going to be the team to beat.
We have a great program, a great coach, and a great team coming up- clearly superior to last year's edition in my books. I'd like to see us let Q go, and focus on what is ahead of us. But I do want to say one last comment... more than a few of us didn't like some of his remarks on the way out, which is why Q got some guff from us. Doesn't mean we hate his guts, doesn't mean we're dicks, but many of us took his remarks as a slam to the program .... a slam to the coach... right or wrong. Regardless of what Q intended, it was obvious he wasn't happy here, so good luck to you, Q. It think it helps both him and us.
They'll probably set aside some wins and a Final Four appearance, but big woop. We watched it- we were there. I've always thought the win takeaways were down right silly anyway. It's like a non punishment punishment.
@HighEliteMajor He was eligible when he played. When the facts came out, we sat him for an entire year. The very worst they can do is "take away the wins" when he played. I'm not even sure they'll do that. But if they end up doing the "forfeit wins" as a punishment, so be it. If the NCAA decides it wants to get serious about corruption, and announce a full investigation into the recruitment benefits received by Zion Williamson from Nike and Dook, then I'll be more concerned. The fact that the NCAA came out and specifically made an unprecedented direct statement letting everyone know their big, bad investigation was not going to include Zion, Dook, and Nike tells me all i need to know. We are going up against the protection racket of Nike and Dook. The Zion story is so dirty, it's amazing he didn't have hundred dollar bills falling out of his socks while playing. There are essentially three different sources that all say Zion and his family received a boatload of money, and not a single peep from the NCAA.
We're the flagship university for the sworn enemy. I expect no less than a complete railroading from a dirty and corrupt organization, tainted indelibly by the stench of money. At some point, the truth about Nike's payola system, and Dook and Kentucky's method of paying huge money to their recruits will come out. The FBI investigation methods and results will come out as well. They were so concerned with an assistant coach at Okie St, they never had time to investigate Zion, even though people are practically falling all over themselves telling tales. You cannot tell me that 3 5star guards all want to play for Tucky at the same time because they "love" Big Blue. At some point, the Nike story is going to come out, and when it does, we're going to look like pikers. So, get your pound of flesh, NCAA. You're about to go down a lot harder than us.
@HighEliteMajor Step away from your prosecutor's hat for a moment. The 80K was given for him to sign with Maryland. Unless you're prepared to hold every university accountable who had the relationship with the Adidas rep, then it doesn't hold water. Tell me how you think KU is accountable for an Adidas rep paying a handler 80 grand to get Silvio to go to Maryland? Even the worst KU critics would have to tie themselves up in knots to claim that. Now, the 2,500 is what is under question, but anything beyond that, imo, is simply wishful thinking.
I'm a fair weather fan to people who transfer. I don't care where they go, or what they do. I didn't like Q that much as a player, and thought he should've played less minutes. If you're going to call me a dick, I might as well get my money's worth...lol.
@justanotherfan Moss is a better fit for that spot. It's his game. I think it will help a lot to have experience on the perimeter. Last year, there were times when we were playing 3 freshmen at the same time on the perimeter.
Let's have a moment of silence, as we remember Quentin Grimes... Good luck to you, Quentin!
Real good article as Newell and Tyshawn discuss Dotson, and how he can get better.
https://www.kansascity.com/sports/college/big-12/university-of-kansas/article231928938.html ↗ ↗
Well played, Mr. Boynton. I continue to be one of your fans.
@BShark I appreciate this. The article reiterated what I had read about his defensive chops. This dude was severely underrated, and just adds an incredible amount of experience to our backcourt, which is exactly what we needed most. To me, it's like if you took the best of Vick and Garrett and mixed them together. Now, he's probably not going to shoot 3's quite as good as Vick, or defend as good as Garrett, but he'll be worlds better than Q. Moss will win some close games for us - he lives for that moment.
@Texas-Hawk-10 I agree it doesn't have to be the leading scorer, but I'll never forget the huddle in the national championship game where Russ and Mario were both urging the team on. Great teams don't have just one leader- they have a myriad of players coming together. They might have one guy who yells the loudest, but leadership comes in more ways than that. Marcus is by far our most vocal leader. He learned that from Devonte. He's a natural. Dotson will carry the leadership mantle as well this year. Probably not in the same way as Marcus because that's not necessarily his personality. But no one on that team took that loss to Auburn harder than Devon. And like I alluded to in an earlier post, he performed magnificently in an extremely difficult spot - starting point guard as a freshman. When he announced he was coming back, it was "we have business to take care of", so he has a very clear idea what needs to be done. The truth is, I believe in both DD and Marcus, and I think both will be leaders of this team this year.
@BShark don't confuse us with facts...we're on a roll...
@Texas-Hawk-10 I don't necessarily see freshmen standing up to seniors as the litmus test for leadership , but that's just my opinion. We never saw a freshman Devonte go up and bitch out an upperclassman, but that doesn't mean he was disqualified to be the team leader in later years. I certainly wouldn't disqualify Devon because he didn't get into with Vick. Or maybe he did get into it with him, and that's why Vick left, and we just haven't been told about it. We truly don't know, and we're not privy to things like that very often. I know this - the more experienced a team is, the less we need the stereotypical "leader". I would say that Russ Rob was as much a leader as Mario when they won the national championship, but that's simply my view from the outside in. I could certainly be wrong. Like I said, we have 4 or 5 guys who could deemed leaders this year. My money is on Devon to be leader of the pack.
@Texas-Hawk-10 I don't question the leadership on this team. The team is stacked with leaders, not just one guy. I think without a doubt that Devon Dotson is #1, and Marcus is 1A. Then you go to a 4 year Doke, along with a grown man in Silvio. Both of those guys are not here to play around, or pout. Now, that's not counting a true leader named Lightfoot that is going to be in all those guy's ears the whole time. Then we get a 2nd year Ochai, who is simply brimming with confidence. Ochai plays with a confidence that is very rare to find. And the cherry on top is a senior coming out of the B10 that has been through the wars, been there...done that..has the t-shirt. Moss will win some games for us because he absolutely loves the ball when the game is on the line.
I think our whole freshmen crop are guys that are pretty humble guys...guys that are working their butts off. There's only one guy that I think is in line for adjustment, and that is JW. Hopefully, he'll realize he is in a much larger arena than what he's been in. I think the power of the team will work on him, and he'll realize he has a lot of work ahead of him. In the end, I think JW becomes a nice weapon for us, but I certainly see some growing pains ahead.
All in all, this team is a true throwback to the best teams that Bill has ever had. I see comparisons to 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012, and even a sprinkling of 2016. More than anything, we simply have more experience ...more guys that have been through the trenches. Getting Doke, Dotson, and Silvio back is astonishing. We've never had a freshman point guard do what DD did last year. Never. His first year, he had better number's than Tyshawn's junior year, Frank's sophomore year, and arguably Devonte's sophomore year ( although Devonte smoked him on 3point%). Now, the argument could reasonably be made that Frank and Devonte didn't have the same opportunity that DD did, and when they did get the chance, they put up similar numbers. Fair point. BUT... first year coming in ...never played a second of college ball, and being thrown into the fire from the git-go...that's pretty amazing. That's the mark of a leader to me...
Charlie Moore...
@justanotherfan Thanks for the information. We've had more than our share of highly ranked guys that haven't done anything at all.
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@Marco This is a throwback year for us. This team is reminiscent of Bill's best teams in the past. Tons of experience and talent, the most formidable front line in college basketball, with some really incredible guards. Defensively, we'll be light years ahead of last year. We've all discussed the Ochai break out, but there will be a Dotson break out as well, and a Doke break out, too. I also think Dave is going to force his way onto the court, and him and Silvio will be a dynamic duo. I think we'll be talking about this team's roster for years and years.
@HighEliteMajor I'm worried about him specifically. When you start seeing one incident piling up after another, that's a real big sign of a substance abuse problem. I always felt like JJ played mad, and it makes me wonder if he doesn't have some emotional issues that are playing out with the drugs and the alcohol.
@Crimsonorblue22 I've been walking three or four times a week, and I went on my regular walk this morning, and I started really struggling in the middle of it. Got overheated, and came home, and my heart was just pounding out of my chest. It was about 90 degrees outside, so with the humidity, it was probably around 100 degrees actual. I ended up taking a nitro, and pulled out a box fan from the closet, drank a ton of water, and tried to cool down. It took a good two hours to feel normal again. No more walking after 9am, or before 8pm for me. It scared me enough that I'm going to scale back a bit... I'm still going to walk, but I'm going to shorten the walks to adjust for the high heat.
I should also add that I had been walking further and further over the past few months, and I have been walking 6 miles a week ( 2 miles every walk). That's just too far. I'm scaling it back until it gets cool again ( end of October or November in Florida..lol).
@drgnslayr That team quit in several games last year. As a team, it's like many of them were disconnected from wins or losses. Thank God we lost a bunch of them, and kept the team players.
@approxinfinity These are symptoms of a bigger problem. I hope he hasn't passed that line, and if he has, that he gets help.
Its really nice to see things going in the right direction. Momentum will catapult the program into heights we've rarely seen. Going to take time, but sometime in the next 4 years, we will be a force to reckon with.
@BShark Dook had a sham bracket that year where they didn't play anyone for the first 4 games. I don't count that as anything other than a rigged bracket.
@Texas-Hawk-10 They had more experience that year than any team that Cal has had...which is why Cal is working the grad transfer wires like a mad fiend. I wouldn't be surprised if Blackshear doesn't land there.
@justanotherfan I saw a list they were posting during the draft that had 6 or 7 guys that were drafted that weren't in the Top 100 when they first went to college. The recruiting lists are just a number. Case in point would be Q and Agbaji.
So, our rebuild year only managed 26 wins...woe is us. Dedric is gone. Q is gone. Rec league Charlie is gone. Vick is still on important business... Mom NEEDS him. The first step in recovery is letting go of the past. Yes, we are scarred by only having 2 wins over Final Four teams. Not winning the B12. Not making at least an Elite 8. Oh, the horror. But hope abounds with our fresh faced cherubs to turn our little frowns upside down. Have hope, mighty Bucketeers...help is on the way...
@Marco I don't want to see this again...ever:
https://kuathletics.com/news/2019/2/23/mens-basketball-hot-shooting-red-raiders-sink-jayhawks-91-62.aspx ↗ ↗
@jayballer73 keep us up to date. btw...it's "gist"...not jest, my friend.
Moss will help the 3 point defense tremendously, imo. The only time Tech doubles is when they have you pinned on the baseline, and you're trapped. Wish we did the same thing...