@jaybate-1.0 Had a coach in peewee football that was going to take us to the heights of glory- had us watch film on OU's wishbone back in early seventies,etc. I remember it was about 10 degrees freezing Saturday morning at practice, and I dropped a pass, and he swung me on my ass by the facemask in a fit of rage. I think I was 10 or 11. Those were some very mean bastards coaching back in the day.

@wrwlumpy I was trying to rack my brain thinking if any other coach had ever done that.

We got Frank after we missed on the big names. We got Devonte after we missed on the big names. We got Landen after we ....that's right...missed. He's got a full two years more with Vick, two with Udoka, at least one with an experienced Newman (makes methink of Seinfield), one or two with Svi, one or two more with Bragg, at least two or more with Lightfoot, two with Coleby, along with Marcus Garrett. We don't have to sign every 5 star to be real good next year. I figure the plan is to get a top guard, and a top big to go along with our experience. If we don't. then he'll find the next Frank or Devonte out there. That's why he's won the conference 12 straight years. I don't want to have a situation where we're starting 3 or 4 freshmen like 2013. I don't think Bill does, either. That's why he doesn't go around promising minutes like Calipari.

@jayballer54 Ayton could care less about college, which is why he chose to stay at home. We can't overcome not caring where you go. He might not even unpack his bags. I am not sad about him not cakewalking his year here.

@Crimsonorblue22 Two HUGE takeaways:

1- We will have to run 4 guards because of this:

"Self on Mitch Lightfoot and Dwight Coleby battling for backup minutes in the frontcourt: “Both are doing fine. Dwight is still not 100 percent (recovered from ACL surgery). He’s structurally fine. He’s still dragging it a little bit. Mitch is going to be good but Mitch is young, green and doesn’t totally understand yet. It could be situations as much as anything else.”

2- We're going to run, run, run.

Self was asked what “excites him most” about this team.

“I’d say speed,” he said. “It’s fun coaching fast guys. I think we’ll be able to play faster than what we have. This year we can play at a quicker clip because of the little guards.

“The backcourt is ahead of the frontcourt,” he added. “I think we have a deeper backcourt right now.”

@justanotherfan Isn't the little general at St. Louis ?

@Crimsonorblue22 That's good to know.

Where are we going to play all these guards? Are we going 4 guards and Udunka next year? Is Garrett ( didn't make late night ) still on board?

OK, I'm going to name who will succeed Bill Self- it will be Tyler Self. Bill will retire in about 10 years, and Tyler will replace him.

@Crimsonorblue22 He looks like he wants to win a national championship.

Where is everyone going to play next year? Garrett, Vick, Newman, Young, Svi ...who starts?

@jaybate-1.0 Only if Donovan can learn not to wear his pants right below his chin. Guys that wear their pants too high are troubling, to say the least.

( J/K )

@BeddieKU23 I think Coach Self thinks KU is the premiere team in America. There isn't a higher or loftier coaching job in America than KU, in Bill's opinion. He is already at the pinnacle of college basketball where he's at.

@Texas-Hawk-10 Sorry about your Cougars yesterday. Maybe we could get SMOO and Houston into the B12, and call it the Big Southwestern Conference.

@jaybate-1.0 Bill gets his 2nd ring this year. Last year, his team was the number 1 overall seed going into the tournament. He signed the number 1 recruit in the nation in the offseason. 3 years ago, he signed two players that went in the top 5 of the NBA draft. He has set a new national record for consecutive conference championships ( note to fact checkers: don't tell me Wooden won 13 in a row, because he didn't- look it up). Our team plays on the biggest stage in college basketball. We have our own Monday night television series on ESPN called "Big Monday" throughout the season. We play every year in the Champions Classic, and have recently started a home and home series against the evil kensucky mildcats ( capitalization not required). Bill Self IS KU basketball. I know one should never say never regarding the future, but I'm with Approx on this thinking Self never goes to Dook as coach. My simple answer would be Dook takes Stubby Miller if the Rat leaves because he's already on the Nike payroll, and filling the paperwork out would be easier.

@BeddieKU23 "Saying Self has been a better coach then Coach K over the last 5 years is again a homer view." Bill is a better coach in every way, shape or form..twice on Sundays, even. You give us the same Dook creampuff bracket with two guaranteed home games to start the tourney, and we'd be UCLA jr. with national titles. Bill recruits players- the Rat is assigned players from Nike.

Lifted from CBS Sports:

If the Coaches poll was arranged into a bracket

EAST - New York

1 Duke (Greenville)

2 Xavier (Indianapolis)

3 Michigan St (Milwaukee)

4 UConn (Sacramento)

MIDWEST - Kansas City

1 Kansas (Tulsa)

2 Virginia (Orlando)

3 Wisconsin (Milwaukee)

4 Louisville (Orlando)

SOUTH - Memphis, TN

1 Villanova (Buffalo)

2 North Carolina (Greenville)

3 Arizona (Salt Lake City)

4 Purdue (Sacramento)

WEST

1 Kentucky (Indianapolis)

2 Oregon (Salt Lake City)

3 Indiana (Buffalo)

4 Gonzaga (Sacramento)

@jaybate-1.0 TY. It's not mine- it's an uncredited quote.

@Crimsonorblue22 ESPN 3 stinks, imo. I have 200 mps speed, and it lurches along. Sometimes it resembles a Charlie Chaplin movie, so I go to different sources.

@kjayhawks More than one way to skin a cat. Send me a private message between now and the game and I'll help you watch it.

Does anyone know what network will carry the game?

Tue, Nov. 1 Washburn at Kansas
Exhibition Allen Fieldhouse
Lawrence, KS at 7:00p.m. CT

Finally....

give the mid-major its due: once every 30 years, they get a few great players.

@justanotherfan I was crushed when Waters signed w G-Town. I love that kid.

@HawkInMizery Hell YEAH. Great job, Wayne!!!!!

@wissoxfan83 said:

Here’s the difference between me and many posters. I try not to, although I do fall into this thinking sometimes, but I try not to play the NCAA’s against us card. I don’t buy the tournament engineering theory too much.

I know you don't. You also don't believe in Josh Jackson, or that we'll be as good as last year. There's a lot of things you don't believe in.

The point of the thread (imo) is...how can we do better in the tournament? We all know we will playing in the toughest bracket, so we have to come loaded for bear. I also think as great as a shooting team as we were last year, one poor shooting game can derail a great season, like the Nova game. So, I like JB's idea of playing some hi-lo to get close shots in those high pressure games where every possession is a grind. I also like the fact our team will be taller and more athletic, which should lead to more runouts, and a whole bunch more rebounds. Was the Nova loss a statement of our team's poise which could be solved by more road games? I don't believe that. You don't win 17 in a row by not showing great poise. But, I think the team's limitations from last year showed up, and bit us at the wrong time. We were simply too reliant on jump shots to score, and although LL helped immensely on the boards, we weren't dominant down low. We didn't have a game changing bench guy that could come in and spark the offense ( except for occasional Svi and Jamari sightings). We didn't have the size we could bring in to spell our bigs, which is why we were playing a 6'6 guy at the post at times last year. We're much deeper than last year in every way, and the upgrade from BG to LV is going to be huge, imo. We're on the right track to be playing for the title this year.

@wissoxfan83 His parents are teachers - that degree will be more important to Svi, imo.

I'm surprised his top 10 weren't all ACC teams. He knows who signs his check.

@wissoxfan83 That's not what I said.I never said the league was cupcake- just their scheduling. They have a staggered schedule which means they're playing the top teams only once, other than Dook. So, in UNC's 18 game conference schedule, they played 5 games against ranked opponents- while we played 10 games against ranked opponents.

@wissoxfan83 @KUSTEVE "Really? I was looking at the bracket from last year. Half of the elite 8 was teams from the ACC! That sounds pretty tough to me. Granted the bottom half of their league is pretty weak."

Really. The discussion started with you complaining about "bluebloods " ( KU ) not playing tough games on the road, and you used UNC as the example of a team playing a "tough" road nc schedule. I pointed out what an easy, cupcake conference schedule UNC actually played during the year. Using NCAA results doesn't change the facts .It does open up another can of worms concerning the strength of regions in the NCAA tourney.

There isn't any team in America that has played a tougher schedule than KU since 2013. I remember watching Kentucky come into the Phog back in the day, back when we were in the Big 8 conference. Back before they had events like the Champions Classic, back before there were a zillion pre-conference tournaments, before Maui, before the great Alaska Shootout, etc. And yet, last year we host the same Kentucky team we hosted in 1979. Of course, having the toughest schedule in all of college basketball for 3 + years running should be factored in on any discussion concerning scheduling. In the past 3 years, there have been as many as 5 B12 teams ranked at the same time, and we have home and home with everyone in the conference. Our schedule isn't a cupcake conference schedule like Roy and UNC play, where they played their first 8 conference games against unranked opponents, and they only had 5 games total against ranked teams out of 18 conference games in the big, bad ACC.

I think we'll see JJ and maybe even Svi at the 4 in certain situations. I also think there will be rumblings calling for Vick to start over JJ after the first few games of the season. I think Vick is that good. I just can't wait to see him shoot that amazing jumper. The name that keeps cropping up for me is McLemore.

Vick is too good not to get at least 20 minutes, and they want to give Svi good minutes as well. Why not take some of them from the 4?

@DoubleDD It's for real. Slide JJ to the 4, and bring in Vick when you sub for CB. That's simply an astonishing lineup of athletes all playing together- Frank, Devonte, Vick, JJ, with LL in the middle. Now, here's the ironic part- that small lineup is taller than last year's regular lineup. And they could sub Svi for one of the smaller guards, and we'd have 3 players over 6'8" in our lineup of littles. Our starting 5 will be the best rebounding team in the country, imo, and substituting some boards for the offense that Vick, and at times Svi, will bring would be worth it. I just don't see too many teams where we're going to get outsized enough to worry about muscle at the 4. Just my take...

@jaybate-1.0 Dear Leader always makes all of our decisions -it's much easier that way. Dear Leader will decide the right course of action for our country, and schools to take...oh wait a second....I was thinking about 10 years from now...I'm sorry...

His rotation choices when Bragg is on the bench will be ....Coleby, or Lightfoot.......OR Vick or Svi. Makes sense he's looking to get his best players in the lineup as much as possible. I think the strengths that Vick or Svi add versus a Coleby/Lightfoot - at least facing most teams, could be substantial, imo. We'll spread the floor and crush them inside with dump offs to LL. Come on November 1st! This is like getting a brand new car that you can't drive for weeks...

@brooksmd Then you, my friend, have discovered the secret of my amazing success in picking KU games. Welcome to the 82% club.

@justanotherfan said:

You want your best lineup (currently Mason-Graham-Svi-Jackson-Bragg) to play at least 5 minutes together in each game. That lineup is a great run starting lineup because they can hit you with that 14-2 run that takes a close game and turns it into a double digit matchup.

Our team is going to go on offensive blowout mode ALOT this year. We're going to dominate teams on both ends of the court. It'll be like a jail break.

Kudunka-pg/ Bragg sg/JJ sf/Devonte pf/ Frank - c. Inside out, baby!

Frank doesn't have 10 extra games to play like last year, so I think he'll be fresher than last year. Vick and Svi are the real deal. I'd think Vick would be a little more adept at running point, but Svi is no slouch, either. What a great advantage to have 5 good ball handlers on the perimeter.

"We are trying to go undefeated"- notice he didn't say " we're trying to make the Final Four"...

@mayjay The best example of a total meltdown was the kusports poster who called for Self to be fired after we lost at the Clones last year. He wanted to hire Turgeon the surgeon instead...lol.

I was hyperbolating over what our possible w/l record will be for this upcoming season, and for the 13 straight year, I am predicting we will win every game we play. Now, 82% of the time, I have been correct. However, I have a feeling I'll definitely exceed that mark this year. What is your projected record for this year?

@BeddieKU23 Geez, I don't know what we're going to do- maybe we can get Deandre Ayton next year- he's 100% KU, right?

I hear we have a shot at the number 1 recruit in the nation - a kid named Josh Jackson.

Got an idea: Let's win the national championship, so Self can beep ahead of Ratso.

@hawkmoon2020 It would be chaos. We might have to close the threads early to limit any jumpers.

@KUSTEVE Michigan St gets beat at HOME by 17 to Iowa. Strangely, it makes me feel better.

Anybody watching Iowa/MSU? That Uthoff of Iowa is just amazing - Iowa is stomping them so far....

@sfbahawk "I’ll wait and see what happens over the next few weeks before I write off this season."

If you want our guys to not give up, then you shouldn't, either. This loss SUCKS. We were soft and weak, and frazzled- we looked terrible. So terrible, in fact, it will serve as the exact tonic our team needs for motivation for a long time. Don't give up right before the getting gets good, because I assure you it is going to get very good.

@wrwlumpy Fried frog, baby...

We played scared....frantic. Our shots were hurried...our perimeter defense sucked. This group of guys has never handled defensive pressure very well, imo. We lost a game we should've won. So what? We play TCU Saturday, then the Pokies, Tea Sippers, Clones, then the dreaded Mildcats. We can't do anything about losing to the Hillbillies except put our best foot forward, come ready to play every game, and execute the way we know this team is capable of playing.