🏀 KuBuckets Archive

@Jyhwk_InTigrtwn I still think the Arizona loss is less crushing than some of our post-millenium upsets. Arizona also suited up 3 (I think) future NBAers. They beat three #1 seeds and went on to win the National Championship. And having played them to their closet final score, we can still take small solace in being (by the numbers anyway) the second best team that year.

I don't find that loss nearly as distressing as our tourney upsets to nobodies with no NBA talent who then promptly lost their next game (in most cases). Especially in 2011, when we had a Duke-esque cakewalk laid out to the title. Or 2010, when we should have at least made another Final Four. Or 2o14, with the best player in the country who is currently leaving all other NBA rookies in his rear view mirror. Or--oh well, never mind. I could go on about this subject til I reached jaybatian proportions.

The point is, I hope Bill has the boys prepared for the tournament this year. Especially for the first game Friday morning. 11am Pacific time is way too early to have to start drinking.

@BeddieKU23 Like I've posted before, when's the last time anyone felt comfortable at halftime of our 1st round game? Or even by the midway point of the second half?

@jaybate-1.0 said:

~Bill Self’s penis is bigger than mine.

Eewww! You referenced basketball coaches comparing the size of their private body parts on a chat board--how vile, lol!

@wissoxfan83 Amen to that, brother. It'd be nice to be able to come to a chat board (seriously, it's just a chat board) after a loss to vent over disagreements with a coach's decisions without having everyone jump down your throat and say 'GO AWAY!!! WHY ARE YOU SAYING THAT?!?!?! WE DON'T WANT TO HEAR THAT HERE!!! GO SAY THAT SOMEPLACE ELSE!!! THIS IS NO PLACE TO SAY THAT!!!! LALALALALALA!!!!

Maybe I am in the wrong place if an opposing viewpoint makes people here so uncomfortable and arouses such ire, but seriously, it's just a chat board. Lighten up, maybe?

@HighEliteMajor Do you mean @jaybate-1.0 and I agreed on the EJ point guard topic? Finally, something he and I can agree on, lol!

@drgnslayr Great thread and posts! Just have to disagree on one point--Roy would have eventually won a ring at Kansas. But it would've taken about 30 years, just like it did for Dean at North Carolina. But I guess that pretty much backs up your point anyway.

@drgnslayr I'm ready for Mark Turgeon whenever Bill decides to retire or move on.

@RedRooster Really! What's Bill say in the huddle when we're down 2 possessions with 30 seconds left? "Okay guys, lets go out there and get some of that Fool's Gold!"

@HighEliteMajor I think you also have to take into account that Brannen hasn't gotten nearly as many open looks since the slump started. He really does need to be wide open to get his shot off. And since about midseason, opposing coaches have made it a priority to not let him get open. That's about the time we started to hear game announcers call him one of, if not the best shooter in the country. That wasn't lost on opposing coaches. He's been pretty well scouted by now.

But you also can certainly see that he just doesn't have the confidence he once had

@Crimsonorblue22 That's because HEM posts exhibit basketball knowledge and he doesn't just pull ideas out of his rectum

I'm reminded of Brad Stevens saying that he didn't want his demeanor to affect his kids on the court--much deeper wisdom from a much younger coach.

If you dig deeper into this 'find a way' philosophy, you have to ask--Why should this team have to play 'bad ball'? Why can't this team play good ball? Why can't this team 'find a way' to score with 3 (or 4 if you count Cliff) McD's All Americans and 4 (or 5) future NBA draft picks on the floor?

Could it be...
!th-6.png ↗
COACHING???

@jaybate-1.0 Well, I was wondering how someone would spin a positive out of this game and now I guess I've heard everything. Hey @jaybate-1.0 , Bill's proctologist called--he wants you to do a spot check for colorectal cancer while you're up there.

@HighEliteMajor I don't even have to read the post and I know it's probably right.

Anymore posts on this thread? .....Anyone? ......Anybody? .....Bueler?

@JayHawkFanToo As I suspected-- I figured no one who still had all his marbles could write some of that stuff, lol.

@drgnslayr Yeah, and no forward passes, lol. Only 3 things can happen when you pass the ball and two of them are bad..

@drgnslayr said:

I don't see us as a 1-seed

Well, somebody fell off his rocker and started this silly thread, lol.

@drgnslayr Understood, but anyone who objectively thinks Kansas deserves a #1 seed over the teams that are ahead of them is off his rocker.

@HighEliteMajor OMG--OBJECTIVITY!!!

I didn't know that was allowed here.

@jaybate-1.0 said:

so you thug

Sounds like Bill's Illinois days

Mark's gonna be next name talked about in terms of 'coaches ready to make the next step.'

@bskeet I'm sure you're joking, but why should we have to play 'bad ball' (still don't know --or care-- what that means) when we have 4 MD's All Americans on the team? I got a kick out of the announcers during the Oklahoma game when they said 'I kinda feel sorry for Kansas tonight--they only have 2 MD's All Americans on the floor.' Are we really becoming an 'in joke' for the college basketball talking heads?

@drgnslayr Sure I'd like to see more KU games too, but that's a lot of 'ifs'. I don't see any reason to expect anything different from this team (or coach) than we've seen in the last 10 games, which certainly doesn't look like Final Four basketball.

I'm not nervous about this team because I don't expect anything from them anymore. I think two tournament wins is their ceiling, but wouldn't be surprised if they didn't make it out of the first weekend.

An Elite Eight appearance would be total gravy and I'd be proud of that achievement for them.

To make the Final Four, it would take something we simply haven't seen this team do all season--play 4 good games (and win them) in a row. I don't think they've played 4 good halves in a row this year. But who knows, everything might finally click and they might surprise us. But I'm certainly not nervous thinking and hoping its going to happen..

He's starting to look like Jim Calhoun

We run our regular stuff, get about the same production out of our 4/5 spot as if Cliff & Perry were in there. Hardly any plays run for 3pt shots. And we lose a tight game. This is pretty much what I'm afraid we'll see in the second round of the tournament.

@HighEliteMajor Not diggin' it. Get back to ya later on my reasons.

@RockChalkinTexas Pasadena Post--funny. Legitimate twitter post--funny.

Mark Twain--A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on his shoes.

I think by the 'eye test,' they mean that Kansas just doesn't 'look' that good. And I'd have to agree. To get to the Final Four, you have to play 4 good games in a row. I don't Kansas has even played 4 good halves in a row. And certainly not against tournament quality teams.

Even the West Virginia win doesn't look so great in hindsight. Without their best player on the floor, it reminds me of the Florida game. Great comeback, but it begs the question--How did you end up 18 down to this team in your own house? That just doesn't 'look' that good.

@HawksWin Durant & Blake didn't have Larry Brown coaching their team.

BOOM!!!

@JhawkAlum Weren't posters saying earlier in the season that Wayne should play point for us? lol

On rewatching the game, it became quite apparent how Kansas won this game. It wasn't by playing 'bad ball,' whatever that means.

They won by shutting down WV's offensive rebounding in the second half. WV is the best offensive rebounding team in the country. They got 15 in the first half and led by 16. Multiple 2nd & 3rd shots. You have to try to shut down what the other team does best.

Without their best scorer (Staten) on the floor, offensive rebounding becomes even more important. In fact, it's their only chance to win. I don't know how we gave up so many in the first half (probably getting out-hustled) but credit Bill for getting into their behinds at halftime about it.

Second half, KU holds them to about 3 or 4 O rebounds. West Virginia scores 19 points. You shouldn't expect to win a game scoring 19 in a half. They're not a good shooting team. They rely on offensive rebounding. That should have been our emphasis from the opening tip. Without Staten, the game probably shouldn't have even been close. Kind of reminded me of the Florida game, when a team comes in shorthanded and somehow has us down 18 points in our own house, Anyway, credit Bill for making the adjustments at halftime, or just tearing into their butts to get the boys on the boards, because that's what won the game for us.

@Lulufulu Yesterday was a great win and a great coaching job by Bill. Congrats to team and coach. I hope Bill uses the next couple of 'throw away' games to emphasize getting shots for his 3pt shooters to get them back on track, because as we saw yesterday, it's not just a switch you can turn on like a light. It's obvious that Brannen's confidence has taken a hit.

@jaybate-1.0 Wrong, wrong and wrong. You can't just 'shoot the trey whenever we need to.' It's not a light switch you can just turn on when you want. In fact, the 3 requires more confidence than any other shot. People who've played the game know that. And confidence needs to be built up and maintained. By putting it into practice. That's part of the coach's job.

And Bill didn't win the conference by attacking inside. In fact, he almost lost it by attacking inside, going 2-2 in his last four, losing to a non-tournament team and almost losing at home (in Allen Field House?) to two probably non-tournament teams. In the Madness, we'll face better teams than those. And not in Allen Field House.

And did averaging 22 ppg inside open up the 3's in the last four games? Nope, not at all. Because opposing coaches are game-planning to shut down our 3game. That's their best chance of beating Kansas.

@benshawks08 I'll stand by it. It's just a theoretical 'what if' anyway. The streak isn't that important to me. Great for the kids and the school, but like I said, I'm about tournament performance.

And yeah, Bill's a great coach. But not Awesome.

@jaybate-1.0 I got nothing against 11 titles--that's great! I'm just more about NCAA tournament performance. I'd gladly trade any one of those 11 titles for just one more win in that year's tournament. Imagine if that were the case. We'd have two more Final Fours and another National Championship. THEN I'd say Bill was an awesome coach!

@Crimsonorblue22 No, I'd rather try to figure out what's going wrong and try to correct the problem.

@Lulufulu I wouldn't put too much faith in what the poster you referenced wrote. That theory is ridiculous, with no basis in fact, concocted by a Self apologist trying to find a silver lining in a dark cloud. I think he may be Bill's agent, lol.

Seriously though, that scenario is just not going to happen. Keep in mind, the last two games we were able to grind wins out of, were home games against the bottom feeders of our conference. We'll face tougher teams in the tournament. Like West Virginia and Kansas State.

@jaybate-1.0 Don't recall if I ever said we wouldn't win the conference this year. But I do recall your ridiculous post after the OU game, where you totally misunderstood what happened in the second half, and predicted we wouldn't lose another conference game. Got a good laugh out of that, thanks!

@wissoxfan83 I don't see it as a slump. It's opposing coaches guarding the 3 more tightly. How many open looks has Brannen gotten lately? Not many. As I posted before, it's simple scouting. Kansas looks best when they get open 3's. When they don't get open 3's, they are very beatable, no matter how much damage they do down low. The last four games have borne this out. Opposing coaches are exercising their best bet to beat Kansas by concentrating on shutting down the 3 game and living with whatever damage we can do down low.

@wissoxfan83 Disagree--the Houston game was tight the whole way. After's Sherron's heroics, Memphis was only up 4 with 2 minutes left.

@jaybate-1.0

Oh

My

God.

You are SO in Bill's tank, lol.

@Crimsonorblue22 Sounds good--I'll toast with my friends during the game tonight!

@Crimsonorblue22 True that. But if any of them advance further in the NCAA, who will have the bragging rights?

@nuleafjhawk Yeah but not many people outside of Kansas or Missouri care.

Louisville won in 2013. For their 3rd NCAA Championship, tying Kansas in that regard. In a game that we should have been in, they beat Michigan, who beat Kansas in probably the biggest end-of-game choke in Tournament history.

Congratulations to the team on their 11th. Probably the toughest the Big 12 has been in a long time.

The numbers are what they are. If that's what they say our SOS was, then thats what is was. Bill probably recognized this and did something about it this year. Good on Bill for trying to better prepare his team for the Tournament.

There's no denying that our conference was subpar in those years, based on Final Four appearances and the simple fact that one team was able to dominate the conference. Does our conference streak look more like Gonzaga's or UCLA's? Does anyone think our conference prepared us well for the Tournament? Apparently Bill didn't and felt like he had to toughen up his non-con schedule.

@drgnslayr Sure, fundamentals are fundamentals. But at the college level, you simply aren't going to see smaller teams out-rebound taller teams on a regular basis. Size matters. Was there a 3pt shot in your playing days? Because there wasn't in Bill's playing days. The game has changed.

@HighEliteMajor Or in other words, the game has moved on.

I can hardly wait for that. And don't forget, the ad nauseum posts speculating on 'next year's starting lineup.'