🏀 KuBuckets Archive

@BShark Another way to think about it, we don't need either of them to play this year (not that KJ could) between Garrett, Lightfoot and Svi. We are pretty solid 1-8 it seems. I'm more than ok with Cunliffe being our 9th guy...

Is there a place to watch the game later? I had to work...

@BShark I mean, those guys would start at most programs and they will be coming off the bench here... Not a lot of other teams get to bring two top 75 guys like that off the bench.

Not to mention they are both still a matchup nightmare at the stretch 4.

@dylans By average I meant my demographic. I am a white male who makes the average household income. I don't need the typical Republican pep talk "Keep your head down, be a good soldier, work hard and good things will happen."

If that is what you got from my post, you missed the point of it.

@jaybate-1.0 Pretty sure that Matt Damon just has it in his basement.

@justanotherfan I totally agree. And I would love to have a philanthropic mindset to our government. But in our current financial situation, I just don't find that to be a top priority. I don't know how old you are, but I'm 25 years old and trying to plan for the future and retirement now. And, 40 years from now scares the hell out of me.

The average person my age comes out with $30k in student debt, not including credit cards. They spend more time in class and on HW than any other generation so far, so working enough to pay for rent, food, school and extra curriculars is really out of the question. Maybe enough to have a little walking around money on the weekends and an xbox live subscription. Either way, $30k in debt to start our professional lives. 20 years ago that was only $12k. That is an increase of 250%. Or, you know, 5 times inflation. And, also cheap enough to pay off with a part-time job... So we have a massive debt, and yet, salaries are barely increasing. Certainly not increasing with inflation. On top of that, the social security problem has been getting avoided for so long that the odds of people my age NOT getting our full share of social security would be a heavy favorite in Vegas right now. Or, even getting social security before we turn 75. Which, I don't know if you've done retirement planning, but I'm sure you have. It isn't pretty when you start to consider how much you have to save if you don't have a pension or social security. We are talking living off of $100k a year when in 40 years that is only $31k to live off of in today's world. I will bust my ass for 52 years, pay a full share into social security, only not to get it and run out of all of my retirement funds at 82. According to my best calculations. That is while saving 20% of my yearly income and getting a 3% raise the rest of my life. I mean, unless I get some substantial raises, I'm screwed. And I am as average as a person can get. My salary, my age, my gender being male, being white, etc. That is the future that is coming, and we really have to debate whether or not $50k was worth trying to train some Sea Monkeys? So, in 40 years, do we just take on more debt? Or, Is our governments plan to just pay the interest until inflation catches up and our $21T debt is really only a $6.5T debt after inflation. If so, I did not give politicians enough credit. Probably where all that pentagon money disappeared to. @jaybate-1-0

You see where I'm getting at right? That budget should be tighter than a well diggers butthole. That way my generation can at least have a life after we bust our ass.

What sucks is that he will have all the PT in the world at Duke or UA.

We have at least two mouths to feed no matter what, and not a great rep with Bigs these last few years. Not that Duke does either...

@JayHawkFanToo Fair points all around.

@justanotherfan Well when you only make $50k, 200,000 in debt and your cost of living is $55,000, seems to me every nickel should start counting. And while nobody does that with their own money, that is each individuals choice.

As an accountant, it is literally my job to find wasteful spending at our business. That doesn't mean I don't go buy my fair share of stupid things with my own money. But I don't at my job. Because it is irresponsible. Same thing goes for those people using federal tax dollars. They have a fiduciary duty to be mindful of how tax dollars are spent.

And sure, some of those things being spent are probably worth the cause. But the point is that we have thousands of nickels being spent every single year. And that is why we can't do things like free education. Would you rather fund 2,000 projects for $50k and take shots in the dark that they will develop something meaningful, or would you rather have $10M to put toward something you could actually make a difference with. These $50k research projects are shots in the dark. I worked for researchers who's salaries are paid by the federal government. When one grant runs out, the next one is given to them. The people assigning grants know how much money each of these researchers have left and as long as they submit a somewhat decent proposal, the federal government will give them research dollars.

@BigBad I know right? To think this will be when most kids are sophomores. If you looked at his last season as his Freshmen season, most people would thing of him as having a lot more potential.

I'm not telling us to kill the farmer. I just want to use all the farm land we have to grow crops. Spend the $20B buying the overproduction of food and shipping it to feed hungry African's. I don't care. Just don't use it to subsidize and create a fictional price floor. That is a waste of money that is not economical.

Let's at least solve two problems at once. Instead of "solving" the "problem" of overproduction of food. No such thing in a world of 7 billion people.

@Crimsonorblue22 I have. And, I think it would look exactly the same as it does now. All farm land. And any of those families who own those farms would make a lot of money selling that land.

@kjayhawks I know they are hard workers. But, it is becoming and automated job . Think about it, a job that used to require 30% of the population in the 20s now only requires 2%. It should be a job we let giant corporations take over. Eventually, they will be so much more advanced technologically than family farms that it will happen one way or the other.

I would hope that we hound Bagley for a visit at least now that we have PT and and open spot. Preston isn't going anywhere else at this point. He signed an LOI and would have to sit out this season if he did. Get Bagley on campus at least. I don't care if we land him or not, but no excuse for not getting him on campus.

@BeddieKU23 He's a grad transfer I assume? Hawkins.

@DoubleDD If I may ask, what is the benefit of competing in the space race? I'm all for it, but only after we can educate, feed, clothe and treat everyone medically first. Otherwise, seems like a waste of money to me. At least when other countries are working on it right now. Let China or Russia learn how to live on the moon or on Mars. Once they prove it is possible, we have enough brilliant people over here to do anything and everything they are capable of.

@mayjay To be frank, why support family farms at this point? They could sell their farm to a corporation for a pretty penny right now.

I mean isn't that the way capitalism works? We have come so far in technology that farming can be done by big corporations much more efficiently than they can by these family farms. Why fight the battle? It is just like mom and pop shops getting crushed by Walmart. Was that bad for them? Absolutely. But they were beat by a better, cheaper service.

And the reason for agriculture being a major factor in the depression because 1/5 people grew and sold their own food and 30% of the economy back then was working on farms. Now, it is 2%. A price drop in crops at this point would benefit 98% of the population and overproduction currently isn't an issue as we have a new problem that could help solve the overproduction of crops. I would rather see the $20B in subsidies go to grocery stores to help solve the problem of food deserts in poor areas. That would help to solve both problems instead of one that really doesn't exist anymore.

Yes

Who we are after, what it looks like, who we would like to have and what would be a realistic signing are all be completely different things. How are we going to split time with 4 guys at one position? If KJ, Cunliffe, Garrett and Vick are all back, those guys are all playing. KJ and Vick will start that season at the 2 and 3 because those two can straight up play D. Garrett will sub the 2 and Cunliffe with sub the 3.

I realize Self likes and has had success with starting two PGs. And of course if he can land one of these guys he is going to. But the obvious answer is that absolutely 100% Bill recruits guys just for the Hell of it. Throw out a line and see if you get a bite. You are sitting really well with a top 10 starting 5, anything you can land right now makes you NC level good. The fact of the matter is, most of these kids can go start somewhere else and play 30 mpg without competition. We aren't selling 30mpg to anybody right now except (Romeo Langford who is a bonafide stud) that isn't a post player.

Just think of the guys Bill visited with and wasted time recruiting that we knew weren't coming to KU.

You guys think that it is so rigid at the guard position:

• PG - Moore
• SG/CG - Nobody
• SF - Vick/KJ/Garrett/Cunliffe
• PF - Dedric/Lightfoot
• C - ?????

When in reality it is more like this:

• PG - Moore/Garrett or Freshman
• SG/CG - Vick/Garrett/Freshman
• SF - Vick/Lawson/Cunliffe/Garrett
• PF - Lawson/Lawson/Lightfoot
• C - Lawson/???

I can see how when you fill in the positions your way, it looks scary. But when I fill it out, I only see a glaring need at backup PG and C. Backup PG is going to be a guy ranked in the 70ish range probably. You aren't selling anyone else on 10 mpg. But you throw out the line in on some big names just in case someone falls in love with everything else KU has to offer.

What I'm wondering is why in the hell are we not in on all of the elite post players? Does Coach feel that good about Doke and Preston coming back for another season? If he does, then I'd understand. We may very well lose 4 guards, but we also could easily lose 2 posts leaving us with Lightfoot and Lawson. That isn't comforting in the slightest. Much less comforting than who is going to play backup PG.

Is Grimes actually enough of a creator to beat out 2nd and 3rd year guys? I sure haven't seen anything from him to make me think that. And I see plenty of scoring on that team.

• Moore - 12 PPG
• D. Lawson - 20 PPG
• K. Lawson - 12 PPG
• Cunliffe - 10 PPG
• Vick 10 PPG

That is 64 points and I'm probably low-balling a couple of guys. That doesn't include what Garrett or Lightfoot would bring off the bench or a 3rd post player. Fwiw, Lightfoot would put up another 7 ppg according to his PER 40 and adjusted down to 30 minutes. So 71 points with Garrett and a 3rd big tbd and probably the best defensive team HCBS would have in a while with all the length 2-5.

I'm trying to see it your way, but unless Vick goes this team is pretty much stacked full at the 2,3 and 4 spots. Unless you also think HCBS is interested in continuing the 4-out look which he has said he is not interested in doing.

@Texas-Hawk-10 Bingo.

Realistically, the only way we see a freshmen start next season is if we land Romeo Langford or MAYBE Grimes. I'm not even sold on him being a major contributor in his first season if he comes.

We don't have a 2nd PG. But really that is it on the perimeter. Vick and Garrett are exactly what you want at the 2.

So really the only room we have is for a PG ranked around the 70s to come here and play 8-10 mpg. IF we can even talk one into doing that. We haven't been able to lately so I'm not even sold on that.

Now if Vick leaves, it really opens the door for PT. Otherwise, I'm not going to assume we land any guards inside the top 50. Not even one whose mom was an alum...

@BeddieKU23 That looks good, but I just can't imagine landing Grimes and Dotson while having 4-5 other guards already on the roster depending on how you think KJ fits in.

@BeddieKU23 I would love to land a few of these guys in the 70ish range with how our roster is set up next season. Especially if we return Preston or Doke. Or hell, if we get both back, look out.

I am compiling a list of things that the U.S. Federal Government spends money on that is at the very least a questionable usage of those funds.

• $42.3B in foreign aid. On the list of countries we aid are Mexico, Egypt, All of Eastern Europe, China, India, Brazil Columbia and Venezuela. A hefty majority of our funds are spent in Africa and the Middle-East, but only in places that allow us to have strategic military presences. It isn't as much "Foreign Aid" as it is the cost to rent a military base in their countries. http://foreignassistance.gov/explore ↗

• $20B in Farm subsidies. $1.3B in funds paid to farmers to NOT farm. We need to quit subsidizing farmers. They have plenty of incentive to keep growing their crops. https://www.wsj.com/articles/should-washington-end-agriculture-subsidies-1436757020 ↗ and http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/01/AR2006070100962.html ↗

• 800 military bases world-wide. Now, you're telling me each and every one of those is a strategic position that we NEED? We still have something like 80 base sites all over Germany. A very close friend. Why in the world do we need those? $601B a year budget. That could be cut in half and we could spend our dollars much more strategically and form actual alliances with some of our European friends. https://www.thenation.com/article/the-united-states-probably-has-more-foreign-military-bases-than-any-other-people-nation-or-empire-in-history/ ↗

• $70B in research and development not related to defense. Now I do understand not all of this is a waste. But there are so, so, so many research projects funded that shouldn't be touched with a 10-ft. pole... http://thefederalist.com/2014/10/22/wastebook-2014-eight-absurd-government-projects-funded-with-your-money/ ↗

• $18.5B spent on NASA. I do believe we need some sort of Space presence. And I do find space mystifying and interesting. But it isn't a necessity at this very moment. I do think it is valuable to have telescopes and some research. But no need for space missions. No need for huge bases to be staffed. Let's cut NASA down to one base with the bare minimum we need to keep telescopes in the air.

• Congressional salaries and retirement benefits. $174k per congressman. And, most of them will collect pensions. This is why we have career politicians instead of good citizens doing their civic duties.

• Paying people who are on administrative leave. Roughly $3.1B. Unbelievable... https://federalnewsradio.com/workforce/2016/12/feds-get-new-administrative-leave-policy-2017-ndaa/ ↗

This is just a start. And a waste of, by my calculations, roughly $388B. Feel free to challenge my thoughts, and add to my list. I'll be adding more down the road. I'll probably dig into Welfare next.

@kjayhawks Hell I'd be willing to pay even more in taxes if I knew it was money well spent and it would come back to me in one way or another. Things like education, better roads, more fuel efficient cars, clean air, truly free healthcare, etc.

@JayHawkFanToo RR would foul out of every game he played if they called the rules the same as today.

@Texas-Hawk-10 You can win a NC giving up more than 62 points per game... In fact, several teams have given up 70 ppg and won a NC.

@mayjay So the key is, what services can we cut? What things do we spend money on that we probably could go without doing?

Things like giving money to foreign countries? Paying farmer to NOT grow crops? Giving money to researchers for things that nobody ever needs to know? Giving out large loans to students while not regulating the cost of tuition at federally funded schools and seeing the number of defaults and write offs grow? Billions in salaries for government employees on administrative leave? Attempt to build large walls? Lower our debt so we don't pay billions in interest on our trillions of dollars of debt? Spend $601 billion on our military even though we could easily just blow anyone who bothers us to smithereens, send in 10 highly trained men to assassinate almost anyone, have a draft if we absolutely HAD to and would solve any issues with another major power diplomatically? The $80 Billion we spend to imprison 1% of our people, half of whom are in for drug related crimes? The sad part is, the list goes on....

Really we never get to the necessities of what our government should provide with our tax dollars because of all of the stupid things we currently do spend them on.

To me, Switzerland and Canada are perfect examples of minding your own damn business and taking advantage of your own resources. We are too intertwined into global politics. We cause war in areas to exploit them. We meddle in other countries elections for OUR benefit (sound familiar?). And, we give our Federal Government far too much power to make decisions that effect 321 million people.

Our entire Federal Government is broken. All 3 branches. I am not particularly a Trump fan, nor do I think he can do enough damage in 4 years (or less) to really hurt the U.S. in an irreversible way. But Congress should be able to do a complete investigation into the Russia dealings. Trump basically has worked around it, but shouldn't be able to.

The president should not be in charge of choosing the Supreme Court Nominees. And it should take the hefty majority of votes to elect that person in.

You also shouldn't be able to executive order left and right. That's absurd. I like the council idea, because at least you could put it to a vote that way.

And finally, having only two parties and no national vote on major legislation is complete nonsense. It takes all of the common sense out of laws and adds unnecessary items just to appease a couple of swing votes.

The US constitution was written by brilliant people with the right ideas at heart. But they couldn't see the future and they underestimated the drunkenness created by power. Wholesale changes need to be made to the constitution, but the only way that will ever happen is if we have one brave sole essentially infiltrate one of the two major parties like a secret agent and rise to the top, not get trapped under the spell of the ring, and be strong enough to throw it into Mount Doom.

@approxinfinity 11 different parties with seats. . People can amend the constitution themselves. Amazing. They get choices and have a say in laws. This keeps those stupid little favors that bog down laws here in the U.S.

They have choices in not only in picking from a dozen parties, but voting directly on laws. Absolutely amazing.

One note is that with all of their immigration, the conservative party has grown a ton. I think it is natural for countries to fight immigration. It changes the way things were before. And that is a main reason you see the uptick in conservative politics. It is why Trump was able to rile up so many votes. I would bet the number one most effective campaign point Trump made was about immigration. Same is going on in Switzerland.

@Texas-Hawk-10 This same group also lost in the first round once if I'm remembering correctly. While giving up less points that season...

I mean really your better argument should be difference in PPG. 08 was 19 ppg better than their opponents. Last season we were only 11.3. That is a huge gap.

But anyways, I still think this team has room to grow and picked up a NPOY contender in Newman. Even if they lost Frank. But to say that this team's defense won't be improved is a stretch.

• DG is a better defender than Frank was. According to advanced metrics at least.
• Newman did play poor D his freshmen year, but cmon. He won't get to do that for Bill. Newman is plenty athletic and quick enough to be a solid defender.
• Vick can D some people up and should have a much improved season on both ends. Svi is a poor on ball defender, but very good at jumping passing lanes. With 2 real biggs behind him on D, he should be able to stay aggressive
• Preston has all the potential to be a great player. He could be every bit as good as Arthur.
• Doke - Will be a better defender than any post on the 08 team. Blocked 12% of shots last year while healthy. That is Witheyesk. And pulled in 18% of rebounds which is phenomenal.

All in all, I expect this team to hold teams into the 60s on average like almost every Bill Self team in the past. May be the upper 60s, but definitely the 60s. Let's say 68 points to be pretty safe. Between better rebounding and rim protection that is a safe bet.

Then lets say that our offense will be at least as good. That brings us up to a 15ppg. Which is enough to be competitive wtih 08.

This team could potentially score even more points than next year. We will get points from the 5 we didn't get last year. But either way, we should be close if we play at the same pace. If we play at a slower pace, opponents points should drop at an equal pace.

Theoretically, this team should win by about 15ppg next season with the potential to reach the 18ppg mark set by the 2008 team.

I'm not telling you the 08 team isn't better. I'm just saying that this team is talented enough that if things fall right they could be right there with them.

@approxinfinity I think this is a place where we could actually have a civil discussion and people could really converse on some great topics. The reason is both the anonymity and the personal affection we all have with each other. We have both. So nobody can go into these discussions as a troll.

If a political discussion without petty crap can happen anywhere, it is on this site with this group of people.

Also, I think Bill has started taking Transfers as an easy way to build depth. He never plays more than 9 guys. So realistically, getting 2 or 3 each year means better use of your last couple of scholarships. At least in today's college basketball where everyone wants playing time from day 1. He might be seeing the light before everyone else. The way to build an experienced deep team is through transfers. First of all, they have no other option. They are playing at KU for two seasons unless they go pro. In which case, that means they had a great season. Mix that in with your own 4 year guys and maybe a couple of OADs and viola, a deep team with plenty of experience.

Ok so maybe Bill wasn't the first to think of it. But Gonzaga proved it can work... Bill just might be the first one to take notice.

@mayjay You are welcome!

I do think Bill is tired of chasing OAD dreams. We just can't land a stinking OAD PG. And I could only imagine what Bill could do with one of these 6'3 uber athlete PGs. I mean look what he did with Collins, Frank, Dee Brown and Tyshawn. The man knows how to make someone a great PG.

@Texas-Hawk-10 I'll just wait until I see this group play a little.

You're probably right. That team was talented, deep and experienced. The tri-fecta. But this years team should be at the very least talented and experienced. I'll continue to wait it out and see what the team looks like with all the available pieces.

We don't know that team would eat them alive. Look back at their schedule and you will see that against any ranked team besides UNC, it was either a loss or a very close game. They weren't leaps and bounds better than everyone.

I'm just saying, lets take our 2008 goggles off and watch this seasons team for what it is. Then we can compare.

@mayjay

• Tyus Jones - National Champion
• Marquis Teague - National Champion
• Derek Rose - NC Runner up
• Brandon Knight - Final Four
• Mike Conley - NC Runner up

@BeddieKU23 Matt sucks and is a bit of an asshat. Not a surprise to me he can't get any good info and clearly doesn't have a good source deep enough inside the program to hear any chatter.

He can't even take criticism on 247 without getting all upset. Not worth the money at this point. I'll probably drop my subscription soon unless they get someone else to partner with Matt.

It isn't a slam dunk that the 08 team was better.

08 team had 8 players with NBA talent. They were deep and crazy talented. No denying that. But would everyone be giving them the benefit of the doubt if Memphis makes a couple of free throws?

This team has: Vick, Svi, DG, Newman, and Doke with NBA talent. Only 5 guys I feel comfortable in saying that about at least. Garrett, Cunliffe and Preston could all surprise though. That would put this team right there with the 08 team. And then it comes down to other arguments, like style of play and rules.

Who knows until we see this team play either way. DG, Svi and Newman could possibly be the scariest scoring combination we have ever had if they all play up to their potential. And the post will be anchored by a mammoth. I'm interested to see it play out before officially giving the 08 team the win.

@BShark It's all on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/FIBA ↗

I think they have to average a certain percentage of the salary cap being spent over the last 5 years, I think. That keeps players salaries rising and teams from not trying to compete.

I do think George Hill is a good person to have signed though. So is Randolph. Veteran presence that can show young guys how to compete in the league. Its good for Frank and Fox and the 5 young big men they have. I think it is probably the best move the Kings have made in a long time. They sign two standup vets and still should end up with a high draft pick.

Good to see him putting up good numbers at a decently efficient clip. I'm going to try to watch all of the games tonight and see if there is anything the stats aren't saying.

@jayballer54 They all have 3 stripes on their jerseys.

New subtopic if anyone has any thoughts: Would you rather have had Obama introduce subsidized education or healthcare during his tenure?

Personally, I think Obamacare was a huge mistake simply because it was rushed and not thought out. Between that and Social Security, millennials are so screwed when we retire...

In a country of 321 million people, we ultimately all have to choose between 2 people. Absolute lunacy.

@jayballer54 KU, Louisvile and IU.

Wonder what those schools have in common....

@JayHawkFanToo It's in the general discussion section. It was a controversial topic to begin with. I kind of think it should just be allowed to play out.

Not like people are throwing F-Bombs (unless I missed something). I like getting people's political views only to see how different their basketball views are. These are the types of threads we get to know everyone better.

Plus, its the summer time. Not much basketball to talk.

@dylans Dorsey took some risks on some talents with questionable pasts and it paid off. It could have easily not. What I liked about Dorsey was he found some undrafted guys or guys cut from other teams who made impacts.

Can't deny we were a solid football team with him as the head of personnel. Hope Veach isn't a Reid lapdog. Part of why the Reid Dorsey relationship made us good was that Reid just had to work with what Dorse gave him. I think it kept Reid creative and on his toes.

The most neutral place I've found is NY Times or USA today. WSJ has moved very far left. DJT deserves most things coming to him. But the man can't even eat without WSJ writing and article on how his diet is bad for America.

NY Times, for the most part, simply states facts and lets you form your own opinion. WSJ tries, but their headlines are all clickbait at this point. So you go in with a preconceived notion before you even have read the article.

@jaybate-1.0 It's coming at some point. There will be a guy come through in some generation who looks like LeBron but plays like Steph. Imagine a guy that could move/shoot like Steph but was 6'9 so you couldn't even get a hand in his face if you tried.

It's coming.

Picked as preseason BIG XII Defensive player of the year. He gone. I said early into last season, we won't see him play his Senior year. Which is a good thing! Have to prove it to recruits that we can get players to the NFL.

2003 draft might have had the best 1-5 picks ever.