So yes.

I just watched Roach murder the entire Duke squad with a transition dunk.

Not trying to jinx Texas here, but they look pretty good against Duke early on. I'm not sure if I'd take Bagley or Bamba if asked to pick.

Everyone talking about Fox killing Lonzo head to head last season.

Nobody talking about Frank killing Fox in Lexington last season.

One team plays defense, the other team shoots 3's. WSU is a better version of the WVU team that beat ND in the tournament last season.

That's true, I'll wait until after Friday's game.

I'm going with Shockers by 7 tonight.

Welp. Up to #2.

I said earlier that I would be more excited if KU got Grimes than I would if they got Williamson, and I stand by that. Grimes is a stud. So happy he's a Jayhawk.

@kjayhawks Good call.

Really tough call on Shamet there.

Wichita St can't throw a rock in the ocean today so they are going to have to do it by getting turnovers and scoring in transition.

Meanwhile, 3 pointers are hitting the rim and rolling in for Cal.

@Crimsonorblue22 Wichita St is too good and too experienced not to make a run or two here.

Cal lost to the UC Riverside Highlanders by 8. Wichita St was a 19 point favorite entering the game. This is pretty surprising.

I'm not defending Wichita St here, because they are playing pretty uninspired basketball right now, but every piece of crap Cal is throwing up seems to be going in. 8/11 from 3. Just one of those days I guess. Shockers might be finding out that it's harder to play every game when you're the favorite and not the cute mid major underdog.

4 in Ken Pom

3 in the AP

2 in the Coaches

1 in the heart of Melvin Weatherwax

The game against A&M is in Lawrence. I like KU's chances in that one.

Interesting that KU has played or will play Mizzou, Nebraska, and A&M this season. The Mizzou game was an exhibition, but still, it's kind of like a throwback Big 12 season.

There will probably be more news about Billy tomorrow since KU has a game. If Billy is sitting out again, why he is sitting out again will probably have to be addressed a bit.

I don't know if they have or have not. Either way, Jojo was looking like Hakeem 2.0 out there tonight.

46 points, 15 boards, 7 assists, 7 blocks for Embiid. Crazy.

Yessir.

He's amazing. I pray for his health every day.

Well. I'm not thrilled about the way Kansas played on Tuesday. But, Kansas won, Kentucky lost, and Quentin Grimes is Lawrence bound. It's been a good week all in all.

But when Kansas goes to Ames they'll still play like Golden State.

I went to this event when Wiggins/Embiid were freshman at KU and Parker was a freshman at Duke. Kansas and Kentucky had the most fans, and every fan base just booed Duke. Hoping for similar occurrences tomorrow. And also a Jayhawks win.

Kansas by 11
Duke by 7

@BShark Why, what happened? Good to see you as always, Gyp.

Going with 3. At West Virginia, and a couple other games on the road. At TCU won't be an easy game this season. But I think KU will beat Kentucky by 10-12 points.

I just want Grimes now.

This makes me happy.

Is it weird that I want Quentin Grimes more than Zion Williamson?

Sorry, Turgeon.

It's a trip!

!alt text ↗

Somewhere in the prequels. Coach K and Duke aren't in the original trilogy. Most of Duke's success has come recently with K (as compared to the longer histories of KU and UK).

Edit: And I'm referring to the order in which the films were made rather than the chronology of the Star Wars universe.

Andrew Wiggins is about to get a max deal from Minnesota owner Glen Taylor for 150 million. This has prompted discussion from critics and fans of Wiggins as to whether or not he deserves a max deal, and whether the Wolves would be better off trading Wiggins (for Kyrie Irving for example). Wiggins in his 3rd season in the NBA (21-22 years old) averaged 23.6 points, 4.0 boards, and 2.3 assists per game, while playing what most would say was below-average defense. Looking at those numbers (which in my estimation are pretty damn good for someone as young as Wiggins) got me curious as to what other similar players, or players who Wiggins is frequently compared to, averaged in their 3rd NBA season. So I took the time to jot down some stats (points, boards, assists).

Andrew Wiggins: 23.6, 4.0, 2.3, 1 year of college at Kansas

Kobe Bryant: 19.9, 5.3, 3.8, drafted out of high school

Tracy McGrady: 15.3, 6.3, 3.3, drafted out of high school

Paul Pierce: 25.3, 6.4, 3.1, 3 years of college at Kansas

Demar Derozan: 16.7, 3.3, 2.0, 1 year of college at USC

Vince Carter: 27.6, 5.5, 3.9, 3 years of college at UNC

Paul George: 17.4, 7.6, 4.1, 2 years of college at Fresno State

Klay Thompson: 18.4, 3.1, 2.2, 3 years of college at Washington State

Wiggins' numbers are pretty similar by comparison to the other players listed. The players with the best numbers in their 3rd season are Pierce and VC who both played 3 years in college before coming to the NBA. Just curious what posters here think about how good AW will or will not be in the future, say 5 years from now.

@Statmachine Even UK recruits can't repel transfer firepower of that magnitude!!

I'm not so sure KU would be the empire in that analogy, though. UK seems a little more empire-y to me and KU seems more rebel-ish. And Cal is definitely the Emperor. He just needs some robes and a hood.

OH MANNNNNNNNNNNNN

The 17-18 backcourt might be better than the 16-17 backcourt. Or at least on par-ish. I hope Dok stays healthy this season.

Fox looked good.
Josh looked good once he got settled in. Finished with 18, 8, and 2.
Marquese Chriss is talented but is lazy and has a horrible attitude.
Mike James tried to do way too much by himself and needs to pass more.
Loved seeing Frank, even if he didn't play that well. He'll always be one of my favorite Jayhawks no matter how he does in the NBA.

"Josh Jackson Can't Shoot" is what I heard a lot of analysts say on draft night. It's what I read in scouting videos. It's what gets written and parroted in comment sections by people who probably didn't watch him play last season. I agree to a point, Josh Jackson has a "hitch" in his shot and his free throw shooting is worrisome. On the other hand, his overall field goal percentage and three point percentage were pretty good for a hyper-athletic freshman forward. Let's look at some of Josh Jackson's season averages at Kansas:

PPG --> 16.3,

FG% --> 51.3,

3PFG% --> 37.8,

eFG% --> 55.2,

FT% --> 56.6,

PER --> 24.1,

Compare those numbers to Jayson Tatum:

PPG --> 16.8,

FG% --> 45.2,

3PFG% --> 34.2,

eFG% --> 50.7,

FT% --> 84.9,

PER --> 22.0,

The consensus opinion on Tatum is that he's the best scorer in the draft class. Looking at stats, his FT shooting is really the only thing he was better at than Jackson last season, offensively. But if you watched Kansas basketball last season, you probably noticed that JJ has an outstanding motor and work ethic, and that his shooting seemed to improve from game to game. Here are some numbers that illustrate this:

Shooting percentages (FG%, 3P%, FT%):

November --> 51.3, 29.4, 54.0

December --> 50.6, 22.2, 54.5

January --> 47.2, 38.4, 55.3

February --> 52.2, 47.8, 58.2

March --> 56.7, 42.9, 66.7

His FT shooting improved by the month. His numbers in March weren't far off from either Markelle Fultz or Lonzo Ball's FT numbers (both in the 60's for the season). Do I think Josh Jackson is going to develop into Steve Nash at the line and Ray Allen from 3? No, not at all. But given his work ethic I don't think it's unreasonable to think that JJ can improve his shooting as he starts his career in Phoenix.

His passing and rebounding numbers were also better than Tatum's. He's a better defender than Tatum. His ball-handling, contrary to what other's have said, is very good for someone of his age, size, and athleticism. I can understand Philly taking Fultz ahead of Jackson, even if I disagree with it -- they desperately need a point guard. And I can understand Magic and the Lakers taking Ball ahead of Jackson -- he's from LA, played at UCLA, and probably reminds Magic of Magic a little bit. I can't really understand Danny Ainge and Boston taking Tatum ahead of JJ, but here's my guess -- Jae Crowder is more similar to JJ than he is to Tatum, and he's already on the Celtics' roster, so maybe Boston thought it was a little bit redundant to draft Jackson. Also, Ainge wasn't happy about JJ skipping the Boston workout. Still, I would have taken Jackson, and here's why:

"If you ask me, of course I'm going to say I'm the best player in this draft, but if you ask those other guys, they're going to say the same thing about themselves, I'm sure," Jackson said. "But just I love competition, and I love proving people wrong. I've been drafted to Phoenix, and I'm going to go there and I'm going to make the best of it. I'm going to be the best player I can be. And those teams who didn't draft me, one day they will be sorry."

And I understand that it's popular to say things like that, but with Jackson I really get the feeling that he means it.

I was going to say the blue team should get an easy win because they have Tyler Self, but then I saw that the red team has Christian Moody. Going to be a war.

I guess if you look at it more from the perspective of a casual basketball fan, I can understand the gripe a little bit. College hoops is more fun in non-March months when quality teams play quality teams. But for a lot of the fans who post here, I think we get excited about all of KU's games, regardless of who they play. So it tends not to be as big of deal for us.

So is CBS Sports, but who cares? You don't get a trophy for having the toughest non-conference schedule. KU will be judged by two things next season: 1. Winning their 14th consecutive Big12 title, and 2. Making it to at least a final four in the NCAA tournament. Failure to do either of those things will result in people saying Kansas choked. Fair? Not really. But it's Kansas.

The only concerns I have with playing a weak non-con are impact on tournament seeding and the guys being sufficiently prepared/tested for tournament play. But I think both of those are concerns are pretty much offset by playing in a tough Big12 conference. So it's not that big of deal as far as I see it.

@BShark Yes. Senzataela, Freeman, Marquez, Hoffman, Gray all pretty young. Chatwood and Anderson are both 27.

What's going on with Alex Gordon this year?

Their starting pitching has actually been not that bad, and their bullpen has been great. I hope they can keep it up. They need to stop losing to bad teams like the Mariners and Padres.

Preston will start. Hopefully right away.

I think that's about right for Graham. He could be better than that or he could be worse than that next season, but 11th is a pretty reasonable place for him to start.

Jevon Carter is too low at 12. I would have him in my top 5. Same thing for Joel Berry.

What the hell am I supposed to do between now and October? Dammmmnit.

@HighEliteMajor My thoughts exactly.

Joel Embiid's kicks are fire.

Additionally, it would be awesome to see Josh Jackson and Embiid play together.