He's going to have some serious competition from Georges Niang and Buddy Hield for Big12 POY. If he wins he'll definitely have earned it.
KirkIsMyHinrich
6165 posts
We won because Wayne was the best player on the floor.
And because Serbia shot 4/26 from 3.
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Strong Guard Play - Everyone needs to take care of the ball, especially Mason and Graham. Kentucky's a good defensive team, and they are at their best when they are out and running in transition.
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Make Kentucky Play in the Half court - Kentucky isn't a great shooting team, and they aren't a veteran team. Make Kentucky run their half court sets and make shots. Make them earn it at the line. No easy transition baskets. Ulis is the only perimeter shooter for Kentucky that concerns me a lot. Towns and Lyles can shoot too, but if they are taking 3's it means they aren't getting offensive rebounds or posting, which is fine with me.
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Box Out - Kentucky is long and athletic and Kansas won't get a lot of rebounds by trying to outjump Kentucky players. Stick your butt into someone.
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Perimeter shooting - Kansas needs to make outside shots. Because of Kentucky's frontcourt size, even if Kansas executes offensively, it's going to be hard to score in the post. Going to have to make some shots.
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Don't take bad shots - Bad shots lead to fast breaks. No easy baskets.
That's it. Go Jayhawks
Cliff Notes
Cool Hand Mykhailiuk
There's a pretty decent chance that he gets traded for Kevin Love.
It would be pretty cool to see them play together though.
@KansasComet This was the first thing that came to my mind as well. Pitino should have stopped pressing.
It's ESpin, what do you expect? There is more insight from the people who post on these boards than from the college basketball analysts at ESPN. Err... there is more insight from some of the people who post on these boards than from the college basketball analysts at ESPN. Admittedly, the list did irk me slightly, but it's just a list. We all know the quality of HCBS and we're all happy to have him as our coach.
This is cool. Let's go Jayhawks.
I doubt you guys will be able to guess who my favorite Jayhawks player is...
@HighEliteMajor Rashad McCants was a top 10 recruit in the 2002 class. He played 3 years at UNC, where he posted very solid numbers. He was part of the 2005 national championship team that beat Illinois and Self's recruits. He was drafted #14 overall in the 2005 NBA draft but never really made it as a pro.
Also, agree with what you said about Roy. And I like to see UNC win when they aren't playing Kansas.
I wish they would have hired Seth Greenberg so I didn't have to listen to his commentary on ESPN anymore. Then I'd only have to listen to him whine about barely missing the tournament in March.
12 players that are competing for playing time this season: Ellis, Alexander, Selden, Oubre, Graham, Mason, Frankamp, Traylor, Mickelson, Lucas, Greene, Mykhailiuk. Only 9 of them will see minutes.
Let's start with the obvious, Ellis, Selden, Alexander, and Oubre are locks for playing time.
Traylor is a pretty safe bet and between Mickelson and Lucas, I think Mickelson will win the 4th spot for a big.
The point guard spot will be between Graham, Mason, and Frankamp and I suspect Self will pick 2 of them. As of right now I have no idea who gets the short straw but that leaves one available spot for 3 players. Right now I'm leaning toward Graham starting and Mason coming off the bench as the back up, which sucks because I do like CF a lot.
And that brings us to Greene, Mykhailiuk, and Frankamp. I'm leaning toward Greene getting minutes but I can't imagine that Mykhailiuk came to KU to sit on the bench and watch. Also, Self called Mykhailiuk an immediate impact guy which would indicate to me that he will play this season. So I guess Frankamp, Greene, and Lucas won't get too much playing time this season.
I heard an interview on ESPN where he talked about his time in Lawrence and he had a lot of good things to say.
So the NBA draft lottery is tonight, what teams are you wanting Embiid and Wiggins to end up on? Personally I'd rather they end up being with a decent organization like Los Angeles or Boston. I don't want to see either or them on Milwaukee (although there's a pretty good chance of that happening), or Sacramento. I don't want Utah either, but I think they'd take Jabari Parker before Wiggins or Embiid. I wouldn't mind Philadelphia.
@drgnslayr I guess it would depend what criteria you were using to rank the venues. But c'mon, nothing with a name like the KFC Yum! Center should be ranked ahead of Allen Fieldhouse. At least the other voters got it right. My top 5 would be AFH, Cameron, Corruppt, Assembly, and The Pit.
Starting 5: Graham, Selden, Oubre, Ellis, Alexander
Reserves: Frankamp, Mason, Traylor, Mickelson
And I think Greene and Lucas will see minutes because of certain matchups, players being in foul trouble, and HCBS being frustrated with a player.
@drgnslayr Nice post. Ya, that's seems a little bit more reasonable.
Do you think he'll start then?
Part of me is sad to see a 3-year Jayhawk leave and part of me is happy to see him go, because that means more minutes for Frankamp and Mason. I posted some things about Tharpe that were maybe a little too harsh, so I feel vaguely responsible for him leaving. But I won't lose sleep over it.
So who starts at point next season between Frankamp, Mason, and possibly Graham? I vote for Conner. His defense isn't spectacular, yes, but he can knock down outside shots (which he should get plenty of with Oubre and Selden slashing), and he doesn't turn the ball over. Mason is a better defender, worse shooter, and has a higher propensity for turning the ball over. I don't know a ton about Graham, but I wonder if Self promised him starters minutes for coming to KU. I think Self would probably start him if he came to KU.
I am... not as old as you guys I guess. 22 and go to college. About to enter the prime of my drinking career.
No. I think he's going to Texas.
He's probably going to Texas. I'm not sure it's vital that we get Turner though. Only a handful of teams (Kentucky, Arizona, Texas with Turner) have the size to really hurt Kansas on the interior. I think a starting 5 of Frankamp, Selden, Oubre, Ellis, and Alexander is more than capable of competing for a national championship next season. And ya, I would start Frankamp ahead of Tharpe, Mason, and Graham.
@wissoxfan83 I have no idea, but be careful how you phrase things because nobody is forcing these kids to play 1 year in college. The rule is not that you have to play 1 year in college...
I agree with JB, and he's right that revenue sharing will never happen. The NCAA just wants to make as much money as they can, and won't get rid of the amateurism label for student-athletes. There is a major conflict of interest for the NCAA in determining rulings for eligibility and punishment for violations. Their inconsistencies in applying these rulings have generally been self-serving.
The tax-exempt non-profit won't allow universities to pay their athletes or provide a stipend either. And even if they did, there are way too many problems with trying to implement that. Namely, only a handful of athletic departments profit from their sports teams so it would create unfair advantages in recruiting. Also, it's impossible to make paying athletes sport or gender-specific because of Title IX. You can't just pay men's football and basketball players, you would have to pay every sports team, and you would have to pay all of them about the same amount.
Edit: @wissoxfan - The kid doesn't technically have to go to college, he just can't go directly to the NBA.
@HighEliteMajor Singler was 4th overall, Nolan Smith was 6th overall, Zeller was 7th overall, Davis was 11th overall, Felton was 4th overall, McCants was 11th overall, Hansbrough was 10th overall, Sean May was 9th overall, Chalmers was 12th overall, Rush was 13th overall, Ellington was 8th overall, Lawson was 9th overall.
You're right about Florida, though. They had no 5 stars. My mistake.
I see my list. The majority of teams that have won national championships since 2003 have had quality 5 star players. My argument isn't that these players are presumed OADs but that they are potential OADs. When you recruit these players, you do so with the knowledge that you could have them for only 1 year. So if you're saying that KU should stop recruiting OAD players, then KU shouldn't be recruiting any potential OADs.
How many 5 stars make it clear that they want to stay at least 2 years during the recruiting process? I would guess not very many. So I would say pretty much any 5 star that you recruit there is a risk of them leaving after 1 year.
Do you want to stop recruiting potential OADs or just presumed OADs? Does that mean you don't want Turner, Alexander, or Oubre?
I agree that this season's team didn't have much of a chance to make a run to the final four and beyond, even with Joel Embiid healthy, but that was primarily because of inconsistent guard play from our junior point guard. If Wiggins doesn't come to KU this season, Kansas probably doesn't win their 10th straight Big12 title, probably gets a lower seed in the tournament, and probably doesn't make it passed the round of 16 anyway.
So as far as I can understand, your objection to recruiting Wiggins and Embiid is that we are missing out on worse players who will stay for multiple years and may or may not be good enough to win a national championship as juniors and seniors. Okay, that may be true, but in the time it takes for those players to develop, Kansas goes through 1 or 2 years of mediocrity in which they don't win Big12 titles and don't get a 1 or 2 seed in the tournament.
Or maybe you think Kansas can implement and sustain a system where every year a few upperclassmen leave, a few sophomores/juniors step in the following season to fill the void, and KU recruits a few new players to start developing. And all of those players are 30-50ish ranked recruits. That would be an extremely hard system to sustain, consistently getting players who are not good enough to be one-and-done players, but are capable of developing into national championship contenders and pro prospects in 2-3 years. And 18-21 year old kids are extremely unpredictable. Some will probably transfer or leave prematurely for the NBA.
I don't know, that route just doesn't seem practical to me, I'd rather keep recruiting one-and-done players. I'd also like to point out that while few teams have won a national championship with one-and-done players, almost all national championship winners in recent memory have had 5-star, potential one-and-done players on their rosters.
2003- Carmelo Anthony
2004 - Ben Gordon, Emeka Okafor
2005 - Sean May, Rashad McCants, Raymond Felton
2006 - Al Horford, Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer
2007 - Al Horford, Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer
2008 - Brandon Rush (Mario Chalmers and Darrell Arthur were also 5 star)
2009 - Wayne Ellington, Ty Lawson, Tyler Hansbrough, Ed Davis, Tyler Zeller
2010 - Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith
2011 - Kemba Walker, Jeremy Lamb
2012 - The entire roster
2013 - The only team with no five stars I believe, but they did have 3 top30 recruits in Siva, Behanan, and Blackshear.
2014 - DeAndre Daniels
So I don't think we can just stop recruiting 5-star players. And pretty much any 5-star that KU recruits has the potential of leaving after 1 year, and the likelihood of leaving after 2.
This is really quite impressive considering that he played 3 years at Kansas before going to the NBA. He's just been so consistent his entire career and continues to play at a high level at age 36. Congrats, Paul.
@joeloveshawks link ↗http://247sports.com/PlayerInstitution/Myles-Turner-at-Trinity-38449/Predictions ↗
I don't know how much you check recruiting. His last official visit was UT, and a lot of those predictions haven't been updated since then. A lot of people are saying Texas now, but I wouldn't be surprised if he chose Kansas.
You can't blame him, he's a lock for a top 5 pick, probably top 3, maybe 1. Best of luck in the NBA, Joel.
As for Turner, I'd say it's either Texas or Kansas.
@Crimsonorblue22 Word, thanks.
Is that 2:00PM local time?
@wissoxfan83 Yes, we are. Seriously.
It could be worse. Missouri could be in the final four.
Haha, no, just kidding. That will never happen.
@MoonwalkMafia - Speaking of evil, Bo Ryan looks like Satan.
The last time KU won a national championship was 2008. The three best players on that team were Mario Chalmers (12th ranked recruit), Brandon Rush (13th ranked recruit), and Darrell Arthur (16th ranked recruit). All three of those players went on to play in the NBA. Russell Robinson was the 27th ranked recruit and Sasha Kaun was 34th.
The closest KU came to winning before that was 2002 and 2003. Both of those teams had highly rated recruits with NBA talent (Hinrich, Gooden, Collison). The 2002 team lost to a Maryland team with Steve Blake, Chris Wilcox, and Juan Dixon. The 2003 team lost to a team with a one-and-done player, Carmelo Anthony. The 1997 team that was good enough to win the national championship had Paul Pierce. They lost to an Arizona team that had Mike Bibby and Jason Terry. That Arizona team went on to win the national championship.
This season, the biggest problem for KU was their junior point guard. Tharpe was the 92nd ranked recruit when he committed to Kansas. Had Embiid been healthy against Stanford I think Kansas would have won. But he wasn't and they lost. Injuries happen.
That doesn't mean KU should stop recruiting the best players possible. Wiggins wasn't the problem this season, neither was Embiid. In fact, if it weren't for those 2 players I'm not sure KU would have won a 10th straight Big 12 title. With more consistent point guard play and a healthy Embiid, Kansas would probably still be in the tournament, maybe even the favorite. Keep recruiting 1-2 year players and hope they stay a few years because Kansas isn't going to win national championships with just 50th ranked recruits. Sure, you can have a few of those players, Frankamp and Greene were ranked 47th and 48th, Darnell Jackson was 55th on the 2008 team, but you need really good players to win national championships.
@Hawk8086 If Black starts he'll guard Niang. Niang is a bit taller than Ejim, and he's also much slower, less athletic, and a slightly worse 3 point shooter. Niang is capable of hitting some 3's, but has only shot it at about a 31% clip this season. Perry will be on Ejim. If Niang and Ejim get hot from outside maybe KU will go small but I expect they'll play who they play and match up the best they can. KU's going to have a bigger lineup, they should control the glass. Look for Wiggins to grab a lot of rebounds.
I thought he said babe too.
@drgnslayr I agree, and maybe this team's identity is their offense. But it doesn't mean that they can't improve on the defensive side of the ball too. I've seen less athletic and smaller Self teams play much better defense than what this team is playing.
I haven't seen those movies. I'll have to watch them some time, lol.
I think the key to Kansas making a deep run in March is their defense. Since HCBS arrived in Lawrence, KU has regularly been top 10 in opponent field goal percentage. This season, opponents are shooting about 41% against Kansas which ranks 61st nationally and scoring 69.1 points per game which ranks 132nd. I'm not sure that Ellis will ever be a great defender, but a healthy Embiid can mask some of Perry's defensive shortcomings. Tharpe, Selden, and Wiggins are all capable of being elite defenders and can get better. This team can and should get better defensively.
Offensively, Kansas is the most efficient team in the country in terms of field goal %. They shoot the ball at 50.3% per game, which ranks 1st nationally. Only one other team in the country is shooting over 50% from the field and that would be American, who is facing some less than stout defenses in the Patriot League. Kansas is also scoring 79.7 points per game which ranks 20th nationally. I'm not sure Kansas can improve a ton offensively, except in terms of taking care of the ball. They still turn the ball over 13.1 times per game, which is down from earlier in the season, but still ranks 249th nationally.
I don't think I'm old enough to understand these references by the way. Who are Fred and Ginger?
Bill Self has the most wins of any coach in the last 5 years (178-33) and the best winning percentage. Bill Self has the 2nd most wins of any coach in the last 10 years (320-65), only behind John Calipari (324-70), but has a better win percentage than Calipari. He's won or shared 9 straight regular season titles, and 6 of the last 9 conference tournaments. National Championship in 2008, National Championship appearance in 2012. Multiple coach of the year awards, and a bunch of other stuff that I'm probably forgetting. I'm sure you're all familiar with these numbers. The point that I'm making is that I don't care if Kansas' play is inconsistent from game to game as long Kansas keeps winning at the rate that they have been since HCBS arrived.
@jaybate 1.0 You're fine. I guess I just took that post the wrong way.
@drgnslayr Haha, you should definitely not be jealous of my posting.
@jaybate 1.0 Sorry I'll stop posting here then.
@approxinfinity Ya, I can see it. Either way, it's unfortunate.
86 of 92 points from Jayhawks starters. Naadir Tharpe with 12 assists and only 1 turnover. Wiggins with a career high 29 points, and an efficient 29 points. Ellis played well, Embiid played well, Selden's hustle is inspiring.
And Doc Sadler kind of looks like a hobo.
Tharpe-Smart,
Selden-Brown,
Wiggins-Williams,
Ellis-Nash,
Embiid-Murphy,
So I guess this is how they'll match up. Whoever Tharpe guards is going to have a height advantage on him. Between Smart, Brown, and Williams, Brown is the best shooter so I'm guessing KU will want to have length on him, either Selden or Wiggins. Williams is the worst 3-point shooter of the 3 but at 6'5 I think he's a little too big for Tharpe to guard. Murphy at 6'8 will have trouble guarding Embiid so halfcourt offense should go through Joel every time. Either pass out of the double team for an open shot or go at Kamari Murphy because OK St. has no frontcourt depth. Ellis and Nash matchup looks like a wash as they are nearly identical statistically.
KU should win this game if they can handle Oklahoma St's pressure. Smart is averaging 2.6 steals per game. Oklahoma St as a team is averaging 8.2 steals per game which ranks 21/351 teams in division 1. This is exacerbated by the fact that KU turns the ball over too much, 13.8 times per game exactly, which ranks 266/351. Ford will know this. He will also know that KU will have a big advantage on the glass and in the paint, so he'll press and pressure KU's guards to prevent KU's bigs from getting the ball. A huge key in this game will be how KU handles OK St's pressure. If KU can hold on to the ball they should win the game.
@justanotherfan Yes Wiggins had 19 rebounds. You should give some thought to why he had 19 rebounds.
Niang 0-9 from 3, Kansas dominates the glass. I'm glad we didn't go small.
Tharpe - Kane,
Selden - Thomas,
Wiggins - Hogue,
Ellis - Ejim,
Embiid - Niang,
I think this is how KU should match up defensively. Niang shot 0-3 from 3 against Oklahoma and is only shooting 30% from 3 on the season. If he starts making them maybe KU will have to go small but I'd rather start the usual 5 and have an advantage in the paint and on the glass.
@MoonwalkMafia You're right about the Big12 conference being extremely tough this season. Almost every site I've seen has either the Big12 or the Big10 as the top ranked conference. And unlike most other conferences, KU has to play a home and home against every team in the conference. So while Kansas has to play Iowa St, Baylor, Oklahoma St, Oklahoma, KState, and other teams twice, a team like Wisconsin in the Big10 only has to play Ohio St and Michigan St once, and both games are in Madison.
I like our chances in Ames on Monday. KU outrebounded Oklahoma 36-22 in Norman on Wednesday. Oklahoma outrebounded ISU 41-34 today. Additionally, Kane looks like he won't go ,or at the very least will not be 100% after his late game ankle sprain today. And KU should be going into Hilton with a lot of confidence after their big win today.
Jayhawks pound the Grapes at the Phog and Iowa St drops one on the road. It was a good day.
@Wishawk I think it's just a thing where he has trouble being fully engaged for 40 minutes. That was one of the gripes about him coming out of high school, that he can disappear for stretches in games. When he has quiet stretches I doubt he's thinking about how a potential injury could affect his draft status. And for the most part I think he's been pretty consistently engaged on the defensive side of the ball. I think he's still trying to figure out exactly what his role is and how he can be effective in KU's offense.
It's funny, we're asking what's wrong with Wiggins and yet he's averaging nearly 16 points per game. That should give you an idea of how high his ceiling is.
@jaybate 1.0 Nice post. Sometimes I think Andrew Wiggins is a machine when I see him jump, though.
I don't really care if Bilas thinks he's the "real deal". If Embiid believes he will develop into a better player by staying another year at Kansas then he should do so. Don't leave prematurely for the NBA draft because you're afraid of injury. I hate that mentality. Don't plan on being injured, do what's best for your development so that when you get to the NBA you can stay there. I think Embiid could one day be a very good player in the NBA, but it's far from guaranteed at this point. Right now he's not even close to a finished product and his high draft status is mostly based on potential. Don't stunt your growth because people are telling you that you're going to be an awesome player.