🏀 KuBuckets Archive

@wissoxfan83 I'm not going to believe ANYTHING until it comes directly from Joel and Coach.

@jaybate 1.0 I learned >38% trey guns are imperative on a team with N.C. aspirations.
PS. @Jaybate, when is the book coming out?

@JRyman Good. Very valid question. I tend to agree with most things posted on this awesome site because I am new at learning the game but not new at watching it. Ive been a fan since Larry and Danny won it in '88. I remember laying on the floor right in front of the tv at my friends house, who was a mizzou fan, and jumping up and down when KU won. It was awesome.
Bill is fallible. He made mistakes during the tournament that probably cost us the Stanford game. That's just a maybe though. What I think DEFINITELY cost us the game was Embiid's back being less than 100%. Im not putting the blame on the big guy. He should have sat, he needs to get healthy.
In my head there is no other coach that I would want at KU right now. None, well maybe Coach Brown again. but he would have to be an assistant to Coach Self.at home now watching games... except Kensuckky. But they will lose too and that will make me happy, even if they did gain a couple games on us this season dammit. Anyways, I am rambling. My point is all those posters that are saying Coach Self made mistakes that cost us the game against Stanford could very well be correct. That does not make Coach Self any less of a great coach in my eyes. He is human. His team is too. They will be older and more experienced next season and they will make a deeper tournament run. It will happen. Especially if Embiid comes back!!! *cross my fingers, hope to die.
@Ralster is right. Every team with the highest win total is

@icthawkfan316 It remains to be seen if Oubre actually will be a defensive downgrade from Wigs. Both are about the same height and length. IMO Oubre would have a slight edge over Wigs by the way of his mentality. I think he may show us that he has a killer instinct. I think his personality on his twitter feed suggests to me that he is not a soft spoken kid like Wiggins is. That suggests to me that his on court presence will be stronger and he will come out ready to fight every game. By no means am I saying that he will be more talented than WIgs or that he will beat Wiggins KU freshmen records this year BUt I do think his personality will give him an edge that Wiggins doesn't have yet. Again, its speculation but isn't that what we are all doing right now?

@nuleafjhawk ALmost forgot. I really think that when Conner and or Mason show Coach Self that they are the better option at PG, Coach will HAVE to pull Tharpe to the bench. He has to if it gives our team the best chance at winning. I agree Coach is a stubborn guy. He hates making adjustments in game to give us the best chance to win. Case and point, the Stanford game. BUT that said, during the off season and pre season I really believe Frankamp will show Coach that he is our starting point guard. Mason could do the same but my money is on Conner. The kid was a stud for us during crunch time in the tournament. Its very likely he will continue do to that and get better. He starts over Tharpe by the 5th or 6th non conf game next season, if not earlier.

@icthawkfan316 I respectfully disagree man. We know nothing about how Mickelson can play. He may surprise us all and be a huge factor off the bench like Withey was. I have heard that Mickelson can be effective on the offensive end as well as on defense, so we shouldn't automatically call him a non factor if he brings good rim protection (which he will) and some decent offense to the table.
We also don't know if Embiid will be gone after this year. Everyone says he is gone but Im not buying it. I think the big guy loved his college life and has some unfinished business here. I think he wants to come back another year. I mentioned before about how he can heal his back and get stronger with Hudy and ALL of the resources that KU medicine brings to bear. KU is among the best medical schools and hospitals in the nation.
I also don't think we lose that much replacing Wiggins with Oubre. Yes Wiggins was the best freshmen we have had at KU since probably Paul Pierce. But, Oubre is very good in his own right and it seems to me that the kid has a bit of a killer instinct edge to him. I have only seen a few videos and I follow him on twitter but he doesn't seem scared to get down and dirty or to come out with swagger and emotion to fire the team up. I hope I am right.
Alexander is a beast. I agree that he could be a slight drop off from Tarik simply because Tarik was a Senior, he was a man, not a kid in a man's body like Alexander is. But, the kid is going to be good.
Most of what I am saying is that we wont have much drop off next season if Embiid sticks around and I think he will. If he doesn't well then Turner, Alexander, Mickelson, Traylor and Lucas will have to step it up. Im betting they will.

@konkeyDong That's what I am saying too Konkey! Embiid comes back, we will be the team to beat for the N.C. next year. We will, I can feel it. That said, there are a couple of Caveats to that dream coming true. First; Either Mason or Conner needs to show Coach that they are worthy of the starting PG spot. Second, Embiid comes back...No that's the first one, flip with the other. Third, Perry needs to grow big brass balls and a killer instinct. Fourth, Selden needs to do the same thing. Fifth, Hudy needs to kick that whole teams asses during the off season so they are ripped and healthy and ready to do some ass kicking of their own. "Quilted knees" can be rehabbed and strengthened, as can lower backs and shoulders. Sixth, Our two new guys Alexander and Oubre need to show us their alpha dog mentalities. I think Alexander has it and Oubre quite possibly will have it also. Oubre isn't quite as talented as Wiggins but if he has that Alpha dog, killer instinct, he wont have to be.

@dylans 100% agree.

@KUSTEVE You have a good point though. I tend to think that over the off season Frankamp will get stronger and more athletic with Hudy training, then he will take over Naadir's spot as starting PG after maybe the first few games of the season. It could also be Mason in that spot as well. Both of them ran the point better than Naadir did. It seemed the flow of the game was smoother with either of them than it was with Tharpe. Both Conner and Frank's Asst:TO % is better.

@KUSTEVE Frankamp

@wissoxfan83 Good post as usual Wissox.
I too am highly optimistic about next season. If Embiid stays, which I think he will, just a gut feeling, I will be elated! But, if he goes, we will be just fine. I don't know much about Alexander other than he is supposed to be a Beast in the post. I trust that Bill will curb any ahhh personality issues with Cliff just the way he did with the Twins and TT. Not worried about that at all.
Increased pressure on Coach to make a deep tourney run next season? Absolutely. I also kind of agree with Drgn and HEM when they mentioned this loss was more on him than the players. He just does not like to make in game adjustments to give who is on the floor the best chance to win, or to switch line ups to do the same. Case and point Naadir as a Junior was out played by Conner Frankamp a Freshmen! Conner should have played more than 25 min and Coach should have adjusted better to the defenses that Stanford threw at them. But, one thing I disagree with them on is that had Embiid been healthy and been able to play, we would have won anyways without in game adjustments. We would have won. I cant hate or bash on Coach too much because like you said, he has a ring, he has a runner up and he has 10 straight conference champs and 7-8 other tourney titles. The guy wins a lot. He just needs to win another title for KU, asap. Personally I think that if Embiid comes back, the title is ours for the taking.
ps. ive no idea if Harris comes to KU or not, I just heard he was leaving.

@jaybate 1.0 See the comment on Hudy's theory about Cortisol levels and injury to athletes. If she is right, then that can be controlled and Wayne can regain his pop. Personally, I think he will regain most of his form during the off season. Andrea Hudy is the best. She also has access to medical technology at the University of Kansas Hospital, where I mentioned just a bit ago, that is tops in the nation.
Why couldn't Sherron or Trav or EJ get their hops back? I don't know. Severity of injury and healing abilities are different with everyone. I hope that Wayne can work hard in the off season and get most if not all of his back. I tweeted to Andrea Hudy to "kick those guys' @$$E$ in the off season *Wink."

@JayHawkFanToo LoL!

@approxinfinity Wow! As a Registered Nurse, this medical stuff is really fascinating to me. Cortisol and injury occurrences. That sounds like a doctorate thesis. It just proves we have the best trainer in the bizz right now.

If Embiid decides to stick around, he would still be getting the tippy top level of care at KU. I should expect no less, after all The University of Kansas Hospital is among the best in the nation. Rock Chalk!

@HighEliteMajor SO HEM, ARE YOU READY TO CALL FOR HIS JOB?!?! GO RIGHT AHEAD MAN. You make valid points but if you can do better than Coach Self then be my freekin guest... If not, then stop posting on here. I am sick of listening to your constant bashing of KU and our future hall of fame coach. You have made me and likely others upset with your continued boohooing and trashing of one of the best programs and coaches in the country.

@JayHawkFanToo My thoughts on Embiid, He stays and trains under Hudy to get stronger this summer. He has unfinished business here. But that's just me. I hope Im not wrong.

@KUSTEVE Well, Embiid hasn't come out and said he isn't turning pro. Its way to early. Give the guys time to grieve and make a rational decision that is best for them.

@bskeet We will absolutely be better next year!!! More experience, less youth. Just as much talent. The guys returning will be hungry and tough and ready to be hard nosed winners. It was like this in 05-07. Its a process. We have to ride with it despite the pains of loss. I don't like the losses any better than anyone else does. Imagine how Wiggins and Tarik feel!? Those guys just played their last game as a Jayhawk. Wiggins had a great season come up short and Tarik had the same thing. Its heart breaking. I sincerely hope Selden stays and Embiid decides to rehab and get stronger this summer with Hudy. With Alexander and Oubre in next season too, with what we have returning, which will be a hungry and tougher team. WE WILL DO BETTER NEXT SEASON.

@HighEliteMajor irrational feeling followed by a mean and irrational post. yes this game hurts but should we be pointing all the fingers at Coach Self? He is one of the best and I am proud to have him. Should we be calling him out for this and calling for him to resign? Come on man. Your a Jayhawk fan, you should know better.

I don't see how Wiggins can be the top pick after this game. Top 3 at best. Feel sorry for the kid but he didn't take over when we needed him too.

@dylans Im deeply sad. I agree. no more College ball for me til fall. Like I said before I really hope Embiid realizes he has unfinished business here and comes back. I know we will be better next year. But that's not much of a consolation right now.

@bskeet Its heart breaking. We needed Wiggins to take over and be the man. He scored 4 points! So much for the #1 draft pick now. I just hope Embiid realizes he has unfinished business here and wants to come back again next season.

@nuleafjhawk yeah,KU football always loses. can count on that.

This one hurts really bad. We needed Embiid and Wigs to show up and play like all stars. Too sad for words right now. No more Wiggins, maybe even no more Embiid. I couldn't watch the game but I heard we got hosed on some calls and Tarik fouled out when we needed him. Wiggins probly got out matched by his 6'10 240 lb counterpart. This sucks unbelievably.
I know they will bounce back and be better next year. But that's not really a consolation right now.

@wissoxfan83 Eff Gtown. all though that 30 for 30 about the big east and Gtown and StJohns and Cuse I saw was pretty freekin cool

@icthawkfan316 Clearly the seeding doesn't mean Shiite this year.

@jaybate 1.0 We must run a Recon mission with Awax to pick up any pre game plans they have in the dark against us. Bring in the seals for a dark op.

@jaybate 1.0 IF we win today. IF we win today, Im a bit nervous about Dayton. More than I would be able Cuse. Dayton is hot right now. I seem to recall we have beaten them before but this is a new team, tournament, year. Nothing counts now except the W. Survive and advance against all odds.

Scouting report and thoughts for the Stanford game tomorrow 3/23 at 1115.

More than 5 minute Scouting report on Stanford. Kenpom is giving KU a 69% chance to beat Stanford 75-70. According to Kenpom, Stanford’s pace ranks right at the D1 average. Right on par with KU’s So we shouldn’t expect a slowed down, grind it out type of game from them. That being said, Kenpom doesn’t have them locked down as a zone or a M2M team, which says to me that KU can expect many different looks on defense from them. They might press full court because they should know we are vulnerable to that type of defense and they will show us different zones and they will play some man to man. They shoot the ball well as their Offense EFG% is 51.7 to KU’s 54.7 and their Defense EFG% is 48.1 to KU’s 47.2 Stanford doesn’t seem to turn the ball over much as their % per 100 possessions is 16.7 to KU’s 19.1 D1 ave is 18.3 but Stanford doesn’t force a lot of turn overs either. Stanford is ranked 254 in offensive rebounding %, Way below KU’s rank of 20. So Stanford doesn’t crash the offensive glass to hard. Stanford’s defensive rebounding is ranked #22 and KU’s is ranked right behind at 62. Their bigs can clean up our misses pretty good. I might be reading the stats more but Stanford appears to foul more on defense than KU. This is good because KU plays up to 9 guys in a game where as Stanford uses 7 most of the time. What concerns me most about Stanford is the matchup problems they pose. Randle, their PG is 6-2 and it seems that his Assist/TO ratio is worse than Naadir’s I expect Randle’s length to bother Naadir. Powell is a 6-10 240lb SF, He can’t shoot the 3 but his height and weight may bother Wiggins especially if he gets into the post. He has a pretty good rank for Defensive Rebounding. Nastic is a 6-11 C. He is their rim protector. His block % per 100 possessions is 5.3%. Embiid’s block rank is much higher but we don’t have him for this game. So far we have 3 match up advantages to Stanford. Randle their PG and Brown their 6-6 SG can both shoot over 40% from trey. Stanford relies more on the 3 ball than KU does. Stanford is more experienced and taller/bigger than KU in effective height. What I don’t know is how we are going to beat Stanford. In Stanford’s losses, they have not shot well which implies tough defense on the part of the winner. KU’s defensive rating is nearly identical to Stanford’s per Kenpom. KU scores about 80 PPG and allows 70ppg. Stanford scores 73.5 PPG and allows 68ppg. IF KU is going to win this game, they need to get Stanford’s bigs in foul trouble early and they need to not turn the ball over. They need Tarik and Jamari to play bigger and stronger than their match ups. I know Coach will start Wiggins at the 3. But Powell has 2 inches and 40 lbs on him. Will Perry be able to help him? I think Traylor is a better choice to bring in. Can Naadir keep Randle in front of him? I think Frankamp and Mason will have to play more minutes as well.

Scouting report and thoughts for the Stanford game tomorrow 3/23 at 1115.

More than 5 minute Scouting report on Stanford. Kenpom is giving KU a 69% chance to beat Stanford 75-70. According to Kenpom, Stanford’s pace ranks right at the D1 average. Right on par with KU’s So we shouldn’t expect a slowed down, grind it out type of game from them. That being said, Kenpom doesn’t have them locked down as a zone or a M2M team, which says to me that KU can expect many different looks on defense from them. They might press full court because they should know we are vulnerable to that type of defense and they will show us different zones and they will play some man to man. They shoot the ball well as their Offense EFG% is 51.7 to KU’s 54.7 and their Defense EFG% is 48.1 to KU’s 47.2 Stanford doesn’t seem to turn the ball over much as their % per 100 possessions is 16.7 to KU’s 19.1 D1 ave is 18.3 but Stanford doesn’t force a lot of turn overs either.
Stanford is ranked 254 in offensive rebounding %, Way below KU’s rank of 20. So Stanford doesn’t crash the offensive glass to hard.
Stanford’s defensive rebounding is ranked #22 and KU’s is ranked right behind at 62. Their bigs can clean up our misses pretty good.
I might be reading the stats more but Stanford appears to foul more on defense than KU. This is good because KU plays up to 9 guys in a game where as Stanford uses 7 most of the time.
What concerns me most about Stanford is the matchup problems they pose. Randle, their PG is 6-2 and it seems that his Assist/TO ratio is worse than Naadir’s I expect Randle’s length to bother Naadir.
Powell is a 6-10 240lb SF, He can’t shoot the 3 but his height and weight may bother Wiggins especially if he gets into the post. He has a pretty good rank for Defensive Rebounding. Nastic is a 6-11 C. He is their rim protector. His block % per 100 possessions is 5.3%. Embiid’s block rank is much higher but we don’t have him for this game.
So far we have 3 match up advantages to Stanford. Randle their PG and Brown their 6-6 SG can both shoot over 40% from trey.
Stanford relies more on the 3 ball than KU does. Stanford is more experienced and taller/bigger than KU in effective height. What I don’t know is how we are going to beat Stanford. In Stanford’s losses, they have not shot well which implies tough defense on the part of the winner. KU’s defensive rating is nearly identical to Stanford’s per Kenpom. KU scores about 80 PPG and allows 70ppg. Stanford scores 73.5 PPG and allows 68ppg.
IF KU is going to win this game, they need to get Stanford’s bigs in foul trouble early and they need to not turn the ball over. They need Tarik and Jamari to play bigger and stronger than their match ups. I know Coach will start Wiggins at the 3. But Powell has 2 inches and 40 lbs on him. Will Perry be able to help him? I think Traylor is a better choice to bring in. Can Naadir keep Randle in front of him? I think Frankamp and Mason will have to play more minutes as well.

I still cant figure out how to post my own daily thread. anyways, heres this bit.

Scouting report and thoughts for the Stanford game tomorrow 3/23 at 1115.

More than 5 minute Scouting report on Stanford. Kenpom is giving KU a 69% chance to beat Stanford 75-70. According to Kenpom, Stanford’s pace ranks right at the D1 average. Right on par with KU’s So we shouldn’t expect a slowed down, grind it out type of game from them. That being said, Kenpom doesn’t have them locked down as a zone or a M2M team, which says to me that KU can expect many different looks on defense from them. They might press full court because they should know we are vulnerable to that type of defense and they will show us different zones and they will play some man to man. They shoot the ball well as their Offense EFG% is 51.7 to KU’s 54.7 and their Defense EFG% is 48.1 to KU’s 47.2 Stanford doesn’t seem to turn the ball over much as their % per 100 possessions is 16.7 to KU’s 19.1 D1 ave is 18.3 but Stanford doesn’t force a lot of turn overs either.
Stanford is ranked 254 in offensive rebounding %, Way below KU’s rank of 20. So Stanford doesn’t crash the offensive glass to hard.
Stanford’s defensive rebounding is ranked #22 and KU’s is ranked right behind at 62. Their bigs can clean up our misses pretty good.
I might be reading the stats more but Stanford appears to foul more on defense than KU. This is good because KU plays up to 9 guys in a game where as Stanford uses 7 most of the time.
What concerns me most about Stanford is the matchup problems they pose. Randle, their PG is 6-2 and it seems that his Assist/TO ratio is worse than Naadir’s I expect Randle’s length to bother Naadir.
Powell is a 6-10 240lb SF, He can’t shoot the 3 but his height and weight may bother Wiggins especially if he gets into the post. He has a pretty good rank for Defensive Rebounding. Nastic is a 6-11 C. He is their rim protector. His block % per 100 possessions is 5.3%. Embiid’s block rank is much higher but we don’t have him for this game.
So far we have 3 match up advantages to Stanford. Randle their PG and Brown their 6-6 SG can both shoot over 40% from trey.
Stanford relies more on the 3 ball than KU does. Stanford is more experienced and taller/bigger than KU in effective height. What I don’t know is how we are going to beat Stanford. In Stanford’s losses, they have not shot well which implies tough defense on the part of the winner. KU’s defensive rating is nearly identical to Stanford’s per Kenpom. KU scores about 80 PPG and allows 70ppg. Stanford scores 73.5 PPG and allows 68ppg.
IF KU is going to win this game, they need to get Stanford’s bigs in foul trouble early and they need to not turn the ball over. They need Tarik and Jamari to play bigger and stronger than their match ups. I know Coach will start Wiggins at the 3. But Powell has 2 inches and 40 lbs on him. Will Perry be able to help him? I think Traylor is a better choice to bring in. Can Naadir keep Randle in front of him? I think Frankamp and Mason will have to play more minutes as well.

I think it stinks that Niang got hurt. They are a really really good team. I had them beating UNC tomorrow. Now, Im not so sure. I hope they can rally around their injured guy and get it done. Go Big 12! Got into a pissing match with Andy Glockner on twitter last night. He says the Big 12 is weak. I strongly objected. I accused him of having an East Coast bias.

@approxinfinity Can I add a thread for 3/22?

Scouting report and thoughts for the Stanford game tomorrow 3/23 at 1115.

More than 5 minute Scouting report on Stanford.
Kenpom is giving KU a 69% chance to beat Stanford 75-70.
According to Kenpom, Stanford’s pace ranks right at the D1 average. Right on par with KU’s
So we shouldn’t expect a slowed down, grind it out type of game from them.
That being said, Kenpom doesn’t have them locked down as a zone or a M2M team, which says to me that KU can expect many different looks on defense from them. They might press full court because they should know we are vulnerable to that type of defense and they will show us different zones and they will play some man to man.
They shoot the ball well as their Offense EFG% is 51.7 to KU’s 54.7 and their Defense EFG% is 48.1 to KU’s 47.2
Stanford doesn’t seem to turn the ball over much as their % per 100 possessions is 16.7 to KU’s 19.1 D1 ave is 18.3 but Stanford doesn’t force a lot of turn overs either.
Stanford is ranked 254 in offensive rebounding %, Way below KU’s rank of 20. So Stanford doesn’t crash the offensive glass to hard.
Stanford’s defensive rebounding is ranked #22 and KU’s is ranked right behind at 62. Their bigs can clean up our misses pretty good.
I might be reading the stats more but Stanford appears to foul more on defense than KU. This is good because KU plays up to 9 guys in a game where as Stanford uses 7 most of the time.
What concerns me most about Stanford is the matchup problems they pose.
Randle, their PG is 6-2 and it seems that his Assist/TO ratio is worse than Naadir’s I expect Randle’s length to bother Naadir.
Powell is a 6-10 240lb SF, He can’t shoot the 3 but his height and weight may bother Wiggins especially if he gets into the post. He has a pretty good rank for Defensive Rebounding.
Nastic is a 6-11 C. He is their rim protector. His block % per 100 possessions is 5.3%. Embiid’s block rank is much higher but we don’t have him for this game.
So far we have 3 match up advantages to Stanford.
Randle their PG and Brown their 6-6 SG can both shoot over 40% from trey.
Stanford relies more on the 3 ball than KU does. Stanford is more experienced and taller/bigger than KU in effective height.
What I don’t know is how we are going to beat Stanford. In Stanford’s losses, they have not shot well which implies tough defense on the part of the winner. KU’s defensive rating is nearly identical to Stanford’s per Kenpom.
KU scores about 80 PPG and allows 70ppg.
Stanford scores 73.5 PPG and allows 68ppg.
IF KU is going to win this game, they need to get Stanford’s bigs in foul trouble early and they need to not turn the ball over. They need Tarik and Jamari to play bigger and stronger than their match ups. I know Coach will start Wiggins at the 3. But Powell has 2 inches and 40 lbs on him. Will Perry be able to help him? I think Traylor is a better choice to bring in. Can Naadir keep Randle in front of him? I think Frankamp and Mason will have to play more minutes as well.

@jaybate 1.0 We have seen Naadir and Wigs and Selden all get hot from 3 but you are right, its not consistent. Its average at best. Hopefully one of our guys can come out hot against Stanford. Hope all of them come out pumped like they did in the first game. Traylor and Black and Connor especially impressed me. Wigs did his usual #1 draft pick thing. Perry did a very quiet 14 and 10.
Against Stanford it seems we may have a bit of a match up problem. 6'10 240 lbs SF? If I were Coach Self, I would seriously thing about bringing Perry off the bench in this one and starting Traylor. I think Wigs can guard this guy but if he gets posted up KU will need some muscle inside to counter that and Perry just doesn't have it. Tarik is, I think, getting better. But, he can't help off two different spots without getting fouled up when Perry gets blown by. ARGH!

@RockChalkinTexas Good idea. for the record this is my best bracket on KU Buckets out of the two I have.

My upset picks are thus: Harvard over Cincy

Tenn over UMass

NDSU over OU

I picked a couple others that didn't work out so well for me :)
Okie state over Zags

@jaybate 1.0 Jaybate come on man. Wiggins > JuJu. Not by a little, by a lot. A lot a lot. Though I haven't gone to look, Im betting that Julians Frosh #'s are not as good as Wig's are. Everyone has seen him shoot 50% from trey in more than one game. He can do it. He'll do it in the tournament, Im betting on it. Not literally though. Wiggins will be a stud in the NBA. Have you seen that Basketball science bit on him!? Its sick! He can do things like CP3 or Lebron! Just wait until he bulks up some. Imagine a 220 lb Wiggins, what would he do in the League? For gosh darn darn he has a 10 ft stride going into the lane! That's one whole foot longer than Durants! He can drive into the lane just as fast as CP3. Could a rookie JuJu do any of those things? I doubt it. As far as his trey gun is concerned. Yah it needs work but like I said, we all have seen him get hot and shoot lights out. With more games and more practice in the NBA, he will get better at the long ball.

Now, your point about Selden is a valid one. The kid is good, real good. But he needs to develop more. He needs to come back to KU for another year, if not 2. He has the NBA body of a 2 guard but his skills need refining. I think he will be ok too if he gets more time in at KU. With that, he wont wash out of the L in his first contract like JuJu did.

@jaybate 1.0 Im also torn. I think this team is great, nigh unstoppable when they are at their best. But, when they have lapses in judgment on defense or lack of motivation and energy, they could lose to TCU. Its maddening. I WANT them to win and get to the second weekend, get Embiid back and mow them down from there. I just hope the team that plays this weekend is the team that kicked Texas' ass last month or whenever it was. I also think Wiggins will come through for KU these next two games. He is our alpha dog with a cool surfer dudes mentality. He will slaughter all his match ups and if the rest of our guys even play just better than average, we shouldn't have too much trouble this weekend. But I do think the games will be closer than any of us will like.
Oh ya, RE: the Big dang chip thing. I say bring it. I know what Wiggins can do when he feels slighted in the least. Lets hear some more Wiggins aint all that talk and he'll go off for 30/8/4 both games. Clearing the path for us to the sweet 16 and breaking the KU Freshmen scoring record in the process. BTW, he only needs 23 more points to do it.

@approxinfinity Awesome! Im in!

@jaybate 1.0 Yes! They All stepped up big time. Way to get it done guys now, keep it goin! Rock Chalk!

@ralster Man, speaking of RoyBall. Im tired of meeting UNC in the NCAA's. Can we not do that this year?

@jaybate 1.0 inspiring. I hope those guys see it.

@ralster First, I love The Walking Dead! It is the best show on tv right now. NCIS is a close second. (Navy) I really like the new ships the military has coming out, Ive seen photos and they look really tough. I was on FFG -12. Fast frigate USS George Philip. We were in Pacific Fleet 7 I think. I cant recall any specific names at this moment but I like Carriers a lot. We plane guarded for the Kitty Hawk. I took a small boat from the George to one of our USBNs, Nuc subs, that was fun.

@drgnslayr Ok, just read the part about a KU doc commenting on back injuries. The general public will always think what they are going to think. It is up to the medical professionals to decide what JOJO will and should do regarding his health. Being a medical professional but not in an ortho specialization, I realize Joel will have to heal fully in order to secure his future. If he wants to have a long career in our favorite sport, he needs to heal fully like Okafor and countless others. In my honest medical opinion, big atheletes are more susceptible to back and knee injuries simply because of the weight and stress that is put upon those points. Major bone surgery is kind of like working on a car. You'd be surprised at how much force/torque is involved with that type of thing. BUT, Joel will not be subject to that drastic of an outcome. He will heal when he heals. Dammit that I missed that video. I will go check on KUMC's website and see if I can find the link.
All that being said, I think my original point was that anyone without medical training shouldn't read too much into this. I trust that Coach Self will do what is right for Joel's health in the immediate and distant future. Joel will be ok. The pressing matter is, how will our team do without our star big guy in the line up? Can they dig down deep and find the resolve and find the toughness of the team we had in '12. The one that was tough enough to get to the Final 4.
Part of me thinks we need to lose our game today by a slim margin. Let us go into the ncaa's an underdog, a team that no one expects to make it.

@drgnslayr Here we go fellow Jayhawk fans, its crunch time. Let's do this!

@jaybate 1.0 Yeah, I like the Navy reference too. Being ex Navy myself, I can appreciate the will it takes to overcome a seemingly impossible task.
I will have much more confidence in our guys if they beat Okie state tomoro. They are on an absolute tear right now. They are fired up and also have their backs against the wall so to speak. They are still on the bubble and need another solid W or two... Lets not give them one fellas! Just prior to logging on here I felt a bit more positive about tomorrows game. Then, even a bit more after reading Jaybate's excellent Military/Basketball referenced post. But, then the injury situation comes crashing right back down and now Im not so sure we can beat a fired up Okie State team. I am seriously nervous about it!

I hope Coach Self is willing to take chances on different line ups until JoJo gets better. He has to, he has no choice. But, if Selden is hurting as much as Naadir is, that's not good. I also hope KU's trainers can give them enough treatment, massage, physical therapy and in medical speak, How do you reduce inflammation? Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation, oh and non steroidal anti inflammatories, which Ive read can hinder healing to a degree.
@ Jaybate, how did you notice that Brannen is nursing some knee problems of his own? You know, I saw Naadir and Tarik with Iced up knees after the second pre season warm up game, back in November!
Does Coach think about starting Traylor along with Black? I mean those two are tough as nails when they are on the court together and we need that toughness in a major major way. Perry absolutely doesn't need his confidence shaken at this point so if this happens, Coach may have to sweet talk him a bit. Is it me or does Perry seem to do better playing along side a taller longer big like Withey, Embiid, Lucas?
Does he give limited minutes to Selden in order to rest his knees? In all good consciousness he cant run Wayne into the ground during the big 12 tourney and expect him to be better stronger faster in the Big One.
I want to stress that I am not doubting, Im just worried for our boys. I want them to win the big 12, but that's not quite as important as being battle ready to make a 6 game run starting next weekend.

@jaybate 1.0 I hope you are right man. From where I am looking, its not good.

@HighEliteMajor oh man, this is not good news. Sorry guys, I don't have many good feelings at the moment. Joel has a lower back stress fracture. I am an RN. I have taken care of people with lower back probs such as this. Granted they aren't atheletes, but recovery time takes longer than 4 weeks. Full recovery. No more pain, stiffness and much less risk for reinjury. In Joels case, he should heal faster but his risk for reinjury is high. Without our prized big guy we won't make it far this year. Round one of our tourney, round one of the ncaa's. I don't want to see this happen but I fear greatly that it will. The real question becomes, will Joel decide to recover and come back next year, go pro or quit bball all together. I think he should listen to what the specialist Ortho Doc says. Which I would think will be full recovery time and no more ball so as not to risk greater injury. That could mean us finishing 23 and 10. This is absolutely worst case scenario. BUT we have to plan for exactly that in these types of situations.
We may have to look to next years team to hang our hopes on.
All this doom and gloom aside, I love our team, I love KU. Ive been a fan since 88 and I always will be. Im just looking at the stark reality of the situation and it does not look good.

What Jesse Newell said is spot on. KU wants to avoid facing a team with a quick penetrating PG in the NCAA's. That is so true. What is also very likely is that any team we face will have that! KU has no point guard, at least one that can keep his man in front of him. We cant win any of our 2 coming up tournaments with Wiggins playing 5 other guys. IMO, Tarik fouled out so quick because our guards got burned and Tarik was trying to help defense and he drew the fouls. Its ridiculous. After the WVU game, I really don't have a high hope for our team making a run. Especially if Joel doesn't get better, we get bounced in the first game, second at best.

I posted this bit earlier, pre game, but it was way down into the threads so it may have gotten missed.
41 Pts from Wiggins! And a whole stat line of awesomeness! tough loss though...smh
It is possible that Wigs will beat Ben Macs freshman scoring record this year. So far Andrew has 522 points. If he holds to his season average he will break Ben's record before we make it to the elite 8, which is one game ahead of where we got infamously bounced last year. I really really hope this happens. Personally for me, an Elite 8 appearance with this very young team, an improvement on last years run, would be satisfying to me. It would be good but not great. A great run, to me, would be a Final Four banner in AFH. A stellar run would be a title game appearance. Despite what some have said, and I have agreed with, I think if we make the elite 8 and improve upon last years run, we have to give some degree of cred to Coach Self for doing that with this season of OAD's. Is Cal gonna get even close to us this year? Did he do it last year? Nope. His past two teams of OAD's have been a bunch of prima donna me me me first players. But I digress, for us to make the elite 8, we have to play every game like we did the Texas game at AFH. With balls and with aggression first.

@drgnslayr Hey Man, If that happens and we get a #1 seed, I'll take it. Gives us a better shot at a title right?