🏀 KuBuckets Archive

@HighEliteMajor HEM, I pretty much always agree with you. However....

Personally, I thought it was funny too. You're absolutely right. Because it is pretty funny. That being said, I'm a 20-something college student. This wasn't in a Manhattan bar where last call is (literally) signaled by chanting "f*ck KU." This was out in the open for everyone to see, and now, it's national news. This is not really applicable to college humor. I also really don't understand the "everyone is so PC these days" argument. When in the expansive history of college sports (or anything really) would this ever have been appropriate? Seriously?

Since leaving Kansas I'm forever confronted by the image problem the state suffers from--for god's sake, even in Japan I run into it--and stuff like this doesn't help. And with K-State, it wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't a trend. But it is, and that's the problem. I think taking the "get over it" attitude is the same stupid crap we always have to hear from K-Staters:

"The kid barely bumped Jamari." "So what if our fans were putting their middle fingers in Wayne Selden's face after the game. Did you see what Kurtis Townsend did??" "Chanting f*ck KU is a tradition at K-State (which was made worse by the KSU student newspapers saying as such!)" And the latest, "you can hardly see a dick and balls. I think you just have a dirty mind." The list goes on and on. How about the picture in K-State's heritage center with some toothless hillbilly wearing a hat that says "beat the gayhawks"?

It's beyond ridiculous. AND TO TOP IT ALL OFF, you have a state legislator going on twitter and saying, "This. This is offensive. A band formation is not offensive. This is offensive. Also KU blows. #emaw"

Ya, I'm sick and tired of this crap. Give K-State a chance to embarrass and humiliate themselves and they won't disappoint you. I revel in the negative attention that is being piled on them right now, and I don't feel bad about that one bit.

One more emendation... I get so much joy from K-State fans saying things like, "I love Jayhawk tears." Or, "I'm just gonna sit back and listen to Jayhawk fans complain."

My response to that is: Nope. This is your deal. Not ours. OUR school, band, team, administration is silent. As they should be. Because WE are sitting back with popcorn in hand watching you clowns embarrass yourselves. Just like @nuleafjhawk said below, pay attention everyone, this is what happens when you do stupid things. Don't do stupid things.

@wissoxfan83 I am. Ventura has to be gone at the end of the month, right?

@HighEliteMajor What I wouldn't give for that outcome.

Good.

@Crimsonorblue22 Ya know, I couldn't help but think the same thing. It's incredible to me that people in administrative positions at K-State can give stuff like this a thumbs up without thinking about what common perception will be.

You guys wanna see something funny?

🐦 View Tweet

@dylans Yokohama. But I keep up.

@elpoyo said:

Also, there is a growing sentiment among KU fans that they are simply satisfied with big 12 streak and chalk an early round exit to "oh well- the tournament is too hard to win" or "the tourney doesn't matter...its the streak". I think this is nothing but baloney. Don't see the fire in the fans and the coaching staff that i used to see. It seems as though an early round exit is more probable than a deep tourney run.

I typically don't have time to post on this site anymore, but yes, I couldn't agree more with this sentiment. This seems to be a growing trend not only among KU fans, but the team as well. I think there's more at play than just being satisfied with the conference of course (i.e. murderer's row non conference and conference schedule), but it just seems that by the time we get to the tournament our team is spent. The tournament doesn't even feel the same anymore. How sad is that? Everything leading up to the tournament seems to take an eternity, and then we get to the main event and it's over in an instant. KU fans in a lot of ways seem to have become complacent, and I think this has trickled down to the team.

I get that people are upset about the whole situation, but given the circumstances he made the best possible decision he could've made. He'll make more off of his rookie contract than most people make in a lifetime, as @JayHawkFanToo pointed out.

You are truly ignorant Royals fans if you think the Sox would give up Sale, 1 of 2 untouchable players on the entire team, to another team in the division. Geez...

If the Royals can get Cueto though, look out.

@HighEliteMajor Wow. Then I guess it's only fitting that KU, the epitome of American basketball, beat the living sh*t out of one of the most disgraceful countries on the face of the planet.

@bskeet said:

Totally agree about the flops and whining to the officials at every opportunity. Seems to be part of the international culture. Maybe that's why coach K has success internationally.

Love it.

@wrwlumpy Haha no not really. I just flew to Japan the other day and saw first hand what business class looked like...on my way to my seat in coach.

@wrwlumpy Definitely riding business class.

Wipe your eyes, Royals fans. It's ok. I certainly don't mind.

@Crimsonorblue22 No, but this is a KU site.

@konkeyDong Never too soon for a post like this. Great to have such an asset like you on these boards. While everyone else is struggling to find pertinent topics to KU basketball (I'm looking at all the Royals fans here...), you add a great piece. Thanks, buddy.

@HighEliteMajor I also enjoyed that tweet you pointed out that Cliff favorited... About how he took a step back under Self....

And finally it ends. Diallo to KU!

@HighEliteMajor said:

Optimism is a good thing. If Diallo goes elsewhere, we move on. The sun comes up. Good, bad, indifferent. It just needs to be over.

That is the biggest thing here. I'm sorry, but at this point, there really aren't any wrong decisions. Just hurry up and make one. If you're good, you'll be gone in a year no matter where you go. I can't imagine staying close to home is that big of a deal. You've already left home-home, so will it really matter if you leave NY? The only wrong decision is continuing to drag this out.

....the correct answer was that Kentucky is a school ranked behind K-State academically, and Duke is 3 spots behind Yale. The whole thing is pretty ugly, but OADs at Duke is just...upsetting.

College basketball as a whole is turning into an unsavory product. Changes need to be made very, very soon.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, anyone wanna tell me what the difference between K and Calipari is?

@wissoxfan83 How could I forget the Shark. True. The Sox always get better as the weather warms up, so hopefully they'll start manufacturing runs more efficiently as the calendar turns.

@wissoxfan83 Quintana will settle down, and this Rodon kid is supposed to be the real deal, but the rotation is pretty bad from top to bottom right now. Micah Johnson is supposed to be a good 2B with a lot of speed, but we really only have potential to go on. Finishing .500 would be a remarkable achievement for this team IMO.

@wissoxfan83 I am.

@wissoxfan83 2 out of 3 ain't bad :+1: Go Sox!

@drgnslayr Very good point. I should qualify my statement by saying dependence on either provides no benefit, which is what I was thinking, rather than making it sound like anyone who touches the stuff turns into a monster or a loser.

@HighEliteMajor Marijuana was actually made illegal in the US in the early twentieth century.

Not that it matters. The fact is neither one provides any real benefit to anyone's life. People who say that there's nothing wrong with getting high everyday are the same people that point out that people like Bill Gates never went to college, therefore, they don't need to go to college either.

@HawksWin You know opium and marijuana aren't the same thing, right? And drugs weren't why the British won the Opium Wars.

Sooooo why was it stupid for Sale to go to the KC locker room and say sorry?

@JayHawkFanToo I'm not sure you've met many Ohioans if you believe that, because Buckeye fans make up probably 90% of the state and even those who aren't "fans" still found themselves rooting for the Buckeyes very passionately in last year's playoff. There just isn't any competition in the state, and Ohio State has certainly set itself apart in a lot of ways from other universities in Ohio, as well as surrounding states...and they did just win the national championship...convincingly, so I don't know if it's one of those "they think they're so great" kind of situations.

@ralster Lol. Oh, well I was talking about their academic programs.... And their university as a whole. Not sports. Sorry.

And I'm not saying I want Self gone, I'm saying there are better pro coaching candidates out there than Bill Self.

@FarSideHawk I'm not talking about his personnel though. Just the plays that he draws up are genius. And he seems to come up with them on the spot rather than going to the same one play over and over again.

@KUinLA You and I are in the exact same boat. I have absolutely zero concern that Self will leave. If you're an NBA GM looking for a coach that can win you a title at the highest level, look no further than the last two seasons Self has had as proof of why you would not want Self. In the past two seasons, Self has appeared completely oblivious and unimaginative in terms of strategy. He's failed to take advantage of either his team's talent or exploiting the other team's weakness. People are concerned that Self will replace Popovich when he leaves too. I used to be one myself. Anybody ever watch the Spurs here? Seen some of the plays Pop draws up? They're absolutely brilliant. They're like a drug for the basketball-lover's soul. You see anything like that from Self? We run the same play in every single late game situation. When you think about it, what is the success percentage of the chop play? Probably not good. I mean like less than 10% not good.

But I'm with ya. I myself am not as emotionally invested anymore. Whether or not people want to admit it, I saw a lot of the same sentiments after the loss to WSU. People said they just didn't care as much as they have in years past. It took me weeks to get over losing to Michigan. When KU lost to VCU, I took a walk for the first time in my life after a sporting event I was so upset. This year? I turned the game off at halftime and watched the Trailer Park Boys. Personally, going to another school that I see as being cutting edge (Ohio State) it just makes me mad about KU. When they call me for handouts now, it's just sad. Just my thoughts.

Diallo announcement could be coming soon...

Diallo met with Self last night, St. John's this morning. Self also visited with Brown and Ingram

@joeloveshawks I agree. Quite frankly, if a late second round pick is there this year, it will likely be there next year.

At least in the tournament, the NCAA should take reviews out of the officials' hands. I agree with what some were saying during the NC: "If you review it and still can't get it right, what good is it?" Do what the NHL does (and this is something I think the NHL has done a marvelous job with). When there's a review, the officials have nothing to do with it. They get a phone call from the league office, and guys in a settled and quiet room get to review the play and make the right call. For officials to make mistakes and then repeat that mistake by saying "We can't see anything" when it's an obvious call is an egregious error.

I think officiating these past two years in college basketball has been some of the worst I've ever seen. What is a block/charge anymore? Is it just open to interpretation? Is traveling against the rules anymore or can players take 5 steps on their way to a layup? Something's gotta change because these officials--and it was painfully obvious in the Final Four--are an absolute joke.

@approxinfinity I've been telling people this all day long. People act like Coach K is so holier than thou, while Calipari is such a scumbag. The difference? Duke is the 7th best school in America with an admission rate of 10%. UK? They're ranked lower than K-State. Absolutely appalling.

@nuleafjhawk This kid is not the second coming of Darnell Jackson by any stretch... His mom is quite the twitter hit if that tells you anything (@Stevezimmsmom or something like that). I've met a million kids like him. He's not the "D-1 D-bag" we're looking for. He's an upper class turd. Thon Maker on the other hand reminds me of the Monstars from Space Jam. That dude is flat out mean... Given our situation where we can only get these top guys, give me Maker or Diello. Brown is a nice addition, but either of those big guys makes a big difference.

No, we really don't need that turd.

The OAD era has put us in a vicious cycle where we need to land top ten recruits every year to maintain a level of success. The sad thing is, we haven't been very successful... I think most would agree, this was kind of a down year.

Self desperately needs to do what he did in 2005: Recruit 3-4 year guys, then repeat. We need to establish a cycle. This is what made KU so successful from 2007-2013. Ya, there were some bad endings in that time, but those teams were flat out good. And they had swagger; they had chemistry.

KU now is soft. Lacks character. They are pussies (I'm sorry, it needed to be said). Frank is the only player that looks tough, plays tough, and has heart. I don't doubt that the other guys can get there, but boy is it a far cry from the animals that made up KU from about 2007-2011. I wrote a lengthy piece about this several months back. Losing coaches is one thing. It's out of Self's control for the most part. Guys like Danny Manning don't come along every day. But establishing a competent, cyclical system is very much in Self's control. I don't want what UK and Duke are doing; I want no part in it. I would take that 2008 or 2012 team over any of their's. Those were our guys. Those guys on the 2012 team were friends. I saw them in class, hung out with them at the bar, saw them at parties (you get the idea). It was fun! They were KU. They represented us. Andrew Wiggins, Joel Embiid, Kelly Oubre don't mean the same thing to me. But I digress..

This isn't that hard. Look at Louisville's recruiting class this year. They have some really, really nice pieces coming in next year and they're gonna be around for the next 2-3 years. We need that so badly.

Not even close. Give me option 2.

I'll be honest, I haven't watched too many Arizona games, and I'm still sour about losing out on this recruiting battle, but I'm at a loss as to why Tarzcewski chose Arizona over KU. He looked about as polished as Thomas Robinson during his sophomore season. He's not a vital piece of their formula. He just stands around watching guards drive to the hoop or shoot threes and fights for rebounds. The guy was a top ten, five-star recruit and he's nowhere to be found on NBA draft boards. How in the world do big men choose Arizona? Does Sean Miller have a single big guy he can point to and say, "I did that"? It's baffling.

Anyways, yes, congrats @wissoxfan83. I pray that the Badgers can defeat college basketball's equivalent to Nazi Germany next weekend. Was with someone rooting for UK tonight... It was a long night to say the least. I think UW stacks up really nice against UK. Hopefully they come out ready to play instead of starting the first half slowly, because if they let UK build up any sort of lead, I'm not sure they'll get it done. Good luck, buddy!

@nuleafjhawk Ya, I'd be rooting for WSU in that one. As most KU fans probably should.

I posted about this back in January. Continuity is killing KU. We have nothing resembling the KU teams of 2007-2013. Those are guys that lived and died with KU ball. We do not have that anymore.

Second, I love Bill Self, but losing Danny Manning and Joe Dooley has been the death knell of this program. If KU is to get back to where they rightfully should be--where we expect them every year--Self and his b-ball philosophy needs to take a long hard look in the mirror. College basketball is changing. Shooting the three ball is the spread offense in college football. You either adapt or get left behind. I truly think Bill Self is getting exposed. I don't want to say he's been getting out-coached by guys like Marshall and Hoiberg because it's more of a philosophy discrepancy, but maybe those two things aren't mutually exclusive. I certainly watched him get out-coached by Travis Ford (woof!) and Bruce Webber (woof). But whatever it is, it all comes back to the big guy (Self). Not adjusting your system to meet your team's potential is dumb. I don't really know how else to describe it. Why didn't we play zone last year? Ever? We were an incompetent M2M defense, but we just wouldn't switch last year. Why? We had the best shooting team Self's ever had this year; he said so himself. Why didn't we utilize that? Why did Self feel the need to sabotage that? Because Self and his philosophy got the crap kicked out of it last night by "fool's gold."

I don't mean this as an indictment on Self. I want Self coaching KU. Without question. But the greats make adjustments. That's what makes them great. Look at Coach K this year. Show that you're diverse. Show that you're capable of making changes. I already wrote extensively about the OAD problem and the lack of continuity, as well as the burden that is the Big 12 streak. But to me, the coaching problem is just as glaring. Replacing Joe Dooley with Jerrance Howard was a recruiting move. Period. Self needs good in-game coaches around him. He needs guys that can develop players because what he has right now is not doing anything. We have some nice pieces in place going forward, but I think if we don't land Diello AND Maker, next year will end much like this year because the pieces need to be put in place for the future as well as the present. Because Self has clearly shown this year that he wasn't willing to change and adjust. If we can't play through the post, we are doomed.

As always, RCJH. We'll all be watching.

I'm sorry, I don't know what it is, but I see KU winning this game. I'm a total pessimist, but I just think we pull it off. I'm not calling a blowout or anything, but I think this could be a game like the one we had against UNC in 2012--where it was close throughout but you never really doubted that KU would win it. I think Self can exploit some WSU's deficiencies to pull out a W.

All of the pundits are saying we won't win, but I think they're being misled by statistics, which in WSU's case can be grossly misleading. If you think KU won't be geared up for this game, you haven't been paying attention. WSU gets their scoring from 2 players. I believe we can shut them down. Jesse pointed out that KU has been exposed by some elite point guards this year, and I think Van Vleet is a great player. But he is not Isaiah Taylor. He's not getting 27 against us. Baker has been prone to shooting slumps, and I think if he goes 3-13 against us from the field, it will be a long day for the Shockers.

I see KU winning this game 72-64. RCJH.

@joeloveshawks I'm not sure if we're doing our typical strategic pregame discussion; glad to see someone is.

I think you're exactly right, Joe. I'm about as pessimistic of a KU fan as there is, and I think KU fans should have plenty of confidence about this one. Watching the WSU-IU game yesterday, one thing that the broadcasters kept saying was that this was the first top-tier team in terms of athleticism WSU has seen since December. They looked gassed. They looked tired. And an average Big 10 team that snuck into the tournament did that to them.

I don't know about the pressure argument. Because WSU could come out jacked for this game and make a bunch of circus shots. They could also go 2-16 from 3 and get blown out. I will say this, I don't see Van Vleet getting 27 against us. If we can shoot the ball the way we did yesterday, I think we win this game. The thing that gets overlooked about our shooting slump is, forget three pointers, we couldn't make jump shots period. We finally got that lid off the basket yesterday.

I'm confident going into this one. Let's remind WSU what their place in basketball really is. Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

The thing is, you thought last year's team was a Final Four team because it was a Final Four team. If we get by Stanford who knows what could've happened last year. We get Embiid back and we would've played Dayton....

This year, this team is just not very good. Did you watch the game today? This is why (in the eyes of the media) Bill Self was the best coach in the Big 12 this year. We are hobbling into the tournament hurt, depleted, and ICE COLD. This team is in a bad way, and I'll be the first to say it, I see no way we get by Baylor tomorrow. Even if we do, who could we play in the finals that you think we have a chance against?

Your pessimism is not misplaced. It's right where it should be. And that's ok. We have high expectations at KU. It's what we're all about, but the fact is, the last two years have been slapped together products. KU has a very nice core going forward, but it will be on Self to find the other pieces that make it all work. Since he has clearly proven that he isn't willing to adjust his strategy, he better go out and find the pieces he needs in order to play HIS style.

"Enjoy the ride."

My god Buddy Hield is ugly. And someone desperately needs to tell him to stop the Duke floor slapping crap.

@nuleafjhawk I honestly think the conference streak has been an enormous burden on us. We're not looking to the start of the tournament (like Nova, UK, Wisconsin, and Duke all are), we're looking at the game against Oklahoma, payback against WV and then the conference tournament. By the time the tournament rolls around, we seem mentally and physically spent. The regular season is preparation for the big dance. I think we've lost sight of what's important. Conference titles don't measure greatness, National Championships do.

Honestly, losing it could be a good thing. I think we've lost sight of what makes us Kansas. It feels good just thinking it. It's time to let go.